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BY BILLY SUTER
AN EXHIBITION with emphasis on floral art by Durban’s Heidi Shedlock, titled Serendipity, is to be seen at artSPACE Durban, 3 Millar Road, off Umgeni Road, until November 2.
Heidi has been involved in education but now paints full-time from her studio in Durban North. She intentionally seeks to nestle her arrangements safely within nurturing circular and oval formats.
Says a gallery spokesman: “She believes ‘serendipity’ is as much about ‘consciousness’ as it is about valuable fortuitous discovery: It’s about keeping your eyes open and appreciating a fleeting moment that would normally be lost… finding something when looking for something else. This antithesis can be the result of an observant mind…”
This, the spokesman adds, explains Heidi’s aesthetic, soulful connection to all things floral. Flowers in her work are not mere representations, but a vehicle by which she explores colour, form, texture and pattern that collide in a ‘serendipitous’ experience.
Heidi refers to “beauty” without apology and acknowledges the current international trends to revive floral tradition and history. Aware that her roses may be judged as “safe” or “decorative”, she subtly underpins her compositions without the support of the vase in an attempt to remove the focus from mere representation or decoration.
She repurposes found objects with dormant historical essence, reconnecting them with meaning and embellishing them with serendipitous marks of paint, colour and texture. She finds the story and the paradox.
“A catalyst of blended blossoms offers a lingering dose of nostalgia when first encountering Heidi Shedlock’s paintings,” says the spokesman,
“Then comes the transforming ‘serendipitous’ moment when portholes of intensely layered blossoms are captured in circular motion through layered forms, and a choreography of expressive mark-making that creates an aesthetic sensibility that is not only seen, but felt and experienced.”
Note that the gallery is open from 10am to 4pm Mondays to Fridays, 10am to 1pm on Saturdays, and is closed on Sundays. The phone number is (031) 3120793.
.....SoSuterBill..... 