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4 August 2012

Parsley's most wanted 2012!

The wait is almost over! 42 days to go until Somerset Art Weeks: Open Studios 2012!
15th - 30th September
Get your FREE guide (featuring over 200 venues!) available at arts venues, galleries, theatres, arts centres, libraries and assorted shops and cafes throughout the land.
Alternatively, you could request a copy to be sent to you or download the pdf version on our website. For details of how to do this and more click on the link here:
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/art_weeks_2012


In fact, whilst you're here, you can start planning your art weeks visits right now, with my own top twenty selection of arts weeks venues for 2012! Truth be told it wasn't easy to whittle it down from around 40+ venues I originally circled as being of interest, so I've included an extended list at the end of this post with even more venues that I'd like to visit. As ever, these represent my own interests and opinions and I would strongly recommend everyone having a look through the guide and picking out the artists/art forms that appeal to them (there's plenty to choose from!) Besides, some of the best arts weeks venues I've ever visited, have been the ones I accidentally come across on route to somewhere else. So, please enjoy this selection. I hope it inspires you to get out there and visit the fantastic artists we're lucky to have here in Somerset!

 Venue 19: Noah's Ark Studio (Irene Jackson and Christine Farnworth) - Baltonsborough
Printmaking, multi-media techniques, drawing, painting and photography at this venue. Sounds great to me! Thought the images at this venue looked interesting.
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/noahs-ark-studio
  Venue 25: Red Brick Building (Paul Branson, Richard Pelham and Julie Avenell) - Glastonbury
Many tales of the arts have been told of a red brick building in Glastonbury. This is a new educational centre for the arts that I have heard of, but yet to have visited. So really intrigued about this venue.
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/red-brick-building
 Venue 29: Mark Hey - Lower Godney, Wells
This place is and I quote, 'full of collective strangeness' and cider (what a combination!) Categorised in the guide as a mixed media venue this studio bakes its own bread, makes its own beer, cider and larger. This sounds wonderful to me!
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/mark-hey
Venue 38: Chris Lee - Wells
Exquisite architectural drawings from this Urban artist.
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/chris-lee
Venue 54: Pete Beer, Guitar Maker - Axbridge
The great thing about Open Studios is the chance to see the 'working' practice of artists and makers in Somerset, so how cool to see a guitar maker and their studio.  
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/pete-beer-guitar-maker
Venue 63: The Old Manor Gallery (Malin Basil) - Brent Knoll
Trompe l'oeil still life paintings. I've always liked Magritte and Surrealism and it looks like there are echoes of those in this work.
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/old-manor-gallery-0
  Venue 102: Rachel Waldock and Lucy Large - Near Watchet
I came across this venue last art weeks, whilst on a tour of the Watchet/Minehead area and really enjoyed the work here. Its a great venue too. Looking forward to going back again this year.
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/rachel-waldock-and-lucy-large
  Venue 115: Andrew Davey - Minehead
Eat your heart out Jasper Johns! These abstract/representational paintings by Andrew Davey look really dynamic and exciting. I'll be interested to see what scale they are on?
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/andrew-davey-0
  Venue 125: Jane Mowat - Waterrow
Hand-printed woodcuts inspired by stories and folklore as well as inspiration from the wood and the woods themselves! Special evening events and installation (a hand carved 4-poster bed) made by the artist in the wood above at Chipstable on WED, FRI and SUN 6-8pm with music, singing and storytelling. AND...artist, Liz Fathers, will have some naturally built nests in the woods as well! 
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/jane-mowat
  Venue 130: Gordon Field - Culmhead
This studio is AMAZING! I've had the pleasure of visiting it before and it is full of wonderful art works, natural and man-made objects, curios and things to discover. Definitely worth a visit!
On Sat 22nd - 5pm there will be a fire sculpture event to celebrate the Equinox
Sun 23rd - 2pm there will be an artist's walk through the Otterhead landscape
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/gordon-field
  Venue 138: Studio Open: Artists Exchange/Studio Works (Hacker Farm, Eunju Yoo, Hazel Holman and Sebastian King, David Davis and Chantelle Henocq) - The Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre
 Eunju and Hazel will be based at The Brewhouse during art weeks interacting with the public and making new work (performance/film/felt/embroidered works) in response to those meetings. Plus you get to see Sebastian King's photos (as featured in this year's Open Studios Guide) in the flesh accompanied by commissioned poems by David Davis. http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/studio-open-studio-works
  Venue 140: Gary Dickins - Taunton
If interesting, rich, aged and weathered surfaces, painterly techniques and textures are your thing, then these mixed media paintings are for you! Making use of found materials, from rusted metal, felt and leather to velvet, wound dressings and wallpaper the abstract surfaces in Gary's paintings are very tactile and evoke connotations of history and alchemy. Great stuff! 
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/gary-dickins
  Venue 141: Gill Jones and Nigel Banks - Somerset College (Conference Centre), Taunton
Not, exactly a studio..but a great exhibition space located in Somerset College's Conference Centre. Featuring Nigel's intricate and painstakingly hand made collages and Gill's prints/mixed media and photography of the human body.  
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/mind-over-matter-gill-jones-and-nigel-banks
  Venue 159: The DB Group - Mark and Tracy Nesbit - Langport
See Mark's coloured and textured paintings that use plaster and chemistry to create their rich, dynamic surfaces and Tracy's mixed-media craft items as well as conceptual art. Viewers to this venue be sure to ask, what the 'DB' in 'The DB Group' stands for...
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/db-group-mark-tracy-nesbit
Venue 174: Unravelled (Leah Hislop, Bryony Tidball, Nina Gronw-Lewis) - Cotley Nr Chard
Its the return of the Tithe Barn! The infamous Tithe Barn, Cotley, Nr Chard makes its fourth Art Weeks appearance this time hosting a weaving of installations, sculpture and thread. Worth visiting alone to see this work in a unique and unusual context that is the Tithe Barn. A specially created venue for this year's art weeks.
FREE EVENTS AT THIS VENUE INCLUDE:
Interactive weaving wall (open daily)
Weaving workshops on weekends- bring textiles from your past
Saturday 22nd storytelling - weaving words and spinning yarns 6pm
Sunday 30th Leah Hislop site specific installation will be finished and revealed 11-6  
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/unravelled
  Venue 188: Lopen Farm House (Pauline Rook, Anna Howie, Steve Payter) - South Petherton
Looking through the guide this venue stood out to me purely for the visual images (of which one of three is shown here) which look like excellent examples of photography.

