Gathering

January is supposed to be a time for reflection, but with many projects gathering and colliding, it was full-on for me!  I think it was my busiest January ever. On the last day of the month I celebrated and took a much-needed breather with friends at Dawlish Warren beach - while collecting all sorts of goodies for ongoing work ;-)

Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand

I’m developing my series of multi-forms for an exhibition later this year: Together We Rise, Chichester Cathedral with RSS members, curated by Jacquiline Creswell.  The work’s inspired by the plight of pangolins, slaughtered/shipped in their thousands, wildlife wet markets and animal extinctions. The working title is Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand, after a series of Renaissance paintings (mainly by Durer) of the same title.

Stitch by stitch, a growing collection is slowly gathering in my studio (images above). I’m using recycled materials that are layered, hand-stitched, wrapped, tie-dyed with plant-based inks, and waxed over woven structures.  It’ll take me a few months, but I’m enjoying the labour-intensive process, which relates to care and repair. I still need to make about 25 more, so it’ll be head down for a few more months!

RSS Talk

I really enjoyed sharing my work in an online talk I gave last week to RSS members. I was so grateful and moved by the responses and feedback, and feeling energised from the conversations. Thanks to Simon Hitchens for inviting me to share my work. Image 1 (below) by Rebecca Newnham - diagram about interconnection while listening to my talk. Image 2: collage done in Sculptors Drawing Space - thinking through ideas for my installation.

Snowdrop Festival

I’ve been commissioned to make 3 giant snowdrop sculptures for the Snowdrop Festival, Shepton Mallet, 19-20 February.  A lot of time is spent gathering materials. I’m using recycled copper piping and wire for the structures and grateful for contributions from Cranmore/Dean residents of plastic and tent fabric, which will be added as a ‘skin’ for the petals, stems and leaves. Do visit the festival if you’re nearby and look out for the sculptures at the entrance to Collett Park, opposite Whitstone School, Shepton Mallet during the Festival.  

As part of the Festival, I’ll be running a wire sculpture workshop at The Art Bank BA4 5AA on Thursday 24th Feb, 10.30am-1.30pm. Further info here.

Pyre

Pyre is currently on show in Transfiguration, International Biennal 2021, National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute, Taiwan, until 12th April ‘22.

I have an image in the solargraphic exhibition Slow Time, at Black Swan Arts. It shows a collection of long-exposure photographs of Somerset landscapes created with recycled drinks cans. I loved learnng about the process in a workshop with Janette Kerr and John Gammans, and looking forward to making more sun trail images with my newly created pin hole can/cameras.

Online sculpture Course

We’re coming up to the final week of a 5-week online course I’ve been running. I’m delighted with the experimental nature of work-in-progress by participants and their feedback so far.  Participants are from various parts of UK and USA, including MA students, art enthusiasts and one who is doing it for a second time.  Content (focused on 3d work using recycled/found materials) includes a weekly blog with content-rich info/demos, Zoom sessions, 1-to-1s, What’s app and instagram sharing: #onlinesculpturecourse2022. Looking forward to our final zoom presentations next week!

Private Tutoring

I’ve started tutoring privately, and enjoying it.  If you’re interested in being tutored in art let me know!

Featured in a Blog

Thanks to Ruth Connolly for her excellent blog which features a section about about my work and practice related to nature and environment, and work I made supporting the brilliant initiative #artforyourworld (via #artistsupportpledge). The donation to World Wildlife Fund from a sale was a small gesture towards helping important environmental projects.

Shop

I have signed giclee prints, original drawings and sculptures for sale - do have a look.

Coming soon:

Workshops and resources are being developed with SAW for Greening the Arts - more info soon.

Books

I’m currently reading Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangeld Life and loving it! ‘ As.. vexed hierarchies.. soften, our ruinous attitudes towards the more-than-human world may start to change… ’We’ are ecosystems that span boundaries and transgress categories…Mycelium is… the living seam by which much of our world is stitched into relation… Nature is an event that never stops’..

And I recently read All We Can Save as part of a book circle initiated by Kelly O’Brien. ‘My heart is moved by all I cannot save:

so much has been destroyed

..’ Adrienne Rich

I recommend them both!

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!  

Welcome Spring

What a joy to have spring sunshine and bulbs growing, after such miserable cold months in confinement.  New beginnings bring hope! 

It’s surprising what can be achieved under difficult circumstances. Time in lockdown has gone fairly quickly, as I’ve been working on several projects and finding alternative work solutions, although often computer bound.

