TO THE LETTER 3rd September - 1st October 2014 To the Letter celebrates the art of lettercutting. We have brought together artists from past and present including senior and emerging talent. The exhibition includes a variety of mediums which includes paper, silver, stone, lighting, ceramics and glass. All the work examines the artists’ individual approach to setting letters, and the power of words when transcended from the page. Gary Breeze Gus Fisher Peter Furlonger Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925 – 2006) Miriam Hanid Richard Kindersley William Kirk (1933 – 2009) Angie Lewin Michael Lloyd Kate Scott Graham Stewart Karen Marion Wallace
Gary Breeze Born in Essex in 1966, Gary studied Graphic Design at Norwich School of Art followed by an apprenticeship with the letter-carver and sculptor David Holgate. In 1992 he worked as assistant to Richard Kindersley before setting up his own workshop in London a year later. Gary Breeze is first and foremost a lettercutter of stone and wood. Drawing letterforms for carving is a hard won skill which requires a particular attention to detail: useful to Design in general. Early commissions for public sculpture came through Art in Partnership in Scotland, including the Wisdom frieze for Glasgow High Court of Justiciary completed in 1995. Since then Gary has completed a number of major public works in Scotland including lettering at the New Scottish Parliament, Glasgow Caledonian University, and most recently, an oak seating installation at the State Hospital. “…Breeze works as an ethnographer as much as a carver.… His work is immersed in the particularities of words and voice and culture. He restores language to us through his lettering.” Edmund de Waal, THINKTANK, 2005
Left: Gary Breeze in his studio in Norfolk. Photo: Philip Sayer
The Castle, 2013 Reclaimed Hoptonwood Derbyshire limestone 85cm x 36cm x 2cm “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was written by a late 14th century monk living on the Derbyshire Staffordshire border, in a Middle English dialect. This text, hovering behind semi-familiar word-shapes, has been inscribed on a rare local stone. The translation has been created digitally from a photograph of the stone inscription and mounted to form a trompe l’oeil partner.” Gary Breeze
Gus Fisher Gus Fisher is an artist and craftsman working with letter design and stone carving around Edinburgh. He is the youngest member of the Scottish Lettercutter’s Association, a prestigious organisation that seeks to promote the traditional art of lettercarving. Gus has developed an appreciation and love of lettering as an art form in its own right. He has a strong interest in the fragments of letters bequeathed to us from earlier civilisations, as seen in ancient ruined cities. Gus believes that a single letter still carries the integrity of the original script, even if the whole statement is unknown and the meaning long since lost. In his own work, he takes great care to attend to the personality and detail of each letter. Gus has mainly focused on the permanence of incised or bass-relief letters, hand drawn and cut into stone, but is now expanding into crafting other materials including metal. Working from traditional Roman capitals, he has developed bespoke and fluid lettering, specific for each and every piece.
The Cube, 2014. Black Kilkenny limestone 85 x 85 x 85 mm “words like nature half reveal and half conceal the soul within”. Lord Tennyson The black limestone cube achieves a changing perspective of cut words, extending through the three dimensions by rotation of the cube. This reflects the artist’s experience that to understand a meaning, it must be contemplated from many different positions.
Peter Furlonger Peter Furlonger is a glass engraver, calligrapher and stoner carver. “While working in various media- glass, stone, paper et al., – I have focused mainly on glass as a medium for the expression of my interest in letterform. By working on 3D surfaces I have been able to realise the intrinsic beauty of abstact calligraphy; by working on transparent surfaces I have discovered the excitement of overlay patterns,fragmenting as they interact in space, through the dynamic of 3D form. In using opaque overlay glass a more colouristic and tactile medium has evolved, making possible the use of solid structures of multiple overlaid letter-surfaces, differentiated by colour contrast,resulting in designs of a more intricate complexity, and greater sculptural presence. I design the glass from its inception through to completion, which involves a process of making [hot and cold process], and a process of engraving [maskcutting and sandblasting]. There is a great deal of control and planning involved and I am able to specify every detail;- and then the glass takes over! The end result is therefore very much a collaboration between glass-maker, myself and the glass. In the end the glass has the last ‘say’-that is the magic of glass!” Peter Furlonger Public Collections Victoria & Albert Museum National Museum of Scotland; [Dan Klein & Alan J.Poole Collection] Broadfield House Collection, Stourbridge The National Glass Centre, Sunderland Shipley Art Gallery, Tyne & Wear Museums
The Golden Tree of actual life, 2009, 42cms diameter. Transparent green cased studio glass, hand engraved.
