Caroline Hudson West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
An abstract landscape artist based in Haworth, West Yorkshire working mainly with paint & clay, often incorporating found materials. Her obsession with colour, surface & texture has been a common thread throughout her art practice for over 30 years. She explores the fragility of being human through connection to place & considers a spiritual return to the forgotten landscapes of our ancestors.
The essence of Caroline’s art originates from being immersed in wild landscapes, especially the gritstone moors close to where she lives, she is also drawn to the edges of the land. Caroline's main concern is to communicate the all encompassing atmosphere of a place. The wind, changing light and huge skies all play a part. Her aim is to translate how it feels to be in the environments that she has connection with and the freedom she feels there. She is interested in the interpretation of the world through a filter of our belonging to a place. The being there, rather than what you see. Often this is a fleeting moment carrying a sense of transience or impermanence. The atmosphere of a place is yours, another person’s experience will be completely different.
Caroline’s art can feel old, as if it’s had a life. Paintings are made over time, left to rest, then revisited until resolved. She finds returning to a painting is like returning to a place, it’s never quite the same experience, a changed perspective, a different mood, a new outlook. Her ceramic pieces look as if they have been found or dug up from the earth. Everything changes, subtly or dramatically. Many layers of time reflected in layers of materials used and moments in flux. She imparts something of herself on the surface, like a layering of memory.
Although rooted in the land, Caroline’s work often has an ethereal quality. She is drawn to the idea of ‘thin places’, a phrase that describes a boundary or thin veil between the earthly realm and spiritual world. With this in mind, she searches for quiet, ancient spaces that give a sense of peace. Caroline’s authentic and unique visual language stems from nature, accumulating memories from her surroundings and subconscious images. Her experience of the world is infused in her work.
Artwork
Found, Ceramic and wire, 2024