BATTLE OF HAFR FIRTH, 25'' x 17'' x 6''

RICHARD LYNN STUDHAM

Recent Ceramic Sculptures

VIKING VESTIGES

Opening : Friday, May 23, 2008

from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

This body of work is based upon information provided by Rune Stones.

Runes were used more broadly, more enthusiastically and by more people in Scandinavia throughout the Viking Age.  They depict religious convictions both Christian and Pagan and were erected to commemorate the dead either in battle or having died in far off lands.  Some were raised as status symbols to a person within the community.

The information evident on the rune stones provide  revealing visual imagery that can be influential in establishing a direction for creative premise in an artistic statement.

All works have utilized information provided into a design concept and convey multiple meanings.  They move from symbolism to semiotics.  On the one hand, the pieces seem elegiac, as if they lament a heritage of conflagration and havoc.  On the other, of layering and the markings of human presence and wear, they speak of duration and human permeations of past into present.  The juxtaposition of the order of history and its coherent sequences, with the poetics of impulse, rhythm, atrophy is paradoxical.  It underscores the complete unreasonableness of the creative act.

All works are hand built clay forms exposed to a smoke fired procedure influenced by organic combustible material.  Pictorial elements were achieved through impressed and carved imagery.  Various implements were used to create a variety of textural surfaces to support the major visual statements.

Wall pieces were mounted on flat wood bases to augment their presence. The free-standing works were mounted on raw unfinished wood to resemble the wood used in the construction of Viking ships.

Naturally one is entitled to draw upon the visual statement to inspirit a personal response and emotion.  It is hoped the work will nourish and influence the viewer to draw upon the exhibition an insight into the Viking Era.

This exhibition presented at Calligrammes Gallery will be held in conjunction with the Danish/Canadian Federation Conference in Ottawa, May 22 – 25 2008.

Richard Lynn Studham was born in Stanley, Co. Durham, England and in 1960, he immigrated to Canada. He has exhibited regularly in solo exhibitions in Canada, U.S.A. and Great Britain.  Since 1970, he participated in 41 international juried and invitational exhibitions notably in Taiwan, Italy and Australia. His works have been acquired by collectors throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Sweden, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Australia, Taiwan, China, Brazil, Argentina and Italy.