20:20 Print Exchange

Later this month some of the members of the Gloucestershire Print Co-op are taking part in an annual Print Exchange with other print workshops round the country. I decided to take part this year.
Each artist produces an edition of 25 prints each measuring 20cm x 20cm, [paper size]. In return each participant will receive a portfolio of 20 randomly selected prints from all over the UK and Ireland. Last year 585 artists from 40 print workshops created 14,625 prints.

Instead of making a new print one of my options was to use a little etching which I made on the 'Introduction to Etching' workshop at uni last year. The print wasn't that exciting - it was my first ever etching after all. Inking it up in different ways didn't really improve it, so then I experimented with colouring the print with watercolours. Painting prints seems to be frowned upon by purists but it really brought this little etching to life. Enough that I thought it would be acceptable as my contibution to the exchange. I printed and painted the edition of 25 over 2 days last week and I've just finished numbering and signing them ready to send them on their way. Now I'm looking forward to seeing what prints I get in exchange...

Starting an MA in Multi Disciplinary Printmaking

At the end of September I came back from a relaxing couple of weeks in Ireland (staying with my lovely aunt and uncle) just in time to start my MA in Multi Disciplinary Printmaking at UWE.
The first semester is mostly taken up with workshops covering various printmaking techniques and starting a Critical Jourmal covering all our art related activities.
When I first started at UWE I went straight into the 3rd year to finish my BA which I found quite difficult. Everyone was really friendly but they had all been there for 2 years already. It's really nice to be on a course from the begining, starting with everyone else. Also I get to do some printmaking at last - although I will also be continuing with my ceramic work too. I'll keep you posted.

I was on holiday for most of the View Gallery exhibition and for the Bristol Affordable Art Fair (where the DrugStore Gallery showed some of my pieces). But I did sell work at both venues which is great news. Just need to keep the momentum going...

 

StoryKeepers at AAF, Bristol along with work by Benjamin Buckley and Lily Urbanska

The Rabbitmen are in Crafts magazine....

advertising the Synecdoche exhibition in London! It felt amazing opening my copy and seeing them there.

Yesterday I packed up and delivered the artwork which is going in the exhibition next week. My contrbution is all very rabbitty. Accompanying the herd of rabbitmen is the original rabbitman collagraph and the Rabbit Suit for Mr Messerschmidt. The exhibition is being organised and curated by fellow students from UWE and I'm taking my turn at invigilating next Saturday. So if you're in London next week do pop in to the Embassy Tea Rooms, Union St, SE1.

The end is in sight....

I'm almost at the end of my degree. This is a photo of my stuff waiting to be assessed. My website is all organised now (as part of the Professional Practice module). Just waiting to see what work the tutors choose for the show....

Man trapped by small lump of clay!

       
      Couldn't resist showing you what this poor chap had to endure while I took a cast of his face.

More images from the photography studio

I spent more time in the UWE photography studio today. I don't think I've shown you these sculptures before. They are mostly from last semester. They are all made of high fired porcelain. The little figures have a stuffed fabric torso.



Add caption



Photographing Sculptures

We had a session at uni recently on photographing our artwork. As a result I have started to use the photography studio to take pictures  of some of my sculptures on a black background which makes them look quite dramatic. These are all high fired porcelain. They are a rather random selection at the moment as they are the sculptures which happened to be on my shelf in the studio at uni.

          

Dancing Wolves

More contenders for the degree show catalogue.
This is Mrs Wolf who is dancing to take her mind off her suspicions about what Mr Wolf is up to out in the woods. And why did he give her this red dress (which she thinks is really a bit young for her)....

 

The Bell Girl X

 

 But what they heard surprised and delighted them both. It was a delicate, melodious  sound which was so beautiful that everyone in the park looked up and smiled. Then holding her friend’s  hand, and with her hips swaying gently from side to side, she walked out of the park to start her new life and hopefully live happily ever after.

 

                                                                                             THE END

The Bell Girl Vlll

 

 

After several uneventful years a beautiful lady started coming in to the shop on a Tuesday morning and she complimented the Bell Girl on her delicate porcelain skin. They became friends and had lunch together in the park every day and talked about books and fed the ducks and picked blackberries. Then one day the lady asked if the Bell Girl like to join her for supper? Much as she would like to have done so, her friend declined.

The Bell Girl Vll

By the time her elderly parents died the bell girl was a young woman. She tried very hard to live a very quiet life so as not to upset anyone and found a job in the library where there was very rarely any excitement. Through a combination of meditation and deportment lessons she managed to keep the clanging to a minimum. So much so that the townsfolk forgot that she was a bell girl at all

The Bell Girl Vl

"The answer is simple!" said the third doctor and instructed the  old man to make a very slim porcelain dress for their daughter which would not leave room for the clanger to swing so wildly. The Bell Girl too liked this idea as narrow skirts were more fashionable. But, after a week or so, her legs were black and blue with bruises and she was unable to walk properly any more. With regret she put on her bell shaped dress again.

The Bell Girl lll

The old man and his wife loved the little bell girl and nurtured and cared for her as if she was their own child. Her little bell would tinkle prettily as she laughed and played. It would also ring when she was upset or excited. At first the couple found this charming but, as the child grew older, the bell rang louder and less melodiously. As the years went by it seemed that any heightened emotions would set it off, clanging and clanking so violently that the girl's dress would often crack and have to be patched up.

