Arundel Contemporary

Line, Shape and Form

This recent body of work has centred around exploring the land through line, shape, form and colour, taking a step further towards abstraction.  To begin, I draw directly from the landscape, absorbed in the process of recording. I select and simplify as I explore the forms and shapes of the rock formations and the open moorland.

Back in the studio, whether I’m working on paper, canvas, board or clay, my creative process is essentially the same. I avoid beginning with a premeditated plan, preferring to work intuitively, allowing each piece to evolve. I want the work to have a life of its own; to have its own journey through the process of creating. When producing the prints for this exhibition, I began by screenprinting simple shapes through paper stencils.  With the addition of  monoprinted areas of colour and painterly lines, each print slowly reveals its own identity.

The ceramics began as simple hand-built forms, blank canvasses awaiting direction. Coloured slips are then inlaid, stencilled and monoprinted onto the surface of the leather hard clay, as each unique piece finds its path.

Louise McNiff