BEYOND
PATTERN
an exploration into the cultural meanings of pattern
education resources
Contents
Pages
2
Teacher’s Notes
3
Using This Resource Pack
3-4
Beyond the Decorative: Pattern as a visual language conveying ideas
5-26
About The Artists & Worksheets
5-6
Catherine Bertola
7-8
Michael Brennand-Wood
9-10
Nisha Duggal
11-12 Leo Fitzmaurice
13-14 Doug Jones
15-16 Adam King
17-18 Steve Messam
19-20 Henna Nadeem
21-22 Angharad Pearce Jones
23-24 Pamela So
25-26 Andrea Stokes
27
3
Acknowledgements
Teachers Notes
Beyond Pattern presents 11 contemporary artists whose works explore ways that
pattern can be used to comment on social, cultural and political ideas that extend
beyond the decorative. This resource pack is designed to help teachers and pupils to
get the most out of a visit to the exhibition and provides suggestions for discussion and
activities that use the artworks here as a starting point.
Looking at Contemporary Art
The variety of media and approaches to be seen in Beyond Pattern reflects the way
that many artists working today use a range of techniques and skills as a means to
convey their ideas, rather than as an end in themselves. Teachers do not need to be
experts in order to help pupils engage with artworks - everyone has a different reaction
to an artwork depending on their personal life experience. Posing open-ended
questions is useful in encouraging pupils to respond, while emphasising the validity of
each response and inviting pupils to give reasons for thinking as they do.
Useful questions to ask in any exhibition include:
•
What can you see?
•
What does it remind you of?
•
How do you think it was made?
•
What do you think the artist is trying to say to us?
•
Can you describe why you think or feel this way?
A full colour publication accompanies this project. Essays by Laura Mansfield and
Lesley Millar. To order a catalogue please email [email protected]
2
Using This Resource Pack
About the Artists
Information about each artist, the ways they work and ideas that interest them is
provided, along with details about the artworks in Beyond Pattern. This is
supplemented by links to other contemporary artists with related working practices, to
aid comparison and discussion back at school.
Worksheets: Questions for teachers
Teachers can use these questions as a starting point for their own personal
development, to prepare for a visit to the exhibition or subsequent pupil work. They are
devised to help teachers initiate discussions with pupils about the works in the
exhibition. They can be used as they are or amended to suit the age and ability of
pupils at different key stages.
Activities for Pupils
These provide practical starting points for activities based on the exhibition’s themes
and individual artworks. They can be:
•
•
•
•
•
Employed as they are or adapted to suit the context and ability of learners
Used alone or together or as a stimulus to other projects
Used as part of a project or to form a project in themselves
Used for work at the gallery which is further developed back in the
classroom
Delivered to whole classes, groups of students or individuals depending on
what key stage a teacher is working with
Beyond the Decorative:
Pattern as a visual language conveying ideas
Pattern is all around us, whether we are conscious of it or not. It penetrates every
aspect of our lives and can be found in the home, workplace, street, garden or in the
landscape. We often think of pattern as simply an adornment or even as a means of
disguise, but it can also be a form of communication through a specific visual language.
We learn to understand and interact with our complex world by seeking out patterns
and using them to imposing order and thereby meaning. The artists in Beyond Pattern
all exploit pattern as a visual language to convey ideas.
Patterns linked to social history
Michael Brennand-Wood bases compositions on seating patterns from sports arenas
and holding patterns from slave ships to refer to historic patterns of trade and social
control.
3
Catherine Bertola uses patterns from mass-produced lace tights to represent
individual members of the 18th century Bluestockings circle in her drawings.
Using motifs and patterns from specific cultural traditions and
places
Henna Nadeem combines Islamic and Oriental decorative patterns with
European landscapes.
Michael Brennand-Wood subverts floral textile pattern traditions from around the
world.
Steve Messam uses fleece from local black and white sheep breeds to recreate the
black and white patterns of regional architectural styles.
Patterns of behaviour and belief
Doug Jones explores patterns of ritual and hierarchy associated with religious
institutions and secretive societies.
Andrea Stokes uses ornamental patterned net curtains as symbols of social
status, aspiration and ‘Englishness’ in her video performance.
Patterns of labour and manufacture / hand versus machine /
pattern as template
Pamela So, Andrea Stokes and Catherine Bertola all use lace and embroidery
patterns as templates or stencils for recreating patterns and through drawing
re-enact the repetitive labour associated with traditional handicrafts.
Angharad Pearce Jones addresses the loss of local building skills to a globalised
construction industry, using her blacksmith’s craft skills and linking symbols
together to create decorative pattern.
Repeat patterns that provide structural cohesion and balance
Leo Fitzmaurice and Henna Nadeem exploit this property of repeat patterns by
deliberately disrupting them to produce optically complex spaces and shifted meanings.
Pattern as a way of bringing order and understanding to chaos
and complexity
Nisha Duggal uses grid patterns and symbols as visual codes for reducing the
complex to simple elements.
Patterns of communication
Adam King uses the physical detritus of consumer society to make structures that
resemble the chaotic and complex webs of our virtual communications
networks.
