Abstract art by Mary-Clare Buckle
About Me and My Work
I was born in the Phillipines and grew up in Hampshire, southern England.
I come from a creative family of artists, jewellers and woodcarvers.
My Art Foundation was at the Surrey Institute of Art & Design
(Farnham, Surrey), where my brother Chris taught me.
Told that I had to specialise for my Degree course, I chose Jewellery Design, which I studied at
the University of Central England
(then Birmingham Polytechnic).
I designed and made jewellery for many years and exhibited in the UK and abroad,
but was really always a frustrated textile artist!
On discovering
feltmaking,
my
initial art work
was extremely colourful, but only semi abstract, freed from the constraints of making
jewellery, where it is difficult to use colour easily.
Feltmaking is the perfect medium for me, since I can either be very imprecise -
letting the medium control the design - or can immerse myself in a particular design and exercise as
much control as if I were almost 'painting' with the fibres.
Over the last two years, I have become interested in making
'Floating' felts
, trying to make
the pieces as thin as possible - almost transparent. When framed by sandwiching between
sheets of clear polystyrene, the light can penetrate the piece, giving it an ethereal,
almost-not-there quality. If hung slightly away from the wall, they appear to be
floating in space.
I have been inspired by many of the treasures found at the
Victoria & Albert Museum
, especially the
mediæval enamel and gold caskets, tapestries, coloured Roman glass inset with gold, damascening
work (inlay of gold and silver into iron and set with semi-precious stones) and 18thC brocade costumes. I love to contrast gold
with the matt wool and in some cases I like the designs to be slightly hidden, or sandwiched between
fine layers of wool.
I have recently been incorporating other fibres - in particular silk,
but also mohair wool, flax, viscose, cotton, and trilobal nylon.
The designs often come about by ‘playing’ with the fibres, or starting off with an idea and seeing
where the fibres take me.
I also light these abstract floating felt pieces from behind, to turn them into wall lights
(I love producing the almost 'stained glass' effect).
Several examples of these
'Art Lights'
are available for sale on this website.
Alongside this, I am working on an extensive range of pop-culture and BritArt-inspired
'conceptual' work
- some pieces as floating felts and some more ‘solid’ pieces, which are framed conventionally.
My creative process often starts with an idea from a song title,
or just playing around with a cultural icon, or some ideas in my head - such as Me
and its companion piece You, It’s Raining Men (from the Geri Halliwell single)
or Kiss Kiss (from Holly Valance’s debut No 1 hit). Currently, I’m busy on a whole series of
It’s Raining pictures - cows, money, cats & dogs, etc.
As well as the rich prehistoric and mediæval history of Dorset,
I have also been inspired by places I've visited around the world,
including Morocco, Central & South America, Thailand and India.
India holds a particular fascination for me - the motifs they use in their work and
the fantastically bright colours in the textiles and embroidery.
I've been there several times, most recently on a very long trip with my young sons
and my husband,
Andrew Green, who is
writing a book about our experiences there.
I moved from London to West Dorset,
shortly after our twin sons, Arran and Fingal,
were born and now live in the artists' enclave and picturesque village of
Abbotsbury,
with a view of the sea to add further inspiration to my work. Our sons are educated at home by us.
My husband
Andrew
has designed and created this website - including optimising this
abstract art gallery
website for search engines - as well as working with me on the digital imaging and
publicity for my work.
My studio gallery is open to the public all year round.
For further developments in my work,
or, better still,
For
or
,
please
with your requirements.
Watch this space!
Take a walk up the stone-lined alleyway to my studio gallery!
Email a friend and tell them about this website
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images, text and webpage © Andrew Green
the gallery, 13 Market Street, Abbotsbury, Dorset, DT3 4JR, UK
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