Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, 4th February- august 2020
The Spaghetti Factory presents the second in a series of three shows at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens. The focus of the project is contemporary art talent from Sunderland. This exhibition is in response to the Museum's first Arts Council Collection National Partner exhibition, 'Received Wisdom'. HOT NEW IT aims to show Sunderland artistic talent and give it a platform within the museum, the artists chosen all have ties to Sunderland and to the theme of received wisdom.
Paddy Killer makes illustrative works on a number of materials, including textiles, wood, ceramics and glass. Killer’s work Anatomy of Change is about the artist’s body and the diagnoses she has received over time. Anatomy of Change is a distressed medical chart illustrating the causes and changes Paddy has had to make throughout her life to remedy the effect autoimmune diseases and other conditions have had on her body. Some images are from Killer’s research into anatomical studies by 16th and 17th century artists, such as Vesalius and Pietro da Cortona. The circular images, Killer’s “internal investigations”, are scans and x-rays from the Freeman Hospital.
Killer has received wisdom about her own body after plenty of investigation, she believes she’s often not taken seriously when making medical complaints because she is a woman. She imparts her wisdom through this piece to women who may be having similar experiences, encouraging them to not give up in their search for diagnoses.
@paddykillerart
paddykillerart.co.uk
Kevin Petrie is Head of the School of Art and Design and Professor of Glass and Ceramics at the University of Sunderland. Kevin’s paintings have been described as full of ‘joie de vivre’ and this feeling of happiness
or excitement about life is just what he is trying to capture in his work. These pictures have vibrant colours and
celebrate the diverse qualities of oil paint. The works were all developed in the studio, in Sunderland not far from this
museum, from drawings made in Morocco and around the UK. While traveling Kevin makes quick drawings often of
things seen while walking, in the car or on trains.Back in the studio, these ideas are developed into paintings which, although rooted in things seen, often take on new meanings and a ‘life of their own’. For example, although all of the starting points of the paintings are landscape, some of the finished paintings may be read as still lifes or interiors. The idea of ‘journeys’ is important to Kevin as the inspiration and source material for the pictures emerges from travel. Another kind of ‘journey’ takes place in the studio as Kevin works to ‘find’ an image that ‘works’ through the painting process. When seen in groups these pictures can also take the viewer on a journey of seeing – colours, texture, shapes and feelings.
Petrie's paintings are very much in an 'emerging' phase. This will be the first exhibition to display his oil painting Kevin has not only imparted wisdom to many students at the university over 20 years, but he is throwing himself into something unfamiliar, and he is receiving wisdom from
others in this new phase.
@kevinpetrieart
kevinpetrieart.com
The focus of Brenda Watson's practice is the exploration of colour, space and geometric forms. Watson makes works to respond to different sites and architecture, thinking about the dimensions, light and functional space.
Brenda Watson creates works in 3D as well as 2D. Her 3D pieces use fabric that is layered and hung, creating a real presence that the viewer can walk around. The pieces play with light and transparency.
Watson’s paintings and 3D work share the same concerns: abstract shapes; colour combinations; interaction and transparencies informed by colour theory research. Watson’s paintings celebrate the behaviour of colour combinations, dissonance of blue and orange, contrasting with the harmonious merge of blues and greys. Areas of colour become suspended floating shapes, interplaying and overlapping, jostling for position and uncontained.
@brendawatsonart
brenda-watson.co.uk
Katie Watson’s practice translates methods of “do it yourself” assembly into painting, visually describing movements and processes which are universally understood. Her work originates from an interest in entirely visual methods of communication, where words are replaced by symbols. This vocabulary of forms includes arrows, dotted lines and speech bubbles.
Constructed on bare birch plywood, Watson’s paintings celebrate the inherent qualities of this traditional construction material upon which she explores diagrams. Her process involves the gathering of information found in flat-pack furniture booklets, vehicular maintenance manuals and model construction kits. Watson then reinterprets fragments of this information through painting, multi-dimensional assemblages and dysfunctional objects.
Watson’s work imparts wisdom through instruction, the format or language used is recognisable, though it is missing elements to actually construct a finished object. In this way the artist has withheld knowledge from the viewer implying there is insight still to receive.
@katiewatson123
katiewatsonart.weebly.com
Brenda and Katie Watson are mother and daughter from Washington. Brenda studied at University of Sunderland for her degree and masters and Katie also studied there for her foundation art diploma before doing her degree in Newcastle University. Wisdom has been passed back and forth and similarities are seen within their paintings, there is also a sense of style that emanates from both artists works. The very tight clean lines, sense of space and bold but not noisy use of colour are recognisable traits in both artists' pieces.
