CLEY 18 THE GREATER THE DISTANCE...

The NNEP exhibition 'Cley 18: The Greater the Distance the Clearer the View' was curated by Caroline Fisher. It gave Stuart the opportunity to develop his ambulatory drawing practice whilst walking along the shingle beach between Salthouse and Cley-next-the-Sea on the North Norfolk coast. During this project Stuart realised that there was something significant to learn from the sea. It's movement was 'will free' and the force of the tides and waves were a function of inaction, of yielding to the force of the sun and the moon, the topography of the sea bed and the weather. As a result, Stuart took lead from the sea, following its rhythms and allowing the interaction of shingle underfoot and the wind on his drawing board to assert themselves: leading his body and the drawings in unintended ways.

CLEY 18: THE GREATER THE DISTANCE THE CLEARER THE VIEW

The eye can see a path to be trodden and can view the movement of a body along its route, but it cannot sense ‘being in motion’ itself. Ambulatory drawing accounts for this limitation and facilitates the dynamic integration of visual and embodied stimuli within the activity of walking, looking and drawing in a specific environment. These particular ambulatory drawings record the interactive experience of drawing whilst walking along the shifting shingle beach between Salthouse and Cley-next-the-Sea.