Art I like - Shelagh Wakely

"An influential British artist" is how Camden Arts Centre describes Shelagh Wakely. And she has done many public commissions, including designs for buildings in Knightsbridge. Yet her name, her work, was unknown to us.

What a treat to discover it! She worked in many media - glass, gilding, thread, wire, unfired clay, plaster, ink on cloth, video ... and drawing, many working drawings for the interesting objects and grand ideas.

Working drawings, and a display of unfired clay objects

Ink on unprimed canvas

Gilded fruit and "ghosts" of cherries

Silk jackets in which fruit was left to dry

Gilded fabric on floor, freshly gilded fruit on trolley (a melon has exploded)

I bought the book and look forward to reading it ... and returning to the exhibition. Too much to take in all at once.

"Art is about adventure, not about making objects to decorate museums," she said. Nor are her objects to be found in museums - everything was packed up in a shipping container, and it was the task of the gallery team to unpack the container and arrange the fragile objects. And to remake the "turmeric floor" -

Curcuma sul travertino, Rome, 1991 (via)