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Artist Statement for Mary-Clare Buckle
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I was born in the Philippines and grew up in Hampshire, southern England. I come from a creative family of artists, jewellers and woodcarvers. My Art Foundation was at the Surrey Institute of Art & Design (Farnham, Surrey), where my brother Chris taught me. For my Degree course, I studied Three-Dimensional Design and Silversmithing, at the University of Central England.
I designed and made jewellery for many years and exhibited in the UK and abroad, but always felt artistically constrained by that discipline.
On discovering feltmaking, my initial work was extremely colourful, freed from the limitations of jewellery design, where it is difficult to use colour easily.
Felt is the perfect outlet for me, since I can either be very imprecise - letting the medium control the design - or can immerse myself in a particular design and exercise as much control as if I were almost 'painting' with the fibres. The designs often come about by 'playing' with the fibres, or starting off with an idea and seeing where the fibres take me. I often contrast gold, silver or bronze with the matt wool and in many cases create the designs so that they are slightly hidden - sandwiched between fine layers of wool.
Over the last three years, I have developed the technique of 'Floating' felts , trying to make the pieces as thin as possible - almost transparent. When mounted between sheets of clear acrylic, the light can penetrate the piece, giving it an ethereal, almost-not-there quality. Unlike conventional framing, the viewer's eye is not constrained to a rectangle and, if hung slightly away from the wall, the pieces appear to be floating in space.
I also light the floating felt pieces from behind or the side, to turn them into wall lights - blurring the boundaries between art and interior design.
Alongside this, I am working on an extensive range of pop-culture and BritArt-inspired conceptual work - some pieces as floating felts and some more 'solid' pieces, which are framed conventionally. My creative process often starts with an idea from a song title, or just playing around with a cultural icon, or some ideas in my head - such as Me and its companion piece You, It's Raining Men or Kiss Kiss. Currently, I'm working on a whole series of It's Raining pictures - cows, money, cats & dogs, etc.
I have been inspired by places I've visited around the world, including Morocco, Central & South America, Thailand and India. India holds a particular fascination for me - the motifs they use in their work and the fantastically bright colours in the textiles and embroidery. I've been there several times, including a very long trip with my young sons and husband, Andrew Green, who is writing a book about our experiences there.
I moved from London to West Dorset, shortly after our twin sons, Arran and Fingal, were born and now live in the artists' enclave and picturesque village of Abbotsbury, with a view of the sea to add further inspiration to my work. Our sons are educated at home by us.
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