Tag Archives: Art

Holly Berry – Woven Code

12 July 2012

4 Comments

I was really taken by these little squares of woven morse code when I first came across them. As a child I remember being fascinated by this secret language. Weaver Holly Berry has managed to capture some of this quiet mystery, and woven it into something very lovely indeed. Different on each side of the cloth, her blankets and scarves hide secret messages, stories and memories, that can be passed down for generations.

Holly’s larger blankets are woven in a 250 year old mill in Scotland and spell the word ‘LOVE’ throughout them in Morse-code. Her scarves and wraps are woven by hand in her South London studio. Holly can also make something to a bespoke design – tell her the message or story that you want to be hidden in the blanket, and she will make it for you.

I think this is such a fascinating idea – I love the thought of creating something which contains maybe an important family story, or a private message of love, to be kept and remembered.

.

.

This mix of art and function makes these blankets really special I feel. There is a celebration of craft and traditional practice, but which also encompasses the new world, and our love for storytelling and a sense of value.

.

.

“My luxury woven cloths, accessories and blankets are to be used everywhere and anywhere, inside and out, providing the warmth of wrapping yourself up in a protective and decorative layer, and enriching your experience with colour, warmth and love. I wish to create heirlooms that capture memories and stories and encourage an emotive connection between textile and owner.

.

I’m always fascinated by where people get their inspiration – Holly seems to find it all over the place – the inspirations gallery on her blog shows a wide variety of sources and starting points, from chalk drawn pavements to note book sketches and piles of old fish crates – colours of skies, slates, and powdery sweets..acidic yellows and oranges adding an edge..there’s a sense of both the urban and the natural world, woven into one..and still that great feeling that always inspires me, of something that has taken time, thought, and a human hand to create.

.

.

.

.

.

You can read more about Holly and her work on her website and blog –

www.hollyberryprojects.com.

.

ο                    ο                    ο                    ο                    ο

Emily Sutton

1 July 2012

4 Comments

.

This week, I thought I’d share some of the great work created at the hand of illustrator and maker Emily Sutton.

Emily’s printed work incorporates lino cut and screen printing to create memorable images using a bold, “then and now” type of colouring, filled with incredible detail and a lively imagination.

Inspired by folk art of all kinds, Emily is also influenced by 20th century illustrators such as Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious, and the American lithographed children’s books of a similar era.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Emily uses her illustrative eye in 3D form too, incorporating her love for pattern and detail into these quirky and unusual wooden objects, inspired in part by the weird and the wonderful found in museums and antique shops.

.

.

How about a shoal of fish?

.

.

And how about these fabric birds? I love how she has managed to apply an illustrative effect here, giving some wonderful detail.

.

.

.

.

Emily is currently working on illustrations for her own children’s book as well as producing work for various exhibitions- see the “Shows etc” link on her site for details.

.

Sandra Crisp

28 June 2012

6 Comments

.

 Sandra Crisp was born in Cheshire, UK and studied at Chester College of Art.  She earned a BA (Hons) Graphic Design from Leeds Polytechnic graduating in 1989 and received her MA Fine art printmaking from Wimbledon School of Art in 1993.  She has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally, and taught printmaking and digital media in various London colleges.

Through Sandra’s work, you are taken on an almost breathtaking ride of memory, information, design, print and line, captured in fantastic layered detail. Exciting, fresh and invigorating, with a beguiling dark edge..

.

Cloudseeders (The Bigger Picture) 2007, etching and chine colle, 56 cm x 72 cm

.

In Sandra’s words..

 “The printmaking techniques I use include photo etching, chine colle (collage) and aquatint with some hard ground drawing in some of the prints. In order to make a photo etching, the artwork has to be transferred onto clear film or acetate (images on paper can also be made transparent using ordinary vegetable oil)  I use a photocopier to do this and increase the darkness of the copies so that the dark areas will block out the light effectively, ready for when the image is later transferred to etching plate using light sensitive emulsion and an ultra violet (UV) exposure unit or light box. The artwork is designed using collage techniques and drawing (using just a mouse) within graphics software before transferring the images to zinc plate.