4
Catherine Bertola
Catherine Bertola creates installations, objects and drawings in response to
historic contexts and the people who once lived or worked there. Her practice
reflects an interest in the social history and status of women, their domestic
labour and traditional craft skills such as lace making or needlepoint, that require
repetitive and painstaking effort to create something of complexity and beauty.
Catherine Bertola was born in Rugby in 1976, graduating from the University of Newcastle in 1999. She lives and
works in Gateshead. www.workplacegallery.co.uk
Other works by the artist
Prickings (2006)
An installation using the techniques and
decorative motifs of hand lace making, in
the pricking out of pinholed patterns onto
vellum templates, suggesting the ghostly
garments of lace makers and wearers
long dead. http://www.axisweb.org/seWork.aspx?WORKID=49433
From the Palace at HillStreet (2009) &
Bluestockings series of drawings (2009)
Commissioned for this exhibition, this artwork
was made with the help of over 80 volunteers
working at home or gathered together in
sociable sewing sessions. It recreates in
embroidery fragments of a 1766 carpet design
by Neoclassical architect Robert Adam for the
dressing room of Elizabeth Montagu at Hill
Street, London. This was an early meeting
place of the Bluestockings, a pioneering
network of Georgian women and men who
debated the issues of the day and promoted
education for women in an age where their civil
and economic rights were severely limited.
Adam’s carpet incorporated a circular motif,
suggesting the equal exchange of ideas that
took place between the individuals seated upon
it. Each of Bertola’s Bluestockings ink drawings
depicts a lace design in the shape of the artist’s
legs and represents an individual woman
associated with the Bluestocking Circle.
5
The Property of Two Gentleman (2006)
Wallpaper pattern in this installation was
recreated using dust as a material, as a
metaphor for the domestic realm and the
residues of its absent inhabitants.
http://www.workplacegallery.co.uk/artists/
_Catherine%20Bertola,46/
Bit by bit, piece by piece (2009)
Decorative pattern made using an
arrangement of domestic cutlery and
masses of dressmaker’s pins stuck onto
board.
http://www.workplacegallery.co.uk/artists/
_Catherine%20Bertola,17/
Other artists to look at
Pamela So, Andrea Stokes, Linda
Florence: using lace fabric metaphors.
Cornelia Parker, Lyndall Phelps:
Making installations and objects relating
to historic places, people or events:
Weblinks to these artists’ work can be
found in the appendix accompanying
this pack.
WORKSHEET
Catherine Bertola: Questions for teachers
What do the titles of these two artworks refer to?
Compare the patterns in From The Palace at HillStreet and the Bluestockings drawings.
From when, where or whom do the patterns originate? How has the artist used these
influences?
Do the legs in the work Bluestockings look realistic or unrealistic? What evidence made
you reach the conclusion for your answer?
From the Palace at HillStreet is composed of three separate pieces. What do you think the
artist’s intentions were behind this?
What were the techniques and working methods involved in constructing this work?
Activities for pupils
As a class, recreate a carpet or fabric piece from a different historical period, style
or culture, each pupil producing their own section.
Completing the Carpet. Pupils produce observational drawings of the three sections of
Catherine Bertola’s ‘carpet’, leaving the appropriate space between each one in their
drawing. They are then asked to imagine and draw the shapes, patterns and colours that
would fill these empty spaces.
Explore the history of the Bluestocking Circle [links to History, Citizenship and PSHE].
Explore 18th century design. What were the characteristics and influences of design in
this period. Who were the major artistic, craft or design influences of this period?
6
Michael Brennand-Wood
Michael Brennand-Wood is a textile artist who investigates three dimensional
structure and pattern, using computerised machine embroidery, fabric, wood,
paint, metal, wire, glass, thread, collage and found objects. His knowledge of
textile history underpins an abiding interest in how pattern can convey ideas
about culture and politics beyond decoration. He reinvents floral patterns and
motifs to deal with subjects such as popular culture, warfare or slavery.
Michael Brennand-Wood has exhibited in museums and galleries all over the world. Born in Lancashire in 1952,
he received his MA Textiles from Birmingham Polytechnic in 1977. www.brennand-wood.com
Other works by the artist
Babel (2008)
Like Phial Bodies, the punningly-titled
Babel presents a surface rich in text used
for its inherent meaning but also as formal
elements of pattern and texture.
http://brennand-wood.com/
Other artists to look at
David Mabb: working with the decorative
patterns and political legacy of William
Morris and the Russian Constructivists.
Jim Drain: brightly coloured installations
and sculpture incorporating textiles, found
objects, 2D and 3D pattern.
Holding Pattern (2007) and Phial Bodies
(2008)
These two circular works echo the shape of
large sports or entertainment arenas. In Holding
Pattern, machine embroidered blooms extend
on wire stems above a mass of small wooden
figures, lying in a pattern taken from stadium
seating plans. Recalling the ‘holding’ design of
18th century slave ships, at the work’s centre
are boxes covered in images of Georgian
buildings, representing the wealth and property
once derived from the slave trade.
Vase Attacks (2009)
A series of smaller works project from the wall,
assembled from objects such as toy soldiers, a
cobbler’s last (holding device shaped like a
shoe), giant dice. Out of these vessels project
clusters of machine-embroidered ‘badges’,
suggesting flower and human heads, insects
preserved for display, old fashioned hatpins,
imaginary military insignia and floral tributes.
