I certainly never expected to be finishing my studies in isolation and under lockdown during a flu pandemic. I had flu in 1999, not a nasty cold, but full-blown flu and I have never been so ill in my life, ending up on antibiotics and steroids to clear the pleurisy that ensued. My heart goes out to everyone... show more
I am greatly amused, pleased and not at all surprised to see that for the duration of Linderism at Kettle’s Yard every reference to Jim Ede is being replaced with his wife’s name Helen, to highlight the many other women erased from history and art history.
https://www.kettlesyard.co.uk
Suffice to say, Kettle’s Yard, the former home of Mr AND Mrs Jim... show more
On 13th March (Friday, but not unlucky this time!) I was fortunate to take a curator led tour of the New Hall Art Collection, the largest collection of women’s art in Europe.
Our guide, Harriett Loffler, was passionate and knowledgeable about the collection which includes over five hundred works by international artists - including Judy Chicago, Maggi Hambling CBE, Lubaina... show more
On 12th March I set off to Cambridge to attend Radical Materialities: Linder and Companion Histories which has been organised by Kettle’s Yard and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, on the occasion of the exhibition Linderism. A two-day conference reflecting upon Linder’s five decade career;
“Best known for her photomontages, Linder’s work is... show more
Although it feels like my work left in the ceramics studio at Bradford College of Art has been abandoned, I'm convincing myself that going off at a tangent is ok, now that I don't have access to a kiln for a while ! (though maybe trying some kind of raku set-up in the back garden might be a possibility.....)
Sewing,... show more
Last week I spent my time in the spray booth at YSJ coating each bollard in two shades of grey spray paint. You can see that when the surface is one uniform colour the textured wallpaper is really effective. show more
To achieve a texture on each of the marker posts that references the original texture of cast concrete. I've been applying textured wallpaper around the laser cut sections and onto the surface of the MDF. When painted this should give a similar effect to cast concrete. Or at least reference the origins of the piece. show more
Over the past few weeks I've been working on producing the gas marker pieces in multiple using the York St. John wood workshop. In total I have CNC cut and laser cut twelve marker post pieces. I hope to use these pieces in an exhibition I have planned at the beginning of April in the S1 Gallery in Sheffield where... show more
So, I have been putting it off long enough but it was coming: I am now finally registered as sole-trader i.e. self-employed. Luckily there are sources of information and help out there. The first time I really thought that this was the way to go was after hearing a talk by the national director of the AA2A program, Wendy Mason,... show more
From 1-30 April 2020 we are exhibiting work in response the the recent global wildfires. The mezzazine exhibition space is on the first floor in the main Helmore Building at Anglia Ruskin University.
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Wendy's been busy delivering AA2A's talk on self-employment to students and graduates in art and design in unis across England. We've had a great student and artist turnout this year. On Wednesday 11th March she'll be in Preston at UCLan from 1 until 3pm (Foster Lecture Theatre 3, Foster Building), so if any current or past AA2A UCLan artists fancy... show more
Walking hurriedly through The Metropolitan Museum in NYC, cutting through the Egyptian wing, I suddenly recognise a sculpture, which forces me to abruptly stop and turn around.
Behold! I am standing before the actual sculpture featured in my own artists book of collages. I appropriated the image from a 1980's Sotheby's Art at Auction catalogue and with the... show more
Presented to Jeremy Turner (Deputy Head of Department), Cian Quayle (Associate Professor) & Jack Welsh (Freelance researcher, writer and artist).
http://www.thedoublenegative.co.uk/little-black-book/jack-welsh/
As my practice is very diverse and my portfolio rather eclectic I opted to make a PowerPoint presentation. This, I hoped, would be the most effective method of presenting a broad overview of my interests and skills, and... show more
linen - favourite cloth - white linen covered buttons originally not intended for show (used on nightwear/underwear in 19th/early20th century) - hardwearing, ordinary, everyday, unhidden - starched/crumpled , mended, darned, ephemeral ragged cloth
embroidery and applique - old /unfinished sewn pieces of mine that have distinct textures , pressed/rolled/embedded/soaked in porcelain
simple bowl form - curved - hand-held
black and... show more
In November last year I exhibited a body of work at the Martin Hall Exhibition Space on Loughborough campus as part of a research fellowship with the British Council with an ex student and fellow from Loughborough University.
The exhibition was an exploration of materials and objects from the everyday sphere that brought together printmaking and installation.
Focusing on printmaking,... show more
I am quite used to creating sculptures using sculptural materials and mould making processes. However to increase the amount of pieces I can produce I have also ventured into the use of wood and Digital Technology in order to be able to quickly produce multiple pieces.
Today I used the CNC machine for the first time, cutting out and engraving... show more
1st day of the residency at Bromley House Library, Nottingham.
