New perspectives 2012

Pollok House

New Perspectives Saturday 17th March until Saturday 31st March 2012

An Exhibition of New Works of Art: Peter Bevan J. Keith Donnelly Emma Ewan Stephen Livingstone Oliver Mezger Morag Muego Louise Oppenheimer Penny Sharp Innes Smith Ally Wallace Clare Yarrington Zivile Siutilaite

New Perspectives All texts and images contained within the spreads of named artists in this catalogue are Š 2012 the artist. All other texts, images and logos are Š 2012 the National Trust for Scotland.

No image text or logo may be reproduced from this catalogue without prior written permission from the copyright owners.

Contact the National Trust for Scotland Hermiston Quay 5 Cultins Road Edinburgh EH 11

Pollok House Pollok Country Park 2060 Pollokshaws Road Glasgow G43 1AT 0844 493 2202

Exhibition in Order of Route Main Corridor – Louise Oppenheimer Morning Room – Clare Yarrington Silver Corridor – Peter Bevan Print Room – J. Keith Donnelly Drawing Room – Stephen Livingstone Drawing Room – Penny Sharp & Innes Smith Drawing Room – Ally Wallace Cedar Room – Oliver Mezger Servants’ Corridor – Zivile Siutilaite

UPSTAIRS Family Room – Morag Muego

Some of the artworks in this exhibition are for sale, please ask at the front desk if you would like more information.

Upper Floor

All the artworks in this catalogue were created specifically for the Pollok House: New Perspectives exhibition. Each one is inspired by a specific item from the Pollok House collection: a painting, a piece of furniture, etching, print or sculpture. Each is exhibited alongside, or close to, the original piece that inspired it.

The response to our request for proposals for the exhibition was spectacular, and the quality of the vast majority of them was high; making it a difficult selection process. We eventually chose two more than we had originally planned. There were others, had we more room, that we would also have chosen. Maybe next year.

We all hope you enjoy this, the first (hopefully), of future such exhibitions here at Pollok House.

Dr Joe Murray Pollok House 16th March 2012

Main Floor

Sculpture

Emma Ewan

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his piece explores the significance of the historic art object; in this case, the entrance hall lantern. Objects held in collections, and their attributed values, are brought into question through a play on absence. The outcome appears fluid, temporary or unsustainable while being physically solid; the use of material symbolising, on a basic level, the commodity-based values of society. This piece in particular was inspired by a line in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz; ‘He was, in one sense, the richest man that ever lived – and yet was he worth anything at all?’

About Emma Ewan Emma is about to graduate from Glasgow School of Art. Her work aims to question various value systems. Her work references at once both high and low art, to embody an aesthetic that the viewer is unsure whether to love or hate.

High renaissance painting is a direct inspiration as well as the embellishment that exists within Baroque architecture, specifically inside the church. Other themes that occur within this wider context include the necessity of decoration, repetition to excess, manipulation through mass-consumption, the impulse to own or collect, the religious worship of objects and idols, ownership, beauty and ugliness, taste, narcissism and memory.

Entrance Hallway

The Fall of Rococo

Tapestry

Louise Oppenheimer

I

have long been interested in the element of time in my work simply because hand weaving takes so much of it in production, so my chosen artefact, the John Craig long case clock, resonated with meaning for it’s use in time keeping, it’s beauty as an object of precision and for the focus it gave me to concentrate on time in a visual way.

Clocks have a reassuring presence in our lives, many homes enjoy a quiet background tick tock yet while we may not like to be reminded of time passing in the hours and minutes of a day, we can be absorbed by time measured in years, decades, centuries and millennia.

As I watch raindrops landing on puddles, creating ripples, I think of a dripping tap marking time with a methodical beat. When sound and image come together, I see a still depiction of endless time caught in the moment.

About Louise Oppenheimer Having found the medium of tapestry while studying fine art at Maidstone College of Art, I moved in 1975 to Scotland, fulfilling a dream to live on the west coast among exposed rocks in a landscape rich with traces of an ancient past.

