Sketchbooks: An Obsession
News
Exhibition organised by Anita Taylor featured in Artist Newsletter Top Exhibitions
Friday, 28 October, 2016A-N selects top exhibitions in the country every week and this week's selection includes a painting show in London, alternatives to screen-based technologies in Manchester, and a film about artists' sketchbooks in Trowbridge. This exhibition in Trowbridge is organised by Professor Anita Taylor, Director of the Jerwood Drawing Prize, Executive Dean of Bath School of Art & Design at Bath Spa University and creator of Drawing Projects UK. Anita Taylor also belongs to the School's Art Research Centre.
This is the last chance to see this intriguing exploration of how sketchbooks are used by contemporary artists. 2015 Jerwood Drawing Prize runner-up Elisa Alaluusua‘s video installation features sketchbook pages on screens and projections, with the voices of interviewed artists blending into one another as they discuss their sketchbook practices. Artists featured include: Stephen Farthing, Dennis Gilbert, Nigel Hall, Eileen Hogan, Anne Howeson, Michel Sandle and architect Naomi Shaw.
Sketchbooks: An Obsession explores and presents sketchbooks used by contemporary artists and has been developed from a research project undertaken by Elisa Alaluusua that involved in depth interviews with a number of artist and sketchbook users. The exhibition comprises a video installation that exposes sketchbook pages on screens and projections. The stories of the interviewed artists blend into one another as their voices are heard talking about their sketchbook practices. The installation draws the viewer into the compelling world of sketchbooks. Featuring extracts from interviews with Dennis Gilbert (painter); Eileen Hogan (painter); Anne Howeson (painter); Stephen Farthing (painter); Naomi Shaw (architect); Michel Sandle (sculptor); and Nigel Hall (sculptor), the exhibition presents the opportunity to think about contemporary sketchbook practices and to consider what keeping a sketchbook means for us. Elisa Alaluusua originates from Finnish Lapland and has been exhibiting internationally since the beginning of 1990s. Her first degree was in drawing (1991), since then she has completed two MAs, one in the UK (Environmental Art, 1995) and one in Finland (Art Education, 1999), and a practice-based PhD at the University of the Arts London (2016/17). In 2015, she won the second prize in the prestigious Jerwood Drawing Prize with her video/drawing Unconditional Line. She is a drawing artist and works on paper as well as in the form of video exploring the idea of home and everyday. Alaluusua lives and works in London and regularly visits the reindeer farm where she grew up in Lapland.
Elisa Alaluusua, Sketchbooks: An Obsession is open Thursday - Saturday 10am-4pm from 9 February - 4 March 2017.
A free Drawing Discussion - with Nigel Hall RA, Michael Sandle RA, Anita Taylor and Elisa Aluulusua - will be held on 4 March 2017 at 4pm, for which tickets must be reserved here: On Sketchbooks with Nigel Hall RA, Michael Sandle, Anita Taylor, Elisa Alaluusua.
Until 4 March 2017. www.drawingprojects.uk
The exhibition, and the event on 4 March is kindly supported by The Finnish Institute in London.