Dilapidated Barns at Hangers Wood
By Peg Morris
Etching
Limited edition print - edition of 30
Framed and unframed versions available
Image size: H: 25cm x W: 88cm
Framed size: H: 45cm x W: 110cm
Framed price - £850
This clever three-plate etching is based on a typically detailed drawing, on location, by Peg. She lived in London for many years before moving to the Surrey hills in 2021 - and this wild woodland is near her Surrey home.
Peg revels in the patterns and lay-out of the scene, the dilapidated corrugated metal, twisted and broken structures of the buildings and the lattice work of branches, wire mesh and debris, set off against a plain, stark sky.
The barns are a human construction, or intervention, forgotten and disused, now being reclaimed by gnarled natural forms which grow in and around it.
This artist is so often drawn to the fascinating beauty of the overgrown and the decaying, revelling in the surfaces and details. In recent years she has found suitable scenes as far afield as Italy and, like this one, right on her doorstep.
She is also brave in her wide-angle view - made possible by the three etching plates - which allows the eye to travel across the scene and pick up the repeated rhythms and patterns of the myriad of abandoned parts.
ABOUT PEG MORRIS
Weather, decay, abandonment, rust, erosion and the effect of changing light conditions; all processes of transformation of the landscape, objects or buildings, inside and out. These effects of ageing and time passing provide a starting point for Peg's work which is rooted in drawing and observation. The process of etching lends itself to representing these themes as the plate is itself eroded by the acid, scraped and polished, scratched and sometimes cut into fragments.
Based on detailed observation, Peg draws, paints, makes etchings, collagraphs, lithographs and artist’s books. The subject matter dictates how the final piece will be made. This may change and evolve as Peg works or she may use more than one process in the finished piece.
Peg works at Kew Print Studio and teaches etching. She has recently had work exhibited at Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair (2020/2021) and at the Mall Galleries (2021). Her work is held in the V&A archive and the Printmakers Council Archive, as well as in private collections across the UK and abroad.