Julie Brook

SCALE

2 Rising Lines II 

L. 1200cm  W.60cm  Top H. 120cm

Currently on show at the Clandonald Lands Trust gardens.

This new sculpture was part of SCALE- an exhibition of sculptural work during the Summer set up by ATLAS.

This work was inspired by work I have been making in Libya in the desert but specific to the site in which it is situated. 

2 rising lines made from white marble from the local quarry in Torrin, Skye, using the dry stone walling method. The two works create a dialogue and tension between one another, and in direct contrast to the upright forms of the trees. The marble creates a natural luminosity in this dark wooded area full of shadow.

 

 

Air Iomlaid currently showing at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh

Air Iomlaid

Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh    10 April - 9 May 2010

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Isle of Skye    5 June- 25 July 2010

http://www.fruitmarket.co.uk/exhibitions/current/

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6040780

 

 

Outline of Project

 Julie and a team of professional artists worked with pupils from Skye (P4–P7 + P1-P3) and Edinburgh (P6–P7) over an eighteen month period. In the summer term of 2009, they took the children out every week, teaching them to draw and paint outside.

 In the autumn, the children took part in two week-long exchanges, visiting and hosting children from their partner school and learning to engage with an unfamiliar place through drawing and painting. The exchanges were the most intense parts of the project, and were the points at which the development of the children’s drawing skills was most marked. In early 2010, they started work inside on collaborative largescale drawings and paintings of their own environment and the one they had visited on exchange, as well as working with poets, animators and film-makers to broaden their range of artistic responses.

 Tuition took place in stages. First, Julie and the other artists encouraged the children to gain a better understanding for form and space working with tone and texture using pencil and charcoal. Once their structural skills were more established they began using paint to learn about colour: the way colours work in relation to one another, in terms of cool and warm, light and dark; how undercolours create a depth and richness and how they can realise the structural forms in a more expressive way through this understanding.

 She describes this teaching method as a process of ‘getting fit’ artistically. The sketchbooks represent the heart of the project. The children drew and painted in these outside, in the urban and rural landscapes of Edinburgh and Skye, learning to look at the landscape in unconventional ways, and gradually gaining the confidence to be able to produce complex compositions. Over time they developed different ways of responding to their environment, with their own individual styles, some children choosing to focus in on a specific part of the landscape, and others tending to capture a broader expanse of land and sky.

After drawing and painting in their sketchbooks outside (regardless of weather conditions), the children would scale up their work from the A4 sketchbooks to A1 size either on site or inside. At the end of each day everyone would come together to discuss the work, with children being able to choose a specific drawing and explain why they liked it. This was an important time for them to learn from each other and become more confident in their articulation. Sometimes it was difficult for them to achieve the same level of spontaneity they achieved in their books, at other times the increase in scale gave them a chance to retain all the richness of the directly observed work with the freedom of their own individual expression.

Having developed their own individual works over a substantial period of time they then had the opportunity to work on a much larger scale on collaborative works. Julie and the team of artists went through all the children’s sketchbooks drawing on this rich source material, helping to structure the underlying compositions and enable the children to work together to produce four monumental compositions of the landscapes of Edinburgh and Skye – a version of their own environment and the one they visited. Using charcoal, the children could focus on the structural elements of the composition.

The children draw the landscape of their homes in a markedly different way from one they have visited for a relatively short period of time. In the latter stages of this period they began to make their own compositions, working out how they could bring the different elements together themselves. This especially influenced the Skye children’s version of Edinburgh and the two large paintings that followed, and represented a big leap of progress conceptually for the children.

 They worked with poets, animators and film-makers to explore further their engagement with the landscape and their visual work, finding in particular that animation is a good way to express the experience of drawing and painting outside in changing light and weather conditions.

Julie describes the process of learning to draw as ‘really concentrating, along with a combination of the way you observe something, and the way you use your hands, your head, your heart […] everything comes together in an expression of what is going on inside you as well as what you are looking at.’ The Fruitmarket Gallery has been delighted to work with Julie, and to see the effectiveness of her approach in engaging children with the practice of drawing.