7
Fred Tomaselli: paintings with
photocollage using floral textile motifs.
Weblinks to these artists’ work can be
found in the appendix accompanying
this pack.
WORKSHEET
Michael Brennand-Wood: Questions for teachers
In ‘Vase Attacks’ how many ‘vases’ are there? How have they been made? How do they
compare to vases we understand or use ourselves?
Describe the contents and materials of each vase. What themes have been explored by
the artist?
The artist likes playing on words: his titles are often punning and he includes words as
compositional elements in his artworks. How do the titles and words in his works in
Beyond Pattern link to the themes he is exploring?
Describe how you think Brennand-Wood uses pattern in his work, especially in relation to
floral pattern traditions?
How does this compare with how other artists in the exhibition use pattern or floral motifs?
Activities for pupils
Create a 2D pattern and extend it into 3 Dimensions. Develop a 2D pattern using
shapes cut from coloured (or black and white) paper or card. Glue it to a firm base, such
as a cardboard disc or board. Work out from the base pattern to construct a low relief or
3D sculpture. Use cut and folded paper/card or found materials inspired by
Brennand-Wood’s work.
Experiment with headwear made as a form of sculpture. The individual pieces in
‘Vase Attacks’ almost look like hats with hat pins. Transform an old hat or create headwear
from scratch using millinery techniques or materials such as felt, paper, textiles, willow
withies, wire, found objects. Incorporate Michael Brennand-Wood’s ideas of extending
small objects from the end of wire.
Use textile or computer techniques to produce a brooch or badge on a chosen
theme. Experiment with a variety of textile techniques by both hand and sewing
machine or computer, taking inspiration from the shapes, images or techniques employed
by the artist.
Compare the work of Michael Brennand-Wood with that of Leo Fitzmaurice. Use this
research as a part of a final piece based on the use of found objects and advertising
literature to recreate a series of patterns. This could be permanent or ephemeral. Use
photography to record your work.
8
Nisha Duggal
Nisha Duggal makes drawings, installations and videos about everyday events
and objects, that deliberately draw our attention to the mechanics of the
artwork’s construction. She tries “to make the complicated simple”, often by
breaking down her image into smaller, more manageable fragments. The artist
describes this as “a coping strategy for living in our society of speed”.
Born in 1979, Nisha Duggal completed her MA in Fine Art at The Slade in 2009. She lives and works in London.
www.nishaduggal.co.uk
Other works by the artist
In order to acquire a void (2010):
In this site-specific installation at the
Florence Trust, London, the artist placed
a mass of silver helium-filled balloons at
the highest point in a tower’s vaulted
ceiling. Although simply constructed from
many identical reflective balloons, when
gathered in a starburst-shaped cluster
their effect is magical. Once again the
artist has created something that appears
complex but is made up from many much
simpler elements.
http://nishaduggal.co.uk/Inordertoacquireavoid.html
Wherever you are in the world you take up
the same volume of space (2009)
Two large, near-identical ink drawings of
common town pigeons make up this work.
Through an almost mechanical drawing process
each image is carefully constructed from
multiple coloured squares containing a series of
symbols within a grid, akin to those used as
guides in needlepoint kits. Like pixels, these
squares are the building blocks and pattern for
each image and affect the resolution of the
image as the viewer moves closer to it. The
white squares, absent of information, expose
this process and although they are located
differently within each of the two drawings,
these voids amount to the same volume.
9
Other artists to look at
Carl Jaycock: Large-scale images made
up from many much smaller pictures,
created using photography, digital
technology, paper and mixed media.
Exploring ideas around identity.
Lesley Halliwell: Highly worked abstract
drawings constructed from simple
repeated patterns using a spirograph
Weblinks to these artists’ work can be
found in the appendix accompanying
this pack.
WORKSHEET
Nisha Duggal: Questions for teachers
From a distance, what are the similarities and differences in the appearance of these
birds?
If one looks very closely at each of the pigeons, what do you see? What does the pattern
here remind you of?
What do you think are the origins of the symbols the artist has used?
What materials and techniques have been used to create these images?
Why do you think the artist has left five blank squares on each pigeon?
What do you think the title of this piece is referring to?
Activities for pupils
Create a study sheet based on birds. Make drawings and notes, take photographs, use
found images. Which type of bird do pupils like best and why?
Create an outline drawing of a favourite bird and fill the bird with found patterns and
shapes. Experiment with drawing, painting, collage, printmaking. Investigate ways to
make the patterns enhance the work’s bird-like qualities when viewed from a distance.
Ask pupils to write a short story about their experiences of birds. Do any pupils have
pet birds / keep chickens / enjoy feeding wild birds?
Investigate other kinds of symbols, mathematical codes or conventions. Make
copies into sketchbooks. Design patterns using these symbols experimenting with media
and colour.
Experiment with a range of needlework and fabric techniques such as weaving,
needlepoint or tapestry. Investigate the use of CAD to design a finished textile piece
based on animals or birds.
10
Leo Fitzmaurice
Leo Fitzmaurice scavenges for ‘information-objects’ (commercial packaging,
brochures) which he manipulates and transforms. He may rearrange, fold or
tightly roll his material, or cut out every last vestige of text, image or logo,
leaving a skeletal shell. These new objects are presented en masse as complex
installations or carefully inserted into an unexpected context for us to encounter
in surprise.
