Two quarterly magazines a pleasure to receive - Illustration and Printmaking Today.

This week it has been a pleasure to receive two magazines which I subscribe to. Both come out quarterly and the Summer issue of each arrived in the post this week.

For anyone interested in printmaking, illustration, art, design and finding out about related events and exhibitions, both magazines are thoroughly recommended.

Printmaking Today is the quarterly magazine in the UK for printmakers and those interested in printmaking. The magazine features profiles on printmakers as well as news on events and exhibitions and articles about the practical side of printmaking.The Summer issue features an article and interview with Emma Mason who has recently opened a gallery in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Emma Mason British prints specialise in original prints from the post war to present day and the article explains how the business began and talks about the printmakers they represent and the decision behind now opening a gallery. Emma Mason have regularly exhibited at the Brighton Art Fair.

Illustration Magazine, also out quarterly is a beautifully produced magazine full of features on illustrators and their work. The Summer issue, just out, has a feature on illustrators who are turning their hand to make patterned fabrics and toys and other hand made items and includes work by Sussex artist, printmaker, and illustrator Sarah Young who exhibits both at the Brighton Art Fair and at MADE the Brighton design and craft fair.

Both Printmaking Today magazine and Illustration magazine are stocked and available to buy at the Emma Mason Gallery in Eastbourne (t. 01323 727545 or see details below). Both magazines also take subscriptions.

Printmaking Today published by Cello Press Ltd (Subscriptions tel. 01993 701002) www.printmakingtoday.co.uk

Illustration www.illustration-mag.com

Emma Mason Gallery 3 Cornfield Terrace, Eastbourne, East Sussex. BN21 4NN
t. 01323 727545 http://www.emmamason.co.uk/

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Maker of the Week - Lucy Mutter

Lucy Mutter is a glass worker producing sandblasted and engraved work from glasses to vases and lamps to windows. She lives and works in Portslade near Brighton.

One favourite living craft maker (and why?)

I think my favourite living craft maker would have to be Kaffe Fassett, his needle point in particular is stunning and I love the way he finds influence from all sorts of different things, from ceramics to cabbages.

What was the last art/craft/design thing you purchased? or What one product/item do you really covet? (and why?)

I try not to covet things, it causes heart-ache, especially when there's only just enough money in the bank account to keep myself fed, watered, housed and in glass! However, I do yearn for a piece of furniture by my friend Cassian Garbett, who is a master craftsman and furniture maker. He lovingly works driftwood into beautiful and practical pieces. I already own a chair he made, given to me by my parents for my 21st birthday (some years ago now!) It will certainly be a mark of my success when I am able to commission him to make me something to go with that chair.

At age 15 who influenced your style? Was there any individual who very much helped you on your way?

At 15 I'd say my greatest influences were my parents, both very skilled makers, my father is a cartoonist and model maker who always tries to inject fun into his work, and my mother is a true craft artist with an incredibly diverse repertoir, from pottery to silversmithing. Both practice their crafts for their own enjoyment, almost in a therapeutic way, and both have supported me beyond measure as I have grown up.

Last best read (book)?

Duncton Wood by William Horwood. It's a book I read when I was 11 and re-read recently, it is a beautiful story set deep in the English countryside about a community of moles!

Where and what is your studio? Do you work alone? In silence, radio?

I live and work in Portslade, when looking to buy a house the first main priority was to have a garden big enough to build a workshop. My machinery is large and loud so it needed to be purpose built and the equipment craned in! I work alone, and have discovered that I work best when I am also singing along to my favourite music (so it's probably a good thing there's no one around to hear me!)

What is your favourite (art) website (and why)?

I often find art websites disappointing, as they often seem disjointed and clunky but I love www.edwatts.co.uk. I admit to being slightly biased here, because Ed is my Brother-in-Law, and the site was built by one of my very best friends, Gary Stanton. It is an un-fussy and very user friendly site, with style and elegance, so it's a good thing Gary will be doing my website for me (watch this space!)

Surprising activity/hobby?

I love the countryside and love being out and about in it, but one of my favourite hobbies is canoeing on the Cuckmere River, it really is the most stunning place to be.

Do you have a good work/life balance? Are you able to switch off from art work?

I find that work can often take over, and at the end of a long day it is sometimes hard to get my craft-working hat back on, but ideas come thick and fast at any hour of the day! I find it best to record these ideas when they come, and dedicate time specifically to the workshop when I can devote my full attention to them.

What one word would describe your feeling of doing your work?

Completeness

Do you think art and craft has any real importance?

Art and craft is something that has been practised by Human Beings since they first scrawled images onto cave walls, it is an intrinsic part of culture. Without it the world would be a very grey and depressing place.

What do think are crimes against good taste & decency in art/craft/design?

I think one of the beauties of the art world is the sense that 'anything goes', but I do feel that this can be abused sometimes and work is done merely for it's shock value. I consider myself first and foremost a craftsperson, concerned mainly with my medium, the potential of my equipment, the scope of my imagination, and how I can combine these things to make something beautiful, practical, and hopefully treasured.

Lucy Mutter: juciloo@hotmail.com

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Emily Nixon - Best Maker Award

Jeweller Emily Nixon has won the award for Best Maker in the South West at The Contemporary Craft Fair, Bovey Tracey 2009. The sponsor of the award was British Ceramic Tile, based in Devon and the photo above shows Emily with Konrad Goes-Saurau their Executive Chairman.

Konrad Goes-Saurau said...

"Whilst The Contemporary Craft Fair is a wonderful showcase of the creativity of so many talented individuals across the whole of the country, Emily's range of beautifully crafted jewellery, rich in its coastal textures and natural forms, perfectly demonstrated the talent that exists right here on our own doorstep here in the southwest."

