Upcoming: Somerset Open Studios

Grass Roots, charcoal on Fabriano paper

I’m preparing for Somerset Open Studios (16 Sept - 1 Oct).  My studio and garden will be open to visitors at Venue 12, Cranmore BA4 4RH, daily 10-5. Thanks to East Somerset Railway for allowing me to use their engine shed for some small scale metal fabrication.

Wander_Land (Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens & Gallery, Penzance, Cornwall) is now over. It was such a joy to work together with colleagues from Royal Society of Sculptors. Creating, installing, and working behind the scenes has been all-consuming. It was lovely to have others’ responses to the work; feedback has been rewarding and encouraging. Flags of the Forest was challenging and ambitious in scale. People found it emotive, apocalyptic, tribal, hopeful, ephemeral, rapturous, joyous, ‘extending line out into the world.. with a sense of survival’… (Listen to my podcast with Doug Burton). The show ended with a Closing Event: talk/demo by Jane Fox, and performances by Barbara Beyer, Dallas Collins, Ann-Margreth Bohl and Tabatha Andrews.

My work was about caring for the environment, valuing every small thing, life’s entanglements. Sited on a hill overlooking the sea and St.Michael’s Mount, stormy weather was quite harsh on my outdoor piece, but I learnt to let go. Fading colours, wear and tear became part of the work. Tibetan prayer flags (reused in the work) are allowed to disintegrate over time. Tibetans believe the prayers will be spread by the wind and bring goodwill and compassion to all beings. Mine were made in honour of nature (esp. trees, forests..) to celebrate its resilience, despite our destructive, greedy tendencies, and repair a degrading world. There is hope that we might all join forces and make amends. It would be interesting to create a piece of work that intentionally invites the wind to do its tangling.

Thanks to: Neil Armstrong, owner of Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens for his support; Martin Holman who helped with curation and his excellent text; Steering Group (Seamus Moran, Ann-Margreth and Mark Richards). Special thanks to Shey and Jo Moran for their wonderful hospitality; Shey and Pauline Antram for helping with my takedown, and James Vane for excellent transportation.

Grateful to David Bird for the video (above) and to visitor Mick Waite for these detail pics of Flags of the Forest

Road trips

I’ve been taking some time off to pause, reflect, get inspiration, and reconnect with people. I ventured to art exhibitions and venues further afield, some I’d never visited, and have enjoyed meeting up with fellow practitioners and friends.

Above: 1 Fay Ballard, Lines of Empathy, Close Ltd; 2 Deborah Duffin, If Not Now, When, Hepworth Wakefield; 3 Cornelia Parker (“); 4 Raisa Kabir, Bluecoat, Liverpool; 5 Antony Gormley, Crosby Beach, Liverpool; 6, 7 Julien Creuzet, Tobacco Warehouse, Liverpool; 8 Albert Ibokwe Khozas Tobacco Warehouse; 9 Fachima Rodrigo Tate Liverpool; 10 El Anatsui Tate Liverpool; 11 Leonardo Drew, Yorkshire Sculpture Park; 12 Phyllida Barlow, Leeds Art Gallery; 13 Leeds Art Gallery; 14 Sonia Boyce, Leeds Art Gallery; 15 Gilbert Bayes Award Winners exhibition, The Art House; 16, 17 Anselm Kiefer, Finnegans Wake, White Cube; 18 Frances Carlile, WAC, Wells; 19 Will Cruikshank, Threads, Arnolfini Bristol; 20 Alice Shepherd-Fidler, Studio.

Loved Liverpool, now one of my favourite cities - such an impressive fusion of contemporary and heritage architecture, friendly people and a vibrant contemporary art scene, especially during the Biennial, this year curated by Khanyi Silembongwa. The Kiefer show at White Cube, London, reminds me of my (much smaller) collected hoards of scrap materials and how I can use and reuse old works for new beginnings.