 Air Iomlaid is an ambitious project that enacts The Fruitmarket Gallery’s commitment to education in practice and policy. The Gallery’s wider education programme offers children and young people the opportunity to learn through active, experiential learning processes by participating in activities that augment schools’ delivery of the curriculum. Central to the Gallery’s commitment is the belief that understanding comes through doing as much as through listening, and that memorable, interactive experiences lead to effective learning. Air Iomlaid is an emphatic demonstration of this belief in action.

Libya trip 2009

 

The main purpose of this expedition was to develop the large scale drawings in the desert further and explore new sculptural work.

 The volcanic region of Al Haruj is vast, a harsh and unrelenting landscape of black basalt that I found inspiring in its extremity. I began the journey by re-engaging with large drawings on site, as we travelled, responding to the specific materials, colours and situation. The work developed rapidly into 3 dimensional forms using stone with both subtle and severe contrasts of tone and colour. I am interested in re-aligning materials in the landscape as well as making singular forms.

 I initially wanted to work with as simple forms as possible in relation to the rhythms and lines I was surrounded by in the landscape. This became particularly clear when I made ‘white line on black’ where I felt the context and siting of the line was crucial to the relationship the line had to the existing forms of the landscape. It was an important day for me in the development of the work and I went on to make ‘ black line on white’ that same day.

 This led to the much more substantial work of ‘ 2 Rising Lines’. There was a powerful and discrete dynamic between the forms themselves as well as in their relationship to the landscape. The forms changed substantially according to the time of day due to the strong sunlight and shadow. I am interested in how this influences our perception of the work.

 It was hard work in the heat but I found the work exhilarating in such a wild and remote landscape. My guides helped me collect the stone using a wheelbarrow which meant I could build much faster.

I had also taken 4 polished steel plates with me which I experimented with at various different places.

 I was able to continue this intensity of working when I reached the Jebel Acacus mountains. Here the landscape is a rich combination of stone and sand. This is where I made my most substantial work ‘Rising curved lines’.  It was a very demanding piece to make but the Tuareg guides also helped me to collect stone and I worked very long days.

The work has a quality of stillness as well as a sense of rhythm between the two forms. I was reminded of the extreme poise and control a dancer has within a series of movements they make. It was a powerful work to walk around and has made me very clear about how important it is for people to actually experience these works. The guides liked the work and will go back to the site. I am careful to work in remote places that do not intrude on normal visitor/tourist routes and destinations.

I made a total of 33 works during this period.

This was a very important trip for me in developing the sculptural work during an intense period of making which will have a great influence on subsequent work I make in Scotland.

I am currently in discussion with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Isle of Skye about developing a large scale tidal work that will be influenced by the work I have been doing in Libya.

Before I left for Libya I contacted a number of galleries. I am now following this up with the view to having an exhibition of the work from Libya in conjunction to a site specific piece.

I went to see the geography professors in Sebha university whom I had met last year and also met some students. It will be possible to have an exhibition there and talk to the students but I will have to finance and set this up myself. I am also exploring the possibility of setting up an exchange between students there and in Scotland either through the University of the Highlands and Islands or the University of Edinburgh.

I will organise an exhibition of the work with the British Council in Tripoli, Libya.

I appreciate how much the SAC grant has enabled me to achieve.

 

Libya 2009

I have been awarded a Scottish Arts Council grant to develop large scale drawings and sculptural work in the Sahara Desert, Libya in April 2009.

Detailed Project Description

I want to make large scale drawings and sculptural work in a specific region of the Sahara desert in Southern Libya.I will develop this work back in my studio in Skye with a view to exhibiting resulting works within the following 18 months in Scotland and Libya.