Leo Fitzmaurice was born in Shropshire and lives and works in Liverpool. He graduated from Liverpool
Polytechnic, completing his MA at Manchester Metropolitan University in 1994.
http://www.leofitzmaurice.com/
Other works by the artist
Detourist (ongoing project):
The artist rearranges rubbish found by
chance in city streets to create visually
witty interventions, which are then
documented. For example, two
MacDonalds’ chips cartons tied to a
lamp-post in Shanghai momentarily
become red tannoys.
http://www.bs1.org.uk/bs1fitzmaurice.html
You don’t say 2009
Rather than bringing new objects into the world,
in the works in Beyond Pattern the artist
rearranges pre-existing advertising flyers in
order to enhance their character and allow us to
see them temporarily in a new way. He is not
intending any critique of consumerist culture,
but strives to retain what he describes as the
focused energy of the original graphic designs,
re-directing it into fresh forms. The commercial
messages of the flyers get lost in the process,
while other formal design elements, multiplied
and overlapping, become fractured and
reassembled to generate brand new patterns
and the illusion of spatial incongruities, almost
like looking at them through a kaleidoscope.
11
Other artists to look at
Jim Lambie: Takes familiar objects from
modern life and transforms them into
vibrant sculptural installations in relation
to a specific space.
Jacob Dahlgren: is a Swedish painter,
sculptor, and conceptual artist who works
to a large extent with unconventional
materials. Finding abstraction in everyday
objects, he creates dynamic interactive
installations and performances.
Richard Wright: Uses intricate temporary
painting methods, to inject complex works
into often overlooked architectural spaces
either on paper or directly onto the wall.
Weblinks to these artists’ work can be
found in the appendix accompanying
this pack.
WORKSHEET
Leo Fitzmaurice: Questions for teachers
What kind of materials does Leo Fitzmaurice use?
What impact does the arrangement of the piece have on the colours, shapes and words
printed on the flyers? How does this relate to pattern?
‘You don’t say’ is placed on the floor. How does this affect how we experience the work?
The artist has used simple materials to create an apparently complex structure. Suggest
problems the artist may have had to overcome in assembling the piece.
Compare the work of Leo Fitzmaurice to that of Adam King. What do they have in
common?
Activities for pupils
Collect a range of packaging and supermarket boxes which are then manipulated or
joined together in a variety of ways to create a new object. This may have a function
(e.g. cereal box becomes a bag, egg box becomes a desk tidy) or could be purely
sculptural.
Create an installation with the objects that have been made. This could be indoors or
outdoors, on the floor or wall, hanging from the ceiling. Experiment with lighting and
shadows to change how the work is seen.
Collect a range of printed fliers and arrange them to produce patterns inspired by
Leo Fitzmaurice’s way of working.
Compare the work of Fitzmaurice to that of the Surrealists. Explore how everyday
objects, when placed in a different context, make us react (e.g. Dali’s lobster telephone,
Oppenheim’s fur lined tea cup). Pupils invent and produce similar works.
12
Doug Jones
Doug Jones’ subject matter is influenced by his personal history, with family
links to the Freemasons and a boyhood spent as a cathedral school chorister.
His installation works combine the sinister with a sense of irony and humour,
their Latin titles recalling ecclesiastical traditions and the power-wielding
institutions of the past.
Doug Jones lives and works in London. Born in 1967, he studied at Bucks Chiltern University College, completing
his MA at Falmouth University College in 2007. www.cerihand.co.uk
Other works by the artist
Non Sum Qualis Eram (2009):
The figures seen in Beyond Pattern are
part of a larger installation of the same
title, which includes a second group of
large black-cloaked and hooded
ecclesiastical figures, standing in a circle
around an empty white-sheeted
child-sized bedstead. http://www.cerihand.co.uk/index.php?/doug-jones/
In Utrumque Paratus (2009):
A crumpled parachute printed with ‘willow’
patterns.
http://www.cerihand.co.uk/index.php?/dou
g-jones/
Non Sum Qualis Eram (2009)
Translating as ‘I am not what I used to be’, in
this installation the artist exploits the dramatic
power of pattern to convey meanings on many
levels at once. Shrouded figures are presented
in fictional religious uniforms, standing in a
formation whose pattern implies a collective
ritual, submission to a higher authority or
procession towards a shared goal. The artist
researches and gathers his materials
meticulously, using textiles whose origins and
formal qualities refer to African and European
cultures and history, to organised religion and
popular culture. He sources garment fabrics
from suppliers to the Vatican, uses commercial
feed sacks, African batiks, nationalist symbols,
animal pattern fabrics and military-style insignia
to construct and embroider the uniforms that
cloak his figures.
13
Other artists to look at
Yinka Shonibare: British-born Nigerian
artist who makes installation and
sculpture relating to colonialism, the slave
trade and international commerce, using
printed fabrics made in the style of
traditional and contemporary African
textiles.
Nick Cave: Life-size ‘soundsuits’ made
from richly patterned materials such as
fun fur, vintage toys, sequins and hair.
David Mabb: Working with the decorative
patterns and political legacy of William
Morris and the Russian Constructivists.
