Medium: Acrylic on board
Dimension: 48.5cm (h) x 40cm (w)
Framed to museum quality standard.
Price: £850.00

West Dorset-based artist Marie Laywine has written a fascinating account of her year living and working in a tiny Himalayan village in the mid-1980s. In Search of an Image examines the practicalities of moving from her previous home in the Middle East to Parsil – which lies in the Helambu region, two days’ trek from Kathmandu – as well as describing in beautiful detail the unique culture she found there.

During her year in the mountains, Marie produced a body of work called The Childhood Study Series, which was inspired and informed by her observations of Nepali children. In the book she examines the influences behind the drawings (she was forbidden by the local lama from painting). Marie found that there was no school in the area and the young people did not generally learn to read or write. Instead, children of all ages would go out into the fields with their mothers – women being the farmers in this society – and, when they were old enough, were given tasks of their own. Marie became absorbed by questions about how this work-based childhood affected the children’s emotional and psychological development, and compared this experience to elements of her own upbringing.

“I decided to write the book now – 23 years after I lived its events – because I realised I did not want to lose the life-changing experience of that year,” says Marie. “I’ve been planning the book for a few years; I felt the need to set the events down, and to explain the thought processes behind the images that sprang from the experience. I was delighted to find, too, that through the process of writing I came to a better understanding of the work itself.”

Marie was born in Canada and graduated in fine arts from Ontario College of Art and Design. She has lived in England since leaving the Himalayas and has exhibited widely throughout the UK. Her home and studio are now in Abbotsbury, west Dorset, and she has been involved with several local arts projects.

Marie will launch her book with a talk at The Biscuit Factory, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on Tuesday 6th October. Five images from The Childhood Study Series are appearing in The Biscuit Factory’s autumn exhibition, along with five pieces of Marie’s new work. The exhibition is now on and runs until December.

The workshops were held in my studio, and at that time were installed on the peripheral railing of St Catherine’s Chapel.
Quangles Choir closed the week’s activities with an a cap ell a recital held in the chapel.

Photo: Louise Allen

For full information on this project for 2010 please contact me.

Please click here to download the booking form.

Please click here to download the booking form.