‘Sleeping Tree’ selected by Graham Crowley for Silent Disco ‘24 - Opening event 24th August 2024.
Above: Sleeping Tree, 2022, graphite on paper, 29.7 x 42 cm, £950.
I’m thrilled to be taking part in Silent Disco '24, an exhibition curated by Graham Crowley, former Professor of Painting at the Royal College of Art and winner of the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize 2023.
All welcome to the Opening Event on Saturday 24th August, midday - 5pm, at 87 High Street, Wickham Market, Suffolk, IP13 0RA.
The exhibition will continue until 7th September 2024, by appointment only (telephone 01728 747833 or email: grahamncrowley@gmail.com to make an appointment).
Travel: Nearest rail stations are Wickham Market or Woodbridge. To book a taxi from Woodbridge station call M & R Cars on 01394 386661
Silent Disco ’24 is part of a series of annual exhibitions curated by Graham Crowley, in which a diverse range of artists with distinctive work, each ‘dancing to their own tune’, are shown together.
I’m very much looking forward to exhibiting my drawing Sleeping Tree amongst work by a fantastic line up of artists.
This year, the exhibiting artists are: Martin Battye, Jackie Berridge, Matilda Bevan, Bryan Biggs, Alexandra Blum, Juan Bolivar, Terry Bond, Claire Cansick, Gary Colclough, Graham Crowley, Sally Crowley, Rosalind Davis, Karen Densham, Stephanie Douet, Tinsel Edwards, Hester Finch, Sam Jackson, Maggie James, David Mackintosh, Anne McAlarney, Henry Miller, Fleur Patrick, Julian Perry, Rosey Prince, Ciara Roche, Yukako Shibata, Rowland Thomas, Mimei Thompson, Emma Tod, Jane Ward, Joanna Whittle, David Wiseman, Laurence Wood, Tamar Yoseloff.
I drew Sleeping Tree on Laycock Green, a modest urban green in north London, as part of a year long project drawing the Green as it transforms with the passage of the seasons.
Scroll down to find out more and to see close ups….
Above: DETAIL from Sleeping Tree, 2022, graphite on paper, 29.7 x 42 cm, £950.
I stumbled upon Laycock Green during an early morning lockdown run in 2020. I loved the juxtaposition of abundant plant and animal life with the surrounding density of urban infrastructure. It’s a space people commute through, use to take brief breaks from nearby offices and walk dogs, as well as to play and socialise within. It feels like part of the working city, vital in its support of plant and animal life as well as local communities.
I’m constantly amazed by how a modest urban green changes radically with each season and reveals so much. This drawing was made in February. Such a great opportunity to draw ‘sleeping’ trees and to see the continued activity of creatures who’ve made Laycock Green their home. I wanted to take advantage of being able to look really closely at the structure of the bare branches. I was especially fascinated by the way the horizontal branches reach out into the open space in the centre of the Green, as if feeling their way towards new territory.
Above: DETAIL from: Sleeping Tree, 2022, graphite on paper, 29.7 x 42 cm, £950.
I also loved the cat...
Above: DETAIL from: Sleeping Tree, 2022, graphite on paper, 29.7 x 42 cm, £950.
....who spent quite a lot of time marching past me and patrolling the hedgerow (without appearing to actually catch anything)....
Above: DETAIL from: Sleeping Tree, 2022, graphite on paper, 29.7 x 42 cm, £950.
....the pigeons seemed to run rings around him.
Above: DETAIL from: Sleeping Tree, 2022, graphite on paper, 29.7 x 42 cm, £950.
There was also a feeling of surveillance, not only from the way the creatures living on the Green sometimes looked directly at me (I suppose because I was so still when drawing)....
Above: DETAIL from: Sleeping Tree, 2022, graphite on paper, 29.7 x 42 cm, £950.
....but also due to the frequent buzz of helicopters above.
Above: Sleeping Tree, 2022, graphite on paper, 29.7 x 42 cm, £950.
Here's a reminder of the entire drawing.
I hope very much you will be able to drop in and see the Silent Disco '24 exhibition.
If you would like to come to the Opening Event on Saturday 24th August, please let me know by contacting me here