WOVEN AND DRAWN:
An Exhibition of Drawings and Woven Sculpture by Sue Hiley Harris
21-29 September 2019, open daily 10am - 4pm
The Drawing Room, High Town, Hay-on-Wye
Brecon artist Sue Hiley Harris is holding an exhibition of drawings and woven sculpture inspired by a close study of the trees in Priory Groves, Brecon, at The Drawing Room in High Town, Hay-on-Wye, between the 21st and 29th September.
Sue is particularly known for the abstract handwoven sculpture she has been making since the late 1990s. This may be understood in relation to constructed abstract art generally, whether two or three dimensional, in which material, structure and form are interdependent. While the woven sculpture has often been derived from pure geometric shapes, the bare upland landscape of the Black Mountains and the Brecon Beacons has, for many years, been an important influence.
In 2013 Sue was awarded a Creative Wales Award by the Arts Council of Wales to ‘explore the possibility of making woven body sculpture’. As part of this process Sue returned to drawing the figure from life after a break of almost forty years and this has stimulated an interest in drawing in the landscape.
The drawings in her latest exhibition are a direct emotional response to regular visits into a particular part of Priory Groves, Brecon, the beech wood along the River Honddu near her home. Shown here, too, will be structures, woven with silver wire or paper yarn, which are a response to the woodland drawings. Working with silver is a result of skills learned through her Creative Wales Award. Although she has been using paper yarn for many years, her recent work, as a result of the drawing, reveals a new sense of energy and freedom.
An installation by Sue, inspired by Shetland peat cuttings yet also referencing the Priory Groves work, may also be seen as part of the Contemporary Welsh Painting exhibition at Theatr Brycheiniog, Brecon, from 19 September to 17 November, 2019.
Sue Hiley Harris originally pursued fine art at Queensland College of Art in her home town of Brisbane, Australia. Since moving to Britain she has studied handloom weaving in Bradford and science with the Open University. She has exhibited both internationally and in the United Kingdom and has work in public collections in Wales, England, France and Italy. Sue has lived in Wales for over thirty years, first near the Black Mountains and, for the past fifteen years, in Brecon. She is currently chair of the Welsh Group of artists as well as being a member of 56 Group Wales and is an organiser of Brecon Town Open Studios.
www.suehileyharris.co.uk
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