Printing, Voltaire & Cheese

Whilst looking through some photos of my visits to Geneva over the last couple of years I found these images of beautiful metal tools in a really wonderful Letterpress museum in Ferney Voltaire (Named after Voltaire, French writer and philosopher. You can also visit his house in the village)

The photos reminded me of the utilitarian beauty of metal, and also of good times eating my favourite local dish, tartiflette.

Richard Serra at the Guggenheim, Bilbao

A recent visit to see Serra's monumental sculptures at the Guggenheim in Bilbao led me to think about the scale of my own metalwork and inspired me to think on more ambitious and industrial scales. 

Capturing details of the world

“Photographers found that as they more narrowly cropped reality, magnificent forms appeared.” 

Susan Sontag ‘On photography’.

Above are pictures of:

Street in Chicago, 2013

Metal wall piece - Bath city series, 2014

Metal wall piece - Bath city series, 2014

Flaking paint on wall of Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary, 2012 

Metal wall piece - Bath city series, 2014

Peeling paint on Edinburgh's Leith dockside, 2014

Metal wall piece - Bath city series, 2014

Wall surface, Chicago, 2013
Metal wall piece - Bath city series, 2014
Litchen, Eastern State Penitentiary, 2012

A walk through Industrial Bristol

Last weekend, I took a sunny walk along the harbourside in Bristol with enamel jeweller Jessica Turrell.  The journey took us from Cumberland basin to Centrespace studios, where we both work.  We're working on concurrent projects for a 'Make & Think' research group project with the Univeristy of the West of England.

The highlight for me was exploring the working boat yard; Underfall Yard.  I was in industrial heaven.  Functional details often have a life, or character to them, which, for me, stems from their imagined use. 

 

 

And of course I found plenty of rusty metal joy at the dockyard.

Industry often works its way in to my own metalwork:

Leith Docks 2014 made for INDUSTRIAL SHIFT solo exhibition at Edinburgh Printmakers

Tinsmith Template Series 2012

Find more industrial work here.

You can see Jessica's photos of our walk on her facebook page.

A hypnotic glimpse of tile making

at British Ceramic Tile...

Come and Meet the Makers....

Rebecca Gouldson
Meet the Makers at Contemporary Applied Arts, London

  

I'd love it if you can join me on Thursday, 20 August, 3-5pm for an informal Meet the Makers afternoon at Contemporary Applied Arts Gallery, at 89 Southwark Street.

Refreshments will be served.

  

The event is part of the current New Members Showcase which includes new work and rarely seen pieces by:

Jilly Edwards

Rebecca Gouldson

Akiko Hirai

Tony Laverick

Agalis Manessi

  

Admission is free. If you would like to join me, please email  rsvp@caa.org.uk by Wednesday 19 August.

Metal reflecting light in Interiors

I wanted to pay homage this week to Amanda Celeste, who earlier this year wrote a fantastic article about the role of texture and light in interiors, with reference to colour theory.

Her article is particularly poignant for me, working with both texture and light.

"Light-reflective textures such as silk, paints with a sheen, glazed, or glossy finish and as mentioned mirrors and metals bounce light around the room."

Interior from Amanda's article

Interior from Amanda's article

Installation of metal wall pieces by Rebecca Gouldson for Private Client, Park Ave, New York.

"Colours can look brighter, stronger and possibly even lighter when seen on reflective surfaces such as glass, mirror and metals. Our perception of a colour’s temperature can also alter under different lighting, at different times of day and when seen in relation to other colours"

Installation of abstract metal wall pieces by Rebecca Gouldson, Private Client, London; Silver plated gilding metal

 These examples show how metal can reflect light and brighten dull walls.  The metal surfaces transform throughout the day with the changing light, which has the added benefit of creating a different mood and atmoshpere with each change in light.

Installation of abstract metal wall pieces by Rebecca Gouldson, Private Client,Winchester; Silver plated gilding metal

See Amanda's excellent article here:  http://amandaceleste.com/2015/01/25/colour-theory-what-effect-does-texture-have-on-light-colour/