Curiouser & Curiouser

Friday 25 February to Saturday 25 June 2022

For this, our Fourteenth Kent University Foundation Degree in Fine Art, a collaborative partnership with Maidstone Museum, we present this online catalogue.

Images and statements from the students can be accessed by the QR code sited within the cabinets in the Museum.
Working together with the Museum staff and the Kent University Fda specifications, the students have produced intriguing artworks generated by the myriad of ideas gleaned from the Museum collections and their histories.

These artworks are exhibited within the larger collection of the Museum’s colour themed “Cabinets of Curiosity”.
The students and ourselves would like to thank the Maidstone Museum staff for their continuous support and enthusiasm.

And to Owen Boyd at North Kent College for enabling us to photograph the work for this catalogue.

Pernille Holm-Mercer & Jane Hamilton
Course Tutors
North Kent College
Brook Street
Tonbridge
TN9 2PW
01732 358101

Sally Hamilton
Foot-Binding: The pain and constriction of beauty

It was a sign of beauty and wealth in China, to be able to fit into 3 inch long ‘Lotus’ shoes as an adult woman. To achieve this, girls’ toes and feet were therefore repeatedly broken and bound. This practice continued for 900 years, until it was banned by the Chinese in 1911.

The external beauty of fitting into tiny shoes was at the cost of major physical contortion, chronic pain and limited ability to walk. In my art piece, the feet represent the thousands of girls whose feet were crushed and the bell jar represents their trapped life.

Contact details: Sallyehamilton@btinternet.com

Erica Hooton
Soul Box

The idea of Soul Box was originally taken from the Maidstone Museum, and was derived from the found objects that grabbed my attention, which were spotted in a corner of the museum. These objects were in the form of church pew ends. I decided
to start a journey building a cabinet of spiritual needs and to include found objects.

My inclusion of significant found objects and mark making, correlate to a spiritual idea coinciding with the church pews. I hope this is shown in my work.

Jim Marshall
Julius Brenchley’s US valise, re-imagined

This work is inspired by the Victorian explorer, Julius Brenchley and specifically his journey across America. The collection of artefacts reflect some of the cultural
peculiarities of the US. However here the 20th century is represented, not the era when Brenchley travelled. Each of these objects refer to modern American artists: Hopper, Pollock, Berman, Kienholz, Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Warhol, Holzer and Koons.

Also included, are selected extracts from Benchley’s journal that might equally apply to the modern day America, which can still appear as alien today as it did in Benchley’s day.

Cordelia Stocks
Crystal Spheres

The rock crystal spheres of the Anglo-Saxon collection have inspired my artwork. Their meaning or use is shrouded in mystery; discovered uniquely in the graves of women, signifying a power carried long ago.

Rock crystal is formed in the depths of the earth by heat and tectonic power. Human hands found these rocks and formed them into spheres, capturing light within them. They hold such beauty and power, worthy of an Anglo-Saxon Queen. Today, our sense of beauty and connection to our earth is growing again and, hopefully, our love and respect for her mystery and power.

Peter Waters
Excelsior Art Re-Nouveau

This rescued 1905 porcelain ‘Excelsior’ toilet dates from the art nouveau period. There is an even earlier toilet in the museum. The museum also houses an intriguing Japanese collection including a broken bowl repaired with gold. This age-old repair is called Kintsugi, it links with the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi.
An embracing of the cracks, the incomplete, and imperfections in life.

This toilet was dropped and broken, following the example of the Chinese artist Al Weiwei. Its repair with Kintsugi is to highlight its beauty and show how something discarded can become new (nouveau) again.

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petermichaelwaters@icloud.com