James Price - Designer Blacksmith

New film about Blacksmith James Price - featuring iron, fire, candlesticks, coffee and collie dog.



James Price is exhibiting at MADELONDON - One Marylebone 25-27 October on the Mezzanine floor.

Discounted - Advanced tickets are available online here

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MADE LONDON Maker Profile: Beth Moran

My name is Beth Moran. I live on a small island off the west coast of Ireland called Clare Island. Clare Island is a rugged but beautiful island four miles out in the Atlantic Ocean. Having a population of only 150 means you know everyone and get an extended sense of family. It also means there is no place to hide and everyone is going to know everything.  I started weaving on the island 20 years ago. Working in a small workshop on the north side of the island, I endeavour to create unique hand-woven pieces. Each piece I create is a one-off piece and is entirely distinctive. I work with materials varying from the finest silk to the wool from our own sheep.  

 

 

The island definitely has proven to be a source of great inspiration for my work; the natural beauty and ever changing colours encourage artistic expression and is represented in my work through an infinitely changing palette of pattern and colour as well as texture.  It is also a place that awards one the peace and quiet necessary to weave and create unique pieces. However, island life is not without its difficulties. Unpredictable weather can lead to the boats being unable to run. This means that you can be stranded on the island until the weather improves. When planning to travel to a show the forecast is closely followed and if it looks bad an extra day or two would be added to the journey coming out early to avoid missing the event altogether.  Despite the inconvenience Clare Island is still a magnificent place to live. A place of space and safety.

I have a small shop attached to my workshop where visitors can come and see work in progress and run courses from April to September for all levels of students. Why not engage in an adventure and come out for a visit!

Beth Moran will be showing her work at MADE LONDON in October.

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Lara Cobden - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

Shelter - 50cm x 40cm Oil on Wooden

Lara Cobden - ceramic wall panels

Lara Cobden be exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair 19-22 September 2013

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Artist of the Week - Frances Bloomfield

Frances Bloomfield creates mixed media box art/collages exploring enigmatic spaces and dialogues between reality and the imaginary. She is currently showing her work at the Brighton Art Fair.

What was your journey to becoming an artist?Very complicated and with several fits and starts.

Is being an artist your only job? 
Being an artist is now my main job after several years of combining it with University teaching which I finished last year...no regrets!

One favourite living artist?
Anselm Kiefer - he is outstanding, uncategorical and continually the scale and ambition of his work makes my jaw drop.

One favourite historical artist?
This is harder.. Too many.. probably Giacometti – the drawings and paintings – they are so exquisitely sad.

If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?I would like to design and build a huge theme park with Jan Svankmajer. You would never be able to leave!

Who is your style icon?Don’t think I have one …

Last book / film that blew your mind?So Much for That by Lionel Shriver – brilliant and very raw.

Last gig you went to?
Regina Spektor at the De la Warr

How many hours do you waste on the internet each day?
Too many.. although Ebay is a wonderful place to get lost..

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
I love Brighton and I feel incredibly lucky to live here but Barcelona would be great and I fantasise sometimes about living on a beautiful beach in Sumatra called Bungus Beach.

Where and what is your studio?
My studio is at the top of our house – the attic was converted two years ago– it is wonderful – quiet, airy and very light.

Do you have a good work/life balance?
I don’t really see them as separate now.

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

What would your dream commission be?
See above!

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

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Celia Wilkinson - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

Celia Wilkinson - Figure in the landscape  Acrylic on canvas  60x60cm

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

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Leila Godden - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

Enlightenment - 70cm square, acrylic on board

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

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Tracy Florance - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

Tracy Florance - ceramic wall panels

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

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Artist of the Week - Tessa Pearson

Tessa Pearson creates monoprints and mixed media paintings in bold colour inspired by glorious gardens. She will be showing her work at The Brighton Art Fair tomorrow!!

