Nesting by Gail Turpin

About

Gail Turpin was born in Edinburgh and studied at Edinburgh College of Art in the 80’s. After completing a BA and post graduate diploma in graphic design she worked in London and Amsterdam before returning to Edinburgh to set up her own studio.

For Gail design is an applied art – one of several that she practices. She has sewn, knitted and made clothes since childhood and drawing has always been part of her process. She has spent her life looking at colour, texture, composition, positive & negative space, subtlety, boldness and has come to work intuitively, whether with type, making a monoprint collage, weaving a scarf or creating an image.

This show gathers together work made during a period of unexpected nesting over the last two years. Through close observation of found feathers and nests Gail slowed down and settled in to make studies of these beautiful, complex and perfectly imperfect structures.

She decided to restrict her subject matter to these objects giving herself limitations within which to experiment. Gail enjoys working with different materials – the way that ink or paint reacts with paper or wood – the way that thread or wool can be used to create a fine line or a robust material. She feels that the materials guide her, sometimes producing accidents, which is part of the joy of making artworks.

Anni Albers puts it very well: “Being creative is not so much the desire to do something as listening to that which wants to be done: the dictation of the materials”.

With pieces developed through drawing, painting, monoprinting and collage Nesting features works on paper, wood and fabric.