Catherine Fairgrieve and Andrew Griffiths

Oriel Fach

Diverse drawings, sculptures, jewellery, and books

 

Stairs

Photographs by Simon Hitches

For more details and images, please click here.

 

Main Gallery

2D or not 2D

10 September to 16 October

 

2D or not 2D is an exhibition of sculptures, artists’ books and altered objects by Andrew Griffiths and Catherine Fairgrieve.

The works of the two artists share in common the appropriation of everyday objects and intervention through process, but their content and approach differ. Where Griffiths uses transformation through the use of heat in iron casting, Fairgrieve explores laser etching to score text and imagery onto paper and wood, and embroidery, for example, to simultaneously deface and reclaim Victorian samplers. She addresses issues about domesticity by referencing her personal life, whilst Griffiths uses religious iconography and popular culture to create reliquaries and monstrances.

 

Fairgrieve explores her interest in artists’ books by taking text outside the context of a page onto found objects such as a table or violin as an alternative surface for applied drawing and narrative. The subject of home and a passion for antiques/junk resulted in the manipulation of old artefacts as vehicles for reverie. History and perception are layered using personal motifs about family: her daughter, partner, pets and flocks of birds become incidental recurrent themes that celebrate precious moments in time.

The book Birdsong, for example, refers to an awakening of joy brought about by good weather and increased daylight in spring, which is ‘heralded at home by the chatter of starlings nesting in the bathroom roof. This noise of the birds, once irritating, is now a symbol of preciousness, as starlings have become an endangered species. It is a constant reminder of loss brought about by change’. In her imagery, the birds operate as momento mori to underline the value of a simple life, and, through this realisation, the sound of birds metamorphoses from that of noise to music. The book is presented on a music stand alongside an old violin etched with echoed bird imagery: it is as though a child’s music lesson will soon commence, a lesson about nurturing everyday activities through constant practice to develop well-being and a deep appreciation for the nuances of ordinary things. Fairgrieve describes her work as a ‘collection of experiments in which I have tried to communicate the transient nature of home life as a means to capture solace for an uncertain future’.

The creative mind plays with the objects it loves

Laser-etched oak table

Red dress

 

For the past few years, Griffiths has been concentrating on working in cast iron, building and running a cupolette with his students at the West Wales School of the Arts. It is the physicality of casting that informs much of the work seen in the show, particularly the ‘stirred’ bowls, (see first image below) where molten metal is stirred until it solidifies, leaving evidence of the action in the bowls interior. Griffiths’ other work uses found objects cast into elaborate monstrances containing images of pop stars relevant to the artist’s personal history and using visual or verbal puns (see second image below).

For the past four years, he has been the co-chair of the 6th International Conference of Contemporary Cast Iron Art. The conference was recently held in Kidwelly and attracted over 180 sculptors from around the world; it included performance, iron pours and demonstrations. During this time, Griffiths also instigated an International exhibition of Cast Iron Art at Kidwelly Castle with Sculpture Cymru.

Stirred bowl

Madonna of the rocks

Iron pour

 

Visit these sites for more information about Griffiths and his work:

www.internationalfe10.com; www.andygriffgriffiths.co.uk

To view a video connected to some of this work, please click here.