Isabelle Hayman
The Story of a Plastic Boat
21 September to 25 October 2024
Opening: Saturday 21 September 3 - 8pm
Boats are transformed into giant earrings, a sailor is asking to be rescued by an elegant female. An oversized woman dressed as an elegant raver sails confidently at night balancing on a small boat. I am gently, with an element of mischief, closing the doors on that bygone era by replacing the masculine figures and symbols I was brought up with. - Isabelle Hayman
SCHOOL is pleased to present The Story of a Plastic Boat, an exhibition of new paintings by Isabelle Hayman. A small plastic boat that resurfaced in 2023 has brought back many childhood memories to Hayman and has become the catalyst for this new body of work. Exploring seafaring narratives in a playful manner whilst adopting feminist ideals, Hayman has continued her eclectic collage, dreamlike sensibilities. Her practice offers an innocent viewpoint, like that of Alice exploring Wonderland.
Hayman explains: “While emptying my late mother's home. I found in the garage amongst children toys a plastic toy boat. I purchased the boat from a local village store selling beach apparatus over 20 years ago. My children and many others played with it. I remember it as a kind of tugboat, blue, red and yellow. It brought back the many stories told by my mother about men at sea. Her father as well all the men in her family went to sea. My grand- father went to sea at the age of 10 and later became a pilot on the Loire river. I was endlessly taught tales of absent men travelling the seas. In this new series women are reclaiming the seas”.
Isabelle Hayman is a French artist based in London. She trained as a textile designer at the ESAADuperre Paris, and completed a Master of Fine Arts from Paris I. She has extensive experience in the textile and home ware industries and spent time living in Java. Childhood connections to Africa and a love of travel deeply inform her work. Her background in textiles, decorative arts as well as inspiration from books and travel are important elements of her creative process. Isabelle's work can be viewed through the lens of her Botanical Series and Portraits of Varied Femininity.
Isabelle Hayman The Story of a Plastic Boat is SCHOOL’S inaugural exhibition at 65 Tontine Street, Folkestone CT20 1JR, it’s new permanent gallery in partnership with University of Gloucestershire.
University of Gloucestershire is a diverse, vibrant community of 12,000 students and 1,500 staff with campuses in Cheltenham and Gloucester. Their teaching dates back to 1847; they’ve come a long way since then and have exciting plans for the future. Founded on values, centred on students, focused on learning.