Moira Chester (born 1949) is a London-based contemporary sculptor whose ethereal work explores the tensions between fragility and strength. Moira uses recycled materials, particularly fabrics, to create translucent clothing. At first glance, the work appears feather-light, even decorative. Look closer, and you can see how it carries the weight of accumulated meaning.
Moira studied History of Art at Sussex and Florence Universities, before taking up careers in teaching and then publishing. Subsequent travels in India reignited Moira's passion to create. She returned to gain diplomas in ceramics, painting and drawing from London Guildhall University, and went on to study sculpture at Morley College, London.
The essence and qualities of the materials that Moira is drawn to are often themselves a starting point for her work. Pieces made from collections of recycled fabrics, builders' scrim, paper, plastic and metal grow organically as the elements are combined, pieced together by sewing, pins, nails or wire. It is an alchemical process through which the ordinary and everyday are transformed into haunting, translucent beauty.
Moira's most recent work is a series of dresses which explore themes of identity, memory, disintegration and renewal. The pieces in this series have very different sources of inspiration. Nail Dress was started on the first day of the Iraq war. Ice Dress unites a long forgotten memory of the Snow Queen fairy tale with the discovery of a piece of Moira's great-grandmother's wedding dress in a cupboard on a dark day.
EXHIBITIONS
Affordable Art Fair, New York, June 2007
Women's Work , West End Centre, Aldershot, 2007
Pepperton Gallery, London, 2007
Group Show, Riverhouse Gallery, Walton on Thames, 2006
Paperworks, Bury Art Gallery & Museums, 2006
Group Show, Morley Gallery, SE1, 2006
London Art and Design Fair, Mary Ward Centre, London 2005
Oxo Gallery, London SE1, 2004
Group Show, Morley Gallery, SE1, 2004
Group Show, Morley Gallery, SE1, 2002
Wimbledon Open Studios, 2000 - 2007
Solo Show, Made to Measure , Spitalfields, 1996
ThriVeNYC Article by Rachel Bonham Carter Volume 1 Issue 27 September 2007
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