Principal Lecturer Artist, Designer: Maker
e:
info@philippalawrence.com
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www.philippalawrence.com
Specialist Subject Areas
Textile and land based Art
Installation and site specific work
Professional Practice: Artist
Qualifications
MA Royal College of Art
BA (hons) First class, Fine Art, Norwich School of Art
Biography
Philippa Lawrence was born in Louth, Lincolnshire. She graduated from Norwich School of Art with a 1st Class (hons) Degree in Fine Art in 1990 and from the Royal College of Art in 1993 with an MA in Printmaking. She lives in Bristol and has a studio at Spike Island.
Philippa works on site-specific projects, commissions and exhibitions. She has exhibited widely both in the UK and internationally, including America, Japan, Czech Republic, Canada, Iceland and Australia.
Her practice is diverse, grounded in the process of reading and understanding site, embracing land and environmental art, the use of textiles in a fine art context, and the relationship between art, craft and design. Her concepts and material choices are research and context-led. She is involved in on-going research looking at our cultural heritage, engaging with the last practitioners of traditional craft skills.
In a rapidly changing world, she asks us to consider human engagement with the earth and its resources and to understand and appreciate the shifting value, production and status of materials, art and artefacts.
Current research
Practice based research that examines the power of contemporary installation and site responsive artwork to connect people to place. I demonstrate the role of temporary site responsive artwork using cloth in rural environments in raising awareness of natural forms, questions of ownership and land use and boundaries. The project examines the project ‘Bound’ and subsequent related works ‘Barcode FB814’ and ‘Bonsai, Bound’ and the ability of these works to connect people and communities. The importance of the use of cloth in these works is discussed; cloth as a universal language, cloth as being environmentally sensitive, and the language of textiles to ‘heal’.
‘Bound’, the use of cloth as a form of communication and connection. Temporary site responsive interventions utilising cloth in the landscape as a vehicle to draw attention to issues of boundaries and ownership.
1. The potential and power of cloth to communicate, and to connect people to place.
2. The aesthetics, concepts and concerns of working with cloth in the ‘environment’ and the tacit understanding of the role of cloth in the success of the artwork.
3.The politics of cloth.
Keywords: Art, environment, boundaries, ‘concealing – revealing’ connection, communication, healing.
Principal Publications, Exhibitions and Awards
View Philippa’s papers and publications on Cardiff Metropolitan University’s DSpace repository.
Cloth & Memory {2}, Salts Mill, Saltaire, 2013
Lawrence, P, Bound,” The Use of Cloth as Interface: Exploring Boundaries and Concepts in Relation to Site and Place at ‘Outside: Activating Cloth to Enhance the Way we Live’, Huddersfield University, 2012
Bite-Size, DAJF London, ‘GalleryGallery’, Kyoto, Nagoya University, 2011-2012
Nature Unframed Morton Arboretum, Lisle, Illinois, 2011
Celebrating Paper, Royal West Academy, Bristol, 2010
Tell it to the Trees, Croft Castle, Leominster, 2009 -10
Land, Wales Millennium Centre, 2008
Through the Lens, Royal Welsh Academy, Bristol, 2008
Amelia’s Magazine – Article. Issue 9. 2008
Embroidery Magazine – Article. May/June 2008
Site-ations. Sense in Place – Catalogue 2007
Landscape – April 2007
Gardens Illustrated – April 2007
Ty Cwaith – March 2007
Re-imaging Wales – Seren Publication, 2007
Review – AN Magazine, November 2006
Philippa Lawrence – Solo exhibition, Oriel Davies, Newtown, Catalogue 2006
Reiko Aoyagi & Philippa Lawrence – House of Art,Cseke Budejovice. Catalogue 2006
Anima – G39, Cardiff, Wales & B312, Montreal, Canada. Catalogue 2005
Awards/Residencies
Nature Unframed: Morton Arboretum, 2011
Meadow Arts Commission: Barcode FB814, 2011
Re:place, Derbyshire. Award of Main Commission, 2010-11
Other residencies include: Laura Ashley (Artists@Work, 2004); Artspace, Sydney, Australia (2001); and Cité International des Arts, Paris (1993).
Awards made to the artist include Welsh Artist of the Year (2008); Production Grant, Arts Council of Wales (2006); a Creative Wales Award, Arts Council of Wales (2003); an Oppenheim John-Downes Award (1998); and a Henry Moore Foundation Scholarship (1992).
Enterprise Projects and/or Industrial links
National Trust, Spike Island, SEDNA, BAMS, Craft in the Bay.