My drawing Iris Roots, charcoal on Somerset paper, is entered into the London Graphic Centre exhibition and prize. The People’s Choice award is open for your vote until the end of Wed 16 Aug. If you like it, please vote for no 32 https://www.londongraphics.co.uk/peoples-choice-award-entries

Do also visit my online shop to purchase my work. Prices are going up soon…

Hope to see you at my Open Studios!

End of a Busy Time

A whirlwind of overlapping projects came to a crescendo last month. In addition to featuring in WAC, Wells Cathedral, I had 2 venues during Somerset Open Studios - one an art residency and solo in the spacious Loft above Heritage Courtyard Gallery and Studios.  The second was our Inch by IN:CH finale. I ran workshops as part of these events, and invigilated daily.  All went surprisingly well, though felt shattered after takedown last week!

Loft Residency & Solo Exhibition

My residency was a great opportunity to test ideas and curate a body of work in an interesting space.  Some pieces were reconstructions; others new and exploratory. Threads connected the drawings to sculptural installations, loosely hinged on entanglements.  I welcomed conversations with visitors and appreciated the feedback.  There was a sense that the sculptures were alive. 

Visitors’ comments:

‘Awesome, imaginative installations, gives me some inspirations to move me forwards’

‘Very stimulating. Captures so much’ 

‘What impresses me most is the subtlety of sewing together the most varied colours and shapes into a cohesive and harmonious whole’

‘Inspiring, energetic insect-like pieces’

‘Fabulous, intricate, complex - great to see work in progress. Very evocative!’

‘..made me think of Merlin Sheldrake’s book on Fungi. Exhibition captured me immediately’

‘Otherworldly and thought provoking’

‘Fascinating range of exploratory work’

’So-o-o inspiring working with the natural materials..’

I’ve loved my time there and really grateful to Heritage Courtyard Studios for their support. I’ve made a short film of the residency - thanks to Rebecca Barnard for footage, and Dan Hopkins, Jack Robson and Nigel Evans for some of the photos:

Inch by IN:CH Collaboration

Inch by IN:CH, now over, was a formidable undertaking at a difficult time.  We had many conversations with visitors, in relation to the work and wider issues. Taking our work to places where people didn’t expect to see art, responding to changing environments and pressures, our project accomplished what we intended - transporting art and ideas into local communities. 

We had a fantastic finale at the Gauge Museum, West Somerset Railway, ending 3 October.  It was filled with activities, visitors, participants and creative energy!  We ran several workshops, linked to The Big Draw.  Mixed ages created together using a range of media and techniques, 2d to 3d.  We were delighted with the large turnout of participants and their responses.

Jenna Myles (Somerset Cool/BBC radio) visited and interviewed us, trialing a Sculpture and Shadow Drawing Workshop I ran with Shirley Sharp.  I featured on BBC Breakfast radio with Charlie Taylor on the last day (1:53 - 1:58).  We were thrilled with an excellent review of our project by Fiona Robinson, for Evolver magazine. 

It’s been wonderful travelling around parts of the south west to such an interesting range of venues over the past 5 months! We’ve learnt so much as a collaborative artist group, and thrilled that it’s been a success!  Hard work.  But an incredible journey.  We’re so grateful to all our visitors and supporters.  

Hope of a Tree, The Gauge Museum. Photo by Jenna Myles

WAC

It was sad taking down my Snakes and Ladders (I) installation from Wells Cathedral, a highlight of this year.  Feedback has been very positive. Many thanks to Nick Weaver, WAC and Wells Cathedral team for helping with de-installation. It was an honour to be part of this fabulous show!

Snakes and Ladders (I). Photo by Dan Hopkins

A big thank you to everyone who came to see my exhibitions and supported along the way!
Things are easing a bit for me, and I’m beginning to feel restored :-)

Other News

My work Pyre will be on show in Taiwan soon, as part of the International Biennal for fibre art: Change, 12 Nov ‘21 - 10 April ‘22

My giant Octopus installation, created with students at Eastover Primary School, Bridgwater, via SPAEDA is being appreciated by the school. See pics from a site visit/photoshoot, and below.