The Bell Girl ll

 

The next day, when he went in to his workshop, the old man found a china bell on his bench which had been fashioned into the shape of a beautiful sleeping child. He called to his wife. Just as they were wondering who had made it, they were astonished to see the child open her eyes. As she cooed and chuckled, the little bell under her skirt tinkled delightfully. And her skin was indeed as smooth and delicate as porcelain.

The Bell Girl l

So much for blogging twice a week!
To make up for it a little I am going to post something every day for the next 10 days!

I started back at university this week and the first thing I'm working on is a little tale which I am going to illustrate with etchings. I hope to make it in to an Artists Book of some sort eventually, with text on one page and the etching opposite. I've started drawing out the images and refining my story and will speak to the print technicians next week to see if my ideas are do-able (so everything may change!)
Here is page ONE of

THE BELL GIRL

 

 

 

Once there was an elderly potter and his wife who had always hoped for children but had not been so blessed. One day the old woman picked up one of the little bells that her husband used to make and her eyes misted over. "How I wish we had a little girl whose skin was as smooth and translucent as this porcelain and whose laughter was as gay as the tinkling of this little bell."

A Few More Ceramic Bits and Pieces

Thought you might like to see some more of my attempts at making fairy tale related ceramic pieces. I created these a few months ago now. They are all made of porcelain clay, cast and then altered in some way. I made the egg when I was on a resin workshop and thought the duck girl might like to look after it. You cannot see it very clearly but the sitting girl is holding a glass shoe which is too small for her.





Some of them would look better with a bit of colour....maybe....?

Conversations with a Bird

I am just putting away all my works on paper from last semester at uni into my plan chest and I thought I'd show you this little series of paintings which I did a while back. (They are all acrylic on card and about 16 x 12 ins).



I originally bought the doll at a car boot sale so I could make a mould of her head which I then cast and used on the first ceramic bird doll. But then I couldn't resist painting some pictures of her (once I'd sewn her head back on!). I think she's quite old.

Cotswold Open Studios and learning to 'Trust in the Process'

Last weekend about 20 Cotswold artists, designers and makers opened their studios to allow the public to get a glimpse of their working practices and work in progress. I spent a really pleasurable afternoon exploring some of these very varied creative spaces which were set in the most glorious countyside. I don't travel through the North Cotwolds very often and, even though it really is manipulated and manicured within an inch of its life, I was reminded again how beautiful it is and how very English.

The artists I spoke to were also very generous with their time and expertise answering questions very patiently and genuinely. And their work was pretty inspiring too!

 

Since being at UWE I have started to work in quite a different way to previously. I am finding that the process of making the sculptural things gives me the time and mental space to develop ideas for works on paper.This suits my temperament much better but self confidence has always been a bit of a challenge as far as my art work is concerned. I was very encouraged by the feedback I received from my tutors at UWE (one of them, Richard Webb, took part in the Open Studios). However they ended by saying...  

    "Through drawing and making you have allowed concept to begin to emerge and become clearer -a very good example of practice as research. What is the work telling you? Where is it leading you? To  move forward you need to trust this process"

 

Obviously different artists have different ways of working but listening to the artists who took part in the Open Studios did confirm what I really already knew. It takes time and experience to fully trust that the work will lead somewhwere worthwhile. And hard work and perseverence. The more you make/draw/paint etc the more you trust your process. Confidence is a by product of putting in the hours. I know this is stating the obvious really but sometimes I get so bound up in thinking about stuff when really I just need to get on and start to actually do it!

 

The Open Studios taster exhibition at the Corinium Museum is still on.

Mini Prints and a bit more discipline (hopefully).

So...
I am the first to admit that I have not been very good at regularly updating this blog with all my 'news, views and work in progress' since I started it last year. However, it is a reqiurement of the Professional Practice module of my degree course next semester to create some sort of online presence. So, I really must get in to the habit of blogging about twice a week and be more disciplined about setting the time aside to do it. They say it takes 6 weeks for a habit to form so by September updating my blog should be second nature to me... maybe...hopefully...

Here are the two prints that I put in the Mini Print Exhibition at the Printmakers Gallery last month and I'm pleased to report that I sold a few (which is always encouraging)! They are both collagraphs, 10 x 10 cms.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                 

  

Porcelain Dolls

I've been trying to make some little porcelain dolls recently. The first two were OK  but I've had trouble with the arms breaking off subsquent dolls - they are so fragile before they are fired. The ceramics technician at UWE said it could be that I was letting the clay dry out too much before attaching the limbs. I've left the damaged dolls to be fired anyway  but I won't get them back till after the holiday now.

I started off trying to make a doll who was sewing herself up. I think her right arm really needs to be a bit higher, as if she's pulling the thread through the stitch, although I haven't actually given her a needle and thread yet.
The second doll was just an experiment really to see if I could construct her in a different position. At least I remembered to put some ears on that one.

The clothes are made of cotton stiffened with potato starch. At the moment I want them to be dolls rather than figurines although I'm not quite sure why.

                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

I'm hoping to put some prints in the Mini Print exhibition which the Print Co-op are holding soon.

Pop in if you can. There's bound to be a huge diversity of printmaking techniques on show.