Cotton Bag competition

We had a few late entries - including this splendid effort by Ann Stewart who tried to convince us that storing potatoes was sufficiently 'exotic' to win the prize. Nice try though and glad the bags are being put to good ecological use.


But in the end we decided to award the £200 art token (which has to be spent at BAF or MADE09) to Joanna Sancha who took her bag 10300 miles to get a picture on Fraser Island, Northern Queensland Australia. Congratulations - hope to see you at the private view spending your winnings!

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Prescription Gallery - Church Road, Brighton

I really must get to Brighton much more often. Directly opposite the Corn Exchange a new gallery has opened up in the old music library building. It's a temporary gallery open until January when the building will be redeveloped into (yet another)
restaurant.


The gallery founded by James Wolley specialises in street art from around the world - exhibiting graffiti and street art from as far afield as Brazil and Australia as well as local Brighton artists.


The gallery reminded me of squat gallery/art centres in Prague or Dresden in the years following the fall of the Berlin wall before the likes of Beneton spruced the place up.



Some of this is due to the atmospheric use of an old building, but also the gallery is making full use of the space with large wooden constructions reaching through the space, graffiti installations as well as saleable paintings, small scale constructions and prints.


Worth a look if you are visiting baf this weekend
Www.prescriptionart.com
-- Post From My Phone

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Stands going up

Stands are virtually up but the second lorry is stuck on the m4 broken down waiting for a new lorry to continue down to brighton!

It could be a late night job but all will be ready for the artists to set up tommorrow.

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Some nice press

Latest 7 all over town with Brighton Art Fair as the cover and a double page inside. Angela Lizon's monster cats are getting a lot of attention.

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Setting up - real time

The boards are in the building, just taken delivery of the catalogues and the contractors are hammering away.

-- Post From My Phone

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Brighton Art Fair Banners

It's always exciting seeing the banners and posters go up for the Brighton Art Fair. A little scary that the Art Fair is next week and that all the arrangements are down to me and the team and if we forget to do something it won't be done. Exciting, seeing it all go (seemingly) smoothly and seeing Sarah's unique artwork on lamposts and billboards throughout the town.


The artists are finishing off their latest work and starting framing so all we need is lots of visitors to view and buy the work. Hope to see you there - I know it will be a great show. Private View is on Thursday with the show open to the public on Friday Saturday and Sunday.

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Artist of the Week - Rosie Musgrave

One favourite living artist? Why?
I’m going to choose the stone-carver Stephen Cox. I admire his work a lot. Much of his sculpture has a strong resonance from his sojourns in Italy and India. I find his pieces totemic: deceptively simple forms with powerful presence.

One favourite historical artist? Why?
There are many. But I would like to acknowledge here those un-named artist-craftsmen who long ago skilfully decorated the massive stone pillars of the Romanesque crypt of Canterbury Cathedral with finely carved figurative capitals.

When and where did you first want to do what you do?
I was twentyish, in London, working in the 24hour crisis centre at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, on Trafalgar Square. I can’t remember how, but I heard of an evening class in sculpture. I used to go after work and I modelled in clay an imaginary head which I later cast. It was a beginning.



What place in the world has inspired you?
I think it has to be Italy. It’s just full of carvings in stone, round every corner, not just the well-known names. It’s very exciting for someone like me. I remember when I first saw those white marble mountains above Pietrasanta and Carrara and heard the sound of hammers and chisels echoing from the many workshops along the streets.

Do you work best on your own or in collaboration?
My partner is a poet and sometimes I do wonder how many of his words are carved into my stone. So far we have officially collaborated twice: we have shared an exhibition together and also written a book about the making and touring of a piece of my sculpture. I am also a founder member of Southwest sculptors, a group of working sculptors who, apart from offering support to each other, also organise and share exhibitions together.

At age 15 who influenced your style?
At age 15 I don’t think I had a style, I was still exploring. But I was a child of the 60’s and believed passionately that our generation was going to change the world.

How much do you bend your 'vision' to suit the marketplace - if at all?
It’s a good question and I hope I’m staying true to my heart.

Who would you say buys your work?
I’ve been lucky perhaps in as much as most of my work has sold outside of the conventional gallery system and so I have been able to have some involvement both with the selling process and with my buyers. Some personal aspect is important to me.