"Three very different photographers are showing their work in Lopen, south Somerset. Pauline who works in Rural Documentary, Steve who produces photographically 'Image Art' and Anna with her fabulous images - never previously seen - of wild horses in the Camargue." -Pauline Rook  
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/lopen-farmhouse-0
  Venue 194: Kathrin Khan-Davis - Hinton St George
'Upcycled' jewellery and gifts! This looks and sounds very cool! Plus there are workshops on Sundays if interested (booking required).
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/kathrin-khan-davis
Venue 197: Jenny Mellings - Crewkerne
Photographic meets painted landscapes, I was intrigued by this image in the guide. The red looking trees, plants and landscape reminded me of the 'red weed' that takes over the Earth in H G Wells' 'War of the Worlds'. It might be completely nothing to do with that, but I like the unfamiliar-ness to the look of this landscape that I'd be intrigued to see if its continued in her other work.
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/goldfinch-place
  Venue 204: Hacker Farm Pop-up Museum - Yeovil
Another inventive concept from the creative minds at Hacker Farm. This time taking over empty shop spaces in Yeovil's Quedam shopping centre to create an installation that is part gallery/part museum. Interacting with Yeovil's rich history and creating new work in the form of QR codes, punk rock posters and tractor parts (that's where the 'farm' part comes in) -expect an exciting fusion of new and old coming together!  
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/hacker-farm-pop-museum
Venue 219: Richard Pomeroy - Bruton
Large scale body-prints, paintings and drawings from Richard Pomeroy (who those of you who remember exhibited at The Brewhouse gallery earlier this year). Big, bold, contemporary and colourful, I look forward to seeing what Richard will be doing next!
http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/richard-pomeroy-0
Phew! And here's another twenty or so, that whilst I didn't include in the image above I'd still recommend a visit to:

Story Walks- venue 110 http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/story-walks
‘Outside the box’ at Kings College- venue 139   http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/outside-box
‘Thread’ at Somerset College- venue 142 http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/thread
The Studio Diane Burnell- venue 143 http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/studio-0
Ashar Works on plaster- venue 185 http://www.somersetartworks.org.uk/openstudios/ashar
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29 July 2012

Battle for the Winds in Weymouth!

