Woolgathering

The exhibition is up!

Jill and I went up to Westgate Studios yesterday, and put all our felt and textile pieces up in the Project Space.
Above you can see 3 of my felt pieces (right), and 3 of Jill's felt and wood pieces (left).

Jill has also made leaves from felt, which hang in the window space. Above is a photo of them displayed, and below is a close-up of one. You can just make out the way that the leaves cast shadows onto the window blind! Lovely.

Below is my fabric piece 'Palimsest', which I've shown earlier in this blog. 

But with a bit of photo-shopping, I've managed to get the whole piece into one photograph.

We worked really hard to put it together yesterday; and I came home ready for a relaxing evening. It's that moment of calm when there's nothing else to do, but just wait for Wednesday, and welcome in the visitors.

Woolgathering

The Exhibition 

'Woolgathering', 

                        1) to engage in fanciful daydreaming; the idle or absent-minded indulgence in fantasy.

                        2) gathering tufts of wool shed by sheep & caught on bushes.

After spending some time dreaming of, and counting sheep, Jan & Jill have gathered wool from various sources and created a series of art works using wool, and incorporating fabric.

They have made 2D & 3D works, reflecting their different interests and influences. 

Jill has been making felt for a number of years, recently completing a City & Guilds course. Jan became interested in wool and felt-making, and began to explore textiles as a medium. Through experiments with dye-ing using plants, stitching and mark-making, Jan is extending her artistic practise into the material world.

The artists; Jan Millington & Jill Halsall

The media; Felt and Textiles

The venue; Project Space, Westgate Studios, Wakefield

The date; Wednesday 28th November 2012 as part of Wakefield Artwalk

               (to view by arrangement with Westgate Studios after 28th)

studio #3....Bonfire Night

When I was inhabiting A13 studio in Westgate Studios, I had fantastic views over the city, and to Emley Moor mast...which until the digital age, delivered our television signal, locally.
This was a particularly grey, yet glowing sky, from winter 2008.

Today I've been working in my home studio; with the heater on I was nice and cosy.
I was putting together my City and Guilds portfolio, for my course tomorrow. It was great to sit and spend some time on it. The day's been bright and sunny, though as the light has faded, the temperature's dropped, and it's got very cold.
The cats are all sitting in front of the fire; and I've made sure they're all in for the evening, as tonight is Bonfire Night, and there are fireworks going off all around us. We're keeping warm and safe, away from all harm.

Last Friday I went to Leeds, and called into the Art Gallery, and the Henry Moore Institute next door. 
There was a small exhibition of Helen Chadwick's photographs. Large, cibachrome, richly coloured photos. She used flowers, fruits, and household cleaning fluids, such as Windowlene, and Swarfega. She also used Lime & Lemon marmalade, and Germolene, to give vibrant colours and textures to her sculptures, which she then photographed! They are beautiful. I love the way she incorporates ordinary 'domestic' materials into her artwork. 
Well worth a look, on the Henry Moore Institute website, here

Dyed, Printed, Stitched & Spun #2

Am still working on this piece. It includes print on fabric, spun and dyed wool, machine and hand stitching.
It's taking quite a while, but I'm hoping I can get it completed and to the framers in time for the 'Woolgathering' exhibition next month at Westgate Studios.

'woolgathering'

Sections of fabric, hand sewn with 'sashiko' stitches; organzie, machine sewed, layered over it. 
Some of the fabric is hand-dyed; others are scraps from my textile 'grab-bag'. Pinned on the wall of my studio, trying to get enough light on it, to photograph.
I now have to put some small stitches in, to attach the organzie to the fabric behind. I'm hoping it will go into the 'woolgathering' exhibition I'm having with Jill Hallsall at Westgate Studios Project Space, in November, for the Wakefield Artwalk. 
You can see another photo of this piece at 'stitching & dye-ing'#2 dated 17/06/12.

studio 2

This is studio A13 at Westgate Studios that I used to inhabit! When we all moved out of the Artsmill, and into the studios on Westgate in Wakefield city centre, there was a lot of work to be done on our studio spaces.
The walls needed whitewashing, and floors sanding and painting with floor paint.
One particular day, I remember sanding the floor, and creating a dust-storm! So bad it set off the fire alarm! Ian came knocking on my door to tell me. I had no idea, the noise of the sander obliterated the alarm's noise.
Happy days!

Felt; Bags & Boots! by Jill Halsall

Some examples of Jill's feltmaking!

