GAIL
THEIS
The Crypt Gallery exhibition planning began in May when we all chose what part of the exercise that we would like to be involved in. I chose to be part of the research team.
As the show was to be open in November around Halloween and Guy Fawkes night, the Crypt's setting was ideal. The eerie time of year, and the Crypt itself, inspired us to seek a suitable name for our show which would encapsulate this. Following the theme of walls, enclosures, trapped, buried and such ilk, a dictionary and a Thesaurus came in very handy. I alighted on the word "Immurement". When we had our disclosure meeting, we had all come up with several possibilities. Immurement was the word chosen.
Immurement - The Crypt Gallery, St. Pancras New Church.
The Pied Piper
The Crypt is an unusual venue for an exhibition. My work, entitled The Pied Piper ,references the poem 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin' by Robert Browning, where children were led away into a cave by an entrancing and colourful music maker. Upon entering, the entrance wall closed behind them, trapping them all inside. I was looking at the way children in particular seem to be absorbed by their electronic games and no longer appear to crave being outside of the house.
Mindful of the texture, colour and darkness of the Crypt walls, I sought to emulate this in my painting. The lighting and curation all worked to add to the sense of the chilly, haunting quality I was aiming for.