 I aim to achieve this by initial geographical and geological research of the volcanic regions of Al-Haruj Al-Aswad, Sebha region and Waw al-Namus, Eastern Sahara. The research includes a visit to see two professors of Geography at Sebha University in South Libya.

 I will organise my itinerary through the agency, Tilwan Tour services, who have a good knowledge and network of guides local to the areas. It is compulsory to travel with a guide anywhere in Libya and their knowledge of the desert is invaluable.

 Once in the area I plan to travel by foot with the guides and camels.  I will work using materials I find in situ eg stone, sands, gypsum, wadi clay and volcanic rock alongside drawing books , basic painting materials and paper.  If I need to use additional materials I will organise for these to be brought by vehicle from Sebha.

I begin work by making drawings on paper and the ground and then develop sculptural work on site to be recorded on film and photographically.

The work and ideas that come from this time will be developed in the studio and outside in Skye, where I am based.

 From February 2009 I will research and establish exhibition venues for 2010/11. In Scotland I want to find a city venue from which the exhibition could tour to Highland and Island galleries, eg Taigh Chearsabhagh, North Uist, Pier art Centre, Orkney etc.  I also plan to negotiate appropriate original sculptural works for these venues.

I will work with the British Embassy and British Council in Tripoli,  and Sebha University to find appropriate opportunities and venues to exhibit the work in Libya.

 

April 2009 : (6 weeks)

- Travel to Tripoli,Libya

- Meet with British Embassy, British Council in Tripoli

- Travel to Sebha University, Sebha, South Libya to meet Geography professors, Ihmid Sasi and Ali M M Saleh.

- Initial visit to volcanic regions

- 4 weeks working in one area

 

May 2009-March 2010 :

-       Develop sculptural work in studio and outside, in Skye

-       Secure exhibition venues/dates

 2010/11 : Exhibition at British Council, Tripoli, Libya and Sebha University, South Libya

                   Exhibition  in Scotland, city venue and island venue.

 Anticipated Outcome

 The project will extend and develop my current practice as a sculptor in a new landscape. It will give me the opportunity to exhibit this new body of work internationally and in Scotland.

 Since 1989 I have worked in remote and uninhabited parts of Scotland eg West coast of Jura;  Mingulay, Outer Hebrides developing drawings and sculptural work in response to the environment . This has led to public commissions where I draw on my experience and ideas, making work specific to the site and circumstances.

I am interested in the way sculptural forms change the dynamic of the surrounding landscape or urban site where a work will have a strong physical presence in itself  but its interaction with the natural daylight and at night transforms its spatial qualities eg ‘Inversion’ (qv image). This began as an earthwork on a remote coastline which was developed on a larger scale for a formal public site. The spatial perception of the work was dependent on the conditions of light and from where the work was seen. Lit at night the work had a powerful elemental quality that I also want to express, and was shared by an audience.

 In April 2008 I was able to travel to Libya for the first time. In the desert I was struck by the warmth of the colours, the rich variation of materials like different coloured gypsums, sands and stones, the forms of the sand dunes in stark contrast to the rock formations and sandstone mountains, the vast scale of open plains, the silence, dryness and clarity at night.

All these elements are opposite to those in the environments I have been working in Scotland and unexpectedly inspired an intense period of initial work making drawings on site.

 This project would enable me to have time to develop sculptural work in the desert on a large scale initially using found materials such as those mentioned. The light is very different in Libya and consistent day after day. This will allow me to make work about the relationship of form with light, shadow and reflected light, observing how they influence and change each other. I will also work at night.

I want to subsequently develop these ideas through work made in Skye where I have access to different materials.

 Previously I have always worked in solitude for long stretches of time. Being with the guides will richly enhance my relationship to the landscape as I learn about their habitat, language and culture. I think their knowledge will influence the work in an unforeseen way.

 For the exhibition I will involve the galleries at the early stages of the project with the view to developing sculptural work on site in relation to the work made in the desert, enabling the viewer to see both aspects of my practice which have not been previously seen together.

