Summery Summaries: Part Two: Prism Arts

I've had a very busy year at Prism Arts! As it's one of my 'proper' jobs I tend to not blog about the projects I work on which is a bit of a shame as a lot of them are really quite exciting and they do occupy a lot of my time. Continuing on from part one of my Summery Summaries (I do realise we're well and truly into Autumn now but I do like alliteration) I thought I'd do a quick re-cap of some of the projects I've worked on over the last year.

Studio Arts: Still life drawing

Studio Arts: Portraits

Studio Arts: Adding colour to drawings

My main role at Prism Arts is to lead the Studio Arts course; a visual arts programme for adults with learning disabilities and autism. We aim to enable our participants to develop as artists and gain all the different skills they'll need for that; not just practical art skills but also skills such as working to deadlines and briefs, writing artists statements and finding and applying for opportunities. We work in partnership with lots of other organisations to create and deliver exciting and rewarding projects that allow the work to be seen by a wide range of audiences.

Studio Arts: Making brushes

Studio Arts: Mark making with hand made brushes

Over the past year we've had a really busy time and since I last blogged about Studio Arts we've had two exhibitions and a commissioned project. This year we're involved with a big Heritage Lottery funded project looking at Carlisle's textile heritage and we've got two exciting curatorial projects running. We've also been trying to squeeze in some skills development workshops including brush making, different approaches to drawing and portraiture.

Here's what I've been up to over the past year:

China: Through Our Eyes at Tullie House

China Exhibition Interpretation

Following on from our very successful Gallery Trail at Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery last year Studio Arts once again worked in partnership with Tullie House to create an exhibition responding to some of the museums Chinese artefacts. This was a really exciting project, it was also very challenging as due to unexpected circumstances the brief had to change part way through the project but we overcame these challenges and were able to create a thoughtful and beautiful exhibition.

Exhibition view

Exhibition view

Exhibition view

Feedback

Folk Tales at Carlisle Archives

Folk Tales interpretation panel

We have also exhibited work at Carlisle archives this year. Studio Arts were inspired by British folk tales and created work inspired by the stories and costumes they researched for this exhibition. I like to show work at the archives as being a public space it allows us to show our work to audiences who may not otherwise find us.

Textile Commission

Some of the textile pieces for Gosling Sike

Bert Badger
Applique and machine embroidery

Fox
Fabric pens and tie dye

Prism Arts have been working with Cumbria Willdlife Trust on a big five year project connected to one of the trusts newest reserves; Eycott Hill. The Trust have also recently moved in to new offices up at Gosling Sike in Houghton (on the edge of Carlisle) and they commissioned Studio Arts to create some textile pieces for their new buildings. This project gave us the opportunity to develop our textile skills and try some new ways of working.

Work in progress on Freddie Fox

Dragonfly
Applique and hand embroidery

March of the Unsung Women: Carlisle's Puppet Pageant Parade

Processions 2018 March in Edinburgh

As well as running Studio Arts I also get involved in lots of other Prism Arts projects. One of my favourite projects this year was Processions (celebrating the centenary of The Representation of the People's Act which gave the first women the vote) and this project became the inspiration for the theme of this years Carlisle Puppet Pageant. In one form or another I've been involved with the puppet pageant since it's inauguration in 2013 and this year Prism Arts were commissioned to run the puppet pageant.

Puppet body parts

Puppet faces

Making bodies

We wanted to celebrate the important but usually overlooked women of Cumbria so we created 10 larger than life puppets of ten important women from Cumbria's history. We worked with a wide range of people, schools and groups, bringing people together to create something truly memorable. I was away for the actual parade but I really enjoyed being involved in the creation of some of the puppets.

Works in progress

Mr. Tinker: A poodle not an unsung women

Work in progress

Cumbria Decorative and Fine Arts Society: Romans and Printing

Printing using polystyrene tiles

One of the things that I really enjoy about my work is the variety of people I work with and the different groups and organisations I work with. Recently I did a workshop at Tullie House for a group of children with additional learning needs from Whitehaven school. The workshop was organised and paid for by Cumbria's Decorative and Fine Arts Society with the aim of giving the students an opportunity to explore the museum and work with an artist, a chance they may not otherwise have had.

In the Roman gallery

Sketches made in the gallery

Developing sketches into designs

We began the day with a visit to Tullie's Roman Frontier gallery. The gallery assistant had a selection of objects for us to handle and was very knowledgeable and helpful. I gave each of the students paper and a clipboard and asked them to make sketches or notes about any object that particularly caught their attention so that we could use these as starting points for our prints in the afternoon.

Transferring designs onto the polystyrene

Transferring designs onto the polystyrene

Transferring designs onto the polystyrene

As we were looking round the gallery I found lots of objects that I was interested in too and I made a few sketches. As time goes on I find more and more that everything is connected and I try now to use any opportunity I can to match up my personal art practice with my participatory practice. I particularly liked some of the sections of armour in the gallery, they were like scales or feathers and I was drawn to the rusted and decayed surfaces.

Printing

Printing

Printing

After looking around the gallery we started working on designs for our prints. Because I had no idea of the level of ability I would be working with until I met the students on the day I had planned an activity that could be adapted to suit a range of needs. I had planned to use polystyrene tiles as print blocks, they can be marked with pencils to create an effect similar to lino prints but without the carving tools! This is a good activity for a range of abilities because simple mark making can create interesting prints but students with more experience and skill can make more planned designs.