How do you set about starting a new project?
I take time out, doodle everywhere, go for walks, turn images endlessly round in my head at night. And then I begin by making a series of small maquettes out of plaster cine. These will stay around me for some time: I will look at them, work on them, adapt them. When I have decided on the form, I then decide on the type of stone suitable for it. I may have a block already stored in my workshop or I may have to journey to the quarry to choose a new block. Searching for stone goes with the job. My small maquette will then help guide me into the block when I begin the carving.

Where and what is your studio?
I live down a bridle track on Dartmoor. My studio is in a barn across from my house – the walking distance is about 40 paces, just long enough for me to shake myself off and empty my pockets of stone dust. One side of the barn is my workshop, the other is a clean space where I store finished pieces.



Do you have a good work/life balance?
Umm. I’m getting better. I only returned to full-time carving ten years ago. Before then I was a therapist for 20 years and raising a family. I have to be careful that I’m not always trying to catch up with myself.

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

Would you rather be doing something else?
No, I think I’ve done the ‘something else’ and the time of now is precious.



Are their other fields that you'd like to apply some facet of your work into?
The other week I carved a small piece of wood, just to remember what it felt like. I enjoyed it. The sound is so different from stone. I’m sure I will do some more.

If you could exhibit in any gallery which would it be?
I certainly wouldn’t turn one down, but I also get great pleasure in putting my work out into public spaces, into specific landscapes.

Most overrated artist/maker?
No individual names here, but I feel impatient with endless installation work where the concept may be clever but where little or no thought has been given to the craft. I feel similarly about exhibitions where I am directed to the work by wordy explanations which offer me little space in which to form my own relationship with it.



Where do the majority of your inspiration / ideas come from?
I usually find that ideas tend to creep into me sort of sideways when I’m not looking. But I do explore both within and without of myself. The British Museum is a favoured haunt. And when I’m away, I will head for ancient artifacts and then I will sit and look and draw.

Where did you train? Favourite / least favourite aspects of training?
I was apprenticed for a while to sculptors and then trained in London part-time at Sir John Cass, Whitechapel and then full-time at City and Guilds. I had a good figurative training, working mostly with clay. I look back at that time and think how lucky I was. My regrets? That I didn’t join the stone-masonry course at City and Guilds and that I didn’t complete my training there.

Please list any exhibitions you have had in the past 12 months.
Millstream Sculpture Garden, Bishopstrow, Warminster
Coombe Gallery, Dartmouth
SouthWest Sculptors at the Ariel Centre, Totnes and The Gallery, Dartington Estate.
Exeter Hospice
ArtSpaces, Totnes
The Womens Art Show, Fairfields Arts Centre, Basingstoke
St. Wilfrid’s Open Art Competition, Pallant House, Chichester
Delamore House 2009 Summer Exhibition
‘Untitled’ Art Fair, Chelsea Town Hall
Fresh Air 2009, Quenington, Gloucestershire

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Emma Harding at The Shop Floor Project

Artist Emma Harding began the Charity Shop Orphan Project five years ago when she found that a childhood passion had re-surfaced and she couldn’t pass a lone china ornament in a second hand shop without buying it and taking it home, even though she didn’t like them much.

Emma transformed these ornaments by re-painting them, giving them names and,grouping them into families such as the Crail’s or the Parmigiani's. These beautifully surreal creatures now take on a personality all of their own that is both humorous and absurd, referencing childhood obsessions with toys such as the Sylvanian families.

Emma says; “In my childhood I shared a room and a large elongated MFI dressing table with my sister. Through the centre of the table was a clear divide, my half and hers. My side always hosted a carefully orchestrated and forever altering parade of china animal ornaments.

What is now apparent to me is how my taste for many of these ornaments could not be rekindled in adulthood and no matter how much I had been drawn to them as a child a different attraction had now taken it’s place. Perhaps a nostalgia or the desire to take a look at past innocent attractions drives me to paint and adorn each one according to my new, adult tastes, redefining their place in my world”

Emma will be exhibiting her artwork as well as some of her orphans at the Brighton Art Fair in October.