WOW!  What an amazing day! Those of you who follow this blog regularly may remember in May I posted the creative goings on during Taunton's Olympic torch ceremony, one of those in particular being, 'The Somerset Journey' which began on May 21st and has travelled around the county visiting schools, nurseries, villages, Musgrove Hospital, Glastonbury Abbey, Langport Festival and more in its mission to 'Sound out Somerset'.  
Yesterday finally saw the spectacular conclusion to 'The Somerset Journey', where our Wind Gatherers, their vehicle, The Big Noise Band and local performers were in Weymouth for 'The Battle for the Winds'! Somerset was joined with, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Cornwall, Wiltshire and The West of England and their wind gathering vehicles and performers in an afternoon procession by the sea followed by an evening performance on Weymouth beach produced and starring 'Cirque Bijou' and 'Desperate Men'. The day concluded in style with 2012 torches being lit on Weymouth beach and carried out into the sea by 2012 people. The whole day had many fantastic delights and spectacles of creativity, performance, music and gymnastics to be seen. Hundreds of local people from the South West, Weymouth and beyond came to watch the performances and even more local people have taken part in the processions, the organising, creating and making that has gone into creating Battle for the Winds.
Being completely useless at sports the Olympics felt like something that wouldn't remotely interest me, however after being involved in the organising of the Somerset Journey and watching communities coming together and celebrating throughout the county might not have changed my opinion of sport (I'm still not that interested in it) but as an event it has certainly done a lot of good in creating outdoor performance and creativity here in the South West as well as a sense of being united. Surely this can only be a good thing in the long term, I think, for inspiring and creating opportunities for future events?  Looking today at the programme for Weymouth's 'b-side' multi-media arts festival looks equally as exciting (see link below) and is another prosperous hope for the continuation of innovative and contemporary arts practice from both local and international artists coming to the South West. I hope that the positive affect that it is having on the arts will continue to have a legacy long after the games have finished.
Below are some images from yesterday's celebrations in Weymouth.
 For more info visit:
http://soundingoutsomerset.blogspot.co.uk/
http://battleforthewinds.com/

The Bridgwater Squibbers on the sea shore in Weymouth marked the end of 'The Battle for the Winds' . *
2012 People lit torches on Weymouth beach last night and walked into the sea.*

Cornwall's Wind vessel, 'The Kernocopia'


The West of England's Wind Gatherer


Our very own Somerset Wind Gatherers, joined here with a performer from Cirque Bijou.


Old Mother Gloucestershire aboard her Wind Vessel.

Somerset's  Big Noise Band during the procession.

Link to Weymouth's b-side mulit-media arts festival site: http://www.b-side.org.uk/

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23 July 2012

An audience with Antony Gormley


Last week, what felt like nearly everyone in the art community of Somerset arrived at Barrington Court for an afternoon with Antony Gormely. There was little in the way of advertising about this event so it was surprising at how quickly the power of 'word-of-mouth' led to an audience, I'd estimate, of 200-300 people attending the hour talk and presentation by the famous artist in a marquee in the scenic grounds of Barrington Court last Tuesday 17th July. Currently on show (and the reason for his visit) in the manor house at Barrington is one of Gormley's early works, 'Field for the British Isles'.
"Field for the British Isles is an installation made in collaboration with a community in Merseyside. 40,000 hand-sized terracotta figures were produced by old and young alike, the shape of each determined by the person making it.
The installation is an Arts Council Collection Exhibition from South Bank Centre and is one of five artworks on loan as part of the Trust New Art programme 2012."