Light and weather through the seasons, influence colours and designs and the simple process of pulling weft through warp allows for physical effort to be satisfied while ideas mature into solid, tactile images.

I have been involved in running weaving workshops from my studio and within the community, an example being an outdoor event for The Dalriada Project whose aim was to encourage exploration of the landscape in Mid Argyll. I have also introduced weaving workshops to schools in Argyll through the cultural enterprise initiative.

My work has been exhibited in Scotland, England, America and Australia. I am a member of Art Map Argyll, which holds an open studio event annually in August and The British tapestry Group.

Louise’s website: www.louiseoppenheimer.com

Main Corridor

Measuring Time

19th Century Japanese Porcelain Bowl

Clare Yarrington

I

nitially I saw this bowl as an archaeological relic and thought of simply recording its size and shape. However, the design also reminded me both of origami paper and of collage, and that is how I have interpreted it in the illustration. Collage also provides a visual reminder of how easily pottery is broken.

Mor ning Room

Longevity

I then used origami paper to cover various pottery fragments and make the ‘nests’ from which the cranes and roses decorating the Japanese bowl are ‘released’, free now to grow and fly around the room. The rose is a universal symbol of love and beauty while in Japan cranes represent good fortune, longevity and fidelity and, since Hiroshima, have also become associated with peace.

Again like an archaeologist, I decided to reconstruct some of the transformed fragments but, though the plates and bowls are reassembled, they are forever changed and now bear the marks of time.

About Clare Yarrington MA(Hons) Archaeology (Edinburgh) BA(Hons) Fine Art (Sheffield)

Clare has worked on various archaeological projects for over twelve years including as an illustrator and as a prehistoric pottery specialist before returning to college to study painting and printmaking. Since 1996 has been self-employed as a visual artist exhibiting nationally and internationally. Prizes have included the Friends Trophy and the Derbyshire Trophy at the Derbyshire Open, Buxton and in 2009 the JD Fergusson Art Award (exhibition) in Perth. She has carried out art commissions for private firms and public bodies, run a wide range of fine art workshops and given talks on own work and the relationship between art and archaeology. A member of the Fife (Dunfermline) Print Workshop since 1998, co-ordinating the exhibition programme for ten years, and is currently a committee member of the Perth Visual Arts Forum.

Her work is held in various public and private company collections eg Diageo, Stirling (purchase prize).

Sculpture

Peter Bevan

I

chose the “Bust of a girl” by Edward Onslow because my recent work involves conjectured portraiture and inscribed texts. I am interested in triggering an imagined dialogue between figurative sculptures, to suggest to the viewer a speculative, personal relationship.

Silver Corridor

Why do you not look at me?

My sculpture, Why do you not look at me? is a male companion to Onslow’s girl, aiming to set up a conjectural relationship between them; to make them a pair. The companion maybe a friend, a fiancée, a husband, a lover and their spatial proximity, bodily gestures and differences in material and colour qualities may intrigue the viewer to speculate on their relationship.

The viewer may read the question posed by her male companion and then ask of the girl, “Well, why do you look away, avert your eyes, avoid contact?”

And then, “Why did Onslow sculpt you with downcast eyes?”

I would like to stimulate this kind of questioning and empathetic response but also trigger a social/historical interpretation of Onslow’s sculpture.

About Peter Bevan Peter trained as a painter graduating from the Royal College of Art, London in 1971. He taught Fine Art at the Glasgow School of Art until 2003. Since visiting India for the first time in 1989, he has made sculpture, exhibiting and working on artist residences in Scandinavia, India, Japan, China and the USA. Having worked in stone, wood and most recently in bronze, his primary medium is ceramic. He was awarded the Prince of Wales Bursary for the Arts at the British School at Athens in 2007.