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Artist of the Week - Russell Jones / Creative Future

Russell Jones is exhibiting his work with Creative Future at the Brighton Art Fair, 2009.



One favourite living artist? Why?
HR Giger - because he's original, mad, totally off his head

One favourite historical artist? Why?
Max Ernst because he loved his paintings and worked very hard

When and where did you first want to do what you do?
I was aged 7 at the time of the '69 moon landing. This made me want to draw astronauts.

What place in the world has inspired you?

Berlin because I feel safe there and because of it's atmosphere.

Do you work best on your own or in collaboration?

I work best on my own

At age 15 who influenced your style?
No one in particular

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

Not at all

Who would you say buys your work?

Interested people

How do you set about starting a new project?
Sometimes I draw a sketch but mostly I just throw myself in.

Where and what is your studio?
My bedsit

Do you have a good work/life balance?
I can't answer that.

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

Would you rather be doing something else?
No

Are their other fields that you'd like to apply some facet of your work into?
Ceramics

If you could exhibit in any gallery which would it be?
The Tate Modern

Most overrated artist/maker?
Damien Hurst

Where do the majority of your inspiration / ideas come from?
The unconscious and dreams

Where did you train? Favourite / least favourite aspects of training?
I trained in Swansea. My whole time there was my favourite but least so was being humiliated by the tutor

Please list any exhibitions you have had in the past 12 months.
UNLEASHED, Brighton Media Centre, July 09 - solo

TIGHT MODERN, Brighton Fringe, May 09 - group

WEST SUSSEX EXPO III, New Crawley Library, March 09 - group

DREAMS ON THE EDGE (NEXT TO THE VAN), Brighton's White Night Festival, Oct 08 - group

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Dorset Cereals - Little Blog Awards

The lovely Angela Charles has nominated the MADE blog on the Dorset Cereals - Little Blog Awards. - please look under the 'culture' category.

Visitors to the site can vote for their favourite blogs - the blog with the most votes at the end of each month gets a Dorset Cereals Goody Bag! Please take a look and vote if you'd like to... we might get a hearty breakfast one month soon!

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MADE Bag Competition

Just a week to go before we judge the entries in our bag competition. The prize is £200 for a picture of the Art Fair bag and owner in the most exotic location. (but we decide what is exotic, could be distance or could be something more off-beat)


So far we have had entries from as far afield as America, Australia, Holland and Brazil. There is still lots to play for - get creative - you have a week to win £200. Just send in your pictures this week.


From Brighton Beach to Brighton Beach!

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University of Brighton Cinema Box

This year at Brighton Art Fair we are very pleased to be featuring innovative short films by

Located in the café area the films will span the broad range of courses offered by the Faculty of Arts. Some of the films are available to view here

Below is a film by Betsy Dadd - LOVE AND OTHER DEMONS
Completed as part of Glyndebourne Opera House Artists Residency. The Animation is based on the novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and opera production composed by Peter Eötvös.
Soundtrack music by Gonzales, Asa-Chang & Jun Ray, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis.

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Artist of the Week - Hilary Thorpe

One favourite living artist? Why?
This would have to be Fred Cumings. Fantastic colours and spontaneity of mark making.

One favourite historical artist? Why?
One of my favourite artists is Oscar Kokoshka. I especially enjoy his town and landscape paintings. I just love the way he paints, the brush strokes, the activity in the paintings, there's always something new to see. I enjoy the fact that he has painted in some of the places I like to paint.

When and where did you first want to do what you do?
I remember sitting on a cliff at Port Isaac in about 15 years ago. I sat in a natural, grassy seat in the cliff. The sea was crashing below, the spring sunlight was warming and I was painting a picture down the cliff that was going really well. I think I realised then, that I could combine my love of the outdoors, the sea, with an occupation that I enjoyed and seemed good at.

What place in the world has inspired you?
The Solent, which is the stretch of water between the mainland and the Isle of Wight, will never cease to give me pleasure. The changing light and weather always bring new images and surprises. When I first started to paint seriously I often traveled between college in Farnham and the Isle of Wight. I usually painted during the trips especially on the ferry. I still love painting on the ferry or sitting on the sea front at Cowes

Do you work best on your own or in collaboration?
I seem to work best on my own and have rarely sought the company of other people. I paint mostly on location and it is usually a very solitary experience for me.

