Guardian Angel by Phil Sayers shown in The Bristol Gallery

I was really pleased to hear today that The Bristol Gallery want to show four of my pieces in their next show, To Be Confirmed, which will be running from January 16th – February 25th 2010. The Bristol Gallery, located on Millennium Promenade, Harbourside, Bristol, is a contemporary art gallery representing international, national and regional artists working in a wide range of media. The show that they are running at the moment, New Contemporaries I, includes a number of artists whose work I admire such as Susan Bowman and Fran Richardson so I’m delighted to be part of the gallery’s next project.

I’m particularly excited as it will be the first opportunity I have had to show the peacock bed piece publicly. The other pieces they have selected to show are, Someone to Watch Over You, Fragile, and Wonderland.

To Be Confirmed: 16th January – 25th February

Gallery Opening Hours: Monday – Friday: 9am – 6pm, Saturday: 10am – 5pm, Sunday: 11am – 4 pm, Late night opening: Thursday until 8pm

The Bristol Gallery, Building 8, Unit 2, Millennium Promenade, Harbourside, Bristol BS1 5TY  Tel: 0117 930 0005

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.

http://www.pollymorgan.co.uk/

Polly Morgan

Polly Morgan

Polly Morgan

Polly Morgan