MICHAEL LLOYD THE BEAUTY OF RAIN
&
OTHER CHERISHED OBSERVATIONS
MICHAEL LLOYD THE BEAUTY OF RAIN
&
OTHER CHERISHED OBSERVATIONS 4 August – 3 September 2016 www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/michaellloyd
Cover: Buttercup Meadow Beaker (detail), 2016, hand raised and chased Britannia silver with gilt interior, H10.2 x D8.5 cms Left: Large Thorn Bowl (detail), 2014, hand raised and chased Britannia silver with gilt interior, H7.3 x D14.5 cms
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Michael Lloyd working on the Water Lily Bowl, September 2015
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FOREWORD The Scottish Gallery is delighted to present Michael Lloyd’s The Beauty of Rain and Other Cherished Observations. We have waited six years for this exhibition and what Michael has achieved is twelve unique masterpieces; skilfully crafted and carefully considered works inspired by the natural setting of his home in Dumfries & Galloway, where he lives and works with his artist wife Mary. Michael Lloyd's is a life dedicated to the fine art of silversmithing. To create this body of work, a queue of commissions was gently placed to one side so that he could focus all his imagination exploring new ideas. There is subtle abstraction, flora and fauna translated into repeating pattern and a celebration and love of nature are present in every piece. The Gallery is very grateful to Michael for creating this special collection and for also giving us further insight in the essay which follows. CHRISTINA JANSEN, 2016
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THE BEAUTY OF RAIN &
OTHER CHERISHED OBSERVATIONS “I live in a very beautiful part of Galloway and my workshop is unashamedly rural. This sense of place greatly influences what I wish to express; bestowing upon me a way of living and observation that develops a higher consciousness of the primeval sensuality of nature. I am not a man of words but I share the common desire to communicate that which engages and inspires me. This collection of vessels are simply my songs of praise of my immediate surroundings; my act of thanksgiving. It would not be unreasonable to view this pastoral livelihood through rose coloured glasses but the nature of creativity demands a high degree of self-criticism, which combined with the search to justify what can appear to many as a self-obsessive and self-indulgent living, brings its own challenges. The vessels exhibited are hard won statements, each the product of hammer blows counted in the tens of thousands whilst the marriage of idea, imagery, form and expression calls for some form of alchemy beyond craft and honest labour; to bring each piece to life. In developing the ideas behind The Beauty of Rain, I have found myself confronting the schism between the urban and rural aesthetic language. If art is, as sometimes claimed, a necessity, I would claim some justification that in the hammer blows of creating these vessels a voice may be heard that is proclaiming there is something too beautiful in rainfall; in its springs, rills and burns to be hidden in the urban landscape, flushed away down the guttering, roans and drains; its banished beauty leaving us poorer. It is not the definition of beauty and art that is important, it is our ability to recognise it, to let it enrich our lives in the many guises it presents itself; the beauty of idea, of music and speech, of humanity, the beauty of nature, it is a physical, intellectual and sensual gift granted to all, each with our different appetites to devour. These are my cherished observations, I hope you enjoy them.� MICHAEL LLOYD, 2016
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Michael Lloyd in his garden, Dumfries & Galloway, May 2016
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Corn Bowl in Michael Lloyd’s studio, 2016
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Corn Bowl, 2003, hand raised and chased 22ct gold, H6 x D9.5 cms
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Michael Lloyd’s sketchbook drawing for Two Birds, 2015
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Two Birds, 2015 hand raised and chased silver with gilt interior, H9 x D7.7 cms
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Large Thorn Bowl, 2014 hand raised and chased Britannia silver with gilt interior, H7.3 x D14.5 cms
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Michael Lloyd’s sketchbook drawing for Small Fern Cup, 2016
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Small Fern Cup (Common Polypody Fern), 2016 hand raised and chased Britannia silver with gilt interior, H6.2 x D7 cms
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Water Lily Beaker, 2016 hand raised and chased Britannia silver with gilt interior, H10 x D8.5 cms
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Water Lily Bowl, 2016 hand raised and chased Britannia silver with gilt interior, H9 x D13 cms
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Michael Lloyd’s sketchbook drawing for Buttercup Meadow Beaker, 2016
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Buttercup Meadow Beaker, 2016 hand raised and chased Britannia silver with gilt interior, H10.2 x D8.5 cms
