Familiar: phase one. Three large sculptures in the garden/park telling:
Three Lancashire Stories in steel:
- "Dandy", a 2m. high sculpture in stainless steel, patinated black. Inspired by the history of the Pendle Witches, who believed that each had an animal familiar spirit. This supernatural, named creature - which was for one of them indeed a black dog named Dandy, could give them the power they so lacked in their day to day lives.
The spikey steel coat, the dynamic stance, the elongated legs and the unreal scale give power to this creature of the imagination.
The Dun Cow - a large maquette in gloriously rusty mild steel
2. The Dun Cow of Parlick Fell; she gave milk to all who were in need, until someone came who took more…and more …
And 3. the Hare, all 3.5 meters of it in Corten Steel.
These three sculptures will be part of a larger show inside the Whitaker’s Gallery II which will run from 23 February until 7 May showing works on paper, maquettes and small sculptures. This is a solo show developing the subjects represented in steel outside.
Expect to discover the stories that were inspired by local landscapes, find large scale charcoal drawings and works in ink and watercolour created for two books, one of which has just been published and the other which is in progress: the White Dobbie and the Dun Cow.
Visitors will get a sense of the processes involved in the creation of the artist’s sculptures and her visual storytelling, through sketchbook works and a wide range of drawings and works in clay and paper.