I have no idea if she will be exhibiting these in November. Knowing Jill she'll have made a whole new set of felt-works by then!
Jill & I have an exhibition of felt at Westgate Studios 'Project Space' in November, for the Artwalk. We're calling it 'Woolgathering'....a reference to the material, and also a small nod to Patti Smith, who has a book called the same. 
I'm a big Patti Smith fan. And when Jon and I went to Iceland a few years ago, we were lucky enough to be there the same time as she was doing a gig.  It's the third time I've seen her; she's touring again this year. Has a new album out entitled 'Banga'.
As might have become noticable on this blog.....as well as art, I'm passionate about music!

Studios and Snow

Strange to think that this time last year we were covered with snow! This was the view from my first studio at Westgate Studios in Wakefield. Across the fire escape, and over the roofs of the old brick and slate tiled buildings. Emley Moor mast in the far distance.....though not to be seen in this photograph! I love the way that photos of the snow create this blueness. There is a special quality of light in snow; and although my digital camera allows me to alter the setting, I like the resulting blue. I used to love the skies from this window; their ever-changing light.


On another note; I've begun my City and Guilds course in Feltmaking. My first piece was a bit of an anti-climax. A lovely piece of felt, said Christine, the tutor; but too small. All the pieces we make have to be A4 size, and this wasn't. I took it back to the studio, and proceeded to gently pull at the felt to try and make it the right size! I await Christine's verdict; but not the greatest start! 

13 Moons

At Westgate Studios recent Members Exhibition, I showed one of my giclee prints, '13 Moons'.
As the title suggests, it has 13 small paintings of my observations of the Moon, over a lunar year (hence 13 moons), and runs from January, to January. This photo shows the first 3 months, January, February, and March, with April just to the right. It has a lovely reflection of the room where the exhibition was held! In the past, I would have dismissed a photo which had lots of reflection/s on it. But I'm coming round to think that sometimes reflections make something else out of the image in the lens.

Studios; Textiles; War

I've been very busy recently; moving into a fantastic space in Westgate Studios, which is massive compared with the previous studio I had there.
The textiles course I've been doing is coming to an end; there's only 1 more session to do. I'm hoping to enrol on it again for September, as I've been so inspired by the work we've done there, despite the fact we can only do samples.
I've got an idea for another piece of textiles work; over the summer I'll be doing some research on it, and some planning. I'm exploring using different textiles techniques on different segments of this piece. Of course it's all very well thinking about doing that, but I need to be able to unify the surface, so it doesn't look like a random selection of samples!
I sat in my studio on Friday, getting some basic ideas down on paper; it was wonderful to sit there, feeling I was back into my creative 'routine' again.

Still; there's lots of work to get on with, and work to complete.....isn't there always!

Jon bought me PJHarvey's recent cd 'let england shake', for my birthday. It's very impressive, and moving too. She approached it as a 'war artist', saying in interviews that although there was a long history of visual artists being deployed in wars, she didn't know of a musician being employed as a 'war artist'. So the songs are all about war.
One of those co-incidences happened, as I'd just read Pat Barkers 'Life Class' immediately preceding listening to Polly Jean. I'd chosen 'Life Class' because it concerned itself with artists at the Slade in the spring of 1914, and how they were caught up in WW1 when it broke out. There are references to real people, Henry Tonks, Augustus John, though the main characters are fictional.
Obviously I thought of Paul Nash, who was a soldier in WW1, who painted what he'd seen, and experienced. And who went on to serve as a war artist in WW1 and WW2.
Paul Nash is a favourite artist of mine.
And so is PJHarvey.
Both now designated 'war artists'!

Amalgamate exhibition at Westgate Studios

This is the painting that is being exhibited in the 'Amalgamate' exhibition at Westgate Studios, for the May 2010 Artwalk.
It is oil on canvas, and is entitiled 'MOONTREE'.
It is from a series of artworks I made in 2008, which were exhibited at Wakefield Theatre Royal.

The painting depicts several carved stone balls from the neolithic era. These mysterious objects have turned up throughout England and Scotland. Sometimes through archaelogical digs, sometimes through road building!
To this day, no-one knows their purpose. They are described by archaeologists as 'ritual objects'.

To listen to the sonic artwork made by Steve Regen for the Amalgamate Project, click on the link below.

http://soundcloud.com/schoolofpopularmusic/steve-regan-jan-millington