New Work in Progress

Stilt Structure II (work in progress), found, recycled & waste materials: wood branches, coir, copper wire, handmade naturally dyed & recycled fabric, leather, plastic netting, polyester stuffing, jute, sisal, wool, thread, nylon tights

I’ve been creating hybrid forms around the notion of resilience, adaptation, making do. These precarious, awkward sculptural assemblages incorporate hand-stitched and woven textiles, which carry histories of land, past lives, labour, craft, trade routes, consumerism and waste. Labour-intensive processes relate to care and repair.

Grateful to Roger Spear for the use of his wood workshop and technical assistance.

As Old as the Hills

I’m co-curating a project As Old as the Hills, rooted in heritage and environment, highlighting issues of sustainability. It culminates in a contemporary art exhibition plus events for SAW Festival in the Bauhaus building, Glastonbury. 10 artists will create site-responsive work, some with the community, developing collaborative art: installation, sculpture, textiles, film, photography, performance. Our artworks will respond to place, deep time, climate change: floods, water pollution, and precarity of the peat bogs. The project will be approached as a collective conversation. We want to celebrate biodiversity in the levels & marshes, re-framing the notion ‘as old as the hills’ as forward-thinking rather than anti-progressive.

Upcoming Drop-in Workshop at Collett Park Day, Shepton Mallet, 8 June, with me & Jan Ollis making simple paper casts and embedding river & sea debris. All day; all welcome! Work made will be part of the final As Old as the Hills exhibition.

Awaiting news on our ACE project grant application; work + events will be scaled according to funds. Visit @as.old.as.the.hills for more about the project and my Artist Instagram Takeover this week.

Played and Remade (launched this week)

Thrilled to be part of a new collaborative art & music project with The Piano Shop Bath. Discarded piano parts have been upcycled and transformed into artworks. My 3 pieces Nest, String Theory, & Starfish are for sale. All artworks are available to view online and in The Piano Shop Bath, 1&2 Canton Place BA1 6AA. See article in The Guardian and visit @playedandremade for more info.

Nest, for Played and Remade

Elysia

In April I collaborated with dance artist Vanessa Grasse on her Elysia R&D project in a residency at Create@#8, Shepton Mallet for a week. We collected materials on walks, hand dyed natural recycled fabric remnants with homemade botanical inks, and made eco sculptural wearable artworks. The work relates to hybridity, interconnection between the human and non-human world. The name’s inspired by Elysia chlorotica, a sea slug with plant-like qualities - living testament to hybridity and symbiosis.

It was fascinating creating sculptural textiles to move with the body, and see elements in action.  We shared work in progress on our last day, encouraged people to make a small part, and were treated to a performance - those watching were transfixed. See more in my previous blog.

Elysia, work in progress

Upcoming

Solastalgia Exhibition, Truro Cathedral, Cornwall, 1-14 July. This follows an excellent publication about Environmental art, edited by Summer Auty.  I’ll be showing Glut and Pyre.

Site visits for future projects

Tout Quarry, Portland; Avalon Marshes; Bridies Mount; Mendip Hills

Take a look at my website additions, and follow my instagram channel for more regular updates

Elysia, collaboration with Dance Artist Vanessa Grasse

I’ve spent the past few days working with Dance artist/Choreographer Vanessa Grasse. I was asked to mentor and collaborate with Vanessa on her R&D Project Elysia, to explore the creation of wearable sculptures made from natural and recycled materials.

Based in Leeds, Vanessa has been staying with me in rural Somerset. We’ve been collecting natural materials on walks, hand colouring natural fabric remnants with homemade botanical dyes, exchanging ideas around contemporary sculpture and dance, slime mould and lichen, and working daily at our residency in a large empty shop space Create@#8, Shepton Mallet. The project name is inspired by the Elysia chlorotica, a sea slug with plant-like qualities - a living testament to hybridity and symbiosis. The themes are very much up my street.  See Vanessa’s newsletter here.

It’s been an incredibly refreshing and energising experience, working across disciplines, learning new ways of thinking, approaching art in motion - something I’d like to explore further.  We’ve had fun playing with materials, colours, cavities, lines and blobs, improvising with assemblages around the body in movement, hand-stitching…

We’ll be sharing the work in progress on our last day - Thursday 11 April, 4-5pm. Please join us at Create@#8, 8 Town Street, Shepton Mallet. All welcome!

Elysia R&D project delves into the profound interconnection between humans and the non-human world. It blends outdoor choreography, ecological sculpture, and Land Art processes, towards the creation of a visceral, sculptural, and playful outdoor performance, where hybrid creatures, bodies, natural materials, and the landscape are in metamorphosis.