The Force that Through the Green (Thomas Hardy), screenprint 2014, edition of 50. 80cm x 60 cms
Studio Shot - TZ to get
Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925 - 2006) The art of Ian Hamilton Finlay is unusual for encompassing a variety of different media and discourses. Poetry, philosophy, history, gardening and landscape design are among the genres of expression through which his work moves, and his activities have assumed concrete form in cards, books, prints, inscribed stone or wood sculptures, room installations and fully realised garden environments. Common to all of Finlay’s diverse production is the inscription of language words, invented or borrowed phrases and other semiotic devices - onto real objects and thus into the world. That language inhabits, for Finlay, a material or real dimension gives rise to the two seemingly opposed but signal characteristics of his work. On the one hand, Finlay, beginning with with his early experiments with concrete poetry, has always been acutely sensitive to the formalist concerns (colour, shape, scale, texture, composition) of literary and artistic modernism. On the other hand, Finlay, a committed poet and student of classical philosophy, has also always recognised the power of language and art to shape our perceptions of the world and even to incite us to action. Fused in his work is thus a certain formalist purity and an insistent polemical edge, “the terse economy of concrete poetry and the elegant [and speaking] simplicity of the classical inscription.” Formalist devices are themselves shown to be never without meaning, and they are ingeniously deployed by Finlay to arm his works with an ever more evocative content.
Ian Hamilton Finlay, Stonypath, 1988.
Miriam Hanid “The essence of movement in water is the inspiration for my work. In water there is an endless range of forms and patterns, each with its own unique and intricate beauty, never repeating, giving me an infinite visual language with which to express my ideas. I find silver the ideal medium as it is sensitive to heat, moisture, movement and emotion, and is multidimensional just as water is. It reflects 98 per cent of light and can look transparent, so is the perfect material for representing water. In 2009 I spent a week studying engraving with silversmith, jeweller and engraver Malcolm Appleby, which I found to be a transformative time, full of new experiences and approaches to working with silver. He introduced me to the hand-engraving technique that has enabled me to add depth to the surface of the silver through intricate detail.” Miriam Hanid Miriam Hanid is creating a special showcase of new pieces for our Edinburgh International Festival exhibitions, August 2015 Public Collections: Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths’, London New College Oxford Victoria & Albert Museum, London National Museum Wales, Cardiff The Pearson Collection
Miriam Hanid Twisting Bowl, 2013 Sterling silver, blue topaz Hand forged, engraved and carved 10 x 10 x 2 cms
Richard Kindersley Richard Kindersley studied lettering and sculpture at Cambridge School of Art and in his Father’s workshop. In 1970 he set up his own studio in London, accepting commissions for lettering and sculpture. Among his sculpture commissions are works for Exeter University, British Telecom, Sainsbury’s, Lloyds Register of Shipping, Flaxyards, Christies’ Fine Art and Night and Day Grosvenor Square London, Winner of 7 major brick carving competitions and awarded the Royal Society of Art, Art for Architecture Award. He has designed title lettering schemes for London Bridge, Tower Bridge and the M25 Queen Elizabeth Bridge over the Thames at Dartford; the New Crown Court Buildings in Liverpool, Leeds, Swindon, Newcastle and Luton; University buildings in Cambridge, Oxford, Exeter, Kent and Staffordshire. Designs for theatres and major shopping centres where both the main building titles as well as the signing systems were produced, including the Grafton Shopping Centre, Cambridge, Piries Place, Horsham and St. Peter’s Place, Grantham. Title lettering for the London Business School, Bank of Ireland, British Bank of Hong Kong in Dubai and Barclays Bank International; Penguin Books, Liberty’s of London and the Lindisfarne Museum, Public Record Office, Kew, Shirley Sherwood Gallery Kew Gardens. Title Lettering for National Gallery of Ireland, and the new British Embassy Algiers. Inscription on glass, wood and stone for the Supreme Court, Parliament Square London. Inscriptions for many of the great churches and cathedrals around the country including St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey.