What was your journey to becoming an artist?
I grew up in the sort of house where the walls were painted bright pink and we had Heals curtains , so it was inevitable that I ended up at art school, graduating in textile design at West Surrey College of Art and Design (now UCCA) and the Royal College of Art. My first job when I left the RCA was designing prints for the fashion designer Anthony Price, and I dabbled with the commercial fashion world including a wonderful commission to design a whole range of abstract prints for Liberty’s, before setting up on my own, hand painting fabric and selling from the newly opened Apple Market at Covent Garden, then opening my own shop and studio in Fulham. So from here I made paintings on silk which sold successfully all over the world  (it was the 80’s when the dollar was down to $1.15!!) The recession and children put an end to all that for a few years but I never stopped painting and the chance opportunity to use a press set me off on my current printmaking journey about ten years ago. An old fashion friend commented recently that my current work looks very much like my painted silks, so the ideas have come full circle, but now on paper.

Is being an artist your only job?
I have always enjoyed teaching, and have taught at every level from fashion students at St. Martins to kids clubs. I currently teach painting a couple of days a week, and occasionally tutor printmaking workshops at Ochre Print Studios. I am very pleased with myself for being able to say that I actually make a living (just!!) from my work, which is something not many artists can do.

One favourite living artist?
Has to be Howard Hodgkin, for his colour. I saw a show of his at the Tate and I was literally breathless.  I still dream about owning one of his etchings, but had better hurry up as they are rapidly getting out of my reach.

One favourite historical artist?
I love all the great colourists, Matisse and Degas, and the mid twentieth century painters especially Patrick Heron and Ivon Hitchens. I have a very special place I return to frequently to paint which is close to Hitchen's cottage on the South Coast, and I like to think of his presence inspiring me.

If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?I would paint in his garden alongside Patrick Heron.

Who is your style icon?
Marimekko
Last gig you went to?
Muse. Amazing.

How many hours do you waste on the internet each day?
Too many. It’s research isn’t it??

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
Where I live now, but with Californian weather ….

Where and what is your studio?
We have just moved to a small house with a bit of land big enough for two huge studios (his and hers!!) on the edge of the Surrey Hills. I am currently working in a very small bedroom while we wait for planning to be agreed, which is very challenging. I am fantasising about the space and the huge paintings I am going to make when we finally get the studios built!!

Do you have a good work/life balance?
Not too bad, now my kids are grown and almost gone… but I am very much an all on, all off worker, and need deadlines to keep me moving.

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

What would your dream commission be?
Huge white walls and blue skies somewhere like New Mexico, with an unlimited budget of course.

If you could exhibit in any gallery in the world which would it be?
See above… MOMA would be nice!

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Clare Crouchman - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

Clare Crouchman ceramic wall panels

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

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Brighton Art Fair - The Blocks

As part of our celebration of the tenth Brighton Art Fair. We asked artists to participate in a joint art installation.

Each participating artist was given four 5cm wooden cubes and asked to decorate them.

The results will be displayed together in the lobby of the Brighton Art Fair.

Each set will be available for sale at £30 to support the work of Arthouse Meath www.arthousemeath.com
 

 

 We think the results are great - all original and different ideas.

Some painted, some carved, some printed, some collaged and others with additions

I've set up a pinterest board featuring all of the blocks photographed so far but they'll be more at the show. http://www.pinterest.com/madelondon/brighton-art-fair-wooden-blocks/

They'll be for sale on a first come first served basis - if you want to be sure of securing a particular set you need to be at the private view (tickets available here)

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Hettie Pittman - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

Harbour Walk - Hettie Pittman

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

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Ten Years, Ten Artists - Sarah Young

 

SARAH YOUNG AND THE BRIGHTON ART FAIR

 

Being both an exhibitor and an organiser at Brighton Art Fair can make for an ambivalent relationship. Its a little like holding a party, trying to make sure of thorough preparations, hoping that everyone has an enjoyable time, and then finding it difficult to remember to enjoy the party yourself. You can feel far too responsible for everything - when really all you can do is your best beforehand. People sell work at different times throughout the weekend - some people do brilliantly on the private view but might not make any other sales, others don't sell any work at all or the sales come in after the show's finished. We hope that everyone does equally well but that is of course impossible.

