12 Circles

12 Circles; remains unfinished.
The last 3 weeks have been lost in a blur of labyrinthitis. And the future looks pretty hazy too........I get a couple of 'good days' where I feel better......then stumble back into illness. I'm not daring to work on this, in case I mess it up; so I'm pulling out fragments of fabric; and stitching them together in a random linear fashion.
To go in the exhibition at Westgate Chapel for the Artwalk on 30 September.
Since Kate died earlier this year, there's been no-one to co-ordinate the Artwalk exhibitions at the Chapel; so I offered to take it over.
Six exhibitions a year. Organising publicity through the website, and facebook page. Not massively onerous. And, of course, contacting artists. I've got 5 of the 2016 slots filled; one more to go. Next year may prove a busy one then! 
 

weaving

The weaving has been completed; and went up to the framers yesterday. I'm looking forward to getting it back nicely framed up. I'll attempt a photo, though the glass might reflect....see how it comes out.

My exhibition at Westgate Chapel is called 'The Infinite Contained'. It's part of the Wakefield ArtWalk.

20:20 Print Exchange

Wakefield ArtWalk; 26 March 2014

My print is top left; my friend Carrie's print is bottom left. The 3 prints on the left hand side, are mostly relief prints, which is why they look like blank sheets! It was clever display skills to clip tiny bulldog-clips to the prints, and hang them from nails hammered in the boards.

I love this print! Made me laugh out loud! I want one of these! Haven't got the artist's name; I'll try and get it. I hate putting up work unattributed. Bad manners.

This basket was made by Lois Grey. Part of the Visual Impairment Group exhibition at Fell House. I am so impressed by this. Just weaving with thread was difficult enough for me. Lois has used withy/willow; it can be hard on your hands. I wanted to stroke it; but wasn't sure if I'd be reprimanded if I did!

And I met Stuart Maconie! Disc-jockey of Radio 6; I used to listen to him and Mark Radcliff on Radio 2 when their show was on in the evening. I don't get to listen to them as much, now they've moved to an afternoon slot.

Mr Maconie is a very nice man; who happily signed his book 'Cider With Roadie'!

winter

This is a strange photo. You might not think it, looking at it; it's a pretty straightforward photo of the sky and clouds. Nowt special.
But for the fact that I have no memory of taking it; the mobile phone took the photo itself! Very weird!
Meantime, out of the world of spookiness, I've been stitching on Berenice's Brother (which always makes me laugh like a drain!) and creating wee xmas decorations for the craft stall I'm having at the start of December. I'm also making some as presents; Shannon asked me to make one for her niece, Josie, who is only a baby...Josie's first xmas! So I've done that.
And I've been invited to exhibit some work at Harry's Bar for the Artwalk next week. I've dropped a couple of pieces off; they can then choose which they want to hang. It's the first time I've exhibited anything since November 2012. Things have been....well, complicated. I've not painted since last September. And partly that was because I was concentrating on completing my City & Guilds course in Textiles. And partly realising that I haven't got the resources to set about painting just yet. My painting mojo has gone away for awhile. But she'll return. I just have to give myself time. So this tiny project of fabric xmas decorations is fine. It's about all I can manage at present. One day at a time; one stitich at a time.

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)

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.

Fire & Fleet & Candleleet

 Before the dark fell, the boats could be seen in daylight, floating in the bowl. As the sun dropped, the tea-lights began to glow more evocatively, and crowded together, surface tension making them hug the edge of the bowl.

The weekend after the ArtWalk, we took the remaining boats up to the lagoon near where I live, and lit the tea-lights again, setting them sail with our wishes, and casting off those things which are no longer relevant to our lives.

We said our goodbyes to the tiny boats, and the wishes they carried.

catch up

Due to my computer monitor going on the blink, I'm unable to access the t'internet at home. So I can't upload any photos at the moment. This will have to be a 'read-only' post!

The ArtWalk was interesting; busy; and tiring, as always. 
I took some blurry and dark photos of the tea-lights, in their jars at Westgate Chapel. It looked beautiful.
My friend, Ann, and I went up to the local lagoon, and sailed the origami boats away in the dusk of Saturday evening; the final day of March. An ending, and a new beginning. We set sail our wishes; said goodbye to those things no longer in our lives.