By making the black and mid-tones of an image darker with the copier a lot of the detail is intentionally lost thus creating a version of the image that automatically appears aged or archival. This is further developed by fairly random biting techniques such as open biting when the plate is left in the acid to bite textures into the image. Also, I think the process of etching is very seductive and a bit retro-looking as it is historically a pretty old technique dating back several centuries. There is something very human about the way this technique can record traces or decisions made over time, permanently etched into the surface of the metal plate. My intention for the Cloudseeder and Zipper series being that the prints appear to be eroded found fragments or historic records, but really the imagery is entirely contemporary in terms of subject matter; connecting it to the ‘here and now’

It is really not my idea to create a sense of nostalgia in terms of yearning for the past in the prints, I am far too fascinated by the present tense for that. But the image of the crowd moving around in Xerocodes (‘Xero’ refers to ‘Xerox’ in terms of the photocopy process described above) has a slightly nostalgic feel, like an old movie. I chose to use it because it sets up an odd narrative: Where are the people going/have just arrived from, and why?

I always have quite specific reasons for selecting images, I hope to raise a questioning within this but don’t expect the viewer to decipher all my clues in order to understand the image! For example, a ‘Cloudseeder’ is a futuristic prototype from a BBC TV documentary Five Ways to Save the World’ . The film examines engineering design prototypes designed to deal with climate change, such as Cloudseeders; ocean-going craft spraying fine water particles into the atmosphere –  creating artificial clouds to protect the Earth from the fierce heat of the Sun’s rays.  Recycled and redrawn visuals from the film have resurfaced repeatedly across several series of work including a large format digital print entitled 5Ways to Save…,  and Diagram of an Artificial Tree 2009-11. Also previous etching series Cloudseeder and Zipper Series 2006. Most of the other imagery is based upon an article about a zip factory in China…

The multi-plate prints in the Cloudseeder and Zipper series are loosely based on the look of a newspaper page, or webpage where different images or text appear close to one another, lined up in sequences to give the look of an organic page layout- but they do not really make any sense, like disjointed stories, columns and paragraphs  broken away.”

.

Cloudseeders (5 Ways to Save the World) 2007, etching and chine colle, 28 cm x 28 cm

.

Xerocodes iiv, 2001, 56 cm x 76 cm

.

 “Today, information continually bombards us – we spend a lot of time in an ‘information cloud’ via the Internet, smart phones, social networking, blogs etc. Everything is digital and fast, demanding equal attention but most of the time all we can really do is scan all this detail briefly and hope that nothing important gets missed: So much information scrolling by, but which to choose?

“I find, collect, redraw and archive visuals from different sources such as the Internet and scanned media cuttings then recycle and combine these with my own materials such as photos and drawings. Visuals elements from both sources are layered together often over long periods of time. This contemplative process intends to slow down the rapid stream of information – to discover what is meaningful; I sift, collate and edit until new connections between different materials emerge. Visuals are captured from the information deluge ‘out there’ which are then processed subjectively through my own thought process, transforming them into something new.  I suppose I am questioning in what ways we are unavoidably affected by this sea of information and how such complexity may be represented or processed in order to create something meaningful or even personal from all this….”

.

Soft Terrain3

.

“The digital piece ‘ SoftTerrain3’ continues the digital work started around 2001; this became a natural progression as I was already processing a lot of my printmaking visuals through digital techniques; I now found that I could concentrate purely on the digital work to develop my ideas in entirely new directions. Soft Terrain 3 is created using many layers which were recombined repeatedly until I arrived at the look I wanted. It is a very large image file: 110 cm x 100 cm at 300 dpi resolution so a lot of embedded detail only really appears when the piece finally emerges from the large format printer (This detail is not really visible on a webpage unfortunately). The density and saturation of complex detail contained within the image is also determined by this huge file size. The idea being to create a subtle sense of visual overload using many layers which appear to be in a constant state of flux; a map that is constantly transforming over time.”

.

Diagram of an Artifical Tree 2009-2011

.

Slowboat with Lines

.

Cutout Map

.

“pile-up, thumbnail images & map fragments

(thinking about) cascading / compression of information, transient

one reading rapidly obscured by the next…

disrupted

becoming like noise, but urban visuals still there (just)”

.

There is a wealth of further work and ideas, including Sandra’s recent project which creates a 3d map elevation of the city of London, set to an audio track – for this and more visit her website and blog here.
.
.

Colour Bright

15 June 2012

6 Comments

.

