Frances Bloomfield - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

Dialogue Domestique 14

Frances Bloomfield will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013

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Artist of the Week - Monika Jakimauskaite

Monika Jakimauskaite produces mixed media, photography prints on fabrics, embroidery and applique.

What was your journey to becoming an artist?

I finished Art High school in Lithuania and then Academy of Arts, textile design and technology. My parents are artists too. My mum is a fashion designer and my father is an actor and semi professional photographer. All my family friends were artists, so I grew up in a very artistic and cultural environment. I all the time imagine myself only as artist.

Is being an artist your only job, or do you have other employment?

At the moment I work as a Visual Merchandiser for shoes and accessories and also do arts. Unfortunately I can`t live yet as full time artist.

One favourite living artist?

There is this amazing Lithuanian photographer Algimantas Aleksandravicius, who takes beautiful portraits. He captures the mood and moment so well, that the picture looks alive. He shows real character of the person in picture. His is also my favourite black and white photography. Maybe, because I love photography and in my work I try to combine photography and textile.

 

One favourite historical artist?

My favourite historical artist is Gustav Klimt. Every detail in his picture creates this decorative touch, that sometimes it looks like a textile. Lots of passions and hard in his work. I like the theme of people in his works. They all seem melancholic and romantic. Maybe, because I love photography and in my work I try to combine photography and textile.

If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?

It would be Gustav Klimt, maybe he could paint on fabrics and I would print photography and involve embroidery and applique. I think it would work out very interesting mixed media.
 

Who is your style icon?

Juozas Statkevicius is an outstanding Lithuanian fashion designer, who makes fatal women clothes. Beautiful dresses and accessories. Also he himself looks very simple, but with interesting detail.
 

Last book / film that blew your mind?

Maybe is not the last movie I saw, but is definitely one of the best ones. Is Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty.  Great actors, very romantic, fantastic nature. Really touched me...After this movie I wanted to visit the South of France and I`m going in September.

 

Last gig you went to?

This is not the last one, but I went to this great minimal DJ Richy Hawtin performance in one of the biggest clubs in Ibiza.

How many hours do you waste on the internet each day?

I don`t spend a lot of time on internet, maybe just 1-2 hours in a day.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

I would love to live in Australia or New Zealand, because there is so much space and it is so green. Amazing nature and warm. A lot of inspiration for creativity.
 

 

Where and what is your studio?

My studio at the moment is at home in Brighton.

Do you have a good work/life balance?

I think I have a good balance, but I would prefer to spend more time doing my art and would get more opportunities to show my art. I like to travel, so every opportunity I go somewhere else.

 

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

Inspired

If you could exhibit in any gallery in the world which would it be?

Tate Modern

 

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John Dilnot - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

 Bishops Wood

John Dilnot

John Dilnot will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013

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Ten Years, Ten Artists - Frances Doherty

FRANCES DOHERTY AND THE BRIGHTON ART FAIR

 

As the Brighton Art Fair reaches it's 10th anniversary, I feel privileged to have been asked to write about my experience showing at this lovely Art Fair.

I first showed in their second year and have been lucky enough to have been allowed to show every year since. They were my first outing as a sculptor (I had come from the nearby world of applied arts) and I sold my first three sculptures here. I still remember these clients, and they still come to visit me here.

Every year they create an exciting buzz around the fair throughout the South, and many of the visitors make the trip to the show from London and beyond. I remember having to queue the first year just to get into the Private View, the first time I had ever had to do this.

The fair is run by artists and as such the needs of the artist are put first. They ask for and act on feedback received every year. The organisers are visible throughout the weekend and make sure that everything is running smoothly. They change the show just enough every year to give it a new feel, yet allow popular artists who have shown with them before to come back with the proviso that they have new work. This keeps the show fresh for artists and visitors alike. It is not overcrowded although it does get busy at times and the weekend has a gently party feel to it.

Brighton long needed an annual Art Fair when this one came along, and happily for everyone they have managed to make it both professional, of a high standard, well attended and yet laid back. A difficult thing to achieve. I have had some of my most successful sales here and met many new clients. I look forward to attending many more. Happy Birthday BAF!

