16 - 17 November 2024
Private View: 6 - 8pm, Saturday 16 September
Sunday 17, Studio open from 12 - 6pm
Workshop: 10am - 12 noon, Saturday 16 September
Tickets: £20
In the 19th Century natural history museums created dioramas bringing in landscape as an environmental context for taxidermied animals. Dioramas were composed of three elements: stuffed animals, a stage-like space often with physical props (like grass or rocks), and painted vertical backdrops. Ceramicist Mirja Hartwig and artist Luci Eyers will be playing with these ideas by creating a controlled viewing experience to situate their ceramic animals. They intend to defy classification models working instead with a non-hierarchical, ideological system (based on Eden) where animals cohabit peacefully.
There is a nod to Alexander Calder’s Circus in the project, also to Gainsborough who reputedly used household objects to create model landscapes, supposedly using broccoli for trees. Similarly to Gainsborough we will draw from these model worlds in a morning workshop.
Bios:
Mirja Hartwig is influenced by nature and imperfection. She studied illustration at RCA and runs her own ceramics studio ‘La Matiere’ in Exmouth Market.
@lamatierelondon
Luci Eyers is a painter and educator, she founded Eye to Pencil in 2021. Drawing is at the core of her work. She works predominantly from her memory, with animals persistently creeping into her artworks.
@lucieyerspainting
Making ceramic animals and drawing are shared pleasures for both Luci Eyers and Mirja Hartwig. This collaborative project will combine both.
