Johannesburg sculptor Beth Armstrong works primarily with metal, exploring “lines in relation to lines in various densities and looseness”. Known primarily as a sculptor whose works have featured in numerous group and solo exhibitions, Armstrong has also explored printmaking extensively, and collaborated with the David Krut Print Workshop on a series of monotypes in 2013.
Her sculpture Will Suddenly Trees Leap from Winter and Will (named for a poem by EE Cummings) appeared in the group exhibition The Benediction of Shade II at David Krut Projects, Parkwood (2014/2015). Armstrong says she began the work as an abstract, architectural sculpture, experimenting with lines moving vertically through space and encountering an object, but when she stood back from the work, she saw that a weeping willow tree with a tree house had emerged. This process of experimentation and works forming and evolving over time is common to Armstrong’s methods. Armstrong prefers to work with steel in an organic way, not shining it up, working with the natural colours of the steel and that emerge from the welding process.
“Fascinated by process, change and structures, I am primarily a sculptor working in steel. I also work in printmaking and other media. My work is not defined by a particular idea-set or source of inspiration. I am however fascinated with process and change and with structures, internal/external, psychological/physical and organic/architectural. I have had two solo exhibitions and I have been involved in a number of group shows and projects, as well as private and public commissions.” – quote by artist, 2014.