More Musings on the Human Condition – Margaret Ashman, Maggie Cullen & Corrie Chiswell
Thursday 25th
Moving on from Anna Gillespie’s work and it’s existential and spiritual combination, I consider Margaret Ashman’s photo etchings – work produced through a technique which combines old and new technology to make original prints. Margaret aims for a spiritual elegance and simplicity in the finished work, in contrast to the lengthy, complicated process of making. A poem or phrase or idea is given to the dancer, used here as a model, as a starting point, from which the work evolves. Further layers add new constructs until the etching process translates the final image into a coherent whole, with rich textures and delicate colour combinations. The addition of birds, flowers and other elements allows the viewer a window into the subconscious inner world, a different reality to the visible. Her work is informed by the critical context of allegory, intertextuality and the I-Ching. Birds were an important part in Ancient Chinese religion, and were the first images of animals from China; they represent spirituality – I guess in that they lift the eyes upward and perhaps represent the nature of the soul or the acknowledgement of other aspects of the world or psyche. Margaret is coming to give a talk as Saturday’s Day of Talk, so I will have the opportunity to deepen my knowledge on this aspect on which I have done some reading, but ever up against time, there is always more to know.
As the work in the front space particularly is mindful of the passing of time, in particular an acknowledgement of our histories is revealed through Maggie Cullen’s work – another of the artists along with Margaret and John Devane who will be coming to give a talk on Saturday. Maggie’s work for the show is based on ritual – folk history and religious ritual combined. Some of the work – delicate book sculptures – features bibles with inscriptions sometimes by several generations. Other pieces include lines of music score and words taken from folk songs, and the most monumental piece we have is based on the story of the Wicker Man. In comparison, alongside Maggie and Margaret’s work, Corrie Chiswell’s paintings draw upon personal and family history in a more shrouded manner. Farm Girl is about the memory of Corrie’s grandmother leaving the farm she lived on in childhood – the figure wearing her best dress to travel in as it won’t fit in the suitcase; Blood Ties is about the complexity of family relationships. Both pieces resonate with actual and emotional light and darknesses, beautifully painted with an accomplished use of black pigment and pared-down colour.
I will continue the family element in the next post.
