Blog posts

Flying the Flag for Wolverhampton with Jayne Murray
  Yesterday, I took part in a performance art project that I didn’t quite expect to be a part of and it had quite a profound effect on me. On a macro level, it made me reflect on the power of haptic art. On a micro level, it made me ponder on the issue highlighted by the performance. It was...  show more
Fuzzy things
  In my obsession with the thingyness of things, or to borrow the term coined by Jane Bennett, the ‘power of things’, and our relationship with objects, all stuffs, whether they be real, virtual, real, hyper-real, tangible, intangible, factual or fictional, I recently decided to conduct a rather fun experiment. This is the lighter side of doing an MA by...  show more
An art writer is always learning - writers' workshop with Louise Palfreyman writer-in-residence
    This week I took part in a weekly writers' workshop at the University of Wolverhampton run by AA2A writer-in-residence, Louise Palfreyman, who is currently based there. One of my many loves, besides making art and drinking rhubarb gin, is writing about art. So I was keen to take part in this workshop to learn something from someone with...  show more
The winter of our discontent always leads to spring - interview with AA2A artist Baljinder Kaur
Sandra Cope and I, AA2A student reps at the University of Wolverhampton, recently met with Baljinder Kaur, one of this year’s AA2A artists-in-residents based in Wolverhampton to talk about her practice and reflect on the creative life. Baljinder’s background is in illustration. Prior to starting up her residency, she was working (and still is) as a freelance illustrator. Before that,...  show more
A world devoid of colour - what is it all about?
Since the summer, I have become obsessed with a world devoid of colour. This is particularly odd given that I have synaesthesia. Taking away colour from someone with synaesthesia is almost impossible but that is what I have been trying to do, to myself. The result has been very interesting so far. For the last six months I have almost...  show more
Endings and Beginings
Last night was the Private View of the degree show of the 2017 soon-to-be graduates in BA Fine Art at the Wolverhampton School of Art. This year, I am one of the soon-to-be graduates. As I’m a part-time student, I took part in last year’s degree show. So this is my second time.     This year, though, the feeling has...  show more
What does it all meme?
Sometimes the last-minute ideas are the maddest, yet, nonetheless worth pursuing, don't you think? Such a last-minute idea came to me ten days ago, during my Final Major Project assessment, just in time for the forthcoming degree show. During this assessment, for which I wasn't actually being assessed being a part-time student (but that's not particularly relevant), one of the tutors...  show more
Inside vs outside and infinite stuff vs infinite space
One of the activities I have been engaged in during my 9-month long obsession over repetition has been doodling on painted MDF. I have spent hours doodling and drawing, scribbling and musing. The doodles are about repetition. The doodles represent repetition. They are also repetitious. They reflect my thoughts on repetition and my repetitious thoughts. The topics covered by my doodles are...  show more
That age-old question: is it art?
I've been thinking more today about my defect art. I have been asking myself what it is about these innocuous little examples of graffiti that I like so much. All I am doing is painting holes and marks. The question I now ask is: why is this art? These replicated holes aren't particularly aesthetic and they don't take long to...  show more
Copying defects - the real vs the unreal
I am now marching (or being marched, it feels like) swiftly towards the Degree Show in the Fine Art department here in Wolverhampton. There is just one month to go. The studios are buzzing with ain air of creative stress and frenzied activity. I love this time of year. The results of ten months work are starting to appear and...  show more
Memories, fabric and the drawing compulsion
This week, myself and Jackie Sanderson, in our capacity as AA2A student reps, met up with AA2A artist-in-residence Sadie Christian. Sadie is the third of the artists working at Wolverhampton we have met up with thus far, each one being very different in their practice. Sadie’s background is in textiles. She completed a degree in textiles at Goldsmiths in the...  show more
When science, art and happy accidents collide - a meeting with Samuel Rodgers, AA2A artist-in-residence
University of Wolverhampton AA2A artist Samuel Rodgers is a musician and an artist. His practice encompasses performance, composition, installation and phonography. Jackie Sanderson and I, AA2A student reps at Wolverhampton, went to meet Samuel to find out more about what he’s currently working on while at the university. We met him in his adopted studio: the sound proof fine metalwork...  show more
Finding Art in the Everyday - The Projected Kitchen
I am fascinated with objects, things, stuff. I love the stuff that we are surrounded by. I find our relationship to stuff fascinating, whether it be real stuff, solid stuff, ethereal stuff, ancient stuff, virtual stuff or digital stuff. 'The Projected Kitchen' an exhibition of recent work by Rosemary Terry, one of the fine art tutors at Wolverhampton, currently on show at...  show more
The Repetition Room - eat, sleep, draw, repeat
Last week was assessment week for me at Wolverhampton so the culmination of the first semester’s work. For the assessment, I was asked to display a piece / body of work that reflected my current 'thinking and understanding'. During the last semester I had been researching the concept of repetition. Repetition touches many levels of existence. It can be a...  show more
This year's topic is...