At age 15 who influenced your style?
I was still climbing trees and reading the Beano at that age…

How much do you bend your 'vision' to suit the marketplace - if at all?
If I am ever tempted to paint for the market it invariably backfires, but it's difficult sometimes not to be influenced by outside opinions. When I first started to work as an artist full-time, I promised myself that if I ever got to the stage where I was churning out work just so that it would sell and wasn’t enjoying it, I would give up and work in a bar. So far I have managed to keep painting! I constantly challenge myself with new locations. I always try to paint from the heart, and the work produced as such is always the most popular

Who would you say buys your work?
My clients are broad, right from my local friends who save up to invest in my work, to some of the local second home owners, some of who can walk in to my exhibition and spend 100's of pounds at the drop of a hat. On the whole up until now I have sold my work myself, running annual shows in Cowes on the Isle of Wight. Consequently I have attracted people that are attracted to my work, and not people who rely on the reputation of the gallery.

How do you set about starting a new project?
New projects usually involve traveling and may come as a result of a conversation, reading something in a paper or opportunities that are offered to me. They mostly involve logistics, money and lots of planning. My 3-month residency in Bermuda was quite a gamble. Recently I have been working on some paintings in my studio, which is a new experience for me. I find I am slow to work through ideas, and I spend a lot of time thinking things through, and surprisingly little time actually putting paint on the paper.

Where and what is your studio?
My studio is the big outdoors. But I have a room in my house that I use as my 'workshop' It’s a small bedroom and not big enough for some of the new studio paintings I am working on! I also have my ageing camper van and I have sometimes sat inside in extreme weather (very hot or very stormy) and painted from there.

Do you have a good work/life balance?
Yes

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

Would you rather be doing something else?
Not really, but when I do feel I would rather be doing something else, I do

Are their other fields that you'd like to apply some facet of your work?
I trained as a weaver, and I worked as a weaver (alongside my painting) for around 12 years. It didn’t make me a living. If I were able financially to do less painting I would probably get back to some weaving.

If you could exhibit in any gallery which would it be?
My own

Most overrated artist/maker?
I don’t have an opinion on that one

Where do the majority of your inspiration / ideas come from?
A continual, analytical overview of the environment around me.

Where did you train? Favourite / least favourite aspects of training? West Sussex College of Art in Farnham, Surrey. (Now University for the Creative Arts). I trained in Textile design and have a degree in weaving. I studied in my late twenties.I loved the fact I could totally immerse myself in my work without the distraction of making a living, and the wealth of facilities and tutoring that was available. My least favorite aspect was the fact that I was always doing something for someone else to judge. It took me some time after leaving college to be able to do work that just pleased me.

Please list any exhibitions you have had in the past 12 months.
Last year I had what I called my ‘development’ year. Instead of having my normal solo-show in September and other exhibitions I had a sort of year out to enable me to concentrate on some new ideas. So here’s the last 24 months to give a better representation:

2009
January
Work in Group Show, Cowes, Combined Clubs, I.O.W
April
Solo Exhibition of Paintings, Combined Clubs, Cowes, I.O.W
July
‘Open Studios’ – Exhibition of paintings from East Coast of the US

2008
January
Work in Group Show, Cowes, Combined Clubs, I.O.W
July
‘Open Studios’ – Exhibition of paintings from Scotland

2007
May
Solo exhibition with the Masterworks Foundation, Bermuda
September
Solo Exhibition of Paintings, Combined Clubs, Cowes, I.O.W.
October
Solo Exhibition of Paintings from the North Cornish Coast, The Camelford Gallery, N. Cornwall
October
Work accepted in Royal Society of Marine Artists exhibition, Mall Galleries, London
November
Solo Exhibition, Hepsibah Gallery, Shepherds Bush, London

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Just Leave it Damien - it's not worth it!

I came across this Charlie Brooker tirade against multi-millionaire Damien Hirst's seizure of a teenagers artwork and earnings (£200) over some humourous collages spoofing Hirst and his diamond skull. The young man - Cartrain - has now been arrested over trying to ransom some pencils borrowed from Hirst's installation 'pharmacy' at the Tate Modern. Either Hirst has lost the plot or he's a secret friend of Cartrain boostering him with needed publicity.