Humans are intricate ecosystems of a multiplicity of species. Awakening an awareness of our inherent hybridity, has the capacity to alter how we perceive our place in the world and our connection with our ecosystems.

The creative research includes exchanges with academic researchers; sculptors, costume makers and land artists. Elysia is supported by Arts Council England, University of Leeds; Yorkshire Dance, Create@#8.

New Courses:

Vanessa and I met when she did my Online Sculpture Course earlier this year. If you’re interested in doing an art course with me, I’ll be running some new adult Love 2 Learn art courses at Bath College from 17 April:

Sculpture: (Wed am and/or pm)

https://www.bathcollege.ac.uk/course/view/3109/introduction-to-sculpture-23-24

Drawing and Painting (Wed or Thurs)

https://www.bathcollege.ac.uk/course/view/3069/drawing-and-painting-23-24

Please book asap as spaces are limited!

Spring blog

Happy Easter!

I’ve been busy with prep and planning for As Old as the Hills, a community art project I’m co-curating with Jan Ollis. Just submitted an ACE project grant application - second attempt - fingers crossed!  The submission process has been a bit of a slog, but great exercise in working up more detail into our project. As a result, we’ve met and involved new people and organisations in the development of As Old as the HIlls. We now have an even richer social engagement programme leading up to and during our exhibition (Sept-Oct, Somerset Art Weeks Festival). Events will include riverwalks talks, workshops, podcasts and performances led by collaborating artists. If you’re in Somerset, pop along to our drop-in workshop, Collett Park Day, Shepton Mallet (8 June).

I’ve also been making new work for sale, for a recycling project to be revealed soon…

A few upcoming exhibitions and events I’m taking part in:

Casting Shadows ACEarts, Market Place, Somerton, TA11 7NB;  ends on 6 April (open Tues-Sat); with Royal Society of Sculptors members. Stilt Structure I (below) is on show.

Solastalgia Exhibition, Truro Cathedral, 1-14 July. This is connected to an excellent publication on Environmental art, edited by Summer Auty.  I’ll be showing Glut and Pyre.

Tongue, cover of Solastalgia Magazine (issue 2: Terrafurie)

Looking forward to a cross-discipline collaboration with dancer/choreographer Vanessa Grasse.  We’ll be in residence at Create@#8, Shepton Mallet later this week and next. Work will involve collecting materials on walks, and making eco sculptural wearable artworks.

Upcoming Art Courses

I’ll be running some new adult Love 2 Learn art courses at Bath College from 17 April:

Sculpture: (Wed am and/or pm)

https://www.bathcollege.ac.uk/course/view/3109/introduction-to-sculpture-23-24

Drawing and Painting (Wed or Thurs)

https://www.bathcollege.ac.uk/course/view/3069/drawing-and-painting-23-24

Life Drawing (Thurs)

https://www.bathcollege.ac.uk/course/view/3140/life-drawing-23-24

Browse for all courses here:

https://www.bathcollege.ac.uk/love2learn

‘Really varied & enjoyable course - Fiona has a wealth of knowledge - sharing many techniques - and is excellent at encouraging and problem solving personal projects.  The focus of environmental considerations in sculpture is really admirable.’ (L2L Sculpture student) 

'Really enjoyed the course - lots of variety and opportunities to experiment with different techniques and media’ (L2L Drawing & Painting student) 

If interested do book asap.

Images of work by previous students

Other exhibition plans are in the pipeline, more details soon.

Earthlings

Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand, Together We Rise, Chichester Cathedral. Photo by Ann Purkiss.

I’ve had a full-on month!  Some of the stand out events:

Together We Rise opened in Chichester Cathedral at the end of June.  A major exhibition of work by 25 artists from Royal Society of Sculptors (South West), artist-led, curated by Jacquiline Creswell.

My piece Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand was created over a period of 10 months and took 5 days to install - slow, meditative art that is addictive and healing.  Described by another sculptor as ritualistic. The installation process felt like a short residency.  As I worked in the cathedral space, up tall ladders or perched on scaffolding, visitors chatted to me about the work.  It felt important to discuss it. There are over 50 bodily forms relating to the plight of pangolins. These intriguing delightful creatures are the most trafficked mammals in the world. - see my previous blog for details and more images.  I’m frequently having to conquer my fear of heights and I was grateful to those who helped.

