Shaping Up

It’s been a lucky month - full of energy and exciting breakthroughs!

I am thrilled that Sack has been shortlisted for the Cass Art Prize 2025! The prize aims to champion contemporary art from across UK and Republic of Ireland with prizes for different categories. The exhibition will be hosted at Copeland Gallery, Unit 9, Copeland Park, 133 Copeland Rd, London SE15 3SN, Fri 24 Oct – Sat 1 Nov. Do visit if you can!

Sack is made from recycled, found or donated waste materials including jute, fabric (some hand dyed with homemade botanical inks), twine, plastic, polystyrene, rope, wood, wire, mainly sourced from wastelands, riversides, and coastlines. Part of my stilt structure series, it was inspired by stilt dwellings which exist on edges of safety around the world; hybrids implying precarity, adaptability and resilience. It was originally created during my PADA residency last year, located in an old jute warehouse.

Huge thanks to Cass Art and the panel of judges David Mach, Ishbel Myerscough, Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Pallas Citroen, Ryan Lanji, Tim Allen.

I’m also over the moon to have been selected for Wells Art Contemporary Site-Specific Installations 2025! There will be a range of installations created for the interior and grounds of Wells Cathedral, responding directly to this unique space. It will be such an honour to place my work in The Chapter House, my favourite space in the Cathedral. It is the place where the governing body of the Cathedral meet - connect - to discuss, decide, find the right way forward.

This year there’s a theme: ‘Flowing Light’, taken from 13th century mystic Mechthild of Magdeburg’s writings about her relationship with God. Flowing light symbolises enlightenment, interconnectedness, the divine. Artists are invited to respond to this. I’m working flat out making my proposed installation Threads of LIght. (progress pics below - more on this later) The exhibition will be at Wells Cathedral from Wednesday 8 Oct - Sat 1 Nov. Hope to see you there!

Massive thanks to judges Laura Moffatt and Cathy de Monchaux for selecting my work, I’m deeply grateful.

Please join us for the Private View of One Island - Many Visions, Saturday 6 September, 6-9pm.

One Island - Many Visions is a collaborative project featuring the work of 27 artists, a partnership with members of the Royal Society of Sculptors and Portland Sculpture and Quarry Trust.

Sculptures and installations will be located within Tout Quarry Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve and Drill Hall Gallery. Maps available at both locations. The artworks comprise a broad range of responses, media and materials, reflecting diverse contemporary and conceptual approaches to the natural environment.

My site-responsive piece Riot is inspired by Maritime Sunburst Lichen (Xanthoria Parietina), ancient life forms of fungi, algae, and cyanobacteria in symbiosis. Sensitive to atmospheric pollution, signifying pure air, lichen are also resilient and play a vital role in nutrient cycling. Lichen are the slowest growing of all known organisms. The nature of my making is slow too, appropriately. It’s taken me 8 months - in between other work - to make Riot! Threads, hand-stitched, weave together a layered bricolage of line, texture, colour, entanglements. Riot is an artivist piece, a form of soft rebellion. It spotlights our wasteful consumerist society, and negligent treatment of our ocean.

Riot (part II), found, recycled & donated materials: beach waste (ghost netting, rope, hard hats, fishing floats), wire, textiles (some home-dyed with natural pigments), wool, twine, plastic, sponge, polyester, natural debris, sandbags. Some donated by Weymouth & Portland Marine Litter Project

Made in 2 parts, Riot is also wearable. There will be a transient performance during the show, in which the human body activates the work. I’ll be performing with Riot in collaboration with Melanie Thompson at Tout Quarry Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve (Sun 14 Sept, 2-3pm, location: what3words: ///deliver.press.tilts).

Rehearsal with Melanie Thompson at Zig Zag, Glastonbury

There will be a range of other events, including a Symposium (27/28 Sept). I’ll be leading an Eco Sculpture Workshop (Fri 10 Oct 2-4.30pm, Drill Hall). Book: fionacampbell-art@sky.com. I’ll also be taking part in an Artists-in-Conversation, Sun 19 Oct 2pm with Ros Burgin, Nicola Turner, Rebecca Newnham, Kate Parson & Hannah Sofaer, chaired by Freeny Yianni (Close Ltd). Save the dates!

