ANGIE LEWIN
Nature Assembled
ANGIE LEWIN
Nature Assembled 30 September - 24 October 2020
THE
SCOTTISH
GALLERY
1
CONTEMPORARY ART SINCE 1842 16 DUNDAS STREET • EDINBURGH EH3 6HZ +44 (0) 131 558 1200 • scottish-gallery.co.uk
UNCONSTRAINED FORMS A N G I E L E W I N AT T H E S C OT T I S H G A L L E RY
Simon Martin During the course of her career, Angie Lewin has created a unique vision of the natural world. Her imagery is utterly distinctive – whether in prints, textile designs, or paintings: it is a distillation of the underlying structure of feathers, flowers, seedheads, branches and grasses, and the rhythms that they form as they move in the wind. Lewin’s wood-engravings, linocuts and screenprints reveal tremendous technical mastery and understanding of the medium: the complex layering of colour and form that are necessary in order to build up dynamic, accomplished and pleasing images. These same technical qualities are present in the watercolours in this exhibition, on which Lewin has worked over the past two years. They reveal no less control, but it is as if the artist has been freed to experiment with tone and form in a way that the definiteness of the printed mark does not always permit. Watercolour is essentially a fluid medium, and these are playful and unconstrained images. Just as Paul Klee spoke of ‘taking a line for a walk’, so too, Lewin allows recognisable decorative patterns to grow out from the sides of porcelain mugs and vases, to take their place amidst the branches, feathers and flowers that they ‘should’ be encasing (if we were choosing to be literal). But in these works, stylised pattern and nature are not separated, but completely intertwined. Forms flow, and seem to grow, just as they do in nature. Lewin isn’t seeking to be botanically accurate, but to express the essence of the plant and to explore the relationship between the decorative and the found object. These patterns are inspired by vintage transfer-ware ceramics that she collects: Sunderlandware with its mauve decoration; mochaware with its distinctive bands of colour and Rorschach-like blots; and Wedgwood plates and mugs bearing designs by Eric Ravilious. She likes to explore how someone else has made a pattern and speaks of how, as a child, she would copy fabrics and book jackets. Previously, Lewin’s depictions of plant life has been rooted in the structural qualities of seedheads, branches, grasses, and seaweeds that might have been picked up on a walk, whether in the North Norfolk coast or in Speyside in the Scottish Highlands, where she has had a home for over eighteen years. Together with pebbles and shells, birds’ nests 3
and feathers, these particular organic forms convey a sense of the whole landscape, like William Blake’s evocation of seeing ‘a World in a Grain of Sand, and a Heaven in a Wild Flower’. Over the past few months, like so many others, her world has contracted, and Lewin spent the Covid-19 lockdown in Edinburgh. Confined to her home, her focus was directed onto the plants in her Morningside garden. Auriculas, calendulas, dahlias and anemones: these domestic flowers are cultivated with intent and have an intensity of colour that is in complete contrast to the things that she would normally paint in the wild. Although seasonality is present in all her images of nature, somehow it is more forcefully apparent in these spring and summer garden blooms. For those familiar with Lewin’s work and the slightly chalky palette that is evocative of Modern British artists she admires, such as Paul Nash and Ravilious, the saturated colour in some of the new flower paintings is almost a surprise. The ochre backgrounds recall the richness of Ottoman miniatures; but another influence is closer to home: the British artist Edward Burra, whose 1950s flower paintings Lewin describes as “absolutely stunning: the way he observed and intensified things…” In Burra’s paintings the flowers have an almost human presence, so that the flower heads appear like eyes looking out. Such menace is not present in Lewin’s work, but there is a darker background from which the plants emerge and a visual wit in watercolours such as ‘Studio Bird Cup with Feathers’ (cat. 47) – in which the transfer-ware birds nest seems to come to life. It is a reminder that although life has been constrained for us all, there are joys in simple things, and that the imagination can roam, just like the motifs in Lewin’s paintings. As we emerge with hope from a difficult time, these watercolours remind us to look to the natural life on our doorsteps, and of the importance of seeing beauty in our gardens. They reveal Lewin to be an artist of the garden as much as of the open spaces of the Scottish Highlands. Simon Martin is Director of Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. He has written widely on Modern British art including books on Edward Burra, John Minton, Eduardo Paolozzi, amongst others.
