A passion for found objects
Blackpool born, Chris's passion for beach-combing has persisted throughout her life leading on to her recent assemblages and artworks using bones and found objects. The beaches of the Yorkshire and Lancashire coasts and the river Thames are vast repositories of source material to be sifted and collated and later transformed into assemblages.
She takes us on a thought provoking exploration of the discarded, such as bones, oxidized metal, pottery and glass fragments, textiles, old jewellery, shells and eggshells. A broken fragment of bone can become an icon, a jewel, a miniature landscape, a sculpture or an essay in colour and texture.
Chris is a full time artist . She predominantly makes assemblages and installations but her work also encompasses printmaking, painting and drawing.Chris and her husband Paul have studios at Luddenden, near Hebden Bridge, Staithes on the Yorkshire coast and they also belong to a studio group in Hebden bridge, 59 Steps, on Melbourne street.
"My work with found objects feels as though it is rooted at a very deep level. The process is very important , powerful and satisfying.
When foraging for lost objects on the riverbank and seashore I am conscious of their historical connections . Some of the things that I find, particularly bones, demand respect. They need to be celebrated in some way, and the constructions may come to resemble a memorial or reliquary.
When foraging for lost objects on the riverbank and seashore I am conscious of their historical connections . Some of the things that I find, particularly bones, demand respect. They need to be celebrated in some way, and the constructions may come to resemble a memorial or reliquary.
I have been collecting in this way for some time now. It all began with found pieces of pottery on a beach. These remnants of people's lives fired my imagination.
My latest body of work (in progress), involves the creation of 'Icons' based on traditional Byzantine and Greek Icons, but using junk combined with gilding etc."