Left: Richard Kindersley in his studio, London. Photograph by Peter Kindersley
It is Only Jerusalem, 2003. The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupery. Limestone, 785 x 345 x 30mm
Square Spiral, 2013. Quotation is from Bhagavad Gita Caithness Flagstone, 1350 x 735 x 35mm
William Kirk (1933 - 2009) 1950 – 1961 Assistant to Charles Creswick, Edinburgh (Sculptural Bronze Founding and Silversmithing) 1961 Formed studio as a designer silversmith and engraver 1961 – 1978 Lecturer at Glasgow School of Art 1980 – 1999 Lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art “I first met Bill when he was a part-time tutor at Glasgow School of Art in 1961 – 62, invited to teach a class in hand-engraving. He made an instant impression with his skill in that specialism, and with his patience, as he made a valiant attempt to introduce our class to the basics. I can still manage to shape and sharpen a graver, but he did open my eyes to the design possibilities of engraving, especially in the application of lettering. Though we met infrequently, over the next 35 years I became increasingly aware of the breadth and depth of his craftsmanship, and of his quiet dedication to true perfection in hand skills, often of high risk. I remember one visit to his studio when I found him carving a long biblical inscription on a huge slab of slate destined for the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh. Technically, he was always in a league apart, and his personal modesty concealed a truly impressive professional accomplishment, and the work that he leaves will be admired and treasured always.” Roger Millar, Silversmith Public Collections National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museum, Aberdeen Huntly House Museum, Edinburgh Edinburgh University, Napier University, Stirling University Bute House Collection
William Kirk in his studio, Edinburgh, c. 2007. Photograph: Shannon Tofts
Alphabet lettercut slate c.2004 15.3 h x 15.3 w x 2.1 d cms Double sided work. Photograph: Shannon Tofts
Angie Lewin Angie Lewin’s work is inspired by walking and sketching in the landscape. Seedheads, feathers and other objects are collected on walks and stored in jam jars, boxes and ceramics on her studio shelves. Angie is mostly based in Scotland between her home in Edinburgh and Speyside. I studied BA(Hons) Fine Art Printmaking at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design between 1983 and 1986, followed by a year’s part-time postgraduate printmaking at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts. After working in London as an illustrator I studied horticulture and a move to Norfolk prompted a return to printmaking. Inspired by both the clifftops and saltmarshes of the North Norfolk coast and the Scottish Highlands, I depict these contrasting environments and their native flora in wood engraving, linocut, silkscreen, lithograph and collage. These landscapes are often glimpsed through intricately detailed plantforms. Angie Lewin is creating a new series of watercolours for her forthcoming exhibition at The Scottish Gallery, May 2015.
Angie Lewin’s screenprint ’Shoreline’ depicts her Eric Ravilious designed alphabet mug, filled with feathers and seedheads, surrounded by seaweeds and shells collected on countless coastal walks around the UK. ‘Shoreline’, screenprint, 2014. Edition size is 150. Image dimensions: W: 560mm x H: 725mm
Michael Lloyd Michael Lloyd was born in Salisbury in 1950. He trained first at the Birmingham School of Silversmithing and then at the Royal College of Art under Professor Robert Goodden and Professor Gerald Benney. He has lived and worked in Scotland for over 30 years and is based near Castle Douglas. Michael describes himself as a compulsive maker. Certainly his beautiful, chased silver and gold vessels illustrate a profound understanding of both material and techniques. Inspired by the natural world, his work becomes, in his own words ‘an act of homage both to our landscape and to our increasingly fragile sense of creativity.’ Michael Lloyd is building a special collection of new work which will be unveiled as part of our Edinburgh International Festival exhibitions in August 2016. Public collections include: Victoria & Albert Museum, London Worshipful company of Goldsmiths, London National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh Crafts Council, London Birmingham City Art Gallery Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Michael Lloyd working in his studio near Castle Douglas, August 2014
Michael Lloyd, silver, hammer raised and chased with gilt interior, 2014 Dimensions , diameter115mm x 60mm height ‘Ille terrarum mihi praeter omnes angulus ridet’ Horace. (this corner of the earth smiles for me more than any other)
Kate Scott Kate Scott trained originally in graphic arts, and worked as a designer in publishing. What started as a casual enthusiasm for ceramics gradually took over, and she now works full time from a studio in south east London. She exhibits mostly in London, including at The Contemporary Ceramics Centre, and at shows such as Ceramic Art London. She is a professional member of the Craft Potters Association. My recent work has been in stoneware, investigating textures and patterns inspired by the shoreline and the sea. I am also using texts associated with the sea, in particular the Anglo-Saxon poem “The Seafarer� The stoneware body is first coloured with oxides, and once made, each piece is carved and inlaid. It is my intention that the decoration should be part of the surface of each piece, rather than a later addition.