I've got my City & Guilds Feltmaking portfolio back; but although I have been given the grade, I'll withold telling it, until I can illustrate the post with a photo. 

And have begun the process of growing plants in my garden, as Miro suggested! The potatoes are chitting; the pea-plants are in; the bean and tomato seeds are in. And so are some sunflower seeds; continuing Jon's tradition of planting sunflowers in the garden. 

Planting seeds is to have faith in the future.

Fire & Fleet & Candleleet

'Fire and Fleet and Candleleet'

The slideshow projection is ready for the Artwalk tomorrow. So for the rest of today, I shall be busy making origami boats, for people to sail away, powered by tealights!

The title, 'Fire & Fleet & Candleleet' is taken from the folk song, 'Lyke Wake Walk', a walk taken on a corpse road, over the north Yorkshire moors. The version I'm most familiar with is by Buffy Sainte Marie, though other people have recorded it.

Fire Light

On Wednesday 28th March I will be presenting a light show at Westgate Chapel as part of Wakefield Artwalk.
It will involve fire-light, and projected light, and it will be in the grounds of the Chapel. Let's hope it's not chucking it down with rain, as it is today on this very wet Sunday!


There will also be music; the Chapel has just had its organ restored, so the inside of the building will reverberate to air passing through pipes!


Hope to see some of you there! 

Earthworks

Sitting on the backseat of Blanche is a painting I've recently completed which incorporates oil paints and egg; a tempera experiment. It gives the canvas a chalky, textured surface. I'm looking forward to working with this media more in the near future.

The image itself is taken from computer 'indications', and aerial photographs of some ancient earthworks within Wakefield district. They are no longer in existence, and are only able to be seen as cropmarks when the weather is dry enough.

Wakefield Archives very kindly gave me access to their images, and gave me printouts and photocopies which I used to work from.

ArtyVan (8)

The bunting was out; the art was on display; Jon baked cake; Pauline brought delicious cheese scones! And the weather stayed gorgeous!
The grounds of Westgate Chapel were the perfect place to sit out and enjoy the day when The Hepworth Wakefield opened its doors to the public. We celebrated in fine style.

Some art work on display in the rear of Blanche.

And when it was all over, we retired to 'The Prince Albert', up at Westgate Studios, where we had a pint of lovely 'Masterpiece' beer, brewed especially for the Hepworth's opening by Ossett Brewery. There was an installation in the Project Space, and Vicky (pictured above) had a high old time examining the gloss-paint filled plastic that hung from the ceiling.

ArtyVan (7)

A bronze from Hepworth's studio in St. Ives.
When I first saw this, on my first visit to Hepworth's studio/museum, I finally 'got' her work. It is very explicit in its referencing of neolithic stones, and ancient landscapes.
I'd been visiting many stone circles, and standing stones throughout the British Isles before I saw this bronze. So I looked at it and it was 'boom'...I understood! This was the reason I re-visited St. Ives in 2005, while I was in the process of writing my M.A. dissertation. Hepworth's work needed to be included, because the influence of the land was integral to her work.
My dissertation was about the Land, and artists who worked within it (Land Artists) or who were influenced by it.
And tomorrow, the Hepworth will finally open its doors. It's wonderful that finally there is an art gallery that is named for a female artist. And she came from Wakefield!

ArtyVan (5)

Here's a photograph of Blanche, my campervan, that I took in the grounds of Westgate Chapel yesterday. It's been put through a few of the filters on photoshop, which is why it has a rather scruffy, silvery, blotchy look! It makes a change from the usual photographic images though; and I wanted Blanche to get her photo on the blog!
I e.mailed Kate some information about myself, for her to send out in some publicity. She took lots of photos! I'm not that keen on having my photograph taken, so I felt a bit awkward. Perhaps I should have put Kate's photos through photoshop, so I emerged scruffy and blotchy if not silvery!

ArtyVan (4)

Another Hepworth sculpture from her studio in St.Ives.

Got to Chapel today and Kate took some photos; and I took some photos of Blanche, my VW campervan. I completed the textiles I'm exhibiting there on Saturday, so that's a relief.

A bit of tinkering to complete the birdbox, and everything is ready!