Well, if your weather has been anything like it has been here for the past two weeks, you might be growing a little sick of the colour Grey..I certainly am, and so have been comforting myself with a search for something brighter.

Here are some of my visual cures for the “Supposed to be Summer but Feels like Winter” Blues..and if you’re having a beautiful hot sunny day where you are, enjoy!

.

.

The creation of textile designer Lorna Syson, these fabric wall flowers would add interest and colour to any room. Lorna says that her inspiration comes from the British countryside, particularly in the Springtime. Her original flowers were based on Dahlia’s that she saw growing at the Eden project in Cornwall, and all of the designs since have their roots in countryside walks and being outside. These flowers can be bought ready made, or bespoke from 20cm upwards in a huge variety of colours, and are easily nailed to the wall using the back petals. Add a little Spring to your wall!

The cushions are fabulous too, and made from a really interesting fabric, being 75% wool and 25% stinging nettles, all sourced and manufactured organically. Huggable, bright, and cheerily good.

Visit Lorna’s site here.

.

.

.

.

I found it really difficult to pick which pieces to feature from the work of Ceramic artist Myung Nam An (above). I find these, from her “Eyes” collection, completely unique and fascinating. I like the fact that they reference certain forms, but still remain totally open to individual interpretation. Some are a little like alien life forms, or strange wonders found in the deep seas, giving you a peep before crawling away on suckered feet..some are fun, like childhood sweets, or quirky ladies hats at the races. Working individually or as a group, it would be hard to choose.

.

.

Hello! Such a cute little owl print from Peris & Corr – an organic textile printing company from North Wales.

Peris & Corr offer a water-based screen-printing service and can print onto t-Shirts, tote bags, babies clothes and more. They also design and make their own range of handmade textile products and greeting cards. You can read a little more about their printing processes and see the prints being made on their blog too.

I also particularly liked these Welsh blanket lampshade designs. Bright and lovely.

.

.

Lastly, but by no means leastly, these fantastic coat hooks, made from vintage 1930s wooden shoe lasts really brought a smile to my face..

.

.

I found these at White Dove & Wonder, a company run by art and antiques dealer Susan Gaston and her husband Jimmy.

Grown from an impulse purchase of a collection of vintage Northamptonshire made shoe lasts, Susan and Jimmy began to see many interesting and attractive uses for these discarded items.

They both come up with the designs together, and then Jimmy painstakingly restores each shoe last before hand-making each piece using natural wood.

(I don’t think the doggy comes with the coat hook, but I’d take him home happily too 🙂 )

That’s it for now, I hope you have a bright and sunny day, wherever you are.

.

Joseph Cornell

1 June 2012

8 Comments

.

Assemblage boxes by American artist, collagist, and filmmaker Joseph Cornell.

.

Tilly Losch
c. 1935

 Construction, 10 x 9 1/4 x 2 1/8 in; Collection Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Bergman, Chicago

.

Object (Roses des Vents)
1942-53

 Construction, 2 5/8 x 21 1/4 x 10 3/8 in; The Museum of Modern Art, New York

.

Untitled (The Hotel Eden)
c. 1945

 Construction, 15 1/8 x 15 3/4 x 4 3/4 in; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

.

Untitled (Medici Prince)
c. 1952

Construction, 15 1/2 x 11 1/2 x 5 in; Collection Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Shapiro, Oak Park, IL

.

Toward the Blue Peninsula
1951-52

Construction, 10 5/8 x 14 15/16 x 3 15/16 in; Collection Daniel Varenne, Geneva

.

I find Joseph Cornell such an intriguing character.  Self taught, he was one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. I am in love with his sense of symmetry, both in design and colour. There is something very calming about the exactness of these boxes. Everything just fits, it works. Each square is where it is born to be, each shape leads you to the next, creating a great journey for the eye to dream upon. There are stories and surprises in every box, offering small places of contemplation and inspiration that celebrate the unique in the commonplace.

I have always been fascinated by miniature worlds, looking into something and finding a million other little scenes and universes. These give me that feeling, like gazing into a deep rockpool and imagining yourself grown tiny and swimming inside. You cannot help but try to formulate connections between the objects here, to uncover meaning and create stories.

