My exhibition called Wild Wonder here in Coventry is fully under way.
This is the first work in a series of fourteen. I shall blog each one as the show goes on.
Yes, I have been busy making, and here it is in the flesh shown in the wonderful Blue Door Gallery. I am pleased to report that it is going so well so far, thanks to my co-exhibitor Wendy MacSkimming and to the gallerist/artist, Adam Hussain. And most especially to Alec.
For Wild Wonder, Wendy and I wanted to celebrate our love of nature – its flora and fauna. I was particularly inspired by the idea of a tropical island paradise, not so dissimilar from my second home, an island in the Philippines called Cebu. The creations, hopefully, evoke in some shape or form, the patterns, colours and rhythms of some of the natural world in the tropics.
Young Colony is a coral and urchin world. My instinct led me to white in this one because I started with a white linen crochet motif, not quilling. These motifs are about undulations or waves, where you tightly repeat treble crochets to achieve the effect. They remind me of those creatures undulating on the sand.
I then started to do the quilling, experimenting with various sizes of these spindle shapes. Then, I did some fringeing, to create these urchin-like shapes. I’ve repeated this in another motif of pleated or folded paper strips that fan out in a sunray shape.
There are also some paper beads (cylindrical shapes), that when arranged on top of a dome (this is also paper), became structures that remind me of those found in thermal vents (I forget their actual names in nature).
I also used some tissues (white and cream) to create these sponges (or approximations thereof).
This overall scheme has produced an aquatic-based microcosm, which has hopefully achieved some sense of unity.
The piece measures 40 x 40 cm (unframed). This is how it looked about to be framed and glazed.
The Art of Jeff Ting 