Thanks to Kate Parsons who has worked so hard leading the project alongside a Steering Group (Dallas Collins, Anna Gillespie, Rebecca Newnham and me), and to PSQT for hosting. Thanks to The Arts Society Wessex Area for funding my workshop, and contributing to our events and catalogue. See @oneislandmanyvisions for details.

Tufted Duck is floating in Cranmore village pond (BA4 4QJ, Somerset) until 30 August. Made from recycled and found materials including wire, bottle tops, buttons, beads, lifebuoy ring. I created it for the Eco-Arts Festival Trail, themed Water Life. I worked on it with people of all ages and abilities, including Cranmore residents. The Trail takes place around Shepton Mallet, Cranmore and Doulting, Somerset. Maps from Strode Arms Pub, Station Cafe, Cranmore, One Craft Gallery, and Shepton & Wells libraries.

Photo by Roger Spear

I led a joyful one-day Sculpture workshop ‘Drawing in Space with 3d Materials’ at The Sherborne as a wider offering for the exhibition Recurring Intricacies.

My upcoming courses via Frome Community Education begin in September: Drawing and Creative Sketchbooking. Book soon if interested.

New product in my shop:: a range of copper napkin rings for sale - do take a look.

Fund raiser: I’m extremely thankful to those who’ve donated to my fund-raiser so far: Caroline Driscoll, Hanne Castein, Angela Morley, Claire Alves, Julia Middleton. The fund-raiser (running ‘til the end of August) is to help finance the build of a shed for artwork/storage (see progress pics below - thanks to Roger Spear for all his work on this so far), to work with Melanie Thompson on the Riot collaboration, and film of the performance. If you can help please get in touch. All donors will be acknowledged in my next blog/newsletter and receive a giveaway pack of my greetings cards.

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Workshops, Exhibitions, Residencies

Inch by IN:CH

We had a magical day in the woods at Found Outdoors for our pop-up earlier this month. The light was sublime. ‘The work was held by the environment so well it could have been made for it!’ (Philippa Edwards). 

Our finale at the Gauge Museum (West Somerset Railway, Bishops Lydeard TA4 3RU); 25 September - 3 October, 11am-5pm daily (closed Mondays) is part of Somerset Open Studios.

The event is part of a 6 month travelling exhibition of art in cases. We’re treating this as a residency, so each of us will be working on something in situ.

We have some exciting events for you to take part in! Some are drop-in, others are part of The Big Draw and need to be booked in advance. We’re keen to engage Somerset-based residents.

The first workshop this Sunday will be led by me and Shirley Sharp:

Sculpture and Shadow Drawing Workshop: Sun 26 Sept, 2-4pm. Make sculptures and shadow drawings using wire, clay, newspaper and recycled materials. We will first create heads and other sculptural forms. The artists will then guide you to use these as inspiration to draw sculpted shadows, enhanced by dramatic lighting, using inks and graphite, limited places. For adults and children (accompanied by adult/s). Just £5 for materials. Book via Eventbrite:

Next week:

Family Drawing Workshop: Sat 2 Oct, 2-4pm. Exploring the Journey of Line: where it might go and how it might get there. With Helen Anson & Anna Kot….. Eventbrite,

Family Sculpture Workshop: Combine sculpture and drawing processes using mainly recycled materials; Supported by Somerset Art Works and linked to The Big Draw; Sun 3 Oct, 2 - 4pm Eventbrite

Please share this information with anyone you think might be interested. Our funds depend on participants!

