Canterbury and the Sidney Cooper Gallery

I went over to Canterbury recently to visit the Sidney Cooper Gallery and take some photographs of the city.

The gallery was showing The Jerwood Drawing Prize competition, Gallery website here
The exhibition had a range of works covered by the term drawing. I'm always interested in what drawing might mean today and here was a work called Cato lived for 8025 Days by Emma Douglas, which was a large coil of coloured watercolor paper and graphite  with numbers written on it. A poignant piece  made in response to the death of her son. Link to Emma's site here

A small group of work caught my eye including Colleen Brewer's Pimp my Corpse, which explores our notion of death and ideas of perfection. The work was made on an old piece of salvaged MDF board and shows a bird painted in inks and acrylics with some of its feathers missing.

Along side was Sue Williams A Court's  piece entitled Liminal Space 22. Sue's website here

I was interested in what Sue writes about her latest works "My latest work was developed from 64 experimental collages i made inspired by seeing some rare Tantric images by anonymous modern painters in northwest india intended to further the practice of meditation.  I started to look at historical images representing the sublime and to contemplate the nature of "desire and longing". With this work i invite the viewer into a liminal space, presenting the  romantic landscape as a certain state of mind rather than a specific location; a place of transition in-between thoughts- impossible to find and at the same time unavoidable."



Gary Lawrence's large vibrant picture called St Stanstead and other stuff reminded me a little of Grayson Perry's Walthamstow Tapestry with the multitude of figures references and text on the piece.

Aideen Cusack Leggett's  Dance Walpaper had me reach for my sketch book to copy some of her great little drawings of people dancing. Probably my favourite piece in the show with it's movement and sheer love of life feel.

Canterbury was busy with visitors including a big influx of school groups with their clipboards and the Westgate Gardens were looking very picturesque in the sunshine with the trees in blossom and the river reflecting the blue sky.