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.

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!  

All The Colours - CALL OUT!

Help brighten up the buses! 

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

‘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.’

In my project All The Colours I am inviting people to create a collage or submit a photo in one dominant colour, reflecting on your responses to the past year. The images will be transformed into a hologram chameleon. This will change colours at different viewpoints and will be featured on buses for passengers and community to enjoy.

I’ll be running free (covid-safe) workshops; there will be prizes (tickets to Somerset Rural Life Museum), and an online exhibition of all submissions. 

For further information about the project please visit Art First. To submit an image visit All The Colours. 

I’d love you to get involved!

Thanks to those who’ve submitted already.

Image submissions below by: (top) Ann Diment, Jo Hudson, Susie Horner, Carol Fry; (centre) Dimitris Koutroumpas, Diana Terry, Daniel Clayton, Karen Mates; (bottom) Susie Deeprose, Nessa Lloyd-Jones, Carol Fry, Sue Dragt

Life in the Undergrowth

Cocooned in our insular worlds, observing and attending to nature seems vital.  On the whole, I’ve been enjoying my deep seclusion.   Rather than work in the studio, the glorious sunshine and accompanying birdsong draws me outside. I’ve been gardening and making art in tandem, both meditative and feeding off each other.  This fusion initiated my self-directed art project: Life in the Undergrowth.  

I’m allowing the process of investigation to lead me, creating and documenting a series of artworks based on hidden worlds that often get overlooked.  My sketchbook is filling up with observations of seedlings rooting and upturned turf with entangled worms.  Working through different processes of collage and maquette-making using to-hand materials, larger pieces may evolve.

Alongside this, I’ve been making and editing videos of the process.  It’s a steep learning curve.  Covid19 has catalysed a need for online creative provision, so I’m building on my digital skills in order to offer an online art course.  I’ve had some technical advice from Richard Tomlinson, Ignite Somerset and am doing an online teaching course with Future Learning, which is really helpful. The advantages of convenience, flexibility, extended reach, instant access, no travel means it could be a sustainable way forward. Below are 3 short video demos I’ve made of different processes: Plant Fibres in Paper, Paper-making with Plant Fibres, and Collage Making using Old Magazines.  These free resources are for you to try out.  If you’re interested in learning more about my forthcoming events and online art courses, please subscribe here.  My first course will focus on creating nature-inspired sculptures, being experimental, resourceful, and deepening our engagement with our environment. There will be an introductory offer and a free giveaway!

Use natural debris from the garden or park to make simple paper artworks.

For full instructions visit my YouTube channel

Audio: Akale Wube - Ayalqem Tedengo extract

Step by step demo on how to make paper with plant fibres.

For full instructions visit my YouTube channel

Audio - Neroche (Snakes and Ladders)

I was thrilled to be selected as an Art Tour International instagram #stayhome #savelives winner! As a result my work is now featured in a double-page spread in Art Tour International’s latest Spring magazine and I have an online interview coming up this Thursday!

Zoom sessions have been a way to keep in touch with peers and join international conversations. I’m grateful for my connections with an artist-led group INCH, Somerset Art Works and Black Swan Arts.

I’ve been involved in several online and postal collaborations and initiatives, which has been energising: 

Vegetate curated by Anna Souter.   A range of artists, writers, curators, social scientists and others responded to Anna’s text prompts in a postal swop. The postal system acted as cross-pollinator. I received a wonderful piece of lavender smelling poetic prose about nurturing the earth and growth. I was inspired by the words ‘pale hairs sprouting... long enough to comb and plait... The growth shone in the sunshine as I trimmed the ends with bright scissors...’ . Responses were limited to letter size/weight. I made some simple pieces - fine copper wire hairs enveloped in khadi paper, waxed. Now sent off to their designated recipients.

Lockdown Portraits with Tchad Findlay - friendly conversation while creating portraits of each other

Letters to the Earth - Earth Day, 22 April. I wrote the poem for Earth Day, and asked Lou Baker to hang it on her Wishing Tree in Bristol.

A-Z B - Between online exhibition - 44AD 

Gardens of Earthly Delights - curated by Jessica Wetherly. Virtual platform to share hidden worlds.

Somerset Reaquainted with Sara Dudman/SAW members; response to unique period of isolation and renewed proximity to nature. To ‘investigate the minutiae of our local environment, sharpening our senses..’ It completely resonates with my own project.  Artists’ work will be posted in SAW’s Instagram takeover.’ Ongoing.

10gram Challenge. Royal Society of Sculptors members are provided with small pieces of wax to create a mini sculpture to be direct cast into bronze. Ongoing.

#artistsupportpledge. Do visit my Instagram highlight to view my art for sale. I’m offering some pieces at very special prices for this excellent initiative to support artists in difficult times.

This past month in isolation has had its ups and downs. Mind meanderings have been liberating, but also uncover mixed feelings, memories, concerns. I’ve struggled with brain fog, feel pressure to ‘make the most of it’, want to resist the market-driven art world, finding alternative ways to support myself, questioning what is important. It’s amazing how little one needs.

As I write this blog, some excellent news has arrived.  I have just learnt that I’ve been awarded an Arts Council England Emergency Response Fund!  The award aims to help artists who have suffered severe financial losses due to covid19.  It will support my Life in the Undergrowth project, digital development and Online Art Course.  I’m feeling extremely fortunate, so thankful and absolutely over the moon!

Stay safe!