DE-CLUTTER DAD

My friend Harriet's Dad is having a bit of a sort out.....

STREET ART

My great friend Rikki has curated a brilliant exhibition on street art which is currently on show at the Black Rat Projects Gallery in Shoreditch, all the prints are from the V&A' s collection and show the breadth and diversity of street art being produced at the moment. Rikki has also edited a fab book to accompany the exhibition which you can get here.

Anthony McCall

Went and saw these amazing light works by Anthony McCall today, probably the best exhibition I have seen for a long time. Currently on show at P3 until 27 March, I really recommend going if you can.

INTERVIEW: SIOUX BRADSHAW

I fell in love with illustrator Sioux Bradshaw's little books about art (a bargain at £3 each) and cartoon strips while browsing in the bookartbookshop in Hoxton, as they made me laugh out loud. Sioux started producing these tiny books on artists and life 5 years ago, while she was studying for her degree in Illustration and was so aggrieved that art students had to write a dissertation, she decided to illustrate it with cartoon strips about fine art appropriation. These were later published by Private Eye and she has since gone on to become Private Eye's literary psychologist (although I'm not quite sure what that is). She says about her work: 'I do whatever pops into my head – mostly it’s been art, sex and cats'... Sounds like a winning combination to me.


What are you working on? 
I’m getting work ready for an exhibition at the bookartbookshop, on February 18, it’s a series of monoprints called ‘Postcards from the M25’. It’s thoughts I’ve had on the motorway (I can’t actually drive).

What attracted you to self-publishing?
I’ve always wanted to write a novel but am by nature lazy, so was really happy when I was shown how to make a 8 page fold book, even I can do 8 pages.

What was your proudest moment? 
After I graduated I made a book called ‘Where’s My Dictator’ to send to art directors. I got a two page review in the New Statesman by the editor David Gibbons, and Noam Cholmsky said it was ‘sadly relevant’ – I was just trying to get illustration work.

What or who has been your biggest influence?
I think walking into the bookartbookshop; for me it was like walking into my ideal living room. Both Tanya and Kelly (who run the bookartbookshop) have been enormously supportive, have never found me strange and often give me cake.

What inspires you?
Fecundity, I like people who can’t help creating, I’m not actually very concerned about quality, I like the abundant overspill of creativity.

What was the last thing you saw that made you go wow?          
‘Fela’ at the National, was extraordinary, heart racing, provoking and distressing.

What makes you happy?  
People often don’t like squirrels or pigeons but I like seeing urban animals succeed –  I like to watch them act cocky and pull girls.

What’s the best advice someone’s ever given you?
The cartoonist Martin Rowson told me ‘It’s s’posed to be fun’ so if I’m ever complaining I remember that.

What advice would you give to someone who is starting out?
Begin!

What’s next?
I’ve written a teen novel and am illustrating it at the moment.

INTERESTING STUFF I SAW AT.......

........ Tate Modern today:

Susumu Koshimizu's From Surface to Surface, 1971

Hiroshi Sugimoto's Winnetika Drive-in, Paramount and Rosecrans Drive-in, Paramount, 1993 - these photos of American drive-ins are taken using very long exposures that last exactly the duration of the film, so that all that remains is a glowing blank screen.

Subway, a series by Bruce Dickenson taken in 1980 on the New York subway.

all works © the artist

INTERVIEW: CAITLIN JENKINS

  I first met Caitlin Jenkins over 15 years ago in Cardiff where we were both studying for our Ceramics degrees. It was immediately clear that she was a cut above the rest of us. Throwing pots is not easy, and while most of us on the course struggled to make an ashtray, Caitlin was gracefully turning out the most beautiful pots, making it look effortless, and we were all in awe of her talent. We weren't surprised, then, to find out that Caitlin was an eighth generation potter and her family had been running Ewenny Pottery, famous for it's distinctive blue and brown mottled glaze, since the 17th century.

She is one of the most creative people I know, and since our days in Cardiff Art College she has gone on to get an MA from the Royal College of Art, with her work now in many public collections around the country. Having taken over running the pottery full-time from her father, not only does she continue to throw the traditional tableware Ewenny is famous for, she also finds time to make the most amazing (and huge) sculptural pots, decorated with delicately coloured slips (liquid clay) which she draws or mono-prints onto and are inspired by the stunning countryside she lives in.


What are you currently working on?

