St. Peter’s-in-the-Forest

The E17 Art Trail is a biennial event ran by Artillery Art and takes place across the borough Waltham Forest in northeast London. In 2017 its theme was STE(A)M, the acronym that recognises the place of Art alongside the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.  At St. Peter’s-in-the-Forest Church in Epping Forest, London, Tony curated site-specific exhibition Sacred Geometry featuring Jason Hawkridge and Mark McClure. Each artist explored contemporary ideas of sacred geometry; an ancient geometry whose visual forms are constructed by only a pair of compasses and an unmarked straight line.

Colour Temperature Blue

Inspired by the symbolic meanings of the colours found in the stained-glass windows, Tony created the series of window hangings ‘Colour Temperature Blue’ with a photographic lighting gel titled ‘Colour Temperature Blue’ – the blue that corresponds to the same colour temperature as direct overhead sunlight (5,600K). Each hanging is created from a process of layering and folding to replicate the darkening shades of sky blue from sunlight  through to nightfall. A different system or set of rules using only a compass and an umarked straight line was used for each hanging.

CT Blue

CT Blue

The first triptych

1-3

img_1

img_2

img_3

The second triptych

4-6

img_4

img_5

img_6

The third triptych

7-9_v1

img_7

img_8

img_9

Jason Hawkridge’s work is a progression of paintings evolving in colour and form from the one before. Each composition is created from arrangements of intersecting diagonal lines producing images of geometric balance and harmony. All the colours found in the work reflect those in the surrounding interior architecture.

Procession (1 and 2) by Jason Hawkridge

Paintings by Jason Hawkridge

With a background in visual design, Mark McClure was trained to follow the basic visual rules of geometry. He says ‘Golden ratios and geometry underpinned everything I did and in transitioning to abstract art, I took these rules with me’. His mobile sculpture, Fracturing of the Sacred, expresses a conscious abandonment of those rules to explore how far they can be broken.

18951027_1366712266698468_2233154775752827066_n

Mark McClure’s ‘Fracturing of the Sacred’