Elected an Associate Member of the RCA In 2023; Full Member 2026
‘The nature of the self can only be understood through walking’
Andrews, Kerri. Wanderers, A History of Women Walking, 2020.
Daily running and walking in the wilds of Devon, Cornwall and Wales are at the core of Carys’ practice. She explores her own specifically female experience, by pushing herself physically and emotionally, as her paintings become direct responses to, and memories of her relationship with her body and the land. Embodiment of landscape is central to understanding herself and her sense of place, connection and belonging. Walking and running as a lone female, often in isolated areas or at night, presents an additional layer of awareness and anxiety that will resonate with many women. Pre-emptive safety measures, changes of routes and constant awareness and historical story of women walking are elements of the female outdoors experience that Carys engages with.
Carys engages with the domestic work of mixing traditional gesso, blending pigments and egg tempera, and exploring handmade oil paint, ink and charcoal. The process of preparing the tactile surfaces to work on is a part of the ritual of making and connecting to and understanding materials.
Observing, decision making, mark making, erasing, layering and dissolving then begins: scrutinizing a form, building up webs of lines, marks and mistakes that can be covered or uncovered. Many marks remain, others become ghosts underneath whilst searching for detail, for a whole shape, for a feeling, for simplification, making lines that are crucial and then become superfluous as the images evolves. Carys wants to see mistakes; to see the decision-making process, to see the honesty and human qualities in a drawing. She wants to see what is happening beneath a surface.
Carys’ practice stems from a background of disciplined academic drawing and working directly from observation has always remained central to her practice. Building on these strong foundations she now seeks to communicate a greater connection with her lived experience in and through the work. Carys’ practice shifts between drawing, painting, printmaking, walking and writing.
Carys Wilson is an English/Welsh draughtswoman and painter, based in Penwith, West Cornwall, UK. She received her BA (Hons) Fine Art from Kent Institute of Art and Design and achieved her MA Fine Art with Distinction from Aberystwyth University in 2022. Carys has attended residencies in England, Wales, Cyprus and Spain and was a recent recipient of the Cultivator Cornwall Programme.
www.instagram.com/caryswilsonstudio/
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