Opening Event!

OPENING EVENT: SATURDAY 11 MARCH, 2-4PM

Create@#8, 8 Town Street, Shepton Mallet BA4 5BG

I'm developing new work as part of an Arts Council England 'Developing Your Creative Practice Award' which also supported my recent trip to Kenya.

During my residency in this empty shop space, I've been developing work related to our natural world. The residency culminates in an exhibition of ongoing work. The Opening Event is on Saturday 11 March and I hope you'll be able to join me.  

Two of the pieces created this year will also be exhibited in Wander_Land, a group show at Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens and Gallery featuring work by members of the Royal Society of Sculptors.

I’ll be running an Eco Sculpture Workshop on Saturday, 18 March, 2-4pm, Book: eventbrite.

I hope to see you on Saturday 11 March!

Above and Below, exhibition invite, workshops

Really enjoying my residency in the empty shop in Shepton Mallet - Create@#8. It’s been liberating to spread out in a huge space, view my work as a collection, and get absorbed in making. I’m using the residency to develop work as part of my Arts Council England ‘Developing Your Creative Practice Award’. Ongoing work will be shown in a solo exhibition 11-19 March. Come to the Opening Event on Sat 11 March, 2-4pm! There’ll be a soundscape in response to works by Ushara Dilrukshan. Open Mon-Sat 11am-4pm.

I’m making a sculpture Above and Below - a response to the entanglements of matter, rhizomic systems and debris that make up the strata we walk on.  All are continuously transforming in a process of becoming, ‘..frothing and tangling and fusing.. layering and layering and layering… millions of fungal skeins suspended.. a gossamer web at least as intricate as the cables.. that hang beneath our cities..,’ (Merlin Sheldrake).

Linear uprights extrude through layered substrates - a mass of interwoven lines. It’s made from reclaimed/discarded materials and objects sourced from different places, each with a story, including steel, copper, plant fibres/roots/debris, twine, wire, wool, rope, feathers, rusted paper.. Life above and below; ‘as above, so below..’ I’ve since learnt Freud took this line ‘Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo’ to describe the currents of psychological underland that rush beneath our sunlit uplands of conscious mind, here and there surging up…

The work will be exhibited at Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens this summer together with my outdoor Flag pieces. I’ll be showing alongside 30 Royal Society of Sculptors - see here for more about our Wander_Land exhibition.

I’ve been spending many hours hammering and ‘stitching’ bottle tops together with fine copper wire. They’re being added in blocks are to a handwoven backing I previously made for another project (Chelsea Flower Show) - now being reused and transformed for my Flags of the Forest. Layers of translucent netting and fabric will be added. The original design references endangered species across the globe. There will eventually be several eco flags that stand together. The flags will be made from a range of found and reclaimed materials stitched together, representing bio-diversity, making do, hopeful of nature being more cared for, and thriving. The work was inspired by walks in woodlands and a phrase ‘the word for world is forest’ (Ursula Le Guin). Woods and forests provide vital ecosystems.

My giant snowdrop sculptures (made from discarded materials including plastic, wire and tent fabric) were installed in Shepton Mallet for the Snowdrop Festival until 20 February. It was lovely to see people engaging with them as we put them up outside the Baptist Church. One of Shepton Mallet’s annual highlights, the festival events had a massive attendance through the week.

Next week I’ll be running a free one-day art and creative writing workshop with Polly Hall. Join us to create a suspended artwork for Shepton Mallet library window featuring Market Cross. We’ll delve into the history of this iconic landmark, create written responses and drawing on textiles with botanical dyes. Supported by Shepton Mallet Town Council, part of their Winter Series. Friday 3 March, 10am-4pm. Shepton Mallet Library, 2 Market Place BA4 5AZ. Book: eventbrite

I’ll also be running an Eco Sculpture Workshop on Saturday, 18 March, 2-4pm. Create@#8, Shepton Mallet BA4 5BG. Book: eventbrite

Great to be showing Entangled VI in Darkness to Hope exhibition, Atkinson Gallery, 27 Feb - 30 March.

It’s your last chance to take advantage of my February Love Art shop discount! I’m offering 15% off all orders over £10 until the end of this month when my prices go up!  Quote this code at checkout: LOVEARTFEBSALE

Hope to see you at the Opening Event!

Love Art February Offer!

I’m offering a discount on all items in my online shop for 1 month only!  The 15% discount applies to all orders over £10, including larger outdoor sculptures which are currently on sale.

Do you have a garden which could be enhanced with a unique piece of art?   

Sculptures are an excellent investment for life – enriching your daily existence.  My sculptures sit well with nature, lending themselves to all seasons:  Each season shows off the work in different lights.  A combination of found/reclaimed steel, copper wire, and other materials, they glisten in sunshine and frosty days; snow picks out the dark, linear contours.  In autumn their vibrant, rusty orange reds and nitrate blue greens harmonise with surroundings.