Previous: Auricula Faliraki (detail). Opposite: Wooden Dish with Shoreline Finds (detail) Overleaf: Lustreware and Ivy, Glenarder (detail) 4
A N I N T RO D U C T I O N Angie Lewin RWS RE
When I’m out walking in the landscape, I record the native flora, rocks, and pebbles in my sketchbooks. If the weather is good, I will sit by the River Spey and make watercolour drawings of the scabious, yellow rattle, and grasses. On colder, breezier days I’ll quickly make pencil sketches, annotated with references to colour, texture, or scale, in fact anything that will help jog my memory once back in my studio. The landscape is viewed through these plant forms, so mountains, sea, and islands layered mistily in the distance are quickly noted down to remind me of the place, although my focus is instinctively on the wildflowers and lichens at my feet. I gather natural objects on my walks: seedheads, feathers, and lichen covered larch branches which I find along a forest track. From a sandy beach I’ll collect twists of bladderwrack, pebbles, and shards of ceramic. I surround myself with these memories of my time spent outdoors, and they have accumulated over the years in my studio and throughout the house. Feathers and seedheads are stored in pots and jars, pebbles, and driftwood fill shelves, mantlepieces, and window sills. Previous still life compositions are gradually deconstructed to create the next composition. I paint my watercolours back in my studios in Edinburgh or Speyside. Sometimes I’ll lay out my shoreline finds and work on the kitchen table in a rented cottage on North Uist, or the North Norfolk coast. When I’m composing a painting, I might select from the pieces I’ve gathered that day that reflect a particular place; perhaps feathers and seaweed collected on a Hebridean beach. Others are an assemblage of elements from disparate locations. Spanish or Italian seedheads may be arranged alongside dogwood stems from my garden and a contorted holdfast from Orkney. While I’m painting, I’ll both add and remove elements of the composition, enjoying the way the image naturally develops in unexpected directions. Patternmaking has always been very important to me. In my still life paintings I include book jackets, old wallpapers and endpapers (some of which are my own designs for St Jude’s, others are created specifically for the painting). 7
My ever-expanding collection of ceramics, ranging from chipped Georgian tea bowls, Delft and Sunderlandware to contemporary pieces also feature in my work. I make associations between natural elements and the decoration on a jug or cup sitting on my studio shelf, and this may become a central part of the image. The stylised pattern often flows beyond the form, and the relationship between this and the found objects in the still life become blurred. I think the use of pattern has become even stronger in my recent work. I have a collection of Japanese block-printed papers which I’ve started including in some of my paintings. Bolder patterns and colours seem to be a response to the dahlias and auriculas which I’ve been drawing and painting over the past few years. Although they’re each very different plants in both scale and form, their colours share a similar intensity. The various flower types of dahlias inspire pattern making, and I like to contrast them with the stark black silhouette of Ben Rinnes, which I see from my Speyside studio. The simpler blooms of auricula have an infinite range of colours, so saturated that their petals are almost like velvet, accentuated by the contrasting pale ring at their centre. Their intense colours massed together are a vibrant contrast to the softer palette and delicate structures of native wildflowers and the muted colours of dried seedheads and seaweed gathered on a windswept shoreline. Their colours demand darker backgrounds, as in the auricula theatres where they are traditionally displayed. I was down in Edinburgh when the Covid-19 lockdown was announced, and this has had an influence on the later works created for the exhibition. As I’d been working for a year or so, I already had a considerable number of completed watercolours. However, I had to cancel a trip to the mountains of Andalusia which I had planned in order to create work for the exhibition, as well as my yearly trip to North Uist, though I have included several paintings inspired by the Outer Hebrides which I painted in 2019. It was always my intention that watercolours made in my city garden would be an important part of Nature Assembled as here the same close observation of familiar plant species is at the heart of my work. Wildflowers and weeds grow amongst the cultivated plants, softening boundaries and blurring the relationship with the surrounding gardens and view to Blackford Hill. I like to plant species which have visual links with their wild counterparts. Wood avens and cultivated geums sit happily together and sweet cicely self-seeds here alongside bronze fennel. Dandelions, aquilegia and poppies create sparks of colour here and 8
