This exhibition hit the radar when I saw a photo of someone (Helen Barff) kneeling on top of a small concrete building & making a rubbing onto a large sheet. Flicking through the photo set an art work in the making was revealed. It seemed like the artist was taking a full rubbing of this small concrete structure.

After giving the account, @closeltd a follow it was possible to see what would become of this interesting work.

The answer was an exhibition over 2 galleries. The rubbing work was being shown at Brewhouse in Taunton with the sections of the concrete pill box being laid out on the walls. This net showing the simple details of the concrete box with windows, roof pitches & all of the texture of concrete.

The curation of the rubbing in tandem with some studies of home made tents that the artist made with their children suggested a playfulness. There is a deliberate attempt to create drapery & folds in the fabric, suggesting drama or childhood fantasy. The soft shapes in contrast to the hard concrete & messy graphite used in the rubbing. Accompanying the rubbing, Helen made a series of painted studies of this pill box & many others that are scatterd across the West Country. These boxes from WWII were made incase of invasion & provided cover & safety for defending forces. A connection the artist has made with tents & dens that children often love to make. Both offering safety & escape.

The pill box studies are particularly striking due to the soft pallet of colours & the watery details of the ink. Shown in a grid like Bernd & Hill Becher photographs, the viewer can scan the work for similarities & differences.

The rubbing at Brewhouse made its connection to the inky studies which were shown in the other gallery, Close which is a few miles away in Hatch Beaucamp.

There the show continues with a gallery full of folded, stacked & hung forms on an expanse of concrete flooring. Here the elements of hard & soft materials continues. Contrary to the sheets wrapping the concrete box to make an image & form, here the forms are created by filling soft garments with the hard casting material.

The shapes of folded clothes fill the space, some of the artist & some of the the artists children. Fibres transferred during the casting add subtle tones & textures. The forms have the odd mix of soft fabric & rigidity recording the bodily forms that would wear these clothes. Just like the rubbing we see folds & creases but here they are cast into permanent forms.

One of the works shows cast forms attached by rope & spread across the floor, suggesting a fallen washing line. Wholly domestic. Some works are raised from the ground on metal & concrete plinths, perhaps reminding us of the sacred traditions of art display. Distinctly formal.

Blending these making techniques & modes of display in this way adds dimensions to the exhibition suggesting the complex workings of family life. Bringing into question the switches we all make between home & elsewhere.

This little work perhaps encapsulating all of the dualities in the artist thinking with two forms tightly bound together in soft fabric. Here in this one little work there is a separation of the whole presentation. This work could be the thesis to the whole show. The fabric is not embedded in the cast like the other works. Also the two bound forms are separate pieces, brought together. All the elements are separate & from this we can see everything else that has happened in the work.

The range of work exhibited was impressive to see.

Sculpture, Painting, Print, Textile making, Photograpy, Curation, Casting, Possibly welding? With everything centring on a few motifs of Colour, Form & Material.

It was exciting to visit 2 new spaces & the overall show was slick & well presented. At close the space was filled with light & well laid out with a variety of experiences. The close up detail of the work was rewarding to discover.

Brewhouse had a different feel as the space felt more geared to theatre. The space was lit with internal spot lights rather than day light which helped play into the dramatic hanging & scale of the work shown there. To see both spaces the viewer must embark on a short journey which helped highlight the artist own journey to the different pill boxes across Somerset to make the work.

This exhibition ran from 24 September - 20 November 2022 at Close Ltd & Taunton Brewhouse, Somerset. I didn’t get a list of work names so the images are labelled with descriptions. Thank you to Sarah Watney for arranging the visit & providing a tour of the work with detailed descriptions & artist processes.