Liz West featured in FRAME

I was delighted to be able to meet up with artist Liz West while she was in Newcastle. Liz recently invited me to contribute to 'Our Colour Wheel', a new work in a three-person alumni exhibition at Leeds College of Art's Vernon Street Gallery, part of the College's 170's Birthday celebrations. The exhibition opens tomorrow night, Wednesday 14th December 2016 and runs until 27 January 2017. Liz was able to show me a sneak preview of the works that will be in the exhibition, and I will share some of these once the exhibition has opened.

Liz was also excited to show me the latest edition of FRAME magazine. "Frame is the go-to reference for designers and interior architects." Since its inception, the magazine has identified the world’s most innovative interiors, and the December 2016 publication features an article about Liz West and her installation Our Colour Perception.



"Liz West creates vivid environments that mix luminous colour and radiant light. Working across a variety of mediums, West aims to provoke a heightened sensory awareness in the viewer through her works. She is interested in exploring how sensory phenomena can invoke psychological and physical responses that tap into our own deeply entrenched relationships to colour.


West's investigation into the relationship between colour and light is often realised through an engagement between materiality and a given site. Within physical and architectural space, West uses light as a material that radiates outside of its boundaries and containers. She playfully refracts light through using translucent, transparent or reflective materials, directing the flow of artificial and natural light. Our understanding of colour can only be realised through the presence of light. By playing and adjusting colour, West brings out the intensity and composition of her spatial arrangements."

Our Colour Wheel

In October I received an invite to contribute to Our Colour Wheel, an ongoing project by artist Liz West which will be exhibited as part of a three person exhibition at Leeds College of Art. "Throughout 2016 Leeds College of Art has been celebrating 170 years of art education in Leeds. In recognition of the history of the College and the achievements of alumni, the Vernon Street Gallery in the College’s historic 1903 building is hosting a series of group exhibitions celebrating the diverse and ground breaking careers of past students and staff."

Colour Wheel, the forthcoming exhibition in the programme, features Georgina Starr, Liz West and Georgia Lucas-Going, a triptych of female contemporary artists who all studied at Leeds College of Art.

West is interested in human visual perception, particularly colour perception and how we all see and experience colour differently. For this exhibition she is asking Leeds College of Art alumni and staff to paint her their own interpretation of a traditional colour wheel (a pedagogical tool which has been at the foundation of her practice). Her aim is to illustrate our different perceptions of colour, how it is arranged and how we individually see and interpret colour. This series is part of her ongoing research into colour theory, human perception and light. The resulting collection of paintings will be exhibited together as a series in identical frames. After this exhibition West will open out this invitation to others.

The following instructions were given to the participants:

Paint your own interpretation of a traditional colour wheel.
Please use good quality white paper.
Please mix your own colour using only red, blue, yellow, black and white pigment
Use any type of paint or ink you wish
Annotate the painting if you feel suitable
Your colour wheel should fit the constraints of a 29.5cm x 29.5cm piece of white paper
A minimum diameter of 15cm for the colour wheel is necessary
Do not sign the artwork on the front I found the instructions quite limiting, particularly the rule that states that the colour wheel must be painted. I am very interested to see the range of responses that Liz has received.


Colour Wheel will open on Wednesday 14 December 5-7pm, and takes place at Vernon Street Gallery, Leeds College of Art.

The exhibition is open 15 December - 27 January 2017

For more information visit
http://www.leeds-art.ac.uk/news-events/events-exhibitions/2016/12/15/alumni-exhibition-colour-wheel/

http://www.liz-west.com/