Higher Ground
24 May - 7 June 2024
Onwards Gallery
A transference of visual knowledge exchanged through a group exhibition that explores contemporary works from artists traversing into and out of new directions.
Artists: James Rhodes, Melissa Grisancich, Luke Day, Holly Leonardson, Melanie Muddle, Hannah Robinson
Artist Statement
Continuing from the striped works I started producing two years prior, this series of three drawings were made in the early months of 2024. Swapping paint for pencil and glue for thread, these newly developed works on cotton paper hold arrangements of carefully stitched found plastics sourced from the tidelines of local Newcastle beaches.
An abstraction of my towels becoming a repository for my collecting habits when visiting the beach, these works may also recall for viewers an aerial perspective of the shoreline with collections of towels, umbrellas and figures. With each uniquely shaped and weather-worn plastic fragment, an act of care and almost reverence for the material emerges through the considered placement of each piece in relation to those adjacent, and the neat stitching used to secure them. In a subtle nod to my past explorations in contemporary jewellery, the formation of stitches in each work can be reminiscent of claw settings used to secure more traditionally precious materials.
