New Film, Open Studio

Preparations for Somerset Open Studios. Photo: Seamus Nicolson

During the past few months, starting in the extraordinary silence of lockdown, I created a project LIfe in the Undergrowth.  I’m excited to have just completed a film as the final outcome (watch below).  In contrast to creating sculptural installations, I’m very much at the beginning of my crossing into digital technology and film-making. This film documents my isolation project and represents my first serious experiments with film-making.

Life in the Undergrowth, Digital Film - duration 10:33 mins. Audio: The Healing, Sergey Cheremisinov

Special thanks to Arts Council England/National Lottery Emergency Response fund, Richard Tomlinson (Ignite Somerset) and Jack Robson for their support.

Time Capsules, found objects: rusty nails, plastic, ceramic fragments, glass bottles, wood, chain, teeth, bones, plant debris, lead..

In advance of finishing the film, I created Time Capsules. The found objects are attached to each other with fine copper wire, like a net, suspended on a steel structure. They were excavated from the earth in my garden, each with a story - some known and others a mystery. During lockdown I dug up a lot of soil to make space for a studio bay. Some of the objects were buried quite deep... eg: giant molars from a large animal (horse, cow, sheep, rhinoceros..?!)  I borrowed the title from a phrase Cornelia Parker used to describe her work. The objects represent a moment in time, and time passing. Everything is connected. I love the shadows, which enhance the concept of time, memory, drawings, space.

For more about the project visit Instagram @life_intheundergrowth.

My Life in the Undergrowth project will be showing alongside some of my other work during Somerset Open Studios, opening next weekend (19 Sept - 4 Oct).  You’re welcome to visit by appointment.  This sunny start to autumn is perfect for a wander in the fresh air of my garden, and safe measures will be in place in the studio: Venue 70, West Cranmore, BA4 4RH. T: 07515537224 or E: fionacampbell-art@sky.com

Glimpses of work for Somerset Open Studios. Photos: Seamus Nicolson

To see other venues visit the SAW map

My work will also be showing at Somerset Rural Life Museum for Somerset Reacquainted. The exhibition involves 63 Somerset artists’ responses to lockdown, and brings together digital images, films, writings, objects and artworks.  Open 19 Sept - 21 Nov, Wed-Sat, 10-5 (pre-book, entrance fee applies).   There will be a series of podcasts.  I’ll be talking with other artists on Fri 2nd Oct, 6-7pm - hope you can join us.

I’ve been creating online resources and workshops for various creative projects, including SAW, Art UK and Make the Sunshine (image below). Links on my Workshops page.

Last month was taken up with running my 5 week Online Sculpture Course. I had an inspiring group of people from different parts of UK and Europe.  I was thrilled with their responses, energy, imagination resourcefulness and enthusiasm. The range of processes and different outcomes was amazing (see below)! If you’re interested in doing the course next year please email me your contact details and visit instagram #onlinesculpturecourse2020.

Images (above): work by participants: L to R clockwise: Gina Glover, Nicky Oram, Jenny Graham, Sarah Herfet

Images (above) L to R:  Nicki Davey, Louise Wood, Belinda Cooper, Nicky Oram, Diana Terry, Gina Glover, Sarah Herfet, Louise Wood, Trudy Smith, Karen Chard, Sonia Hulejczuk, Maxine Alexander

Quotes from participants:

My confidence has blossomed..  I've soooo enjoyed this course! Sarah Herfet

This course gave me the inspiration and… impetus to actually… create something.  It also gave me ideas that I wouldn’t otherwise have thought about. Nicki Davey

It was a joy to find books and ideas which connected my experience as a maker within the context of contemporary fine art. Diana Terry

It has been a joy making and sharing. Nicky Oram

Brilliantly delivered by Fiona, through her weekly blogs/zoom and Whats App presentations. Gina Glover 

It’s the last week of the Royal Society of Sculptors Summer Exhibition - if you’re in London don't miss it! The Exhibition has been guest curated by Robert and Nicky Wilson, founders of Jupiter Artland. I visited it in August and loved it! It’s a really vibrant, playful visceral show with a range of large and smaller intriguing works. My piece Accretion is a tentacular form - a metaphor for waste. The show is on until 18 September, Mon-Fri, 11am-5pm, Royal Society of Sculptors, 108 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 3RA

It would be great to see you at my Open Studio.

Keep well :-)

Letter to Power - Culture Declares Emergency

My response to Culture Declares Emergency’s call to write #LetterstoPower. Everyone is invited to write, share and perform letters to powerful people about the Earth crisis

#LettersToTheEarth #CultureDeclaresEmergency

Dear Boris Johnson, Rt Hon George Eustice and Lord Callanan,

I’m an artist and educator.  I work extremely hard and believe passionately in art and environment, although my net earnings are below the threshold to be eligible for a Self-Employment Grant during the Covid crisis. I have a son, now 21.  You will also have beloved beings in your life for whom you wish the best. 

