THIS BLOG IS NOW CLOSED

As my residency is now finished, this blog is now closed but a new one will be created shortly as I always have interesting thing to report about the world of art.

End of year show/End of Scolastic year

It seems like the end of year came so quickly, I didn't have time to write about my own End of Year show; so here are a few images of the show, 'Immortal coil':







The exhibition was a culmination of a year's residency and was well received by all visitors. One of the visitors, Stephanie Dubois, an art writer and curator has now published an article explaining her view of the exhibition, press on the word 'review' to access.

YEAR 8 PAPER PROJECT - AFRICAN MASKS

I am always astonished by the skills of young pupils and really enjoyed their year 8 girls latest project on African masks. They were aiming to design and make their own three dimensional mask by experimented first with paper sculpture techniques such as scoring, folding, pleating, tearing , curling. They discovered how paper which is always thought of as flat, can actually be a very effective sculptural material. The ideas created in these experiments are now being used successfully in making their own masks as per following photographs:

COLLECT 2011, SAATCHI GALLERY, LONDON

My favourite event of the year is 'Collect' held since last year at the Saatchi Gallery, Duke of York's HQ, London. Collect is an International Art Fair for Contemporary craft objects which are showcased by 40+ galleries.

Flow was established in October 1999 and offers a display of various white and blue based artwork: from textiles to ceramics it's trendy and young



I particularly liked Amy Jayne Hugues blue platter:



I loved the display put up by the Parson Liven Gallery



As well as Sarah Myerscough fine Art,



Marc Ricourt, a French woodcarver is represented by this gallery, and the way he transforms local Burgundian wood into organic shapes is quite mesmerising, this is one not to miss!



Well known ceramicist Kate Malone is represented by Clare Beck at 'Adrian Sasson', the UK's leading dealer in contemporary ceramics. Malone's work is one of the most well known contemporary ceramic work and it gets better and better. Often inspired by nature and exotic fruits, the work is grand, colourful and has an air of luxury akin to grand palaces like Versaille....just love it!



Junko Mori is also one who doesn't stop creating beautiful organic shapes in metal, like crystal formations, her work grows into bigger and bigger works



Adrian Sasson also represents a potter I have just personally discovered: Michael Eden. He uses digital technology to revolutionise his practice and his work, in contrast to Malone and Mori's organic looks, is much more architectural and dynamic. It's very hard to resist touching it!





The displays of myriad of small vessels by Natasha Daintry are always a pleasure to look at:



Glass is really well represented by this gallery and I particularly liked Colin Reid's sleek work



A very adventurous gallery is Cultural Connections CC; Director Birthe Noergaard Fraser has put together a display ranging from the sublime to the ridiculously enormous. The sublime is represented by artist Marie Torbensdatter Hermann's installations which look soft, confortable and somehow quickly become familiar domestic items:






The ridiculously enourmous is embodied in works by french born Jean-Francois Thierion, now married and living in Denmark. Thierion pots are beautiful in their shape, height, colour and mark making



Other artists such as Lis Ehrenreich, Ninna Goetzsche, Kim Holm, Metter Augstinus Poulsen and Dorte Visby are also shown by CC



Nina Goetzsche


Kim Holm


For me though, they were three total show stealers:

First represented by Joanna Bird Pottery, Steffen Dam's work is just 'perfect imperfection'; born from years of experimenting and discovering the beauty of mistakes and faults with glass, Dam has created a series of frozen organisms





Equally touching was textile work by Anne G. Loeland reprensted by Gallery Kunst1. Leoland, like Steffen Dam also explores the beauty of imperfection and uses the technique of Devore were specific chemical litterally eat up part of the woven material



Another gem of an artist, Bettina Speckner, represented by Galerie Ra, delighted me with her use of jewellery making and photography. I just loved this brooch with silver and diamonds



And too finish, I was totally star struck by Katharine Morling! I first saw her work at Art London, Chelsea, in October 2011 and since then, her work pops up everywhere, I can't get enough of it. Her cartoon like porcelain's simplicity takes me back to my childhood. Katharine was very bubbly on the day and everyone was really excited about her work so much so that it was hard to take photos, but here are a few:





If you have not had the chance to see Collect, do look at the website herewith and enjoy each gallery, it's worth it!

CAN CHURCHES INSPIRE ARTISTS?

In my case, a great big YES would have to answer this question!

After a few days in my home village in the centre of France I returned back home in England making a stop into Reims. The city was heavily shelled in the first world war, leaving it devastate and now full of 1920s, 30s buildings:



However, the focus of my stop was the cathedral (Notre Dame de Saint Jacques de Reims), which was coronation church of the French kings. It was spared by wars and is a fine example of Gothic architecture and world famous for its sculptures.





The spires were cut at at the revolution as they had 'fleurs de Lys', sign of Royalty, not really popular at the time. Non the less, most other features have survived. The gargoyles are particularly impressive:





The facade extremely impressive, it is a dedication to the virgin Mary, and is totally covered with statues:







What impressed me the most, was the long statues, themselves supported by smaller ones, looking very strained:





Another very well known statue is the 'smiling angel', Doctor Who fans might have to remember: 'Don't blink, don't even blink!'





If the outside is impressive, the inside is even more inspiring. The scale is huge and the stained glass windows bring in a beautiful light. A lot of them have been lost due to various fires, but some original remain and are impossible to photograph. Of course, the rose window is full of catholic story telling:





I was really pleased to finally see the modernist Marc Chagall's stained glass windows with their dominant blue. They took 6 years to finish (1968-74). Quite a wonderful visual feast with the light refracting through the glass though a real challenge to photograph:









These masterpieces where put together by atelier Simon Marq, and Jacques Marq's wife, Brigitte Simon has also created some stained glass windows for Reims Catherdral (1981). They are very different from Chagall's with their limited colour palette and simingly less complicated patterns:







Though they are extremely modern, their colours are much closer to the cahterdral's original grey stained glasses (called 'Grisaille' in French).

Our visit was finished by walking back on the side isle, which emphasises the beautiful structure of the building:



We had our picnic in the garden at the back of the catherdral, and I had time to experiment with my blackberry camera which was very dirty, giving a very special look to my pictures:







Upon cleaning the lens, this small camera revealed that it is capable of taking some fairly good quality images, great little tool in my back pocket!





I even used the blackberry to take some photos of seagulls on the ferry back to England, great shots!!:







I'll finish this entry with a very romantic sunset and conculude in saying than for me: YES, Churches do inspire me - the grandure, craftsmenship and sheer beauty of it all helps giving me idea for my own work!