- Venue
- Creative Hinckley Gallery at the Atkins Building
- Location
- East Midlands
Deborah Bird is a Leicestershire based artist who, over several years of exploration and research, has developed a very personal process that has resulted in a fascinating and unique use of ice-paper-photography. This process is utilised in relation to the subject matter of landscape and the current work was made as an artist in residence at the Grand Canyon in the USA during May 2012.
The exhibited work consists of a range of media forms including Giclee prints, ink and acrylic drawings, cut paper reliefs and a Diary Wall consisting of notes, both visual and written together with quotations from others who have similar theoretical and practical interests in the natural environment such as John Wesley Powell and Arundhati Roy. The diary wall gives us a clear insight regarding the processes that Deborah Bird has developed and to her excitement and evident enthusiasm for the daily routines and moments of discovery.
The work is arranged into sections which indicate different category types, each inspired by particular features found within this particular environment. Titles, for example, ‘Agave’ and ‘Hakatai’, direct our attention to the visual character of the rock and other natural organic form within parts of the Canyon. The artist has said that ” The Agave series is inspired by Yucca and Agave. Both are fascinating organic structures in the desert”.
The process of work entails that, at first, paper structures are drawn or cut using observation of the surface and structure of forms discovered within the environment, water is added (sometimes with other found material or debris from the canyon floor) and the images are frozen. The frozen image is later placed on an easel in front of the landscape and allowed to thaw and as the ice moves, and eventually disappears, glimpses of the Canyon appears through the framework. The process of thawing together with remarkable changing light effects gives the work a ‘time specific’ quality which we can experience and enjoy through the resulting photographic images exhibited here.
Both the exhibition and the catalogue are an elegant testimony to the artist’s skill and imagination, attractive and clear they are a delight to the eye. The text, images and references are thoughtfully selected and creatively integrated and resolved.
The Exhibition continues until 11 January 2013
Peter Berry December ’12