(the one that got away - Jonathan Jones' copy published in his Guardian blog)

Charlie Brooker: What links Lord Mandelson, Damien Hirst and the music industry?

Overvalued, irksome, conceited, pudge-faced, balding, boring, awful celebrity art nob Damien Hirst has apparently become embroiled in a ludicrous feud with a 19-year-old graffiti artist called Cartrain. Hostilities erupted in 2008, when Cartrain created a sarcastic collage that included an image of Hirst's stupid bling-encrusted skull "artwork" (the one that reportedly sold for £50m at auction, although that figure is disputed by virtually anyone who still retains some degree of faith in humankind).

[Read the rest of the rant here -
Charlie's opinions do not necessarily represent those of this blog!]

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Artist of the Week - Barbara Burns

One favourite living artist?
Ian McKeever. I have never been disappointed with any of his exhibitions I've been to. When I was at college I was lucky enough to have a tutorial with him. He made me look at things in a totally different way.

One favourite historical artist?
This changes depending on the work I'm looking at. I would say Patrick Heron, though not very historical given that he died only a few years ago. I first came across his work in the 1970s and loved it. He was a great defender of British Abstract Art in the 1950s. Lately I've been looking at Sandra Blow's work - amazing stuff!

When and where did you first want to do what you do?
For as long as I can remember I was always drawing and painting. I remember at school when I was about 6 or 7 being asked by a visiting priest what I wanted to be when I grew up and I said 'An artist'. My nun teacher looked at me and told me not to be so silly, then looked at the priest and told him I wanted to be a nun, of course!



What place in the world has inspired you?
I guess that has to be the coastal areas of Ireland, particularly the West coast, the Aran Islands and Cape Clear Island. The last bits of land jutting out into the Atlantic, the blackness of the sea, and the jagged rocks and cliffs are awesome.

Do you work on your own or in collaboration?
I have only ever worked on my own.

At 15 who influenced your style?
My art teacher who wanted me to pass my Art 'O' Level. At 16 I went to art college and it was David Hockney and Chloe Cheese - I used to copy their sketchy, coloured drawings.



How much do you bend your 'vision' to suit the marketplace - if at all?
I don't think I do!

Who would you say buys your work?
It tends to be couples looking for a painting for their home. I have quite a few buyers who have come back and bought more work.

Where and what is your studio?
My studio is a brick built garage with a pitched roof at the bottom of the garden. We converted it by adding Velux windows and insulating it. The walls and floor are white, and it's a very quiet place. At first I found working there on my own very isolating - I shared studios or worked in a studio with other artists around. I've been working there for two years now and find it less lonely. Now I value my time there immensely.



Do you have a good work/life balance?
I usually potter down to the studio around 11 and work through to 4. Sometimes I do a bit of gardening on the way back, weather permitting. My husband and I moved to Eastbourne 2 years ago. I really miss Brighton having lived there for 20 years, but I get my Brighton fix one day a week when I go in to look after my grandson, which I love doing. Eastbourne is very quiet by comparison but I've started to enjoy it now, especially since the Towner Gallery opened. Yes, it's a good work/life balance.

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

Would you rather be doing something else?
I can't do anything else!

Are there other fields that you'd like to apply some facet of your work into?
In the past I have done a lot of silk screen printing and I would love to have the time to explore it further.

If you could exhibit in one gallery which would it be?
The New Millennium Gallery in St. Ives.

Most overrated artist/maker?
Damien Hirst. I just don't get his work. I find some of it crude and shallow. I hated his diamond skull - it's like a footballer's wife's fantasy wig stand!

Where do the majority of your inspiration/ideas come from?
Long walks in coastal areas.



Where did you train? Favourite/least favourite aspect of training?
I went to vocational college in Buckinghamshire in the 1970s from the age of 16 to 19 and did a Foundation Year and two years in Fine Art. I was very young and had little idea, but it was a good grounding as we were encouraged to do a lot of life drawing and still life painting. In the 1990s I went to Brighton University to do a degree in Fine Art and Painting. The learning curve was vast and we were continually encouraged to question and push ideas. I loved it, though sometimes I wanted to give up, especially after a bad tutorial.

