'Place Setting' is my response to two historic tea services in the Charles Norman Collection.They were produced by Derby Porcelain in the 1790's and were hand painted in a hazed watercolour style depicting rural idyllic scenery.
I spent the summer of 2013 re-tracing the steps of the two artists who painted the salmon and yellow tea services that can be found in the Usher Gallery, Lincoln. The artists were Thomas 'Jockey'Hill and George Robertson. They travelled around the country in search of landscapes to paint onto cups, saucers, sucriers and teapots.
On the base of each of these items the artists noted the location of each scene. These were the places that led me out into an exciting journey through the East Midlands countryside to find the locations and photograph them as they are today.
To find them I traced footpaths on maps and then identified clues like the lay of the land or the bend in a river. Finally I used the internet to get a birds eye view of the area before I set out with my camera.
I found myself in known tourist attractions such as Dovedale and Matlock, at times just in fields and by rivers. Places were often described as 'near' a village or town which gave me a lot of scope for investigation. In the case of buildings, remarkably some appeared to be of similar appearance to the images, even if they were of a modern construction. I was able to match many of the images from photographs of historic landmarks, ruins or heritage sights.
I felt the artists had produced a travelogue, which intriguingly remains valid today. I have therefore represented the images for each location as postcards in the film with accompanying artistic images of the area.
The film Place Setting was shown in the Usher Gallery at The Collection, Danes Terrace, Lincoln. LN21LP from 18th October-30th November 2013.