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Anna Perlin - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

 

Anna Perlin

Birch Trees

Anna Perlin will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013

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Emily Kirby - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

African Portrait

Oil on Linen

50 x 100 cm

Emily Kirby will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair
19-22 September 2013

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Jess Davies - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair 10th Anniversary

Lichen
Jess Davies

Jess will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013

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Dionne Swift - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversay

Blue Edged Stitched

Stitched drawing and painting.

Dionne will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013.

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Lesley Jones - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary.

In High Places

Oil on Canvas

60 x 100cm

Lesley will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013.

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Artist of the Week - Jess Davies

Jess Davies is based in Devon and creates relief prints, monoprints, drypoints and etchings.

What was your journey to becoming an artist?
I started drawing in purple crayon on the fridge aged 2 apparently. Its all been downhill since then trying to get back to that immediacy, ho ho... I went to art college but was drawn by theatre too so studied Theatre Design that I wasn't much good at, though the college years were a blast. Lost my confidence as an artist and went into drama for years. At 47, I went travelling, which gave me the chance to have a good look at what I was doing with my time; I realised life was too short to keep feeling jealous of artists so I sold my flat, moved to a shared house in the country, and got a cheap studio. I'm living on savings and hope really. Very happy - until the money runs out.

Is being an artist your only job? 
I teach EFL a bit. And run workshops when I can get the gigs.

One favourite living artist?
Cornelia Parker. I love how she makes adventures out of the everyday, blowing up the ordinary (literally sometimes) to find the extraordinary in what we take for granted. A kind of contemporary 'wabi sabi' beauty.

One favourite historical artist?
Klimt. I love his seamless marriages of the abstract and figurative, colours, patterns, archetypal and mythical in people, nature.

If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?Ralph Hotere, a fantastic New Zealand artist who, a bit like Cornelia, finds ordinary stuff, breaks it up but keeps the spirit of it, reassembles it into something infinitely more expansive and moving. I'd like to make something huge out of decaying corrugated iron and stone.

Who is your style icon?
I'm a bit unnerved by that question. I'm just not stylish. I'm basically a jeans and jumper sort of person.

Last book / film that blew your mind?
'The Vivisector' by Patrick White. Its a portrayal of the creative life of a painter (dedicated to Sidney Nolan). I found it gutting, and marvellous. I hate that guy for what he put me through.

Last gig you went to?
Can't remember! Oh dear I must get out more.

How many hours do you waste on the internet each day?
None. I only go online for necessity, I find being on computers a fundamentally unaesthetic activity even though wonderful things come from it and I'm grateful for those who invent marvellous tools for the rest of us to use.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
New Zealand for half of each year if I could justify the carbon footprint. Just stunning wildness and I love the Kiwi humour. You can still disappear into a frontier life there. You don't have to dig around much before you find wonderfully odd folks doing wonderfully odd things.

Where and what is your studio?
Exeter, in a disused office building now a group studio called EVA - Exeter Visual Arts.

Do you have a good work/life balance?
Well, yes and no. I get interested in too many things. But meditation and Buddhist practice keep me sane, mostly.

What one word would describe your feeling of doing your work?
Tracking: As in being on the track of something, with faith, intuition, excitement or something undefinable. Following the signs...

What would your dream commission be?
To go and make work in response to Tapies' work with enough money to give me a year to do it.

If you could exhibit in any gallery in the world which would it be?
Fundacio Tapies in Barcelona, in the presence of the guru.

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Debbie Ayles - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

Mercury Theatre

Debbie Ayles

Debbie will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013.

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Diane Rogers - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary.

 'Sandy Rock Pool' 

Hand painted, embroidered quilted silk textile.

Diane Rogers

Diane Rogers will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013.

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Maff Robinson - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth Anniversary

Hamsey Church

Maff Robinson

Acrylic on Canvas, 

50cm x 50cm

Maff will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013.