In between, I’ve been developing new work in the studio, exploring ideas through collages, maquettes, sketches, and gathering materials.  In contrast to my last piece The Fall (see previous posts), my next feels hopeful.  Ideas are developing of ascending lines expanding beyond grid-like constrictions into lightness and recovery, though precarious.  Yellow is my new colour depicting hope and optimism.  I’ve been naturally dying and hand-stitching recycled textiles, rubber, latex, and plastic as patchworks of repair.  Branching umbrella frames may become supporting skeletal structures. 

A lot of the found and recycled materials I’m using have been sourced locally or donated by friends - thanks to those who’ve helped.

Short Film

A short film about my sculptural practice using textiles has been commissioned by Art UK, working in partnership with Culture Street and Royal Society of Sculptors.  Due to covid and lockdown, it was delayed for a year.  In the end, the artist interview was conducted over Zoom and I supplied footage.  Aimed at schools, it’s one of 10 new film commissions about sculptors and their different processes, as part of a major initiative to put online UK’s sculpture collection. I’m honoured to be included in the series!

All The Colours

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

‘Artists 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.  Covering multiple art forms from poetry through photography to collage, our artists will guide you through the process, giving you tips to find inspiration in your everyday lives to create something magical. All creations can be submitted and your submissions will then be combined into artworks to be exhibited on the buses and online.’

In my project All The Colours I’m inviting people to create a collage in one dominant colour, reflecting on their responses to a bus journey, the past year, a particular experience, mood, feeling, moment, personal or global memory. The images will be part of a co-created artwork which will be transformed into a hologram chameleon. This will change colours at different viewpoints and will be featured on 30 buses for passengers and community to enjoy.

I’ll be running FREE workshops, there’ll be prizes and an online exhibition.  Below is a slideshow I made to offer examples of collages in a dominant colour.

For further info and to participate please visit my page All The Colours.  If you’re based in Sedgemoor, and/or have travelled on buses in the area, please get involved and spread the word!  

Inch by IN:CH

I’m part of an artist-led travelling project Inch by IN:CH, bringing contemporary art out of galleries and into community areas across South West UK. Between May-October ’21, 11 artists will each present mixed media works including painting, light projections, assemblage and sculptural installations, transported in cases from one place to the next.  At each location artists will engage the public through activities (covid protocol in place).

The locations we’ve chosen are unexpected venues for art. One of our venues, East Somerset Railway, is in my village.  Our finale venue will be at the Gauge Museum, Bishops Lydeard Station, West Somerset Railway, the longest heritage railway in England. We will show our work in the newly restored museum, in one of two remaining Victorian Sleeper cars, and spilling out onto the platform. These popular venues for families and train enthusiasts are evocative, meaningful settings for art about transportation of ideas.

We’re so grateful to sponsors including The Arts Society, Somerset Art Works, The Gane Trust,  individuals and supportive venues: East and West Somerset Railways, Fringe Arts Bath and Found Outdoors. We’ve submitted our Arts Council funding application, so fingers crossed we receive this crucial support to bring free programming and events to mixed audiences.

Online Sculpture Course

I recently finished running my second online Sculpture Course. The focus is on nature, using recycled and found materials. Participants produced some awesome work, sourcing their own found materials, and finding so many ways to use them creatively. 

Images: Jinny Jehu; Gwynne Penny;  Barbara Griffin; Magdalena Musanovi

To see more please visit Instagram: #onlinesculpturecourse2021
Let me know if you’re interested in my next course (dates TBC).

Inspiration 

Online meetings and talks have been convenient, with the benefit of international reach. Through zoom I’ve loved connecting with fellow artists. Royal Society of Sculptors meet-ups and new weekly sculptors drawing sessions have been helpful to focus and free the mind.  We are currently working on an exciting group exhibition.

The Overstory, a book by Richard Powers, has inspired new work: There are no separable events. The bird and.. branch.. are.. linked creatures..; ‘reiterated trunks .. shooting up parallel like the fingers of a Buddha’s upraised hand.. tufted spires… swirled in the gauze of a Chinese landscape… fungi and lichen everywhere, like splatters of paint from a heavenly can’

Other relevant resources:

Tim Ingold: Facing the Anthropocene: Life is always creating itself.. Lines are animate... I’ve started Tim’s book Life of Lines, and also The Mushroom at the End of the World (Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing)

James Aldridge: Queer Rivers Art Earth: Where does a river stop? Everything is fluid, interconnecting….

Phyllida Barlow: Small works made with the minimum of ambition... Sculpture is a restless art form…

Artists inspiring me: above left to right: Giulia Cenci; Daiga Grantina; Monika Sosnowska; Janet Echelman

Other News

I’m part of the Solargraphic Society of Somerset (Mendip area) organised by Janette Kerr. I put up my pin-hole can camera with light sensitive paper in my garden and look forward to the results in 2 months.