Emily will be exhibiting and selling her work at MADE09 in Brighton in November.

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Hilary Thorpe's Sailing Trip

Isle of Wight artist Hilary Thorpe is currently sailing up the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. She is carrying her paints along with her and painting a selection of pieces as she travels, plus a travelling sketchbook.

Presently the yacht she is on is docked for three weeks in Long Island. Hilary is taking the opportunity for a brief return visit to Bermuda to catch the ‘Tall Ships’ race. Hilary spent 3 months on Bermuda in 2007 as Artist in Residence with the Masterworks Foundation. She will then spend a few days at the famous yachting town on Newport Rhode Island before returning to the boat in Long Island



Gulliver, the vessel she is on, will explore the islands between
Long Island and Cape before she returns in mid July.

Follow her newsletter on her website on and watch out for images on the Bermuda and East Coast of the States when the site is updated. Hilary will be exhibiting the work at an Open Studios event on the Isle of Wight (www.isleofwightarts.com) and is also exhibiting at the Brighton Art Fair in October.

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Derek Yaniger at Castor & Pollux

Quoting Derek himself….

‘A gig in the works is a print show at the Castor and Pollux Gallery in the UK. The show will run from June 26th thru July 20th. On display will be my newest serigraphs as well as some of my old favorites. They’ll also have signed copies of my book, “Wildsville, the art of Derek Yaniger”. Should be a jolly big hoot! Be there if ya’ can, man.

‘I blew into Atlanta around the ’80s and gotta a gig scratchin’ out art at a local sweat shop. I copped a squat there for three years but the cabbage was, like, nowheresville, so I just had to cut out. I gave that nogoodnik from creepsville the heave-ho. I still roost in Georgia but nowadays I print my own foldin’ green. Over the past twenty years, give or take, I’ve rolled out chicken scratchins for someway big wigs like Marvel Comics and Cartoon Network. Today I spend my dims and brights pedalin’ my art to mags such as Atomic, Barracuda, and Car Culture Deluxe.

Once you get a load of my art, I hope you dig it the most.’

Join Castor and Pollux in Wildsville from 27 June.

http://www.castorandpollux.co.uk/2009/05/derek-yaniger-at-castor-pollux-in-june/

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Online Shop of the Week - Tiny Showcase

Tiny Showcase was created by Jon Buonaccorsi and Shea'la Finch in November of 2004.
Jon and Shea'la found that they were surrounded by a group of friends who were very talented people so they started thinking how good it would be if they could create a forum and community where all of this incredible talent could be showcased.

Each week they pick a new piece of tiny artwork and turn the work into a limited-run print production. Each run is printed on archival Hahnemühle German Printmaking Paper. The archival ink is specially treated and sprayed, giving it an archival lifespan of over 60 years.

In 2005 Tiny Showcase introduced a new pricing structure where a percentage of the money from each print sold is donated to a charity chosen by the artist.

Tiny Showcase offer a brilliant selection of work as well as a few printed tee shirts!

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Artist of the Week - Angela Lizon

Angela Lizon has been working for many years on fairly minimalist abstract paintings but 2 years ago changed overnight to painting giant cats which are humourous, kitsch, absurd and slightly disturbing!

One favourite living artist? Why?
No particular favourite living artist but I do admire artists who are very honest at what they're about, can play the system to their advantage and are the ones calling the shots rather than gallerists or curators.

One favourite historical artist? Why?
I have many favourite historical artists but all time favourite must be Matisse as his work is so joyous.

When and where did you first want to do what you do?
I've always wanted to be a painter, since I was about 6 years old.


What place in the world has inspired you?
Hard to think but with the work I'm doing now I'm sure that the childhood day trips to Brighton from London to visit an elderly aunt, playing crazy golf, going on the pier and eating knickerbocker glories must have had a subliminal effect somewhere along the line.


At age 15 who influenced your style?
Don't think I had any style when I was 15.

How much do you bend your 'vision' to suit the marketplace - if at all?

Have always tried very hard not to bend my "vision" to suit the marketplace. I went to art college long enough ago to have been there at the time when it was considered dirty to mention art and money in the same sentence.

Where and what is your studio?
My studio is in Spike Island in Bristol - a large set up with many artists and creative businesses. Have a largish studio with really good north light.

Do you have a good work/life balance?
There are never enough hours in the day to get everything done so what does that mean? I could do with a holiday.



What one word would describe your feeling of doing your work?
Fun.

Would you rather be doing something else?
Never.

If you could exhibit in any gallery which would it be?
In the National Gallery, London alongside the Stubbs' horses.

Most overrated artist/maker?

Those who give a design concept to another artist, get them to make it and then take all the credit themselves without acknowledging the maker.

Where do the majority of your inspiration / ideas come from?

The majority of my inspiration comes from my childhood in the 60's and 70's and my two children.

Where did you train? Favourite / least favourite aspects of training?

I did a degree at Bristol Polytechnic (now known as University of the West of England) and then gained a scholarship to study at Krakow Academy of Fine Art in Poland for a year. As Poland was still under the communist regime it was quite an experience.

Favourite aspects of training? Colour theory lessons and life models available at any time. Least favourite? Art history lectures.

Please list any exhibitions you have had in the past 12 months.
Competitions - Bristol Contemporary Open at Paintworks in Bristol, Open west at Summerfield Gallery, University of Gloucestershire. In January I will be having a solo show at Howard Gardens Gallery in Cardiff.


Angela will be exhibiting and selling her work at the Brighton Art Fair in October.
Angela Lizon: angelalizon@gmail.com

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