Into the night (grimlings)
Louise Barrington
Reference
SAS0020_006
Year
2019
Dimensions (cm)
Height: 188
Length: 150
Depth: 43
Length: 150
Depth: 43
Materials
Steel & naturally dyed textiles
Current Location
Orkney
Suitable Locations for the Work
- Indoors
- Wall-mounted
About the Artwork
The landscape of Orkney is central to my work, the underlying energy prevalent in open spaces and the quality of light, especially at ‘in between’ times – twilight, dawn, dusk (grimlings in Orcadian dialect) – has greatly influenced my output.
The Japanese aesthetic of Ma where the negative space is equally important to the actual resounds hugely with my experience of Orkney’s landscape and underpins my work.
In my approach to understanding landscape and in particular, my relationship to the Orkney landscape, I am interested in the concept and misinterpretation of ‘emptiness’ with an open space.
Translated into my work, the void becomes an equally positive space for the projection of ideas and an expression of the limitlessness of possibilities, reflected within the composition of the structures I make, allowing the spaces in between to be meditative and reflective for the viewer.
I work directly in and with the landscape, collecting and exploring natural materials to dye fabrics and create organic structures.
This use of found and harvested materials, along with everyday found within the kitchen influenced by seasonal patterns and change, has created a restrained colour palette for my work.
Re-imagining and rescaling the landscape around me, combining textiles techniques and fine art, I explore the duality between my studio and the landscape.
Background, history, commissioner of the work
Exhibited in the Society of Scottish Artist annual show 2019 at the Royal Scottish Academy, which was the work I made from being selected as the invitee from 2018 show. Over 2020 Into the Night (grimlings) has appeared in two online shows with Wasps Studio and the Aberdeen Artists Society ‘Coming Home’ summer show, 2020.
Thematic/contextual information
The subtle colour palette relates to these in between times of the day, which is achieved through nature dyes. I gathered materials from the landscape and sustainably use waste materials from the kitchen, where through the textiles the structures hold a certain time and place.