Meditation in Material: Collect Art Fair 2021

Ruup & Form is delighted to announce our selection to participate in Collect Art Fair 2021. We will represent fourteen incredible artists, makers and designers. Ruup & Form has chosen the theme Meditation in Material for Collect Art Fair 2021. Through the theme of ‘Meditation in Material’ , Ruup & Form would like to give that space in our minds, a physical existence. Never before has a need to ensconce been greater. Our home has become our sacred safe temple. The collaborating artists have responded to that stillness and chaos of the last few months that affected them individually. The work presented are in response to the pandemic and what unravelled through the world as a consequence. Every work is a deeply personal reaction to 2020 and the pandemic. The excellence of their craft shines strong through the ideas the makers have plunged themselves into.

The artists and makers selected for Collect 2021 are Melissa Aldrete and Luis Cardenas (ceramic) Anne Butler (ceramic) Eva Fernandez (interdisciplinary) Hannah Gibson (glass) Robert George (wood) Bridget Harvey (repair-making) Jessica Jue (silversmith) Hannah Lobley (paper and wood) Kuniko Maeda (paper) Claire Malet (metal and silversmith) Naomi Mcintosh (interdisciplinary) Line Nilsen (textile) Archana Pathak (textile) Annette Marie Townsend (interdisciplinary).

Eva Fernandez presents a series of three wearable sculpture– Pins and Needles, designed from needles and pins, as an ode to her relationship with her mother and childhood memories in rural Spain.

Eva says about her work, “My first experience with a needle - was a very vivid memory for me. As the lockdown situation took a firm grip over the country, it enabled me to develop a contemplative work where ideas flowed from the process of making, repetition, doing/ undoing. The main material in the process is modified sewing needles, which have been arranged and threaded to build up ephemeral wearable pieces which relates to the idea of memories and loss.”

Balance by Jessica Jue is a sculptural piece hand crafted from interlocking forms, with contrasting texture and colour. The two elements are placed together to complete each other, creating a sense of harmony, movement and rhythm in it's form.

Ponder, Shift and Still by Anne Bulter is a series of three sculptures that further her exploration of the changing state of parian porcelain through making and firing processes. Analogies are created between the marble-like quality when solid and the flowing delicacy and translucency when thin with the physical and metaphysical change in the state of being. " The containing structures of external and internal worlds, such as society and cultural imposed restrictions as well as the thoughts and behaviours that control us, are collapsed and dissolved. The resulting sculptures, which explore this transformative contrast of structure and organic flow, strength and fallibility, aim to be calming and contemplative.", Anne explains about her series.

A Shattered Past by Hannah Gibson, made from broken windshield glass, bringing together a shattered and broken past. This piece illustrates the human need to create something cohesive and calming out of disorder and chaos. The work allows us to reflect on the disruption of 2020 and to see the positivity that arises from readjusting our values, needs and desires.

Satori and Mayoi by Kuniko Maeda are sculptures inspired by two windows of Japanese Zen Temple in Kyoto, which are called Satori no mado meaning Window of Realization and Mayoi no mado meaning Window of Delusion. Satori no mado is round, implying Zen maturity, completeness, enlightenment, and Universe, while Mayoi no mado is square, implying confusion, immaturity, and a life of humans. The sculptures are embodiments of our peace of mind and anxiety. They are also reflecting the scenery of change of seasons which we can look through the windows. The sculptures are made from paper which has been coated by Japanese traditional natural vanish to strengthen its durability. The processes of making paper and playing with the shapes bring a calmness and self-awareness, which enable Kuniko to explore her inner dimensions.

Claire Malet has worked on an interactive sculpture that embeds a wearable brooch into a sculpture. She says about In Our Hands 3 , “This piece continues to explore the relationship we have with the natural environment; making the link between the materials we use and too often under-value. The organic environment from which we take them. In this piece the flower is a brooch which can be removed from its ‘environment’, worn and returned. An altar of sorts, a memorial."

Hannah Lobley, presents a paper and wood sculpture titled Balance. Hannah says about her work for 'Meditation in Material, "2020 was a unique year, but for me personally one that highlighted the need to slow down and for increased contemplation and reflection." Inspired by her Irish heritage, the stone cairns and her Grandmother’s family’s white-washed farmhouse, to the calm relaxing afternoons balancing smooth stones with her sons on the beach. Hannah has recreated smooth textured pebbles hand-made from lightcoloured layered paper. Each layer of paper is inspired by the stacked drystone walls in the rolling hills that surround the farmhouse in the peat fields of Kilkelly, County Mayo.