there. I plant a variety of ferns to create visual links with the hart’s tongue ferns and aspleniums which grow in the damp stone walls. I visually extend the understorey of the woodland nearby by planting honeysuckle, witch hazel, cornus, campion, primrose, wild garlic, and wood anemones. With this small plot being the focus of my attention for 14 weeks it became more of a haven than ever before during these strange times. I would observe daily its progression from spring to summer and record this in paintings of snowdrops and fritillaries, witch hazel, ivy flowers, and forget-me-nots. I could focus on my collection of auriculas as the start of lockdown coincided with the beginning of their short flowering season, creating a series of paintings, limited only by the fall of the last petal, which came only too soon. Without the usual distractions of city life and unable to access the wilder places and expansive views, I realised how similarly I respond to the plant communities in my small urban garden and to those in the landscape around me on Speyside. Angie Lewin 9
1 / Highland Spring 2020, watercolour, 51 x 47.5 cm 10
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2 / Snowdrops and Lichen 2020, watercolour, 30 x 29 cm 12
3 / Spring Flowers 2020, watercolour, 26 x 21.5 cm 13
4 / Fritillaries and Feathers 2020, watercolour, 57 x 76 cm 14
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5 / Snowdrops and Ferns 2020, watercolour, 50.5 x 46 cm 16
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6 / Blue Shards with Seaweed and Coral 2020, watercolour on gesso panel, 15 x 15 cm 18
7 / Shoreline China 2020, watercolour on gesso panel, 23 x 30 cm 19
8 / Coronation Mug with Sea Urchin 2020, watercolour, 61.5 x 49 cm 20
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9 / Anenomes with Uist Pebbles 2020, watercolour, 56 x 77 cm 22
10 / Coronation Mug with Anenomes 2020, watercolour, 47.5 x 62.8 cm 23
11 / White Anenome, Winter Hedgerow 2020, watercolour, 55 x 53.5 cm 24
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Above: 12 / Lustreware Cup with Astrantia 2020, watercolour, 27 x 27 cm Opposite: 13 / Lustreware Ship with Feathers 2020, watercolour, 46 x 48.5 cm 26
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14 / Lustreware and Ivy, Glenarder 2020, watercolour, 57 x 76 cm 28
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15 / Auricula Tapestry 2020, watercolour, 57 x 76 cm 30
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16 / Single Starling 2020, watercolour, 17 x 16.5 cm 32
17 / Auricula Faliraki 2020, watercolour, 49 x 43 cm 33
18 / Totem with Yellow Auricula 2020, watercolour, 33 x 28.5 cm 34
19 / Auricula with Japanese Paper 2020, watercolour, 53 x 53.5 cm 35
Above: 20 / Two Pale Auriculas 2020, watercolour, 27.5 x 31 cm Opposite: 21 / McWatt’s Blue in Mochaware Cup 2020, watercolour, 45 x 25.5 cm 36
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22 / Gaudy Welsh Jug with Honesty and Lichen 2020, watercolour, 21.5 x 21 cm 38
23 / China Cup with Pink Scabious 2020, watercolour, 38 x 28.5 cm 39
24 / Dahlias, Astrantia and Fern 2019, watercolour, 57 x 76 cm 40
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Above: 25 / Jubilee Mug with Dahlias 2019, watercolour, 55 x 53 cm Opposite: 26 / Dahlias with No. 19 Jug 2019, watercolour, 76 x 57 cm 42
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27 / Witch Hazel with Lowestoft Cup 2020, watercolour, 37.5 x 27.5 cm 44
28 / Birds’ Nests and Feathers 2020, watercolour, 28 x 38 cm 45
29 / Ravilious, Seedheads and Feathers 2020, watercolour, 77 x 56 cm 46
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30 / Seedheads and Country Walks 1 2019, watercolour, 27.5 x 28 cm 48
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31 / Dice Cup, Dark Feathers and Dogwood 2020, watercolour, 30.5 x 35.5 cm 50
32 / Seedheads and Hagstones 2018, watercolour, 33 x 22.5 cm 51
33 / Echinops and Calendula 2020, watercolour, 17 x 19 cm 52
34 / Echinops and Primula 2020, watercolour, 17 x 19 cm 53
35 / Honesty, Aquilegia and Artichokes 2020, watercolour, pen and ink, 57 x 76 cm 54
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36 / Coffee Pot with Garden Seedheads 2020, watercolour, pen and ink, 76 x 57 cm 56
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37 / Twisted Holdfasts 2020, watercolour, pen and ink, 56 x 76.5 cm 58
