British Printmakers create beautiful work with their designs for book covers.

Book publishers Faber & Faber recently published their new collection of poetry books based on some of Faber's best loved poets. The books each feature a book cover and end papers designed by a British Printmaker. The senior designer at Faber & Faber is, I am pleased to say, very fond of printmaking and she has really shown how such commissions can be so successful. This is a super commission for the printmakers and shows the superb work being made at the moment by printmakers here. The books are beautiful.

You can read about how the books were designed and see the full collection on the Faber blog at;

www.thethoughtfox.co.uk/?p=2419

The printmakers involved in the project are;

Charles Shearer, Sarah Young, Michael Kirkman, Ed Kluz, Jonathan Gibbs and Peter Clayton.

You can see original prints by several of these printmakers at the Emma Mason Gallery in Eastbourne and on their website; http://www.emmamason.co.uk/

Emma Mason will also be exhibiting work by British printmakers at the Palace Art Fair in October.

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Through the Keyhole - Roy Avis

Artist Roy Avis lives and works in Somerset. Previous incarnations include working for London and Bristol advertising agencies and as a successful freelance illustrator. Roy has also worked in his partner's sign and graphics company with pictorial pub signs and murals to his name. He has been a silk screen printer and is competent in most graphics media. Roy currently runs a holiday cottage next to his studio, 'people love the original artwork and bright colours' and uses it as an "add on "gallery.

Roy will be exhibiting his work with The Art Agency at the Palace Art Fair in London in October.

When did you move to house/studio?
About 20 years ago

What made you choose it, what interested you about it's style or location?
The same family had lived in it since the 1930s and it only been very superficially modernised. We were looking for somewhere that we could renovate to our taste. We even found newspapers from the 1930s under the lino and £70 in £5 white bank notes, and the Rayburn was a 1950s model. We lived in it while we were renovating so it evolved around us. Half the boundary is the rock face of an old quarry so the garden is quite unique. The views are stunning.



What's your favourite room - why?
I don’t have a favourite room they are all so different and all have such a different character dependent on my mood.

How would describe your decorating style?
Bold use of colour, natural fabrics and materials. We also are attracted to slightly quirky things that we find on our travels.



What are those objects in the photo - by what artist, what maker?
The paintings are by myself , my partner and by friends. A lot of the furniture has been “found “ We frequently have current paintings on the walls so we can live with them before sending to galleries.



What about it does inspire you?
I find the whole house inspiring somewhere to relax gather my thoughts.

What is interesting about your house and why?
It is several hundred years old and is near a flooded quarry and the site of along disused railway line- very peaceful. The garden has featured in a garden design book.



What is interesting about your house contents and why?
Objects often carry a story that will relate to you and your work. Generally things that we have collected over the years because we like the look of them also a few family pieces



Why do you like your area of the world - how does it relate to your work if at all? Although I mainly paint cities I was happy to leave London as the pace of life here makes it easier to concentrate on my work.

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For the Love of Sarah; An Equivalent Mass

Next weekend 24th-25th July there is a preview of a new ceramic installation work by the artist and sculptor Brian Mander - who we've previously featured for his work Of The Genus Cruciferae at the Handmade House in Ditchling.

This new work is called For the Love of Sarah; An Equivalent Mass.

Here is what Brian says

"Sarah George Mander, 1956-2006.

My wife, Sarah, died on the fifteenth December 2006 of a metastastic breast carcinoma.The cancer had been diagnosed some twelve years earlier and Sarah had chosen to have a mastectomy. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy had followed with repeated courses of debilitating treatments until it was obviously futile for Sarah to continue.

Always a realist, candid and pragmatic, Sarah had discussed on many occasions before her death, with me and many of her friends, how I could creatively use her cremated remains. The process of making something of her, has been necessarily cathartic, a way of coping, a way of keeping Sarah vital within me.

Sarah had majored in ceramics at Brighton College of Art so this made the medium of ceramics an obvious choice for me to research. Practically, this would allow Sarah's bone ash, which varied from a fine powder to quite coarse and granular fragments to be mixed and therefore fixed into another more stable and resilient material.

Bone China seemed the most appropriate medium to use, where traditionally the technique of mixing finely ground calcinated animal bone ash with a fine white china clay slip creates a seemingly weightless fragility and translucence.

For me, the form also chose itself as I still had one of Sarah's prosthetic breasts; a poignant and profound physical reminder of Sarah.

I used this to make a mould from which to cast a series of shallow, asymmetric vessels each containing a small quantity of Sarah's ashes mixed into a china clay slip and fired.

I had intended making fifty vessels, possibly as keepsakes for our immediate family and Sarah's closest friend because Sarah had died soon after her fiftieth birthday. There was however, far too much of Sarah's ashes. As it would not have been in my nature to have simply added a random small quantity into the clay slip prior to casting until it was all used, I thought to find another significant number.

A friend had prompted the question about the worth of the vessels; as I was going to make so many, would I sell them to finance the project?

