We live in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, and have been making sculptural mobiles from our studio at home for twenty years. We make work for exhibitions and commissions. The smaller wooden pieces for exhibition are made in our studio. For larger scale commissions, we work with fabricators who scale up the wooden maquettes into metal.
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The shapes in our work respond to natural forms and patterns. We are particularly interested in reflecting on the relationships to be found at different scales within the natural world. A few years ago we worked on a formative project with a filmmaker and a composer to explore the dovetailing of human craft and the trees from which wooden musical instruments are made. Most recently, this reflection has taken the form of the Ilkley Fountain, which celebrates the affinity of moorland water and sphagnum moss. Through our work we aim to express both the acute vulnerability of interdependence, but also its resilience and potential.
Top image: Dovetailing (image by Clare Dearnaley)
Lower image: detail of John Lewis commission (image by Michael Boitier)
Practice and process
Our projects begin with drawn observation of patterns and forms from the natural world. The sculptural shapes are created by laminating layers of sustainably sourced veneer. This concept of the whole being greater than the sum of parts underpins not only the form but also the content of the work in that each part of every mobile is integral to the balance of the whole.
The wooden mobiles are feather-light and responsive to presence around them. Every time anyone interacts with one or more of the mobiles there is a unique performance which can never be repeated. (Image below by Clare Dearnaley of visitors to Dovetailing)
Recent work
Recent series include: ‘Dovetailing’, a journey of sound from tree to audience using the crafting of musical instruments as the starting point; ‘Breath Water Marks’, using the shapes in wake on water to explore the traces and patterns we leave behind us (currently exhibited at the Wordsworth Museum); and the Sphagnum Moss series for JaggedArt London. (Image below of model for Northumbria Specialist Emergency Healthcare commission)
Background
We were introduced some years ago by a mutual friend as we both made mobiles. Jamie now works as a Deputy Head at our local comprehensive school and Juliet develops the art projects (full curriculum vitae). In 2012 we were commissioned to make four large-scale mobiles for the three floor atrium space at John Lewis in Stratford, East London and this had a significant influence on determining our practice and the process of making our work. (Image of Juliet and Jamie Gutch by Chris White)
Gallery representation
We are elected members of the Royal Society of Sculptors, represented by the gallery jaggedart in London and exhibit there regularly and at art fairs, in particular COLLECT and London Art Fair, whilst also exhibiting in the north of England in a number of galleries. As well as our smaller-scale work in wood, we have completed a number of larger-scale commissions in metal for public and private organisations such as John Lewis, Olleco, and a number of hospitals. (Image by Clare Dearnaley of Northumbria Specialist Emergency Healthcare commission)
Workshops
Workshops are either standalone sessions or part of the creative process of a particular project. The above image shows a group from a secondary school in Cramlington, Cramlington Learning Village. Juliet worked with these students over a period of 3 months to find the shapes for the large-scale Murmuration of Starlings sculpture for the new hospital in their town, the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Healthcare Hospital.
“Your mobiles seem to me like musical instruments playing in the frequencies of light.”
“The work uses the curves and patina of wood to create silent meditative shapes which have their own gentle momentum.”
“The mobile twists in the air, in ever-changing shapes and shadows, much as the ever-present sound of music fills my small flat. Earlier today, for example, I held my breath as I listened to the Adagio from Schubert’s String Quintet: violins, viola, cello, and double bass play the most moving of music, intertwining lines of intensity. Sometimes, I feel I have to move my hands, air conducting the melody and harmony; now I have these pieces of sculpted wood to make the movement for me. I can sit in silence to watch and listen and wait on what emerges.”
“The exhibition was a delight for the senses. A serene experience of light, music and movement. As you walk under and around the mobiles your movement in turn creates their movement, changing the shapes and shadows as they turn and dance. Wandering under and around felt like being in the boughs of the most exquisite and delicate of trees.”
“Beautifully-poised constructions floating in the centres of rooms, gently moving in response to soundwaves of musicians, air waves of human presence.”
“My mobiles give me such joy. I’ve hung mine in the dining area of my kitchen, and the altering light and air currents of the room reflect on the mobiles under which I sit watching them change and move.”
“It was an intimate, multisensory experience, where three dimensional objects made of natural materials responded to the flow of air and movement of viewers. The sculptures looked like notes or thoughts emerging from the air. I was totally fascinated by the way mobiles interacted with the people around them and couldn’t stop taking photos.”
“The mobile seems to float and I can imagine sounds coming from it when I watch it turning.”
“I thought the mobiles seemed to be suspended in space and made me think of thoughts inside the mind.”
“We became completely immersed in a world of wood and the sounds it can make. We found our shadows moving through the woods on the screen along with those of the mobiles, each of which was creating its own living calligraphy.”.
Collaboration
Our practice often involves processes of co-design with others. The four videos above show different projects, all of which have involved collaboration.
1. Clare Dearnaley: trailer, Dovetailing project.
2. Adam Gutch: maquettes for a permanent commission for John Lewis,
3. Clare Dearnaley: study of A Murmuration of Starlings
4. Clare Dearnaley: study of Untethered