Workshops, Exhibitions, Residencies

Inch by IN:CH

We had a magical day in the woods at Found Outdoors for our pop-up earlier this month. The light was sublime. ‘The work was held by the environment so well it could have been made for it!’ (Philippa Edwards). 

Our finale at the Gauge Museum (West Somerset Railway, Bishops Lydeard TA4 3RU); 25 September - 3 October, 11am-5pm daily (closed Mondays) is part of Somerset Open Studios.

The event is part of a 6 month travelling exhibition of art in cases. We’re treating this as a residency, so each of us will be working on something in situ.

We have some exciting events for you to take part in! Some are drop-in, others are part of The Big Draw and need to be booked in advance. We’re keen to engage Somerset-based residents.

The first workshop this Sunday will be led by me and Shirley Sharp:

Sculpture and Shadow Drawing Workshop: Sun 26 Sept, 2-4pm. Make sculptures and shadow drawings using wire, clay, newspaper and recycled materials. We will first create heads and other sculptural forms. The artists will then guide you to use these as inspiration to draw sculpted shadows, enhanced by dramatic lighting, using inks and graphite, limited places. For adults and children (accompanied by adult/s). Just £5 for materials. Book via Eventbrite:

Next week:

Family Drawing Workshop: Sat 2 Oct, 2-4pm. Exploring the Journey of Line: where it might go and how it might get there. With Helen Anson & Anna Kot….. Eventbrite,

Family Sculpture Workshop: Combine sculpture and drawing processes using mainly recycled materials; Supported by Somerset Art Works and linked to The Big Draw; Sun 3 Oct, 2 - 4pm Eventbrite

Please share this information with anyone you think might be interested. Our funds depend on participants!

For more events visit www.inchbyinch.uk

Wells Art Contemporary, Wells Cathedral

There’s still time to visit Wells Art Contemporary, where my installation Snakes and Ladders (I) is exhibited. I’m so grateful to visitors, wonderful feedback and photographs of my work. Below are some beautiful shots taken in the cathedral by Barry Cawston, Dominic Weston, Polly Hall, and Jack Robson

Snakes and Ladders (I), Wells Cathedral. Photo by Barry Cawston

Photo by Polly Hall

Photo by Dominic Weston

Photo by Jack Robson

The extraordinary effort and process involved in transporting, fixing together, erecting and suspending the piece will happen in reverse next week! There have been some excellent reviews of the exhibition and installations. It ends on Sunday 26 September, so if you haven’t yet, I’d recommend a visit! :-)

Snakes and Ladders (I) was originally created as part of a series of dysfunctional ladders and hangings for B-Wing, Shepton Mallet Prison. The piece was inspired by Piranesi’s ‘The Bridge’, referencing the human cycle of striving, greed and suffering. The winglike skeletal structure is a precarious stairway, reminiscent of flight and extinct animals hung in museums. My use of recycled and discarded materials relates to waste, our relationship with matter and nature.

Loft Residency

I’m really enjoying my ongoing Loft Residency above Heritage Courtyard Gallery and Studios. Huge thanks to Heritage Courtyard Gallery for all their support, for facilitating my residency, and to all our lovely visitors; it’s been wonderful to meet and chat with friends and new acquaintances. Open 18 Sept-2 Oct, 11-4 (closed Sun/Mon).

Some of my pieces are in progress. I’ll be working on them over the next week or so. The residency is giving me the opportunity to experiment with the space and new ideas using mainly recycled and found materials, responding to ongoing global events and nature’s complex interconnections.

As part of this event I'll be running a sculpture workshop on Saturday 2 October, 2-4pm in the gallery:

‘Inspired by the incredible variety of creatures and plant forms in our natural world, come and explore different processes to create a small sculpture, using recycled and found materials including copper wire. Materials will be provided, but do bring your own collection of buttons, bottle tops and beads to add to your sculpture! £15pp. Book via email: fionacampbell-art@sky.com’.

I’ll be there when the gallery’s open apart from Saturday 25/9, when I’ll be at my Inch by IN:CH venue (16).

Hope to see you at one or more of these events!

For more images visit my Instagram page

Space/s

I’m looking forward to suspending my large-scale Snakes and Ladders (I) piece in Wells Cathedral and attending the Wells Art Contemporary PV this week! I’ll also be installing a giant Octopus on a 5m wall at Eastover Primary School, after which I can properly get stuck into my residency space in the Loft, above Heritage Courtyard Gallery, Wells.  All very exciting though I’ve been very busy, a bit stressed and feeling quite exhausted. I value those still times for head space and imaginings.