Inspired by the life and works of the poet, Robert Burns, he made two solo shows, “Love and Liberty” in 2009 followed by, “Portraits of the Poet”, 2D and 3D portraits of Burns in 2010. A permanent outdoor sculpture “Paisley Date Palms” was installed in the garden of House for an Art Lover, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow in 2009.

He has returned to work in India regularly since 1996 and in 2004/5 studied Classical Asian Art on the British Museum / University of London Post Graduate Course, in preparation for a collaborative residency with Indian artist, Ganesh Gohain. In 2008 he worked on a Bronze Sculpture Workshop at the Uttarayan Centre for Arts in Gujarat and contributed paintings to “Black and White in the Horizon”, a group exhibition shown in Vavodara and Mumbai 2010-11.

Since 2003 he has written regularly about the work of Ganesh Gohain and Santana Gohain in catalogues and recently, in the Indian Contemporary Art Journal.

Illustration

J. Keith Donnelly

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hododendron Plate 1 & 2 can be seen as a part of a developmental series to depict a wide range of flora throughout the grounds of Pollok Park.

For my project I have examined Rhododendron plants growing close by Pollok House. Of note Sir John Stirling Maxwell had a keen interest in the plants, which he cultivated both around the House and at his garden at Corrour. Unknown to many there are over 1000 species of Rhododendron, and a number of different varieties within Pollok Park.

For this project I have drawn the plants and montaged the images back into the landscape where one can begin to assess the relationship of the Rhododendron to Pollok.

The original pencil drawings were undertaken following a short research period in which a proportion of the print and drawing collection, and in particular botanical works, were referenced for project inspiration.

The composited images have been printed on plates, which are discretely placed within the Print Room; complementing and juxtaposing against the existing plate collection.

About J.Keith Donnelly Keith is a visual artist working across landscape, printmaking, and sculpture. His current projects extend his drawing practice in botanical and architectural observation.

Most recently Keith has exhibited at the Leitrim Sculpture Centre and Blue Wall Gallery, both in Ireland; the Naughton Gallery, Northern Ireland; A&D Gallery, London, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Novi Sad. For over 10 years Keith was New Town Artist for East Kilbride, developing public artworks in ceramic, iron, granite, stainless steel, bronze, and concrete.

Keith also remains actively involved in the management and delivery of artistcommunity led projects, exhibitions and learning initiatives for South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture.

Print Room

Florilegium

rusted and burned tins painted with smoke and ashes

Stephen Livingstone Arbella Stuart, forgotten heiress to the English crown. Born a princess 1575, starved herself to death 1615

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he micro moth species Tineidae seek out cold, damp places.

Unheated rooms in dusty houses, musty winter coat-stuffed wardrobes, fluff-filled corners in locked up cupboards. Some prefer hair balls and wool scuts, others feathered nests and mouse-furred owl pellets. Here they lay their eggs. The hatched caterpillars, anaemic maggots all jaw and gut, feed on fibre. They gnaw their way through fox furs, brocaded jackets, cotton chemises and silk drawers. Embroidered shawls and lace-fringed bodices are mined, riddled with tunnels and holes. Taffeta and velvet reduced to shreds and dust.

True Lovers’ Knot (Lycophotia porphyria) Thrice toss these oaken ashes in the air, Thrice sit in this enchanted chair Then thrice times three tie up this true lovers’ knot And murmur soft: “She will, or she will not” Thomas Campion 1613 About Stephen Livingstone Stephen lives and works in the North East of England. He studied at Wimbledon and Chelsea Colleges of Art from 1976 to 1981.

His work examines the impact of industrial, agricultural and military usage upon landscapes and habitats and involves the action of fire and water upon matter. He uses media made from found and natural materials and often works closely with museum collections. “Moths and Moons”, a body of work commissioned by the British Library in 2006, toured museums, galleries and historic sites across the UK. “Dust and Shadows - sixty-four extinctions”, a piece made in association with Oxford University Museum and the Dorman Museum, Middlesbrough highlighting the dramatic decline in moth populations, is currently showing at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.

