Flying Buttresses
© Alexandra Kingswell, 2023
Working intuitively, I choose my colours and think about the shapes I want to emphasise. My inspiration is 'Architecture: on the edge'. It occurred to me that a building can create a very strong contrast with its background, which is often sky. A building, with the sun behind it becomes merely a shape - a dense, dark, 2 dimensional shape, devoid of detail. The edges are strong and powerful. I was especially inspired by the phrase 'On the edge' when thinking about this challenge. I wanted my piece to have some strong edges.
My process is very much like building.
Although I don’t have an end design in mind as I begin, I do create building blocks out of fabric, which I fit together, one on top of the other. And so it grows.
There are some inspirational and iconic pieces of architecture, like the Sydney Opera House or the incredible Auditorio de Tenerife, which were definitely in the back of my mind as I worked (I had recently seen a television program about the building of the Auditorio de Tenerife); I wanted the effect of floating curved elements. But when the final design revealed itself, it said to me, in no uncertain terms, that it wanted to be titled 'Flying buttresses'.
Flying Buttresses © Alexandra Kingswell, 2023 24 inches square
alex@alexandra-kingswell.co.uk