A piece I’m working on at the moment that reflects on childhood memories, secrets and innocence. My little boy’s reaction to it was great. He crouched down and gasped as he peered in. He said he wished he could keep all those special treasures so he could look at them all the time. When my brother-in-law caught sight of it he said it made him think of playing marbles as a boy.
wooden chest, dust, glass and acrylic paperweights, feathers, fairy lights
If ever there was a place that was a work of art in itself it has to be the cabinet of curiosities that is the Wildgoose Memorial Library. The library is an ongoing accumulation of materials that inform Jane Wildgoose’s work as an artist and writer. The WML is arranged in a domestic setting with a combination of found and made objects alongside books, all of which can be “read”. Jane says the objects are designed to “facilitate meditation and free association on subjects pertaining to the mysteries of the living in relation to the dead, transience, memory, and immortality”. The library is arranged into 10 sections that include, “The Vitality of Death” and “The Miss Havisham Archive”
To see a virtual tour of the library click here. To see the library in person contact Jane via the website www.janewildgoose.co.uk
One of Jane Wildgoose’s projects that focus on her thoughts on “Spirit of Place” is The Curious Case, an exploration and reflection on a small suitcase full of objects that used to belong to a patient at All Saints Hospital.
You can read her thoughts here and view The Curious Case here.
one of my pieces (someone to watch over you, 2009) is featured in this months online art & design magazine Cut-Click (issue 14).
I Love You by Sardine & Tobleroni
If you happen to be in London check out the latest exhibition, Both Ends Burning, at WW Gallery in Hackney.
“In the run up to Christmas, WW will be burning the midnight oil to bring you new work by 12 selected artists responding to ideas of dualism and polarity. Through drawing, painting, photography, sculpture and installation, the show explores the relationship between opposite tendencies and many of the works contain two mutually exclusive but equally essential aspects. Although the works can stand alone, each are made sense of and enhanced by their other half.”
I’ve just seen some pics and it looks like a fab show. To view the slideshow click here. Its on now until the 20th Dec
Linocut print, The Longing by Dean Melbourne. Just got it framed and its now up looking rather fabulous in my lounge. The print was exhibited at this years Summer Exhibition at The Royal Academy and is also in the illustrated catalogue available to purchase from the Royal Academy Website.
The Longing, Dean Melbourne, Linocut Print, 2009
The Longing was done as a limited edition run of 25 and editions were sold at The Summer Exhibition, however a good number of the prints are still available so if you are looking for a fantastic Christmas gift for someone then contact Dean for details – daytonadean@hotmail.com
The best cup-cake of my life courtesy of ARC crit group
On Wednesday it was my chance to present work to the ARC critique group that I have been attending at ASPEX in Portsmouth. A daunting but really valuable experience. To have the opportunity to show your work to a group of artists who haven’t seen it before and receive honest and directive feedback is fantastic. One of the issues that came through clearly was that of giving too much to the viewer, leaving them little freedom in direction so the piece quickly reaches a full stop. This was seen to be the case with the sewing box piece which had a number of aspects giving the same message. On reflection the embroidered fabric in this piece may well be a lot stronger on its own. The need to add more to a piece stems from a lack of confidence on my part, I believe, and this is something I have noticed myself so clearly an area to move forward in. Other issues are going to take more time to develop into such as obtaining the correct balance between materials and concept. Emotion and intimacy are key to my work but I think I need more clarity on exactly what my direction and purpose with those elements are. I was also challenged to think about the way in which I perhaps rely on my materials as well as receive inspiration from them. Objects and materials are fundamental in my practice and more often than not the natural starting point for my work, however I think on occasions (notably in the earliest stages of my work – the small box pieces) I have made use of nostalgic objects purely because their pre-existing sentimentality has made them a safe choice for me. The danger with these works is that they then may have little to offer beyond a magnification of the object’s original sentimentality. This is certainly something I hope to be more aware of and plan to question my motivations throughout the making process.
On Friday I attended the symposium organised by ARC on “selection” that followed the selection process for their Emergency 4 open. An interesting discussion in which I particularly enjoyed hearing from artist David Blandy who was one of the selectors. I had seen some of his work before and so really enjoyed hearing more about it, especially as he has such an open and relaxed approach which is really engaging. He is inspiring in that he seems both passionate about his work and to have a lot of fun with it. Great to see someone really enjoying it!
Femmy Otten - Relief, Flora en Fauna Festival 5, Quartair, the Hague, 2009
Following the symposium we attended the opening of the Emergency 4 exhibition. Some really great work, I won’t go into detail (you should just go and visit it!) but I can’t not show you an example of the work by my favourite artist there – Femmy Otten. I found her work, crafted directly onto the walls of the gallery, utterly captivating! A vibrant and compelling whimsy of dreams, iconography, personal reference, and fantasy. When I met Femmy herself she seemed the perfect match to her work – full of beauty, life and sincerity. I really hope to see more of her and her work again.
First half of the exhibition held at The Lighthouse
One of my favourite pieces (hanging on the back wall) - shimmering and spectacular hangings made from 50,000 paperclips: beauty in the ordinary
Second half of the exhibition is showing at KUBE
My box piece
loved these images by Ozzy Yorulmaz
Last night I went to see “What If?” performed at the Nuffield theatre in Southampton. It was a performance installation created and directed by Layla Rosa, and performed by Virginia Fernandez de Gamboa, Geneva Foster Gluck and Layla Rosa. The show is Layla’s search to know her own identity, “looking through the eyes of another; inside, outside, behind and beyond the veil. Driven by the curiosities around a lost cultural identity”.
It was a fascinating performance combining arieal movement, moving image, video projection, vocals, and a unique soundscape. The show was at times (especially the first part) almost primal and wonderfully sensual, and at others tender and questioning. A really captivating performance that I’d definitely recommend.
Work by Vered Lahav from "Sleepless" exhibition
Had a great time in the Midlands since Wednesday. Vered Lahav’s show at Wolverhampton Art Gallery was beautiful, very inspiring! I was surprised by the piece that I found the most moving – a video triptych. She had captured moments of beauty in the ordinary, things that we can choose to see and savour in our life but that could just as easily pass us by. Subtle, poignant, and magical. Also very inspiring was the wonderful catalogue collaboration that had been produced for her exhibition. Written as a fairytale it was every bit as exquisite as the works themselves.
Vered’s show is showing at the same time as Jann Haworth’s retrospective at the gallery so it was a shared private view. I enjoyed seeing Jann’s work and hearing something of the background to some of her pieces like the wonderfully huge textile charm bracelets. Her work had some similarities in feeling to Kirsty E. Smith’s who I visited the next day. It was great to finally see Kirsty’s work in the flesh and particularly loved her pieces Bettina (recently sold to an overseas art collector!) and the fabulous Tall Legs.
Pigeons Dubrovnik, 2009
The other good news was that I was contacted by the gallery in Poole to say that one of the three pieces that I took up on Monday had made it through the second judging round and will be shown in the Reopen exhibition which opens on Saturday. The piece chosen was Pigeons Dubrovnik - which I made for my friend Deans birthday and blogged about fairly recently. Reopen is Poole’s second open art exhibition, ”a celebration of the act of reusing, reassembling, and rethinking”. The exhibition will be held at Poole’s flagship venues, Lighthouse, Pooles Centre for the Arts, and KUBE(formerly The Study Gallery of Modern Art) and runs from Saturday 7th of November till 19th December.
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