Migrant Material - Connecting matter with being
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Exhibited July 16 - August 17 2017 at Gallery in the Garden
A complete departure from the usual finely rendered mimetic portraits, this body of work has been material and process led and maybe a turning point from realism to a more conceptual approach of investigation. Late 2015 I was asked to be resident artist for 12 months at Gallery in the Garden, Great Saling, in the heart of the Essex Countryside. An opportunity with time and space to respond visually and creatively to the garden and its surrounding land. Rather than be inspired by what could be seen, I was more interested in the unseen, the forgotten, the discarded or the ignored. So I dug beneath the lush lawn on a journey of discovery, instigating a rethinking and questioning of material and making, geology, displacement and environmental issues. |
click on photos to find out more, all works not sold are available to purchase
The act of finding, handling and scrutinising every exhumed object raised questions of how and why these materials got here.
Geological shifts and human intervention brought thoughts of farming, industry, settlements, displacement, mortality and consumerism.
Ultimately, a cycle of shifting matter, sometimes slow, sometimes rapid, but as I discovered, also inherently connected with not only us but the logical, the emotive - the immaterial. This subterranean excavation helped me to consider the importance of our need to connect directly with the waste and raw materials of our planet.
This project released me from the constraints of the measured accuracy of realism and impersonating life, I was free to experiment, discover and question creating totally new work and possibly a new way of thinking.
Migrant Material - Connecting Matter With Being
Press
Migrant Material - Connecting Matter With Being
The resulting body of work is a departure from Billie’s life-like figurative work. Close examination of the exhumed sub terrain material led to questions of our relationship with and connections to the Earth and its contents; its changing climates and shifting terrain.
In 2015 Billie was asked to be resident artist here at Gallery in the Garden. Presented here, for the first time, is a body of work in response to the time Billie spent here.
Migrant Material - Connecting Matter With Being
The resulting body of work is a departure from Billie’s life-like figurative work. Close examination of the exhumed sub terrain material led to questions of our relationship with and connections to the Earth and its contents; its changing climates and shifting terrain.
In 2015 Billie was asked to be resident artist here at Gallery in the Garden. Presented here, for the first time, is a body of work in response to the time Billie spent here.
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There was little visual material that inspired me at first. I needed to delve deeper, deeper than the beautiful greenery and vastness of the laying landscape – so I dug beneath it.
Extracts from Billie’s sketchbook diary: Day 1 – The Dig, 28th August 2015 The spade slices through the Verdi Gris with ease, through the epidermis of the earth into the dark damp organic matter below. A neat geometric jigsaw of turf is displaced a short distance away, to be later returned – patched and repaired. Exposing the earth below the carpet of rabbit nibbled lawn; I discover my first object – man made, a black plastic thing that once had some controlled purpose. The first few inches of topsoil give no clues to its history other than it was once a well dug garden perhaps – no stones, no nails – nothing. Six inches down the aggregate begins to loom. Using my makeshift archaeological tools of wallpaper scrapers (from my painting and decorating days) and a washing-up brush, I begin to reveal Earths’ treasures. This simple physical action of placing my hands beneath the soft green surface of the earth, in pursuit of a hidden past was exhilarating. Away from the illuminated screens of a now 2 dimensional digital world of mass information – I had my hands in the earth – feeling, seeing and smelling – my senses being gently stimulated. |
‘And whoever must be a creator in good and evil,
verily, he must first be an annihilator and break values. Thus the highest evil belongs to the highest goodness: but this is creative’ Nietzsche |
Proposal for another investigation underground - The Forces of Migration
Migrant Material gave me a new sense of how natural materials and their history can inform further creative research which can be paralleled with connections to us. We are connected to Earth's deep history more than we realise and I want to explore this narrative further.
During Covid-19 lockdown I had to cancel all my sculpture classes, however, although financially difficult, this time gave me the opportunity to apply for public art commissions, which I have previously, due to running courses, been unable to commit the time to. Excitingly, I was shortlisted for the Emily Williamson Statue Campaign (founder of the RSPB) and The Channels Estate public art project. Unfortunately, I didn't get either, this is one of the painful realities of being an artist, so near yet so far. The Emily William Statue campaign went to a public vote and I could see why they were so attracted to the winning proposal from Eve Shepherd, with all the birds sculpted into Emily's dress.
The Channels Estate art project was to create a public sculpture based around the theme of geology and the Ice Age, as the houses have been built on the grounds of a former gravel pit which extracted gravels and sands. The site, in Essex is part of the London Basin and the route of the Ancestral Thames where clay, sand, gravel and rocks were deposited. During the last ice age, the Anglian glacier blocked the route of the Ancestral Thames redirecting it to were it flows today.
My research for this project took me to the site and to the collection of rare boulders in the grounds of Channels Restaurant. These boulders were excavated from the old gravel quarry and kept by the owners who are still there today. These huge rocks are known as Hertfordshire Puddingstone, they look like lumps of concrete but are actually naturally occurring conglomerates. Historically Puddingstone has been used as building material (as seen in our village church), in Roman querns to grind corn and as a protective charm against witchcraft. This rich history makes for a fascinating potential art project and is not commonly known.
