Highlights 2021; Looking Ahead 2022

Happy New Year!

Photo credits from top: Snakes and Ladders (I) - Barry Cawston; Hope of a Tree - David Bird; All The Colours, ArtFirst - Laura Hylton; Octopus - Steve Richardson; Loft Residency - Dan Hopkins; Glut - Paul Tucker, Courtesy of The Ingram Collection & Unit 1 Gallery; Pyre - me; Hope of a Tree - Linda Ashe; Me installing Snakes and Ladders (I) - Kathryn Sewell

A few highlights from 2021.  It was a tough year, but with plenty of highs. I met and worked with some wonderful people, and grateful for all the support from friends, family, buyers, organisations and followers. 

It was great to have a short film made about my practice, commissioned by Art UK in partnership with Culture Street and Royal Society of Sculptors.  Aimed at secondary schools, it’s one of 10 films about sculptors’ techniques. 

I was delighted to be awarded first prize for Round Lemon’s anniversary exhibition ONE. I gave an artist talk and interview as part of it.

Thanks to Chris Greenwood Red Line Art Works for inviting me to give a Zoom talk.

Touring Inch by IN:CH was hard work but fun along the way. Collaborating with 10 other artists, we showed in some amazing spaces over 4 months, got funding, found new ways to show art and involve the wider community. I worked with Shirley Sharp on performative window drawing and shadow drawing events, and led workshops.  The research and development of work was as exciting as the final outcome. Thanks to all venues and funders including Somerset Skills and Learning, Somerset Art Works, The Arts Society and many other supporters.

It was wonderful to be selected for Wells Art Contemporary at Wells Cathedral. Snakes and Ladders (I) was suspended in the South Transept. Thanks to excellent curators Simon Periton and Robin Sewell.

I was thrilled to be a finalist for the Ingram Prize 2021.  My selected piece Glut was shown in a beautifully curated exhibition at Unit 1 Gallery along with some brilliant artists. Thanks to Jo Baring, Stacie McCormick and Alison Price.

My short film Life in the Undergrowth was part of In Pursuit of Spring at Black Swan Arts.

I loved my Loft Residency, which gave me a chance to explore, develop, make new work and document pieces in an incredible space. My solo exhibition was open during Somerset Open Studios.  Thanks to Heritage Courtyard Gallery and Studios for inviting me and for their support! 

Thanks to Spaeda Arts and Eastover School, Bridgwater for the Octopus and Sea Life wall commission. It was lovely to work with primary school children in the making of it and see their reactions when it was installed.

I enjoyed chatting to Polly Hall about my work for her Procrastination Station podcast.

I’m grateful to Seed Sedgemoor for commissioning All The Colours for Art First. It was a big learning curve: I designed a lenticular (holographic/moving) image of a chameleon changing colours for Buses of Somerset, made up of the community’s images, some created in workshops I led. 

I was really delighted that Pyre was selected for the International Biennial Exhibition Transfiguration: From Nature to Art in Taiwan, which is on exhibition at the National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute until 10th April 2022.

Thanks to Sculptors Drawing Space and Royal Society of Sculptors South West for ongoing zoom meetings led by Simon Hitchens.

I ran my second sculpture course last year, got to know some great artists through it, and am about to run my third (10 Jan - 13 Feb). I still have a few spaces so if interested, see this showreel for details.

Images: Martydom of the Ten Thousand (working title), for Chichester Cathedral

In the studio. Photo by Jack Robson

Sketch: ideas for installation

I have some exciting exhibitions lined up for this year including Together We Rise at Chichester Cathedral with Royal Society of Sculptors curated by Jacquline Cresswell, and Materiality with Kate McDonnell, Kelly O’Brien and Nicola Turner at Walcot Chapel. Fingers crossed it doesn’t get cancelled again.

I’m working on a large installation for Chichester, inspired by the plight of pangolins. Stitch by stitch, forms are emerging and a growing collection of bodily forms are gathering in my studio.  I’m using recycled materials that are hand-sewn, wrapped, tie-dyed with home-made plant inks, and waxed over woven structures.  It’s going to take me a few months, but I’m enjoying the labour-intensive process.  Louise Bourgeois said ‘The act of sewing is a process of emotional repair’. 

Here’s to a greener year in 2022 full of love, kindness and creativity!  

Welcome Spring

What a joy to have spring sunshine and bulbs growing, after such miserable cold months in confinement.  New beginnings bring hope! 

It’s surprising what can be achieved under difficult circumstances. Time in lockdown has gone fairly quickly, as I’ve been working on several projects and finding alternative work solutions, although often computer bound.

In between, I’ve been developing new work in the studio, exploring ideas through collages, maquettes, sketches, and gathering materials.  In contrast to my last piece The Fall (see previous posts), my next feels hopeful.  Ideas are developing of ascending lines expanding beyond grid-like constrictions into lightness and recovery, though precarious.  Yellow is my new colour depicting hope and optimism.  I’ve been naturally dying and hand-stitching recycled textiles, rubber, latex, and plastic as patchworks of repair.  Branching umbrella frames may become supporting skeletal structures. 

A lot of the found and recycled materials I’m using have been sourced locally or donated by friends - thanks to those who’ve helped.

