Cheshire artist fulfils childhood dream with exhibit at Escher museum

The book of postcards featuring mesmerising staircases, shapes and spheres prompted a fascination with art that influenced her decision to make it her career.

Now the professional artist from Cheshire, formerly a Chester school teacher, says her ‘childhood dreams have come true’ after she was invited to exhibit her work at a museum dedicated to the famous printmaker in the Netherlands.

Louisa Boyd outside Escher in the Palace.

Louisa, who is based in a beautiful garden studio at her home, in Brown Knowl, near Bickerton, will be showing works alongside some of the biggest names in the art world, including Damien Hirst (of formaldehyde shark fame), fashion designer Alexander McQueen and Turner-prize winner Chris Offili, renowned for using elephant dung in his paintings.

Louisa was picked for the ‘Just like Escher’ exhibition, at the Escher in the Palace Museum, in the Hague, after a curator following her work spotted images of her sculptures on display at this year’s Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition in London.

View from the room with Damian Hirst's work and Escher installation.

Her work, which uses printmaking, paper constructed into three-dimensional forms and demonstrates a use of mathematics in art, are all reminiscent of techniques also found in Escher’s pieces.

Louisa, 44, has loaned a piece of work, known as Assembled Elements, to the museum for the exhibition, which aims to celebrate 125 years since Escher’s birth and is running until the end of March.

Assembled Elements features 25 paper sculptures of five platonic solids, representing the five elements of nature, made using etching techniques and hand-marbled paper.

The married mother-of-one said: "I was given a set of postcards by MC Escher when I was a child and their endless staircases, tessellated shapes and spheres fascinated me for hours.

A viewer looks at the Assembled Elements artowrk.

"The aesthetics of Escher’s work have definitely found their way into my paintings and sculptures all these years later. It is really such an honour and dream come true to have that connection recognised by the museum."

A graduate of Manchester Metropolitan University, Louisa has previously been nominated for the prestigious John Ruskin Prize and exhibited her work all over the world, including in the USA, Australia and Europe.

A former part-time teacher at the Queen’s School in Chester, she gave up teaching just over a year ago to concentrate on her artist career full-time.

Her work, which is influenced by human connections to the natural world, navigation and establishing a sense of place and belonging, is also heavily inspired by the Cheshire landscape surrounding her home, especially the Sandstone Ridge and Bickerton Hill, which are visible from her studio.

For more information about the exhibition and Louisa’s work, visit https://escherinhetpaleis.nl/exhibition/just-like-escher/?lang=en or http://www.louisaboyd.com.

You can visit her Open Studio in Brown Knowl on December 2-3 – email louisaboyd@hotmail.com for full details.

Assembled Elements between two Escher works.