Brought up in Kenya in the 60’s, I’ve witnessed the dramatic decline in coral reefs on the coast. Tarred clumps of seaweed on beaches, beautiful shells, and magnificent brightly coloured corals are now replaced by tar clumps and the odd manky shell.  The corals are now mostly bleached and dead.   We have degraded our environments, habitats and ecosystems.

We have hunted and slaughtered animals greedily and wastefully, mis-managed land, conquered and built thoughtlessly, violated our oceans and continue to fill up our landfills in gargantuan proportions.  Greedy man needs to stop!

A few years ago, I returned to University to do my MFA.  It was a precious 2 years of hard work and discovery.  I read Planet of Slums by Mike Davis, which reveals horrific realities of our rapidly growing worldwide rich/poor divide.  I was also influenced by a film Our Daily Bread by Nicolaus Gerhalter, concerning factory farming, A Plastic Ocean, which reveals hard-hitting facts: micro plastic is in every single organism in our seas, 80% of plastic from landfills leaks into the ocean and images of albatross chicks dying from bloated stomachs filled with plastic in Midway, near the Pacific gyre.  This was the start of my artivism.

Since then, we’ve experienced traumatic wildfires killing huge populations of wildlife in the Amazon, Australia and now California.  The covid epidemic was caused by disgusting malpractices in wildlife wet markets.  Discarded PPE masks and gloves are now piling up on our beaches. These ongoing events deeply disturb me.  Don’t they disturb you?  I make art related to these pressing issues: human exploitation of nature (of which we are a part) and over-consumption.  Glut, made of reclaimed and discarded materials speaks of loss, death, violence, waste but also vulnerability and renewal.  There is always hope.     

You have the power to effect huge changes in our relationship with nature and ourselves, for the good of all.  ‘All’ meaning from micro to macro.  All includes the tiny diatoms that give us over 30% or our oxygen, now endangered.  All includes our plants, bees, badgers, pigs, pangolins, rhinos, elephants, whales… and humans.  We are all connected.

Please back the Climate & Ecological Emergency bill and place environment at the heart of your policies.

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Campbell

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.

Launching my Online Sculpture Course and other news

I’ve made a showreel to launch my forthcoming 5 week online sculpture course.   Starting on 3rd August, I’ll be teaching participants how to create a nature-inspired sculpture using found and recycled materials.  

The course includes:

Weekly challenges

Step-by-step guidance at each stage

Demos

Exclusive videos and downloadable content

Online seminars

You will learn:

A range of 2-d and 3-d skills - from drawing and design to 3d wirework

Exciting ideas and techniques 

To explore different media and processes

To source and use recycled and found materials

Benefits of the course:

Work at your own pace from home

Learn in your own time

Individual advice, tutorials and one-to-one critiques

Share ideas

Learn safely 

Opportunity to connect with other participants in a friendly virtual space

Increase your confidence in creativity

Create an item for your garden or interior

After completion, you can revisit techniques

COST:

£80 incl free tools list (by 31 July)

TO ENROL:

Email: fionacampbell-art@sky.com

Entangled I, 180 (w) x 110 (h) x 100 (d) cm, '20

My Life in the Undergrowth project continues (see previous blogs).  My ritual of gardening and documenting has become a rhythm. Exploring new boundaries, free from conceptual dividing lines, drifting between gardening and art, some days are productive others more a blur.  I’ve been getting absorbed in the present, nature, looking at tiny details. Trying to surrender to the moment and allow things to just happen. 

I’m making a film which records a few of the goings on in my garden. I’ve formed a stronger bond with all that comes and goes. Sometimes this has been emotional. Strange incidents happen, stories of life and death - some have been wonderful to witness, others very sad. 

A young rook and blackbird may have died from pesticide poisoning as there have been other similar incidents locally. I watched their behaviour and subsequent deaths. I sat with the rook, left it water and worms, tried to help it, but in vain.  Slug pellets, crop pesticides and other toxic chemicals we use to deal with ‘pests’ seep into the food chain. There are countless eco-friendly ways to protect our veggies - egg shells and copper wire for slugs, marigolds for aphids, or just ‘stay with the trouble’ (Donna Haraway). The rhubarb leaves I’ve been watching decay seemed the right thing to wrap up the bodies.

I’ve approached the project as an art residency. Encounters between myself, the garden as site, and nature, without an audience, in order to gain understandings and make new connections. I’ve been interested in transformation, the entanglement of roots, worms, shoots, earth.  Aristotle called worms; ‘the intestines of the earth’. Bird communication; the vitality of nonhumans; cultivating my aloneness.  Excavating the earth, I’ve been uncovering a glut of old rusty nails, bones and ceramics. It’s been a meditative process.  I am the instrument, allowing creative energy to emerge in its own time. As I make pieces I’m aware of Donna Haraway’s words: ‘life lived along lines… a series of interlaced trails… make kin in lines of inventive connection... stir up potent response.. and rebuild quiet places’.