Weblinks to these artists’ work can be
found in the appendix accompanying
this pack.
WORKSHEET
Doug Jones: Questions for teachers
How many figures make up this sculpture?
How do they compare in size?
How are they arranged in relation to each other?
How would you describe the way they are dressed? What other kinds of costume or
uniform do they remind you of?
Each costume is differently decorated. What ideas or messages are suggested by each
one?
What is the language of the work’s title? What does the title mean?
How does this sculpture make you feel?
Activities for pupils
In groups of three, come up with three questions you would like to ask about Doug
Jones’ artwork. Share with the rest of the class or swap with another group and answer
each other’s questions.
Research the origins and processes behind the patterns, fabrics and symbols used
to decorate Doug Jones’ figures. (How is silk made? How was military camouflage
invented? What was carried in the food sacks and where did it come from? How are batiks
printed?)
Design a fictional uniform. Explore ways of incorporating images, symbols, patterns and
textures that support and signify the role of its wearer. Develop these designs into a
wearable garment or headpiece exploiting a range of textiles, graphic media, recycled or
natural materials.
14
Adam King
Adam King uses collage to make two and three dimensional artworks that may
be contained within a picture frame or sprawl chaotically across a wall, ceiling or
floor. His site-specific pieces respond to a particular architectural space,
combining careful planning with on-the-spot improvisation using the assorted
materials he brings to the installation process.
Adam King lives and works in London. He trained at Brighton University and completed his MA in Drawing at
Wimbledon School of Art in 2002. . www.houldsworth.co.uk
Other works by the artist
New Forest (Cosmic Conundrums)
(2010): Made from mixed media collage
on board in a perspex box, this piece
demonstrates ways in which the artist
extends two dimensional collage into
three dimensions, using drawing, paint,
paper cuts and found images.
http://www.houldsworth.co.uk/artist-viewwork/adam-king/14
Other artists to look at
Franz Ackermann: Paintings and
installations on themes of globalisation,
travel and urban life.
Ambivalent Apocalypse (2008-9)
Spreading across the wall with a sense of
unrestrained growth, the structure of
Ambivalent Apocalypse mimics the pattern of
ever-expanding communication networks that
characterise our contemporary Western society
and how we use its world wide web. Paper cuts,
fabric, plastic, wire and recycled objects are
held together with paperclips, suggesting that
the relationships between compositional
elements are fragile and temporary. Details
within the artwork refer to the media, fashion
and consumerism, with its ‘throwaway’ ethos.
Resources from charity shops, markets,
magazines and catalogues are manipulated to
devise a three-dimensional ‘drawing’ in space.
Pattern is generated in an irregular way by the
repetition of identical paper cut motifs, such as
silhouetted bits of human skeleton, flowers and
abstract shapes.
15
Jim Drain: Brightly coloured installations
and sculpture incorporating textiles, found
objects, 2D and 3D pattern.
Weblinks to these artists’ work can be
found in the appendix accompanying
this pack.
WORKSHEET
Adam King: Questions for teachers
What does the work Ambivalent Apocalypse remind you of? (e.g. an explosion, a spider)
What do you think the title means?
How do you think this relates to the images and objects the artist has used?
Where did the artist source his materials?
How do you think the artist arrived at the final shape for the work?
How does the way the artwork is displayed relate to its immediate environment?
What is your favourite bit of the sculpture and why?
Activities for pupils
Discuss as a class or in groups, how society’s ‘throw away’ culture is impacting on
the way we live and our environment. How can we use our ‘waste products’ to better
effect? (links with D&T and the 6R’s: recycle, refuse, rethink, reduce, reuse, repair)
Investigate Adam King’s use of materials. Look at his work and list all the different
objects you can see (e.g. mirror ball, flower, skeleton hands). Which objects have been
found and which have been made by the artist? How have they been joined together?
How do they affect the surrounding space (e.g. reflections, shadows, linking to particular
features in the room)? How is pattern used or created in this work?
Create a three-dimensional ‘drawing’ in space. Collect a variety of recycled and found
materials. Cut out shapes and images from magazines on a chosen theme. Make up
multiple paper shapes from a template made by tracing round an object or stencil. As a
class or in groups, join together your assembled materials using wire and paper clips like
Adam King. Decide as a group how to display the artwork (from the ceiling, on the wall?).
16
Steve Messam
Steve Messam is an environmental artist who produces site-specific installations
in rural and urban settings. He has worked across the world, and has filled a
beach with thousands of sandcastles and paper flags (Beached, 2007); thrown a
huge bubble over a building (Landscape Bubble, 2006); and made a line of giant
balls from hundreds of red umbrellas in the heart of Shanghai (Souvenir, 2006).
Steve Messam is an artist and curator based in rural Cumbria in the North of England.
www.stevemessam.co.uk
Other works by the artist
Fleur de Sel (2009):
Steve made Fleur de Sel in collaboration
with artist Hannah Stewart. Clusters of
lacey white parasols were floated on the
canals of Venice and on Ullswater in
Cumbria. Echoing the crystal structure of
salt, the sculptures referred to the shared
significance of the trade and production of
salt in the history of both regions, as well
as to local lace-making traditions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/content/articles/2009/08/24/fleur_de_sel_feature.sht
ml
Clad 2009
Using fleece from locally bred Kerry Hill sheep,
bred specifically for their soft wool, the artist
‘clad’ a local timber-framed building he located
in Newtown, a small town in rural Powys,
Wales. Uniting the distinctive black and white
features of the sheep with that of the traditional
black and white building designs of the area, the
artist encourages us to consider the role of local
agriculture, architecture and aesthetics in the
environment. The work also highlights a specific
cultural and industrial heritage.
