THROUGH LINE marks the culmination of a series of four group exhibitions at the City Art Centre, spotlighting contemporary art and craft practice in Scotland. It features work by nine artists - David Connearn, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Andrew Lamb, Charles Poulsen, Frances Priest, Lara Scobie, Susan Mowatt, Rhona Taylor and Michael Walton.

Spanning an array of artistic mediums including ceramics, drawing, jewellery, painting, printmaking, poetry and textiles, the ‘through line’ or common visual thread of this show is the use and exploration of line in the artists’ diverse practices. The exhibition looks at the beauty and versatility of the line - from the simplicity of a single stroke to intricate linear patterns - and the impact it can have on our visual experiences.

I am exhibiting a series of large scale paper artworks, with retrospective works in gold, silver and copper wire - alongside my newest pieces in recycled aluminium, platinum/gold and acrylic.

The retrospective pieces (2002) are the resulting works from a previous group show 'Weaving Stories' where my starting point was the labour-intensive weaving technique of Ikat, in which design effects are achieved through resist-dyeing the warp, the weft prior to the weaving process. Precision is paramount in both the preparation and weaving stages to ensure the accuracy of the pattern. A notable characteristic of Ikat is the feather-edged effect produced at the colour transitions during weaving which is something I was keen to reflect in my works. Through experimentation this led to the creation of three-dimensional wall works in paper and precious jewellery. The colour transitions and resulting patterns in the fine wire pieces are achieved by twisting together silver and gold, or silver and copper, to emulate the dyed warp. These coloured wires are then meticulously cut and aligned according to the Ikat-inspired pattern before being soldered and formed into the final piece of jewellery.

'The ideas within Andrew's work are underpinned by traditional goldsmithing methods and ancient skills. He is driven in his practice to advance what is possible in aesthetic form through wearable objects that balance artistic expression with technical innovation. The physical process of working in metal, such as drawing it by hand into very fine lengths of wire, is hugely inspiring for him. An ingot of gold becomes a thread of wire, a line that offer infinite creative possibilities. Andrew experiments with these techniques and translates them to reflect his research in textiles or graphics. Additionally, he references visual illusion and optical principles in jewellery to echo the perfection found in nature, tempered by the shifting patterns of how we see and perceive the world'

[....LINE IS THE EDGE, LINE IS THE CONTENT

"Approaching similarly lush terrain, the jeweller Andrew Lamb creates finely wrought surfaces using long filaments of wire or aluminium strips * in which pattern or shifting colour is in-built. Arranged in regular striations or tightly folded waves, they bury the eye in shimmer and dazzle, suggesting moiré patterning or lenticular effects. The intelligent eye is drawn from the all-over image into the detail, however, returned from texture to line in an attempt to unpick the qualities in play.

Thread or trace?

“A thread is a filament of some kind, which may be entangled with other threads or suspended between points in three- dimensional space,...the trace is any enduring mark left in or on a solid surface by a continuous movement” (Ingold, pp.41, 43). When a thread is incorporated into a garment or textile, it is transformed into both trace and surface element. Lamb’s jewellery achieves this transformation. Suitably enough, it is deeply influenced by Ikat weaving. '

Extract from easy by Greg Thomas p4 Through Line exhibition Catalogue ]

*see related Radar output - 'BrooTch' / 'Irn-Bruooch'

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