Laura Brings The Outdoors Inside
27 January 2010
Laura Ellen Bacon's exhibition 'Into the Weave' can be seen at the Derby Museum and Art Gallery from 31 January to 18 April 2010. More of her work will be displayed in the grounds of Chatsworth House from March.
Laura's sculptural forms are temptingly touchable, nestlike and quiet
”Andrea Hadley-Johnson, Derby Museum and Art Gallery Exhibitions Officer.
A University of Derby graduate brings the outdoors inside for the first time when she creates a 'room' made entirely from woven willow.
Derby born and bred, Laura Ellen Bacon, 33, is a talented 3D artist who works with willow and other coppiced materials. She creates innovative and imaginatively unique sculptures that draw their inspiration from natural forms such as birds' and animals' nests. Up to now her work has usually been exhibited outdoors.
Keen to show her work in new environments Laura has, for the first time, created an indoor 'woven space' for her Into the Weave exhibition. Using her favourite natural material, willow, she has created an 8x2 metre womb-like room.
This woven interior will be exhibited inside the Derby Museum and Art Gallery, on the Wardwick, Derby. Visitors to the city centre gallery will be able to experience and interact with sculpture. They'll be able to walk around and through the room whilst experiencing the smells of sap and bark.
To complement this exhibition, Laura has published a 10-year retrospective brochure of her work which the University has helped support. The brochure costs £5 and is available to buy from the Museum. Mary Butcher, an eminent artist in the field of basket making, has provided an introduction to the booklet, reflecting the respect for, and popularity of, Laura's work in the industry.
Laura who graduated from the University of Derby in 2001 with a BA (Hons) in Applied Arts said: "Into the Weave is the result of a long term goal to bring a slightly more 'architectural' quality into my work. I'm thrilled to have been given the opportunity to create the work directly in the gallery space during January 2010 and the finished result has fuelled ambitions to develop my work much further."
Andrea Hadley-Johnson, Derby Museum and Art Gallery Exhibitions Officer added:" Laura's sculptural forms are temptingly touchable, nestlike and quiet.
Too large to escape through the door that it arrived through, the installation has permanence to it."
Other recent work of Laura's includes Woven Space a magnificent sculpture in the grounds of Chatsworth House. Laura was invited to create this piece by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and the Chatsworth House Trust. Woven Space interweaves willow with branches of the yew trees that surround the sculpture in the grounds of Chatsworth, the grounds of which reopen on 14 March. Check www.chatsworth.org.uk for opening times.
Into the Weave at Derby Museum and Art Gallery runs from 31 January to 18 April 2010.
Laura's work can also be viewed at www.lauraellenbacon.com
For further media information please contact Alumni Relations Officer Laura Ratcliffe on 01332 591368 or mobile 07768091248 or email: l.ratcliffe@derby.ac.uk
