Prism: A Continuing Process – Gordon Burnett, Julia Gardiner, Carole Gray, Robin Palmer and Allan Watson

Prism comprises five artists – an ‘occasional collective’ – working in three dimensions presenting different perspectives on abstraction, minimalism, materiality and making methods. The exhibition forms part of Gray’s School of Art’s 140th anniversary celebrations.

Prism: A Continuing Process will be the second in a series of experiments in artistic interaction by the artists, each of whom uses colour in different ways and for different reasons – whether through process, material or aesthetic. We focus on the fact that colour is a property of light. A ‘dispersive’ prism – having five facets – transforms white light into the colours of the spectrum. The exhibition is supported by Gray’s School of Art which is celebrating 140 years of artist-led education with a major exhibition – Never make a head bigger than a melon – reflecting on the evolution of studio practice, teaching, and artistic relationships across generations. The exhibition is curated by Dr Judith Winter (curator, writer, researcher & artist-educator, and Sally Reaper, Director of Look Again, both working at Gray’s School of Art).

All the artists are closely connected to Gray’s School of Art in Aberdeen: Julia Gardiner and Robin Palmer being alumni, Carole Gray, Gordon Burnett and Allan Watson all former staff. Prism honours the teaching, mentorship and studio culture that continue to shape the School.
  
Collectively curated in association with Carole Gray, whose research into artistic pedagogy has shaped generations of artists, the exhibition reflects on how artists teach, how knowledge moves through making, and how ways of seeing are passed on.
  
Participating artists will also host weekly open studio discussions for current Gray’s students, creating space for intergenerational exchange. The art school extends into the city. The conversation continues.

Gordon Burnett has made work on time keeping (a variety of clocks), and looked skyward into the cosmos for inspiration (sculpture using granite and pewter). For this exhibition Gordon is peering downward into the ocean by making objects to celebrate the extraordinary diversity of Plankton.

Julia Gardiner’s work explores the subtle minimalist interplay between material, process, and form. Using paper as both medium and method, Julia builds complex, tactile surfaces that echo the rhythms of natural landscapes while resisting fixed interpretation. The work invites you in, revealing intricacy and imperfection within seemingly ordered geometric constructions. At the centre of the pieces are handmade paper pulp sheets where subtle imperfections of the process break up the uniformity, adding depth and character to each unique piece.

Carole Gray constructs geometric forms using new technologies (laser cutting) and materials (a variety of perspex types) to explore visual ambiguity and our perception of space. Carole will present recent three-dimensional constructions that materialise ideas about ambiguous space, using transparency, translucency and opacity to reveal, obscure and hide.

Robin Palmer constructs wall-based low relief boxed sculpture. His new pieces continue his journey amongst familiar landforms, walked through, drawn, photographed, revisited and reimagined. Robin is always searching and paring back his approach to the shapes he makes and to the structure and colour that emerges.

Allan Watson will present wall-based constructions in the tradition of geometric abstraction, working with the modernist and brutalist architecture of Aberdeen as a starting point.