Very excited about the forthcoming exhibition at Coughton

Fostering Legacy, mixed media 26 "x 20"

           

Dawn Harris

To Love and Protect

24^th November – 2^nd December 2012

‘To Love and Protect’ explores the identity of the women of the Court through the legacy they left behind. Dawn’s work investigates their identities in relation to others, in relation to a performed role and in relation to the period of history within which they lived.

The face, specifically the eyes are central in these works, the faces are taken directly from their portraits hung within the house and stripped of the adorning paraphernalia chosen by the portrait artist. The faces are then embedded with the experience culminating in a visual representation of the women’s identity within that moment.  The exhibition represents Dawn’s artistic response to some of the stories of the women of Coughton who fought for the freedom and safety of their loved ones, the work is also an empathetic response from an artist who shares an understanding of the desire to want to Love and Protect as is present within us all.

       

A busy September

Its the first day of October and I 'm not sure where September went. A busy month for me at Coughton aswell as other arts events for me outside of the residency.

Last weekend I was involved in an exhibition  in North Devon called 'Arts for Life' a charity event for a children's hospice that I was very proud to take part in.

During the month of September I have been delighted to introduce other artists to the delights of Coughton Court and the stories of the women and their home. I really enjoyed a warm late summers day with the group, talking, walking, sketching and sharing ideas.

The women of Coughton  are never far from my thoughts and I have completed two new pieces. The first being my final study on the story of Katherine Vaux.

Division, mixed media 21" x  17"

 

My most recent piece has been a response to the story of Mary Anne Acton.
Mary Anne was barely 13 years of age when she was married off to her 63 year old uncle. I cannot image what this young child would have thought of this prospect but the fact that she hid under a table says quite alot.

Line of Duty, mixed media 21" x 17"

Community Artist Anne Bate-Williams

Anne has been creating collage portraits of the women of Coughton Court over the summer during 'Messy Arts'
Here are the results of Anne's, and the visitors, hard work.

http://www.facebook.com/anne.batewilliams

Its time to move on....

The last couple of weeks have  been very up and down with the weather and I have been very up and down with my work.
I have been productive though and created 3 new mixed media paintings continuing with the theme  of Katerine Vaux and 'a family divided'.
These paintings consider the same concepts as in my previous work but explored in slightly different way with the use of acrylics.
I am still trying to express the notion of identity and how we identity with ourselves and others. When we revisit events of the past and consider, even judge them by our contemporary morals or standards we are not experiencing the true reality of that event. This being true of whether we are viewing other peoples lives or revisiting memories within our own. Our place within time prevents us from truely being able to walk in someone elses shoes from the past and our reality is unique to us in the present.

A family divided III

A family divided II

A family divided III

This presents a question as to when we revisit our own memories are we reviewing someone else's experiences?

Katie explores Coughton Court

Katie Lee joined me for a weeks work experience at Coughton Court. Katie attends Alcester Grammar School and is going into yr 13 on her return in September. Katie had previously enjoyed volunteering at Coughton on her schools 'Community Day' where a number of students built shelters in the woods.
We had a glorious week of sunshine where Katie continued to develop her art practice exploring the landscape, which includes the landscape of our minds.

My own art practice involves exploring the concept of identity so Katie and I had many interesting discussions on how we perceive our identity and how we may represent it through a visual image.





The beautiful gardens always prove to be irresistable for a bit of sketching.

Very fine ink drawing of the stable yard at Coughton Court by Katie Lee




Looking forward to seeing the results of the weeks work.

Brittany's Project.. The Story of Mary Ann Acton

Brittany is exploring how to depict this women's story but in the context of our modern society.... I'm looking forward to seeing the results.

Here are some of my snapshots of the photo shoot at Coughton this morning. A special thanks to Nick Taylor and Daisy Gilbert for your involvement.

Fun in the 'Arts' Shed

My thoughts of the women of Coughton Court have been diverted somewhat lately by the fun I've been having in the Arts Shed.
This weekI have been joined by 2 'A' students from Alcester Grammar School, Brittany Rhodes and Katie Lee who, as well as working on their own mini project at Coughton have been helping out in the Arts Shed.

Here Katie and Brittany are having fun doing some blind contour drawing, it never fails to make you smile.

and now passing on the technique.......Here are some of the fabulous blind contour portraits from today.

And of course the great work on the bunting still continues, a big thank you to all of you that have been making the bunting pieces.

Summer arts begins at Coughton

Well the sun did shine for a while for us today but regardless of the weather we had a fabulous day creating some lovely drawings along with all the other arts activities for the whole family to enjoy.

A big thank you to the Perry family who started off our Blind Contour Drawing session which resulted in some terrific portraits. Everyone had a go, there is no such thing as 'I cant draw'. This exercise is really about looking and this young brother and sister ( Jevy and Zara) from Northants really had fun staring into each others eyes!

Jevy, Zara and Dawn

Zara by Jevy

Jevy by Zara

 and I'm very proud of Me by Zara

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course once the drawings started there was no stopping the visitors to the 'Arts' shed..... Thank you for a lovely day.

David Age 12 from Droitwich Spa

Anna age 11 from Northfield (spa)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Patrick age 8 from Northfield (spa)

A family divided

I have been fascinated to learn about Katherine Vaux and her very large family.
I have learnt of the unique time in English history, and how this influenced the fortunes of the Throckmorton family.
Katherine’s family lived through the turmoil of the Reformation, some of her sons remained Catholic (notably Robert) and some turned to the Protestant religion (notably Nicholas). Whichever choice they made, her children and their descendants faced danger and deceit. This being influenced greatly by the changing monarchs of the time and their preferred religion.

A family divided

Charcoal and Pastel on Kozo 17" x17"

This piece is a culmination of many of the concepts that I have been drawing on in connection with Katherine Vaux.
The overall shape represents the flower of a strawberry; this flower shape has been torn apart through the centre creating a divide. In addition there is an element of the strawberries from the dress in Katherine's portrait on the stairs of the Court, sometimes hidden, sometimes visible depicting times of danger and times when in favour. The two sets of colours also suggesting times to shine brightly in the forefront and maybe times to hide in the shadows.
The image has lots of layers, this is a feature of my drawings that depict the many different layers within our identity and how our identity changes and grows as time passes by.