You can follow my Life in the Undergrowth instagram page to see the journey @life_intheundergrowth

Other news

I’ve been doing digital training via Creativity Works, which has been a great help. It’s a long, windy road but I’m on it!

This week I drove to London to collect Glut from the Royal Society of Sculptors Gilbert Bayes Award Winners Exhibition - finally over after its extended lockdown.  At the same time, I delivered Accretion for the RSS Summer Show, opening 13 July. It was the first time I’d worn a facemask for covid protection - a requirement for de-installation. I made my own - hand dyed (with avocado pits), hand painted and hand sewn. I thought a pangolin made an appropriate statement about the origins of covid19 and the wildlife/meat trades in China, which I abhor.

Huge thanks to Arts Council England and National Lottery UK for the Emergency Response Fund enabling me the time to be creative and develop skills.  Thanks also to Richard Tomlinson (Ignite Somerset), Jack Offord, Jack Robson, Dave Cable, Caroline Bond, Duncan Simey, John Taylor, 35 mil, S-J White, Jason King, Juliet Lawn, Jennifer Moyes and Carrie Grainger for some of the footage for the film (see top).

Life as a Recluse

Today is the first day of summer, so I’m celebrating with a blog focusing on nature.  I love spring - days get longer, warmer, new life unfurls and there is such beauty in blossom.  But my favourite season is summer.  I adore the sun.  It probably comes from my upbringing in Kenya.  We’ve been so lucky in UK with these blue skies, although watering the fruit and veggies has become a daily task and there is concern about the effects of drought. 

Like so many, I’ve become a recluse.  In my own home and garden I feel safe.  I am not alone, the birds and insects keep me company.  The garden, in particular, has become my world and route to wellbeing, providing me with a deep sense of peace and purpose. There’s so much to do - planting homegrown seedlings, weeding, tidying, creating a fully functioning veggie zone, and digging soil to prepare a space for an outdoor studio bay.   I’ve been selling my surplus rich topsoil to local residents (safe distancing) - a circular economy!  The veggies are coming on nicely. I don't want to use chemical pest control, so have put down copper rings around my raised tyre beds and planted marigolds to keep the aphids off my beans!  The other day I spent hours watching a baby tit in the garden. At one point I thought the neighbour's cat had got it, long story but after an emotional blub, I was overjoyed to find it safe.

Creativity must happen too.  My garden feeds my art and art feeds my garden.  This has formed my self-directed project Life in the Undergrowth.  I’ve been particularly inspired by upturned turf, roots, worms and shoots.  I’ve made drawing tools from natural materials, and a series of maquettes and larger sculptural works are developing.  I was very fortunate to receive Arts Council England Emergency funding so am looking forward to purchasing a micro lens among other useful technical aids to document my discoveries.  I’m allowing the project to evolve organically.

I have appreciated my studio at home.   I’m doing some digital training to broaden the scope of my work.  I’ve started to embed video documentation in my practice, one of the outcomes of lockdown.  Videos attract more traffic on social media, improving audience and networks, though they usually take longer to create.

This covid19 period has made me realise that much of my travel is unnecessary, costly, polluting, stressful and time-consuming.  I will enjoy visiting exhibitions in the future, but make a greater effort to utilise travel and only make journeys that are necessary. Covid19 has catalysed an urgent need to adapt to the growing requirement for online creative provision and engagement.   I completed my online teaching course and will soon be launching my own online course.  Please pass on my details to anyone you think would be interested and suggest they subscribe to my website to hear more. I will be offering a free giveaway as part of the launch!  I think online courses will become more popular in the future.  Advantages of convenience, flexibility, extended reach, instant access, no travel means digital engagement is a sustainable way forward.

I’ve shared my free video resources on BBC’s Get Creative at Home and taken part in the following online art initiatives this past month: shareyoursky - Pound Arts; #artistsupportpledge (sold Mini Dung Beetle and Ball!); RSS Sculptors at Home; RSS #10gramchallenge; 44AD Gallery’s online exhibition A-Z - Between & Enveloped; Anna Souter’s Vegetate; SAW’s Somerset Reacquainted.

Root-inspired piece for 10 gram challenge. This will be cast in bronze at the Milwyn Foundry.

I was interviewed by Art Tour International.  Here’s a link to .the recorded Facebook Live interview with Viviana Puello, based in New York.

Safe distance walks and meet-ups will become more frequent, but I hope the new normal won’t be like it was and that we heed nature’s big message.  

A massive thank you to all of you who have given me and my work so much support! Here’s to nature, summer and happy times ahead!