Helen Elizabeth Kuumbi |Artist| Cornwall
Walking with the stones
Walking with Stones’ is a visual art project exploring and interrogating our modern day relationship with the ancient sites of Dartmoor and Cornwall. Through walking, painting and drawing, I explore the interaction between monuments, landscape, and people.
Emerging themes:
-
The relationship between human-built and natural features, whether this conceptual division can change, and the material qualities of the built and natural elements.
-
How our experience of ancient monuments can foster feelings of connectivity with the past; seeing the people that built them.
-
Differing notions about the sanctity and sacredness of ancient monuments, and how they are used to explore our individual beliefs
-
The connectivity and change in the landscape across time
Gallery
I am working on a collection of paintings of the ancient stone monuments of Cornwall and Dartmoor. Painting can be both a meditative and profound experience. I become immersed between flow of lines, tracing surface textures and transitions of colour. The process evokes deep emotions, stirs memories, and provokes thoughtful enquiry into the subjects that are at the core of people’s belief systems.
The stones
I like to explore sites at different times of day, and different weather. I sketch in the field, and make personal observations. I follow this up with research. I am building a record of the sites with links to further information if you wish to explore them yourself. This will be updated as the project continues.
Studio Practice
Since November 2024 I have documented my process through journaling and progression photos of paintings as they develop.