Blog posts

On working through the project to become unstuck
Design-wise I keep struggling with where to start in the past I have drawn a variety of things on pottery, including boats, buoys, beach bungalows, bins, local buildings, and post boxes.   I sometimes still draw post boxes on my outgoing post.   I should talk about the project, the idea is to speed up the ceramics-making process, to be...  show more
Started!
I think I might have started late compared to others but I've gone into the studio as soon as the doors opened in January. First impressions... too warm, work is drying too quickly, so adapting to this means a quicker work flow, multiple pieces on the go. I've - Kath - has already put a few pieces through a kiln...  show more
Happy New Year!
Just a quick greeting as we begin a new year! And hello 2023, what are you going to throw at us?? I'm back in the studio, thinking whether to try and plan my move to a new space later this month or just fling everything into a van on the day! I am definitely trying to tackle things that stalled...  show more
Canvas to Painting
This video (click on the image to play video) shows 3 of the paintings I was working on in December on the canvases I made at York St Johns.  show more
What's happening at AA2A this month...
Happy new year! We hope you've had a restful festive season and are ready to get stuck into 2023.  Self-Employment Seminars - on Tues 24th January we will be hosting the first of our programme of 2023 Specialist Self-Employment Seminars This is a monthly online seminar for up to 25 participants (students and graduates) from our host universities. The first seminar...  show more
Second Year Fine Art, Semester 1 - Amelia Pethullis 2k22
As I move towards the New Year and take a break from my practice, I am able to reflect on the progress I have made and productive enquiries that I have enacted. Most importantly I feel that in moving past the Pathway - 'Sustenance' project, I have been able to point my investigations opf material towards an understanding of sensory...  show more
Finally at the beginning
After a slow start it was good to finally start printing in the Red Shed, thanks to Joseph & Rupert for showing the the ropes and allowing me free reign to print in there.  I wanted to start with somethng simple that would allow me to get used the place and the facilities so I made a small series of...  show more
Review of my first two visits to Sunderland and initial plans of work I wish to develop.
In my application I had proposed working on a particular subject matter - Interiors and memories of interiors - but when I came in on my first visit to meet the heads of department of Illustration and Graphics and was shown all the amazing facilities it was hard not to have lots of additional ideas! A lovely surprise was they,...  show more
New Work - Untitled 2022
In my last post you will have seen that I learned to strech my own canvas. Once I primed my canvases I was able to get to work on some new painting for my Untitled Series. This series of work encapsulates my love of contemporary architecture and the wild landscape that you can often find in urban environments.   Acrylic...  show more
Canvas Making
I took the oppertunity to learn to make my own canvas at York St Johns in the last couple of weeks. After an introuduction to the equipment I needed to use, it was an easy and pleasurable process. The Miter machine reminded me of a Pac Man taking little trianglar chunks out of the wood with every move of the...  show more
Day 1 at Blackpool
Working with Paula and Brendan at Blackpool School of arts in the print department. They are making me feel very welcome. My project is quite challenging and they are happy for me to practice and try new techniques.This is a black-and-white polaroid of my first attempt.    show more
What's happening at AA2A this month...
Artist Support Fund - this has now closed.  Around half of our 55 artists are on low income and we're delighted to be able to help them with their expenses and travel costs. Final payments have been made this week. more info on the fund Weekly ‘Pic’ and ‘Tip’ - each week we share an image that's been uploaded to...  show more
Back on the wheel
It's been a while since I really sat at a wheel and practised my craft. I don't make as much wheel-thrown work at the moment, because I hurt my back and I haven't had a studio I could get inside if easily till this year. I love things to be a bit wonky and wobbly as I have always looked...  show more
day 1
day 1. my first time printing in the surface pattern print room at Staffs Uni for nearly 30 years. the ever present Sue was there to show me the ropes, just as she was when I started there in 1990! so I can now coat screens, expose screens and print from them, which I think represents a good first session....  show more
repurposing a fridge
  What better way to use a redundant old fridge than an air tight store cupboard for the pottery studio. heres the results of my first day of building awaiting my next visit. So potters no need for old bags, cling film etc.. heres a way of keeping your work hydrated. A save Space for the students to keep their...  show more
Connecting
  I had the pleasure of meeting Judith (3rd year Bh Fine Art Student on my first day in the Ceramics studio. She came to ask the technician Rob a question. As soon as I showed her what I was doing and invited her to join me for the afternoon she was engaged. Two of us visited her workspace and...  show more
1st firing at York St John
Spent my first full day in the ceramics studio yesterday. It was very productive. Here im sharing my new work ready to fire. Such a fantastic kiln for a handbuilder like myself to share with the students, I can maintain large scale builds. I have mixed my own glazes for this project, hoping for a milky white body, soft subdues...  show more
Carving London Plane
As a painter and Illustrator, I wanted to translate my work into other mediums that I felt would be sympathetic to the subject matter - contemporary urban landscape. One of my proposed objectives was to use wood. I have a surplus of London Plane wood left over from our kitchen build and felt this would be ideal. The easier and...  show more
Intro week
My AA2A residence in Derby University and I am travelling by train to the Uni. It was good to meet the other artist at the residency who are spread over different parts of the arts faculty. I am located in the Photography section, with my main resource for this residency will be the traditional darkroom. Practical elements of this residency....  show more
Testing 1 2 3
The start of every project there is a lot of testing as I enjoy that part and a new project is often a great excuse to try something new, new glazes, new clay etc. In the last post I already showed the new clays I am starting with, plus add on to those Blackpool School of Arts buff clay and...  show more
What's happening at AA2A this month...