Cornell was a passionate collector – books, prints, postcards, and printed and three-dimensional ephemera all found their way into his life and work. He was also continually keeping notes and diaries, exploring ideas and carrying out “explorations” where he would conduct research, collect material and compile extensive files on individuals or topics of interest to him. These became thought of as artworks in themselves.

There is a fascinating collection of his papers, correspondance and diaries, along with a biography, at the Archives of American Art website here. See some more of his works here.

 .

Alison Britton

24 May 2012

2 Comments

.

Alison Britton, ‘Influx’ (2012)

photo © Philip Sayer courtesy of Marsden Woo Gallery

.

Alison Britton, ‘Tall Scrawl’ (2009) ceramic

photo © Philip Sayer courtesy of Marsden Woo Gallery

.

Alison Britton, ‘Cave’ (2012)

photo © Philip Sayer courtesy of Marsden Woo Gallery

.

Alison Britton, ‘Runnell’ (2012)

photo © Philip Sayer courtesy of Marsden Woo Gallery

.

Alison Britton, ‘Standing and Running’, installation shot 2012

© Philip Sayer courtesy of Marsden Woo Gallery

.

Alison Britton is part of the generation of innovative British ceramicists that emerged during the 1970s, whose work laid the foundations for what became known as ‘The New Ceramics’. She studied at the Central School of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art, and is highly regarded as a writer, curator and lecturer, as well as a ceramicist. Her work has been exhibited internationally, and can be seen in major public and private collections worldwide,including the V&A, London, Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Australian National Gallery, Canberra, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, and Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. She was awarded an OBE in 1990 for her services to the applied arts, and is a senior tutor at the RCA.

Confidently standing as part sculpture, part painting, part domestic vessel, this work states its presence in a firm tone in Alison’s most recent show, “Standing and Running”, at The Marsden Woo Gallery in London.

Alison works in an interesting way, by rolling out the clay and working on it as if it were a painting, applying various slip colours and designs, before using that design to suggest a final form. To me this helps to lend an unrestrained energy  – they are freed from the wheel. There’s an almost jazz-like sense of an improvised, “lets see what happens” spirit, within the framework of something structured and considered, and slightly hard to get inside of.

On reading some of the many words that have been written about Alison Britton’s work, the constantly returning theme is the vain attempt to be able to classify it. This is perhaps the mark of a true original, authoritatively embracing both art and craft, function and form, the abstract and the actual.

The Frank Lloyd Gallery leaves its final words on Alison’s work to Quentin Blake, who says, “the work may begin as a jug, but it becomes a free-standing story, a poem, a situation. Put in the position of reader, the viewer comes back again and again, each time finding a new word, line, or verse to fall in love with.”

Perfect.

There are some interesting discussions on a piece of Alison’s work in the V&A video archives, here. 

Find out about new exhibitions and other artists represented at the Marsden Woo Gallery site here.

.

Maps of the Human Heart

9 March 2012

2 Comments

I was led to these illustrations when I was reading Donna Seger’s wonderful blog Streets of Salem. I think they’re fascinating.

Supposedly created by “A Lady”, and published in 1830 by the Kellogg Brothers of Hartford, Connecticut, they are beautifully drawn, and very much reflect the times in terms of the social perceptions of men and women.

Apparently, the idealised view of “True Womanhood” was very much promoted to middle-class women at the time. Historian Barbara Welter wrote, “The attributes of True Womanhood, by which a woman judged herself and was judged by her husband, her neighbors, and her society, could be divided into four cardinal virtues—piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. … Without them … all was ashes. With them she was promised happiness and power.” 1

I’m intrigued by the outer edges – the “Country of Eligibleness”, and opposite, “The Land of Oblivion”…! (Click to enlarge)

.

.

The man’s heart here seems mainly dominated by money, power and “The Dread of Matrimony”

You can see these, and other wonderful lithographs, at the online gallery of the Connecticut Historical Society and Museum.

Footnotes

1. Welter, Barbara. “The Cult of True Womanhood.” American Quarterly 18:2, Part I (Summer 1966), pp. 151-174.

Andrew Bird and Stephen B. Macinnis

24 February 2012

8 Comments

.

This week, two artists from two different countries share their work and thoughts – Andrew Bird from Derbyshire in the UK, and Stephen B. Macinnis, from Charlottetown, Canada.

.

ANDREW BIRD

.

.

.

.

.

.