The Channels Estate art project was to create a public sculpture based around the theme of geology and the Ice Age, as the houses have been built on the grounds of a former gravel pit which extracted gravels and sands. The site, in Essex is part of the London Basin and the route of the Ancestral Thames where clay, sand, gravel and rocks were deposited. During the last ice age, the Anglian glacier blocked the route of the Ancestral Thames redirecting it to were it flows today.
My research for this project took me to the site and to the collection of rare boulders in the grounds of Channels Restaurant. These boulders were excavated from the old gravel quarry and kept by the owners who are still there today. These huge rocks are known as Hertfordshire Puddingstone, they look like lumps of concrete but are actually naturally occurring conglomerates. Historically Puddingstone has been used as building material (as seen in our village church), in Roman querns to grind corn and as a protective charm against witchcraft. This rich history makes for a fascinating potential art project and is not commonly known.
A close-up of one of the Hertfordshire Puddingstones at Channels
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Hertfordshire Puddingstone at Channels herb garden
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A lump of Puddingstone I found in a field in Great Waltham
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This lovely purple Puddingstone is build into the wall of the village church in Great Waltham
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I was lucky enough to get a site visit at a local working quarry. We drove around the excavated site, on the bed of the ancestral Thames looking up at the layered cliffs of sand and gravel deposited there millions of years ago. While there, I asked if there was any Puddingstone about, we had a good look at the discarded boulders, no Hertfordshire Puddingstone but I got very excited about an unusual white conglomerate laying there. I was allowed to take some of these boulders home and to my delight, when washed revealed a stunning and rather unusual veined quartz conglomerate. Where was it from, how did it get there and how was it made?
Quarry at Bulls Lodge showing glacial till in the top far right and the sand and gravel wall being extracted
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Gravel cliff showing seam (pug) of unwanted clay
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Looking down onto the site
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The boulder I asked if I could have for my research
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The washed veined quartz conglomerate
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For scale, Nellie with other boulders
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As I mentioned, I didn't get the Channels art commission. After a despondent few months, I decided not to waste this research. I needed to find out more about this white conglomerate and how I could connect it to us. And so this idea of the Forces of Migration began to evolve.
I have applied for funding from Arts Council England for a project to reveal the treasures of the ancestral Thames and to share these ideas with the wider community. Who knows, maybe there will be a Puddingstone festival after all. Here is my proposal:
Site-responsive residency at Bulls Lodge Quarry Chelmsford on the bed of the ancestral Thames, paralleling the forces of geological rock migration with geographical human migration of the site, linking the rare erratic Puddingstone conglomerate found there with ideas of human congregation.
Including research, development, experimentation, Community Engagement. Quarry residency, exploring local geological and archaeological deposits to create sculptures that explore the forces of migration. Collaborating with willow weaver sculptor. Creation of a live community sculpture using natural materials. Linking the stories of rocks and human journeys, through 'deep time' geology and a comparatively fleeting cultural time in the Anthropocene. Collaboration with academics and scientists to develop knowledge of materials, migration and settlement. A body of work will be created to share knowledge of materials and techniques with others. To inform and share stories of ancestral Thames and ice age with the local community and wider public through exhibitions and workshops.
Site-responsive residency at Bulls Lodge Quarry Chelmsford on the bed of the ancestral Thames, paralleling the forces of geological rock migration with geographical human migration of the site, linking the rare erratic Puddingstone conglomerate found there with ideas of human congregation.
Including research, development, experimentation, Community Engagement. Quarry residency, exploring local geological and archaeological deposits to create sculptures that explore the forces of migration. Collaborating with willow weaver sculptor. Creation of a live community sculpture using natural materials. Linking the stories of rocks and human journeys, through 'deep time' geology and a comparatively fleeting cultural time in the Anthropocene. Collaboration with academics and scientists to develop knowledge of materials, migration and settlement. A body of work will be created to share knowledge of materials and techniques with others. To inform and share stories of ancestral Thames and ice age with the local community and wider public through exhibitions and workshops.
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Huge rare Hertfordshire puddingstone boulder being donated by Hanson to the project.
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Volcanic (igneous) rocks from North wales carried along rivers, glaciers and the Ancestral Thames to Bulls Lodge, Essex.
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Breccia from Cornwall
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Hertfordshire puddingstone conglomerate.
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A piece of Hertfordshire Puddingstone I found in a field locally which has been diamond cut in half to reveal its inner secrets. The sound it makes on opening is amazing too. I recently took it to show the local primary school pupils on a voluntary 'rock art' workshop, they were fascinated by it and drew some great observational drawings.
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Running Man 2009
(drawing on past work for figurative ideas on migration)
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Mud Man (figurative ideas of 'puddingstone' texture)
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Head Space 2021 (ideas for resting'puddingstone' person)
Direct hand-building techniques
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