DRAWINGS: The built environment

Grace is drawn to buildings and places in a state of flux. Her work is partly informed by places visited in the course of her work as a conservator of glass and historic architecture, as well as places encountered through travel. Alongside familiar locations such as the British Museum in London, and the Coliseum in Rome, Grace has explored more unusual locations: In Richborough, East Kent, is a derelict building that once housed prisoners of war in World War One. It is now little more than a cow-shed, but the prison cells, complete with graffiti of the Great War, still exist.

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“I was struck by the line of small rooms and the part it once played in history. The bright daylight and shadows striking the roofless walls that once detained prisoners of the First World War, now sitting alone in the landscape.”

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In 2004, Grace was the only artist allowed on site after a fire devastated Ramsgate Library. She was able to document the destruction, capturing the newly exposed spaces behind the buildings grand façade. Exposed to the elements and daylight, the interior of the building was cut by distorted shapes and exposed girders. Grace was able to create a series of atmospheric drawings picking out the remaining details and striking light patterns in the buildings remains.