Other artists to look at
Anya Gallacio (Repens, 2000): Robert
Adam ceiling pattern transposed onto the
lawns at Compton Verney estate.
In a further development, the fleeces used in
Clad have been recycled, cleaned and woven
into black and white patterned blankets that will
be sold as a limited edition craft work.
Weblinks to these artists’ work can be
found in the appendix accompanying
this pack.
17
Susan Grant (Dispossession, 2007):
Site specific sculpture about the historic
loss of communities to large-scale
landscaping projects.
Morag Colquhoun: Artist addressing
environmental and energy issues through
site specific installation and video, as well
as sculpture using felted wool and wood.
WORKSHEET
Steve Messam: Questions for teachers
What do you think the title of Clad is referring to?
What is unusual about the materials the artist has used?
What has influenced the type of pattern that the artist has used?
Is this particular piece art, craft or design based? Give reasons for your answer.
How does this artwork impact on its environment?
The tactile quality of the surface of the house has changed its overall appearance. What
other materials could be used to change the aesthetic qualities of the house?
Viewing a piece like this as part of a gallery exhibition is sometimes difficult and can often
only be seen as a series of photographs or as a model. How does this change the way
one thinks and feels about the work?
Activities for pupils
Investigate Tudor timber framed architecture and building practices. Produce study
sheets of drawings and other relevant information about the design of these houses with
particular emphasis on the black and white pattern design. (History links)
Investigate and experiment with the uses and types of alternative materials such as
sheep fleeces. Consider their impact on construction practices and the built environment.
Discuss issues around the creation of sustainable housing and buildings. (Links to Design
and Technology and the Construction & Built Environment Diploma).
Design a site specific sculpture of your own. Relate ‘Clad’ to other site specific,
temporary sculptures (e.g. Andy Goldsworthy). What are the similarities and differences in
how the artists work, the outcomes and the materials they use? Produce sketchbook
studies of both artists’ work and ideas to inform designs for your own sculpture.
18
Henna Nadeem
Henna Nadeem creates photographic collages by superimposing meticulously
hand cut and decorative patterns onto various often clichéd landscape and travel
scenes. The underlying theme to the artist’s work is her interest in and emphasis
on geometry, pattern and landscape.
Born in Leeds in 1966, Henna Nadeem lives and works in London. She graduated with an MA from the Royal
College of Art, London in 1993. www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=10089
Other works by the artist
Entrance Garden (1999):
Hand cut floral motifs in the Marmoleum
floor of a hostel entrance in
Slough.http://www.axisweb.org/seCVWK.
aspx?ARTISTID=10089
Heaven 2/7 (2006):
Large-scale patterns in vinyl on window
screens enclosing a small office meeting
room.
http://www.axisweb.org/seCVWK.aspx?A
RTISTID=10089
Summit (2000) and B&W Mountains (2001)
In colour and monochrome respectively, these
two photocollages show us how Henna
Nadeem’s working method produces two kinds
of visual language that vie for prominence. The
‘background’ landscape photo presents us with
an illusion of depth. It is intercut with ornate
patterns cut from a different photo, so that our
eye is constantly drawn back to the surface.
The patterns the artist uses are borrowed from
Japanese, Islamic and Moorish stylised motifs,
producing interesting cultural juxtapositions.
Working with found images printed on paper,
such as magazine photographs, has imposed a
particular scale onto the work seen here, but
Nadeem also applies her ideas to large scale
installations and architectural works.
19
Other artists to look at
Paul Scott: Ceramics, print and
traditional patterns are used to explore
themes around landscapes and their
industrial and agricultural heritage.
Ian Skoyles: Pieces from disparate
jigsaw puzzles are reassembled to
create new artworks, combining idealistic
landscape scenes and cultural
stereotypes in a single puzzle.
Katie Allen: Intricately patterned and
highly stylised landscape paintings.
Weblinks to these artists’ work can be
found in the appendix accompanying
this pack.
WORKSHEET
Henna Nadeem: Questions for teachers
Which cultures do you think have inspired Nadeem’s use of pattern?
Where does she source the materials that she uses in her collages?
What processes and techniques does the artist use?
How does this affect our understanding of space in the works?
What are the differences and similarities between ‘Summit’ and ‘B & W Mountains’?
Activities for pupils
Research and record through drawing the patterns of other cultures. These could
come from textiles, carpets, ceramic tiles. Pupils examine and discuss their influence on
our society, locally and nationally.
Explore the theme of landscape through a variety of sketchbook studies. Pupils
compare Nadeem’s work with that of artists such as John Piper and Howard Hodgkin.
Create a mixed media landscape collage as seen from a classroom window. Pupils
collect and use a range of found photographic images and patterns.
