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EXHIBITION 22 November 2014 to 12 April 2015

 (Photo by RAMM)

On 20th December I saw RAMM's fantastic "Art & Soul: Victorian and Gothic" exhibition. I  can't stress enough how interesting this exhibition was. It combined historical facts and the arts with the local examples of the genre. It was fascinating to read about the pre-raphaelites connection with the Mediaevalists and how the philosophy led to the formation of the Arts and Craft movement.

The range of work in the exhibition was also very dynamic and engaging, it gave me a very full view of the victorian gothic movement as it referenced furniture, architecture, art, manuscripts and philosophies. I enjoyed seeing William Morris' drafts and patterns. I also took great interest in the architectural drawings of RAMM and Barnstaple's St Annes Chapel.

 (Photo by RAMM)
The beautiful colours of the stained glass window and how the artist incorporated biblical iconography and the arts and crafts' own natural botanical patterns gave the traditional church window a fresh and dynamic look. 

The churches in North Devon are incredibly beautiful, I am surrounded by an abundance of original stained glass windows and gothic architecture. Visiting this exhibition made me have renewed interest in perusing an idea I have had for a while; documenting Devon's churches and writing about their architecture and windows. This is something I hope to start doing in 2015.

 (Photo by RAMM)
My favourite piece in the exhibition came as a bit of a surprise to me; none other than William Morris & Edward Burne Jones' "Quest for the Holy Grail Tapestries - Panel 1 - Knights of the Round Table Summoned". Although popular with other people, all contact I have had with tapestries had been fairly neutral up until this point, however on this occasion I found the colours and detail quite overwhelming along with the almost biblical composition; I was quite captivated.





Purchase the "Art & Soul" book here!



Resources on Victorian art and architecture:
  • Smarthistory/Khan Academy - Victorian art and architecture
  • Tate - Victorian
  • Victoria and Albert Museum - Art and Crafts movement
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EXHIBITION 27 September 2014 to 22 March 2015

On 20th Dec I visited the Paper Persuaders exhibition which is at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter. Paper Persuaders is an exhibition of posters from World War 1. 

"The Secretary of State for War, Lord Kitchener, quickly realised the need to recruit and expand the army. The government set up the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee in August 1914 and began the campaign to increase recruits to fight for their country. Over the five years of the war, over 100 poster designs were commissioned to encourage and persuade people to do their bit." (RAMM, 2014). One can see, when faced with the perfectionism and patriotism of the text in the posters, how a piece of paper was all it took to get the young british men fired up and into the forces.


The exhibition was very informative and engaging,  I particularly loved the colours used in the posters.  I am looking forward to the rest of the exhibitions commemorating the First World War centenary.


 (Photo by RAMM)


 (Photo by RAMM)


+ Conservation



The room on conservation was also very interesting. There was a video playing of a conservator putting together a broken jar, very compelling to see the precision and detail they put into their work!



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I visited Francesca Owen & Pete Ward's new eARTh art gallery and studio space in Ilfracombe on Saturday 13th December. The space not only provided a relaxed and dynamic environment for visitors to view Francesca and Pete's art in but it also provided an engaging space to take part in a communal natural pigment workshop. There was a large variety of work ranging from a small mud ball sculpture to large oil paint and natural pigment paintings. It was fantastic to see the works of two artists with similar passions and concepts being able to place their work however they wish in their own space.








The room was a like a treasure trove of natural materials being used creatively, each piece seemed to pay homage the earth which linked all the work together so they harmonised well with each other. Although each piece was fantastic individually I thought the most powerful piece was the whole room, it was almost like an instillation - art in and of itself!






This above photographs are of a doodles the Youth Collective did with some natural pigments that were laid out along with a large sheet of paper at eARTh. Even though I have been exposed to our local natural pigments a lot in the last few months I still cannot get enough of their rich and bold colours.








We also visited Damien Hirst's Verity on the quay. It was the first time seeing the not-so-little dancer for the other Youth Collective members!




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On Thursday 20th I ran a talk and workshop at the Burton Art Gallery for Home Schooled children. As far as preparation and resources for this workshop I brought along a pestle and mortar, paint brushes, PVA glue, cartridge paper, a black role of paper and the pigments. I used Pete Ward's Guide for Teachers and & Artists for working with Natural Pigments to explain the geological and historical qualities of the rocks we were using. I also put together my own collection of ideas and resources which included Pete Ward's paintings, Richard Long's finger prints and mud work, Prehistoric painting and a collection of black and white images to use as inspiration. It was an interesting experience to have to plan a workshop in a formal way. Looking back on what I did, I should probably have prepared decent notes for the talk purely because it would have made me slightly more confident. Although, because of the knowledge I already have, I was able to piece something together and draw upon my knowledge of art history to make it a dynamic and short talk.


The morning started with a brief talk in the gallery where I explained who Richard Long is and his place in the history of British art. I spoke briefly about a few of the key pieces in the exhibition including Cornish Slate Ellipse, Spring Circle and A Line made by Walking then answered any questions individuals had. We then went upstairs and I briefly spoke about the pigments we find in Devon, what we would be doing in the workshop and the resources and ideas available to draw upon. I then did an example of the grinding using the pestle and mortar and the children took over from there. They worked very independently and all made very unique pieces of work using the pigments they had ground.

