Devon Open Studios at the Significant Seams Apple Studio

Strength & Fragility, Catherine West

In 2019 my puppy chewed through a bit of lace crocheted by my great-great-grandmother. In metabolising the (apparent) loss of this heirloom, I began drawing it. [I’ve kept the lace in its evolved state.] The focus that the drawing required led my eyes into the close examination of skeleton magnolia leaves.

Left beneath a tree through the winter, in the late spring they are a fascinating further example of the tension between strength and fragility.  Leaf litter becomes a metaphor for what we value and give our attention to.

Artmaking helps me metabolise ideas, questions and the world around me. 

I will be exhibiting a collection of drawings inspired by my great-great grandmother’s lace and these magnolia leaves in the Significant Seams dye studio. I will also be re-installing my collection ‘Unfurling 2020′ in the greenhouse. It was longlisted for the 2021 Sustainability First Art Prize. The behaviours of ferns inspire this additional body of work about finding patience and strength during moments when one feels fragile. 

Treescapes and Portraits, Sue Side

Whilst I didn’t have a puppy chew a piece of valued lace, my creative journey has also been influenced by having a young dog in my life. Bess the Lurcher loves her walks and, being very new to Devon, we are out daily exploring its land, no matter what the weather! And what a glorious place it is! The skies are huge, luminous and full of drama. The trees and land are rich with story. Bess and I now spend long tracks of time looking up at branch lines and watching the sky dance. Of course, this has impacted on my work in which I’m currently exploring the interplay between land, tree and sky; the patterns, the forms and textures. And, always, the light. I work in drawing media, using inks, graphite and charcoal. I like their elemental feel and how they link closely with the natural world.

During DOS, I will be sharing some of these works alongside some of my portraits. My portraits sit in many private collections, but I have a few to share. Using graphite pencil, I again work at exploring the story of an individual. I look forward to sharing both artworks and process with you.

Masks and Meaning, Teresa Rodrigues

I have been making negative-cast masks for over 30 years now, in moulds that I make myself.

For this exhibition, I am casting materials, both natural and humanmade, that are seen about the countryside. 

The masks are ephemeral, and the materials they contain suggest characters and themes, as any theatre art might.

I will be exhibiting on the original hand-hewn Carpenter’s bench in the historic pole barn.

Weather permitting, examples of my work with recycled textiles, which are mostly birds, will adorn the garden’s trees.

The ‘Eyes’ Have It, Molly Brice-Nye

Eyes were the first thing I learned to draw through realism & I find them endearing. It’s amazing that our body can make something so beautiful. My artwork shows what I was going through & struggling with at different times and it also shows how much I’ve grown and changed. In this collection of artwork I’m exploring how one sometimes hide the truth to protect others. My exhibition will be installed in a stone potting shed.

“Empowerment” is a watercolour painting of a tribal woman that I painted from a found photograph because I loved the sense of strength, the patterns of her tattoos, and the colours of her earrings. Creating this piece affected my work – leading me to think about patterns and tattoos on skin.

You can see this impact on “All Seeing,” in particular. The woman’s face becomes all eyes. I’ve created patterns that have been described as ‘tendonising’ the body in her clothes. I like the thought that the all-seeing already knows. Everything you’ve said, a person on your shoulder, they understand it more than you, or anybody else. They’ve had a longer time to process.