Please list any exhibitions...
Affordable Art Fair, London.
Brighton Festival, Jointure Studios, Ditchling.
Artwave, Lewes.

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Maker of the Week - Sarah Proctor

Sarah Proctor is a silversmith and jeweller who lives and works in London. During her time studying at London Metropolitan University she was inspired to try to make metal take on a different, softer quality, to assume the appearance of flowing lava or satin. The resulting technique she developed results in organic, random patterns within each piece of work.

One favourite living craft maker (and why?)
Cornelia Parker. I love the fact that she is so destructive, but in a very ordered and planned way.

What was the last art/craft/design thing you purchased or what one product/item do you really covet (and why?)
This is a tricky one. I'd have to say the thing I treasure most is my plain old hack saw. It belonged to my dad and sadly he passed away 5 years ago, before I decided to give up a very secure career in television and throw myself into the world of jewellery and silversmithing. To be honest it was losing him that made me realise that life is short and that if you really want to do something...do it! Every time I use that saw in my work I'm reminded of my little motto and it keeps me positive.

At age 15 who influenced your style? Was there any individual who very much helped you on your way?
I had no art or design influences at 15...I was too busy going to rock festivals. So to answer your question, my influences were a variety of long haired rock bands who have all long since passed into obscurity!



Last best read (book)?
I really enjoyed The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It examines how raw talent is not enough to succeed. Instead, in order to achieve real expertise, you need luck, opportunity, oh...and around 10,000 hours of practice!

Where and what is your studio? Do you work alone? In silence, radio?
I divide my time between my spare room, which I've converted into a little workshop where I work with my ipod (listening to a variety of long haired rock bands who have all long since passed into obscurity), and a workshop at my university (London Metropolitan Uni) with lots of other Masters students, where there's lots of chatting and hammering.

What is your favourite (art) website (and why)?
I find Benchpeg.com really useful as it covers everything from competitions to tools for sale.



Do you have a good work/life balance? Are you able to switch off from art work?
Well in addition to my metal work and my home life I also work part time for a TV channel, looking after their programme contracts, so it's fair to say I'm never bored, and there never seem to be enough hours in a day.

What one word would describes your feeling of doing your work?
Lucky.

Do you think art and craft has any real importance?
Absolutely. It think it is so important to be able to switch off from the stresses of the world and immerse yourself in something as therapeutic as creating something. I find making things very meditative.

What do think are crimes against good taste & decency in art/craft/design?
I believe that if you can't say something nice about somebody you shouldn't say anything at all, so I'll keep my thoughts to myself!

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Anita Klein - Studio Sale

Anita Klein will be having a studio sale of paintings, drawings, prints, stained glass and ceramics

on Saturday, 10th October and Sunday, 11th October

at 82 Tressillian Road, London SE4 1YD.

Her studio will be open from 12 - 5pm on both days.

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Exhibition of Original Prints by British Printmakers at Sussex Gallery

Emma Mason British Prints will be opening a new exhibition this weekend at their gallery in Eastbourne. The exhibition, "Black + White" will be a mixed show of monotone prints by the printmakers they represent.

There will be original prints from the 1950s, 60s and 70s with rare black and white linocuts by Robert Tavener, early wood engravings by Garrick Palmer, delicate etchings by Arthur Hackney and some special etchings by Charles Bartlett made in very small editions. On show too will be a super selection of more recent prints by Charles Shearer, Sarah Young, Jenny Portlock, Flora McLachlan and others.

The exhibition is an opportunity to see and buy prints by important British printmakers and enjoy the mix of styles and influences of printmaking across a period of more than 50 years with the oldest works dating from 1952 (etchings by Arthur Hackney) to 2009 and work by printmakers working today.

"Black + White" Exhibition 12th - 26th september 2009.

At the Emma Mason Gallery in Eastbourne and on line on their website www.emmamason.co.uk

Gallery open Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10.00am - 5.00pm and at other times by appointment.

