Tuesday 7 August 2012

' SCENT ' The Final Show

 For the past eight weeks I have been screen-printing in a Pop-Up Studio in the countryside of East Sussex. Whilst this has been a very exciting time it hasn't come without the occasional hitch ! Not to mention the horse and very strong animal smells which drift around! Although the clip clop of horses walking past the door made up for it I have to say.

Finding the studio is of course the first dilemma. I got very lucky as I searched  for the right specifications. 

For example : 

the right size room - the work I have done is 30 meters long

water available - a necessity when printing and you need a strong water pressure

 relaxed landlord - the last thing you need is someone who is hanging over you, being demanding 

that includes being able to make a mess with ink !

being able to drive to the door was an important feature -  the 47" x 49" screens are cumbersome and heavy


 Buying all my own inks, squeegees,bases,screens and many sundries. So it was a very expensive exercise as well.

However, if I weigh up all the negative sides to this project and then look at the work today, how I feel as an artist etc. completing such a challenging task, I feel very pleased with the overall result. It has been a very rewarding experience and I've met many very interesting people along the way. Ranging from the other people working in the units on the property to sourcing suppliers at Ad Colour to Artizan in Brighton where I have been exposing my screens -  ( I saw Bridgette Riley's work being editioned )

This latest work 'SCENT'  will be shown at the PRIVATE VIEW 

 PRINTMAKING MA 

 CAMBERWELL COLLEGE,  on the 5th of September, 2012
and for the following week except Sunday.

Please come along if you are free










Monday 6 August 2012

Bolingbroke Hospital


Exhibition -  'A View Backwards'

Bolingbroke Hospital, Wandsworth closed in 2009. It was a hospital for the elderly and provided social activities one of which was the inspiration for the exhibition, 'A View Backwards'.



Julie Arkell, Penelope Batley and Shelley Goldsmith were all given a selection of objects that had been used to help the patients remember their past experiences .
Photographer, Jason Oddy was commissioned to take photographs of the hospital.



Hospitals are a there to serve us at our best and worst moments. Birth, death,dementia,recovery etc. Hospitals  are layered in history and embedded firmly in the communities they serve. However when conservation comes into play it is difficult to preserve all of these objects (practical and otherwise) including the therapy techniques which had been used in the past. All too often these threads are lost and entombed within the rubble of the buildings, perhaps lost forever. 

This exhibition struck a very strong chord with my own practice and stimulated thoughts such as how to use the found object as a conduit and in turn express what we want to say or what we want to convey to the audience.


Jason Oddy works with the often unseen ways architecture
affects us








I felt this exhibition had made it possible to save these memories, ideas, and caring work, through the playfulness of the artists. Feelings arose for me which could almost lead me to believe that the patients had made the objects themselves. Some being handmade others containing feelings of confusion resembling dementia and disability. In fact for me , the more the objects pertained to being child like the more they exuded authenticity. 
It was difficult at times to see where the artist had left off or indeed where the artists work had begun. I enjoyed this confusion and blurring of lines.










Penelope Batley's interest lays in the unexpected and overlooked
http://www.penelopebatley.co.uk/


Shelley Goldsmith uses textiles to interpret emotions and memories
associated with the human experience

Juliie Arkell is a contemporary folk artist woking with paper-
mache and mixed media


http://www.earthangelstoys.com/html/julie_arkell_-_paper_mache.html

Sunday 15 July 2012

Working the Wire + The Golden Thread





Printing on wire has proved quite difficult, however I am one for a challenge. There are small glitches that happen from time to time - I consider them things to move my work on. These so called happy accidents, if taken in a positive light, help break down the work and take it to another place. I wait for them to happen nowadays. It makes art even more playful and fun.
 Things start clicking into place and in a controlled way, by this I mean, if you know what should be happening, it feels like someone else has the controls and that can lead to some interesting places. It is something I expect within my art process and I am somehow reliant on it.





detail from a screen before rinsing

hooks installed to help with the weight of the screen

latest addition, a drying box for all five screens
this makes a huge difference when working fast
the whole process is a lot easier


half way through a image

five colours 


Adriena Simotova






 Adriena Simotova was born in Prague in 1926. She works with carbon paper, drawing, sculpting, cutting and printing. I discovered her work on a trip to Prague a few years ago and have been interested and influenced by her work ever since.
I think the textures, layers and presentation she uses are what engages me most. More than her subject matter, which is the human body. The way she seemingly climbs inside the work and digs away while she intersects with the surface and beyond allows a lot to be seen and much to be hidden too. She both reveals and covers all at once.
this fragmentation of a work here resonates strongly with my
thoughts and feelings around things left, memory and loss


the approach to presentation, allowing the work to be relaxed onto the floor gives the work a casual unfinished presence.







Exhibition Space



Once a definitive decision is made about what exactly you are making for an exhibition the rest is easy - isn't it ?
There are many things to consider when making these final decisions. 
Where to exhibit? Where to exhibit within the room? How to exhibit? Frame or not to frame? What will I need to enable me to install the work? Who will help with the installing process? and the list goes on . . . plus health and safety are also to be considered at all times of course !



space at Camberwell

 I was lucky enough with my Final Show at Camberwell to get the area I selected when I submitted my proposal. The space is light and has a sense of airiness about it. You cannot always have it your way tho - the basin on the left is an eyesore, however what happens when your work is in place ? -  these things disappear, especially if you don't pay them any attention and get on with the job of showing your work to the best of your ability.


I may have to mark out an area to keep the audience away from the work as it is very fragile

I have noted the area quite well however I am going back for a third time with Richard, http://www.richardsharples.co.uk/


 - an experienced artist who is going to help install my work. Together we will discuss options and details
equipment needed etc. This is best done well in advance to enable a relaxed, successful and most of all enjoyable installation.

the considerations are : will I hang my work or will I leave it on the floor ?
These decisions will be made on the day when I can see the work in situ.

Sarah Sze - Sculptor Using Objects





Sarah Sze sculpts with everyday objects. I went recently to see her work at the Victoria Miro and I was struck by the intricacy of the sculptures, in some cases they feel like experiments left unfinished. In another way they are incredibly playful and fun, almost child like except you know they are perfectly arranged in very way. Threads and rulers arking at just the right length, everything placed just so. Often Sze's work burrows into the walls or uses reflection and shadow to focus the work and the viewer down to one point.
These installations are entertaining, intriguing, ephemeral and busy often referencing instruments of measure and mapping. Many different materials are used to create these small worlds or what at times feel like experiments - testing out 'something'. They climb the gallery walls and include objects such as light bulbs, plastic bottles, ladders, bottle tops, paper, fans etc. Some of the work is kinetic and blows or moves like a swinging plum line which JUST misses everything as it passes around the circular formation of objects.






For me these installations felt intricate, temporary, fun and inclusive. Anyone could relate to them, for many of the objects we use in our daily life. The more you look into them the more they play with ideas such as orientation and disorientation - familiar and unfamiliar. This is perhaps because the objects are taken out of their normal context. 

Wednesday 11 July 2012

About Westland Place Studios

About Westland Place Studios      link

Westland Place Studios are right next door to Jamie Olivers 15 Restaurant  http://www.fifteen.net/. A few weeks ago we had Open Studios and it so happened Jamie Oliver had a Street Festival. This made for a very interesting audience viewing our work.
I had over 80 - 100 people through and all were from various parts of the world. Many engaging conversations were had !


I think there is nothing like the combination of food and the arts and we will be having another one possibly over Christmas. Listen up as its advertised on Radio One closer to the time.



nothing like a little 'cheeky' self promotion