I’m really rather thrilled to announce that the three works I submitted to the Society of Graphic Fine Art‘s 99th Annual Open Exhibition at Mall Galleries, London were all accepted. The exhibition is scheduled for 6 to 11 July 2021, 10 – 5pm (closing 1pm on the last day), and can be viewed online for an extended period (my work has been classified as Botanical).
The works are: Firmament, Standing Vigil and Greensand. I’m a bit behind on posting work at the moment, with only Firmament having its own post, so I have included summaries of the reasons behind each title here:
Firmament
“Firmament” is used in the English language Christian bible to denote the heavens or sky area. It can also refer to the idea of a foundation that holds something firmly in place. Here, on a roadside in East Hampshire, the exposed tree roots form a horizontal line above the white bedrock, approximately at a pedestrian’s eye level. It could be imagined to be the heavens, with the bedrock’s blankness being the void between heaven and earth. But tree roots are things of the earth, and one of the functions that they serve within the earth is to anchor the tree. They are its foundation.
Standing Vigil
Just outside the wood, a hornbeam and a beech tree stand together. The hornbeam apears to have a prominent root wrapped around the worn stump of a long-dead forebear. A little imagination supplies fondness and memory of the missing tree, and I conjectured a combined role of memorial and guradianship, both of which would merit a vigil.
Greensand
This is the same sunken lane that supplied me with a subject for Firmament, but a different part of the road. This time I found interest in a wider view – the rock is more fractured, with recesses where the trees are more entrenched. The name “Greensand” is that given to this type of rock, which has a faint greenish hue and which underlies much of the southern England downland.