I think it went really well, both the parents and children were very engaged with the workshop and both gained knowledge of Richard Long and the pigments while enjoying themselves. One parent said that it was definitely one of the best art workshops they had ever been to because of the resources and of course all the pigments and the depth of involvement (grinding with a pestle and mortar, mixing in the medium and then painting with the pigment). We were able to see and learn how the most effective way of mixing the pigment is and by the end of the workshop the children and parents were making very rich paint with perfect a viscosity for painting. I will admit I was slightly worried as to whether or not the children would engage and sustain interest for the duration of the workshop however all the children were happy and involved from the beginning to the end.



Improvement

The talk and performance in workshop could be improved with experience, I had a lot of positive feedback so it was clearly good enough however I do feel there is still room for a lot of improvement. It would have been nice to have multiple utensils such as a pestle and mortar, perhaps pipets to add medium to the pigment and individual pieces of black paper as the pigment on black was very effective but no one was able to take their work home.



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Sedition boasts itself as being able to turn any screen you own (whether it be a phone, laptop or tablet) into art - and they do just that and more.



(Sedition)

What they have done is absolutely fantastic, you can now own limited edition, high resolution digital art by artists such as Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin for a large range of prices. Sedition also allows you to sell and gift art in it's built in Auction House system. Using Sedition you also have the capacity to create and curate your own exhibitions using the digital art you buy. This is a wonderful tool for international students and art enthusiasts who don't have the liberty of being able to visit an exhibition featuring artists such as Damien Hirst, they now have the ability to buy a certified, limited edition copy of work they are interested in to use as they wish. Bravo!

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The banner I designed for the festival!
Post by Art In The Park.


The 13 meters of bunting I put together the night before the festival.


I had spontaneously decided to make 14 metres of bunting the day before the festival, which proved to be a good move! The mud hand prints on Kaliko was a great effect and tied in nicely with Richard Long's work as he also uses hand prints. I overheard a few people complimenting the bunting over the course of the day.




One month or so before the festival date I had the poster I designed approved of by the Tate Modern / Artist Rooms and so the Youth Collective had around 150 printed which we distributed. We advertised the festival using posters, flyers and social networking sites. This proved to be very successful as we had around 200 people turn up at ART IN THE PARK on the day! This number is a great turn out for a reasonably small area such as Bideford, especially seeing as Halloween and The Big Draw events were also taking place on the same day in local areas.

We had multiple talented, local artists working with us on the day, this list included; Greg Humpries, Andy White, Jo Bushell, Jennie Dodd and Pete Ward. To see how each one responded to the task of creating a Richard Long inspired workshop see our Facebook Photo album with all the finished pieces made by the artists.

I was in charge of making the T-shirts that the artists and youth collective were due to wear on the day of the festival. They were very easy to make, I was able to make 15 very cheaply using transfers and white T-shirts. I especially liked how Pete Ward's looked by the end of the day!

The banner I designed for the festival was also a success, In all honesty I was rather nervous of taking on such a professional task as I had never done such large (3 foot by 9 foot) graphic design work before, but once printed on canvas it looked very professional and on point!

It was such a privilege to be involved with organising such a fantastic event. I chose and booked a few of the artists and was in charge of 'managing' them on the day. Doing little things such as designing and writing the programme and poster was also very enjoyable. I really enjoyed having the thrill of seeing my hard work pay off through all the festival attendees enjoying themselves and taking part. I will definitely be organising smaller art related events in the near future as I feel this is definitely something I am fully capable of doing well.


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Well, here it is; the much delayed contemplation of International Exchanges: Modern Art and St Ives.

I was not able to take any photos at this exhibition, however, even a couple of months on from seeing it, I can still visualise certain works I saw on the day including Mark Rothko's Untitled 1950 (yellow), Jackson Pollock's 23 and several works by St Ives based artists such as Wallace, Hepworth etc. In my ignorance I was surprised at how many of the most well known figures of the Modern Art movement visited St Ives in their lifetime or were inspired by the St Ives artists in some way or another. It was wonderful to see such a large variety of styles and work together in this exhibition. I had visited Tate St Ives before, however, this time (with my new found love of everything art) I went away ecstatic and inspired. Truly, St Ives is a beautiful town, I would have loved to have visited it in the first days of Hepworth's move there when it was still an ungentrified fishing village!


I encourage you to watch Cambridge Art Historian Dr. James Fox's documentary The Art of Cornwall where he talks about St Ives and it's international impact on the art world.
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When: 10:00 - 4:00 Wednesday 29th October

Where: Victoria Park & The Burton Art Gallery, Bideford

What: A day full of fun and free workshops for all ages and abilities! Explore working with natural pigments and processes similar to Richard Long's - perfect for GCSE and A-level students as the artists running the workshops are established and knowledgable about land/environmental art/art history. This is a fantastic opportunity to work in a large range of media (movement, Bideford Black, stone, charcoal and more) with local artists who's concepts explore our relationship to nature and the environment around us. While you are at the Festival why not visit and take a guided tour around the Richard Long exhibition which is at the Burton Art Gallery? We will also be giving away a copy of Walking the Line signed by Richard Long himself - come along on the day to find out how you can win it!

 Facebook Event: www.facebook.com/events/293946970803438

Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/Art1nThePark
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    • ▼  December (3)
      • Art & Soul: Victorian and Gothic @ Royal Albert Me...
      • Paper Persuaders @ Royal Albert Memorial Museum
      • eARTh Midwinter Open Studio +Verity
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      • Environmental Art Morning with Home Education Group
      • Sedition | Fine Art for the Masses
      • ART IN THE PARK @ Victoria Park OCT 2014
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