In between Christmas and New Year we went down to the Lakes District. One of the days we stopped in at Carlisle and went to Tullie House. I was pleasantly surprised by the art gallery there, expecting a tiny local show and instead was very impressed by their exhibition Out of the Ordinary which is sponsored by the V&A and the Crafts Council. In particular I was inspired by the work of Annie Cattrell and sculptor based in London.

The works in this exhibition were glass, which according to the blurb, she likes to use for its transparency, and for “making the invisible visible, and the ethereal solid”. I understand this – my work also has similar themes, and I have created print based works which are purely white for similar reasons. She had also created paper based works which were entirely white and made up of thousands of tiny cuts into paper making it look like swirls in fur. These works were just so intriguing to look at.

Annie Cattrell’s sculptures of could formations in glass blocks were a beautifully whimsical way to capture transience, whilst Capacity which is lamp worked glass detailing the branches in the bronchioles in a set of lungs was both beautiful and intriguing.