20
Angharad Pearce Jones
Angharad Pearce Jones is a designer blacksmith, who produces metal artefacts
and public sculpture. Her artworks result from an ongoing interest in the
changing nature of human working methods and how these impact on society
and the landscapes in which we live and work. They are usually site specific and
can be temporary or permanent.
Angharad lives and works in Garnant, Carmarthenshire. Born in 1969, she graduated from Brighton University in
1991 and completed her MA at University of Wales, Cardiff in 1999. www.angharadpearcejones.com
Other works by the artist
Branding the Land (2003):
Scrawling across a grassy bank next to
the modern great glasshouse, red flowers
were used to recreate the giant signature
of eighteenth century landscape
gardener, Samuel Lapidge. At National
Botanic Garden of Wales, 2003.
http://artinwales.250x.com/PearceJones.htm
I-Beam (Trawst-I), (2009)
Reminiscent of a structural girder used in
commercial building practices, this hand-crafted
object is at the opposite end of the spectrum
to mass machine-produced components
necessary for modern quick-builds. Western
construction methods, exported to developing
countries or those recovering from war, replace
indigenous building techniques and traditional
skills, resulting in major shifts in manufacture.
The availability and cost of raw materials such
as steel are determined by a global market.
Corporate logos representing companies from
China, Japan, Germany and Canada, link
together within the girder in a repeat pattern.
Unable to provide strength and support, the
girder’s futility is apparent, emphasising a move
from hand crafted, highly skilled work, to fast
and cheap production methods in an
increasingly globalised world.
21
Llen (1999:
A series of works constructed with
scaffolding poles covered in flock
wallpaper. Like the re-landscaping of the
industrial valleys and now redundant
mining communities of South Wales,
structures used for building are covered
over with decorative DIY materials.
Other artists to look at
Andy Hazell, Wheel of Drams (2000).
A vast steel ring made from six curving
rail freight trucks, marking one end of
Hengoed Viaduct, which once carried
mining products across an industrial
valley and is now a leisure route for
walkers and cyclists.
Simeon Nelson: Sculpture and
installation that investigate how humans
and nature interact and the patterns this
generates.
Weblinks to these artists’ work can be
found in the appendix accompanying
this pack.
WORKSHEET
Angharad Pearce Jones: Questions for teachers
Girders are usually solid, and steel grey in colour. How would you describe Pearce Jones’
girder? Why do you think the artist made it like this?
The motifs in the girder come from construction company logos. How has the artist used
them to create pattern?
The girder is only attached to the wall at one end. Why do you think the artist did this?
How does the position of the girder on the wall effect its immediate environment?
Activities for pupils
Design a simple personal logo or motif.
Use relief printmaking to develop repeat patterns based on these designs. Make
card stencils, polystyrene or linocut blocks from these personal logos.
Transform an architectural feature in your school using pattern. Using different
coloured insulation tapes, cut out paper or sticky-backed vinyl, temporarily cover the
surface of a wall, pillar, window or door with decorative patterns.
Produce studies of the decorative features of different buildings. Explore their age,
function, size, architect, what materials were used. Discuss how buildings can change the
landscape and why.
Investigate how your school or home was built. What materials were used? How were
they produced? How sustainable are they?
22
Pamela So
Based in Scotland of Chinese heritage, Pamela So often made work about
aspects of the Chinese community living in the UK. Using photography,
installation and paper cuts, she explored domestic and cultural histories in both
private and stately homes and museums. She was inspired by patterns in
Moroccan and Eastern fabrics, Chinese blue and white ceramics and Chinese
plants in botanic gardens.
Pamela So (1947-2010) was born in Glasgow. Trained initially in Historical Geography, she graduated from the
Environmental Art Department, Glasgow School of Art in 1998.
http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=13260
Other works by the artist
Paper Cut (2006):
In her paper cuts, the artist cut and folded
stiff paper to create low relief wall pieces
that explored the plant forms and patterns
found in traditional Chinese ceramics.
http://www.axisweb.org/seWork.aspx?WO
RKID=57117
Other artists to look at
Millie Burton, General Effects (2006):
a four-year project documenting her
grandmother's house in the years leading
up to her death and its subsequent sale.
Homeground (2005-9) & Boudoir (2007)
Homeground’s photographs celebrate the
cultural mix in her elderly mother’s home, where
decorative patterns and objects illustrate the
family’s journey from China to Britain. They
show a private world whose domestic space
juxtaposes English and Indian textiles, Chinese
ornaments and European artworks.
Boudoir re-constructs a distant memory of
watching her mother apply make-up at the
dressing table. The artist used materials (talcum
powder, light and shadow) whose patterns are
easily erased, delicate and ephemeral. Powder
is sieved through a stencil derived from a
Chinese embroidered mat, on to a mirror and its
pattern reflected on to the wall. Alongside are
ink drawings of crocheted mats. The artist drew
each stitch, to better understand the pattern’s
construction and the labour involved in making
it.http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTIS
TID=13260
23
Kate Peters: Photographic portraits,
landscapes and interiors, both inhabited
and abandoned.
Weblinks to these artists’ work can be
found in the appendix accompanying
this pack.
WORKSHEET
Pamela So: Questions for teachers
Describe the contents of each photograph in Homeground.
What might they tell us about the artist’s family history?
Why do you think the artist selected these particular viewpoints of her mother’s home?
