Annie Luke Turner

About

This exhibition is by appointment only, via Eventbrite. Please use the link provided to book a free slot. 

Annie has been working as an artist and teacher for 20 years since gaining a first class degree at Cheltenham School of Art. She now divides her time between Kendal in the Lake District and the city of Hull.

Annie exhibits and sells her work both in the UK and internationally. She has completed residencies in England, Scotland and Italy.

Annie’s work is rooted in her emotional response to the landscape. It evolves from a feeling for a place, it might be the light, it might be the shapes, the colours, the sense of what may have gone on there before. She is particularly drawn to understanding and investigating the history of a place.

Recent series of paintings have been inspired by the Cumbrian landscape, the Humber Estuary and time spent on the Scottish islands of Mull and Shetland.

During the last year Annie has been researching the idea of ‘thin places’ - places which somehow feel magical and ethereal perhaps because of memories of past human activity and marks in the landscape. Thin places have a particular energy – as if the connection to the landscape, the seasons and the past is tangible.The experience of thin places goes beyond the limits of the senses; like Annie’s work itself, it’s about a feeling or an atmosphere, something to do with the essence of a place rather than simply its appearance. Annie has always had an interest in archaeology and standing stones. From an early age her parents took her to remote and ancient places.

“I spend time in the place just sitting and listening, then moving on to sketching - often quite figuratively, sometimes with eyes closed using the memory of the place to guide the pencil. The sketchbook provides a direct link back to the place so I can open it and be transported back there”.

Back in the studio, whether on paper or canvas, what usually happens next is a process of mark-making. Probably barefoot, often with eyes closed, bringing back the feeling of the place, more of an emotional response than an attempt to draw, though sometimes there’s that too. Sometimes other places find their way in there, shapes and features that become clear but were never consciously placed. These might be lines or shapes scratched into the canvas, drawn or painted with sticks.

Then colour, sometimes thick and textural, other times just a translucent surface, sometimes scraped off entirely.

This process can take weeks and months.

Paint applied and removed, marks made and hidden then scraped back and revealed. Looking for a balance between unpredictable moments happening with the materials and a control with the composition. A conversation between the artist and the painting.

Slowly it emerges

And then one day the painting says done.