Sat 15 Jan – Sat 5 Mar 2011

Drinks Reception and Artist Talk:
Sat 15 Jan, 2 - 4 pm All Welcome

In Totems & Transformations, artist and writer Barry Cottrell takes us on an inward journey into the realms of dream, myth and symbol.

His prints and drawings bring to life these worlds inhabited by strange and powerful creatures - shamanic totem animals and other enigmatic beings. His visionary work charts a mystical path of transformation through which we may deepen our connection with nature.

The pictures in this exhibition span over twenty years of inner exploration, starting with his early Transformation Series. Shown here as a sequence of photographic prints, this visual narrative originally consisted of a series of twenty-five large pastel drawings.

Today only a few of these works survive: part of the inner, alchemical process involved ‘capturing’ these emblematic beings as images on paper and then allowing them later to be ‘released’ by burning the paper (a common ritual practice in parts of the Far East). The series depicts the transformational journey of the Holy Fool, or Clown - symbol of the human being - undergoing a rebirth into an indigenous and mythical world of elemental beings and spirits which manifest the invisible forces of life.

Other images, for example, Breath of a Shaman, reflect the artist’s own exploration of the shaman’s inner worlds, which led to the writing and publication of his book, The Way Beyond The Shaman–Birthing A New Earth Consciousness (O Books 2008).

More recent works, such as Fruits of the Earth celebrate the earthly transformations of the seasons and the mellow fruitfulness of nature.

This exhibition is part of a larger project entitled, Totem Body, which explores the human body as an animal body–and as both a totem object and shamanic power animal in its own right. The project seeks to restore our indigenous awareness of belonging to the natural world, see www.earth-awareness.com

Barry Cottrell studied Psychology and Philosophy at Oxford University before studying painting and printmaking at the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art.

He is an accomplished practitioner of line engraving and exhibits widely in the UK and abroad, see his website.