Combining my interests of museology, science, and my surrounding landscape, I undertake investigations that seek to re-visualise an experience of my own, and ignite an experience in the viewer.
The natural world has always interested me, and I spend a lot of my free time exploring my surroundings on walks, which I record in immediate formats such as photos, sketches, maps, coordinates, rubbings, as I am fascinated by topography and how it differs around the world. Through these immediate responses I create both two-dimensional and three-dimensional artwork, which tend to go through transformations, to subsequently trigger memories of my experiences.
The Decorative Surfaces Fellowship offers invaluable skills and knowledge of our historical arts and crafts, which are no doubt all around us. Not only this, but these skills are transferable to contemporary art, and I look forward to experimenting with them to see what new techniques I can add to my repertoire and to see how they work with less traditional materials.
Creating a range of my own pigments is top on my list of things to do, as I would like to experiment with traditional egg tempera and glaze mixes, and apply them onto various surfaces. Other techniques I look forward to learning include sgraffito, punchwork, gilding, japanning, woodblock wallpaper and marquetry. Surface and material has a very important role in my work and the skills I intend to learn will amplify this even further.
Website: www.pollybennett.com
Instagram: polben.art