Doorways - introducing our artists! #2

This is the second in a series of blog posts introducing our artists for Doorways (in no particular order). Today we introduce Sophie Walker, Kathryn Faulkner, Daniel Turner, Anya Beaumont, Molly Goldwater and Esther Tyler-Ward.

Remember, we'll be on the top two floors of 7 New Bond Street Place, Bath from 26th May to 10th June.

Sophie Walker

Sophie makes small-scale wooden sculptures designed to intrigue the curious. Ancient objects whose precise functions have been lost in time inspire her, influencing her designs as she tries to instill them with the same enigmatic qualities found in the source material. These influences combine to create work with a vague sense of unreality that still retain a comforting familiarity, provoking an urge to curl up inside one and take shelter from the world.

Sophie's work for 'Doorways' grew from a desire to create safe spaces that someone could metaphorically hide in, with hollowed out forms concealed by doors. The interior of the form would be the personal, or ‘safe’ space, either commemorating a certain point in time, a feeling, idea, or memory, that she considered to be comforting. Sophie is currently working on three new wooden sculptures to include in the exhibition.

To find out more about Sophie's work, visit www.sophiewalker-woodcarving.co.uk or follow her on Twitter @bashysophie  or Instragram @bashysophie

Kathryn Faulkner

Kathryn's work is concerned with stillness and the consciousness of time. She started by making paintings in encaustic as a student and slowly moved to making her own cameras. Her images, including still life and interiors, also respond to classical landscape in a performative sense when walking with the shutter open.

Pinhole photography allows for serendipity to play a major part and the image we've selected for inclusion in 'Doorways' arrived almost by accident - Kathryn opened the shutter and left the room for an hour or so; the surprising transformation of the doorway into a golden portal that contains a gilded ladder offering a way up and out of this world seems almost magical, more so knowing that the person who used the studio through the doorway had recently died.

Find out more about Kathryn's work at www.ambruno.co.uk/kathryn-faulkner.html or follow her on Twitter @photokf2

Daniel Turner

Daniel says that his work is mostly a case of knowing what he doesn't want; he gets rid of all that and is left with something close to the idealised paintings he tries not to think about while actually making them.

Daniel's work for 'Doorways', entitled 'Pan Dimensional Archway', came from a desire to move the paintings off the wall. The polychrome occupies a unique position in both artistic and spiritual cultural histories - in some respects it can be regarded as a halfway house between painting and sculpture; in a more spiritual connotation it is signpost or marker for a move from the physical to a spiritual plane.

You can find out more about Daniel's work at www.danielturnerpainting.com or follow him on Twitter @DanielTPainting  or Instagram @danielturnerpainting

Anya Beaumont

Anya is an artist, mapper and lecturer. Growing up in the rural north of England and then moving to Manchester and then London, contrasts in the physical environment and its influence have been a significant factor in her practice.  Within her observations of place, concerns of contemporary life infiltrate the pieces and sit alongside musings on Britain's architectural story. 

Frequently using recycled materials gathered from the site she is responding to, her work is often, but not exclusively, made from paper.  She also works in recycled plastics, fabrics, resins and metal.

Anya's work for 'Doorways' is a sculptural piece called 'Pedestal', a framed paper sculpture made from individual hand cut pieces of paper found or collected around Muswell Hill in London where she used to live. They show decorative architectural features found on the doorways and exteriors of the very desirable residencies or shops in the area. 

Find out more about Anya's work at http://www.anyabeaumont.com/, or follow her on Instagram @anyanb or on Twitter @AnyaBeaumont

Molly Goldwater

Molly is a painter and printmaker. She is interested in the disruption of marks and juxtaposition of speeds of application; some meditated and considered, others fast and spontaneous. The contrast of these together exaggerates their very essence and 'muchness'. 

For 'Doorways', Molly has responded to the theme by exploring a sense of time passing, a moment, and transitions between states. Her stunning large painting evokes the disruption of the marks and application mirrors the entrance or closure of a door - both able to block your path, and allow movement forwards. She approaches the theme in an abstract sense, using a visual language in her painting of marks to investigate doorways in visual representation and making.

To find out more about Molly's work, visit www.mollygoldwater.com or follow her on Twitter @Molly_Goldwater or on Instagram @molly.goldwater

Esther Tyler-Ward

Esther's aim is to explore the materiality and physicality of drawing in contemporary capitalist society, to embrace ‘not-knowing’ and actively participate/enact in order to learn and collate learning/process/outcomes so as to reflect on them in a new way.

For 'Doorways', Esther is working on a series of looping GIFs exploring ‘liminal space’ through the metaphor of doorways. Using somatic-inspired movement in response to the space the doorway is in, she captures the suggested ‘movement' of a dancer through the doorway, then explodes the perceived ‘here’ and ‘there’ through psychedelic block colour.

Find out more about Esther's work at www.artprocessblog.wordpress.com/ or follow her on Instagram @etw_evenmoreart

Our next blog will feature more of our wonderful artists! And don't forget to follow us on Twitter @DoorwaysArt2018

Like what you've seen? Make sure you come along to 7 New Bond Street Place between 26th May and 10th June to see these and our other wonderful works.