Paddy Killer makes illustrative works on a number of materials, including textiles, wood, ceramics and glass. Killer’s work Anatomy of Change is about the artist’s body and the diagnoses she has received over time. Anatomy of Change is a distressed medical chart illustrating the causes and changes Paddy has had to make throughout her life to remedy the effect autoimmune diseases and other conditions have had on her body. Some images are from Killer’s research into anatomical studies by 16th and 17th century artists, such as Vesalius and Pietro da Cortona. The circular images, Killer’s “internal investigations”, are scans and x-rays from the Freeman Hospital.
Killer has received wisdom about her own body after plenty of investigation, she believes she’s often not taken seriously when making medical complaints because she is a woman. She imparts her wisdom through this piece to women who may be having similar experiences, encouraging them to not give up in their search for diagnoses.
@paddykillerart
paddykillerart.co.uk
Kevin Petrie is Head of the School of Art and Design and Professor of Glass and Ceramics at the University of Sunderland. Kevin’s paintings have been described as full of ‘joie de vivre’ and this feeling of happiness
or excitement about life is just what he is trying to capture in his work. These pictures have vibrant colours and
celebrate the diverse qualities of oil paint. The works were all developed in the studio, in Sunderland not far from this
museum, from drawings made in Morocco and around the UK. While traveling Kevin makes quick drawings often of
things seen while walking, in the car or on trains.Back in the studio, these ideas are developed into paintings which, although rooted in things seen, often take on new meanings and a ‘life of their own’. For example, although all of the starting points of the paintings are landscape, some of the finished paintings may be read as still lifes or interiors. The idea of ‘journeys’ is important to Kevin as the inspiration and source material for the pictures emerges from travel. Another kind of ‘journey’ takes place in the studio as Kevin works to ‘find’ an image that ‘works’ through the painting process. When seen in groups these pictures can also take the viewer on a journey of seeing – colours, texture, shapes and feelings.
Petrie's paintings are very much in an 'emerging' phase. This will be the first exhibition to display his oil painting Kevin has not only imparted wisdom to many students at the university over 20 years, but he is throwing himself into something unfamiliar, and he is receiving wisdom from
others in this new phase.
@kevinpetrieart
kevinpetrieart.com
The focus of Brenda Watson's practice is the exploration of colour, space and geometric forms. Watson makes works to respond to different sites and architecture, thinking about the dimensions, light and functional space.
Brenda Watson creates works in 3D as well as 2D. Her 3D pieces use fabric that is layered and hung, creating a real presence that the viewer can walk around. The pieces play with light and transparency.
Watson’s paintings and 3D work share the same concerns: abstract shapes; colour combinations; interaction and transparencies informed by colour theory research. Watson’s paintings celebrate the behaviour of colour combinations, dissonance of blue and orange, contrasting with the harmonious merge of blues and greys. Areas of colour become suspended floating shapes, interplaying and overlapping, jostling for position and uncontained.
@brendawatsonart
brenda-watson.co.uk
Katie Watson’s practice translates methods of “do it yourself” assembly into painting, visually describing movements and processes which are universally understood. Her work originates from an interest in entirely visual methods of communication, where words are replaced by symbols. This vocabulary of forms includes arrows, dotted lines and speech bubbles.
Constructed on bare birch plywood, Watson’s paintings celebrate the inherent qualities of this traditional construction material upon which she explores diagrams. Her process involves the gathering of information found in flat-pack furniture booklets, vehicular maintenance manuals and model construction kits. Watson then reinterprets fragments of this information through painting, multi-dimensional assemblages and dysfunctional objects.
Watson’s work imparts wisdom through instruction, the format or language used is recognisable, though it is missing elements to actually construct a finished object. In this way the artist has withheld knowledge from the viewer implying there is insight still to receive.
@katiewatson123
katiewatsonart.weebly.com
Brenda and Katie Watson are mother and daughter from Washington. Brenda studied at University of Sunderland for her degree and masters and Katie also studied there for her foundation art diploma before doing her degree in Newcastle University. Wisdom has been passed back and forth and similarities are seen within their paintings, there is also a sense of style that emanates from both artists works. The very tight clean lines, sense of space and bold but not noisy use of colour are recognisable traits in both artists' pieces.