Even if you have never actually seen a work by Gormley it is undoubtable that most people will have at least heard of or seen images of the now, iconic, Angel of the North or bronze figures on Liverpool's Crosby Beach which arguably makes Gormley one of the most well known and influential British artists alive today. Prior to going to a talk like this, there is always a certain degree of expectation and sort-of pre-conceived thoughts and opinions of what it may/may not be like. Funny, I thought because for every one person that was excited about Gormley coming to Somerset I equally met those who weren't fans of his art work or more to the point, the more successful and 'famous' the artist can sometimes create a real marmite affect of opinions. In my view, this is healthy, as art should always spark debate and my personal view of Gormley's work prior to the talk was very open-ended, I wasn't a big fan and neither was I a loather to his work. I was curious to hear what the man had to say, and I did also wonder what the creator of the Angel of the North would think of Somerset's Willow Man? A question I never asked at the time, but one I’d like to ponder the possible answer to...

By arriving at Barrington dead on time, 3.45pm that Tuesday, we were somehow actually late as when we came to the marquee at 3.44 the place was entirely full! Everyone else, it seemed must have got there incredibly early. No matter, we opted to stand at the back instead of sitting so we had a 'fairly' decent view, or so we thought, until the slide show started...As it turned out it actually paid to be 'late' as our standing at the back of the marquee and well-timed bobbing up and down choreography to see each slide proved to be too distracting for Gormley and he invited three of us to take up the three free seats in the front row! Whoop! Now we were out of the way, the presentation could begin properly. Gormley discussed several pieces of work in his career, from the figurative cast bronze sculptures made from moulds of his own body to his more abstract works such as the fog piece, 'Blind Light'. I think what I initially noted as being interesting was that I had always seen Gormley as a 'sculptor' and hearing him talk about any of his work, the thing that seemed most crucial in all of them was the context, location or space that these sculptures were in. Whether it was the gallery or the beach the important factor was space. This makes sense as whilst all of his work is about the body it is important to remember that we 'know' our body in relation in context to the space it inhabits, or as Gormley put it, 'the body as a place to live'. The body is both a 'place to live' and a place which also lives within a bigger place, 'the body inhabits architecture'. Sorry, I have been reading a lot of Heidegger recently, and the idea of existing, as in 'to dwell' as Heidegger puts it, seems to have a strong resemblance to some of what Gormley was talking about. In this way I began to see him less as a sculptor and more of an installation artist. The labelling might not be too important as they are often one and the same but I found the shift in my thinking about his work to be interesting. The other thing that really struck me as I was listening to this talk was that, this is the man whose image I have seen cast hundreds of times on Crosby Beach, I've stood next to them, leaned on them, watched dogs bark at them, children climbing on them and yet here is the actual person in front of me that those figures have been cast from its a feeling of knowing someone yet not really knowing them at all. Its kind-of a weird feeling. But then, Gormley was all about experience, as he said, ‘experience over representation’ and how it seemed that he felt that the interaction, and sometimes pilgrimage to see his work (namely the figures that appear like mirages on Lake Ballard in Australia) is as much part of the work as the sculptures themselves. The reason for this, is because by making work about ‘the body’ and forcing the audience to interact with that work, it makes them think and engage with their own bodies with that space/in relation to that sculpture. For me, the work that I think best conveys this out of all the pieces Gormley showed us in his presentation were the more abstract pieces where the recognisable human figure wasn’t present instead in its place, a box with four holes in it, or a room full of fog, or a gallery space inhabited by a vortex of wire spiralling around seemed to place the viewer in the work more, for me, than the figurative stuff. It also de-clouded the somewhat cynical viewpoint that Gormley is an artist obsessed with his own image, clearly not true, when you see his other work. Besides, if you are making work about the body then surely there is no place better, than starting ‘close-to-home’ and using yourself?

This was a really interesting artist talk, and whilst not full of the humour that I had previously experienced seeing artists like Grayson Perry and David Mac, it was incredibly articulate and sincere. I am also learning about the depth and the ‘how’ artists talk about their practice, and I think there is a fine balance to be achieved between the thinking behind one’s work and how it is then applied and interpreted. I now also understand and indeed will look/experience his work a little differently in future. There’s a post in there somewhere, on ‘artists’ talks’ that will be coming to a post near you soon!

 You can visit Gormley's installation, 'Field for the British Isles' at Barrington until the 27th August. Visit: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/barrington-court/ for more info.

Image from: http://www.theweek.co.uk/photos/46514/antony-gormleys-field-british-isles
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