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38 / Twisted Stem, Calendula and Pebbles 2019, watercolour, pen and ink, 56 x 77 cm 60
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39 / Wooden Dish with Shoreline Finds 2020, watercolour, 56 x 77 cm 62
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40 / Garden Plate with Seaweed 2020, watercolour on gesso panel, 15 x 15 cm 64
41 / Berneray Clover and Feathers 2019, watercolour, 25 x 21.5 cm 65
42 / Tea Cup, Catkins, Ivy and Cone 2020, watercolour, 29.5 x 28.5 cm 66
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43 / Flints and Feathers 2018, watercolour, 33 x 22.5 cm 68
44 / Gneiss Pebbles, Berneray 2018, watercolour, 33 x 22.5 cm 69
45 / Berneray Beach Gatherings 2019, watercolour, 28 x 38 cm 70
46 / Feathers and Berneray Shard 2019, watercolour, 29 x 38 cm 71
47 / Studio Bird Cup with Feathers 2020, watercolour, pen and ink, 26 x 36 cm 72
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48 / Guyatt Mug with Feathers 2019, watercolour, pen and ink, 25 x 17.5 cm 74
49 / New Town Cup with Feathers 2019, watercolour, pen and ink, 28.5 x 21.5 cm 75
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BIOGRAPHY Angie Lewin RWS RE
Born 1963, Macclesfield, Cheshire Education 2003-04 2002-03 1997-98 1996-97 1986-87 1983-86 1982-83
Postgraduate Glass and Fine Art - Central St. Martins Postgraduate Glass and Architecture - Central St. Martins City & Guilds Garden Design - Capel Manor RHS General Certificate in Horticulture - Capel Manor Postgraduate Printmaking - Camberwell School of Arts & Crafts BA (Hons) Fine Art Printmaking - Central School of Art & Design Art Foundation - Northwich College of Art
Selected recent exhibitions 2019 2018 2018 2017 2017 2017 2016 2015 2015 2014 2014 2014 2013 2012 2012 2011 77
Cambridge Contemporary Art Speypath & Strandline, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh (solo exhibition) Nature Table, The Townhouse, Fournier Street, London A Fine Line, City Art Centre, Edinburgh (co-curator) Airs Reels & Ballads, St Jude’s at The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh A Printmaker’s Journey, Hampshire (curator) Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool (solo exhibition) The Masters - Relief Printmaking, The Bankside Gallery, London (curator) A Natural Selection, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh (solo exhibition) Cambridge Contemporary Art Designing The Everyday, Towner, Eastbourne St Jude’s in the City, The Townhouse, Fournier Street, London A Natural Line, Yorkshire Sculpture Park (solo exhibition) Revealed: A Familiar Landscape, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh St Jude’s In The City, Bankside Gallery, London Summer Exhibition, The Royal Academy, London
Societies The Royal Watercolour Society The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers The Society of Wood Engravers The Art Workers’ Guild Public collections London Institute Aberystwyth University Ashmolean Museum Victoria & Albert Museum Awards, commissions and other achievements Aberystwyth University, School of Art Purchase Prizes 2008 and 2011. Co-founded textile design company St Jude’s in 2005. Illustrations for publishers Penguin, Merrell and Conran Octopus including book jackets for Carol Ann Duffy for Picador, Shelley and Ted Hughes for Faber & Faber and Penelope Lively for Penguin. In 2010 Merrell publish ‘Angie Lewin - Plants and Places’. In 2010 the wood engraving ‘Alphabet and Feathers’ was included in the V&A Cherry On The Cake collection and in 2015 a new screenprint, ‘Honesty Blue’ was also commissioned by the V&A. Limited edition prints have also been commissioned by Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne and Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. Fabric designs for Liberty for their Autumn/Winter 2010 collection. In 2019 Random Spectacular publish ‘The Book of Pebbles’, a collaboration with writer Christopher Stocks. Published as a paperback edition by Thames & Hudson in 2020.
50 / Festival of Britain Glass with Spring Flowers 2020, watercolour, 66 x 49 cm 78
Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition ANGIE LEWIN Nature Assembled 30 September - 24 October 2020 The exhibition can be viewed online at scottish-gallery.co.uk/angielewin ISBN: 978-1-912900-23-7 Designed by Simon Lewin Portraits of Angie by Peter Dibdin Photography of watercolours by Jamie McAteer Printed by Swallowtail Print Front cover: Dahlias, Astrantia and Fern, 2019, watercolour, 57 x 76 cm (detail cat. 24) All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.
THE
SCOTTISH
GALLERY
80
CONTEMPORARY ART SINCE 1842 16 DUNDAS STREET • EDINBURGH EH3 6HZ +44 (0) 131 558 1200 • scottish-gallery.co.uk
THE
SCOTTISH
GALLERY
CONTEMPORARY ART SINCE 1842