Artist Profile - Gertraud Goodwin

Gertraud was trained at the Alanus Hochschule of Sculpture in Bonn, Germany. Before this she had trained, graduated and worked as an operating theatre nurse in Edinburgh. She taught at Tobias School of Art and at Emerson College and continues to teach at her studio in Hoathly Hill.

Gertraud works in marble, stone, wood, clay and plaster. the pieces exhibited are in marble from the river bed of River Sera.

The best marble is found on top of the mountains high in the Apuani Alps. these mountains stretch between Lucca and la Spezia some miles from the coast. There are hundreds of quarries in the Carrara area, often next to each other. They are fascinating at the same time strangely beautiful, ugly and disturbing, changing the landscape drastically. The leftover debris from explosions and less than high quality stone is simply thrown over the edge of the quarry, down the steep mountainside. So each quarry has its own avalanche of debris. often the sources of rivers are underneath such avalanches and the marble is carried along by the river, being tossed and turned on its journey along the river bed in its seasonal swelling and often dangerous currents and waterfalls.

"There I find my boulders which I carve. I am intrigued with their journey from high up, their biography manifesting in fault lines, hardness of colour and softness, texture, colour and shape. usually sculptors want a flawless piece with universal hardness and texture, without surprises. but it is the individuality of every piece which speaks to me and invites creativity. When I start a piece I have no model and no concept, the theme slowly emerges through the dialogue. Working mainly by hand without air-pressured tools, I feel empathy with the stone, which is my small contribution for the violating of the landscape and thrown-away stone."

Contact Info

tel: 01342 810069