 

Ealain A-Muigh (Art Outside)

Lasair Ealain have been awarded a grant from Bòrd na Gàidhlig from the Challenge fund (Taic Freumhan Coimhearsnachd) to do drawing and painting workshops outside in the landscape in Skye involving pre-school and primary school children, high school children, students and community members.

The workshops will be taught through the medium of Gaelic.

Description of Lasair Ealain Lasair Ealain is a constituted art committee of primary school children at the Gaelic school, Bùn-sgoil Shlèite in the Isle of Skye. This involves a team of 11 children from Clàs 3 to Clàs 7, who meet every week to discuss and organise current projects. We have additional adult support (Julie Brook and Claire Nicolson) to help organise and run projects and in keeping our financial records in order. Our aims are: -to promote art and culture in the school and wider community through art projects created through the language of Gaelic - to work with artists from different disciplines to create ambitious and innovative art projects - to hold workshops of our own to enable the members to pass on artistic skill we have learnt ourselves - to be able to learn about organising projects, fundraising and have confidence to make key decisions ourselves   Project summary:  Stage 1 January 09 – March 09 We would like to be able to run a series of drawing and painting workshops through the medium of Gaelic that is open to the young children, teenagers and adults in our wider community. The visual art workshops would focus on the landscape and local environment to raise awareness of where people live. We would have professional artists helping us, who teach in Gaelic. We would also invite other people such as a ranger to talk about the geology of the landscape we are drawing, historian, musician etc depending on the appropriateness of the discipline according to where we were drawing. The workshops would be run on Saturdays  and occasional week days to enable the older children and adults to come for the whole day. The structure of the day would be as follows: -Drawing outside using soft pencil and sketchbook throughout the morning. -Working on larger scale A1 drawings in charcoal during the afternoon looking at tone, structure and texture. -Discussion about all the drawings together – each person able to choose a drawing and say something about it. -As the drawing progressed we would then encourage people to begin using watercolour paints so they can start understanding about colour, how colour relationships work, underpainting.   Regular updates would be made on the Lasair Ealain ‘blog’ site to inform people more widely of the work being done and how the project is working.   A selection of the works would be exhibited at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Bùn-sgoil Shlèite.   Stage 2 Ongoing   We would like to continue these workshops with the view to developing larger scale work with the groups of people taking part. We would focus on specific areas of the landscape. For example: Staffin in North Skye, Kyle of Lochalsh area, Sligachan, Elgol where we could encourage  specific 3 day projects at a time that concludes with a large drawing that all the participants contribute towards. This would also encourage people from different communities to join in. By working together we will need to discuss how the compositions might work best. It will be very interesting to see the work of people of such different ages coming together. Project Outcomes   1. By working with all ages we would encourage members of families to come, both adults and children. Drawing inspires us to learn lots of new words as well as seeing our environment better. It also helps us to talk about why we like looking at particular elements in the landscape and why we like particular drawings. We are using Gaelic in an unselfconscious way and learning more too. We think that days outside would be very inspiring so everyone would talk about them back at home. 2. We think that lots of the young children would want to come as they often like drawing. A lot of the time art is not taught in Gaelic in schools so these workshops would be very unusual. We are also aware that when the children go to high school they do not get a chance to go out drawing all day and they use their Gaelic less as many subjects are not taught through Gaelic medium. This would be a good opportunity for them to do both at the same time! They would also be good at helping with the younger children who wanted to come. 3. We hope that these workshops would attract all sorts of people from the wider community to come and learn art through Gaelic eg. Parents, students, grandparents, community members. People who have Gaelic would be able to use it all day, outside the home and their work as well as teach us some of the new words that come up in discussion. People who are learning Gaelic  would have a great opportunity to practise their Gaelic in a creative context. Often when you learn words by seeing something you remember them much better. For those that do not understand very much Gaelic but want to learn,  because it is a visual art project they will be able to learn the language by looking and listening.   We will be using Gaelic for lots of practical aspects like the organisation of the materials, and we will be learning how to become more clear and articulate about drawing and what we are seeing,  through Gaelic.