How do these photographs link to the concept of pattern?
Which photograph do you find most interesting and why?
Describe the materials and processes used in Boudoir, in which the artist tries to evoke a
childhood memory. Why do you think she chose them?
Activities for pupils
Using thumbnail sketches describe from memory the contents of a favourite room
in your house or that of someone close to you. What do your sketches tell us about
that person or their family (e.g. their hobbies, history, work)?
Produce drawings, sketches, photographs of parts of the house. Discuss with pupils
how to select interesting or unusual viewpoints and compositions.
Produce a series of photos of interiors and objects focusing on pattern. Look for
patterns (decorative, surface, texture, light and shadow) in the views selected. Discuss the
reasons for your choices and compositions.
Describe and make drawings of your favourite trinket or personal object. Try to
relate why this object has such significance – discuss how this could be done e.g. through
words, symbols, colours, context.
Compare Pamela So’s photographs to David Hockney’s photomontages.
24
Andrea Stokes
Andrea Stokes is interested in the meanings inherent in places and objects and
uses a range of media to draw attention to them, including video, text,
photography and drawing. The works here explore the net curtain, which allows
a partial view onto the outside while keeping the interior hidden, and which the
artist associates with ideas of conformity and aspiration.
Andrea Stokes lives and works in Hampshire. Born in 1961, she studied Sculpture at Liverpool Polytechnic and
Experimental Media at the Slade School of Art. www.andreastokes.com
Other works by the artist
Puncture (2004):
Is a site-specific video installation that
projects a blue sky aperture onto the
vaulted ceiling of Portsmouth Cathedral.
Over time, a woman constantly reappears
at its edge, reaching across the ‘opening’
to draw and re-draw a series of white line
structures, like climbing frames that might
offer an escape route to the viewer below.
http://www.andreastokes.com/projects/Pu
ncture.htm
Hampshire (2002) & Just a Kiss (2009),
Module 1 (2008)
In the video Hampshire, the artist stands behind
a tautly stretched net curtain. Using scissors,
she cuts out each flower motif using only one
hand. The sound of snipping and the slowness
of the task creates a sense of frustration. This
contrasts with the background birdsong and
sunny garden which gradually is revealed. Is
her cutting out of the artificial flowers an act of
destruction or revelation? In her drawings she
painstakingly copies the mass-produced pattern
of a net curtain. Just a Kiss (2009) interrupts the
ornate symmetry of the pattern with a tiny ‘X’,
symbolising perhaps a private act of rebellion.
The artist associates net curtains with a particular kind of ‘Englishness’ - is the artist illustrating
attempts to break free from this? http://www.andreastokes.com/projects/Hampshire.htm
25
Other artists to look at
Mary Maclean: Photographs of recently
vacated public or domestic spaces.
Printed onto aluminium, their surfaces
deliberately introduce the viewer’s
reflection into the setting portrayed.
Louise Hopkins: Drawing and painting
onto found surfaces (floral patterned
furnishing fabrics, maps, sheet music,
etc.) that selectively reveal and obscure
details of the original.
Weblinks to these artists’ work can be
found in the appendix accompanying
this pack.
WORKSHEET
Andrea Stokes: Questions for teachers
What medium has the artist used to produce these drawings?
Do you think that the artist has designed these patterns herself or are they copied from
another source? Where would you normally find this material?
Why do you think the artist decided to make her drawings in this way?
Why do you think the artist named the larger drawing ‘Just a Kiss’?
In the video ‘Hampshire’, the artist cuts away at portions of a net curtain that hangs
between us and her. What effect does this have on the fabric’s pattern? How does it
change the scene’s background?
Why do you think the artist filmed this activity?
Activities for pupils
Explore the theme ‘Cutting to Destroy or Create’ by making a short stop-frame
animation or film. Research the theme initially by watching and discussing the ideas in
Andrea Stokes’ video ‘Hampshire’ (in the gallery or on the web link provided). Experiment
with cutting up found images, text or patterned wallpaper and reassembling the pieces in
new arrangements. Try playing with ideas of concealing and revealing in your artwork.
Make studies of decorative fabrics through observational drawing. Provide pupils
with a range of decorative fabrics. Explore their patterns by working with tone and pencil
and then develop through colour. Introduce new elements into the found patterns to
disrupt and reinvent them. Display pupils’ new designs alongside samples of the original
fabrics.
26
Acknowledgments
An Oriel Davies Touring exhibition
Curated by Alex Boyd Jones
This resource pack has been developed by Helen Kozich, Alex Boyd Jones and
Matthew Richardson at Oriel Davies Gallery, with consultation and input from
Karen Howell, School Improvement Adviser [Art and Design and Design and
Technology], Shropshire Council.
Beyond Pattern has been made possible through an Arts Council of Wales
Beacon Company Award 2008-10. Supported by the National Lottery through
Arts Council England and The Laura Ashley Foundation.
Catherine Bertola is represented by Workplace Gallery, Gateshead; Doug Jones
is represented by Ceri Hand Gallery, Liverpool; Adam King is represented by
Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London
© Oriel Davies Gallery, the artist, the authors 2010. All works are reproduced
courtesy of the artists. All rights reserved.
Photos: Stuart Whipps
27