Trace |
Mostly the images that I am drawn to, and enjoying investigating, are looking at the idea of TRACE.
trace treɪs/verb
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Patterns from Skeletons |
I have recently done a course on Domestika called Illustrations for patterns with soul. It is done by a wonderful print and pattern artist called Catalina Estrada Uribe. It was done by digitizing illustrations done on paper and making patterns in adobe illustrator. Although I am new and have a lot to learn, I am happy to make some progress in this and look forward to exploring it more.
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Impressions of Jeju.
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It was such a pleasure to be a part of this exhibition. A group of teachers from the international schools on the island of Jeju. I was able to support Suzyn Hutton Kelly and Teri Moore in the curation of the exhibition and it was such a fun experience for me. I had lost touch with my own creative practice and I felt a real fear and disconnect with exhibiting.
I look forward to doing more exhibitions in the future. If you want to see more of my work, look here. |
Electroforming |
How value formed? How is the ease of use valued over the impact on the environment? How can we justify these actions within this society. I have so much I love, and feel grateful for in Korea, but the amount of waste plastic every week is unfathomable. This exploration of value lead me to the work with metal.
Inspiration: Jenny Holzer: Lustmord I liked that the bones and metal were combines and how the combination with language negotiates experience and realm of classification. Reflection on jewellery Corrina Goutos: I like how her transformation took an every day, ubiquitous, object of a paper bags and made them metal and thus permanent. Candice Beritz: At the ends of the video the refugee, who's name I didn't catch, decided that she would donate a ring as it had value to her and it could Travel borders that She can’t.. her life as a refugee means that her value and freedom have been negotiated so she wants to juxtapose it. Chris Cleaves: This reminds me of a passage that i read from in the book Little Bee by Chris Cleave. It started with her saying “Most days I wish I was a British pound coin instead of an African girl.” I was enthralled by the way that she made comparisons between this item and her life asa refugee. The feeling that she had of being less welcome or valued was really powerful and shocking to me. Both of these pieces delicately addressed the social and political climate around the idea of other in this postColonial era. In a space where we are supposed to have made reparations for atrocities and moved forward, there is still something that is hard to shake.I hate that my country makes someone feel that they are less valuable than pieces gold or silver, as they move away from certain death. |
Creative unBlock No1:
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I have selected images that I like from the pile. Images that I wanted to keep and that speak to me at the moment. I am excited to see what happens next
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And then..
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Portraits |
When I was younger it was my absolute dream to be a Royal portrait artist. SPOILER ALERT- I am not. But I still do it. I love them. I love seeing them and capturing the essence of a person or a moment. I love trying to capture realism too.
The Ipad has become a lazy way for me to sketch and paint. Especially when I am traveling it is super handy to have something that I can play that doesn't make mess..
Exploring life drawing again after years away from it, was so fun. I loved the opportunity to be in a space where I am expected just to respond to what is in front of me. The model was very focused and didn't move, which was great.
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Bitchin' Stitchin' |
I had so much fun playing with stitch and thread.
I started by creating some collages of characters, I played with the scale of the features and then painted them before printing them and using 'image maker' to print the images onto fabric. The images were then painted again. I think that I could continue to make the work like this in a series by working in this way and playing with the way that I use the stitching. |
Sewing and Clothes
These wrap trousers are some of the easiest things that I have ever made. I love them! I can't stop!! I bought a pair in Sri Lanka and then once I worked out how easy the were, kept making more.
I figured out my pattern and made it up, but there are lots of tutorials online for them.
Illyria Festival @12th Night
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Who knows how to make Shakespeare fun? Elizabeth Appleton, that's who! It was a really awesome experience working with her, and I think we were an excellent team. She had the ideas and we made it happen. The idea was that Illyria was a festival, rather than an island.
We wanted Orsino's side of the festival to include an edgier, boyish, "Squatting" feel and Olivia to have a soft, floaty, "glamping" feel. The two houses were given band names, and band identities (Orsolo) and (The Green Olives). Orsolo's Band Tees were screen printed with bleach- which I loved! Skill that will not be forgotten soon! |
When Alice Schmid came to play!
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When Alice Schmid came to play!
A friend of mine asked if I would make her some art for her walls, although I could have done easily, I thought it would be more fun to play together and create something that she was really proud of. I was really impressed with her for embracing the incidental marks and reacting to what the paint was doing. It was a real joy to see her loosen up and go with it. For a non- artist, this activity takes a real level of skill and confidence in your actions and abilities. I hope she continues to explore. |
Painting explorations |
TRACE A MOMENT, AN ACTION, IN PAINT.
