dawn idalia
dawn is a fine artist working and living in north nottinghamshire, england.
she makes abstract work inspired by the natural environment specialising in contemporary drawing using many unique processes and media combinations.
dawn exhibits her work nationally and shares her inspirations and skills through participatory workshops based at the beautiful thoresby park.
she has over 20 years experience in arts development with varied groups and national and regional arts agencies.
artist's statement
"My practice is about connection. I make work that invites affinity by evoking sensorial memories and emotions that the viewer may not previously have considered significant.
Enquiry and experimentation are at the heart of my practice. I want to find out how the ‘essence’ of these sensory experiences can be identified, distilled and recreated? I strive to
“discover the purest forms which will exactly invoke my own sensation”. Hepworth
I am interested in how we are affected by our environment (physical and social), and the processes within that transaction.
Why are we captivated by some experiences of the natural environment so profoundly?
How does what we see, initiate and evoke non-visual memory?
What differences do our cultural and experiential ‘lenses’ bring to that process?
In recent years I have honed my focus on the synergies and conflicts in our relationship with the natural environment. Beginning a body of work which investigates how we are/not accommodating it.
If not now, when?"
the process...
...is shaped, as it is for all of us, by experience. My early years were blessed by days playing in the woods and exploring the dramatic Peak District. Trees and woodland in particular have always been my solace and my muse. Landscapes and plant forms provide enough inspiration for a hundred lifetimes.
The making process begins and ends with drawing and I'm constantly pushing the boundaries of what drawing can be and what it can be made from. Testing how edited it can be and still connect to the viewer and expanding it into new forms.
Photography and printmaking also shape the enquiries and outcomes.I hope you enjoy seeing what I see, and maybe even feeling what I feel…"
photograph: Neil Pledger