My Bulrushes are now installed in their new home in the midlands (left: pic in snow)

Delighted that my Blackbird sculpture (commissioned by Shepton Mallet Town Council for a Bird Trail last autumn) has been selected as a permanent feature above The Art Bank entrance in the town centre.

Forthcoming Events

Inch by IN:CH a travelling project considering transition, interchange and the transportation of ideas. Various venues, South West UK, 28 May - 3 Oct 

Royal Society of Sculptors 10 gram Challenge exhibition: 28 June – 18 Sept

I’ll be giving an online talk via Red Line Art Works on 25 March, 7pm (GMT). If you’d like to join the talk, please register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZApcuiurzkvHtFe6fjc4ZqzB2doWh5SiyNu

In support of the Arts, please visit the Art Is Essential campaign, aimed at raising awareness about the importance of the Arts to a healthy society.

This past year has been a huge jolt to us, and despite the sad and tragic happenings, I’m hopeful that we have come out of it stronger and better.

Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year!

A few updates to round off the year:

Exciting news!  I’ve been selected for a commission with SEED and First Bus.  I will be working with the community to co-create artworks to be installed on First Buses across Sedgemoor in 2021.   It will be something a bit different to my usual work, and will stretch me in new ways.   More details coming soon…

Our travelling group exhibition is getting more compelling as plans develop.  Inch by IN:CH is an artist-led project for ‘21, bringing contemporary art out of studios and galleries and into communal areas of our everyday lives.  Small-scale works in cases will be transported from place to place, migrating outwards in a spiral.  11 artists will engage with local communities through workshops, talks and performances.  We’re looking for match-funding for our ACE application, so if you can help in any way, financially or in-kind, do let me know!

My latest piece The Fall is almost at the point where I can call it ‘finished’ (see previous post for details).   A quote from The Overstory (Richard Powers) sums up my thinking: ‘Trees talk to one another... through the networked soil... Mats of mycorrhizal cabling link trees into gigantic, smart communities... there are no separable events. The bird and.. branch.. are a joint thing.. linked creatures..’  Human frailty, greed, the Icarus factor, is the sorrow.

The Fall in progress: steel, copper, found wood, wool, sisal, twine, rope, leaves, feathers, naturally dyed cotton, wax..

My work is on sale at the Artisan Christmas Market, ACE Arts, Somerton.  I will be invigilating there tomorrow (Saturday 19 Dec) - do come and say hello if you’re in the area, and maybe consider buying some hand-made Christmas gifts :-)

Small and Affordable (Frome) is Black Swan Arts’ fundraising exhibition with 100% going towards keeping the wonderful Black Swan Arts alive.  All works are under £300 and under 30cm sq. There are some great pieces for sale donated by artists, for a great cause.

My offering: New Beginnings, found and recycled paper, wax, steel, copper.

My next Online Sculpture Course runs 11 Jan-14 Feb.  If you’d like to learn new 3d skills using sustainable materials, or know someone who does, please visit this link. Places are filling up so book asap!  It could make a stimulating start to the New Year and/or a Christmas present for someone who wants to get more creative ;-)

Also, it’s your last chance to benefit from a 10% discount offer to friends and supporters in my online Shop  (ends Sat 19 Dec)! 

Red Line Art Works trophy. Photo by Jason Bryant

On a positive note, here are a few special moments from this year:

A bronze trophy arrived in the post for winning the Red Line Art Works global award!

Despite most of my exhibitions and commissions being cancelled, I took my work online, launched a sculpture course and made several films. I was lucky to receive ACE funding for Life in the Undergrowth.  

I showed at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition, curated by Robert and Nicky Wilson, Jupiter Artland. The pangolin mask I made out of cotton offcuts, dyed with avocado pits, all hand-sewn, has come in very handy.  I feel acutely sad for the plight of pangolins. I’ve scaled back my Christmas cards this year and instead donated to Flora and Fauna to help pangolins, who are being slaughtered en mass to the point of becoming endangered. 

Exhibition trips, seeing my son, other family and friends in between lockdowns, making art and being in the garden have kept me sane. I’ve learnt more about resilience, and the importance of being kind to nature, and each other.

Goodbye to an extraordinary year which has deeply affected us all.  Looking forward to turning the corner!  

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and here’s to a better, healthier year in 2021!

Do keep in touch via my social media channels:

Instagram fionacampbellartist

Facebook Fiona Campbell Art

Twitter @fionasculpture

Best wishes and take care,

Fiona x

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.