We are veteran exhibitors at various art and craft fairs and often there is at best a coldly professional atmosphere between exhibitors and organisers or in some cases mutual distrust and deep hostility. This was one of my main objections to starting the fair, but what is lovely is that on the whole exhibitors, whether they find Brighton Art Fair financially successful or not, value the show for it's ethos and feel. Many or even most exhibitors seem actively to enjoy the show, a state of affairs we previously considered perverse or even impossible! Brighton Art Fair right from year one has had a great atmosphere, the visitors are actually interested in the art and want to meet the artists, and the artists are happy to meet their public as well as engage with the other exhibiting artists. Many artists and visitors do come back to the show over many years, and to some extent feel a sense of community with Brighton Art Fair if only for a few days.

Exhibiting at Brighton Art Fair is again a double edged sword for me because its difficult to create new work whilst designing the graphics for and helping to organise three, sometimes four fairs. But it is an opportunity for me to try new things out and get feedback about what works or not, new prints, new methods are all tried at BAF. I first showed my paintings at the show and fellow exhibitors' response to my efforts really helped me to feel a little more confident about them. I try to use the shows to produce something a little new each year. BAF provides an opportunity and a deadline to create, and an audience for the work created.

 

We've never really seen ourselves as 'event organisers' and perhaps we're not as 'professional' as some, but I think that being first and foremost artists and makers we have helped (along of course with the artists and our art fair team) to create an art fair with soul that is valued by both exhibitors and visitors alike.

You have a tiny window once a year that allows you to notice the development of fellow artists work over the years. Its lovely seeing the gradual changes, blossomings and growth in confidence.

Also coming upon a really wonderful application that makes your heart lift!.

But the most positive and important thing for me, that has come from these fairs has been the real friendships we've made. Firstly with Phil and Tessa who we really didn't know well when we all rather rashly decided on this course of action. Eight years later Phil was Jon's best man at our wedding!

 

Then my inestimably valued and special friendship with Anne-Marie (she has to put up with a lot!) came about purely from the show. Also the opportunity to get to know Chris (our nephew and organiser of our lovely helpers during the actual shows) far more than we would have otherwise.

And of course being in my beloved Brighton and going to the pub for much needed beers after a long day at the show! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Brighton Art Fair - Starts this weekend.

Brighton Art Fair opens to the public again this weekend (19th - 22nd September)

It's been ten years since the first show and Brighton Art Fair has become established as a must-see event in the art calendar of the south.

We think that this year could be the best ever show, we've got a fantastic selection of artists exhibiting, many old favourites bringing new work to the show but also lots of new exciting exhibitors. (see all our exhibiting artists here)

 As it's the tenth year there will be a few surprises and a few changes and we hope you'll join us for our celebrations.

If you Purchase Tickets in advance you save money!

Private View

The Private View takes place on Thursday, 19th September from 6.00 - 8.30pm. There are a few tickets available to the general public at £12 per person here. This is a chance to get a first pick of all the artwork on sale before the fair opens to the public.

Opening Times

Thursday 19th September 6.00pm - 8.30pm (ticket only)
Friday, 20th September  11.00am - 7.30pm
Saturday, 21st September  10.00am - 6.00pm
Sunday, 22nd September  10.00am - 5.00pm

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Artist of the Week - Sally Taylor

Sally Taylor is a mixed media artist. She will be showing her work at the Brighton Art Fair this week with Duckett & Jeffreys.

What was your journey to becoming an artist?
I’ve always drawn pretty obsessively. My late mother always encouraged my sister and I to make things. It was that affirmation of the value of making that began the journey. Formally though, I did my degree and Masters at Lancaster University where as well as expanding my knowledge of materials and the formal elements in art I developed an ethos that was a great spring-board into being an artist and working in isolation in a studio.

Is being an artist your only job? 
I am also a lecturer in Fine Art – I teach at various places including on the degree programme at York St. John University. My studio practice and preparing for exhibitions take up the vast majority of my working life but I also provide workshops for galleries and schools / colleges.

