Artist
I’m really pleased to be showing a selection of work from my After JF: Frippary for the Soul series of paintings at Tides Kitchen and Wine Bar in Newport Pembrokeshire alongside Seren Stacey and Sam Vicary.
The work will be in situ throughout the summer.
All works are for sale.
Every ornament should have its perfume
Made in Roath 2018 – 32 Kelvin Road CF23 5ET
20 and 21 October 2018 – Saturday 11am – 5pm and Sunday 21st 12 – 5pm
The Every ornament should have its perfume series of works reflects on the legacy of The Arts and Crafts Movement of the late 19th and early 20th Century. The title is taken from Owen Jones’, The Grammar of Ornament. Making reference to the fabric and wallpaper designs of William Morris and lighting designs of W.A.S. Benson, the works are constructed from low grade printed textiles, cardboard and decorators’ paints.
The use of these everyday materials reflects upon the aspirations and argueably the ultimate failure of the Arts and Crafts movement’s socialist idealism and the belief that political and social change can be wrought through the hand-made production of craft, art and design. With the current resurgance in popularity of the hand-made and the crafted, perhaps as a similar counter-balance to technology and the mass produced, the same questions and challenges arise.
Installed in an Arts and Crafts period home in Kelvin Road, Roath, Cardiff as part of the Made in Roath 2018 festival, the work sits within a kitchen dresser of the period alongside everyday objects selected by the owners of the house.
The work cherishes the desire for change through art and making whilst embracing the inadequacy of that position. It is a small revolutionary act which celebrates the intense labour involved in making by hand and the futility of that gesture in the face of 21st Century consumer capitalism.
I’m so pleased that we are able to show WAS Benson’s original drawings/designs for The Reading Room in Manorbier.
Join us and local historians David Glennerster and Gerald Codd at The Reading Room, Manorbier SA70 7SY Sunday 8 October 2-4pm.
Find out more about this beautiful Arts & Crafts building and see these and more drawings and photographs of the building and locality.
The Reading Room, an ex-village Hall in Manorbier, Pembrokeshire, was built in 1906 by Willian Arthur Smith Benson. Benson was a high-profile lighting designer and a key part of the Arts and Crafts movement, selling his work through (William) Morris & Co in London. Having settled in Manorbier in middle age, he built the Reading Room as a philanthropic gesture to the community.
Kathryn Campbell Dodd’s exhibition reflects on the Arts and Crafts heritage of the building to both celebrate and question the utopian idealism of the movement’s philosophies through a series of new and recent works.
The exhibition title, Every ornament should have its perfume is taken from Owen Jones’ seminal book, The Grammar of Ornament published in 1856 which contributed to reforms in British design and the Arts & Crafts ideals of utility, beauty and fitness for purpose.
Making reference to the textile and wall paper designs of William Morris and the lighting designs of WAS Benson, the new works presented in the beautifully designed and now refurbished Reading Room space are constructed from low grade printed textiles (such as floral duvets covers) and cardboard.
The use of these materials reflects upon the aspirations of the Arts & Crafts movement’s socialist idealism and the belief that political and social change can be wrought through the hand-made or speciatist production of craft, art and design. The desire to challenge capitalism, globalization and the mass production of consumer goods through a return to the handmade, the wholesome and the rustic is a natural and deeply human response – as relevant today as in Morris and Benson’s time. Arguably, the built-in failure of those utopian aspirations however aesthetically and materially seductive is rooted in the problems inherent in taking such goods to market, where disposable income is essential to be able to afford to buy them.
The work on show celebrates and cherishes the desire for change through art and making whilst recognizing and embracing the inadequacy of that position. It acknowledges the intense labour involved in making by hand and, in this instance, the uselessness of the practical product it produces. Low-grade materials and decorator’s paints, beautiful textiles that cannot be used in the home or washed; cardboard from consumer packaging which stands in for the high-quality metals and glass of lighting fixtures.
Morris himself recognized the dilemma and proposed a positive rallying cry for those of us that proceed him “…how men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name.”*
• P20, Introduction, William Morris: Selected Writings and Designs, edited by Asa Briggs, pulished by Penguin Books 1962
The Reading Room, an ex-village hall in Manorbier, Pembrokeshire, was built in 1906 by Willian Arthur Smith Benson. Benson was a high-profile lighting designer and a key part of the Arts and Crafts movement, selling his work through (William) Morris & Co in London. Having settled in Manorbier in middle age, he built the Reading Room as a philanthropic gesture to the community.