I’m in awe of the exhibition and venue. The placement of work is very sympathetic to the space and fabric of the building, thanks to the expertise of curator Jacquiline Creswell.  Extraordinary light and beautiful choir and organ sounds accompany the work, giving it gravitas.  I’m feeling hugely grateful to be part of it, for the support of the Society group, the Cathedral team and hard work of our excellent curator.  As Jacquiline says: ‘we all put our hearts and souls into this exhibition and you can see and feel it’.

The PV was fantastic, with opening talks by Richard Cork (FT Art critic), and The Dean.  I was moved by a highly emotional response to my work:  Friend Sarah James was brought to tears at the sight of it. The exhibition feedback so far: ‘multi-layered, surprising, professional, diverse, strong, symbiotic with cathedral, sits beautifully, remarkable, spiritual, special…’.

The cathedral also has work by Chagall, John Piper and Graham Sutherland among others.

The exhibition runs until 6 September.  Hope you can visit!

Above photos: 1, 2, 3 by Paul Gonella. 4, 5, 6 by Ann Purkiss

Projects often coincide or collide.  I’m co-curating/working on The Gleaning, a collaborative community arts project celebrating diversity, connectivity, and the environment.  Large-scale translucent textile artworks will be suspended in front of clear glass windows in Shepton Mallet’s beautiful church.  Working with Gill Sakakini, Polly Hall and others, we’re delivering a series of free workshops - 2 this week. See full list, funded by Shepton Town Council, Cranmore Parish Council and other donors.

20th July, 10am-12pm – Sweet 11 Cafe, High Street, Shepton Mallet: Cake & Collage

21st July, 3-5pm – St Peter & St Paul Church, Shepton Mallet: Stories with Art

I’ve been working on a large-scale panel themed Earthlings. Stories within a story celebrate fauna and flora, the value and importance of non-humans, and life’s interconnectedness.. For weeks I’ve been hand-stitching remnants together, printmaking and tie-dyeing with home-made plant inks.  On top of collaging and arranging shapes, it takes hours and hours to appliqué pieces together.  We had a lovely time at Collett Park Day with people of all ages getting involved and creating fabulous prints for the panels. A work experience student, Pippa, and local artist Juliet Duckworth worked with me on the Earthlings panel last week.  Many more people have been involved in donating fabric offcuts, fruit nets etc.  We are fund-raising, thanks to our steering group Rosalind Teesdale-Ives, Polly Hall and Lizzie Britain.  Do get involved in some way..

Work in progress for The Gleaning - Earthlings collaboration with Juliet Duckworth

Following on from wire creature workshops with St Benedicts C of E Junior School via LIFE beat, I made a Copper Tree for permanent siting in their Peace Garden, presented on the school’s Wellbeing Day.  Made of recycled copper piping, the tree is designed to support the little sculptures. The creatures represent the school’s ‘Elly’ animals - each having important characteristics to nurture.

Copper Tree with wire sculptures (made in workshops), St Benedicts C of E Junior School, via LIFEbeat

I’m really pleased that Entangled I has been selected for the Royal Society of Sculptors Summer Exhibition by curator Isabel de Vasconcellos. The show will be at 4 Cromwell Place, London SW7 2JE 19-24 July, 10-6 daily.

Entangled I, recycled steel, wire, filter papers, 25 x 26 x 27cms

I made the piece during lockdown 2020 as part of my Life in the Undergrowth project. I was fascinated by roots, shoots and worms in upturned turf in my garden. Work evolved using to-hand and found materials.

I’m clearing the decks a little so I can get stuck into more studio work, and will set up a separate blog for my ACE DYCP work..

Hope you can visit some of these events. And enjoy the sunshine!

Many Happenings

So much happened in April, it flew by and we’re now a third through May!

Materiality

In late April I showed my work in Materiality, an exhibition at Walcot Chapel, Bath, alongside Kate McDonnell, Kelly O’ Brien and Nicola Turner. It focused on the importance of materials through contemporary sculpture and installation.  There was real synergy between the works.  The exhibition ended last Sunday after an incredible week. We were thrilled by so many visitors, and had fun interacting at our various events. Clare Whistler intrigued audiences with her sensitive performative responses to our artwork. Her movement activated the space, and her poetic interpretations of our use of materials offered wonderful insights. 

Snakes and Ladders II, 2022, Materiality

Materiality. Of Bones in foreground

Materiality, Walcot Chapel, Bath. Photo by Kate McDonnell

Of Bones (detail). Photo by David Bird

Materiality, Walcot Chapel, Bath. Photo by Kate McDonnell

As part of our events I ran a sculpture workshop. I loved seeing how intergenerational participants explored the materials in a different way.  Our Materiality Salon involved a candlelit dinner one evening, surrounded by the installations. We had great food, service and conversations around materiality. The evening closed by reflecting on the etymology of materiality - mater (mother). On the last day we held our Artist Talks with Q&A.

