By Myriam Thomas Glass artist
'Enclosed Gardens' (2018 - ongoing)
Historically, the Enclosed Gardens Triptychs (Horti Conclusi) were small retables made in the 16th century by religious women to express their spirituality. In my interpretation of the "Enclosed Gardens" I reflected on how "Enclosed Gardens" are still powerful to express universal emotions of longing for harmony.
For my contemporary "Enclosed Gardens" I combined cyanotype on glass, engraving and silver-or gold leaf gilding. They are all wall hangings and they have different sizes (between 5 cmx10 cm and 50cm x50 cm).
My Enclosed Garden #1: cyanotype on glass, silver leaf gilding, engraving. 32cm x 45 cm x 2 cm, framed. (sold)
A review on my "Enclosed Gardens" installation shown at Artrooms London in January 2019 by Eddie Hewitt
"Spending time in Myriam’s room gave me a real insight into the way she creates images that are pictorially beautiful and highly intricate in their crafting. For this, she applies cyanotype on float glass, with gilded silver leaf and engraving. A gelatinous layer is included in a blueprint, photographic process which, I learnt, was especially popular at the end of the 19th century.
In Myriam’s work, this results in a stunning range of blues: light, dark, distressed, smooth. This demonstrates one of the great powers of artistry; the ability to contrast, conflict and combine. In this case the outcome is unified splendour.
The subjects of Myriam’s images come from different realms, including entities and places in the natural world, notably trees and gardens. Other images convey depictions of ideas and thoughts developed in dreams. This was a surprise on an unprecedented scale. ..."