Richenda Court

‘Glass Town’ is a new body of work created in the past two years by artist printmaker Richenda Court. The work includes large expansive linocuts, etchings, line drawings and an animated film, created with animator Hannah Brewerton and musician, sound artist Amit Rai Sharma. The film, funded by a small Arts Council grant, was recently selected for the prestigious International Original Print Exhibition at Bankside Gallery. The exhibition at The Muse Gallery is the first time the body of work has been exhibited together.

‘Glass Town’ is an unfolding story of a Girl and Boy who venture into a paused world. The couple encounter a world of crystals, glass chess pieces which leads them on a journey to question, then reflect on their circumstances and dreams. On a parallel level the project symbolises the emotional narrative of the recent pandemic and how reflection, vulnerability and fragility has affected us all. The Glass Town project, like much of Court’s work, is based on her intricate sketchbook line drawings. These drawings are the foundation of the project and the springboard for the prints. There are two main large prints ‘Glass Town I’ & ‘Glass Town II’ which are a combination of linocut, etching and an oil based wash printed in three stages.

‘ The viewer can feel movement in the illustrative marks she makes, and also in the complex compositions that comprise rich printed layers that become imaginative narrative….” An extract from ‘Dancing Forward’ written by Chrystal Cherniwchan in Printmaking Today, September 2021. For a long time Court has wished to experiment with animation in her work. Her background in contemporary dance allowed movement into the work and was always an ambition she wanted to fulfil. Court was drawn to the playful experimentation of Hannah Brewerton’s animation style and begun sharing drawings, prints and poems which marked the beginning of the collaborative process.

The original complimentary soundtrack is created by Amit Rai Sharma who offered to make the music. Amit, at the time, was supporting the ‘Glass Town’ project from it’s conception building the framework of the exhibition at the Muse Gallery in publicity and marketing. Her rich compositions are deconstructed into playful and experimental fragments and the accompanying soundscape could just easily be for two dancers as the animated sequences move like a gentle dialogue.’ An extract from ‘Dancing Forward’ written by Chrystal Cherniwchan in Printmaking Today, September 2021. Court sees the prints from ‘Glass Town’ as stand-alone moments. In the two main linocuts Glass Town I, the Girl is resting, and in Glass Town II, the Boy is holding the crystals, contemplating the reflections and balances in his life. They are both at the beginning of the journey into entering the ‘paused world’.

The film by contrast is there to offer a third dimension to the project. A moving, floating metaphysical journey bringing the figures to life and showing the reflective path of the project. Unequivocally the project is influenced by the pandemic, and how we have all had to sit quietly, re-assess where we are and possibly look more closely at our hopes and dreams for ourselves as well as others. Court graduated from Brighton Polytechnic in Expressive Arts, Fine Art and Contemporary Dance and studied for many years under Richard Michell and Frank Connolly at Morley College.

Court is an associate member of the Royal Society of Painters and Printmakers exhibiting regularly at Bankside Gallery and an active member of LOOP artists. Exhibitions include Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Society of British Arts at The Mall Galleries and Henry Sotherans Ltd. Prizes include Stuart Southall Printmaking Prize at Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition. Her work can be seen in many private and public collections including the British Library, The Ashmolean Museum and the V & A National Archive of Print.

www.richendacourt.co.uk Insta: @richendacourt

Richenda Court, Glass Town