Photo credits above: 3 Lou Baker; 4 Juliet Duckworth; 6 Kate McDonnell; 11, 14 Nicola Turner; 15 Rebecca Newnham; 20 David Bird

‘I think this is probably the best exhibition I have seen in this space with the work of all 4 artists making the most of this beautiful building.’ (Anya Beaumont)

‘Spectacularly meaningful and nourishing work… a really inspiring and informative show, fascinating talks, beautiful performance and great workshop! I thoroughly enjoyed immersing myself in sustainability and materiality for the day…. Being with the work and working in the space with you was such a tonic and pivotal to my own practice’ (Karen Goonewardene).

Thanks to everyone who made it to the show and participated! 

Pyre is back from the International Bienale, Taiwan. This film (made by me and my son Jack Robson) gives some insights into the work.

I’ve been enjoying the ritual of stitch in my latest projects. My multi-form piece 'Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand’ (inspired by the pangolin plight) is in the final throes of its making. It will be part of an exhibition Together We Rise at Chichester Cathedral with Royal Society of Sculptors members, 27June-6 September, curated by Jacquiline Creswell. PV 1 July, 6.30pm. Would love to see you there!

I’m beginning to focus more on my next project The Gleaning, which I’m co-curating with Gill Sakakini. It’s a community arts project of immersive textiles installations, celebrating diversity. Large-scale translucent artworks will be suspended in front of clear glass windows in Shepton Mallet’s beautiful church.  Stories will reflect different styles and cultures using recycled and found materials, all made with the community. The final exhibition will be part of Somerset Art Weeks Festival (themed ‘Sanctuary’), 24 September to 9 October ’22. Preparations are in progress for our first workshop at Collett Park Day, Shepton Mallet, on 11 June. As the title suggests, this involves a lot of gathering - of ideas, materials, and people. It’s been fun working with Gill, compiling unwanted sheer fabric, used teabags, tie dyeing with indigo, oak galls and other plant inks, printing samples, collaging, and stitching. We’re seeking funding, so if you can help please let me know!

Prepping for workshops for The Gleaning, with Gill Sakakini

Workshops:

On Earth Day (22 April ) I ran a Greening the Arts workshop via Somerset Art Works, funded by SSL at Somerset Earth Science Centre. Participants used a range of 2d/3d found/recycled materials and objects, including home-made plant inks, made drawing tools from found debris eg feathers and grasses, experimented with processes and combinations, in between discussions about sustainability and the climate crisis.  Everyone made drawings, translucent fibre collages, and small sculptures.  As part of it I compiled a Greening arts Resource list, which will be live on the SAW website.

Greening Arts Workshop

Circle of Life was a project I worked on via SPAEDA, involving Churchstanton Primary schoolchildren making headdresses, masks and costumes using recycled and found materials, inspired by the Lion King production, African art and ecology. These came together in a final story/dance performance in early April. Covid affected the project as several of us went down with it, but still very pleased with results!

Photos (above, bottom row) by: 1, 2,3 Jenna Creasy, SPAEDA; 4 Steve Richardson, Somerset County Gazette

Below: colourful outcomes from a Birthday Party wire workshop I ran

In my voluntary role on the Black Swan Arts Programming Group, I helped Simon Hitchens curate his exhibition Beyond Body (Long Gallery).  The work explores the notion that there is the possibility of a state of being, sentient or otherwise, that is post-human.  His talk will be on 19 May 6.30-7.30pm.

Alongside, I’m showing Verticals in Black Swan’s Round Tower as part of Celebration, an exhibition which celebrates the people behind BSA’s community arts centre.  If you’re in Frome, do visit.

I did an Instagram Takeover for the Ingram Collection last week. Head over to their page to spot my posts.

Just spent a weekend in Devon and Cornwall, including a site-visit to Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, wonderful tour by owner Neil Armstrong and picnic with Royal Society of Sculptors members.  It’s staggeringly beautiful, with lush tropical architectural plants, magnificent trees, many used to embrace or support the installations by sculptors including David Nash, Richard Long, Kishio Suga, James Turrell and fellow RSS member Seamus Moran.  We’re planning a group show there in 2023 - exciting!

See my instagram page for regular updates.  And do visit my shop for drawings, cards, gifts and more…


Thanks for reading this bumper blog, and hope to see you at a future event!

Fiona x