Art connoisseurs can expect a visual feast of formats that are both beautiful and quirky to the eye during the Fusion- roots and routes art exhibition by Lee Scott Hempson, a Lecturer in Fashion and Textiles Department at DUT.
The exhibition is being held at Durban’s artSpace Gallery. It ends on Sunday March 22, 2014.
Scott Hempson teaches drawing and illustration as well as printing technologies, also supervising post graduate students in the University’s Fashion and Textiles Department. Speaking about this exhibition, she said it represents the fusion of her various personas; that of the fine artist, lecturer, social and eco-sensitive being which make her craft rich in imagery.
“The ‘routes’ I have taken to get to this here and now, added to the acknowledgment that my ‘roots’ colour my perceptions of everything I experience has directed my creative inspiration, identity and individuality. The inspiration for this particular body of work comes from a series of accidental collages. I was cutting out images from magazines for an inspiration or mood board for a teaching project and happened to look at the other side of the cut out image and liked what I saw. This little act has inspired a number of notions or concepts. The singular collages than ensued have become metaphors for the integration of my wholeness. By wholeness I allude to seeing myself as a series of personas – that of the artist, teacher, fashion voyeur, eco-sensitive and immigrant,” she said.
Scott Hempson’s latest body of work, mainly done on wood, mostly consists of a series of silhouettes or cut-outs that are linked by a deliberate palette reminiscent of the dusty tones of the lowveld bush and bloody sunsets. The cut-outs reflect Scott Hempson’s fashion drawing and illustration interests, her appreciation of textile details, eco-sensibilities and bush ‘roots’ having grown up on a farm.
“I like to mix my media. In this body of work, I have created a series of figurative ‘cut-outs’ on which I have painted in acrylic. Using acrylic paints for these paintings has suited the textural quality I hoped to achieve. I also enjoy the physical act of creating and cutting the wood to suit my purpose,” she said.
Scott Hempson said some of the pieces will delight, some will challenge perceptions of beauty and identity while some might even evoke certain personal nostalgies. “I wish for people to walk away with a smile in their hearts,” she said.
The exhibition opened on Monday this week (03 March 2013). Scott Hempson will be giving a walk about at the Gallery this Saturday (8 March 2014) at 11am. The walkabout is a ‘show and tell’ where the artist will speak to the public about her work and invited audience to ask questions about her work.
Details of the exhibition are as follows:
Dates: 3 to 22 March 2014
Venue: artSpace Gallery, Durban
Operating hours: Monday to Friday: 9am to 5pm. Saturdays: 9am to 2pm
Address: 3 Millar Road, Durban.
– Noxolo Memela
Pictured: One of the images on exhibition at the Fusion- roots and routes art exhibition by Lee Scott Hempson, a Lecturer in Fashion and Textiles Department at DUT. The exhibition is being held at Durban’s artSpace Gallery. It ends on Sunday March 22, 2014.