Short Film

A short film about my sculptural practice using textiles has been commissioned by Art UK, working in partnership with Culture Street and Royal Society of Sculptors.  Due to covid and lockdown, it was delayed for a year.  In the end, the artist interview was conducted over Zoom and I supplied footage.  Aimed at schools, it’s one of 10 new film commissions about sculptors and their different processes, as part of a major initiative to put online UK’s sculpture collection. I’m honoured to be included in the series!

All The Colours

I’m one of the commissioned artists leading a community art project via Seed, called Art First.  We are engaging the public in Sedgemoor, especially those who travel on buses.

‘Artists Fiona Campbell, Karl Bevis, Jem Dick and Sharon Jacksties are working on three projects, which will produce artworks co-created with Buses of Somerset passengers and staff and other members of the community. The finished works will be displayed on 30 buses across Sedgemoor.  Covering multiple art forms from poetry through photography to collage, our artists will guide you through the process, giving you tips to find inspiration in your everyday lives to create something magical. All creations can be submitted and your submissions will then be combined into artworks to be exhibited on the buses and online.’

In my project All The Colours I’m inviting people to create a collage in one dominant colour, reflecting on their responses to a bus journey, the past year, a particular experience, mood, feeling, moment, personal or global memory. The images will be part of a co-created artwork which will be transformed into a hologram chameleon. This will change colours at different viewpoints and will be featured on 30 buses for passengers and community to enjoy.

I’ll be running FREE workshops, there’ll be prizes and an online exhibition.  Below is a slideshow I made to offer examples of collages in a dominant colour.

For further info and to participate please visit my page All The Colours.  If you’re based in Sedgemoor, and/or have travelled on buses in the area, please get involved and spread the word!  

Inch by IN:CH

I’m part of an artist-led travelling project Inch by IN:CH, bringing contemporary art out of galleries and into community areas across South West UK. Between May-October ’21, 11 artists will each present mixed media works including painting, light projections, assemblage and sculptural installations, transported in cases from one place to the next.  At each location artists will engage the public through activities (covid protocol in place).

The locations we’ve chosen are unexpected venues for art. One of our venues, East Somerset Railway, is in my village.  Our finale venue will be at the Gauge Museum, Bishops Lydeard Station, West Somerset Railway, the longest heritage railway in England. We will show our work in the newly restored museum, in one of two remaining Victorian Sleeper cars, and spilling out onto the platform. These popular venues for families and train enthusiasts are evocative, meaningful settings for art about transportation of ideas.

We’re so grateful to sponsors including The Arts Society, Somerset Art Works, The Gane Trust,  individuals and supportive venues: East and West Somerset Railways, Fringe Arts Bath and Found Outdoors. We’ve submitted our Arts Council funding application, so fingers crossed we receive this crucial support to bring free programming and events to mixed audiences.

Online Sculpture Course

I recently finished running my second online Sculpture Course. The focus is on nature, using recycled and found materials. Participants produced some awesome work, sourcing their own found materials, and finding so many ways to use them creatively. 

Images: Jinny Jehu; Gwynne Penny;  Barbara Griffin; Magdalena Musanovi

To see more please visit Instagram: #onlinesculpturecourse2021
Let me know if you’re interested in my next course (dates TBC).

Inspiration 

Online meetings and talks have been convenient, with the benefit of international reach. Through zoom I’ve loved connecting with fellow artists. Royal Society of Sculptors meet-ups and new weekly sculptors drawing sessions have been helpful to focus and free the mind.  We are currently working on an exciting group exhibition.

The Overstory, a book by Richard Powers, has inspired new work: There are no separable events. The bird and.. branch.. are.. linked creatures..; ‘reiterated trunks .. shooting up parallel like the fingers of a Buddha’s upraised hand.. tufted spires… swirled in the gauze of a Chinese landscape… fungi and lichen everywhere, like splatters of paint from a heavenly can’

Other relevant resources:

Tim Ingold: Facing the Anthropocene: Life is always creating itself.. Lines are animate... I’ve started Tim’s book Life of Lines, and also The Mushroom at the End of the World (Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing)

James Aldridge: Queer Rivers Art Earth: Where does a river stop? Everything is fluid, interconnecting….

Phyllida Barlow: Small works made with the minimum of ambition... Sculpture is a restless art form…

Artists inspiring me: above left to right: Giulia Cenci; Daiga Grantina; Monika Sosnowska; Janet Echelman

Other News

I’m part of the Solargraphic Society of Somerset (Mendip area) organised by Janette Kerr. I put up my pin-hole can camera with light sensitive paper in my garden and look forward to the results in 2 months.

My Bulrushes are now installed in their new home in the midlands (left: pic in snow)

Delighted that my Blackbird sculpture (commissioned by Shepton Mallet Town Council for a Bird Trail last autumn) has been selected as a permanent feature above The Art Bank entrance in the town centre.

Forthcoming Events

Inch by IN:CH a travelling project considering transition, interchange and the transportation of ideas. Various venues, South West UK, 28 May - 3 Oct 

Royal Society of Sculptors 10 gram Challenge exhibition: 28 June – 18 Sept

I’ll be giving an online talk via Red Line Art Works on 25 March, 7pm (GMT). If you’d like to join the talk, please register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZApcuiurzkvHtFe6fjc4ZqzB2doWh5SiyNu

In support of the Arts, please visit the Art Is Essential campaign, aimed at raising awareness about the importance of the Arts to a healthy society.

This past year has been a huge jolt to us, and despite the sad and tragic happenings, I’m hopeful that we have come out of it stronger and better.