As the Crow Flies

Exhibition Poster

It's fair to say I've been a bit remiss with my blogging recently. I've had lots to write about but I just haven't felt like it. There have been several quite big projects I've worked on and haven't blogged about and because I haven't written about them it put me off writing about other things until I had, which is a bit silly really but there you go.

Wire sculptures: Flight I and II

Flight II

Sculptures and drawings

Anyway, for the past few months I've been busy working on my first solo exhibition. This has been both really exciting and really stressful! I often find that my personal practice gets shunted to the bottom of the 'to do' list so having this exhibition has been a great opportunity to move it up the list and to spend some time in the studio working. The exhibition is at the visitor centre at RSPB Geltsdale, it's a lovely little gallery space with great light and as it is quite an irregularly shaped room there are lots of small wall sections, allowing me to break the work into 'mini exhibitions.' The reserve itself is also very beautiful and there are lots of good walks.

My Magpie triptych. From left to right: Curiosity, In the Shadows, Hail to the Thief

Detail: Curiosity

In the Shadows

Having this show has given me an opportunity to review my work and processes as well as to try out some new things and consolidate some existing ideas. I decided fairly early on to not attempt too dramatic a departure from what I'd been working on and so have focused on refining some of my ideas and techniques and developing current ways of working. It's also provided the perfect opportunity to build a coherent body of work, something I've been trying to do for a while.

Cyanotype pieces

I chose to focus my show on my crow pieces because this has been the main focus of my work for a long time now and this seemed like a good chance to bring it all together. The show is a mixture of drawings, textiles and sculpture.

Chough (applique and machine embroidery)

Rook (Paint and machine embroidery)

Jackdaw (paint, dye, print and machine embroidery)

I was really nervous about hanging the show, Although I'd planned it all out I couldn't be sure how it would all work together and what it would look like but I'm really happy. It came together better than I expected and I'm pleased with how all the pieces work together. There are of course always things that could be improved but overall I feel good about my show and I'm excited about it. I also feel that it's given me a confidence boost and a good incentive to keep going and move my work forwards.

Jay (fabric pastels and hand embroidery)

Crow (fabric markers, paint and hand embroidery)

Some practical notes: If you'd like to visit the exhibition it is free (although donations to the centre are gratefully received.) There is a free car park and the visitor centre (Stagsike Cottage) is about 1 mile walk along a reasonable track from the car park. You can park up at the centre by special arrangement, please contact them for details.

View from the visitor centre

The Book of Crow

The Story of Crow

This piece of work started life sometime last year as a sample piece for some workshops I'd been asked to run in connection with the upcoming Anselm Kiefer exhibition at Tullie House. The idea of the workshops is to look at different ways of preparing and reclaiming paper to make mixed media books. I was inspired by Kiefer's use of diverse and sometimes unconventional materials and by the variety of different books he has created throughout his career.

Page One

Page Two

Page Three

As I began working on the sample it sort of grew and became a bit more than I anticipated until it eventually evolved into a piece of work in it's own right. It's been a slow burner, I think I started it back in November and it's only this week that I've finally finished it. It's one of those pieces that I keep doing a bit on and then abandoning before coming back to, doing a bit more and then abandoning it again.

Page Four

Page Five

Page Six

Collage of the pages

The book tells the story of crow; in certain mythologies crow starts off as a pure, white bird . As with most stories there are many different versions of what happens next and, in true storytelling tradition, I've picked the bits that I like best from a range of stories to make my own version of the story. My version is partly based on a Greek myth, in which crow is the favoured companion of one of the gods. When crow reveals that the god's lover is cheating on him he is so enraged that he turns crow black and banishes him. I was interested in this idea that telling the truth isn't always the best policy and the idea of the insider becoming the outsider.

Front Cover

Back Cover

Collage of Reverse Side

The book is a simple concertina construction, with a hard cover at each end and a ribbon and button fastening. The pages of the book are mostly black and white photocopies that I worked into in different ways. I've used paint, ink, collage, printing, drawing and stitching. Following the story, the book is white to start with and gets darker and darker until the last page, which is black. I like the visual re-enforcement of the story and continued this theme on the other side of the book by using white fabric that I dip-dyed with black dye. This didn't go quite as smoothly as I hoped but I think the patchy, uneven colour actually works well with the rest of the book.

Drawing Detail

Collage Detail

Print Detail

Stitch Detail

To join the paper pages I used insertion stitches, the patching together echoes the way the story is patched together as well as adding a different texture. I wanted the book to look inviting and to provide a tactile as well as visual experience so I made two sheets of felt, one white and one black, for the book covers. It took me a long time to decide on the fastening; I played around with various ideas including felted cords, ties, loops and buttons before settling for a simple ribbon loop and handmade button fastening.

Button Detail

Animal Kingdom iArtBook

Onwards

As I blogged about earlier one of my aims for this year has been to find more time for my own practice. One of the ways I have been developing my work has been entering various competitions and prizes. As you would expect this has met with mixed success; I was accepted for Open Up North at The Brewery Arts Centre in Kendal but not for the Derwent Drawing prize, for example. One of the things I have been successful with has just been released; an interactive book published by Pandora Publications entitled 101 Artworks featuring the Animal Kingdom. This is really exciting for me and also a very nice confidence boost!

The book features work by over 80 artists working in a variety of media and includes information and links to each artist. The iArtBook is available to download on ibooks. The video above gives you a bit more information and shows some of the artists included.

My piece of work is called 'Onwards' and features a crow flying through a misty environment. The piece was made at a time when I felt things were definitely changing for the better but there was still a way to go. The crow, able to see past, present and future simultaneously according to mythology, flying through the mist and rain seemed to me to represent the way I felt at the time. The piece is made of hand dyed, painted and printed silk organza with machine embroidery and hand printed and painted paper.

A day in the studio

Mixed media drawing

I got a rare opportunity this week, a chance to spend a day in my studio doing my own art work rather than getting organised and doing prep for workshops and projects. I am very lucky to be doing the job I do and I really love it. I get to work with so many great people, get involved in exciting projects, have the chance to make a difference to peoples lives and I get to work in lots of different settings but I do sometimes find that I don't have time for my own art which is important to me too.

Work in progress

Work in progress

Work in progress

As with most things in life it can be hard to get the balance right; I need and want to do the workshops and projects because that's how I pay the bills and I find it very inspiring. However, I sometimes feel I'm so busy I don't get much chance to make my own work and that my personal practice is slipping a little. So, it was great to have some time to just work on some ideas and have a bit of a play. I went to Bombay Stores at the weekend with  three artist friends and I was really inspired by one of them in particular to just get on and make some work. So, I worked really hard to get all my workshops prepared so that I could have a day to devote to my work.

I decided the crow was too small (A2) so I started an A1 size magpie

I did a bit of writing, getting all the bits of ideas that are bouncing round my head onto paper and then I did a couple of collaged drawings. I'm not especially enamoured of the finished drawings but they're a really good starting point for some textile pieces that I want to make. I'm a big believer in Ruskin's 'head, heart, hand' mantra (basically, good art should involve thought, feeling and bear the mark of the artist/maker) and I often find that the hardest bit is getting started; once I'm working different possibilities and ideas present themselves and help me move the work forwards.

I added a background, but didn't like it so I cut the magpie out

I also started on a small piece of work for an open submission; more on that if I get it finished in time! Overall, I had a great day. I feel enthused and excited about my work again and keen to keep going. Hopefully I can continue to make time for my own work and strike towards getting that elusive balance right.

Cut out mixed media magpie

Detail

Detail