This week, the A and D Gallery in London plays host to Geraldine van Heemstra's Musical Lines exhibition, as well as performances of Bach's Partitas and Sonatas for solo violin by some of our pupils. (See below for details of performance times.)

Geraldine has been a regular visitor to the school over the past few months, sketching pupils and teachers in their lessons and in performance. The resulting line drawings, etchings and oils will be exhibited in London, and then moved to The Menuhin Hall for the duration of the Menuhin 100 Festival. Geraldine has also produced 12 limited edition boxed-sets of 10 etchings, and three sets of Artist's Proofs. Technically demanding, the prints use multiple etching techniques including hardground, softground, sugarlift-aquatint and drypoint. "Drypoint gives these works dark and unique lines of incredible delicacy and printing the sheets degrades the plates quickly which is why we are only able to offer the 12 sets", she explains.

Regarding her inspiration for this work, Geraldine notes:“With these sketches I am trying to capture the energy of the musicians, their character and characteristics in their movements and posture with a few simple lines. In the studio I work from my sketches and memory to create new images in the etchings, monoprints and oils. In these works it is very much about the texture and the play of the different lines that one can create.”

Those lucky enough to purchase one of these unique art works will be helping the School at the same time, as the proceeds of all sales will come directly to the School thanks to Geraldine’s generosity. “I believe one should support charities or causes that mean something important to you. A 50/50 energy flows to and from that,” says Geraldine. “In the case of the Yehudi Menuhin School, I love music and it is a real treat to be a ‘fly on the wall’ and listen to such young talent play whilst sketching. I have to capture the movements of the young musicians very quickly and this is definitely strengthening my ‘hand-eye’ coordination. I feel it feeds back into all other aspects of my work too.”

You can read a longer interview with Geraldine by clicking on the 'Interview with the artist' tab to the left of this story.

EXHIBITION DETAILS

Geraldine’s Musical Lines will be exhibited at the A and D Gallery, 51 Chiltern Street, London W1U 6LY from Tuesday 21 June until Saturday 25 June. Opening hours are:

Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 June: 10.30am – 6pm

Thursday 23 and Friday 24 June: 10.30am - 7pm

Saturday 25 June 10.30am-4pm

Performances:

Thursday 23 June: 1pm - Bach: Sonata No 2

Friday 24 June: 6pm - Bach: Partita No 2

Saturday 25 June: 12.30pm - Bach: Sonata No 3

Saturday 25 June: 3pm - Bach: Partita No 3

The exhibition will be shown at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Cobham, Surrey, during the Menuhin 100 Festival from 30 June – 10 July.

Visit Geraldine’s website here.

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01 Jun 2016