Untold stories exhibition

Untold Stories came about by a combination of chance events.

I had a number of exhibitions earlier in the year with the theme of UP and I was thinking about how I would move on from these. I entered the Fringe Furniture Exhibition this year and the theme was “silver” and I developed two pieces around this theme ( both in this show). One involved using cutlery as the decorative element and was using ”silver ware”. I ended up with more cutlery than I needed and I was playing with the forms and thinking how else I could use them in my work. I developed a scene involving a girl form and giant spoons( using their reflective qualities).  

I also did a farmer leaning on a fence of knife handles with a crop behind him and another farmer with a crop of forks. These pieces I sent off to an exhibition in America.

But I put one up on Facebook as my piece of the week. One of my ex students commented that she was loving reading the story about the girl and the spoons. I asked was there an actual story about a girl and spoons and she said no she just meant the write up I had given it.

I thought maybe I should actually write a story of the girl and the spoons but then decided that art is about interpretation and I would create a title that suggested there was a story but it was up to the viewer to create their own script.

I also won the Storytellers award from a show at Blarney Books in Pt Fairy called “New Life from Old bones” where you bought an old book and made a piece of art based on it, the images or the materials of the book itself.

 I bought “Marie Curie” by Eve Curie . I had once owned this book but it was burnt in a fire. I did three pieces based on the book two of which are here.

I have also reformed a number of pieces which were made for specific exhibitions during the year which seemed to feel that my contribution was not needed. Hence most of them get an outing and you get a chance to view more or less the best bits of a years work.

 I have also recently retired and am part of an “art morning “where I and a couple of others set aside some time to draw, paint or do whatever is appropriate. Some of the sketches which are also part of this exhibition have come from that.

I certainly am happy with how the show has come together and I hope you enjoy it too.

Good on ya Laurie Collins November 2009.