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Ten Years, Ten Artists - Helaina Sharpley

HELAINA SHARPLEY AND THE BRIGHTON ART FAIR

Having graduated in 2006, I threw myself into the craft world and first exhibited at The British Craft Trade Fair in 2007.  It was here I was lucky enough to meet Alison Milner and Christiane Kersten, who informed me that the tall man with the big hat, who was speaking with some makers, was Jon Tutton, of Brighton Art Fair and MADE fame…   And so in 2008 and I applied for Brighton Art Fair, and was rejected!  I would, however, be allowed to exhibit at MADE as I was more craft than art.  The differentiation between art and craft is a much debated topic, and I believe I am and can be both, but on this occasion I wanted to do the art fair (due to my price points and the time of year of the fairs,) so I decided to wait and apply again the next year.  So it was with great surprise, that in August 2008 I received an email to say there had been a cancellation and I could have a stand at the art fair if I wanted it – I had six weeks to prepare; create work, market myself, find the money to pay for it…. I had never done an art fair before!!!  But my philosophy in work and life is generally to say yes to everything, so in mid-September I borrowed my Dad’s car and headed the 255miles south to Brighton. 

 

It was a wonderful leap into the art world, where I was surrounded by artists using all mediums, at different stages in their careers, looking to gain varying things from the weekend.  The whole fair passed me by in a flash, I couldn’t believe how busy it was and how many people wanted to say lovely things and buy my work!  By the Sunday lunchtime I had sold, what was in my eyes, enough (I had more than covered my costs,) I was physically and emotionally shattered.  Then out of the blue, a couple wanted to buy the largest piece on my stand ‘The Brighton Millinery and Mantle Warehouse.’  I couldn’t believe it!  I took it to the wrapping/pay desk, where Anne-Marie turned to Jon and said ‘See, I told you she was art…’ 

 

2013 will be the fourth year I have done the show, and having not been there since 2010, I can’t wait to return.  Brighton Art Fair opened my eyes to a new world – The Art World.  The amazing warmth and support that Jon, Anne-Marie and Sarah give, and the exhibiting opportunities they have created, makes it easy for me to recommend their fairs to other makers, artists and customers.  I look forward to almost every aspect (not the packing up though) of BAF, the beautiful Corn Exchange, the amazing attendants/helpers, the many well informed and appreciative visitors, the exhibitor friends I’ve made over the years, the cake in the café…

See Helaina talk about her work here..
http://madeuk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/movie-helaina-sharpley.html

 

 

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Tessa Pearson - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair Tenth Anniversary

Pink Agapanthus Garden

Monoprint with woodblock

60c45cm

Tessa will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013.

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Mark Harrison - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair Tenth Anniversary

Stockbridge 6

Oil on canvas 16" x 16"

Mark will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013.

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Sam Lock - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

 

Sam Lock - Apparition

Oils and Mixed Media on Canvas

90x90cm

Sam will be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013.

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Artist of the Week - Louise Bradley

Louise Bradley creates detailed, linear, sensuous and richly coloured screenprints, monoprints, papercuts and drawings of botanical forms and symbols. She will be showing her work at the Brighton Art Fair.

What was your journey to becoming an artist?
Always happy with a pencil in my hand, I guess I never stopped drawing once I had started. My mum is an artist and has always been very creative and original – that helps!

Is being an artist your only job?
I work as an artist in education as well as making art, which is extremely fulfilling. I’m lucky enough to work in galleries such as BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, as well as in the community with diverse groups.

One favourite living artist?
Olafur Eliasson for his sublime light and colour installations

One favourite historical artist?
Helen Chadwick – the strength and originality of her work; its visceral beauty and force

If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?
I would quite like to have drawn Lucian Freud though I wouldn’t make him sit as long as his sitters did for his paintings. Then he would have to draw me. Is that collaboration or just swapping?!

Who is your style icon?
I like seeing anyone dressed in an original (eccentric?) colourful way – anyone who follows their heart and wears what expresses their character rather than following fashion.

