Allan Kavanagh
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A picture is successful if it has a sense of space and light and a certain animation. Drawings and paintings enable mark-making to be explored and the abstract effects created from the organisation of these qualities.
Growing up in the city of Birmingham I experienced nature in its urban setting. Recently I have made a series of landscapes on the theme of the municipal park. Landscapes can be quiet and intimate, created by a sheltered space or a landscape can have a wider sense of space and depth in the street and parks.
John Berger wrote “Seeing comes before words… It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world” and it is the visual language of space, distance and form I am interested in. The flatness of the picture surface, the interplay with depth and surface and the way focal points create areas of interest in the design are what I find fascinating. Edward Hopper is an artist based in the everyday who at times creates almost geometric shapes from observed light and shade.
After graduating in fine art in the 1980s from North Staffordshire Polytechnic I went into teaching in an Upper school for 25 years. I kept a sketchbook ticking over. Also, I gained an MA in Art Education in 1999 where the final unit was based on Practical Research and this moved my thinking forward. Now, working very much part-time I have begun to take ideas from the sketch book into more finished pieces.
As for contributing to the Gallery, I believe that my experience as a teacher gives me the ability to make demonstrations and explain processes while engaging with an audience. Also, I have experience of preparing for displays and working as part of a team.
ahv Kavanagh 2022
Growing up in the city of Birmingham I experienced nature in its urban setting. Recently I have made a series of landscapes on the theme of the municipal park. Landscapes can be quiet and intimate, created by a sheltered space or a landscape can have a wider sense of space and depth in the street and parks.
John Berger wrote “Seeing comes before words… It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world” and it is the visual language of space, distance and form I am interested in. The flatness of the picture surface, the interplay with depth and surface and the way focal points create areas of interest in the design are what I find fascinating. Edward Hopper is an artist based in the everyday who at times creates almost geometric shapes from observed light and shade.
After graduating in fine art in the 1980s from North Staffordshire Polytechnic I went into teaching in an Upper school for 25 years. I kept a sketchbook ticking over. Also, I gained an MA in Art Education in 1999 where the final unit was based on Practical Research and this moved my thinking forward. Now, working very much part-time I have begun to take ideas from the sketch book into more finished pieces.
As for contributing to the Gallery, I believe that my experience as a teacher gives me the ability to make demonstrations and explain processes while engaging with an audience. Also, I have experience of preparing for displays and working as part of a team.
ahv Kavanagh 2022
