RWA March 2010

Recent exhibition at RWA focussed on that most basic of artistic media-paper.

A wide variety of responses to, and uses of, this versatile media were on display. Some works were large and bold, some small and fragile, some decorative and some fiercely expressive, some working within a traditional structure and others stretching the media to new extremes of expression.

I particularly liked the altered books-the cornucopia and encyclopaedic layering of images, and some of the cut and folded paper sculptures.

Here is a montage of various works.

Works from Celebrating Paper exhibition

Tree Heads

Back to tree heads. I have been sketching these heads for a while (doodling and playing around), and decided to try one in clay. It seems to work quite well for a first attempt! A bit twee, but I think there is opportunity to develop something here. When its dried I’ll fire it and then think about glazing. Might try one a bit happier next time!

Tree Head

Clay Tree Head

Three doodles for a Tree Head

Coffee time in Bath

We very kindly, and spontaneously, had our photograph taken by Anna Durrant in Bath today. She was apparently in Bath recording people moving around the city, and we were watching from the window of Pret a Manger. Having attracted her attention she turned the camera on us. Unfortunately she forgot to reset the camera from its slow shutter speed, which is why we are all blurry.

See her work here    http://www.annadurrantphotography.co.uk/

Getting ourselves noticed in Bath.

Air Gallery Exhibition February 2010

The latest exhibition at the Air Gallery, Wells, Lust and the Human Body, has an interesting mix of art works. Candace Bahouth’s mosaic sculptures are attractive and beautifully fashioned, lending a fanciful exuberance and permanence to simple objects. The broken, glittering ceramic surface places them somewhere between Fairyland and a Far Eastern decorative aesthetic.

Other works are figurative, and demonstrate a range of approaches to the human form. Kay-Lewis Bell’s paintings are large, expressive portraits that are finely drawn and full of colour. Kate Noble exhibits painted figure studies from life, loose and structural images, crammed onto long, thin pictorial planes. Monika Millers’ drawings and prints are semi-abstract figure studies, capturing the movement and energy contained within the body’s form, reminiscent, to me of some of Giacometti’s and Matthew Smith’s work, though with less definition and clarity. Julia Gatrill is showing ceramic work based on parts of the female form, sometimes tending towards eroticism and at others more humorous.

The craft gallery also has some very appealing and attractive works. Well worth a look.