Urban Fabric by Louise Bennetts and David Lemm

David Lemm and Louise Bennetts are Edinburgh-based artists, whose practices share common concerns around making, place and process. Developed through varied material experimentation and manufacturing expertise, their outcomes are distinct yet complimentary. Together they will present a collaborative exhibition of new works at Custom Lane, forged independently but presented in dialogue.

Join David and Louise on Thursday 18 June for an informal preview, then on Wednesday 24 June for a Talks at the Lane evening: a conversational wander through their comparable routes of enquiry, considering how their ideas emerge and works unfold, and celebrating both their areas of overlap and their unique divergences.

David Lemm’s work is informed by encountered environments, moments and systems, underpinned by process led investigation. He often engages with collected or existing materials reassembled into new contexts, exploring notions of intent, perception and context specific narrative. Recent work has focused on sculptural assemblage and installation, combining printmaking, drawing, timber and found objects.

Louise Bennetts is a designer and artist who works with fabric to create architectural forms and rhythmic interventions into existing bricks and mortar. She considers her pieces ‘suspended drawings in space’, constructing fabric into compositions that adapt with the movement of daily light. Sourcing widely from waste streams, she seeks to transform material through process rather than sourcing new, experimenting with felting, dyeing and, recently, earth pigment painting techniques.

The pair met via David’s ‘Daunder Club’, a curated local walking project which invites participants to observe their surroundings in new ways and reconsider their place in the landscape. Both are interested in the evolution of urban environments, creating work that gently recalls the changing spaces within which we live, crafted from the humble material detritus – offcuts, remnants and fringes – that surround each of them.