I felt an instant connection to Andrew Bird’s paintings the moment that I saw them. It may be in part that I share his love for the Cornish landscape and coast, a subject often depicted in his work – but I was also instantly struck by his live sense of movement, form and colour. You can feel the breeze blowing across your face, the slide of the sea, the flash of sunlight on a coloured boat. I can feel the handmade in the gestures and strokes too, each mark has energy.

I asked him to tell me a little more about his work and practice..

“The themes in my paintings tend to come from the experience of being in a place for a period of time and the images become composites of this rather than an attempt to accurately represent a scene. I try to paint what I have seen and felt in equal measures. This could be anything from the way the light captures an object or lights up a hillside, the weather, texture on rocks, paint peeling on buildings and boats and many other things. I also try and reflect on how I experienced a place within my work.

“The process of making the work usually starts from wanting to describe a specific situation. I don’t have a rigid idea of how this will progress and let the work develop instinctively. It does, however, need to be successful in whatever the aim of the painting was at the start. I will work and re-work the whole image to achieve this. The paintings are made from many layers of paint that I build up to form textures and forms. For this I use a knife, brushes and quite often anything that comes to hand to make marks. Layers of paint are constantly scratched into to reveal underlying texture. I use recurring forms and marks within my work. These invariably represent large structures around coastal areas such as docks, harbour walls, the superstructure of ships etc. The smaller inscribed marks are usually closer detail such as steel rings on walls, groynes, buoys, windows on boats etc.

“I try to achieve a rhythm and a sense of movement throughout the composition and with the use of colour, I think that this helps to outline a sense of time rather than the image being a static snapshot.

“A large portion of my current work is based on visits to the South West of England and more specifically coastal areas of Cornwall. I find Cornwall to have a unique sense of place within the UK and find it a fascinating area to be and I hope that my work reflects this.

“Which artists do I find inspiring? I would have to include Nicolas de Staël, Patrick Heron, Scottish Colourists, Arshile Gorky, Antoni Tapies..and probably lots of others!”

.

You can see more work from Andrew and make contact with him through his site, here.

.

STEPHEN B. MACINNIS

.

.

.

.

.

I’ve been a huge fan of Stephen’s work since the beginning of the year, when I discovered his blog, where he shares his work and documents his creative journey. Stephen is currently in the middle of a project entitled the “Long Series”, of which the works above are a part. He told me a little more about the idea:
.
“I guess the best way to explain the Long Series is that I’ve always been torn between large and small work. I most often work on a smaller scale, but I enjoy working on a bigger scale too. The only problem with working large is what do I do with the work after I exhibit it? I live on an Island on the East coast of Canada and sending large work out can be expensive, and often I end up putting things in my shed, or taking them apart after they are shown.
“The Long Series became the great answer to my problem. I think of the series as one big piece with over a 1000 smaller parts. The individual paintings do stand alone, but I prefer to show them as a large installation.
There are several ways to show the work, as a large grid on a wall, as a large stack, or as selected framed paintings.
The rules I’ve set for the series are simple: 
  • The paintings are all about 12×12 inches. 
  • All done by hand. 
  • An element of chance is essential to the work.
  • No editing. If a work doesn’t seem to be successful it remains part  of the series.”

You can see Stephen’s work in context by watching the video below. I found it moving to see the work in action, a whole series of days, thoughts, moods, almost a visual diary, each one unique. The music is Stephen’s brother in law, Daniel Ledwell. You can visit Stephen’s site here.

.

.

Smooth..soft curves to caress..

18 February 2012

2 Comments

Contact Elin direct for commissions, via her site.

—————————————————————————————

.

RIchard is represented by by the Medici Gallery in Cork Street, London and also the McGill Duncan Gallery in Castle Douglas.

—————————————————————————————

Visit Sylphs site for more information about her work, and a list of stockists.

—————————————————————————————

I hope that you enjoyed this moment of quiet gazing!

—————————————————————————————

I Want, I Want!

4 February 2012

Leave a comment

The fire of aspiration, yearning, a leap of the imagination into the undiscovered and unknown. We all need these places of mystery. This well known illustration, “I want! I want”, by William Blake, is one of 18 tiny engravings, published as “For Children: The Gates of Paradise” in 1793. The book documents the course of human life. Etched in intaglio, the work is based on designs Blake drew in his notebook. I love each tiny stroke.