Alphabet beakers, 2014. Stoneware
To the Sea, text by Philip Larkin, 2014. Stoneware with incised slip. Diameter 48cm
Graham Stewart “Lettering can be the starting point of a piece of work or the final detail. Either way, I use words in my silversmithing just about every day. I was taught the proportions of Roman Capitals as a school boy. Later on, at Art School in the early 70’s, some understanding and ability to design letter forms was still part of the basic tool kit. This good foundation has allowed me to create my own style of lettering, which varies with each new piece.” Graham Stewart, July 2014 Graham Stewart is a designer, gold and silversmith who has been running his workshop and gallery in Dunblane, Scotland since 1978. Working along with his small team of skilled and long established craftsmen, he produces innovative, clean-lined, sculptural pieces of silver from high profile commemorative presentation pieces to fine quality functional silver. The silver is produced using traditional techniques such as raising, spinning, cold forging, planishing, and chasing. Graham specialises in fine hand-cut engraving. He also designs and makes a small range of fine jewellery. Selected Public & Private Collections: HM The Queen HRH The Duke of Edinburgh HRH The Princess Royal Baroness Thatcher Victoria & Albert Museum, London The Scottish Parliament, Holyrood, Edinburgh The British Embassy, Washington D.C., USA The Bute House Millenium Collection, Edinburgh The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, London The Worshipful Company of Engineers, London Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
“I was invited to participate in this exhibition in the spring, around May. The return of the curlews and the swallows around our home at that time makes for an uplifting experience. The simple bowl I have made take note of and celebrate this cycle which seemed an appropriate starting point.� Graham Stewart, July 2014 Curlew Bowl, silver, engraved, 2014. 19.5 cms (diameter) x 10 cm (height).
Karen Marion Wallace “After graduating from Glasgow School of Art in 2007, I became a trainee goldsmith with Rehan Kruger, who is a master goldsmith from South Africa. My passion is engraving and I was fortunate enough at this time to meet Malcolm Appleby and I have been an Apprentice with Malcolm for two years now. This is a fantastic opportunity for me and I have had the privilege of working with Malcolm on a number of commissions, including a pair of candlesticks for St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh. I enjoy being a maker and working with Malcolm has made me realise how imperative practice and dedication is to success. He gently guides me through the process where I am enabled to create something incredible from the first cut.” Karen Marion Wallace
Karen Marion Wallace in Malcolm Appleby’s studio, Aultbeag
“The idea behind ‘Wonderland’ is about the dyslexia which I suffer from quite severely. When I was little I used to have ‘back to front’ days when I would write everything in mirror image (back to front) with letters and words on top of words. When I look at a page of text it turns into a pattern and words dominate the page and all I can see is letters. ‘Wonderland’ is my attempt to show people what text looks like to me sometimes. By engraving words and letters onto metal and turning them into a pattern and a form of decoration, is my way of working with my dyslexia to my advantage.” Karen Marion Wallace, August 2014.
Wonderland, 2014. Britannia silver, gilt interior, beaker made by Kate Earlham, hand engraved by Karen Marion Wallace. Dimensions: