Love Art February Offer!

I’m offering a discount on all items in my online shop for 1 month only!  The 15% discount applies to all orders over £10, including larger outdoor sculptures which are currently on sale.

Do you have a garden which could be enhanced with a unique piece of art?   

Sculptures are an excellent investment for life – enriching your daily existence.  My sculptures sit well with nature, lending themselves to all seasons:  Each season shows off the work in different lights.  A combination of found/reclaimed steel, copper wire, and other materials, they glisten in sunshine and frosty days; snow picks out the dark, linear contours.  In autumn their vibrant, rusty orange reds and nitrate blue greens harmonise with surroundings.

To take advantage of my February discount of 15%, quote this code at checkout:

LOVEARTFEBSALE

Space/s

I’m looking forward to suspending my large-scale Snakes and Ladders (I) piece in Wells Cathedral and attending the Wells Art Contemporary PV this week! I’ll also be installing a giant Octopus on a 5m wall at Eastover Primary School, after which I can properly get stuck into my residency space in the Loft, above Heritage Courtyard Gallery, Wells.  All very exciting though I’ve been very busy, a bit stressed and feeling quite exhausted. I value those still times for head space and imaginings.

WAC

Having been selected as one of the installation artists for Wells Art Contemporary at Wells Cathedral, my 7m piece Snakes and Ladders (I) will be suspended in the south transept.  I can’t wait to instal it in that magnificent space this week!  

I’ve been very lucky to be able to work on it in a fabulous spacious workshop nearby, thanks to Jen Weaver and Al Crossman for the free space (available to rent - contact tractor.shed). The piece needed repasting and a few other tweaks, so I’ve spent 2 weeks sprucing it up. Thanks also to Nick Weaver for his technical assistance.

Snakes and Ladders (I) in progress

The Private View is this Friday 27 August (do come - PV invite below) and the show runs for a month. 

See previous post for more details about the work.

My work tends to gravitate upwards, downwards, or entwine through - in motion anyway.  There’s a vitality, an ongoingness, entangling or journeying - as with life.  Along these lines, I’m reading Life of Lines by Tim Ingold.

Pyre is off to Taiwan

Packing Pyre, (including counting (85 pieces), weighing, installation instructions and registering shipping on DHL took almost as long as making it!  The work’s going off to the International Biennale, National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute this Thursday - fingers crossed the 3 boxes arrive in tact the other end!

Loft Space (above Heritage Courtyard Gallery)

Loving my new temporary workspace in the loft above Heritage Courtyard Gallery, Wells.  It’s giving me some thinking space along with it being physically inspiring, a space to expand, and document work, in between my other projects. I’m approaching it as a short residency, leading to Somerset Open Studios, (18 Sept-3 Oct).  It’s very timely as my relatively cramped studio at home has no power at the moment!

I’ve been drawing roots with oak gall and Indian ink - the start of a series of drawings and sculptural installations.

I’m working on a new piece for an RSS exhibition at Chichester Cathedral next year - title undecided. My work is based on the plight of pangolins. Recently authorities found body parts of 15,000 dead pangolins in hundreds of bags. The slaughter of Pangolins continues.  This poaching, cruelty, slaughter and greedy profiteering from the death of these beautiful endangered creatures is breaking my heart.  Wildlife trafficking is a vile practice, and those who encourage and commission it must be stopped, shamed and brought to justice. Those who poach need to be given a better alternative - educated/enlisted to save not harm wildlife.

Of Anish Kapoor: ‘…bleeds and disgorges its subterranean innards… push boundaries between sculpture and painting into visceral new ground,… ongoing attention to the abjected body… a theme surely intensified in the pandemic era… when the sense of the vulnerability of the body has become a communal experience.’ ArtLyst, July ’21

I thought this description aptly describes what I’m trying to achieve in my new work.

In the gallery below the Loft, there’s a vibrant exhibition: Inside Out with work by Heather Wallace and Rebecca Barnard - come and visit!

Inch by IN:CH

We had a fantastic pop up event at Backwell Playhouse as part of Inch by IN:CH. It was a brilliant opportunity for dramatic lighting on our work. My piece Hope of a Tree was placed to cast interesting shadows for our shadow drawing workshops, led by Shirley Sharp and me. It was so lovely to interact with the public, who seemed to really appreciate the event. There was a great energy; a strong sense of collaboration and deep focus during the drawing sessions. 

I’m creating a slideshow of my work to be published at the end of the Inch by IN:CH project. See my slideshow of all our work for Backwell. (Photos by Linda Ashe; James Thornton).

Our next stop is a pop up event at Found Outdoors, a beautiful woodland in Erlstoke, Wiltshire on 11th September, with events, and then our finale at The Gauge Museum, West Somerset Railway (25 Sept-3 Oct).

Reimagining Nature

A couple of my small sculptures from the entanglement series, and film Life in the Undergrowth are included in Re-Imagining Nature, an exhibition curated by Zoe Li in the newly transformed gallery in Yeovil - open until 11 Sept, Wed - Fri 11-3, Sat 11-5. 

Giant Octopus

I’m on my way to finishing a giant Octopus commission for Eastover School via Spaeda Arts. Made from recycled materials, parts were created in workshops I ran with the pupils.  Looking forward to erecting it on the 5m wall as a permanent feature.

Workshops

My first workshop back at the Holburne Museum for over a year was a success. Small family groups made wire creatures. I also spent a few lovely hours at Five Trees Bowlish running a free sculpture workshop. Thanks to Shepton Mallet Town Council for funding it as part of Summer in Shepton, and thanks to Sue Ayton-Moon for the great venue and facilities, situated in a field near Shepton Mallet. Participants made a range of pieces using recycled, found and natural materials.

Hope to see you at one of my forthcoming events. See a full list here.

B-Wing Funding Success & New Developments

June brought a stream of thrilling news. After months of what seemed like never-ending funding applications and a long waiting game to hear our results, B-Wing received several grants in succession for our art in prison project. This will enable us to pay artists and engage the wider community in a series of special events including free workshops, talks and exhibition tours. We are so grateful to Arts Council England and The National Lottery for awarding B-Wing a project grant.  We have also received match-funding from Somerset Community Foundation, Shepton Town Council and Cranmore Parish Council - huge thanks to them and to all our supporters (see our website for a full list). It has been worth all the meetings and late nights at the computer. Now onto the next stages of curating and making.

I’m co-curating B-Wing with Luminara Star, alongside 6 other artists/writers. 8 of us will be installing a range of site-responsive visual art, poetry and text-based artworks in the unique spaces of B Wing, Shepton Mallet Prison for Somerset Art Weeks Festival 2019 (21 Sept - 6 Oct).

All the B-Wing artists met together at Shepton Mallet prison recently to celebrate.  Ideas are accumulating, and new collaborations brewing. I’ll be collaborating on work with Lou Baker and Scott Sandford on an immersive piece.

We now have our logo designed (by Chris Lee) and hard work continues, moving the project forward.

In the next couple of months, we are engaging the local community in free one-off workshops leading up to the main exhibition. I’m running 2 free workshops for adults on 23 July and 6 August, creating collaborative artworks (all abilities welcome), to be exhibited at our exhibition ( see poster). We aim to engage the local Shepton community as much as possible. We are also leading workshops at Whitstone schools and a Shepton home ed group this July, and offering free additional workshops for schools at the prison during Somerset Art Weeks as part of the prison’s educational package. For info on these and special events visit B-Wing Community Events and follow us on our social media channels: instagram, twitter and facebook (@bwing2019) #bwing2019 #artbehindbars .

To book a workshop email: bwingsheptonprison@gmail.com

For my B-Wing artwork, I have a few ideas on the go and am looking forward to getting cracking during my residency at the prison in August. I will be working on site using the Servery in B-Wing as my Studio. Some of my B-Wing work is going to be quite large, so making part of it on site will make logistics simpler .

I recently discovered Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Tavola VII (The Bridge), from The Imaginary Prisons series, 1745, thanks to a talk by Helene Bremer at Grow Flow symposium, Pound Arts, Wiltshire. The work reinforced ideas I’ve been developing for months around the theme of rickety ladders. Like the game snakes and ladders, humans seem imprisoned in an eternal cycle of striving, greed, pain, suffering and evil. Louise Bourgeois wrote a series of short stories - illustrated as 9 engravings. ‘He disappeared into complete silence’ features skeletal buildings, claustrophobic cells, dysfunctional spaces, human frailty, separation, isolation. Her floating ladders (plate 8) relate to the story of a man who ‘became cut off from part of the world’ through deafness. My large-scale installation for B-Wing will reflect on similar notions.

Re-Formation

Last week I installed my large sculptural installation Crowns of Thorns for a summer group show Re-Formation at Bishops Palace, Wells, organised by Heritage Courtyard Gallery. It’s made from various re-purposed older works (more than 7), using scrap steel, lead, a hand-woven net made from recycled materials (Canopy, 2016, originally created for RHS Chelsea Flower Show), and glass. The install was a long process, as is often the case with my work, thanks to my son Jack for all his help loading and unloading. I’m so grateful that the weather has allowed me to work outside, as the scale is too large for my increasingly cramped studio. Crown of Thorns investigates ideas about religion and myth, rethinking our belief systems. I’ve really enjoyed working with lead and glass again, playing with their capabilities, both respond so differently to heat and fusion. The materials speak of flux, transformation, contrast, collapse. The exhibition runs from 22nd July - 6 October. Private View 10 August, 6.30-9pm, all welcome!

Drawing on Dorset

My work Traces is included in a publication and exhibition Drawing on Dorset, currently at Fine Foundation Gallery, Durlston, Swanage - an idyllic setting. Part of Durlston Castle, it overlooks the sea, Studland and Isle of Wight. The Private View was held on a perfect summer evening this week, a packed event, which included a panel discussion about the practice of drawing, led by Anita Taylor. Tania Kovats read her beautiful introduction to the book, which begins ‘Make a mark, leave trace, something against nothing...’ I feel honoured to be a part of the exhibition and publication, alongside some great South West artists. The show runs til 17n July, then tours to the Lighthouse, Poole Centre for the Arts, 6-29 Sept.

Marks Hall Summer Exhibition

I delivered my Verticals and Giant Nest to Marks Hall Estate, Coggeshall, Essex last week - 9 hours round trip! Pleased to be showing work in such a beautiful landscape.

Sheds

Due to the nature of my work and my increasingly tight studio space, I’ve spent a few weekends sorting out and fixing 3 old dilapidated sheds in my garden, which will become storage and work spaces. I’m making good progress thanks to the help of Jason Nosworthy and Nick Weaver.

Workshops

I’ve run a range of workshops recently - the furthest was a sculpture workshop using recycled materials at Nottingham High School; a long way to go in a day but what a delightful set of outcomes from 40 Yr 9 students!

For further news of my forthcoming workshops and exhibitions please visit this link.

Happy summer days ahead!

Cocoon for Fresh Air

I completed a new piece 'Cocoon' last week for Fresh Air '17.   Inspired by the puss moth cocoon and pupa, it is a drawing in space, welded, woven and wrapped.  The exhibition starts this weekend and runs until 2 July.

Lead Lines

Months of research and writing for research methodologies on my MA  is now finally over and I am looking forward to focusing more on developing my practice. I have been looking at worms.  I studied an earthworm through a magnifying glass.  Its semi-transparent body enabled me to view its internal organs which buckle and coil as it moves. I am intrigued by a pulsating deep pink artery that runs centrally through the length of their bodies, delineating this coiling movement.  My ideas are revolving around lead lines, reinforced with steel rod in parts, that suggest huge 3d worm forms, skeletal, with linear coiled pink innards made from copper wire, heated red glass, orange twine and plastic strands.  This may change, perhaps it will seem too representational, although the expansive forms meandering through space could be quite breathtaking.

As an experiment, I have created a small worm colony in an old fish tank, with dead leaves for them to munch.  In a few weeks I plan to remove the worms by attracting them to the top, then cast their tunnels.  If it works, it will be interesting to see what their tunnels look like, how they interconnect.

I have cast some more 3d lead lines, using routed wood blocks as moulds, made with a friend (Nick Weaver)’s help.  The wooden lines were gouged with 4 different router cutters, so that I have a range of curved and v-shaped lines.  The process was slow, as the lead didn’t melt properly on my studio electric hob, until I directed a gas blowtorch flame into the hot pan too.  When I poured, the slag remained in the pan, so the lines were smooth, clean lead.   I am considering how these might become more 3d, or whether they don't need to, and how to convey message with method and materials, creating forms that carry natural associations, bridging the gap between science and art.