WAC

Having been selected as one of the installation artists for Wells Art Contemporary at Wells Cathedral, my 7m piece Snakes and Ladders (I) will be suspended in the south transept.  I can’t wait to instal it in that magnificent space this week!  

I’ve been very lucky to be able to work on it in a fabulous spacious workshop nearby, thanks to Jen Weaver and Al Crossman for the free space (available to rent - contact tractor.shed). The piece needed repasting and a few other tweaks, so I’ve spent 2 weeks sprucing it up. Thanks also to Nick Weaver for his technical assistance.

Snakes and Ladders (I) in progress

The Private View is this Friday 27 August (do come - PV invite below) and the show runs for a month. 

See previous post for more details about the work.

My work tends to gravitate upwards, downwards, or entwine through - in motion anyway.  There’s a vitality, an ongoingness, entangling or journeying - as with life.  Along these lines, I’m reading Life of Lines by Tim Ingold.

Pyre is off to Taiwan

Packing Pyre, (including counting (85 pieces), weighing, installation instructions and registering shipping on DHL took almost as long as making it!  The work’s going off to the International Biennale, National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute this Thursday - fingers crossed the 3 boxes arrive in tact the other end!

Loft Space (above Heritage Courtyard Gallery)

Loving my new temporary workspace in the loft above Heritage Courtyard Gallery, Wells.  It’s giving me some thinking space along with it being physically inspiring, a space to expand, and document work, in between my other projects. I’m approaching it as a short residency, leading to Somerset Open Studios, (18 Sept-3 Oct).  It’s very timely as my relatively cramped studio at home has no power at the moment!

I’ve been drawing roots with oak gall and Indian ink - the start of a series of drawings and sculptural installations.

I’m working on a new piece for an RSS exhibition at Chichester Cathedral next year - title undecided. My work is based on the plight of pangolins. Recently authorities found body parts of 15,000 dead pangolins in hundreds of bags. The slaughter of Pangolins continues.  This poaching, cruelty, slaughter and greedy profiteering from the death of these beautiful endangered creatures is breaking my heart.  Wildlife trafficking is a vile practice, and those who encourage and commission it must be stopped, shamed and brought to justice. Those who poach need to be given a better alternative - educated/enlisted to save not harm wildlife.

Of Anish Kapoor: ‘…bleeds and disgorges its subterranean innards… push boundaries between sculpture and painting into visceral new ground,… ongoing attention to the abjected body… a theme surely intensified in the pandemic era… when the sense of the vulnerability of the body has become a communal experience.’ ArtLyst, July ’21

I thought this description aptly describes what I’m trying to achieve in my new work.

In the gallery below the Loft, there’s a vibrant exhibition: Inside Out with work by Heather Wallace and Rebecca Barnard - come and visit!

Inch by IN:CH

We had a fantastic pop up event at Backwell Playhouse as part of Inch by IN:CH. It was a brilliant opportunity for dramatic lighting on our work. My piece Hope of a Tree was placed to cast interesting shadows for our shadow drawing workshops, led by Shirley Sharp and me. It was so lovely to interact with the public, who seemed to really appreciate the event. There was a great energy; a strong sense of collaboration and deep focus during the drawing sessions. 

I’m creating a slideshow of my work to be published at the end of the Inch by IN:CH project. See my slideshow of all our work for Backwell. (Photos by Linda Ashe; James Thornton).

Our next stop is a pop up event at Found Outdoors, a beautiful woodland in Erlstoke, Wiltshire on 11th September, with events, and then our finale at The Gauge Museum, West Somerset Railway (25 Sept-3 Oct).

Reimagining Nature

A couple of my small sculptures from the entanglement series, and film Life in the Undergrowth are included in Re-Imagining Nature, an exhibition curated by Zoe Li in the newly transformed gallery in Yeovil - open until 11 Sept, Wed - Fri 11-3, Sat 11-5. 

Giant Octopus

I’m on my way to finishing a giant Octopus commission for Eastover School via Spaeda Arts. Made from recycled materials, parts were created in workshops I ran with the pupils.  Looking forward to erecting it on the 5m wall as a permanent feature.

Workshops

My first workshop back at the Holburne Museum for over a year was a success. Small family groups made wire creatures. I also spent a few lovely hours at Five Trees Bowlish running a free sculpture workshop. Thanks to Shepton Mallet Town Council for funding it as part of Summer in Shepton, and thanks to Sue Ayton-Moon for the great venue and facilities, situated in a field near Shepton Mallet. Participants made a range of pieces using recycled, found and natural materials.

Hope to see you at one of my forthcoming events. See a full list here.