Me with pupil and giant Octopus installation, Eastover Primary School. Photo by Alice Crane, SPAEDA.

Time to focus on my ongoing installation for a group exhibition with Royal Society of Sculptors ‘Together We Rise’, Chichester Cathedral 2022, being curated by Jacquiline Creswell.

A very exciting London exhibition is coming up (details to be announced soon)!

I’ll be working on my website e-commerce shop in time for Christmas, and currently making a batch of small copper bowls for Durslade Farm Shop, Hauser & Wirth Somerset. Always grateful for sales ;-)

I’m part of a Reading Circle ‘All We Can Save’. Rather than just hope, we’re discussing ways to act in courage. ‘All you touch changes’. ‘Indigenous ways of knowing.. [deemed] primitive.. are now being ..sought to save our environment..’ ‘Diversity fosters social coherence’; we need to ‘evolve into a state of interbeing with the rest of life..’

Countdown to COP26 in November requires ‘injections of imagination about how harmful systems and embedded inequalities can change for the better’…

Latest Projects

In the garden during Open Studios. Photo by Jason Bryant

I had a wonderful fortnight spending quality time with those who managed to get to my Open Studio, part of Somerset Open Studios 2020, in sunshine or rain. I’m really grateful to all my visitors. Along with making a few sales and new leads, I had some really great conversations. Below is a slideshow of the event and some of the feedback:

Fiona reminds us that the sharp divide between the living and the dead is not sharp at all (G.Dunlop)

Love how the garden informs the work and are one (R.Newnham)

A beautiful early autumn day in your magical garden; love seeing the ‘established’ works now blended into the landscape while the new pieces take shape on the lawn.  Your new processes - scorching, hanging, collecting - are fascinating.  Always something more to be found beyond the immediate (V.Keemar)

Thank you, Fiona, for bringing such beauty into our world. Goodness know we need it.  We are Nature and Nature is us.  Your work is inspirational (S.Herfet)

Absolutely divine - I adore your work and garden.  Such beauty and tenderness.  I love the organic nature of your art.  Soothes my sore soul. Thank you (T.Potts)

Really inspiring, fascinating to see the range of your ideas and commitments.  Truly value your references to world and global issues and your totally fascinating ways of interpreting and bringing it to our attention, as well as making beauty.  Thanks you for sharing (S.Hulejczuk)

Somerset Reacquainted continues at Somerset Rural Life Museum, Glastonbury until 21 November, Wed-Sat, 10-5 (booking required). Images and objects from my lockdown project Life in the Undergrowth feature in this exhibition, along with work by 62 other Somerset artists. I took part in a podcast with other artists on Friday 2 October. You can listen to it here. Great to see the exhibition featured on BBC Points West.

Earlier this month I installed a new sculpture Blackbird above the entrance to The Art Bank, Shepton Mallet. It features in a Bird Trail around the town, commissioned by Shepton Town Council. 7 artists have created British bird sculptures using natural and recycled materials for a 2 month free art trail for the public to enjoy.

Blackbird 95cm (L) x 68cm (H) x 34cm (D) aprx, recycled and found steel, tin, copper wire, plastic

On Friday 23 October, 6-8pm I’ll be taking part in Shepton on Show,  organised by The Art Bank in the centre of Shepton Mallet.   I’ll be doing a large-scale backlit performative drawing, linked to the worldwide drawing festival The Big Draw: Climate of Change, in One Craft Gallery, Shepton town centre. There will be surreal fantasy window performances around the town by local businesses and individuals. Come along and watch fantastical performances in windows - a celebration of the creativity in Shepton.  Free (safe) fun :-).

