Maggie Edwards
I work mainly in my studio, drawing, painting and monoprinting from sketches and digital images made during walks across the Downs; the cliffs, harbours, coves and beaches of Sussex, Cornwall and the mountains of Southern Spain.
I have been working with clay structures for many years, building ceramic vessels in mainly stoneware clay but sometimes earthenware material. My ceramic pieces relate closely in feel to my 2D work, but focus more on the corrosive and erosive weathering effects of the sea upon the natural and man-made, exploiting the crackle effects of hand-building and glazing.
Life drawing is an essential element of my work. I sketch and draw mainly from the life model using charcoal and conte and sometimes in watercolour or mixed media to continuously exercise my observational skills and experimental use of materials. I use life studies to create monoprints and to make figure sculptures. For the sculptures, I work both directly from the life model but also from life drawings with stoneware clay and employing various surface treatments following firing.
I trained in fine art first in Croydon and then Brighton. I have exhibited my work in London and galleries in the southeast. I also regularly register for the Brighton Artist Open Houses and exhibit and sell my work each year at the Brighton Festival.
I work in 2D, painting, drawing and monoprinting at my studio in Saltdean above the cliffs, near Brighton on the East Sussex coast.
I work in 3D, making ceramic vessels and sculptures at my ceramic workshop in Eastbourne, East Sussex.
The main inspirations for my work include the sea and skies, with their endless source of movement, colour and mood. The Downs with its the changing light created by the pale Sussex chalk lands inspires both my work in 2D and 3D. I am also fascinated by the structure and forms of the local harbours with their fishing boats and landing stages. The seasons and the rich variety of weather provide me with endless challenges for capturing skies, wild sea, reflected light, an approaching storm or sudden bursts of low sunlight. Visits to Cornwall have also inspired me with its darker, more richly tonal land and brilliantly lit seascape.
From my visits to my brother’s wilderness garden in the mountains of the Alpujarras, Spain, I have bought back images from which I am currently creating a series of oils and acrylics. These studies present challenges of broken sunlight and enclosed spaces, inviting the viewer to hidden places beyond reach.
I love the work of the 20th Century Expressionists and their use of brushwork to evoke movement and emotion. I am influenced by painters of the sea and elemental forces, such as William Turner’s seas and skies, Constable’s oil sketches as well as Joan Eardley’s richly captured land and seas of Catterline. I’m also interested in Patrick Heron’s use of composition and colour, together with the gentle, atmospheric paintings of Winifred Nicholson and the abstract woodlands of Ivon Hitchens. With these artists, I share their love of nature and their fascination with the atmospheric changing patterns of light.
Maggie Edwards 