Evenings’ Hill, 2011
Clare Woods

The artwork on this platform has been created by Clare Woods. It takes its inspiration from the local surroundings, in particular the pools of Hampstead Heath.

Woods examined historic maps of Hampstead dating from 1866 to 1915 and identified that the pools were the one geographical constant throughout this time of rapid urban development.

Today, the Heath and its pools are still as much a refuge from the crowded and polluted city as they were when John Constable painted them in the 1820’s.

Woods has chosen to evoke this feeling of open space and fresh air in her artwork, echoing Constable’s desire to make paintings in whicn he could feel the wind blowing on his face, rather than a realistic representation of the landscape.

Woods began by making photographic studies of the pools, which were translated into drawings and then a large watercolour painting. Digital transfers of this painting were fired onto porcelain tiles, which retain the quality of brushwork of the original watercolour. The depiction of water and reflection is central to the composition.
This is a landscape without horizon, in which the pools become voids or portals to another place.

Commissioned by London Rail as part of the London Overground Public Art Programme, 201I

MAYOR OF LONDON

Transport for London OVERGROUND

One of Claire Woods’ works is shown in the following photo taken that day Click for a larger image