Cocoon, is a new group of work for Collect 2021, by Naomi Mcintosh, exploring ephemeral qualities within the landscape and the passing of time. The pieces subtly shift in colour and pattern and continually change with the movement of the viewer. A series of three sculptural wooden vessels made from gathered beech, the work explores implied movement through materials, tone and form. Patterns and structures from her familiar landscape of the Cairngorms National Park are translated into the objects. She defines spaces using lines and planes to suggest spaces and these vessels are boundaryless, allowing the viewer to see into and through the pieces. Playing with the internal and external structure and using light to play with shadows. The vessels appear solid at times and net like at others. They are volumes without defines walls.

Line Nilsen and Robert George both present furniture, while Line presents Cloud Bench (image above) Robert George presents consoles made in sycamore, (image below) Line Nilsen’s work explores how craft can be a form of meditation, reflecting on the positive effects of weaving and the connection with material. The piece was inspired by clouds, looking at both movement and stillness in the sky. The hand woven fabric covering the bespoke piece is subtle, yet complex, made with a mix of materials to achieve movement and unpredictable complexity. The textile is one of a kind, the piece is entirely hand shaped and upholstered by the artist in her studio.

Robert George, presents two console tables, titled 'Maps'. He says about them, "I wanted to create a piece that even in the future can serve as a reminder of optimism and forward thinking. I set about cutting my carefully dried boards up, a long and fluted leg reminiscent of buttresses that provide support would carry a textured top, reminiscent of a relief map. The pitted surface serving as a direct conversation between the naturally occurring growth rings, and my own marks. A story of a fallen tree and a maker, moving forwards whilst also reflecting on the past."

Life Support series by Annette Townsend is in response to the unfolding pandemic. During the weeks and months that followed, Townsend began to walk once a day in the local park. After a long dark and wet winter, the sun shone and the early spring flowers slowly but surely came into bloom. As the fast pace of everyday life slowed to a halt, nature was a solace, as it was for so many others at this time of national and global crisis. Watching the seasons change and the wildflowers open and close, gave a certainty, joy and hope when all around was in turmoil. Day after day the news filled with reports of illness, tragedy and the loss of so many lives but the green spaces and daily interaction with the natural world, lifted spirits. Whilst walking, thoughts turned to those living in cramped inner-city accommodation without access to this essential ‘life support’ of nature within a garden, parkland or green space. Townsend documented the wildflowers discovered during those daily walks in a series of photographs and videos and when back in the studio began to recreate the flowers from beeswax. As the sculptures developed, they took on their own life and became a very personal record of this moment in history, illustrating the fluctuating and contradicting feelings that she experienced.

We showcase Archana Pathak’s new series of work – In Lure of New Worlds - that continues her explorations of the interplay of memory, place & identity through her meditative process of repetitive stitching. Each piece represents an abstract map of a new world. “I shredded printed fabrics of my collected old mapsand artefacts which make my thread for the embroidery. Through these, I have stitched maps of the new worlds which arewithout borders, boundaries or identities; instead, these new worlds are abstract pieces of maps of balance, harmony and coexistence.”, Archana adds about her work.

Dias en vela by Melissa Aldrete/Luis Cardenas

"Meditation is a practice that enhances attention to the fullness, a form of meditation with which you will together and think while playing. A state of focus that will be shaped by trails and failure, and will only succeed when the pieces come together."

Bridget Harvey subverts traditional ceramic repair to create a new landscape from shards. Repeated decorative elements appear as glitches, while brass rod spans exaggerated spaces, at once joining and keeping the pieces apart. The act of repair, of bringing together, resonates beyond material practice, giving us new perspectives through which to examine our interconnected lives and landscapes. Exploring repair techniques through her practice, Bridget Harvey works with conservation practices, different craft approaches, and contemporary and traditional materials to make her unique objects.

About Collect 2021 Collect: International Art Fair for Contemporary Craft and Design will run online from 24 February – 2 March 2021. A programme of online content will span the Fair’s microsite on Artsy.net as well as collectfair.org.uk, and will include a week of talks and events, alongside interviews and films. Works will be on sale via the Collect 2021 Artsy site until 24 March