Numbers in the text relate to the numbered photos.
The silence in St George’s resonates with its past music. This late 17th/early eighteenth century memorial in the church seemed evocative of the baroque music of that time.(5) I made a free drawing based on it (6), and then embarked on cut-outs at several scales.(7).
I also want to incorporate motifs from St George’s present day context however. Just outside at the back is the Esher Civic Centre car park and recycling bins: This is a graphic from one of the bins (8) and here is an interpretation added to my drawing (9), making a different sound in it.
(NB the numbers in the blog text correspond to the numbered images at the side.)
I’ve been reflecting on the possibilities for making a drawing at St George’s which would be both wall-based but also have some 3-d elements. I began to experiment with some cut-outs. The very first came from the word, ‘EXODUS’ in gold on black above the 10 Commandments behind the altar, a text perhaps from the 18th century. (1) Here is a cut-out (2) of the first 4 letters, but in fluorescent pink bought from B&Q in April 2010, in an experiment to see how this contemporary colour might affect the viewers reception of this ancient text.
Then I began to think about Esher, a Surrey commuter town where there are some very wealthy enclaves. I liked the idea of paper cut-outs, but it was time to make some decisions about materials. To reflect the contemporary economic context I decided to work with The Financial Times, with its iconic pink paper and lists of stocks and shares.
The church’s memorials also reflect differing degrees of wealth. Here is a detail from a memorial to Prince Leopold and Princess Charlotte, created at the instigation of Queen Victoria in 1880. (3) Here is a first attempt at a cut out using the Financial Times as a material. (4)
These were early experiments. Since then I’ve also decided to use for contrast a thin card which looks as though it is coated with an entirely contemporary black glossy surface, and will limit myself to these materials as I find freedom comes with limitation.