Printing

Printing

Printing

Designing their prints was the part of the process the students struggled with most, with the biggest barrier being a lack of confidence. Once they got going and with a bit of encouragement they made some really lovely designs. I tried to encourage them not to worry about drawing the objects exactly but to pick out the details that interested them. In this way some of the students were able to produce some really effective and inventive designs.

Printing

Printing

Printing

Once they'd made their designs we transferred them onto the polystyrene tiles. As before I encouraged them to experiment and try different ways of marking the tiles to produce different effects when we printed with them. We then moved onto the printing which is my favourite part of the process. I like printing because you can produce multiples but each one is unique, little quirks in the way the ink is transferred producing a slightly different effect each time. I also like the anticipation of making the first print, seeing if it's worked and the satisfaction of a successful print or figuring out why a print didn't work.

Finished prints

Finished prints

Finished prints

This was also the time the students started to come out of themselves a bit more, with some of them getting really enthusiastic and fired up and experimenting with mixing the inks and even printing in stripes! Each student produced a successful print and I was really impressed with some of the finished prints. I really enjoyed the day and working with the students and I hope they got something out of it too.

Finished prints

Finished prints

Finished prints

Finished prints

Finished prints

Finished prints

Picturing Places: Response Work

Textile work by diverse artist in response to Cumbrian Art: Picturing Places

One of the projects I've been working on this year with Prism Arts is a response project to one of Tullie House's exhibitions. Entitled Cumbrian Art: Picturing Places the exhibition looks at the museums extensive collection of Cumbrian art and it covers a wide range of Cumbrian landscapes by a variety of artists, past and present.

Sketching ideas out (RT)

Sketching ideas out (MG)

Sketching ideas out (MG)

Tullie House asked us to work with them to find and support diverse artists to create response work to the exhibition which would then be shown alongside the exhibition. We worked on a similar style of project a few years ago when I mentored a young diverse artist to create work in response to a Richard Slee exhibition at Tullie House.

Work in progress (HT)

Experimenting (MG)

Experimenting (RT)

Originally the plan for this project had been to make an open call to diverse artists but because we were working within quite a tight time frame we made the decision to select artists. We selected four diverse artists who we thought would be inspired by and benefit from this opportunity. In this context we are using the description diverse artist to describe a person experiencing barriers to accessing the art world such as disability, mental health issues or other health issues.

Work in progress (RT)

Trying out ideas (RT)

Experimenting with different media (MG)

One of the issues with creating response work to an exhibition that is going to be shown at the same time as the exhibition is that it doesn't leave a lot of time to create the work! For this exhibition we were fortunate that as the work was coming from Tullie's collection the artists were able to go and see a selection of the work before the show was hung. The museum staff were very helpful, giving the artists access to particular works and providing information on the pieces and the artists. We also arranged for the response work to go up part way through the exhibition to allow the artists time to create their responses.

Selected and cropped Drawing by HT

Selected and cropped Drawing by HT

Drawing in progress (HT)

Even so, time was the biggest challenge of this project. As I was only working with the artists once a week (indeed one of the artists I barely saw at all, luckily she had a very clear idea of the work she wished to make and worked independently) and there was Easter and holidays to accommodate I felt quite pressured time wise but hopefully the artists did not feel too pressured.

Motorway through the Cumbrian Hills
Acrylic and pastel on canvas (MG)

Detail: Acrylic and pastel on canvas (MG)

Working with the artists themselves was a very rewarding process. They all had such different ideas and ways of approaching the project and it was very inspiring seeing them work. My involvement in producing the work was minimal, they all had such a clear idea of what to do and how they wanted to work that aside from a few technical points and small suggestions I did not need to do much on that side of things. One area where I did have more input was in displaying the work as this is an area where the artists had limited experience. For example, one of the artists and myself made the decision  to cut up one of his drawings to make two smaller drawings.

Detail: Cumbria in Thread (RT)

Detail: ...And if it wasn't red?
Thread wraps on card (NC)

Detail: ...And if it wasn't red?
Thread wraps on card (NC)

For this project I have taken more of a project management role. I've really enjoyed this and whilst it has been quite stressful at times and has been a learning curve it's definitely something I would like to do more of. One of the things I really enjoyed was working with Tullie to get all the technical aspects organised such as copy for the press release and leaflets and when and how to hang the work. I really enjoyed writing the copy and helping the artists to write their statements and seeing the finished printed literature is very satisfying.

Display on our information board about the exhibition

As the artists had all chosen to work with materials and techniques that made use of resources we already had I was left with a reasonable budget for framing. I very much wanted to get the work professionally framed as I think it finishes the work off and displays it to its full advantage. I chose simple, uniform frames for the work so that the focus would be on the work itself and so that when it was hung in the exhibition space the work of the four artists would work as a mini show on it's own whilst still fitting in with the wider exhibition. Timing was again an issue here, I had to make multiple trips to the framers and next time would definitely make sure there was more time for the framing.

Hanging the work

Overall, this has been a really rewarding project to work on. I've learnt a lot and enjoyed being involved in all aspects of the project from idea to display. The show is on until 5th June so there's still time to go and see the exhibition and the work created in response to it.