For more events visit www.inchbyinch.uk

Wells Art Contemporary, Wells Cathedral

There’s still time to visit Wells Art Contemporary, where my installation Snakes and Ladders (I) is exhibited. I’m so grateful to visitors, wonderful feedback and photographs of my work. Below are some beautiful shots taken in the cathedral by Barry Cawston, Dominic Weston, Polly Hall, and Jack Robson

Snakes and Ladders (I), Wells Cathedral. Photo by Barry Cawston

Photo by Polly Hall

Photo by Dominic Weston

Photo by Jack Robson

The extraordinary effort and process involved in transporting, fixing together, erecting and suspending the piece will happen in reverse next week! There have been some excellent reviews of the exhibition and installations. It ends on Sunday 26 September, so if you haven’t yet, I’d recommend a visit! :-)

Snakes and Ladders (I) was originally created as part of a series of dysfunctional ladders and hangings for B-Wing, Shepton Mallet Prison. The piece was inspired by Piranesi’s ‘The Bridge’, referencing the human cycle of striving, greed and suffering. The winglike skeletal structure is a precarious stairway, reminiscent of flight and extinct animals hung in museums. My use of recycled and discarded materials relates to waste, our relationship with matter and nature.

Loft Residency

I’m really enjoying my ongoing Loft Residency above Heritage Courtyard Gallery and Studios. Huge thanks to Heritage Courtyard Gallery for all their support, for facilitating my residency, and to all our lovely visitors; it’s been wonderful to meet and chat with friends and new acquaintances. Open 18 Sept-2 Oct, 11-4 (closed Sun/Mon).

Some of my pieces are in progress. I’ll be working on them over the next week or so. The residency is giving me the opportunity to experiment with the space and new ideas using mainly recycled and found materials, responding to ongoing global events and nature’s complex interconnections.

As part of this event I'll be running a sculpture workshop on Saturday 2 October, 2-4pm in the gallery:

‘Inspired by the incredible variety of creatures and plant forms in our natural world, come and explore different processes to create a small sculpture, using recycled and found materials including copper wire. Materials will be provided, but do bring your own collection of buttons, bottle tops and beads to add to your sculpture! £15pp. Book via email: fionacampbell-art@sky.com’.

I’ll be there when the gallery’s open apart from Saturday 25/9, when I’ll be at my Inch by IN:CH venue (16).

Hope to see you at one or more of these events!

For more images visit my Instagram page

Dreams

Collaged impression of my ideal place for Snakes and Ladders (I) for WAC - in the cathedral nave

It’s wonderful when dreams of possibilities become a reality.  Sometimes things evolve beyond expectations, sometimes there has to be a compromise, and one thing always leads to the next. Two new exhibitions involving installations in cathedrals have developed - both thrilling to be part of! Lots of exciting things are happening at once, so the next few weeks will be a challenge which I’m embracing!

Chichester Cathedral

After a year of Zoom meetings and drawing sessions with fellow Royal Society of Sculptors members, a group sculpture exhibition curated by the eminent Jacquiline Creswell is now in planning stages for Chichester’s Year of Culture 2022.  The theme is loosely based around our group solidarity during a difficult year, new hope, and offers an opportunity to take risks.  We had a fabulous day last week on a site visit to the magnificent Chichester Cathedral, and it was great to finally meet some of the group in real life.

The Cathedral is steeped in art with a startling Marc Chagall stained glass window, John Piper tapestry and Graham Sutherland painting, among other works. Thanks to Walter Hussey, Dean of the Cathedral at the time, Pallant House, nearby, houses an astonishing art collection. I spent a lovely morning catching up with old friends and wandering round the Gallery.

I’ve started working on ideas for it, which I’ll be gradually developing over the next few months. It will be an alternative altar piece with hand woven multiple pieces, inspired by the plight of pangolins - the most trafficked mammal in the world. 

Wells Art Contemporary

I’m excited that my work Snakes and Ladders (I) has been selected for Wells Art Contemporary installations at Wells Cathedral!  WAC received 200 applications for installations this year and Simon Periton chose 28. I proposed that my piece might be suspended in the Nave (see top image), but that’s no longer possible, so it will be in the South Trancept, another grand space in the cathedral.