Stephen Livingstone is acting as Associate Artist for ROBUST, a Durham University research project investigating the regeneration of contaminated land and he will be exhibiting a large installation of drawings at the University’s Oriental Museum in the autumn.

Drawing Room

Hellish Moths Still Gnaw and Fret

Embroidery Installation

Penny Sharp & Innes Smith

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his installation comprises a blackwork embroidered footstool by Sharp and handmade baby shoes by Smith. Using everyday objects, the artists have subverted traditional 16th Century techniques to tell Arabella Stuart’s story in a contemporary graphic style: her life under the heel of the enthroned royal line, and her potential heirs lost, from then, until the present day.

About Sharp & Smith Penny Sharp is an artist & animator based in Glasgow. Drawing is central to her practice and typically her work is multi-layered occupying a place somewhere between medieval tapestry and 60s American underground comics. http://www.pennysharp.com Innes Smith is a writer, performer & artist based in Glasgow. Smith has worked in the music industry, for the BBC and Channel 4, as well as exhibiting as a visual/ performance artist. http://www.innessmith.wordpress.com Previous Sharp and Smith collaborations include: The Glasgow Project Room ‘Members Show’, 2008; The Market Gallery ‘Versus’ residency, 2010; and The Glasgow Film Festival ‘Neighbourhood Theatre’, 2011.

Drawing Room

A Life in Threads

Fired Clay

Ally Wallace

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make artwork that refers to, and often physically engages with, particular locations. The work relates to architecture, places and objects and usually combines small observational drawings with larger sculptural elements, made of found materials. I’ve been working with paper quite a bit for the past several years, to make large sculptures and installations, and have also been experimenting with ceramics recently.

The piece for Pollok is fired, unglazed clay. I like the colour and texture of just having it fired but not glazed - bringing out a kind of simplicity.

The piece relates to the chequerboard table in the Drawing Room. I’m interested in the contrast between the poshness of the table and the basic rawness of the unglazed sculpture. The squares in the sculpture are based on the dimensions of the chequerboard squares. The piece is entitled ‘Small Steps’ because it looks like steps but could also relate to my slowly learning about ceramics, taking small steps.

Last year, I worked as artist-in-residence at Ateliers Höherweg, Düsseldorf and recently completed a two-month residency in the office of RMJM Architects, Glasgow. In December 2011 I had a solo show at The Briggait, Glasgow and, in March and April, 2012, have forthcoming solo shows at Skypark and Martyr’s School, both in Glasgow.

About Ally Wallace Based in Glasgow since 2003. Currently at Glasgow Sculpture Studios.

Born:

Lanark, 1960.

Art Education:

BA (Hons) - Painting, University of Sunderland , 1982-85.

MA - Site Specific Sculpture, Wimbledon School of Art, 1996 -98.

Website:

www.allywallace.co.uk

Drawing Room

Small Steps

Audio-visual

Oliver Mezger

I

have created an encounter where we can reflect on the power of images and words. William Blake’s works ‘Eve naming the birds & Adam naming the beasts’ dramatise the mystery of this process. I have explored how this process of naming unfolds in time.

I have made a film that destabilises ‘understanding’, by extending the unfolding of image and sound in time. Thus, I use film to make us take a step away from ourselves and to look again at how we use images and words. I create a new language of naming in ‘I AM Adam’, and make the viewing process into a richly hypnotic encounter. The film sets in motion five elements; a ‘concrete poem’, one still and one moving image and the sound of the poems reading, and its audio reflection. I use rhythmic repetition to stimulate memory lapses or disorientation, and create multiple voices to comment on the image.

About Oliver Mezger I graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2006. My ongoing practice in film, sound and performance are realised through a variety of collaborations in time-based media; from digital animation, 16mm film and optical sound, a paximoscope, through to booklets and flick-books. I have sought to explore the limiting state of interpretation for these materials.

