Friday 2 March 2018

From Chorlton to City ...... a major new exhibition from the artist Liz Ackerley

Now I am looking forward to the exhibition by artist Liz Ackerley at The World Peace Café, The Buddhist Centre, on Edge Lane, later in the year.

I first came across Liz’s work very recently.  I had been talking to a friend who showed me some of Ms Ackerley’s work which fascinated me.

And then by pure chance I discovered her forthcoming exhibition which will be staged in the former art school of the artist Tom Mostyn.

We exchanged emails and the rest as they say is a story for the blog with more promised.
Liz told me “I initially trained as a research scientist, obtaining a first degree in Biochemistry at Imperial College London and a Ph.D. in Microbiology at Cambridge University.  

I subsequently held several research posts before retraining in the arts as a garden designer and landscape architect.  

During the last 5 years I have turned my attention to reportage illustration (visual storytelling), urban sketching and most recently, mixed media work.  

It is my backgrounds in science and design that drive my work towards a close attention to detail, an interest in the big picture and a fascination about composition and layout.  Furthermore, they enable me to be an inquisitive questioner and this is helpful in my storytelling approaches.    

My current illustrational work focuses on capturing a sense of place and occasion and these interests underpin my illustrational works.   I am particularly fascinated by urban and rural street life and the diversity of activities and events that happen.  Therefore, I focus on capturing these in my work.  My interest in documentary drawing has resulted in a range of commissions for both private and commercial clients.   

My sketch work is captured mainly on site, observing and drawing in real time, as things happen.  Portability and a need to work quickly focus my medium to pen, ink and watercolour paint and paper.  

Some recent commissions include the Manchester Histories Festival 2016, a biannual Greater Manchester event, #CitiesOfHope2016 a world-first Street Art Convention in Manchester, Local Correspondent for the 7th International Symposium of Urban Sketchers 2016 Manchester, The Kings Street Festival  2017 and several weddings.  I also run workshops related to aspects of sketching and reportage illustration.

Most recently, having acquired a small studio at Woodend Mill, in Mossley, Ashton-Under-Lyne, I have started to develop some mixed media pieces.  I use sketches developed on site as my start point.   

The collage work enables me to develop an element of abstraction in my work as well as keeping with my interest in Sense of Place.  Collage/mixed media also allows me to explore texture as well as colour and composition.  

My background in landscape design is a big driver for this fascination with materiality.

My forthcoming exhibition: From Chorlton to the City will feature both my sketch work and some collage work.  The exhibition will be held at The World Peace Café, The Buddhist Centre, on Edge Lane in Chorlton. There will be more information about the exhibition in a subsequent blog.

Here’s a link to a recent article about my studio space at Woodend Mill:"
 http://www.northernsoul.me.uk/my-space-liz-ackerley-reportage-illustrator/


Here’s a link to my website:
www.lizsscribbles.com
Iinks to my social media:
https://twitter.com/lizsscribbles

Pictures; courtesy of Liz Ackerley


2 comments:

  1. Love Liz's work. Excited for the exhibition

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    Replies
    1. Just dust down the trireme Herodotus, sail down the Mersey and take the chariot to Edge Lane

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