Boundaries of Perception

An article by Georgina Coburn in A-N magazine November 2008 issue discussing the work of 4 artists working in the Highlands and Islands.    http://www.a-n.co.uk/interface/reviews/single/469669

 http://www.a-n.co.uk

An extract:

 Isle of Skye based artist Julie Brook created “Interception”, a large scale sculptural installation on MacDuff Pier, for the inaugural Coast Festival of the Visual Arts (Banff & MacDuff, May 2008). 

Responding to the brief “Revealing The Unseen” Brook chose a familiar but seldom visited location in the heart of the harbour town. Accessing the ocean facing outer edge of the working pier required negotiation of a network of man made structures by the viewer. Brook erected five uprights of mirrored steel creating prisms of reference between the town and the seascape beyond. Movement of the spectator around these works, together with changing light and weather created a line or edge of perspective that was self reflexive and fluid. The formal geometry and hard edged industrial materials heightened awareness of the surrounding environment rendering the work strangely natural in relation to its location. A space of contemplation was created around the structures animated by natural light and environmental conditions, reflective surfaces also placing the viewer within the work. The strong horizon line and vertical uprights created a dialogue in visual and sculptural terms, providing the viewer with an optical and spatial framework against which the land, seascape and human activity could be reinterpreted. The materials chosen embraced the changeability of the location and encouraged individual interaction with the work. This act of illumination facilitated an unexpected view of the surrounding area and our place within it.

 Similarly the artist’s installation “Inversion 2 (To Know How Light Falls and Fills)”  (2007) utilised the element of light as primary agent in the work. A series of 7 x 7 yellow metal boxes contained in the horizontal plane of the ground filled with shifting light and shadow during the course of the day and were illuminated by flame at night. 

On the Isles of Jura and Mingulay Brook has explored use of natural materials such as fire, stone and the by products of sculptural work such as earth and ash as a medium for drawing. The artist’s work is both conceptual and painterly, her practice firmly rooted in the disciplines of drawing and painting. 

Brook’s most recent land works in the Libyan Desert (“Desert Drawings”, Southern Libya 2008) extend her distillation of formal visual language into new territory. Inspired by remote and wild locations her work expands our perception of these sites in a way that can be universally understood. Formal visual language is a key component in human connection with the landscape or location, the act of seeing expands that point of reference. By reducing the landscape to formal elements; horizontal or vertical planes, three dimensional boxes of chiaroscuro or pure elements such as light, Brook reinterprets the landscape, expanding boundaries of perception in relation to our understanding of a particular landscape or locality.

http://www.juliebrook.com  

Air Iomlaid (On Exchange)

I am currently working on a new large scale educational project with the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh and Lasair Ealain (An Dealbh Mòr), Bùn-sgoil Shlèite. We were successful in receiving a research and development grant from the SAC Inspire fund. The project is due to begin in April 2009 subject to overall funding.The project will initially involve Bùn-sgoil Shlèite, Isle of Skye and Bùn-sgoil Crois na Cìse, Edinburgh. The children will be working with myself and other artists through the medium of Gaelic, going outside to draw their respective environments. They will be communicating the progress of their work with each other through the GLOW network.

 In the Autumn, once they are fit in their drawing and painting, they will visit each other's island and city to give them a chance to draw in a completely different environment and meet each other.

They will develop their response both to their home place and the place they visited into large scale charcoal drawings and paintings. They will also work with poets and animation artists to create an animation film that reflects their experiences of the exchange.

During the exhibitions in 2010 at the Fruitmarket Gallery and at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye drawing workshops will be held by the artists for other school children, teenagers and families.

http://www.juliebrook.com

http://www.scottisharts.org.uk Go to Inspire Fund

http://www.fruitmarket.co.uk