News for 2012

Next Exhibition
Collectible ZAP Launch (click here)

New Studio from February
Exciting to be joining Bow Arts Trust (click here)

ideas-matter-sphere
a catalyst for cross disciplinary discussion continues- programme soon
for the website click here

Elizabeth Murton Peer Crit Engine ChatChat mentioned Guardian on-line discussion! click here

Engine ChatChat will start again in Spring click here for blog

There is much more to come, so follow me on twitter or join my mailing list at info@elizabethmurton.co.uk

Biography
Poem Biography
About' Indevelopment' Newspaper Sculpture
About' Module' Newspaper Sculpture
About' Module' Newspaper Sculpture

Biography

Elizabeth's practice explores installation, sculpture and drawing inspired by structures and methods of construction, specifically: textiles, weaving, architecture, psychology and theoretical physics. Her interests are in the physical world, both human-made and otherwise and how we form our understanding of our surroundings.

Since graduating from Textiles (Visual Arts) at Goldsmiths, Elizabeth has probed the notion of process through exploring the capabilities and visual qualities of different materials. Elizabeth Murton's structure 'Module' was selected for a Crafts Council commission for their annual show in Somerset House in 2009. Cited by Emma Chrichton-Miller in the Financial Times How To Spend It magazine (Nov 2009) as a 'striking, sculptural woven piece...' here Elizabeth uses weaving to create something three-dimensional and energetic.

Other commissions and exhibitions include 'Can' at South Hill Park, Berkshire; 'Work and Play' at The Maltings, Farnham, Surrey; 'Orbis Opifex' at the Crypt at Euston; '2012 Prototype' at Islington Car Free Day and Deptford X in 2010.

Currently
Elizabeth is curating and creating art for the June exhibition 'A Theory of Everything' where art and science are brought together to open a discussion on this theory; she is part of Core Gallery and DIY Educate management team, where she runs the group art crit 'Engine ChatChat and is a project manager for the textile community art charity Stitches in Time.

About 'Module' Newspaper Sculpture
Murton is interest in our physical environment focuses on construction, process and material. This is explored through weaving and textiles as a starting point. The three dimensional nature of woven cloth construction is often evident up close: from a distance it appears flat. In the newspaper pieces, such as 'Module' (2009) the scale of the 'criss-crossing' of 'woven' fibres is enlarged, emphasising the detail of movement and process. The materials used are two dimensional newspaper sheets that are manipulated into three dimensional forms.

The construction and materials are not only visible, but a main feature of the work: revealing their potential to be used in different ways. By making construction visible, (such as tin cans in 'Can' (2010)) Murton brings attention back to constituent parts, and the building blocks of our surroundings; similar to theoretical physics, where theories are working toward understanding inherent structures. The link between fibres of material, string theory and M-theory is at first about shape. But as we delve deeper into textile, we see that as perspective and scale are altered; different behaviours are revealed. Expanding the common ground between theoretical physics, textile and sculpture.

About 'Indevelopment' Newspaper Sculpture
Chance and chaos are explored in newspaper piece 'Indevelopment' (2008). This was inspired by the Musician John Cage's Fontana Mix (1958) and basketry. The structure created references the criss-crossing of regular basketry weaving, but refuses to conform to a coherent structure. Fontana Mix (1958) is a guide for making music and provides separate transparencies that allow different arrangements by overlaying lines and dots to create a set of values on a grid. Here rules are provided for creating a composition. These are followed not knowing the outcome, but it is already controlled by the system of making. In the sculpture, the appearance of colour depends on the images on the news sheet and is controlled by where the sheets happened to be placed on the pile, not by the artist. Some elements are controlled and some left to chance. 'Indevelopment' (2008) appears as if frozen in a moment in time just as the structure begins to spin out of control- becoming more chaotic, as if developing into a different form.

Poem Biography

Begin,
Attracted by architecture
Shape
How structure dictates movement in a space

Stitched with pen
To draw of/ from architecture
Sculpt a drawn line

The surface the needle marks,
Was itself woven
Focused through threads
Before the cloth is together

Slowly
Threads compose shapes
Kinetic criss-cross
Through the machinery
A pattern
through space

The linear structure, The loom
Line- Drawing
Recording

Play

Explore

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