This caused me not only to reflect on the intrinsic value of rare and precious things and of Art; all those things we covet most, but also on the impossibility of putting a price on a life.

For instance, the value we assign to a diamond is defined as a carat. A carat is a unit of mass equal to 0.2g. Irrespective of its questionable aesthetics or its contrived worth, Damien Hirst's sculpture 'For the Love of God' is made of a platinum skull which is encrusted with 8601 diamonds with a value of 1106,18 carats.

It could be said, all that remains of Sarah is worthless dust but to me it is a unique and priceless commodity. Would an equal weight of diamonds be comparable? Sarah's Ashes weighed 449g. Maybe, if such a thing existed, a single flawless paragon diamond with an equivalent mass and a value of 2245 carats?

I have made the first 50 of 2245 vessels; each vessel will contain 0.2g of Sarah's bone ash fired within it; incalculable.

"The value of Life is made startlingly apparent through death. Sarah loved and was loved; was full of life, a significant presence, a daughter, a sister, my wife, a mother and a friend. I hope that what I have made will transcend the idea of a simple memento mori and be a cause to reflect how fragile Life is and how we must cherish each precious moment of it".

There will be a preview of the sculpture;

"For the Love of Sarah; An Equivalent Mass" at Chesworth Arts Agri Farm Project Space, Horsham, West Sussex on 23rd, 24th 25th July 2010.

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Brighton Now Photography Competition

'Brighton Now'

Brighton Media Centre and Brighton Jessops would like to invite entries for the amateur photography competition - 'Brighton Now'.

What Photos to Enter: Select your most compelling or unique or iconic images that show a contemporary Brighton, or which have been inspired by Brighton.
Deadline: 5pm August 19th, 2010

Please visit the Media Centre website for further details on prizes and entry requirements:

http://www.mediacentre.org/

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Artist of the Week - Caroline McCready

Caroline McCready is a painter and sculptor producing abstract works. She will be exhibiting her oil paintings at the Palace Art Fair in October.


Where did you train? What did training teach you and what do you wish it had taught you?
I read History of Art at the University of Warwick, graduating in 2001 and went on to study life drawing and cast drawing for a year at the Julian Ashton Art School in Sydney in 2004. Most recently, in 2008, I completed a Figurative Sculpture diploma at Heatherley School of Fine Art. My History of Art degree offered me a great deal of knowledge about art and opened my mind to many different ways of thinking about art. The year I spent purely drawing in Sydney taught me to really look and see what is in front of me and translate it onto paper. Studying figurative sculpture at Heatherley gave me the technical skills and knowledge needed to sculpt in clay, cast and carve in wood and stone. I don’t feel as though I wish I had learnt anything differently, because I chose an education, full of traditional and technical knowledge, that I feel gives me the tools to express myself freely.

When and where did you first want to do what you do?
I don’t remember a time before loving making art. I recently found an old photograph of myself crawling, before I could walk, clutching a colourfully scribbled piece of paper. I think it’s always been part of me.



One favourite living artist?
Yayoi Kusama. Her work is so fun, surreal, magical and psychedelically colourful that to experience her work is to enter a world of genuine escapism. I saw her work at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and left feeling uplifted and nourished, which was a welcome change as I feel somewhat empty after viewing so much work that relies on shock value or gimmick. In contrast Kusama’s work seems to overflow with light-hearted sincerity.

One favourite historical artist?
Michaelangelo. I find his work utterly awe-inspiring. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more beautiful than his unfinished marble figures in The Academia in Florence. They are male nudes, carved in marble, which he had to abandon due to faults in the stone. They are so skillful, that you can imagine that they were already fully formed in the stone and that he merely tapped the marble and it fell away revealing this perfect form.



Where do you get most of your inspiration from?
What inspires me the most is the intangible nature of motion and the passage of time. I am fascinated by the idea of creating a perception of movement, and a sense of something in motion, like a billow of smoke or leaves swept up by a gust of wind, in a static form. When I was at Heatherley I was captivated by the curled wood shavings produced by the process of wood carving. I collected everyone’s wood shavings and created large, sweeping, intertwining structures, with a sense of chaos, sweeping movement and continual motion. I liked the fact that the structures were so ephemeral that it looked as though a gust of wind had picked up the wood shavings and any minute may disappear leaving a pile of wood shavings on the floor. My oil paintings are a progression from these wood shaving sculptures, depicting the architecture of the forms, and trying again to capture a sense of motion in a static form. I experiment with how colour relates to and changes the perception of the forms, taking inspiration from all sorts of things that I come across, particularly colours in natural landscapes and elements of nature, such as wood, bark, plants, flowers, ice and sunlit water.


What is the most interesting / fun job you have had.
One of the most interesting jobs I’ve had was waitressing in a cocktail bar in Mayfair. It was eye-opening watching customers consuming literally thousands of pounds worth of champagne and being miserable whilst doing so. It was a true reinforcement that money often doesn’t equal happiness.

Do you work mostly on your own? Have you had any interesting work related collaborations?
I work on my own, which I enjoy, but I would be interested in working in collaboration in the future.

