Remembering Glasgow School of Art

The images in this drawing are of the interior and exterior features of the Glasgow School of Art which was devastatingly destroyed by  a huge blaze in June 2018.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was fortunate to be able to take photographs of GSA both inside and out a few years ago. I used these as the starting point for creating several photographic collages of the building which I have since completed.

In this piece, features include the beautiful ceramic tiling from the east and west stairwells, wrought iron decoration from the building facade, the weathervane from the east side of the roof, the brass plates from the front swing doors at 167 Renfrew Street, the stunning ceiling beams in the atrium exhibition space where daylight flooded in, and the leaded glass panels inserted into so many of the internal doors of the building.

For the drawing I worked with mainly aquarelle pencils, blending where appropriate with a paintbrush.

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Sea Pottery Collages.

I have a collection of fragments of Victorian pottery which I found when beachcombing on the stone and pebble shore at Inveraray, a town situated on Loch Fyne, a sea loch, in the west coast of Scotland. The pottery has been broken into small pieces, worn and smoothed by the action of the water, pebbles and sand. It had been in the sea for a very long time before eventually being washed ashore by the tide.

I have used the pottery pieces, to develop a series of small collages. Each fragment was glued onto handmade Indian cotton rag paper and then painted with various designs, inspired by the patterns on the pottery. The collages are layered and mounted onto a black painted canvas.

I worked with aquarelle pencils, fine line drawing pens, opaque watercolour pens, a glass painting medium and watercolour paints on each collage.

I have since displayed them in the David Mach studio in London, during a winter weekend event at Havelock Walk, a mews area where 30 artists live and work. I was invited to show some of this work and delighted to be taking part.

 

The series of collages included these two with green coloured pottery pieces. The second green collage below contains the newest piece of pottery which is from the 1950s or 1960s judging by the style of design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glasgow Tenements Fabric Collage

Feeling very Glaswegian and Scottish today! This is a photograph of hand and machine embroidered fabric collage depicting a Glasgow tenement facade and a gable end. The tenement was modelled from a building in Mount Florida, a Southside district near Hampden Park and the gable end was what was remaining of another tenement in Battlefield Road, Glasgow. That building was demolished completely, but I was able to take a few photographs of it before it disappeared which I used in the designing of the collage.

A closer look at the panel will reveal, Glasgow Coat of Arms symbols of the Bird, the Tree, the Fish and the Bell and other well known city buildings including The Glasgow Mosque dome, Glasgow University tower, Glasgow Steeple,  Sighthill multi storey flats, now gone and a murmuration of starlings, the predecessor to the Glasgow pigeon.

In recognition of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, there are some invented wrought iron railings in his style in the foreground.

The Victorian/Edwardian ceramic tile design familiar in so many Glasgow tenement closes, frames the collage .

The fabrics used are mainly natural materials: cottons and silk with cotton embroidery threads and cotton braiding.

©Marion Gardyne 2018

Print Studio Screenprints

When on a screen printing course at Glasgow Print Studio, I produced several black line prints inspired by the architecture of Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson. Following on from this, I individually added colour to each design using watercolour paints and water soluble pencils. The four images were completed in different colourways.

Art Made Now :Woman Rated Collages

These collages were completed for a submission for the Royal Academy Summer Show. The theme of the show is ‘Art Made Now.’ I made an anagram of this title resulting in ‘Woman Rated.’  This being the centenary of some women given the right to vote (1918), I created two collages on the suffrage theme and the role of women.

One collage features the images of high profile women who have made significant contributions to society…some are artists, some politicians and some in other areas of work.

The second collage features the images of females involved in the struggle to secure the vote for women.

Photographs of The Arlington Baths Club Turkish Suite and Slipper Room.

Images copyright: ©MarionGardyne2017

Above is a small selection of the 150 photographs that I had taken when collecting visual information and references to begin the  the design for the collage panels. The last image although blurred is an interesting combination of pattern, shape, colour with a textured effect.

