A shared show with Tracy Macfarlane

A slight and unpretentious study in a simple medium, the sketch is an integral part of artistic impression. Pencil, ink, watercolour are often used, and in this case, stone has been used to record visual experience. Soapstone is a very soft material that will leave clear marks when drawn across a dark surface. Exploration of this unique combination of materials by multi media artist Tracy Macfarlane is the foundation of this exhibition.
Similarity and contrasts play between soapstone carvings by Jo C Willems and the large sketches done by Macfarlane. The stone is very sold and heavy, in contrast to the light ethereal quality of the sketches. Yet Willems uses the medium of carving like a sketch to capture a sense of line and form rather than replication. The stone itself very much guides the form. The similarity is in the process of creating these artistic expressions. Carving a form out of the rock is done very quickly without thinking, just feeling the form as it is revealed, in much the same way as a sketch is done quickly, without thinking, to capture the essence of the experience.
Sketch ‘n Stone is about crossing the line between mediums, a sharing of knowledge, to generate a unique synchronicity between two very old forms of expression.