Donna Walker makes aMEND

By Hackney Citizen | Wednesday 31 August 2011 at 16:00

aMEND features furniture and lighting by Donna Walker

The exhibition aMEND – a new collection by artist and designer Donna Walker – will open on Thursday 1st September at The Residence in Victoria Park Village.

Also due to feature in the Iconic Design Trail 2011, aMEND comes to The Residence after Walker won the People’s Choice Award at The Residence’s Hackney Wood event last year.

The Residence is the current project of critically acclaimed artist and curator Ingrid Z, who also co-founded the Hackney Wicked Festival in 2008. The Hackney Wood Art Prize and Auction marked the fifth anniversary of the gallery’s opening. In the manner of a traditional fifth year wedding anniversary gift, all art entries had to be made out of wood.

Donna Walker’s winning piece Leigh – a boat rudder fashioned into a bench – is very representative of her style and philosophy. Her interest, she explains, is in the “history and memory which is embedded in objects.”

“People control their memories through objects. You make conscious choices about whether to discard or hide objects or to put them out on display. These choices are a reflection of the memories – good and bad – associated with objects.

“With the modern day mass production of affordable furniture, people are too quick to throw things away. What I’ve tried to do is give traditional craftsmanship a new lease of life.”

In this way, her work is both an exploration of subjective memory and also a drive towards sustainability; everything in the exhibition is designed for functional use and is available for sale.

aMEND consists of a selection of furniture, dating back from the 1920s through to the noughties; all of which has been stripped back to reveal the original design and craftsmanship. With frequent use of bold colours, Walker reworks pieces in new and imaginative ways, whilst still trying to retain a sense of each item’s original function and identity.

The entire body of work has been arranged as an installation piece, representing a room in someone’s home. Those entering the space are able to project their own emotional responses onto the pieces and their arrangement. As a converted period house, Walker feels that The Residence offers the perfect setting for an exhibition of this kind.

aMEND
1 September – 2 October
The Residence
229 Victoria Park Road
E9 7HD

8 Comments

JJ on Thursday 1 September 2011 at 11:29

“Those entering the space are able to project their own emotional responses onto the pieces and their arrangement.”

Wow! I think that sentence might well qualify for Private Eye’s Pseuds Corner.

The Great Smell Of Brute on Saturday 3 September 2011 at 21:18

So let me get this straight…this is an ‘art exhibition’ of restored second-hand furniture, right?

NGID on Saturday 10 September 2011 at 17:34

What precisely is your problem Brute.. the fact that she’s (1) using secondary materials or (2) creating things which also have a practical purpose beyond their artistic merit? Neither of these are exactly common features of contemporary art.

The Great Smell Of Brute on Monday 12 September 2011 at 13:19

@NGID: My QUESTION (NOT ‘problem’, to address the pointlessly sneery tone of your remark) is whether or not the exhibits in this exhibition qualify as art at all, by virtue of the fact that each of them has a designated function.

NGID on Friday 16 September 2011 at 14:50

Again- I don’t think that the fact that something has practical function precludes its being a work of art. I don’t see how it could.

There was no ‘sneer’ was intended, I was merely disagreeing with you and inviting you to elaborate on your previous statement.

I think if you’re prepared to throw oblique criticisms out there, you should not be struck out cold with indignation when someone challenges you.

The Great Smell Of Brute on Friday 16 September 2011 at 17:48

@NGID:

“I don’t think that the fact that something has practical function precludes its being a work of art. I don’t see how it could.”

Then you probably haven’t considered the question in enough depth!

I suspect that Oscar Wilde may have disagreed with you, based on his preface to The Picture Of Dorian Gray:

http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2006/09/oscar_wilde_of.html

(‘though admittedly, he was concerned primarily with the criticism of art from a moral standpoint).

“There was no ‘sneer’ was intended, I was merely disagreeing with you and inviting you to elaborate on your previous statement.”

Then perhaps you should take a serious look at the words with which you choose to express yourself – your use of ‘problem’ in this context gave the question (?) a pejorative slant.

Adam on Saturday 17 September 2011 at 09:51

GSoB – sure, it’s art. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t BAD art.

NGID on Saturday 17 September 2011 at 17:12

Yes Oscar Wilde may have disagreed with me if he was still alive. Alternatively he may have opened his mind to the many different artistic movements and theories which have been widely accepted during the 111 years since his death- maybe we’ll never know…

JJ on Thursday 1 September 2011 at 11:29

“Those entering the space are able to project their own emotional responses onto the pieces and their arrangement.”

Wow! I think that sentence might well qualify for Private Eye’s Pseuds Corner.
The Great Smell Of Brute on Saturday 3 September 2011 at 21:18

So let me get this straight…this is an ‘art exhibition’ of restored second-hand furniture, right?
NGID on Saturday 10 September 2011 at 17:34

What precisely is your problem Brute.. the fact that she’s (1) using secondary materials or (2) creating things which also have a practical purpose beyond their artistic merit? Neither of these are exactly common features of contemporary art.
The Great Smell Of Brute on Monday 12 September 2011 at 13:19

@NGID: My QUESTION (NOT ‘problem’, to address the pointlessly sneery tone of your remark) is whether or not the exhibits in this exhibition qualify as art at all, by virtue of the fact that each of them has a designated function.
NGID on Friday 16 September 2011 at 14:50

Again- I don’t think that the fact that something has practical function precludes its being a work of art. I don’t see how it could.

There was no ‘sneer’ was intended, I was merely disagreeing with you and inviting you to elaborate on your previous statement.

I think if you’re prepared to throw oblique criticisms out there, you should not be struck out cold with indignation when someone challenges you.
The Great Smell Of Brute on Friday 16 September 2011 at 17:48

@NGID:

“I don’t think that the fact that something has practical function precludes its being a work of art. I don’t see how it could.”

Then you probably haven’t considered the question in enough depth!

I suspect that Oscar Wilde may have disagreed with you, based on his preface to The Picture Of Dorian Gray:

http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2006/09/oscar_wilde_of.html

(‘though admittedly, he was concerned primarily with the criticism of art from a moral standpoint).

“There was no ‘sneer’ was intended, I was merely disagreeing with you and inviting you to elaborate on your previous statement.”

Then perhaps you should take a serious look at the words with which you choose to express yourself – your use of ‘problem’ in this context gave the question (?) a pejorative slant.
Adam on Saturday 17 September 2011 at 09:51

GSoB – sure, it’s art. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t BAD art.
NGID on Saturday 17 September 2011 at 17:12

Yes Oscar Wilde may have disagreed with me if he was still alive. Alternatively he may have opened his mind to the many different artistic movements and theories which have been widely accepted during the 111 years since his death- maybe we’ll never know…

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