Sometimes losing control can be the most beautiful. I have been really interested in the concept of how stress scars the brain. (http://www.livescience.com/20820-stress-alters-brain-kids.html ) It sounds pretty morbid, but it sprung from a really interesting pedagogical discussion. The fact that these moments where a child is not in control, can have lasting physical and psychological effect is something that I aimed to explore in the following series. I decided to explore the idea of action painters like Jackson Pollock. I love the way that you can see where his arm has moved, how slowly, fast or how the paint dripped, ran or splodged.
I decided to work on 4 canvases at the same time, so that I wasn't attached to any of the images that I was making. I really enjoyed the experience. |
Degree Show
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“Every time I heard of a fallen solider I couldn’t breathe until I heard the words ‘The next of kin have been informed’ and I’d know it wasn’t him.”
Mothers of Soldiers: our Children. Our Heroes Daily Mail 26/04/2010 It is difficult to read about the soldiers lives that have been lost. They of course, sign up to do a job, to fight in a war and are paid for it. They are aware of what is expected, clearly aware of the dangers. The friends and families of the soldiers have not ‘signed up’, but their lives have been thrust into the conflict too. The daily lives of these people become consumed by a distant war; their domestic experience infected by a constant fear of losing a loved one. This work pays tribute to the families of the 288 British soldiers* that have already lost their lives in Afghanistan. *(Data correct at 27th May 2010) |
Are Diamonds this girl's best friend..? |
I have been playing with geometric shapes and diamonds. I was away over the weekend and didn't have a sketchbook with me so I was using my ipad. It was the first time that I have really explored using it. I started by tracing my photos, the flood filling it using the 'ArtRage' app. I have a lot to explore still, but it was a fun start.
I then started to crop the images to interesting sections and playing with repeats on photoshop. I think that these are working really well and are interesting. I think there are some really interesting sections. I was loving the transparency as I was creating these images, but that transparency was lost when it was saved.
was really enjoying the shapes that I was finding and disrupting the surface so I decided to look at screen printing and paper cutting.
9/10/15 I have just got back from a school trip to Prague.. and the top window on the bus broke!! Being stuck in Prague with 65 students on a national holiday was less than ideal, but I managed to take some great photos that inspired me to play with those initial lines again and layer shiny watery diamonds. I liked the images that I produced so at least something positive came from it!
I took the shapes that I cut out and used them for stencils for screen printing. I really liked exploring it.
I picked sections that I liked from the screen print and added black pencils lines to define the edges.
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Exploring Mono printing with Dots and a creative break |
I love playing with the consistency of monoprinting inks, seeing what happens and reacting to it. There is a control that you have to release and fight for. It is like most relationships, you are lead to think you are making the decisions, knowing that they are out of your hands. Embracing this can be the most liberating as it opens up a wealth of opportunities for change.
I then decided to add dots on top as they reminded me of cell structures. I had no real plan with what I was doing, not what I wanted, nor how I would know that I had got it. It gave me a mental break where I could process other things. My mind was able to make sense of things, My friend Liz Appleton would say it was like 'chewing gum for the mind', it was a task that took a repetitive action that was engaging, but not challenging. check this video out, it suggests showers or cleaning as a way of doing this. |
Day in the studio with
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Today I was lucky enough to have a day printmaking with my collage tutor, Patrick Smith. He has moved into the same village that my parents live in and has the most amazing shed-come-studio with full computer suite, etching press, book press, woodburner, even loo! I was so jealous of what he had in there. I am inspired to work for it in the future.
We had a chat about the journey that we had both been on for the last 10 years and how our work had developed (more him) or why stagnated (me.. joys of teaching). Then I was just free to play. A pile of newsprint, black and red ink later and I have potential pieces. I am not deluding myself that they are finished masterpieces, but they are vibrations, playfully calling me back. Like tempting art sirens. I have something to play with and work on. He taught me to love play and accept the incident, if not try to make it the intention. I am excited to see what happens next. Seeing his wonderful paintings and prints is so inspiring. I love his palette, the combination of the duck-eggish blue and the warm ocher oranges remind me of rust, erosion and decay. They tell stories of what has been and how time has changed. He uses the beautiful Yorkshire landscape as inspiration for his work. His semi-abstract paintings combine the colours of the abstract expressionists' with shapes reminiscent of Ben Nichols of the St Ives movement. Watch this space and we will see what happens next!! |