Finally completed my piece for the Walcot Chapel MA residency after a week making and installing. There's lots of other work too - come along tomorrow 6-8pm for our Open Eve!
For more information about my MA work visit: fionacampbellblog
mixed media
Egg Sacs and Louise Bourgeois /
The arrival of Louise Bourgeois’ exhibition at Hauser & Wirth, Somerset, coincided with the first weeks on my MA course. I had been looking forward to visiting her show, being a huge fan. A few days before, I had been looking at my collection of ‘finds’ (all sorts of natural phenomena) for inspiration. A dried up fish swim bladder and a sponge-like form found on the beach grabbed me as starting points. I want to investigate similar forms in nature, sometimes micro in scale – their form and function. I’m also interested in drawing more – whatever shape that takes – 3-d and 2-d.
Bourgeois’ work struck a chord. Of course I love her Maman Spider, crouched eerily, over-powering the first barn. I was hoping for more sculpture, but strangely it was her etched drawings of plant forms, bodily parts and egg clusters that fascinated me most. Largescale and awkwardly drawn, they have real emotion, enhanced by repetition.
Her forms resonated with my ‘finds’. I have since looked up my sponge-like object on the internet. It seems to be whelk egg sacs! Serendipity, though not so surprising that I was drawn to Bourgeois’ seductive egg sacs. So I have been drawing the sacs with a view to creating 3-d pieces (drawings?) with wire, paper pulp, fibres and other mixed media based on them. Relic of little lives, now entered into the greater cycle.
Secret Swans /
I am currently working on a new piece for Black Swan's Secret Swans Art Trail.
In celebration of the Black Swan Art Centre's 30th anniversary, the Trail will be part of Frome Festival and Open Studios, running from 1-10th July. A free event, it involves 30 swan-themed artworks in various media and styles. Sculpture, drawing, textiles, ceramics, light and other surprising forms will be on display at venues around Frome, such as shops, cafes, public buildings and outdoor locations. An opportunity for families, art lovers, school groups and adventurers to discover and buy intriguing collectable pieces by selected artists, ranging from silver jewellery, etched and linocut prints to large willow, steel and glass garden pieces. Visitors can make secret auction bids for the work at each trail venue and the winning bidders will be notified at the end of the festival. Badges will also be available for everyone who identifies all 30 artworks and there will be the opportunity to enter a prize draw at the Black Swan. Artists involved include Tessa Farmer, Edgar Phillips, Ian Marlow, Bronwen Bradshaw, Chris Lee, Alicia Merrett, Nina Gronw-Lewis, me, Nigel Evans, Caroline Walsh-Waring and Angela Morley. I will also be working with pupils from All Hallows School on a group wire piece for one of the trail artworks.
The Secret Swans Trail hopes to raise much-needed funds - sales being split between the artists and Black Swan. Trail leaflets will be available from Black Swan and Frome library during the festival. Organiser Nick Weaver says: ”It’s been wonderful to see the variety of interpretations of the swan theme and the quality of work by some great artists. Visitors are in for a treat!”
Hope you can come and visit!
