Collected works

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Art curated by: Kate Sweeney Perspectiveaia

Design: nathan@leftdesign.co.uk

©2012 Chapter Hotels

Join us as we wander through our collection of art, distinctive and curious, stepping outside traditional methods and encompassing a variety of styles and materials. Glass, light, maps, wall paintings, rare books and wood make up this compendium, we hope you enjoy the experience.

Many pieces are within the public areas of the hotel, some more easily seen than others. Hugo Dalton’s wall painting with its copper leaf stretches the entire length of a wall, whilst pieces such as Sophie Smallhorn’s prints may take some searching out.

The bedrooms haven’t been left out; each has an individual piece, chosen for its connection to Devon and nature.

In curating the collection, a number of pieces were commissioned including our signature “font” by Alison Crowther, and Tracy Bush’s Butterflies. Mindful of the building’s history and its surroundings, the curation centred around three specific and distinctive flavours - a taste of yesterday with hints of Victorian elegance and period charm, an experience of today with the contemporary flair, and a glimpse of what tomorrow might bring.

Introduction

Alison Crowther Font II 1080mm x 1080mm x 900mm English oak

Alison Crowther designs and makes furniture and sculpture from her studio at the foot of the West Sussex Downs.

Since studying at the Royal College of Art, London, she has gained over 20 years experience of exhibiting and working on commissions. Most recently sculptures have gone as far afield as China.

“The design for Font II was a natural progression from Font I, at The Montpellier Chapter in Cheltenham - almost a ‘sister’ piece. In fact, it is actually made from timber from the same tree - the other half of the giant ‘butt’. The carved lines follow the annual rings accentuating the centuries of growth of this ancient piece of English oak.” Alison Crowther

Alison Crowther

“My objective with these paintings was to create harmony and a sense of calm; balancing colour, form and texture.” Jo Barrett

Jo BarrettStill Life with Chinese Vase and Cherries 800mm x 1200mm Oil on canvas

Jo BarrettStill Life with Physalis and Bowl 800mm x 1200mm Oil on canvas

Jo Barrett was born in Peterborough in 1978. She studied Art Foundation at Loughborough Art College, going on to graduate from Bath Spa University College with a 1st Class in BA Fine Art Painting in 2000. Since graduating she has been represented by galleries in London and New York, and exhibited internationally.

Jo has a love of composition, arranging still life to convey a mood and atmosphere. The objects form strong relationships with each other and the space around them. Subdued and glowing light permeates the space within the paintings, giving the still life a warmth and narrative quality.

Jo Barrett

Francisca PrietoBetween Folds/British Grasses 1500mm x 1000mm E. J. Lowe book published 1864

Francisca Prieto’s ‘Between Folds’ brings together many of her passions and explores the deconstruction of rare illustrated periodicals and books using modular structures and typographical elements. A hidden narrative emerges in each work through the connections that Francisca makes; both in terms of the structures she uses, and the conceptual connections of the images and text selected.

Francisca has arranged the beautifully wood-engraved colour plates, from a book by E. J. Lowe published in 1864, in a way that alludes to a grassy field.

“It resembles the marks left in the grass by the wind or by someone walking on it.” Francisca Prieto

Francisca Prieto

Hugo DaltonAvenue of Palms 13890mm x 2020mm Mixed media

The work is inspired by the 800 year old Exeter cathedral, specifically the famous fan vault. At 319 feet it is the longest continuous piece of medieval Gothic vaulting in the world and is colloquially referred to as the ‘Avenue of Palms’.

Hugo Dalton is best known for his wall paintings that are inspired by and drawn from life. He employs modern materials and techniques to achieve subtle and striking artworks; the wall painting at The Magdalen Chapter is no exception.

“Exeter Cathedral is one of the most architecturally overwhelming places that I have visited. The central knave has the most incredible vaulting. I subsequently came across Bicton Park which has a fantastic palm house and so I decided to merge these two different places in to one work.”

His commitment to art on walls started following his training at Goldsmith’s College, London. “I am part of a new generation of artists reacting against ‘production line art’. The idea of painting on the walls goes back to the age of cave painting. I believe that because a wall painting is immovable, it roots you psychologically to a point in time and gives one a different level of experience.”

The wall painting in the The Lounge took two weeks to complete and is painted in green hues with parts detailed in copper leaf. Hugo said; “The copper leaf emulates the beautiful gilding found in the cathedral. The copper works well with the exposed brickwork of the courtyard. It also helped me to explore where the structure stops and decoration begins.”

Hugo Dalton

“Copper as a metal is inherently structural, associated with building, I therefore used it as part of my investigation into the boundary between structure and ornament.” Hugo Dalton

“‘Set of Eight’ is a single composition that evolves across several sheets. Exploring ideas of proportion, colour and negative space. I wanted to create a play of balance and tension between the formal grid of sheets and the planes of colour. My work is an intuitive process of bringing together pure, saturated colour in hard edged graphic shapes. The balance of order and chaos and the white space created by the unprinted areas are essential to the final composition. My work explores ideas of colour, form and proportion.” Sophie Smallhorn

Sophie Smallhorn

Sophie SmallhornSet of Eight 1720mm x 840mm x 30mm Screen print on Somerset satin

