Art Exhibitions
I'll be running free 20 min drop-in taster wire workshops in the Gallery at Black Swan Arts, Frome (2 Bridge St, Frome BA11 1BB) as part of BBC's Get Creative Day tomorrow (Saturday, 2 April, 2-4pm). 3 other artisans will also be offering taster workshops in their studios at the centre. Come along and get creative!
I completed my steel Bishop last month (see images) for Bishops Palace Gardens, Wells - to be unveiled soon! I was originally asked to create a topiary structure, but as he evolved it was decided the Bishop would remain purely a sculpture. I created him as a 3d linear sketch. He represents a myth about the medieval Bishop Jocelyn of Wells who slayed the Dragon of Worminster, saving the people of Dinder from further ravaging of their children and stock. The Dragon will be made later.
I’ve been involved in work behind the scenes at Black Swan Arts as a Trustee. The current Young Open Exhibition required lots of preparation – an impressive show of young talent including some of my students from All Hallows and elsewhere. Very proud that some of them were winners! Celebrations for Black Swan’s 30th anniversary this year include some exciting events coming soon at the centre – BBC’s Get Creative Day (Drop-in workshops on Sat 2nd April, 2-4pm), 1000 Postcards (exhibition & sale of mini artworks by artists/celebs), Secret Swans (trail as part of Frome Festival) and 30 Plinths exhibition. A chance to look forward to a great future for Black Swan and vital fund-raising. If you’d like to help or take part do visit www.blackswan.org.uk. We need 1000 postcard artworks by June!
My work for the Viking Cruises Chelsea Flower Show Artisan Garden, designed by Sarah Eberle, is now well under way. It is inspired by Cambodian floating gardens and fishing techniques of the Mekong region. I'm working on it collaboratively with Nick Weaver, who's making the wood boat/lounger, while I'm making a 4 metre textured fishing net/canopy by hand (see image), incorporating fine woven copper wires, twine, silk, wool and other surprising found materials like fish skeletons! I am avidly collecting lemon netting bags for it. It’s a long process and an exciting prospect – I’ve not produced work for Chelsea Flower Show before. I will be there on 24/25 May, so please come and say hello if you have tickets! Updates about this will be added to this blog in due course or visit here.
This June I will be exhibiting works in The Hidden Garden Art Show at Maureen Michaelson Gallery in Hampstead, London (June 4-12). On Sunday 12 June this Gallery is also hosting a day as part of Chelsea Fringe Festival where I will be demonstrating my sculpting techniques. For more information about these events, visit www.maureenmichaelson.com or www.chelseafringe.com.
Looking ahead, 'step in stone' - the artscapes-in-quarries project I ran last year - will be touring to Salisbury Art Centre in Aug/Sept. Artworks by all 14 artists will feature - a chance to see some of the work if you missed it last year.
Have a lovely Spring!
Around this time I normally write a winter newsletter, but it feels like I've only just finished the autumn one! Time has really flown by. It's been a very intense and challenging few months for me, full of achievements and not quite burnt out yet! 'step in stone' - an ambitious art in quarries project I organised - took over my life for many months and is now over. It was incredible seeing it through to fruition, and so fulfilling working with quality artists whose work I admire. Overall, ‘step in stone’ was a tremendous success, very well received by an extremely varied and broadly based audience. Combining the role of project manager and curator with that of being a participating artist was demanding. Considering time constraints and my other roles, I feel I achieved a great deal, though disappointed that I could not fully explore more possibilities with my commissioned artwork for the project. 'Cirri' was intended to be more numerous, (based on Fossilised remains of ancient sea life forms). I relished the opportunity to explore new concepts and media in my piece ‘Eviscerated Earth’ installed at Fairy Cave Quarry – recycled wax, cloth, scrim, paper and wire combined with found, rusty scrap steel collected from quarries. It linked to the story of Fairy Cave: destruction of caves and beautiful (speleothem) formations within. I would have liked to create more work for our Black Swan Exhibition - a beautiful show - but management of the project took over and time ran out.
Now that the excitement is over, and I've reached the end of the arduous (but revealing) evaluation process for it, I'm starting to look forward to new ventures and getting inspired.
