Ann Symes runs the ultra-elegant Gallery 57 in Arundel, showcasing the work of artists and craftspeople in regular themed exhibitions, while working on her own creative practice, straddling many mediums, latterly weaving. Alison Crowther is a highly successful wood carver and sculptor, with international clients. They have got together to present an intriguing show at Gallery 57 this summer, titled 60/80: Milestones for Two Artists. ROSA caught up with the two friends and colleagues at Alison’s beautiful purpose-built two-storey studio on the Sussex/Surrey border.
Alison Crowther: I’ll never forget our first meeting, maybe five years ago. You were exhibiting a friend of mine, Kate Henderson, and you’d sold her work, and she had to bring another to put in its place, and she said ‘do you want to come along?’ I was looking for a local gallery, so I did. And I was so impressed! We had a long chat, and I decided it was the right place for me.
Ann Symes: That conversation led to a studio visit which had such a big impact on me. You were working on a large sphere in which I could see all the elements: the wood itself; the metal of the tools you were using; the water flowing through the wood grain; the air around it; the sphere as the earth, and there were scorched pieces suggesting fire. It gave me an idea for a whole year’s programme of exhibitions: air and water; earth and fire; wood and metal. You featured in the wood and metal show, which coincided with the second lockdown. It also inspired a whole body of my own work, on wooden panels.
AC: What I immediately liked about Gallery 57 was how you had kept gentle nods to it being a domestic space, but had very beautifully minimalized things in there. So it was like a gallery space without the austere, blank white walls of a contemporary gallery. I thought ‘this is somebody who is curating an exhibition, not just putting pieces of work into a space.’ AS: I think what makes a difference is I choose work with an artist’s eye, not a commercial gallery owner’s eye. When I work on an exhibition, I don’t think ‘will that sell?’ It’s important that all the selected work creates a cohesive exhibition and it’s a bonus if it also sells. But I am in a fortunate position, because it’s my house so I don’t have to compromise to cover rent every month.
AC: The idea for our next exhibition together also came from a conversation in your gallery…
AS: You came to the gallery several years ago and said you wanted to make 60 sculptures for your 60th birthday because you’d made 50 for your 50th, and could you have an exhibition? And I said, what year will that be? And you said, 2025. Oh, my God, I said, that’ll be my 80th! It seemed like such a fantastic coincidence.
AC: That was years ago now. It seems like I was being fantastically organised! I don’t know what happened. Suddenly it was 2025, and I had to start working harder than I have for years to create those 60 pieces. Every weekend, from the New Year, I was coming into my studio: I haven’t done that for a long time.
AS: I did think originally that I would make something to accompany your work, but I didn’t think I would be making very much, because I’d developed rheumatoid arthritis. Then at the end of 2023, I had the opportunity to start learning to weave. It just felt very natural to me, everything about it seemed just right. Your jeweller friend, Lucy Anderson, came into the gallery one day and we were talking about your 60th birthday exhibition, and I said, ‘what can I put on the walls?’ She said ‘you could make 80 weavings!’ Then we came up with the title 60/80. And it’s really interested people.
AC: It’s been a real learning curve for me. The point of it was to push my practice on to challenge myself and not just do same old, same old that I’ve been doing for decades. I learnt a lot… That it’s good to put yourself outside your comfort zone, and it’s good to feel uncomfortable about starting something, and it’s good to make a mistake.
AS: I basically taught myself to weave throughout the whole process. When I needed help, I called on master weavers, Caron Penney and Katharine Swailes. My interest was in what the different materials did, how they felt to work with, the surfaces and textures they created. Some are soft and pliable. Some are unyielding, like trying to coax a stubborn child. I’ve used silk, linen, cotton, wool, plant fibres like nettle and paper. In fact I’ve used various papers, including silk-covered Japanese papers, which are beautiful to handle. Sometimes I painted the paper first, or polished it with graphite to put something of me into it. I didn’t experiment quite as much as I wanted to because of the number of pieces I had to complete!
AC: My materials have been much more limited, as usual in my practice. Most of what I’ve used are actually offcuts from the larger projects that I do for commissions, mostly using English oak salvaged from nearby. But I’ve also used salvaged apple and wood from a dying walnut tree from [her assistant] Kate’s mum’s garden. There’s also a piece of wood that I kept for decades, left over from a commission that I did right at the start of my career for Winchester Cathedral. I just kept this plank and it air-dried over the years. So it’s really quite hard, quite different to the unseasoned wood.
AS: The difficulty we’ve both had is producing all this work while also doing our day-to-day work, me running the gallery and you making commissions for international clients. I set up a loom in the studio behind the gallery, so I could weave when there were no customers. More recently, I’ve set up a weaving room upstairs, where I can’t be interrupted.
AC: It’s so important to have time without interruptions. I cherish the two days a week when my assistants aren’t here, so I can really concentrate on my work.
AS: The difference between art and craft? That’s one of my favourite subjects. For many people painting and sculpture are worth more than craft-based works, but there are mediocre paintings and sublime pieces of craft. Both capable of superb results: fine art, and fine craft.
AC: My work straddles sculpture, art, furniture making and wood carving, and if somebody asked me a few years ago: ‘what do you class yourself as?’ I think I would have said ‘a sculptor’. Craft is a wonderful thing, and I am a craftswoman, too, with all the positive aspects that that word brings. But at the end of the day, if you take the materials away, and take all the tools away, what am I? I’m an artist, because I have a unique way of approaching what’s in front of me, born of a unique way of seeing the world.
Images courtesy of Gallery57.
60/80: Milestones for Two Artists runs at Gallery 57 from May 31 – July 19. Find out more at gallery57.co.uk