Emma Mason Gallery

3 Cornfield Terrace

Eastbourne

East Sussex. BN21 4NN

Tel: 01323 727545

Email: sales@emmamason.co.uk

www.emmamason.co.uk

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Artist of the Week - Carol Naylor

Carol Naylor is a textile artist living and working in Chichester. She will be exhibiting her work at the Brighton Art Fair in October.

One favourite living artist? Why?
Howard Hodgkin, for his quality of colour, wonderful brush strokes and the way he captures the luminosity of light

One favourite historical artist? Why?
Its very hard to pick just one, but it must be Picasso, because he went where no one else dared go and constantly reinvented himself

When and where did you first want to do what you do?
I knew from the age of 6 that "art" was all I really wanted to do although I couldn't possibly define anything at such a young age. At 18 I went to Goldsmiths having intended to do painting but specialised in textiles which I felt offered me textural, graphic and painterly qualities that I
personally couldn't achieve at that time with paint. A lecturing career and family meant putting my own aspirations on hold although I always did my own work, often experimenting with different media, but I have been a full time self employed artist since 1997.

What place in the world has inspired you?
Covarrubias, a small medieval town in central Spain which is surrounded by curious hill/mountain formations, plus the constant changing of crops makes for colour combinations under strong light that I've not seen elsewhere



Do you work best on your own or in collaboration?
Probably alone, although I do like working with other people, especially when they are outside the field of textiles. Any exchange of ideas is important to me as I don't think anyone can work in a vacuum

At age 15 who influenced your style?
Gauguin and his use of colour. I remember I simply couldn't believe that a tree could be painted bright orange as I hadn't seen any like it in Hastings where we then lived!

How much do you bend your 'vision' to suit the marketplace - if at all?
I don't, I do what I feel is right for me

Who would you say buys your work?
Lots of private collectors, also hospital trusts, education authorities, but generally people who love colour, as that is what purchasers refer to the most.



How do you set about starting a new project?
Everything I do comes from observation or experience, so drawings backed up by notes, photos to jog my memory if necessary, and then its straight onto the canvas. I find there is often a real time lapse in between the first idea and when I eventually start to work it out

Where and what is your studio?
I work from home in Chichester, a former bedroom that has been converted into a studio



Do you have a good work/life balance?
I think I do, although making work can be all absorbing its important to find time for people. I love travelling as well and see this as being the one main link beween what I make and who I am.
What one word would describe your feeling of doing your work?
Concentration!

Would you rather be doing something else?
Not unless it means some good red wine consumption which isn't easy to combine with working on a pretty nippy sewing machine!

Are their other fields that you'd like to apply some facet of your work into?
I would like to work from museum collections on specific projects as history has always been of interest to me

If you could exhibit in any gallery which would it be?
I simply enjoy seeing my work well displayed on clean walls and with good space around it, so I really have no particular preferences.

Most overrated artist/maker?
Tracey Emin although I do admire her ability to get her work seen across so many different spectrum.


Where do the majority of your inspiration / ideas come from?
Land, water and light, sometimes architecture.

Where did you train? Favourite / least favourite aspects of training?
Goldsmiths School of Art. I loved the fact that when I studied there textile student/painters/sculptors were seen as one year group. We shared the same art history programmes, went to galleries and museums en masse etc which made you feel that what you were doing was valued. I hated learning the different techniques though!

Please list any exhibitions you have had in the past 12 months.
2009 Borderlines at the Forge Walberton West Sussex
2009 Summer Exhibition SDC Gallery London
2009 Designer Crafts Mall Galleries, London
2008 Borderlines one person show, toured -NEC Birmingham, Alexandra Palace,
London, RDS Dublin, Conference Centre Harrogate
2008 Fabricate Rye Gallery

My work is also currently represented by Primavera in Cambridge, and at Art for Offices in London.

Any other relevant information?
I toured New Zealand in 2008 as a guest lecturer, which was an amazing experience, and I have begun to explore ideas from the landscape there. I also co-curate an annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries in January for the Socety of Designer Craftsmen, formerly the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society whose founder members and exhibitors included William Morris. This is challenging and exciting as we work with many very fine applied artists across different media. It stops you being precious about your own work and I think we still carry on the philosophies of what was a very influential group of artists.

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