Phil Shaw

“From the age of about 15 I became aware of Immanuel Kant, and in particular his Critique of Pure Reason, published in 1781. In this work Kant explores the knotty problem of what we can know from experience, and whether it is possible to know anything independently of experience. Well that’s what I think it’s about anyway,

and there lies my inspiration, Kant’s Critique still sits on my bookshelf, I still read it and I’m still uncertain about what he’s actually on about! My ‘Critique’ is a kind of visual interpretation of what it feels like to me to read Kant - confusing, perplexing but ultimately fascinating.” Phil Shaw

Phil ShawThe Critique of Poor Reason 810mm x 610mm Screen print on plywood and layered Perspex

“As a child I would spend hours wondering whether I could actually see the point of a pin, I would imagine ever decreasing states of pointedness but never arriving at the point itself. I was, and still am fascinated by things which are not what they appear, puzzles, paradoxes and contradictions, the enigma of consciousness and the ultimate comedy of life.”

Phil Shaw

“The Endarkenment is a companion piece to an earlier print entitled The Enlightenment which presented a series of genuine scientific works, all of which contradicted Newton’s theory of light. The idea being that the owner of the books had the truth staring him in the face all the

time, i.e. that light is made up of a series of spectral colours. The Endarkenment plays with a similar idea, but this time the books are all about black, white and various shades of gray, so that the work embodies a kind of internal contradiction. I find irony and contradictions fascinating.” Phil Shaw

Phil ShawThe Endarkenment 317mm x 1130mm Archival print on Hahnemuhle rag paper

Born in the expansive landscape of the Scottish Highlands, Allan’s heritage is conveyed in his love of drama, and seeking to expand the beauty of natural forms that are sometimes over looked in everyday life.

Allan employs a range of techniques, including analogue and digital exposures taken in his work, combined with computer generated imagery, photograms, and photographic collages from historic magazines and vintage postcards.

Allan Forsyth

Allan ForsythFlamenco 1000mm x 1000mm Giclée archival photograph

“Flamenco is inspired by natural phenomena and emotions.” Allan Forsyth

Kate Maestri is an architectural glass artist specialising in innovative uses of contemporary stained glass. Her designs explore the use of structural and three-dimensional stained glass. The intent is to create an environment in which glass is experienced as colour, light and form, shaped by the artist.

The glass wall lights have been made using traditional mouth blown stained glass. They have a dual role; as both three-dimensional sculptures where the delicate surface texture and pattern of the glass are visible, and as a site-specific lighting installation where the atmosphere of the piece and rich flow of colour will change depending on the time of day and intensity of light.

Kate Maestri

Kate MaestriGlass Wall Lights 1000mm x 200mm each (four pieces) Lamberts Stained Glass and Perspex

“I have made collections of butterflies and moths from paper ephemera for many years. The use of scraps is a way of ‘upcycling’ both materials and images in a process of reconstruction. Each butterfly is hand-cut from layers of vintage maps and then sewn together using a bookbinder’s stitch. They are pinned out in traditional mahogany brown entomological boxes lined with cork and paper.

The two large collections that I have made for The Magdalen Chapter Hotel focus on two different geographic regions. Firstly British Butterflies is made from maps of Devon. The Large Blue, a British native butterfly, was declared extinct in 1979 and has been reintroduced in Devon; I have made a number of these Large Blues from coastal locations in Devon. The second collection of Worldwide Butterflies includes some Paris Peacocks cut from a deeply coloured ‘Plan de Ville’.

Butterflies are amongst the first indicators of environmental change; these collections hope to highlight their frailty and diversity, as an alternative to a collection of actual specimens.” Tracey Bush

Tracey Bush

Tracey BushWorldwide Butterflies 750mm x 600mm x 80mm Butterflies hand cut from vintage maps and world atlases.

Tracey BushBritish Butterflies 750mm x 600mm x 80mm Butterflies hand cut from vintage maps of Devon.

Kasia Depta-GarapitchCells Pencil, black paper, tracing paper

Jo GornerShelter 2/1Etching

Each of the bedrooms within the hotel enjoys an air of individuality, created by the position of the room within the building, natural light, and enhanced by the furnishings.

The crystallisation of the space is captured in the art held within. Each piece of art has been selected to reflect the organic elements of the natural world in a creative and artistic manner.

Art in the bedrooms

Kasia Depta-GarapitchCells Pencil, black paper, tracing paper

Jo GornerShelter 2/1Etching

Peter FreemanFarringdon Oaks in the SnowPhotograph

Paul JulianThe TreePhotograph

Marcus JakeEthereal

Photograph

PremgitThe Spirit of the Dance

Photograph

Pamela’s work is inspired by print, often combining photographic images, text and iconography. Within her work Pamela deals with issues of beauty ideals, and the body’s relationship with popular culture, fashion, health and food, as well as the way women are perceived in society.

The use of square formats, grids and pixels highlight the notion of conformity, whilst the soft padding gives an organic dimension to what would otherwise be flat prints. Primary notions pertinent to the theme involve scale, scrutiny and fragmentation.

“This work explores the literal and figurative elements of consumerism. Bringing these notions together into one work, portraying a mundane recognizable culinary object linked to the glamorous world of fashion and beauty, neatly sums up two phenomena strongly fixated upon among women in modern society.”

Pamela StrettonConsumed 600mm x 2000mm Archival inkjet fragments

Pamela Stretton

“A light-hearted reference to some of the sombre issues of femininity.” Pamela Stretton

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