Summer Events

It’s going to be a very busy summer…

step in stone is absorbing most of my energies as curator and I hope you’ll visit the artscape when it opens this summer!  A collaborative multi-disciplinary art project featuring work by fourteen leading artists, step in stone offers a unique opportunity to encounter contemporary artworks in rural Mendip while exploring spectacular, wild landscapes of abandoned and working quarries.  Opening on Wednesday 8th July and stepping up in 3 phases to its finale in October (part of SAW Festival’s Momentum programme), the event will occupy 6 different venues. Trail, exhibitions and guided walks are free while there will be a small charge for our workshops and artist talks.

Together with some of the step in stone team I'll be speaking about the project to a drop-in audience as part of Bristol’s Big Green Week outside at The Hub, just above the cascade steps, (near the Watershed) on Sunday 7^th June at 12 noon (http://issuu.com/biggreenweek2015/docs/bgw_2015_programme).  If you're in Bristol at 12 noon - please come along!  We’re also taking stands at Collett Park, Shepton Mallet on Saturday 13th June and The Sustainability Show in Taunton on Sunday 14^th June, so people can learn more about the project.  I'll be there at both.

Friend Jo Martin created a beautiful hand painted map for our leaflet.  The signed limited edition map will soon be available to buy at step in stone venues and the leaflet will be downloadable on our website and in various outlets throughout the region.  My cousin Jack Offord made our trailer film for the project.  I’ve loved teaming up with friends, family and colleagues on the project!

We’re looking for volunteers to man and/or help in our workshops at Somerset Earth Science Centre so please get in touch if interested, or pass this on to others.  For further details about step in stone or to book a step in stone workshop, guided walk or artist talk visit: www.stepinstone-somerset.co.uk

This June my work will feature in GROW London, Hampstead Heath, London (18-21 June) and the Hidden Garden Art Show, Hampstead, London (see previous post), represented by Gallerist Maureen Michaelson.  I'm happy to say that one of my pieces on show there has already sold this week!  My work will also be on exhibition at ArtParks International Exhibition, Sausmarez Rd, St Martin, Guernsey GY4 6SG.

I hope you can visit some of these events and wishing you a happy, hot summer ahead!

Chelsea Fringe and GROW London

I'm looking forward to taking part in the Hidden Garden Art Show as part of Chelsea Fringe and GROW London - both with Maureen Michaelson Gallery in Hampstead this June.  Come along if you can!

Age of Crinoids

'step in stone' continues to absorb me - not only in my role as curator and manager of the project, but also as a featured artist - taking most of my time and thoughts. Delving further into the quarries theme for the project, I've discovered that the earlier part of the Carboniferous period (Mississipian) has been coined the Age of Crinoids.  Over 350 million years ago the Mendips were submerged under a warm, swampy sea, the Mendip Hills hadn't yet formed into a range of mountains - now substantially eroded back -  and animal life comprised mainly of primitive reptiles, giant insects like dragonflies the size of seagulls, and a myriad of sea creatures such as echinoderms and corals.  Crinoids (sea lilies) were abundant in thousands of varieties, showing huge morphological diversity.  These fascinating ancient creatures look like exotic plant forms and many varieties still exist today.  They cling to the bottom of the sea bed by long spiny stems, others are unstalked, have tentacle legs or long arms which enable them to drag themeselves along.

Fossils found in limestone rocks exposed in the quarries (often in now vertical old sea beds) brings into question our origin, distant past and future.  Captivated, I have been imagining these other worlds.  Following on from my post on convergent evolution, my work will focus on these and other similar forms as visual metaphors of complex primal systems in nature, universal forms which echo others, examples of fractal geometry and the interconnectedness of all things.

Each time I visit the quarries, often on dog walks, I feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of what they represent - the geology; how far back time goes; what extraordinary life forms exist now and in the past; how incredible and persistent nature is; how we are all linked; how insignificant we are as individuals, yet how we impact on our surroundings...

Representing step in stone, I launched an under 20 year olds' Sculpture Design Competition at Somerset Earth Science Centre a fortnight ago, and alongside other step in stone artists and Juliet Lawn from SESC, gave a slideshow/talk, with work on display to give young visitors inspiration for their designs.  This competition is now online for entries at: Black Swan Arts.  Last week Nick Weaver and I set up a stand for step in stone at Frome Town Councils's AGM.  Having been funded by them we were asked to present our project to attendees.  It was a full house - the energy in Frome seems infectious!  This Wednesday (8th April) I'll be taking part as a speaker in a public discussion at Wells Museum about Public Art (7.30pm if you're interested in coming!)

I ran a wire workshop at the end of March via ArtsLink, which resulted in some great outcomes by participants.  I have more workshops coming up and will also be running some during step in stone at SESC and Black Swan Arts (details of these will be posted soon).

Although there's still a lot to do, I'm looking forward to my forthcoming exhibitions this summer.  Maureen Michaelson is representing me at GROW London and Hidden Garden Art Show this June and my biggest project to date step in stone starts in July.

Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions

Second Time Around – The Hubcap As Art  Landfillart Exhibition, Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, Winchester, Virginia, USA  7th Sept '14 - 1st March '15 Showing with Maureen Michaelson Gallery in the following 2 exhibitions, in association with Chelsea Fringe:

Hidden Garden Art Show, Maureen Michaelson Gallery, Hampstead, London NW3; Saturdays and Sundays  6, 7, 13, 14, 27, 28 June, 2 – 6 pm.  Weekdays by appointment.

For full visitor information, please contact Maureen Michaelson Gallery on 0207435 0510 or info@maureenmichaelson.com or visit: www.maureenmichaelson.com

GROW London, Hampstead Heath, London NW3, Maureen Michaelson Gallery, Stand J9; 19 - 21 June, 11am - 6pm.  Full information: www.growlondon.com

Art Parks International Sculpture Festival, Sausmarez Rd, St Martin, Guernsey GY4 6SG, May -  October

step in stone art in quarries trail in the East Mendips, Somerset,  curated and managed by me in partnership with Somerset Earth Science Centre, Black Swan Arts, Somerset Art Works, Mendip Hills AONB, Somerset Wildlife Trust

Phase 1: 8 July - 18 October – exhibition/art installations/workshops/talks/guided walks - Somerset Earth Science Centre, Stoke St. Michael BA3 5JU (open to all public Weds 9-5)

Phase 2: 15 August - 18 October – exhibition/art installations/guided walks - Halecombe (working quarry, peripheral public pathway); Westdown (massive disused quarry), Chantry (both open 7 days a week)

Phase 3: 3-18 October, finale fortnight tying in with Somerset Art Weeks Festival '15 and Momentum programme - exhibition/art installations/workshops/talks/guided walks - Fairy Cave Quarry (open 11am-6pm daily); Black Swan Arts Centre, 2 Bridge Street BA11 1BB and Frome Museum (open 10-4 Mon - Sat, open Sunday 4th, closed Sun 11, 18th)

For further information, please visit: stepinstone-somerset.co.uk or contact me

Past, Present, Future: SAW Projects Showcase, 44AD, 4 Abbey St, Bath, BA1 1NN 29 Sept - 11 Oct, 10am - 4pm

Time and Place, Somerset Art Works, Art at The Heart, Royal United Hospital, (Central corridor, Zone B & Courtyards), Bath BA1 3NG 9 Oct '15 - 15 Jan '16, 8am-8pm

Bristol Green Capital in the Frame, Grant Bradley Gallery, 1 St Peters Ct, Bedminster Parade, Bristol BS3 4AQ  5 Dec '15 - 2 Jan '16; Private View: Fri 4 Dec 6-9pm

Spring in my Step

Hello to budding spring!  (I guess there is a spring in my step, though sometimes I feel like my feet are dragging - especially early mornings). A few updates about events you might be interested in.  My Art in Quarries project ‘step in stone’ is progressing well, having achieved a fantastic result through generous donors via crowdfunding on Ideas Tap and more recently a successful Arts Council England/National Lottery application. Heavily involved in bringing it to fruition, I am trying to reserve slices of time to make art. We have a new step in stone website, in addition to our facebook and twitter pages, so do please visit, follow and share. The best bit of the project is working with artists and other experts I admire.  I've been getting increasingly inspired by the history, geology and nature of the quarries, with new sources of information from scientists such as Gill Odolphie from Somerset Earth Science Centre and friend Nick Weaver.  I hope you’ll be able to visit the project this summer.

Part of the step in stone project will involve a young Sculpture Design Competition, kindly hosted by Black Swan Arts online from 1^st April - 18^th May. The winner will create their design as a full-scale sculpture to feature in our Trail, and all entries will be shown at the Black Swan, so any under 20 year old budding artists you know might like to have a go: http://www.blackswan.org.uk/sculpturedesign2015. Somerset Earth Science Centre (BA3 5JU) are hosting a Launch for us to explain more about this on Monday 23 March, 6-8pm. Come along if interested!

I feel honoured to have recently been elected onto the Black Swan board as a trustee and hope I can do the role justice in time. I love the Black Swan, it continues to provide excellent quality Arts in the South West, despite it’s huge crash in Council funding a few years ago. I hope it will gain further funding to be the best it can.

A radiator company, Sunflow Ltd, commissioned me to produce a 3-d sculptural piece for their new line of interesting Arty Radiators earlier this year. A challenging concept, I created an organic piece (no surprises there) involving copper piping and a woven nest on a layered backing of cut out metal, which we then sprayed (see design left and link above). These radiators are unusual - beautifully engineered, slim and very low heat. Mine is a prototype, so further one-off versions can be commissioned from me via Sunflow.

This June I will be featuring in the GROW London Fair, Hampstead Heath, London (18-21 June) represented by Gallerist Maureen Michaelson. My work will also be on exhibition at the Hidden Garden Art Show, Hampstead, London NW3 from 6-28 June and ArtParks International Exhibition, Sausmarez Rd, St Martin, Guernsey GY4 6SG.

Workshops and teaching continue to keep me connected with surrounding schools and the community. I’m looking forward to some great projects ahead with students, making large insects, birds and a dragon.