Jill Randall and Alan Birch, 23 March – 6 April, 2024
‘Randall’s work focuses on artists residencies in industrial settings as the context for new work, often revealing the sublime and beautiful in extreme and unusual places. She has a history of working with post-industrial sites to harness toxic aftermath or ‘spoiled’ environments , revealing an alternative ‘nature’ and alternative ‘beauty’.
The work produced during the Residency forms part of an ongoing series investigating historic mining sites in Cornwall, and the connections through the Cornish mining diaspora with Australia and Mexico.
Jill Randall set up a print workshop, creating a series of new prints based on the St Just Mining area, focussing on the rare plants which grow on contaminated ground. Jill undertook a series of walks to find, identify and record these plants in the immediate area, and images of these have been incorporated into the prints produced.
Jill is working towards a major solo exhibition, ‘As Above, So Below,’ at The Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro, Nov 24-Feb 25. A selection of the new work produced at Brisons Veor will be included in this exhibition.
Alan Birch:
I spent an intensive period walking the coast path in the immediate area and beyond, making quick sketches and taking photographs.
Upon return to the studio, these studies were expanded using a variety of media, inks, pens, Indian ink and water soluble pencils. The spontaneous and directness afforded by the media reflected the wildness of the weather at the time, stormy and wet.
Upon return to my home studio, I have developed these studies into a series of sugar lift etchings, attempting to recapture this spontaneity.