The exhibition will coincide with the installation of a new Antony Gormley work to be exhibited on the West Front of the Cathedral!   The exhibition runs 28 Aug - 26 Sept; PV Fri 27 Aug, 7pm.

Snakes and Ladders was created for B-Wing, a project I co-curated in 2019. The series of dysfunctional ladders and hangings were installed across 3 floors of the massive wing in the decommissioned Shepton Mallet Prison. They ranged in size from 3-7.5metres. Initially inspired by Piranesi’s ‘The Bridge’, from The Imaginary Prisons series, the work relates to the human cycle of striving, greed, suffering and waste. There’s an element of hope, and dreaming.. Snakes and Ladders (I) is a suspended piece, a skeletal structure which appears winglike and bone-like, reminiscent of flight and extinct animals hung in museums. Made from found and recycled materials including wood and newspaper, my use of discarded materials relates to waste, our relationship with matter, nature, and ourselves. 

Snakes and Ladders (I). Photo by Barry Cawston

Thanks to Nick Weaver who will be my technical assistant in the installation process, and who helped me originally.

Inch by IN:CH

Hope of a Tree at ESR, just before the storm. Photo by Linda Ashe

Our travelling group project Inch by IN:CH has now toured to 3 locations - the most recent was East Somerset Railway, a heritage steam railway station in my village, Cranmore. I invigilated daily when open, and got to know the station more intimately. At each venue the focus and work change, there are different people, challenges and achievements. 

We’ve engaged all sorts of people in conversations about the work and wider issues, so our project is doing what we intended - transporting art and ideas to local communities. 

The staff and volunteers at ESR have been so helpful and and intrigued. We’ve had some great interaction from visitors with our Drawing from Cases sessions and my intergenerational sculpture workshops. 

This slideshow gives a snapshot of my work in situ and some of the events I ran. I’ve been moving my piece around, trying it in different spaces..

Our next stop is Backwell Playhouse (23 Mariners Drive, Backwell, West Town, BS48 3HT), involving free shadow drawing workshops led by Shirley Sharp and me, this Saturday 7 August. Exhibition:12-3 pm; Drawing Workshop: 1-2pm & 2-3pm, book via eventbrite.

My Residency in the Loft, above Heritage Courtyard Gallery, Wells will be starting soon. It will give me a chance to re-make, document and focus on new work, as I grapple with unresolved themes and ideas.  The space will be a real treat for me. I’ll be showing the work in Somerset Open Studios 18 Sept- 3 Oct.

Front Cover of a magazine!

Thanks to Mark Adler for taking this great photo and placing me and my work at Frome Museum on the front cover of Mendip Times, August issue!

Other news:

My All The Colours lenticular Chameleon (created with community participation) is travelling around Somerset on the buses - particularly the Bridgwater to Taunton route. Here we are with one of the exterior panels.

Windows on Nature Trail: my mini solo continues at 51 Fore St, Trowbridge BA14 8ES; June-Sept. All work is for sale

I’ll be taking part in Somerset Reacquainted Touring: Re-imagining Nature, Yeovil Art Space (23 Vicarage Walk, Quedam Shopping Centre, Yeovil BA20 1EU).  There will be a selection of work by 20+ SAW artists. Open 4 Aug-11 Sept, Wed-Fri 11am-3pm, Sat 11am-5pm

I’m running the following Workshops:

Wire Sculpture Workshop inspired by nature: Holburne Museum (outdoors), Thurs 5 Aug, 10.30am-1pm, ages 5+. £12, book via Eventbrite

Sculpture Workshop using recycled & found materials, Sat 14 August, 11am – 4pm, Five Trees Bowlish

Other thoughts:

A webinar that particularly struck me was Rivercide with George Monbiot. It’s about how filthy and toxic all the rivers in England have become, linked to poultry intensive farming and sewage works.  Happy Eggs are not happy..  and I’m glad I don’t eat chicken.

The challenges that continue to face artists can lead to burn out and serious financial instability. I’m looking into infusing my practice with more of a business element - watch this space!