Arlington Baths Club

61 Arlington Street Glasgow G3 6DT

http://www.arlingtonbaths.co.uk

https://twitter.com>arlingtonbaths

https://twitter.com>artmarcollage

Art Work Inspired By The Arlington Baths

Using the beautiful mosaic centre of the floor at the old water fountain in the Turkish Suite as inspiration, this unfinished ( I’m still working on it…) circular design depicts the colours of the tiny tiles which are a variation of greens and blues.

Lovely random shades of green with a hint of blue, this watercolour is almost completed. This is painted on Indian rag Khadi paper.

 

The rectangular collage in a repeating pattern is looking very organic. This impression comes from the ceramic tile daisy pattern and the detail of the sandstone carving seen on a pillar at the entrance to the Arlington Baths Club. In the collage are the reflections of daylight on the pool and a reflected and distorted pattern of the floor mosaic on the steel fountain basin. I’m delighted to say that this original collage now belongs to a club member.

Other Artwork Inspired by The Arlington Baths

This sequence of images shows the progression of a watercolour design inspired by the coloured glass stars on the ceiling of The Turkish Suite. Also featured in the painting are several of the Minton tile designs seen on the floor of the Turkish Suite.

This circular design was used as a greetings card illustration. The original artwork was purchased by an Arlington Club member.

ARTchitecture Exhibition at The Arlington Baths from 1st December 2017

On Friday 1st December, The Arlington Baths Club hosted the opening event of the ARTchitecture Exhibition in the club’s Reading Room. Chris and Charlie, my good friends, assisted in curating the show with me. By the preview opening time in the evening, all the art work was suitably displayed on the walls of the wonderful, bright reading room.

The Arlington Baths is a not-for-profit member- run swimming club situated in an A listed building west of Charing Cross near Woodlands Road. The baths are the oldest baths club in Europe. Founded in 1870, the club offers a relaxing sanctuary in the heart of Glasgow for members, myself included.

The building was originally designed by architect John Burnett, father of the better known Sir J J Burnett. Four extensions were designed by different architects and added over a period of 30 years during the Victorian era.

The Arlington Baths became the inspiration for several collages and paintings which I created especially for the show, displayed for the first time at the exhibition.

In July 2017, I was given permission by club management to take photographs of the architectural features of the building both internally and externally, while the club was closed for essential maintenance. I took 150 photographs with my sketchbook camera. I photographed the pool area, the extensive wooden roof beams with daylight streaming in, the Turkish Suite with the wonderful ‘starry’ ceiling and Minton Victorian tiles  and the light and airy upstairs gym space.

I originally envisaged one collage being completed. However from the photographs, three collages evolved in three different colourways with three different compositions.

The red collage depicts the poolside ‘A’ logo, surrounding an original bell or light switch found on the walls in the Turkish Suite. The red glass star decoration from the roof of the Turkish Suite dominates this collage. A closer look reveals a section of the wooden loungers and the roof beams above the swimming pool. also represented is the tiled Greek key design which decorates the floor of the Turkish Suite.

The Blue collage features a view from the side of the pool illustrating  5 swimming lanes, the hoops that hang above the pool, the gorgeous glass and wood beamed roof with blue skies and white clouds providing natural light in the swimming area. Also included in this collage are the blue glass stars from the ceiling of the Turkish suite and several other features.

The green collage highlights many external architectural features of the building including the classical Greek Key pattern engraved into the sandstone, terrazzo flooring around the pool area and the yellow glass stars of the Turkish Suite. A closer look reveals a green tree view out of a window in the upstairs club gym and a few pairs of flip flops stored on wooden shelves in the Slipper Room. 

 

https://twitter.com>arlingtonbaths

https://www.arlingtonbaths.co.uk

 

 

Glasgow Society of Women Artists New Works at The Lillie Gallery 6th October 2017

My collages were submitted and selected for this group exhibition last autumn. My contribution  was of two small collages that featured designs from the Parthenon in Athens. The photographs were taken during a recent pilgrimage to The Acropolis. I also included small sections of narrow repeat patterns, hand drawn and coloured with watercolours.