One favourite living artist?  I was thrilled to bits to be selected for the third time for the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2011 and Rachel Whiteread was one of the selectors. I’ve always really admired her practice and am currently enjoying looking at her drawings in my studio on a daily basis.

One favourite historical artist?
Louise Bourgeois. I think she’s the one I always return to when I am struggling to find direction. There are so many things I admired about her character - the tenacity and drive she had plus the emotional strength of her drawing practice. I would have loved to meet her although I would have been equally terrified!

 If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?
I think it would be to gather a team of contemporary artists with drawing at the heart of their practice and to curate a really powerful exhibition of the varied and extensive range of drawing practice across the world.

Who is your style icon?
My friends with their brightly coloured cardigans!

Last book / film that blew your mind?Currently, I am reading ‘March Women March’ by Lucinda Hawksley. It is awe-inspiring.

How many hours do you waste on the internet each day?I actually avoid the internet as much as possible. I don’t see the time I spend on it as a waste but I think it can become a distraction from making work, as can be sweeping the floor of the studio and tidying it up – a constant way to procrastinate!

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?The places in the UK that are dear to me are where I currently live – on the edge of the North York Moors; Portsmouth – where I lived for 10 years before re-locating to Yorkshire, St.Ives, Cornwall – Porthmeor Beach for all its wonder and enchantment; and Great Langdale in the Lake District where my partner and I walked straight after getting married. I would love to live in New York, I was totally blown away by the sense of possibility there when I visited in 2006 – it felt like the centre of the universe!

 Where and what is your studio?
Just outside Stonegrave, North Yorkshire. Herbert Read lived in Stonegrave and I love that connection. Moving to North Yorkshire has been such a wonderful experience. I am surrounded by wonderfully supportive curators, artists, writers and educators including Ian & Stef Mitchell of Duckett and Jeffreys who have been such amazing ambassadors for my work.

Do you have a good work/life balance?
I try to. My family are central to all I do. I have a young son, Joel – two and a half, who always comes first and loves a visit to my studio. Our new life in the North revolves around the landscape too – we all love bird-watching.

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

What would your dream commission be?
Time to make the work I want to make as opposed to working to any external brief. Aside from that – it would be to make work for a significant drawing show at the Tate or the Drawing Center New York. I was thrilled when the Head of Exhibitions at Tate Liverpool conducted an interview with me for my recent publication and I was accepted to be part of the ‘Viewing Programme’ at the Drawing Center New York around the same time.

If you could exhibit in any gallery in the world which would it be?
Aside from one of the Tate galleries in the UK or Museum of Modern Art New York, it would be either the Kroller Muller Museum in the Netherlands or the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. I had a small solo show at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art in 2010-11 which was a real privilege – I love that place. I feel such a connection to the exhibition programme and the building feels so sacred.

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Lauri Hopkins - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

Totem, 2013, 35 x 13cm, book covers on ply

Lauri Hopkins - Totem, 2013, 35 x 13cm, book covers on ply

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

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Robert Jenkins - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

Robert Jenkins - Venice

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

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Laine Tomkinson - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

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

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Dan Ablitt - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

Summer swim

 

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

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Artist of the Week - Debbie Ayles

Debbie Ayles creates paintings developed from drawings and studies of buildings hidden by scaffolding.

What was your journey to becoming an artist?Long and late and slow!

Is being an artist your only job?
I am aiming for this to be so, hopefully next year.

One favourite living artist?  Albert Irvine RA because his work is so opposite from mine: bright, colourful, free and splashy. However it is all underpinned by an understanding of colour placement and organisation, drawing skill and pattern. I try to apply many of these elements in my own work but it turns out quite differently! I had the pleasure of meeting him when my painting Essex Support Structure I, was hung next to his at the London Group exhibition a couple of years ago (picture below). It was a dream come true.

One favourite historical artist?
Hard to choose between Paul Klee and Alighiero Boetti for their mosaic style and colour experiments.