Funding - We’re delighted that AA2A is to continue being funded by Arts Council England from 2023 to 2026. We’re one of only 40 national sector support organisations (now known as IPSOs) covering all the arts, museums and libraries across the country New intake of Artists - Welcome to our 50+ new AA2A artists (with quite a few re-joining us...  show more
The bath of ideas?
The more I reflect, the more I realise and remember that the majority of my ideas or creative thoughts arrive (or are presented to me) when I bathe. Laying in the water somehow seems to aid/stimulate a certain openness that is needed to accept information. I have also learnt to never outrightly reject ideas that flow into my conscious mind...  show more
My Project Statement
I am embarking on an extended piece of work focused on Lindow Moss near Wilmslow, a degraded raised peat bog which, until recently, was subject to mechanical peat extraction.  This has now ceased, and restoration of the bog commenced in February 2022.  In May this year I produced 30 experimental artworks exploring the history (natural and human).  My intention is...  show more
What is it? What is it that he is thinking? (Beginnings)
Things more than often start with text. It's the most useful jumping off point at the beginning of a project. It helps set the tone, language and the mental and visual imagery for myself and anyone I might collaborate with. A working title also initiates a certain expansion and leads to other areas unexplored. So as I work with the text...  show more
A distant memory and an artwork
Reliquary II Reconstructed book. 21 x 17 x 2 cm 2018 reworked 2022 The first time I saw a reliquary was as a child in the beautiful church, a converted Ottoman mosque of St. Titus in Herakleion. I knew little about the history of the building, the significance of its conversion, and indeed even less about St. Titus.  The old...  show more
A space I can call my own!
As my work is predominantly audio based I needed a space where I would be mostly uninterrupted so that I could think, write, curate sound and set up the processes that would allow me begin to explore how this project might evolve. I'm happy to report that the lovely people at Blackpool School of Arts have just given me access...  show more
Grateful for my aa2a placement with Sunderland University
I'm feeling very grateful to be selected for a placement with Sunderland University. They have extensive facilities and are of course leading the field in ceramics and glass. This is a fantastic opportunity for me to start experimenting and I'm really looking forward to meeting all the students and faculty. To be sited at the National Glass Center is also...  show more
New Ideas, New Clays
I'm approaching my time at the Blackpool School of Art to combine a series of different skills. As an artist I have had a portfolio career, working in formal education, being a potter making contemporary tableware, making sculptural experimental pottery to talk about place and the environment, and then at the opposite end of the scale making bright and colourful...  show more
What's happening at AA2A this month...
New AA2A year - host organisations are beginning to welcome in their new cohort of AA2A artists. We can’t wait to see who has signed up and what they will be working on! Artists are encouraged to use their AA2A profiles to showcase work in progress, blogs or upcoming exhibitions, see our new artist profiles here Artists support fund - for...  show more
'Foreign Saints'
I have recently added two new aspects to my practice: Firstly, I started to keep sketchbooks, which are chronologically curated.  In other words, whereas in the past I just picked up whatever bit of paper and unfinished pad and scribbled in it, I now feel the need for linear progression and continuity. More of that later. The second was even...  show more
Featured in AA2A's Environmental Summer campaign
Helen writes "I created Terra Firma Leaky Boat to bring attention to the destruction that we are causing to our precious planet. The work can be interpreted as a comment about the refugee crisis, or a call to action about the ecological problems that the world is facing, but these crises are inextricably linked. The hands were made in different...  show more
What's happening at AA2A this month...
Promotion of our residencies is now in full swing. So far we have 10 hosts signed up across the country, including two new hosts - welcome to Blackpool School of Art, joining us for the first time and Sunderland Uni who are rejoining the scheme... more info on applying  Apply for a placement -  We're often asked if you can go on...  show more
News and Updates
End of scheme artist shows and exhibitions As the schemes at many of our host universities draw to a close for the year, many of our creatives are showing the work from their placements in shows and exhibitions. If you are a current AA2A creative taking part in a show or exhibition do upload it to your profile as we...  show more
AA2A news and updates
Return to full schemes in 2022-23 After the disruption during the pandemic, we are currently in, what we’ve called a 'transition’ year, while we return to business as usual. Institutions were given the option to host between 0-6 artists.  Applications for the 2022-23 schemes will open over the summer and this will mark the AA2A project's return to full capacity....  show more
A Spring Update
It’s officially spring (meteorologically that is), how the academic year is flying by! It’s brilliant to have seen so much activity across the country, especially as part of organised events with students. In February AA2A artists took part in Wolverhampton’s Creative Futures event, Anglia Ruskin’s artists did an update talk and Lizzie Jordan did a talk at Staffordshire Uni last week. Our Creatives...  show more
Research and Development
Over the past few months, I have been undertaking a period of R&D in Cambridge School of Arts (CSA) Futures-Lab. The new facility has state of the art 3D printers, scanners and lasercutters – amongst other tech! Working with CSA’s specialist technicians, I have been trying out different 3D printing and scanning processes.     ABS Print  .       ...  show more