Degree Show 2024: Meet the Graduates - Marina Featherstone

Introduce yourself and your work. What ideas and themes are important to you?

My work is informed by the majesty and beauty of biomorphic design in the Islamic arts tradition, drawing upon the mastery of specific architectural and manuscript examples. It is a vocation for me to study the biomorphic motifs of these masterpieces, and to contemplate their purpose. The ideas of biomorphic motifs as a deeply symbolic manifestation of a higher knowledge, or as portraying divine, harmonic proportions are concepts that deeply affect my work. With integrity and sensitivity, I hope to elaborate on the work of the masters and realise pieces that remind us of the perfection of the Divine.

What materials do you use? Why have you chosen to work with these materials?

Paper, clay, minerals and gold.

The materials I use are few, but of the finest quality possible.

For bucchero ceramics, only clay is used, and this is its beauty and mystery. An alchemical process renders otherwise red clay black, through oxygen reduction firing, and thus no glazes are needed.

My illuminations draw upon a limited palette of 24 carat gold, occasional coloured gold alloys, Afghan lapis lazuli, malachite, cinnabar, and various earth colours. I make my pigments myself, attentively rendering rock or gold leaf into paint. I use archival, hand-made paper and the finest traditional hair brushes.

What drew you to the School, and what do you want to remember about these last two years?

I was drawn to the School for its curriculum of traditional arts that encompassed those of the West and of the East. The ability to experience various mediums was intriguing, and the core philosophy of geometry offered a strong, albeit unconventional, foundation for better understanding art. I will remember the diverse art traditions I was able to experience, the modalities and techniques which I learned, and my teachers and fellow classmates of whom I have shared many fond memories.

Describe your studio to us – what would we find?

My studio is an eclectic mix of artist materials, antiques, and curious objects that offer inspiration. You can find antique jars of pigments, an old Persian carpet on the floor, small bottles of perfumes to refresh the spirit, and piles of books. I always have some fresh flowers, print-outs of manuscripts or architectural buildings to study, and a disarray of pencils and brushes scattered about. My pride and joy is an antique Syrian mother-of-pearl inlay screen, which offers a replenishing respite to weary eyes.

Professionally, what are your hopes and goals?

My intention is to delve as deeply as possible into the realm of Islamic biomorphic design, and to realise compositions that echo the majesty and beauty of the ancients.