If you could collaborate with anyone living or dead, who would it be and what would you do?Probably Albert Irvine - to work on a large painting together. It would be fascinating to create a painting with a combination of my rather tight style and his very loose one with his and my colour and shape choices. I think I would learn so much from his invaluable experience.

Who is your style icon?
Anyone who knows me knows I have no idea about style!

Last gig you went to?
SONISPHERE - ooh my what a gig!

Last book / film that blew your mind?
The Best of Frasier. It's a collection of scripts from my favourite TV series. First time I read it I roared with laughter. Everyone should have something to just pick up that makes you laugh so easily and every time.

How many hours do you waste on the internet each day?
I don't think I waste any. I spend an hour or so depending on what's happening and a weekly Skype to my family in Hong Kong which I look forward to. Just love hearing how hot it is there and what they are up to!

If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
The lovely Mersea Island. An undiscovered gem in Essex.

Where and what is your studio?
I have dreams of a spacious and warm studio in the garden, but currently share a room in the house with Mike Middleton who is also at BAF13.

Do you have a good work/life balance?
Getting there!

What one word would describe your feeling of doing your work?Ranging between excited and frustration!

What would your dream commission be?
A public art mural.

If you could exhibit in any gallery in the world which would it be?The Pompidou Centre in Paris: first place I saw Boetti's work and was almost physically bowled over by seeing someone who worked and thought like I did.

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Louise Greenfield - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

'Autumn'
37cm x 27 cm
Pheasant, partridge and duck feathers

 

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

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Ruth Green - Image of the Day - Brighton Art Fair tenth anniversary

Ruth Green. 'Buttercups' is a screen-print from an edition of 32. The image size is 16x11.5cm and is available for £30 unframed. Inspired by my morning walk with a very lazy dog who spends longer rolling in the grass than actually walking!

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

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Ten Years, Ten Artists - April Young

APRIL YOUNG AND THE BRIGHTON ART FAIR

Working in isolation in the green and rolling Derbyshire Dales couldn’t be a greater contrast to the bustling, culturally rich backdrop of Brighton. When I was a kid, my mum used to send me down to my trendy aunt, who lived in a studio flat in Montpelier Street, and was dating one of the guys off Spitting Image. Apart from being a bit put off by being made to eat veggie food, I can remember those halcyon days of feeling a bit VIP, and waking up with the sea air in my nostrils and butterflies in my stomach.

Thirty years later, and coming to Brighton Art Fair doesn’t feel to me so different from those days back in the seventies, when the West Pier had just shut, and my life had just opened. Packing the people carrier for the journey down, not with kids and inflatables, but with my more ambitious creations, feels like a ritual, though I’ve only done the Fair for four of the ten years.

Through that time, I’ve become increasingly self aware as an artist thanks to the dialogue with both other artists, and the visiting public. There’s been many a golden observation made in the occasional lull of a Friday afternoon, not to mention many a white face showing up on a Saturday morning from too much fun the night before with friends old and new.

Brighton has been so good that, in preparation, I now get last minute nerves. I wonder if I will get stage fright talking to the colourful array of guests. Or that my work won’t be able to live up to the previous year, or will be so new for me, that I won’t have figured out how to display it. Having these anxieties makes me push myself creatively. For example, this year, in my work, which has increasingly become about urban decay and conversant childhood aspiration, I am responding directly to the arson attacks on the West Pier, which was also coincidently ten years ago. This ability to respond to place, to formulate new ideas, and forge and consolidate a creative identity has been greatly contributed to by experiencing success at Brighton. I always leave the show happily exhausted, but buzzing with new energy and ideas, and (touch wood) the funds to explore some of them.

If I had known I would be doing such a great event right next to the Pavilion that I was so impressed with as a kid, I’m sure I would have loved Brighton all the more back in those days. The West Pier may be grandly sliding into the Channel, but one thing's for sure: Brighton Art Fair will continue to be on fire for many years to come.

Because the show is predominantly artist led, and most of the exhibitors are aspiring or established practitioners, the unbiased but informed input you get from that interaction is also extremely valuable.

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