In 2008, as part of a CCA Creative Lab Residency, I made ‘Bluevale / Whitevale Psalmody’, initiated in collaboration with voluntary singers and a Free Church Procentor, through workshops and a live event at CCA. In 2007 I completed ‘House of Blood’ with a grant from the Scottish Arts Council. This was made through interviews and collaboration with residents of a tenement on the south side of Glasgow.

I have worked with Resonance104.4FM as an engineer and program maker, notably for a program on the ‘Kill Your Timid Notion’ Festival, therefore understand the potential for effective live collaboration between artists and musicians. I was also curatorial intern at Barbican Art Gallery for the show ‘Radical Nature’, 2009. I provided initial research on themes for the show and particularly on the work of Buckminster-Fuller.

Cedar Room

I Am Adam

Audio Installation

Zivile Siutilaite Harp is played by: Ysella Almqvist

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Servants’ Corridor

The Sounds Tell ...

oming from a former communist country with a very different social history I am fascinated by Britain’s tradition led class society.

My idea for the sound installation in Pollok House is well summarized in Alison Maloney’s words:

“There is constant activity. It’s quite a juxtaposition, the frantic activity downstairs, delivering the calm, peace and serenity of the family who are living in the house.”

(From Life Below Stairs. True lives of Edwardian servants) I have chosen to use sound for the installation in Pollok House as I thought it would supplement the fascinating visual artefacts in the collection and subtly touch upon the history of the house, its inhabitants and those who worked there.

About Zivile Siutilaite Born: 1977, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Lives and works in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Foundation in Art & Design Diploma, Edinburgh’s Telford College.

As Sculpture and Environmental Art student at Glasgow School of Art, Zivile is developing her practice and investigating various media, currently mostly working with sound and video.

Zivile’s experience of living and studying in different countries fuse with her personality and add to the breadth of her interests. Key themes that she is eager to explore are displacement and uprootedness, boundaries of identity, in particular national individuality or loss of it, connections between memory, space, illusion and reality.

Installation

Morag Muego

I

was drawn to Lady Maxwell’s scrapbooks as soon as I saw them. They are both fascinating historical documents and also an eloquent witness to her personality.

As I started work on this project, I suddenly remembered how I used to cut up my girls’ comics when I was young, keeping my home made scraps in a folder. It was an absorbing and compulsive activity. Cutting is like drawing and it teaches discipline and accuracy, but unlike drawing, one careless snip of the scissors and a beautiful image is lost.

Family Room

Hannah Ann’s Scrapbox

The scrapbox deals with ideas about identity, history and cross generational issues. It allows me to develop these themes, using objects and materials in a direct and intimate way. I have tried to mirror the care and attention to detail that I see in the scrapbooks, while using contemporary printed matter to make connections that are complex, powerful and surprising and allow access to shared experience.

The cuttings left over from making the names Hannah Ann in the two glazed cabinets represent the trace of years of Lady Maxwell’s scrap cutting.

“Trace” is one of the most important concepts in Derridian Deconstruction.

Trace can be seen as an always contingent term for a “mark of the absence of a presence, an always-already absent present”, I have made her name absent, to emphasise her presence.

About Morag Muego Morag Muego lives and works in Dumfries. She graduated in drawing and painting at Glasgow School of Art in 1971 and taught art until 2004 when she returned to painting full time. Since then she has exhibited regularly in selective shows, including the RGI, PAI and PAI Aspect Prize, RSA and RSW and has recently had solo exhibitions in Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries and in the Art Gallery, Castle Douglas. She has been a selected artist in the Dumfries and Galloway Spring fling Open Studios event since 2009. Her painting is abstract and strongly focussed on colour. She also makes etchings and lithographs and has recently begun making artist books.

These often take the form of boxes or containers of ideas, and use combinations of made and found objects. Morag is an elected artist member of the Glasgow Society of Women Artists.

Pollok House Pollok Country Park 2060 Pollokshaws Road Glasgow G43 1AT 0844 493 2202

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To become a member of NTS please ask at the front desk at Pollok House or Phone 0844 493 2202