I visited Ai Weiwei's exhibition at the Royal Academy, London recently. It's not often art brings tears to my eyes, but his work is so powerful, I was deeply moved. The cell depictions of his sordid incarceration by Chinese authorities made me feel voyeuristic, angry and amazed at the brilliance of them.
A fortnight ago I sold my Nestling Cocoon to Mark Owen of Take That for an anniversary present to his wife Emma. I drove from Somerset to North London to collect the piece from Maureen Michaelson (Gallerist), then to Sussex where I delivered it, then back to Somerset, in time to teach my evening art classes... all in a day!
I'm currently working on a life-size steel Bishop commissioned for the gardens at Bishops Palace, Wells, and will then start on a new commission for garden designer Sarah Eberle's Artisan Garden at Chelsea Flower Show 2016, to create a 4 metre square woven canopy.
Other opportunities in the pipeline include showing with Maureen Michaelson again next year for Chelsea Fringe. In the immediate future, I have been selected to show at the The Grant Bradley Gallery, (1 St Peters Ct, Bedminster Parade, Bristol BS3 4AQ) as part of a mixed show entitled 'Bristol Green Capital in the Frame'. Celebrating and reflecting on the year that Bristol was voted The European Green Capital, it embodies a green theme: recycling, the importance of green spaces and wildlife. The exhibition runs from 5 Dec '15 - 2 Jan '16. You're welcome to come along to the Private View: Fri 4 Dec 6-9pm!
In case you've tried viewing my website gallery pages - apologies! There is a plug-in issue due to server updates, so some images are failing to open. Hopefully it will be sorted soon!
An update on a few projects I’m involved in, which may be of interest.
An exhibition I took part in via Maureen Michaelson Gallery at GROW London this summer has led to a commission to create a large woven canopy piece for Chelsea Flower Show ’16 as part of Gold award-winning Designer Sarah Eberle’s ‘Floating Gardens of Mekong’ theme. I am starting to formulate ideas and very excited by it!
I’ve also been commissioned to produce a life size steel Bishop for Bishops Palace Gardens, Wells and hope to have this made and installed by the end of this year.
The excitement and momentum of my main project this year ‘step in stone’ is building up to a crescendo with its third and final step, which will embrace three more venues to make up the final six. Part of Somerset Art Works Festival 2015 and Momentum programme, step 3 launches on 3rd October to include Black Swan Arts, Frome Museum and the magical Fairy Cave Quarry. Special performances and events will include Frome-based Artmusic’s ‘ECHO’ sculpture and sound installation at Fairy Cave Quarry (3-18 Oct, weekends, 11-4). This will be animated by live performances of Artmusic’s BLAST (Sats 3, 10, 17 Oct, 2-3pm). Bristol Poet Ralph Hoyte has created a poetic ‘sound intervention’ for visitors perambulating around Fairy Cave Quarry’s amphitheatre. For the Westdown/Asham quarryscape, Ralph has created a downloadable GPS piece for visitors to listen to as they walk through. The aural word-symphony needs to be downloaded onto your smartphone from Ralph's website before you go to Westdown (ralphhoyte.com - click “SIS link to QR”).
A few of us are running workshops as part of step in stone's Finale and Artist Talks include an insight into the work of internationally celebrated Tessa Farmer, whose fantasy worlds of tiny malevolent fairies, insect wings and taxidermy create an intriguing contrast to the largescale environmental installations by Sally Kidall and weathered stone works of Duncan Elliott.
step in stone is open now and continues until 18th October 2015. I attach an invite to the step 3 Preview at Black Swan Arts and Finale Do at Somerset Earth Science Centre.
Hope you can visit one or more of our venues!
After months of collecting and creating, I'm now in the final stages of my step in stone work for Step 2 at Westdown/Asham Quarry - with just a few more tentacles to make. Time is short and tentacles are long but I think I'll get there! Ideally, I would have liked to have made more work but time has constrained. Seeds were my starting point. Just as they have blown in to fertilise these ancient deserted rocky environments I envisaged large tumbleweed-like structures rolling around, like old man's beard seed heads growing there. Thoughts have evolved around life's energy force, neurons, repeat forms in nature, nature's persistence, sea creatures (see previous post on Crinoids)...
Rusting machinery and discarded mattress springs left in the quarries, old horseshoes (thanks to Luke Ellis) and other scrap found locally and donated - fossils of the modern era, remnants of past, have provided most of my material to make the work.