From February, I will be the new artist in residence at Bromley House for my project titled “The Untouched Collection”. I will be researching the 19th century collection of travelling books and autobiographies, collecting illustrations of African nature. Using personal and mythological narratives, I will be exploring issues... show more
Finally got out of the ceramics studio into the print studio to spent some quality time making print screens. My aim is to incorporate printed elements into my way of creating very dense surface patterns onto my ceramic sculptures. I am hoping this will save me some production time while introducing a new quality of surface decoration. So, I am... show more
Denise is a graduate of Fine Art and English Literature from the University of Chester and currently Assistant Exhibitions Registrar at the Tate Gallery in Liverpool, she was introduced by module leader Jeremy Turner.
Denise outlined the steps in her studies and career that have led to her current position and the writing that she has undertaken for Double Negative and... show more
Embedding / embossing
simple bowl forms - different metals , hand stitched fabrics , threads
collections / connections - aiming for small differences, fine details
contrasting pale ceramic , dark detail show more
A big thank you to everyone that came to the 'aa2a artists' update at the FARU talk last wednesday at Cambridge School of Art. Another packed house. You made us a bit nervous, had we done enough since we saw you last, what were your expectations of the work? Did we disappoint? I hope not.
We have been working... show more
A really interesting lecture, whilst unrelated to my own practice, Al and Cal are both ex-students of the University of Chester. With lots of encouragement and great empathy for our third-year angst, they were keen to lower anxiety levels and career worries. They included some interesting statistics about the workplace; that over the course of a career one could expect... show more
Over the Christmas period I have had a lot of time to reflect and alter my intentions since being involved with AA2A. I have created a workshop plan for the fine art students at Loughborough University, which may be useful for the creation process for future artworks of the students. I have adapted my creative methods of being a contemporary... show more
Artists generally work alone without the need for validation to create, we just get on with it in our own time and space, trusting our instincts and creative abilities. Sometimes though we get stuck or go off at a tangent and struggle to return to the place that triggered those initial ideas. We then start doubting ourselves and our abilities... show more
At the beginning of January this year, I had a surprise e-mail offering me the opportunity to take up a place at Bradford College of Art - fantastic news !
Two weeks in and I'm loving the ceramics studio - wanting to return to working with both cloth and clay in some way. It's a... show more
November was a landmark for me. My first time exhibiting on my own! I had the priviledge to be selected by Arts Thread to exhibit at Handmade Chelsea, along with 10 other emerging artists. It was a whirlwind few days full of stand construction, mentoring, conversing with customers and fellow artists and selling my work. I learnt so much and... show more
Austin was introduced by Prof David Raffo, Senior Lecturer Product Design, and delivered a very entertaining lecture presenting his wide-ranging work across disciplines including design, sculpture and film making. Austin’s work takes a highly experimental approach, so it was little surprise to find his current position is as a researcher at The Royal College of Art, Design Interactions Department.
With... show more
I recently took myself off to Tate Liverpool to seek out work that helped contextualise my forthcoming Interim Exhibition. I was particularly interested in the Peter Blake painting “On the Balcony”, you can see more detail referencing this in my exhibitions album.
As a collage artist myself I often reference the work of Eduardo Paolozzi, and as part of my... show more
I've had a lovely day today watching ceramic artist Michaela Schoop hard at work.
Micaelas work is alot about communication, her work has a satisfying weight to it and is very pleasing to touch, the shapes invite you to reach out and touch.
The shapes are made quite quickly but the patterns take considerably longer they are all hand drawn, ... show more
https://nickmunrostudio.com/about/
https://nickmunro.com
Lynne Bell, Senior Lecturer introduced Nick who went on to give a fascinating lecture on his journey from engineer to artist. Nick encouraged us to find our own heroes, in order to help define our path. He listed amongst his own, Gordon Murray, designer of Formula One racing cars, Richard Rogers, best known for his work on the... show more
www.craigeaston.com
Craig introduced himself as a documentary photographer who began his career in the early 90’s in newspapers, namely the Independent. He described learning his trade as being thrown in at the deep end, and I find it encouraging to hear professional, award winning artists talk openly about the early part of their careers. Likewise, Craig explained that documentary work... show more
Yesterday I met Clare Phelon and Susan Rowland,
Susan had been working on a new piece about women in history. She was using multiple methods combined including monoprinting, lino print and machine embroidery.
I had arranged to meet Clare she was preparing a colograph for printing. the colograph was made by gluing a sheet of music from a machanical organ... show more
Thanks to
@BTextileArchive
I now have happy eyes...
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We have been continually working on our respective artworks in response to the changing landscape. What we have found is that it has been invaluable to collaborate.
We speak several times a week and get together as much as we can, either at the university, or visiting each others studios. We share information and images via Google Drive pretty much... show more
In November, I took part in a private event held at Valerie Turton's and organised by Harry Martin : "Gathering celebrating the last vestiges of autumn in a beautiful natural environment. Artworks expressing a connection to the land and exploring the rhythms of nature will be displayed around the space. As the sun sets the bonfire will be lit and... show more
