It was just brilliant on the 7th October to hear
Andrew Marr speak on drawing and its importance as an enrichment of life and
bringer of joy to all who practice on any level. At the official opening of DRAW14, the 93rd
Annual Open Exhibition of the Society of Graphic Fine Art, he was of course
talking to terminally addicted artists, as well as to all the guests at the
presentation evening. We all hugely
appreciated the time he spent with us so
Thank You Andrew!
I was particularly excited by Andrew’s reference to the Ice
Age Art exhibition at the British Museum last year, which showed many beautifully
observed carved objects from between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. He went on to relate that study of these artifacts
has shown that particular makers hands can be identified and that in some cases
their improvement over time can be observed.
This seems positively mind blowing to me.
On my two visits to the exhibition, I was overwhelmed to be in some sort
meeting face to face with such ancient cultures. This was accentuated by the small scale of
the objects such that you really looked at the individual marks made.
As recorded in an earlier post I was excited by the
incredible accuracy of observations of animals so important for their survival. Some of the original drawings from my sketch book
are below, including the one of the carving which inspired my lithograph, Food Chain.
Inspiration for Food Chain on the right |
Food Chain |
All those years ago these hunter gatherers must
have seen birds that swallow fish as direct competition for a vital food
source. I found that particular carving
such a wonderful mix of observation and imagination.
Here are ice age women carved realistically and reduced to abstracted symbols of woman.
We may not know why these objects were made or what they were used for, but we do know that the same creative spirit continues to breathe through all artistic endeavour today.