TRACES is the joint title for two solo exhibitions running concurrently at One Paved Court in September. Printmaker Loraine Monk presents a body of work tracing the history of social dissent and protest on the ground floor, while Rachel Pearcey kicks over the traces with her textile works in the upper gallery.
Loraine Monk creates images using both relief and etching processes, using the act of cutting to make tactile, the visceral anger of inequality and political disengagement. Her family were working-class Londoners; inspired by local and community history, her background has influenced her politics, academic research and artistic practice. She has exhibited in a number of independent galleries, museums and group shows, including the International Original Print Exhibition, the Society of Women Artists, New English Art Club, Printmakers Council and Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair.
Rachel Pearcey loves textiles and stitching and drawing and making things. She stitches drawings and words onto second-hand, vintage or antique linen, cotton or flax. She creates unbreakable cups and bowls, teapots and jugs with felt, wool and linen. Softened with years of wear, faded, repaired and darned each piece she uses bears traces of a previous, often now redundant, life. Recycling is very important to her, as she says “the thread with which I sew is the only thing I buy new”. Her work was selected for this year’s Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts and has been widely shown across the UK and internationally.