To take advantage of my February discount of 15%, quote this code at checkout:

LOVEARTFEBSALE

Flags of the Forest, Residency, Exhibitions, Workshops

Flags of the Forest (in progress). Photo by Russell Sach

Happy New Year (I think I can still say that as it’s still January, just)!

Knuckling down to studio work has been a priority this past month. I’m developing new work as part of my Arts Council England ‘Developing Your Creative Practice’ Award. The award supports a year’s development, including my recent research trip to Kenya (see film), and mentoring with Mark Devereux Projects - which helps motivate me. I’m working on several pieces, leading to upcoming shows, including a residency/solo exhibition in a large empty space, Create@#8, Shepton Mallet, and Wander_Land at Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens and Gallery, with Royal Society of Sculptors this summer.

Inspired by walks in woodlands, I’m creating a series of Flags of the Forest. The flags celebrate bio-diversity, hopeful of nature being more cared for, and thriving.  These involve a combination of sculptural lines and fields of colour in space - hand-stitched patchworks of semi-translucent fabric and plastic remnants.  Some I’ve botanically dyed, eco-printed or embedded with found objects collected on walks.

I’m really grateful to photographer Russells Sach for visiting me last week for a photoshoot in my studio. It was a great opportunity to test out how the separate elements of my Flag pieces work together (and have a tidy up!).

Flags of the Forest (in progress). Photos by Russell Sach

Woods and forests provide vital ecosystems - crucial to our survival. Trees and their underground connections with mycelia fascinate me. Trees inspire awe, such slow-moving tolerant beings with ancient energies. My labour-intensive process is key to the work. Care and repair, making do, reusing, avoiding wastefulness. The binding, weaving and hand-stitching is cathartic, a form of suturing - healing through making.

If you have any green fabric/old clothing you’d like to get rid of, please let me know. I can collect if in the Somerset area.

Collage for Above and Below - a sculpture I’m developing

Botanical-prints on khadi paper, created after watching online demo with Suzanne Ledesma-Sikkerbøl

I plan to create a dyers garden. This will take time, so while I set up, I’m on the look out for certain leaves and flowerheads (unwanted) for eco-printing eg: eucalyptus leaves, african daisies, chocolate cosmos, dahlias, coreopsis, madder root… If you’re able to save me any of these, please get in touch!

During my residency at Create@#8, 20 Feb-10 March. the space will be open to visitors on Fridays and other days by appointment.  From 11-19 March, ongoing work will be showcased in a solo exhibition (Mon-Sat 11am-4pm, 8 Town Street, Shepton Mallet BA4 5BG). The Opening Event is Saturday 11 March, 2-4pm - save the date, I’d love you to come!  There will be a compositional soundscape in response to works by Ushara Dilrukshan. I plan to show a range of suspended, wall-mounted and freestanding works in the empty shop space, including a few pieces from my Life in the Undergrowth project. All welcome! 

I have some workshops you might be interested in (pics below of one I ran last weekend):

Join me in creating small snowdrop-inspired sculptures as part of Shepton Mallet's Snowdrop Festival on Friday, 17 Feb, 2-4pm, at The Art Bank Cafe, 13 High Street, Shepton Mallet BA4 5AA. Supported by Snowdrop Festival. Tickets £5. Book: eventbrite.

Shepton Reflections: a FREE one-day art and creative writing workshop with me and Polly Hall, Fri 3 March, 10am-4pm at Shepton Mallet Library. Using written word, poetry, botanical dyes and textiles we’ll make a suspended artwork featuring the Market Cross.  Supported by Shepton Mallet Town Council. Book: eventbrite.

Linked to my exhibition at Create@#8, I’ll be running an Eco Sculpture Workshop on Sat, 18 March, 2-4pm. Tickets: £18. Book: eventbrite.

Very happy my piece Entangled VI was selected for an exhibition Darkness to Hope at Atkinson Gallery, Somerset, opening 27 Feb. For more details please visit current and forthcoming events.

Looking forward to Spring!

Film: Kenyan Art Research Trip

I’ve made a film about my Kenyan Art Research trip. 

I immersed myself in Kenyan culture, met some inspiring contemporary artists and curators, visited galleries, museums, markets, other places of interest, and had wonderful adventures. In the final week I went to Nanyuki, on the edge of Ol Pejeta game reserve which overlooks Mount Kenya, for more wildlife, sketching, a bit of relaxation and family time.

I learnt so much and made many new connections.

Threads of ideas are brewing for new work.  I brought back various materials/found objects, sketchbook of notes/drawings, photos/footage/sound recordings (used in this film), and bark rubbings, now made into a small handmade book.

I’m very grateful to Arts Council England for supporting the trip via my DYCP award, and to those who hosted/supported me in Kenya including Untethered Magic, Ian & Andrew Campbell. And thanks to all artists, curators and galleries who gave their time.