This is my second year as a student rep for AA2A (the perks of the part-time life). Last year my obsession was balloons. I collected balloons, I drew balloons, I painted balloons. In fact I lived, breathed and dreamed balloons. I blogged about balloons. I was infamous for a while as the 'lady who collects balloons'. I finally made them...  show more
We all liked the winner of the John Moores Prize 2016 - so we are good judges
There are two art prize exhibitions that I go out of my way to visit: the annual Jerwood Drawing Prize and the biannual John Moores Painting Prize. I love the Jerwood exhibition for its contemporary take on drawing and for pushing the definition of drawing to the edges of credibility. I love the John Moore exhibition for providing an insight...  show more
The watched are watching
Last week, while in London with a few hours to spare, I decided to take a trip to the Royal Academy to see the Summer Exhibition and the David Hockney portraits. I first came across David Hockney’s work during my A levels, in the late 1980s. In fact, one of my favourite paintings of all time is a Hockney: Mr...  show more
A flicker of raw optimism at the Royal Academy
Last week I had to go to London for a two-hour long meeting at Bloomsbury Publishing. The meeting ended at 2.15pm so this gave me the opportunity to see some art before heading home. There was no contest as to where to go; it had to be the Royal Academy for the Summer Show (and also the David Hockney portraits). ...  show more
Jerwood Drawing Prize 2016 - punching above but why not?
Yesterday I drove from my home, Shrewsbury, to Aberystwyth and back. I dropped something off, and then had lunch on the beach, and then drove back. I arrived back home in time to pick up two of my children from school at 3.10pm (with a little bit of beach attached to my elbow). I didn't go to Aberystwyth just to...  show more
The artist looking out to the artist looking in - Francis Bacon and Maria Lassnig in Liverpool
Last weekend, the weekend before the final show at Wolverhampton and a likely week of stress, I decided that a family trip was required. I needed to see some art and get away from home for a while so I dragged my three children up to Tate Liverpool to see the Francis Bacon exhibition which I’d seen advertised. Before we...  show more
35 Degrees of Impact: colouring outside the lines
I'm not sure I am qualified to write a review of the Wolverhampton School of Art Fine Art (BA) Degree Show as I was in it (albeit it as a not-yet-graduating student capacity) but I'm going to anyway. Or perhaps this is not so much a review but more of a 'You Must Go And See It' not-at-all-biaised plug because...  show more
Lost and Found
While in London last weekend, after visiting the National Gallery and stopping for lunch, I paid a visit to the Found exhibition, curated by Cornelia Parker at the Foundling Museum. I had heard about this exhibition on Radio 4 the week before and my ears had pricked up with interest as lost and found objects feature hugely in my art...  show more
Nature in all its nakedness: George Shaw 'My Back to Nature' exhibition
Last weekend I went to London, and what do most art students do in London? Go to an art gallery. Ever since I first stumbled across George Shaw's work when at Shrewsbury College I became fascinated with staircases I've been a bit of a fan of his and I've sought out his paintings whenever I could (one in Coventry and...  show more
'Making it out there' - my thoughts
When I started my foundation degree in contemporary art practice at Shrewsbuiry College back in 2012, I didn't anticipate how much common sense I'd learn as well as experience and development in my art practice. One of the main purposes of the course was to teach students how to survive out there in the Big Wide World as an artist....  show more
Is that all I have to show?
