CALLY TRENCH
Left Hand, Right Hand I
A year of drawing my hands (2023-24)
A project in parallel with Tineke Bruijnzeels
Cally Trench's homepage
Cally Trench's drawings
Left Hand, Right Hand
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Cally Trench drew her own hands, life-size from life, using both hands, and drawing each day for exactly one hour. The project started on Saturday 5th August 2023 and ended 366 days later on Sunday 4th August 2024. |
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Tineke Bruijnzeels's project was One more line a day. One line on day 1, two on day 2, three hundred and sixty-six on day 366. With anything on any material of 15 x 15 cm. Cally wrote: Drawing my hands every day rapidly became part of my routine. The rules that I set myself meant that I didn't have to think about what to draw or the medium: ink (Rotring Tikky Graphic 0.1 pen) on watercolour paper (Fabriano Studio Satin hotpress 300gsm), 23 x 31 cm. I only had to decide the position of my hands, which always moved on slightly from the previous day's drawing, with the aim of depicting a series of commonplace movements - and to allow, ultimately, for the creation of an animation film. Looking back over the year's drawings I notice how my focus shifted. At times I was clearly most interested in the veins, at other times in the wrinkled texture of my skin, or the contours defining the shape of knuckles, or the pull of stretched skin across my hand. I was also surprised to notice how much more I drew some days than others; was I more sleepy some days, or was I listening to slower music? Knowing that Tineke was working on her project - One more line a day - gave me companionship. While our two projects were entirely separate and individual, the knowledge that someone else was on a parallel journey provided support and encouragement. A consecutive pair of the drawings (numbers 177 and 178) were exhibited, framed together in one frame, in the 2024 Art Sauce members' exhibition at Common Ground, Oxford.Twelve of the drawings were exhibited, framed in pairs, in Twofold Quintet at the Courtyard Gallery, Ballroom Arts, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, over the weekend of Friday 1st - Sunday 3rd November 2024. The drawings shown were numbers 089 and 090; 189 and 190; 206 and 207; 221 and 222; 326 and 327; and 334 and 335. The short film below by artist Eileen Haring Woods is a group portrait of the five Twofold Quintet artists. [15 min 30 sec] |
Six of the Left hand, Right Hand I drawings were exhibited, framed in pairs, in A Question of Drawing, at Ilkon (Ilkeston Contemporary Arts), Derbyshire, 23rd January - 8th February 2025, an exhibition with Tineke Bruijnzeels, Alex Dewart, Steve Perfect, and Mary Yacoob. The drawings shown were numbers 049 and 050; 067 and 068; and 089 and 090. Each framed pair of drawings was shown next to the pair of drawings of the same number (and date) from the following year (2024-25): 049/415 and 050/416; 067/433 and 068/434; and 089/455 and 090/456.Nine of the drawings were included in Day after day after day: recent works by Tineke Bruijnzeels and Cally Trench at The North Wall Arts Centre, Oxford, in summer 2026. The drawings shown were: 087; 098; 141; 183; 211; 228; 308; 344; and 352. These were shown along with nine drawings from each of year 2 and 3 of the project. In addition, the pair 326 and 327 were also shown. |
A Year of Hands is a one-minute animation film created by Cally Trench from her 366 drawings. It has been shown in a number of festivals: see A Year of Hands on this website.All the 2023-24 drawings by both Cally Trench and Tineke Bruijnzeels were posted in this external website: 366 Drawings (2023-24). Cally also posted one drawing once a week on her Instagram account @callytrench All the Friday drawings are also shown below in reverse chronological order (most recent first). |
