ARCHIVE SELECTION
“From the dusty, disregarded corners of life a new world of beauty has unfolded. It is a world that everyone knew, but a world that no one knew. It is my task to speak of this world of miscellaneous beauty, to see what we can learn from it.”
MYTHOLITHOS COLLAGES
2019
A series of twenty-one small collages assembled from elements of a found book.
The title Mytholithos alludes to themes of myth, construction, stone material, and printing processes (i.e: lithographic). A chance discovery, Ross’s book was found at a Library sale of withdrawn stock. Noticing distinctive ‘heads’ over various pages prompted personal curiosity and daydreams of totem pole-like vertical monuments with faces atop.The back of each delicate collage bears traces of the original text. Further reading reveals Dr Anne Ross’s link to what became known as the Hexham Heads – curious, concrete-like artefacts unearthed in the North of England.
Materials: cut-up book papers and glue. All images copyright Corinne Noble 2019/2020.
SPRING GUARDIANS OF MYTHOLITHOS
2019 / 2020
A series of interchangeable, drawn panels depicting mythical statues.
The apparently ancient, stone-like subjects in these drawings originated in the ‘Mytholithos’ series of collages assembled from cuttings from a book by Dr Anne Ross ‘Pagan Celtic Britain’ (illustrations by R.W. Feachem, Archaeology Officer, Ordnance Survey). Each ‘guardian’ is a composite of parts - a mythical monument protecting a papery realm.
Materials: drawing pen, coloured pencil and cotton threads on parchment paper, with ribbon and wooden dowel. All images copyright Corinne Noble 2019/2020.
TRACING FROM SAYER STREET (FOR ELEPHANT MEMORY)
2017 / 2018
A series of drawings inspired by a photograph in the archives of the I.W.M. In collaboration with Simon King (see Walks: Elephant Memory).
At the centre of each of four parchment sheets sits the tracing of a wartime photograph - a breakfast scene in the ruins of a bombed-out school on Sayer Street, London, SE1. Employing an ad-hoc process of folding / retracing, a new design emerges around the plot of the foundation. Here and there, colours echo the shading of another set of archival plans - London County Council bomb damage maps, 1939-1944. The drawings drop from dowel and ribbon not unlike instructional diagrams or educational charts. They are studies of a suspended moment in time on Sayer Street, and what further lines of enquiry might arise from its investigation.
Materials: drawing pen, gouache and cotton threads on parchment paper, with ribbon and wooden dowel. All images copyright Corinne Noble 2018.
FFOLS UK
2015 / 2016
A series of collages and folding drawings sampling scenes from a pictorial, historical guide to Suffolk… with a dash of Scotland woven in.
Materials: printed papers and plain papers with drawing pen and adhesive. All images copyright Corinne Noble 2016.
TEMPORARY POSTS
Ongoing series, 2011 - present.
A series of silhouette-like collages made from acetate pieces.
Lightweight objects composed with shapes traced from various architectural photographs by artists Bernd and Hilla Becher.
Materials: glass paint and marker pen on acetate with adhesive tape. Dimensions variable - average 15 cm x 20 cm. All colour images copyright Corinne Noble 2018-2022. Black and white images copyright C.Kelly 2022.
FURTHER BACK…
PLAYHOUSES
UNFOLDING BUILDING
REHOUSING
CHIMNEY PIECES
WASTEFLOWERS
