A Symphony of Curves: Geoffrey Preston – a tradition in plaster
Bird and acanthus leaves by Geoffrey Preston, © The artist, 2011
This exhibition will tell the story of the art of decorative architectural plasterwork through a focus on one of the UK’s leading practitioners: Exeter-based architectural sculptor, Geoffrey Preston.
Decorative architectural plasterwork has a long and interesting history. Devon has a wealth of historical examples. It was used in the sixteenth century for the decoration of houses of wealthy merchants and came to full prominence in the second half of the seventeenth century. Some of the work was undertaken by local craftsmen, and some by international teams of itinerant craftsmen, versed in the latest continental styles.
Decorative plasterwork methods gradually changed, and the art of hand-modelled plasterwork or stucco gradually died out in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as a result of the Industrial Revolution, but has been revived in the twenty first century by a handful of practitioners, the most prominent being Geoffrey Preston.
This exhibition will showcase Geoffrey's work and place it in its historical context. Displays will include a mixture of his original plasterworks, moulded works created from original clay designs and photographs showing some of his principal commissions. Designs, tools, maquettes and other equipment (casts etc) will be used to tell the story of how decorative plasterwork is created.
Examples of historic plasterwork from RAMM's collections will also be on display.