I'm fast approaching the end of my first year as a final year student at the University of Wolverhampton. (Being part-time I am studying the final year over two years.) So now is a good time to reflect on what I've achieved this year. I started the year with a blank studio, and now I've just cleared away to end...  show more
Elizabeth Price at the Ashmolean
After visiting the Andy Warhol exhibition at the Ashmolean I took a trip to the top of the building to watch Elizabeth Price's video piece about the collections at the Ashmolean and the Pitt-RIvers Museum which is the culmination of her time spent in Oxford. She had been commissioned to create a piece about some aspect of the museums' collections....  show more
Anyd Warhol at the Ashmolean
Last weekend I found myself in Oxford and, while I was there I paid a visit to the Ashmolean (it would have been rude not to). The Ashmolean is currently running an exhibition of the art of Andy Warhol. Until recently, I didn't feel particularly inspired by Pop Art as a movement generally and the art of Andy Warhol in...  show more
Walking through the art in Aberystwyth
Last week, during a short break on the Welsh coast, we paid a visit to the Aberystwyth Arts Centre. Every time we are close by I insist on a day there. It is a fabulous venue with book shop, cafe, cinema and art galleries. I can easily spend a few hours there. Last summer I was much influenced by an...  show more
Wolverhampton is full of creative people
Last weekend I managed to persuade two of my children to come with me to the I AM ____ Contemporary Art Fair at the Newhampton Arts Centre in Wolverhampton and we found much there to be inspired by. There was an eccelctic mix of art and artistic activity to view and participate in, from the doddles and scribbles of Emily...  show more
I AM_____ Contemporary Art Fair
If you are looking for something to do this weekend then I would urge you to pay a visit to the I AM ___ Contemporary Art Fair that is taking place at the Newhampton Arts Centre, Dunkley Street, in Wolverhampton. Mental Spaces CIC in conjunction with the arts centre is presenting a three-day long art fair which will showcase a...  show more
Two art galleries in one day - urban landscape in central Birmingham
After visiting the New Art West Midlands exhibition, we went along to another art exhibition. This time, at a much smaller gallery: the Reuben Colley Gallery on Colemore Row in Birmingham. I had heard about this exhibition through a friend of mine who is actually one of the exhibiting artists: Mark Lippett (see image below). This exhibition is also advertised...  show more
New Art West Midlands - giant red spiders and how to make coffee with dew?
Yesterday I took the family on a trip to Birmingham to visit the New Art West Midlands exhibition at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. There was an interesting mix of work: video, sculpture, painting and drawing showcasing graduates from various art schools in the Midlands. I'd first heard about this exhibition last year when I stumbled across it by...  show more
Meeting Kathryn Sawbridge - AA2A artist-in-residence at University of Wolverhampton
Kathryn is the second AA2A artist-in-residence at Wolverhampton University that Pam Fletcher and I have met with. We interviewed her about her practice and her experiences working at the art school. Kathryn’s background is interesting because despite being a practicing artist with a distinction at master’s level in Fine Art, she was advised by an art teacher at school not...  show more
Big Bang Data
Last week I had to travel to London for a work meeting and rather than rush back home I decided to make the most of being in the capital by finding a random art exhibition to go to once the meeting was over. So I did a bit of googling the night before and came across an exhibition at Somerset...  show more
Jewood Drawing Prize 2015
On Sunday I dragged my husband and three boys (persuaded, bribed) to Cheltenham to visit The Wilson which was hosting the Jewood Drawing Prize exhibition. This is a must-see exhibition for me. I've managed to go every year except one for the past four years. I only just managed to get to see it this year as we went on...  show more