Prepping for Shepton on Show

I recently went to London for Frieze Art Week. 2 days visiting exhibitions and another day at Centre of Gravity, Bristol has sated my need to see some contemporary art in person. Images below: Frieze Sculpture, Regents Park: Arne Quinze, Lubaina Himid, Gazelli Art House, Sarah Lucas; Endless Column IV, Cornelia Parker, Frith Street Gallery: immaculately flattened silverware suspended just above ground - so beautiful; Giuseppe Penone, Among the Trees, Hayward Gallery: staggering pieces stood out; Off Grid, Olivia Bax, Standpoint Gallery; 6 Sculptures.., Anthony Caro, Annely Juda Gallery: I found connections between Bax’s work and Caro’s tabletop sculptures. Steel drawn lines against hollow biomorphic forms; line versus solid - perhaps because they’re qualities in my own work; Five Hides, curated by Thorp Stavri: incredible old Victorian swimming pool/boxing ring, now derelict - perfect for huge sculptural and textiles pieces; Centre of Gravity, old Gardiner Haskins building, Bristol: another monumental space ripe for contemporary art.

I had lovely interlude out sketching with my cousin in the sunshine in my local area of Somerset. I feel rejuvenated and ready to start experimenting in the studio again.

I’ll be running another online sculpture course in January. If you’d like details please get in touch.

A few other projects are in the pipeline - watch this space!

Take care :-)

New Film, Open Studio

Preparations for Somerset Open Studios. Photo: Seamus Nicolson

During the past few months, starting in the extraordinary silence of lockdown, I created a project LIfe in the Undergrowth.  I’m excited to have just completed a film as the final outcome (watch below).  In contrast to creating sculptural installations, I’m very much at the beginning of my crossing into digital technology and film-making. This film documents my isolation project and represents my first serious experiments with film-making.

Life in the Undergrowth, Digital Film - duration 10:33 mins. Audio: The Healing, Sergey Cheremisinov

Special thanks to Arts Council England/National Lottery Emergency Response fund, Richard Tomlinson (Ignite Somerset) and Jack Robson for their support.

Time Capsules, found objects: rusty nails, plastic, ceramic fragments, glass bottles, wood, chain, teeth, bones, plant debris, lead..

In advance of finishing the film, I created Time Capsules. The found objects are attached to each other with fine copper wire, like a net, suspended on a steel structure. They were excavated from the earth in my garden, each with a story - some known and others a mystery. During lockdown I dug up a lot of soil to make space for a studio bay. Some of the objects were buried quite deep... eg: giant molars from a large animal (horse, cow, sheep, rhinoceros..?!)  I borrowed the title from a phrase Cornelia Parker used to describe her work. The objects represent a moment in time, and time passing. Everything is connected. I love the shadows, which enhance the concept of time, memory, drawings, space.

For more about the project visit Instagram @life_intheundergrowth.

My Life in the Undergrowth project will be showing alongside some of my other work during Somerset Open Studios, opening next weekend (19 Sept - 4 Oct).  You’re welcome to visit by appointment.  This sunny start to autumn is perfect for a wander in the fresh air of my garden, and safe measures will be in place in the studio: Venue 70, West Cranmore, BA4 4RH. T: 07515537224 or E: fionacampbell-art@sky.com

Glimpses of work for Somerset Open Studios. Photos: Seamus Nicolson

To see other venues visit the SAW map

My work will also be showing at Somerset Rural Life Museum for Somerset Reacquainted. The exhibition involves 63 Somerset artists’ responses to lockdown, and brings together digital images, films, writings, objects and artworks.  Open 19 Sept - 21 Nov, Wed-Sat, 10-5 (pre-book, entrance fee applies).   There will be a series of podcasts.  I’ll be talking with other artists on Fri 2nd Oct, 6-7pm - hope you can join us.

I’ve been creating online resources and workshops for various creative projects, including SAW, Art UK and Make the Sunshine (image below). Links on my Workshops page.

Last month was taken up with running my 5 week Online Sculpture Course. I had an inspiring group of people from different parts of UK and Europe.  I was thrilled with their responses, energy, imagination resourcefulness and enthusiasm. The range of processes and different outcomes was amazing (see below)! If you’re interested in doing the course next year please email me your contact details and visit instagram #onlinesculpturecourse2020.