ArtyVan (3)

I'm away to the Chapel tomorrow, to meet with Kate Taylor, the Chapel Secretary. She wants to take some photos of Blanche, my VW van. So my task tonight (!) is to create a nameplate, reading 'ArtyVan'! Eventually I want one made of fabric; but just for now, I think it will have to be paper.
We went uptown today, and looked out to buy some bunting. Most of the shops we went in, had staff who had never heard of 'bunting'. I had imagined that the country was awash in unwanted bunting after the royal wedding last month, but I was obviously wrong.
In case I don't get the chance to make up some bunting before next Saturday, I purchased, from a poundshop, a 'camping-washing-line' complete with pegs! That, as they say, will do nicely!

And here's a photo of Barbara Hepworth's studio in St.Ives from when I was there in 2005. I was researching my M.A. dissertation, which covered artists and their relationship with the Land, and included Hepworth. It will be fascinating to see the artefacts on show in the new Hepworth Gallery, donated by her family. Her studio in St. Ives, looks as though Hepworth has just stepped out for a moment. It's very evocative.

ArtyVan (2)

I'm still on with the textile work for the Hepworth Opening Artwalk. Luckily I'm near the end of the process, rather than the beginning....which is lucky, as I've only got just over a week to go! It kind of hit me last night; and I'm now making 'lists' of what I need to do, to get organised. I finally got round to e.mailing round. It had simply not sunk into my head that I needed to get the information out! Doh!

I still haven't processed the visit to London last week, when I went to Tate Britain to see the Susan Hiller exhibition. The catalogue sits on the sofa; I'm refusing to put it onto the bookcase yet, until I've had a thorough look at it. But I'm just too busy at the moment. It will be my 'treat' for after the 21st of May! Then I shall immerse myself in 'HillerWorld' again. Plus I was able to get a wondrous book about Paul Nash, and one about Samuel Palmer, of whom I know very little, except his influence upon artists such as Nash. So much to look at, so little time! I wonder if it's better to be an art historian, rather than an artist? That way, you can justifiably spend your time looking, and not concern yourself with the time it takes away from the making?
I feel the last couple of months have been so full of inspiration; the film of the Cave Art in France; the Spero exhibition; the Hiller show; plus all the catalogues and books I've got to look at.
And of course, the work I've been concentrating on making. Though I don't feel I've had enough time for that recently.

ArtyVan

Westgate Unitarian Chapel, Westgate, Wakefield.

On Saturday 21st May, 2011,

11am - 4pm

To celebrate the official opening of the Hepworth Wakefield, I will be exhibiting a small selection of my smallest work, in the smallest exhibition space in Wakefield.

My T4 VW campervan, Blanche!
I look forward to seeing you, for drinks, and cakes, in this lovely green oasis in the centre of Wakefield. Take time to relax, and refresh yourself.

See; wakefield-artwalk.fdawebdesignhost.co.uk/blanche-the-t4-vw-campervan-westgate-chapel/

for details

Barbara Hepworth 'Mother and Child' 1934

This is the second photograph Julie Clarke took of the Barbara Hepworth sculpture.

Barbara Hepworth 'Mother and Child'

This is a photograph of Barbara Hepworth's sculpture from 1934, entitled 'Mother and Child'. It was taken by fellow studio holder Julie Clarke.

It was installed in Westgate Studios for the last Artwalk, on Wednesday 28th July. We studio holders had the opportunity to go and draw the sculpture, before the Artwalk began at 5pm. The Project Space was empty apart from this single sculpture, and a member of staff from The Hepworth Gallery was on hand at all time, to look after it.

I was particularly intrigued by the reflections onto the acrylic case surrounding the sculpture. I asked Julie to take a photo, as I hadn't thought to take my camera with me. This was one of the results.

The sculpture also cast a reflection onto the inside of the case; it created a black silhouette, and this caught my attention. The sculpture is very rounded, and curvaceous; making it hard to draw. The reflection however, seemed much more angular, and blocky. I was reminded of the Aztec sculptures of goddesses giving birth, squatting on their haunches. Of course Hepworth studied ancient scuptures when she moved to study in London, so I wondered if the images were being called up in my memory, because I had read this about her, or if the reflection really was squarer?

That was the reason I asked Julie to take the photograph. What do you think?