At age 18 who most influenced your style?
Jenny Saville. Her work is so honest and beautiful and I think that the way in which she uses oil paint to depict flesh is truly brilliant.


How much do you bend your 'vision' to suit the marketplace - if at all?
I love what I am making at the moment and I don’t think that it is tailored specifically for the marketplace. Part of my motivation for painting is creating things that people enjoy. I want to make things that are absorbing and that people can get lost in, offering escapism.

Who would you say buys your work?
I would describe myself as an emerging artist, but so far it has been very ordinary people who take pleasure in what I make.

Where and what is your studio?
My studio is in a loft in Oxford. It’s very quiet and it’s easy to get lost in what I do.

Do you have a good work/life balance?
Although I think I have a good balance at the moment, it’s too easy sometimes to become completely absorbed in what I do and forget about everything else.



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

If you could be doing anything else what would it be?
I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing at the moment.


If you could exhibit in any gallery in the world which would it be?
In my wildest dreams probably the Tate Modern in London.

Please list any exhibitions you have had in the past 12 months.
Solo Exhibition, White Revolver, Sydney, Australia

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Maker of the Week - Sarah Warsop

Sarah Warsop is a jewellery designer producing pieces inspired by and designed from choreographed movement. Sarah will be exhibiting her work at MADE10 in November.

One favourite living craft maker.

Clare Twomey. Her work combines ceramics, large scale installation and audience intervention. It successfully manages to be thought provoking, beautiful and engaging.

What one product/item do you really covet?
Very hard to choose, but I’m going to go for a piece of Alexander Calder jewellery. His jewellery is so spontaneous and seems to capture the moment in which it was made. I've read that he carried his pliers and a roll of wire everywhere he went.

At age 18 who influenced your style? Was there any individual who very much helped you on your way?
At 18 I started dance training full time, and for 23 years I've worked as a dancer and choreographer. So, at that age I was inspired by people like Pina Bausch and Merce Cunningham. They still inspire me.
I would say the helpful individuals came later: Gill Clarke, a dance teacher, who has extraordinary knowledge and patience. Choreographer Siobhan Davies who I've worked with for the past 13 years – she's an invaluable mentor. And Simon Fraser, of course. He was course leader on my MA Design at Central St Martins. He had the foresight to see that the leap from dance to jewellery was truly possible – that it could work.

What’s currently on your i-pod, cd player, tape recorder?

Will Oldham, Phosphorescent, The Be Good Tanyas, and my friend Marianne Segal. She used to sing with Jade and has a voice like an angel.

Where and what is your studio?
My studio goes back and forth between a jewellery workbench at home on the south coast, and a dance studio in London.

What is your favourite (art) website (and why)?
Coolhunting.com at the moment. It’s a great place to browse and think.

Surprising activity/hobby?
I’m a trained Yoga teacher and do 1 to 1 sessions.



Do you have a good work/life balance? Are you able to switch off from art work?
I’m lucky enough to love what I do and that’s where the balance comes in, I think. Wine, and a good movie usually help me switch off!


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

Do you think art and craft has any real importance?
Jeanette Winterson wrote a great article [‘The Making Game’ from the exhibition programme notes at Jerwood Space London, 16 June – 25 July 2010], and she said:
“I find that by having a few things around me that have been made by someone’s hand and eye and imagination working together, I am prevented from passing through my life in a kind of blur. I have to notice what is in front of me – the table, the vase, the hand-blocked curtains, the thumb prints in the sculpture, the lettering block. I have some lamps made by Marianna Kennedy, and what I switch on is not a bulb on a stem; it is her sense of light.”
This touches on how important I think making is.


What do think are crimes against good taste & decency in art/craft/design?
Sometimes I think there is an inability to see beyond the boundaries of your own medium – to see that good work is good regardless of whether it is time based, craft or visual art. Each space has its own value, but also has its own agendas and snobberies, which can be limiting.

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Blackbird - Margate

Artist Maxine Sutton has opened her new venture in the faded but up and coming seaside town of Margate. With it's elegant town, clean beaches, festivals, and exciting arts and tourist developments - (The Turner Contemporary is set to open it's doors in the spring and following a grant to preserve the 'scenic railway' (listed rollercoaster) Dreamland is set to reopen as a themepark of historic rollercoasters and other rides.) - Margate is set for a renaissance over the next few years.


Blackbird is situated in the old town and combines a shop with workshop studios where Maxine will host contemporary craft workshops.


Maxine has put together a great selection of artists, makers and products which complement each other. Including Maxine's pictures, kits and products, Sarah Young's prints, Ken Eardley's pots and Alison Milner's and Christiane Kersten's ceramics with photographic designs.



The studio/workshop space looks great - with screenprinting equipment, sewing machines and other equipment and materials for about 5 people to take courses.


We wish Maxine well with this fantastic new venture - Blackbird may well become Margate's creative hub before the Turner opens next year.


Blackbird is in Margate Old Town - 2 Market Place, Margate CT9 1ER

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