Meet The Artist: Rebecca Tucker
Fri 3/Mar/23
Meet The Artist: Rebecca Tucker
Sutton Council's Cultural Services have partnered with Carshalton Artists to deliver 'Water', an exhibition of new and inspiring water-themed artworks by local artists. An exciting collection of work will be displayed including painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, model making, ceramics and photography.
In this blog, we talk to Rebecca Tucker, who is part of Carshalton Artists about who she is and what inspired her exhibition piece.
Visit the Water Exhibition at Honeywood Museum. Thursday to Saturday, 10am - 5pm, until 23 July 2022.
Carshalton Artists, Water Exhibition at Honeywood Museum
Introduce yourself, tell us about yourself?
My name is Rebecca Tucker, I am a Lancashire born/London based painter, with a BA in Fine Art from Reading University way back in 1996. I live and work in Carshalton and share my time between running a successful 20 year old interior design studio with my business partner and working hard to establish my painting practice. My work is predominantly abstract landscapes, but the degree of abstraction is constantly changing from painting to painting. So I describe it as working on the spectrum between abstraction and representation! I love the idea of suggesting something 'recogniseable' to a viewer and then essentially thwarting that perception by drawing them in to see the beauty of paint on a surface, to see the abstract marks. I work primarily with water-based materials which allows the use of water itself as part of the process, I enjoy painting layers and then fully or partially washing them away, taking advantage of the ‘happy accidents’ that occur, which brings an element of experimentation and the 'unknown' into every painting.
What was their inspiration for your piece?
'Night Swimming' is a piece from my longstanding 'horizon' series. I play with the idea that as soon as you put a horizontal line across a painting then there is an automatic connotation of a 'landscape'. I will then push and pull against that with the paint, using the colour and texture and tone and the marks I make to reinforce the idea of a landscape whilst also at the same time bringing the viewer back to the sheer joy of paint on a surface. Essentially I take the subject and push it towards abstraction to a greater or lesser degree whilst still keeping those links with the initial landscape. 'Night Swimming' is an atmospheric, moody piece that will hopefully transport the viewer to a time and a place in their minds, associated with water and that very particular evening light associated with warm, late summer evenings.
Tell us about being a part of Carshalton Artists?
Carshalton Artists is a fantastic community of diverse artists, brought together with the common goal of working with and alongside other local artists. It is a support network, an ideas generator, a group that helps us find our way doing something that can feel quite lonely without other like-minded people around us. I paint in my studio in my garden, on my own, a necessarily solitary pursuit for me. But when it comes to getting my work out there and pushing forward with this 'business' of art then the support of a group like Carshalton Artists is essential.
What do you enjoy about displaying your work at Honeywood Museum?
Honeywood Museum holds a very special place in the hearts of all Carshalton residents. How the history of the place seeps into you when you walk round, the focal point it gives to Carshalton and the variety of events and exhibitions that takes place there. A true hub of the local arts scene, and beautifully located with it's view across the ponds. Idyllic! To have my work in exhibitions there is a privilege indeed!
Find out more about Honeywood Museum and about other exhibitions and events taking place at Honeywood Museum, Whitehall Historic House and also in Sutton's Libraries.