Last book / film that blew your mind?
“Coral: a Pessimist in Paradise” by Steve Jones - blew my mind (though in too depressing a way and I didn’t finish it)  Film? The acting in ‘The Master’ was pretty mind blowing and the photography and soundtrack in ‘Stoker’ were beautiful

Last gig you went to?
Adam Curtis vs Massive Attack at the Manchester International Festival

How many hours do you waste on the internet each day?
More than I would care to admit

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
Anywhere colourful near the sea with lots of plants would do, to draw and swim

Where and what is your studio?
For the past 15 years I’ve been part of the fantastic 36 Lime Street Ltd; a large artists and makers collective in an old Whiskey warehouse in the Ouseburn Valley in Newcastle upon Tyne – next to an urban farm and a large burn leading to the River Tyne. I can hear the tide coming in and out as well as pigs, cockerels and goats through the window. My studio itself is spacious with a ceiling high enough for a mezzanine floor, and I’m part of a group of excellent and friendly practitioners

Do you have a good work/life balance?
Yes – both feed off each other, and intermingle, and I love the freedom of choice that comes from being freelance/self-employed

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

What would your dream commission be?
A residency in some botanical gardens far away

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The Sculpture Park of Chianti

Set deep (really deep) in the countryside of beautiful Tuscany is The Sculpture Park of Chianti. Established in 2004 as a private enterprise, the park offers a trail of around 30 works of art in woodland to the south of Vagliagli. Reached by dirt track road only, it is well worth a visit.

 

Artists from around the world were invited to view the location, wander the woodland and then create a piece of sculpture specific to that site. The results are varied, interesting and beautiful. With a huge variety of media from glass to metal and wood to stone, each artwork is intended to blend in perfectly with nature and its woodland environment.

 

 

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Artist of the Week - Abigail McDougall

Abigail McDougall paints acrylic and watercolour landscapes and cityscapes. She will be showing her work at the Brighton Art Fair in September.

What was your journey to becoming an artist?
Art was always my favourite subject as a child and I sold a few pieces of my artwork when I was at school, this spurred me on to study art and to just keep on doing it. The real start of my career was when I moved to Bristol after graduating from Falmouth College of Art. Some friends started to get studio spaces at Jamaica Street Studios and they let me put a few pieces of my work up at their annual open studios. I sold a few pieces, so I made more work and started exhibiting in galleries all around Bristol.

Is being an artist your only job?
It is now my only job. It's taken a few years to build up to this.

One favourite living artist?
David Hockney is such an inspiration, he has always tried new technology and incorporated it into his work. His use of colour and mark making are really outstanding and his work ethic is incredible "Give me the Royal Academy and I'll fill it". He recently said.

One favourite historical artist?
My favourite artist from history is Paul Klee. His work taught me to compose pictures, use colour and to be expressive. Invaluable lessons.

If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?
I'd like to go back to the time when Paul Klee and August Macke were travelling together in Tunisia and be with them, discovering the new light of Africa.

Who is your style icon?
In terms of painting it would be Peter Doig currently. In terms of art, music, fashion all rolled into one that would be Grace Jones.

Last book / film that blew your mind?
David Lynch films are always mind blowing. It's not a film, but I recently finished watching the Twin Peaks series- amazing. I also recently watched his film Dune- mind blowing certainly- not necessarily in a good way...

Last gig you went to?
I went to see the Knife at the Camden Roundhouse. It was spectacular.

How many hours do you waste on the internet each day?
As little as possible- I'm quite traditional. It can be anything between 0 and 8 hours.

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
I'd like to spend some time living in Morocco. I have visited twice and I'm in love with the culture, landscapes, atmosphere and light. The range of mind blowing exotic landscapes is so incredible I just have a bit of a Morocco thirst that I need quenching. 

Where and what is your studio?
My studio is in Jamaica Street Studios, in the centre of Bristol. It's the largest independent artist studios outside of London. It is an old carriage works building with massive windows and incredible light. I have a big space I share with another artist. There are around 40 artists in the building so it's a really lively place. We put on quite a lot of high profile exhibitions as a collective.

