After a month filled with community art projects, the leap into Spring heralds a flurry of new exhibitions. I’m delighted to be featuring in these forthcoming shows:

Incendiary, a multi-site exhibition in Corsham curated by Patricia O’Brien, 19 March - 18 April. I’ve been making a new piece Pyre (image above) for the show - a response to the catastrophic Amazon and Australian wildfires.  It’s made from collected found objects (some I’ve treasured for many years), wrapped and charred as grief bundles, commemorations of lives lost.

Materiality, with Kate McConnell, Kelly O’Brien, Nicola Turner and Matthew Dibble, Walcot Chapel, Bath, 26-29 March, open 12-6pm. Preview, Wed 25 March, 6-8pm. 

About Trees, Heritage Courtyard Gallery, 6 Heritage Courtyard, Sadler St, Wells BA5 2RR, 21 March - 14 April. Private View Fri 20 March, 6.30-8pm.

You are warmly invited to these Private Views - or visit when you can!

Last chance to catch these exhibitions ending soon:

Fifty Bees 4, Black Swan Arts, Frome continues until 14 March, when we have a Wrap Party with Artist Talks. My sculptural installation Path of Pollination is sited in 2 parts - the ground floor hallway (amazing how many people miss it when they walk past) and up the stairs to the Long Gallery.  The piece incorporates radically different unorthodox materials: old washing up sponges, dusters, mustard powder, tumeric, wax, plastic netting, steel, copper, violet oil essence…  Researching the Welted Mason bee’s path of pollination I got hooked on pollen as matter (see previous post for further info).  

Gilbert Bayes Award Winners 2019 Exhibition: I took part in a Sculpture Slam at Royal Society of Sculptors (Dora House, London SW7 3RA), as part of our Gilbert Bayes exhibition. Each artist gave a short talk about our work - it was great to glean more about each other’s practice.  If you haven’t yet visited, it runs until 20 March 2020, then tours to Grizedale Sculpture, Cumbria. I’ll be invigilating on Tuesday 10 March, 1.45-5pm; if you’re in the area pop by.

Window Wanderland commission, Tesco Shepton Mallet

I was commissioned to create a window wanderland display for Tesco Shepton Mallet by Make the Sun Shine and The Rubbish Art Project.  I like placing art in unexpected places. An opportunity to use recycled materials as part of the message, the work includes a collection of found objects, recycled plastic netting, plastic bags, bottletops, twine, copper wire, wax, steel springs and coloured tissue paper, all united by my re-purposed copper wire sculpture Tendril.

After several days gathering and making various elements for 2 large windows, I spent all night at Tesco installing (‘til 5.45am - a surreal experience!). With so many enormous windows and other distractions at the superstore, it’s been challenging making it dynamic. The brief was to incorporate some of the local community projects they support through bags of help: Snowdrop Festival, Happy Landings, (close to my heart), Sugar for the Bees, Book Table,  Community Food Donation, Knit and Chat. Delicately papered 3-d wire snowdrops sprout, tails embrace, bees buzz and giant books fly.  The knitters kindly created 2 pieces, which sets it off. The work changes depending on times of day - both sides have different qualities. For the real 3-d experience go for a shop in Tesco Shepton Mallet!

I’m glad Tesco has made the first steps to reduce some of their plastic wrapping and hope this increases.

Window Wonderland in Shepton runs 5-8 March with a launch at the Anglo Trading Estate, today 5 March, 7-9pm.

I ran some Climate Emergency workshops and gave a talk via Somerset Council and Somerset Art Works.

Held as part of the Somerset Council Climate Emergency Events, my drop-in workshops in Bridgwater, Shepton Mallet, and Yeovil offered people of all ages an opportunity to create sculptural artworks inspired by flora and fauna, highlighting waste and the importance of our natural world.  Participants learnt new skills and how to be imaginative with ‘rubbish’.  They had time to think, explore and exchange ideas about sustainability and creativity. Alongside these, I gave a talk Art and The Climate Emergency.

The more the world wide web and social media increase their grip on us, the more I savour face to face interaction.  Through leading workshops, talks, invigilating and private views, I’ve had conversations with all sorts of people recently, mainly revolving around art, wildlife and the climate emergency: how we can work together for a better world, how art has a role to play in helping to turn the tide of awareness for positive action. 

In order to create the massive behavioural change needed we have to emotionalise that data (Olafur Eliasson, 2018). 

For me, a socially engaged practice is important.  Human stories emerge.  Connections are made between people.  Through making, conversations flow.

I’m looking forward to working with Mead Community Primary School, Trowbridge on the Masterpieces in Schools project, which I was selected for via RSS.

I continue to run workshops and masterclasses at the Holburne Museum, Bath. My next one is 9 April, a 1 day sculpture workshop on Nature’s Wonders for their Spring Art Camps.

Other news:

I’m thrilled to be featured in Creating Spaces, a book by Graham McLaren celebrating Bath School of Art & Design’s long history.

Other potential projects are in the air - meetings and applications still in progress. More news on them later.

Final thoughts:  face-to-face conversations are valuable, but a period of self-isolation due to the Coronavirus will be a wonderful excuse for some sustained art in my studio - benefits of working from home ;-)

Hope to have conversations with you at some of these events before then!