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Tangle Cup, 2016 hand raised and chased Britannia silver with gilt interior, H6.7 x D7 cms
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Tangle of Briar, 2016 hand raised and chased Britannia silver, H7 x D9.6 cms
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“You ask which is my favourite piece? That always has to be the piece you are about to make, full of hopeful expectations, before the blemishes of reality expose themselves in the finished work!” MICHAEL LLOYD The Silversmith’s Art, National Museums Scotland, 2015-16
Old Thorn, 2012 hand raised and chased Britannia silver with gilt interior, H8 x D10.7 cms
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Small Chased Beaker, 2012 hand raised and chased Britannia silver with gilt interior, H6 x D6.8 cms
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The Beauty of Rain I, 2016 hand raised and chased Britannia silver with gilt interior, H13.5 x D14.5 cms
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Waterfall, Dumfries and Galloway, 2016
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“Silver, the Queen of metals, is wonderfully malleable and to work it I use two techniques, both developed in the ancient world but still very relevant to the studio silversmith for they allow a very direct and intimate approach that would be lost with the intervention of a machine. The first is hand raising where we create our form entirely by hand, hammer, stake, fire, our disc of silver and most importantly the primeval desire to take an inanimate material and bring it to life. There are two points of importance here: that the metal stays in our hand during the whole process of making (with the exception of the annealing process) and that our mind stays engaged with the form as it journeys from flat sheet to the form our mind is searching for. The second, chasing, is a method of coaxing a shallow relief onto a form, not by carving or engraving, but using the malleability of the metal to allow it to be pushed into the required detail. The first stage in this process is to paint the relevant form with gauche creating a three dimensional canvas to translate all the two dimensional studies and developments into our three dimensional imagery. A line is then scribed through the drawing and gauche into the metal after which all the gauche and pencil has to be thoroughly cleaned. The form is then filled with molten pitch which when cooled and set provides firm support to the silver, allowing the chasing tools to work the detail of the surface; creating the imagery of the design. Both processes are very labour intensive and require intense commitment.� MICHAEL LLOYD The Silversmith’s Art, National Museums Scotland, 2015-16
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Michael Lloyd in his studio near Castle Douglas, 2014
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MICHAEL LLOYD BORN Salisbury, 1950 TRAINED Birmingham School of Silversmithing Royal College of Art, London PUBLIC COLLECTIONS National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh The National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museum Victoria & Albert Museum, London The Goldsmith’s Company, London Ashmolean Museum, Oxford Crafts Council Collection, London Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Shipley Art Gallery, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Lincolnshire Museums SELECTED COMMISSIONS Processional Cross, The Church of St Francis, Sheffield Offertory Salver, Lichfield Cathedral Two Flower Bowls, The Silver Trust for No. 10 Downing Street, London Chalices, Carlisle Cathedral The Sir Joseph Larmor Plate, St John’s College, Cambridge King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes Trophy, De Beers, London Mace, HM The Queen for the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh Water Jugs, The Incorporation of Goldsmiths, Edinburgh (on loan to Bute House, Edinburgh) Four Chalices, York Minster Processional Cross, St Albans, Romford Chalice, Corpus Christie, Cambridge Michael Lloyd is a Fellow of the Arts Foundation and Freeman of the Goldsmiths’ Company.
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Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition MICHAEL LLOYD THE BEAUTY OF RAIN & OTHER CHERISHED OBSERVATIONS 4 August – 3 September 2016 Exhibition can be viewed online at www.scottish-gallery.co.uk/michaellloyd Michael Lloyd would like to thank Steve Wood, Fine Gilder, for the sensitive treatment of his work over the years. Thank you also to Charles Munro, Master Marker, Edinburgh Assay Office, whose careful hallmarking adds the final stamp. ISBN: 978-1-910267-42-4 Designed by Kenneth Gray Printed by J Thomson Colour Printers All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders and of the publishers.
16 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6HZ Telephone 0131 558 1200 Email mail@scottish-gallery.co.uk www.scottish-gallery.co.uk Right: Two Birds (detail), 2015, hand raised and chased silver with gilt interior, H9 x D7.7 cms