In Tandem: Is it Furniture, Sculpture, or Both?
The Devon Guild of Craftsmen’s new exhibition: ‘In Tandem’ is a collaborative one and presents all the elements of intrigue that come with hybrid or mixed media forms.
Two very different media are involved: wood and ceramics and makers Terry Sawle and Blandine Anderson have not worked together in this capacity before. The resulting sculptural forms are worth seeing. Rich, textured and unusual they are perhaps best described as ‘interior pieces’ challenging traditional ideas of domestic function and design.
Both are North Devon based. Terry is known for his finely crafted furniture from native timber and Blandine’s ceramic animal pieces are widely collected. The fusions of wood and stoneware they have worked on ‘In Tandem’ are truly unique and for critic Andy Christian, remind him of the twisted oaks in Wistmans Wood: ‘Rock and root interlock in obdurate embrace’ and ‘remind us of bracket fungus or stratified rock.’ Some of the shelving joints (‘5-Tiered Shelf’), deep grooves (‘Sex-Pot’) and tusk-like seats (‘Winged Seat’) suggest this tension-within-assimilation.
The collaboration in 2006, began a project fraught with difficulty and complexity but the artists’ unconventional thinking found ways of marrying their materials successfully together. Blandine’s involvement in the furniture-making process allowed her to create larger pieces of work using the frameworks and supports that furniture naturally provides.
Working with a ceramicist gave Terry the chance to explore greater ranges of colour and texture than would normally be available to him, as well as motivating the creation of more curvaceous, organic forms. Sections had to be made for attachment after completion so that the wood did not expand and tear the ceramic apart.
The resulting body of work presents an intriguing dialogue between furniture, ceramics and sculpture and prompts questions about the role these contemporary and sensual pieces inhabit. Anderson herself says: “This exhibition will ask: ‘Is it furniture or is it sculpture?’ — but why can it not be both?”
IN TANDEM
26th September – 8th November 2009
Admission FREE
Open 7 days a week (10am – 5.30pm)
at The Devon Guild of Craftsmen
Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey
Devon TQ13 9AF
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