Kathryn Campbell Dodd’s forthcoming exhibition reflects on the Arts and Crafts heritage of the building to both celebrate and question the utopian idealism of the movement’s philosophies through a series of new and recent works.
The exhibition title, Every ornament should have its perfume is taken from Owen Jones’ seminal book, The Grammar of Ornament published in 1856 which contributed to reforms in British design and the Arts & Crafts ideals of utility, beauty and fitness for purpose.
The exhibition opens on Thursday 5 October at 7pm, everyone is welcome.
The artist will be at the Reading Room from 11am – 4pm each day. A comfortable reading area will be available to visitors. You are invited to browse books from the artist’s collection (or bring your own); meet and chat about the themes of the show and the history of the building over a cup of tea.
To celebrate this exciting new arts venue for west Wales, artists and craftspeople from Pembrokeshire and west Wales are invited to meet together at the Reading Room during the show to talk about the issues and challenges of living and working in the region – in particular on Saturday 7 October 2 – 4pm.
Local historians David Glennerster and Gerald Codd will be at the Reading Room on Sunday 8 October 2-4pm to share their knowledge of the history of the building, come along to see old photographs and have a chat over a cup of tea and cake – a warm welcome to all.
The Rhôd Artists Group have been commissioned by The Lab to create a series of artworks for the Platform // Llwyfan Art Festival in Haverfordwest 27, 28 and 29 October 2016.
I will be showing work in Haverfordwest Museum and online which looks at retail and shopping in the town past and present.
In Store from Kathryn Campbell Dodd on Vimeo.
Download the brochure here
3 October // Hydref – 18 November // Tachwedd 2016
For my second exhibition at Oriel Blodau Bach, I am making an ongoing artwork that will change and develop over a six week period.
I have selected items from Carmarthenshire County Museum’s collection that were originally sourced from the Pencader area of Carmarthenshire.
Using museum documentation, images and found material I will be presenting responses to the objects and the museum records and processes.
29 September – 17 December 2016
You are invited to the ‘Spoon’ Exhibition’ Private View on Sat 1st October, 2-4pm.
This Christmas selling exhibition will showcase a varied array of beautiful artist made spoons made from a large variety of materials such as wood, ceramic, glass, wire, silver, metal, enamel and even found objects and mixed media.
With spoons by Justine Allison, Kathryn Campbell Dodd, Sharon Adams, Hamish Dobbie, Priscilla Jones, Sue Pryke, Laura Baxter, Emma Wells, Emily Stapleton Jefferis, Sue Brown, Liz Willis, Elaine Bolt, The Silver Duck, Ann Povey (Pictured), Helena Emmans, Hugh Leishman, Ann Nazareth, Katie Almond, Julia Cowie, Louise Wilson, Louise Loder, Emma Louise Wilson, Sarah Malone and Rosie Brewer.
unit twelve, Tixall Heath Farm, ST18 0XX Stafford
Dydd Sadwrn // Saturday 10 September // Medi 2016 – 2pm
Amgueddfa Sir Gaerfyrddin // Carmarthenshire County Museum, Abergwili
Dwi wedi bod yn gweithio mewn cydweithrediad ag Amgueddfa Sir Gaerfyrddin dros yr haf ar brosiect ymchwil a datblygaid a ariennir gan Y Cyngor Celfyddydau Cymru. Dw’i wedi meddwl am y ffyrdd mae artistiad yn gweithio gyda amgueddfeydd a sut i dechrau corff o waith newydd mewn cydweithrediad gyda’r amgueddfa.
Fe’ch gwahoddir yn gynnes ar gyfer te a chacen ac i glywed am ddatblygiad y prosiect. Hoffwn hefyd glywed beth ydych chi’n hoffi am yr amgueddfa a’i chasgliadau.
I’ve been working in collaboration with Carmarthenshire County Museum over the summer on a research and development project funded by The Arts Council of Wales. I’ve been thinking about the ways in which artists work with museums and how to approach a new body of my own work in collaboration with the museum.
You are warmly invited for tea and cake to hear about the progress of the project. I’d also like to hear what you love about the museum and its collections.
Kathryn Campbell Dodd 