Double Act: 1 Feb – 28 March 2008

Artists' Statement: Angeline Ferguson/Steven Reilly

‘In Wonderland'

1: an imaginary place of delicate beauty or magical charm

2: a place that excites admiration or wonder 'a scenic wonderland'

When we first started working together we created different repeating patterns digitally using imagery from Steven's paintings. Working on the patterns was a great way to connect and share ideas, and learn about each other's work processes. Steven showed me some of his paintings which I photographed individual elements in close up and we used these in our printed patterns. One of Steven's paintings was of a scene in a circus, with smiling characters in dotty outfits performing in the beam of spotlights; this was the painting that inspired the theme for our collaboration. Steven brought in a stack of circus programmes which went right back to the 70's - all from shows he'd seen - clearly demonstrating his passion for circus performance. We used these programmes to draw images from and make new patterns.

We created textures and marks using different materials such as sprinkling fabric dyes on wet paper, and splashes of ink, and photographed its changing state.

The way I work is to break everything down into parts and reconstruct it digitally; I photograph and scan interesting textures to be used as backgrounds or fill surfaces. The textures we created went on to form elements within the animation.

We went to ‘Radiance 07 Festival of Light' in Glasgow and saw video projections and light installations. This was a turning point in terms of the direction we were taking our piece. We both really liked the way light and colour worked when seen in the darkness. This magical quality of coloured light made us want to create work also seen in a dark space. We thought about creating a large scale projection for the outside of the building but this was not practical. Our focus shifted from printed patterns to projected animation.

I started to animate Steven's characters in pattern formations set against the textured backdrops and recreated the scene from his painting in 3D with spotlights and crowds. Steven continued to draw and paint additional characters and we experimented with different materials such as inks, paints, pearl acrylics and glue glitter to give the characters a real textural quality. Steven looked up circus performers and showgirls on the internet and he used these as reference for drawing from, and I used them as a reference for movement.

We went to see an aerial performance in Edinburgh and the Chinese State Circus in Glasgow which inspired scenes for our animation and helped me to understand body movement and timing for the animation. We also visited the Timorous Beasties workshop to see wallpaper being hand printed.

The final piece we have created for this exhibition has a happy, upbeat, playful energy which reflects the experience of working together.

Angeline Ferguson, 2008

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Extracts from a conversation between Angeline and Steven:

“Expectations of the project? Didn't know what it was at first.”

“Learning new things - materials, inks, techniques…”

“Many tangents but stuck with a theme inspired by Steven's circus painting.”

“The best bit - seeing all the pictures moving."

"When we first started we didn't know what it was we were going to do, it could have been anything."

“We both share similar fascination, inspiration of live performance.”

“The magic and excitement of live performance.”

“Drawn to pattern, repetition in shape form and motion.”