Ripe and Ruin | Martin Pearce / Sarah Graeme

September 9 - October 28

LALANI JENNINGS CONTEMPORARY ART GALLERY

RIPE AND RUIN | Martin Pearce / Sarah Graeme

"These paintings were made to explore a paradox; the more various materials were combined, applied and reapplied to a canvas, the closer the generated effects approached ephemerality (mists and fog, rain, smoke, even ghosts)"

Martin Pearce |

Ghost
2023 | 20 x 16 | Mixed media on Canvas
Martin Pearce |

Bancha
2023 | 48 x 42 | Mixed media on Canvas
Martin Pearce |

The Shore
2023 | 24 x 24 | Mixed media on Canvas

Martin Pearce |

Memory Colours - Green Room
2023 | 24 x 36 | Mixed media on Canvas
Martin Pearce |

Ashes
2023 | 48 x 36 | Mixed media on Canvas
Martin Pearce |

Memory Colours - Flatford
2023 | 24 x 36 | Mixed media on Canvas

Martin Pearce |

Northern Peninsula
2023 | 24 x 20 | Mixed media on Canvas
Martin Pearce |

Blue Ghost
2023 | 24 x 18 | Mixed media on Canvas
Martin Pearce |

Trace I
2023 | 30 x 50 | Mixed media on Canvas

Martin Pearce |

Trace II
2023 | 24 x 36 | Mixed media on Canvas
Martin Pearce |

Haworth
2023 | 32 x 20 | Mixed media on Canvas
Martin Pearce |

Memory Colours - Smith Square
2023 | 24 x 36 | Mixed media on Canvas

Martin Pearce |

Island
2023 | 12 x 24 | Mixed media on Canvas
Martin Pearce |

Danae
2023 | 24 x 36 | Mixed media on Canvas
Martin Pearce |

Locard's Exchange
2023 | 24 x 36 | Mixed media on Canvas

Trust that they will come forth when they are ready.
The process of fire, urging an awakening. It is an invitation,
Breathing life in the quiet language of elements.
Subtle and stirring.
Their ripeness and dissilience breaks open the casings, shedding the husks. Lovingly discarded, an envelope no longer needed, thick skin of safe housing. Emerging, continuous and infinite cycles. A new beginning, a primordial remembering, a rhythmic and tender opening.

This work explores the expanse between hope and grief in response to the intensifying impacts of climate change. Using seeds and their protective casings as symbols for resilience, hope and regeneration, this series is a collaboration between the artist, the materials and the wood firing atmosphere.

Seeds hold immense potential in their gracefully subtle forms; each pod or husk contains a multitude of futures, embodying a moment within a continuously infinite cycle. These seeds and their containers are an act of resilience, contending with the uncertainty of a future complicated by climate change.

These pieces were wood fired this spring during a residency in Denmark. Concurrently, Canada was experiencing the beginning of yet another unprecedented wildfire season. While labouring for the kiln and attending to the flames, there was an acute awareness of the contrast and parallels between these two fires: one a collaborator in creation, and the other causing immense destruction and devastation.

For this body of work, the process of wood firing brings awareness to the relationship between fire, plants and their dependence upon one another. Fire and plants have coevolved and exist in an interdependent relationship. Fire is reliant on fuel in the form of plants, while the effects of burning play an essential role in many ecosystems by creating the necessary parameters for growth and regeneration. Collaborating with fire bridges this fundamental and mutually dependent relationship while acknowledging that these systems are currently out of balance.

Firing a wood kiln requires constant work and attention. It is a practice that forces the artist to be in direct relationship with the consumption of wood and its subsequent transformation from heat and energy into carbon, thereby bearing witness to the environmental cost of this medium and process.

The environmental tension inherent within the medium of clay and the process of wood firing similarly attracts and repulses. Navigating this uneasiness is part of an ongoing conversation spanning both grief and hope, landing unsettlingly on the thin line in between.

Sarah Graeme |

Embodied Husk V
2023 | 11.5 x 10 x 10 | Stoneware, wood fired
Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience XVI
2023 | 3 X 3 X 3.5 | Stoneware, Wood fired soda

2023 | 11 x 6 x 3.5 | Stoneware, Wood fired soda, Dandelion fibres
Sarah Graeme |

Embodied Husk II
2023 | 15 x 6 x 6 | Stoneware, Wood fired soda

Sarah Graeme |

Embodied Husk III
2023 | 14 x 6.5 x 6 | Stoneware, slip, Wood fired
Sarah Graeme |

Embodied Husk I
2023 | 16 x 7 x 7.5 | Stoneware, Wood fired
Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience II
2023 | 6.5 x 6.5 x 4 | Stoneware, Slip, Wood fired

Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience XII
2023 | 11 x 8.5 x 8.5 | Stoneware, slip, Wood fired
Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience IX
2023 | 7 x 5.5 x 5.5 | Stoneware, Slip, Wood fired
Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience XIII
2023 | 6 x 5 x 4 | Stoneware, Wood Fired

Sarah Graeme |

Embodied Husk IV
2023 | 12 x 10 x 10 | Stoneware, Wood fired
Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience I
2023 | 6 x 6 x 4.5 | Stoneware, Wood fired
Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience III
2023 | 2 x 3.5 x 3.5 | Porcelain, Slip, Wood Fired

Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience IV
2023 | 6 x 4 x 3 | Stoneware, Wild clay slip, Wood fired soda
Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience V
2023 | 10 x 8 x 5 | Stoneware, Wood fired
Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience VI
2023 | 5 x 3 x 5 | Stoneware, Slip, Wood Fired

Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience VII
2023 | 5.5 10 x 7 | Stoneware, Wood fired, Dandelion fibers
Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience X
2023 | 5 x 3 x 5 | Porcelain, Slip, Wood fired
Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience XI
2023 | 6 x 5 x 3.5 | Porcelain, Slip, Wood Fired, Dandelion fibres

Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience XIV
2023 | 7 x 8 x 4.5 | Stoneware, Slip, Wild clay slip, Wood fired soda, Dandelion fibres
Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience XVIII
2023 | 8 x 5 x 6 | Stoneware, Wood fired soda
Sarah Graeme |

Dissilience XIX
2023 | 4 x 5 x 6 | Stoneware, Wild clay slip, Wood fired soda, Dandelion fibres

Martin Pearce |

Martin Pearce has been making and exhibiting paintings and drawings since 1990. He is the Director of the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph. Pearce's work is represented by Birch Contemporary in Toronto. His paintings and drawings are in public and private collections in Canada, the UK and the USA.

Sarah Graeme |

Sarah Graeme is an emerging ceramic artist currently based on T’Sou-ke and Pacheedaht Territory on Vancouver Island (Shirley, BC). She received her BFA from NSCAD University (2021). Sarah’s work combines ceramic forms with plant fibres using weaving and basketry techniques. This combination and overlap in craft mediums and ways-of-making serves as a personal reflection in the context of materials, relationships, and place.

Her work is created intuitively as a conversation with materials, considering where they have come from, how they were processed, and exploring the relationship and responsibilities inherent in using them.

JAMES AUSTIN HEWITT — NATASHA VERBEKE — THOMAS WEIR — COLOUR AND FORM — LYSE LEMIEUX — OMAR LALANI — MICHAEL THOMPSON — CONSTELLATIONS l