Images (above): work by participants: L to R clockwise: Gina Glover, Nicky Oram, Jenny Graham, Sarah Herfet

Images (above) L to R:  Nicki Davey, Louise Wood, Belinda Cooper, Nicky Oram, Diana Terry, Gina Glover, Sarah Herfet, Louise Wood, Trudy Smith, Karen Chard, Sonia Hulejczuk, Maxine Alexander

Quotes from participants:

My confidence has blossomed..  I've soooo enjoyed this course! Sarah Herfet

This course gave me the inspiration and… impetus to actually… create something.  It also gave me ideas that I wouldn’t otherwise have thought about. Nicki Davey

It was a joy to find books and ideas which connected my experience as a maker within the context of contemporary fine art. Diana Terry

It has been a joy making and sharing. Nicky Oram

Brilliantly delivered by Fiona, through her weekly blogs/zoom and Whats App presentations. Gina Glover 

It’s the last week of the Royal Society of Sculptors Summer Exhibition - if you’re in London don't miss it! The Exhibition has been guest curated by Robert and Nicky Wilson, founders of Jupiter Artland. I visited it in August and loved it! It’s a really vibrant, playful visceral show with a range of large and smaller intriguing works. My piece Accretion is a tentacular form - a metaphor for waste. The show is on until 18 September, Mon-Fri, 11am-5pm, Royal Society of Sculptors, 108 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3RA

It would be great to see you at my Open Studio.

Keep well :-)

July News

Life's become a bit hectic once again with an influx of work, making films for online workshops and the #onlinesculpturecourse2020 I’m running.   

As a result, my own creative output has slowed down considerably in the past few weeks.  The glut of found objects (nails, ceramic remnants, glass, bones, metal components..) I excavated from digging a huge mound of earth in my garden became the focus for a new piece (currently untitled). The finds - each with their own history - have been attached onto a 3d net construction.   Loving their wonderful state of decay. Like fossils, they have fired my imagination. The digging is to make space for an outdoor studio area - still in progress! 

I’ve also started making a film for @life_intheundergrowth and hope to have this completed by September, when I open my studio (by appointment) for Somerset Open Studios (19 Sept - 4 Oct).

My pond's finally been cleaned out by garden designer Mark Belcher (after 14 years!) so the fish, frogs and newts are happier now. The complex root systems of the pond plants had taken over. Such a mass of interconnected lines. 

There’s still time to visit the following live exhibitions:

Royal Society of Sculptors Summer Exhibition (Dora House, 108 Old Brompton Rd, London SW7 3RA, til 18 Sept, Mon-Fri, 11-5).  This year’s show has been selected by Nicky and Robert Wilson of @jupiterartland 

Incendiary at Pound Arts, (Corsham, SN13 9HX, til 7 Aug, open Tues, Thur, Fri 11-4; and 

About Trees at Heritage Courtyard Gallery, (6 Heritage Courtyard, Sadler St, Wells, BA5 2RR, by appointment).  

My work has also been selected for Hauser & Wirth's Homegrown online exhibition now live.   10% of gross profits going to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization as part of #artforbetter,  

I’ve taken part in Somerset Reacquainted - a creativity-in-isolation project for Somerset Art Works members.  The project encourages artists to refresh their engagements with the locality, using the ideas of reacquaintance as a starting point to discover and re-discover the excitement and purpose in their artistic practice. 

Online Workshops:

Creativity Works 30 Day Challenge (19 Aug)

Art UK Home School (coming soon)

Somerset Art Works Family Friendly workshops (19 Sep-4 Oct)

Make the Sunshine - The Happiness Hunt challenge (end of Aug)

Coming Soon:

This year’s Somerset Open Studios (September 19th– October 4th) will be a digital extravaganza, with some venues (including mine) opening by appointment.