Do you have a good work/life balance?
Not really right now, but I grew up in Italy, so when I do enjoy life I do know how to enjoy the good life.

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

What would your dream commission be?
It would be brilliant to be commissioned to cycle all around Britain and paint scenes from the cycle routes. But as that commission hasn't happened yet, I just have to do it myself slowly bit by bit.

If you could exhibit in any gallery in the world which would it be?
I really like the Pompidou Centre, it would be fantastic to exhibit there.

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Ten Years, Ten Artists - Flora McLachlan

FLORA MCLACHLAN AND THE BRIGHTON ART FAIR

The oldest set of Brighton Art Fair labels I can find on my computer is from 2004, so that must be when I first showed there, and I’ve hardly missed one since then!  Seeing those almost-forgotten older etchings brings home to me how BAF has really helped me find my voice as an artist. I began with a strange mixture of straight landscapes, still lives and dark castles, but seeing the work hung in the white space of the art fair, and also hearing what visitors to the art fair found distinctive about it, helped me see my way forward, and I slowly began to combine landscape and a fairy-tale atmosphere to make my pictures of lonely hills and magical wild creatures in dark woodlands.

I grew up in Lancing, so coming down from Oxford to show at Brighton always feels like coming home, and it has in the past been a real family event for me. That first year I showed with my father Jeremy McLachlan and his pottery, and then my mother Philippa Lithgow joined us with her oil paintings of the Downs.  Finally I moved to a space of my own across the aisle from theirs, and felt my work really took off when it was given the spotlight.  In 2008 we parked my six-week-old baby Laurie’s pram in the café and he obligingly slept for hours through the racket of hissing coffee machines and mad buzz of people deciding which painting to buy.  This year I’ll be back, but sadly I’ve now lost both my parents, so alone…apart from all my BAF friends of course.

Brighton Art Fair is always fun; it’s so wonderful to be able to meet and talk to all these other artists for a whole weekend.  It’s intense, exhausting and exhilarating.  I love the rush of hanging the year’s new work, watching how the pictures relate to each other on the wall and wondering what people will think of them.  I also love wandering through the aisles and seeing what everyone else I know has been doing, finding interesting new printmaking inspiration, and sometimes buying or exchanging work. I’ve made a lot of valuable contacts through the art fair, and many sales too, and I do think of it as my year’s milestone, a chance to see my work all together and decide which direction to go in next.  I couldn’t imagine my life as an artist without it.

 

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Artist of the Week - Mark Harrison

Mark Harrison is based in Brighton and produces atmospheric oil paintings of locations around the world. He will be showing his work at the Brighton Art Fair.

What was your journey to becoming an artist?

After studying Graphic Design and Illustration at Art College I was an illustrator for 25+ years specialising in painting book jackets for most major UK and USA publishers (480+ cover illustrations). Stopped in 2005 to paint personal work for sale in UK galleries.

Is being an artist your only job?

Yes!

One favourite living artist?

Too many to mention. I guess Jeremy Mann is the nearest. I love his painterly approach to landscape and figures.

One favourite historical artist?

Alfons Mucha probably my favourite. A master of drawing and painting. Closely followed by John Singer Sargent.

If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?

I've never considered it!

Who is your style icon?

?
Last book / film that blew your mind?
No time to read books! Film - Life Of Pi

Last gig you went to?

Sigur Ros at The Eden Project

How many hours do you waste on the internet each day?

Not too bad, half an hour?

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?

Bali or Italy. I know Bali very well and one can live there in some style at low cost. It is also very easy for a Westerner to live there, good infrastructure and near the emerging Asian economies. Italy, maybe more realistic, love the country, food, language.

Where and what is your studio?

A large room in my flat with good storage space and overhead natural light.

Do you have a good work/life balance?

Inseparable, which I think it has to be to be an artist.

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

I would go crazy if I wasn't painting

What would your dream commission be?

Wealthy client asks me to paint his beautiful home, preferably abroad, with new exciting connections resulting.

If you could exhibit in any gallery in the world which would it be?

Solo show in prestigious London gallery, Mayfair or St James's for instance. Messums?

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