Sue Lawty

I have chosen Sue Lawty as my artist because I think artist creates a sense of feeling of calm energy through the use of variety of shape like pebbles. The muted colours sue Lawty uses remind me of being on a beach; I am inspired by sue Lawty’s use of shape which creates the experience of joy. I enjoy the ways that sue Lawty exploits the textural qualities of the materials she has used. Sue Lawty, originally from Derbyshire, and talks about the progression of her practice. From traditional tapestry weaving to constructed pieces made from lead, stone and linen which continue to express her interest in textiles, place, time, geology, repetition and mark-marking.

Sue Lawty work is rooted in an emotional, spiritual and physical engagement with the land, drawing on direct experiences of remote, raw and edgy landscape. The constructed pieces and drawings in two and three dimensions are abstract and minimal. They explore repetition and interval; investigating territories of expression in raphia, hemp, linen, lead, tiny stones or shadow. Sue Lawty says about her work that she seeks an understated restraint, balance, tension, rhythm. She also says she seeks to produce work that is essentially still. Sue Lawtey’s quiet, abstract works are heavily influenced by a comprehensive engagement with landscape, notably the structure and primal rawness of rock.

Whether sue Lawty is working with linen, lead, stone or shadow, the physicality and subtleties of material are explored intuitively and meticulously during the process of drawing and making. Her works have been described as ‘spiritual meditative a deeply contemplative experience’. Each tiny insignificant speck of stone bears witness to the vastness of geological time. Time so immense it renders us, humankind, as the real speck.

Sue Lawty also develops a large stone drawing from tens of thousands of tiny natural stone marks. Sue Lawty develops links between contemporary use of unconventional materials and traditional practice. Cultural and personal narrative is concerned with the substance of things, the nature of cloth; its structure and feel. She is exploring ideas of individuality and universality, a single thread within a piece of cloth, or a single stone on a beach made of millions of stones. The mapping of the place and space, the structure of the landscape, and the sense of time gives it a clam feeling to her work. I want to take something tiny & insignificant; very small stones unnoticed underfoot on beach, out of context and through repetition and scale of work, the subject the viewer to be made small in their presence. Each tiny insignificant speck of stone bears witness to the vastness of geological time. Time so immense it renders us, humankind, as the real speck; The original rock would have been formed and then subsequently broken down and eroded over millions of years. Each resultant gravelly mark of stone has been rumbled and rolled, tossed and turned, pounded and shoved relentlessly in and out on tides twice a day, every day for years until now halted on the verge of becoming sand.

Sue Lawty is an artist and maker, currently working closely with the V&A. Sue’s work is rooted in an emotional, spiritual and physical engagement with the land, particularly rock. It draws upon direct experiences of remote, raw, edgy landscape and an increasing interest in the fundamental impact of geology, the structure and stuff of our planet. Constructed pieces (often woven) and drawings in two and three dimensions use a range of materials including hemp, linen, lead, tiny stones and shadow. Works are abstract and minimal. Her work is held in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum amongst others. During sue Lawty time at the V&A as Textile Artist in Residence, Sue Lawty collaborated on a significant new body of work with the V&A Textile Collection, worked directly with the historic collection, discovering and uncovering objects which inspired a new acquisition for the contemporary textile collection and devised and collaborated on the online World Beach Project.

During her time at the V&A as Textile Artist in Residence Sue Lawty collaborated on a significant new body of work with the V&A Textile Collection, worked directly with the historic collection, discovering and uncovering objects which inspired a new acquisition for the contemporary textile collection and devised and collaborated on the online World Beach Project. V&A relationship between the past and the present is complex. Some artists choose to tear down the edifice of permanence and reject the burden of history in order to create a new point of reference. With Sue Lawty, however, a respect for historic and ethnographic material enables her to both assimilate and change the past. Her work provides a critical link in the chain that connects the historic with the contemporary, the traditional with the innovative. The apparent order of the composition contrasts with the unexpected and free use of shapes. I am interested in the way that the use of colour softens what would otherwise be harsh piece if the colours were too bright. I love the way that sue Lawty uses techniques usually associated with popular culture to address serious issues of the pebbles and beaches. The technique of layering distressing materials considers the issue of time passing by allowing only some parts of the work to be visible.