At the moment I am working on a couple of commissions both very different in look and feel. A newly married couple have commissioned me to make a dinner service inspired by Ewenny’s traditional slip ware decoration ‘sgraffitto’. And I am making some custom-made creamy-white cawl bowls and jugs for an internet company which sells contemporary Welsh crafts.

What attracted you to ceramics?
My family have been making pottery for hundreds of years; I loved art and making things whilst growing up so it just seemed natural for me to become a potter.

What has been your career path?
I was taught to throw by my father and spent most of my childhood practising the craft in the pottery along-side him. I studied Ceramics at Cardiff College of Art 1995–8 and the Royal College of Art 2001–3. I continue to work at Ewenny Pottery making our traditional ware we sell in our shop and my contemporary work I exhibit across Wales. 


What has been your proudest moment? 

I feel a sense of privilege and pride being the eighth generation potter of the Jenkins family of Ewenny. The Jenkins’s married into a pottery family called the Morgan’s and folklore tells us they had been making pots in our pottery since 1610. This means our family have been potting in the same pottery for 400 years in 2010. I am honoured to be continuing the family craft.
I had lots of things planned to celebrate the 400th anniversary, which included the making of some commemorative pots, but family history got in the way and I gave birth to twin boys in early July!

What or who has been your biggest influence?
My biggest influence has to be my father he has taught me my craft, how to run our business and how not to run our business!

What is the last thing you saw that made you go wow? 

I saw Ai Weiwei vast sculpture ‘Sunflower Seeds’ featured on the Culture Show a few months back and I was awestruck.

What makes you happy?
Creativity.

What's the best advice someone has ever given you?

'Keep two legs in one stocking' said my Grandmother.  I didn’t listen and have ended up with twins!

What advice would you give someone who is just starting out as a designer or maker?

Work hard, listen to your heart but make sure you can make a few things that are affordable.

What's next?
I would like to throw some large and voluminous pans; I am often inspired by old utilitarian objects.  The plan is to enter them into this year’s National Eisteddfod Art and Craft Competition but the closing date is 14th February so I better get my wheel into gear!

REVERTING TO TYPE

We saw this exhibition today at the Standpoint Gallery in Hoxton, it is on until 22 January and it is well worth checking out if you are in the area. It features 20 international letter press practitioners and there are some very desirable prints on show.... but my favorite had to be the Tutti Frutti one below...

Reverting to Type from Lima Charlie on Vimeo.

all works © the artist

TATE B

We live only a 10 minute walk from Tate Britain, so it is my default 'need escape from the house' place to go. About 1 hour before closing is the best time to be there as it so quiet and sleepy you can potter around undisturbed; the total opposite to the hyper frenzied experience of Tate Modern. At the moment they are waiting to do the major new rehang and in preparation have cleared all the art out of 5 or 6 of the main galleries. It is so unusual to get to wander round empty galleries and it makes you appreciate what beautiful spaces they are – plus it really adds to the peaceful chilled out atmosphere (perfect when you need to do some serious thinking!).

Portraits #2

I'm not sure why but I rarely take photos with any people in them, however I have recently been trying to change my ways and one of my (many) New Years resolutions for 2011 will be to finally take some proper portraits. I am feeling particularly inspired having recently seen these stunning photos in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize ......

From the top, left to right: 
Winner: David Chancellor, Huntress with Buck, 2010 
Spencer Murphy, Laurie, 2010
Marcia Michael, The Study of Kin, 2010
Amy Helene Johansson, Unsafe Journey, 2009


All photos © the artist

INTERVIEW: JENNIE SAVAGE

Top: Jennie at work! (photo: Bryony Dawkes); above: installation shot of the sound piece A Walk from A–Z, which you can listen to here.


Jennie Savage is a conceptual artist who creates site-specific installations, public events, interventions and audio or video pieces that explore the place between public spaces, town planning, constructed landscapes and the personal narratives connected to those sites. Often employing a process that uses archiving and intervention. she seeks to map the other life of a place or community in order to reveal a complex situation, a micro- structure or simply an unheard voice. She has published two books: Depending on Time in 2009 and STAR: A Psycho topography of Place in 2006, and has had major exhibitions in the UK, Mexico, Australia, Morroco and Canada.


What are you currently working on?
I have just finished making an animated film in collaboration with James Tyson and am now preparing for an exhibition which opens in February 2011. The show is called 'Fables From A New World' and through it I am trying to explore the narratives that we have inherited from the birth of modernism and deconstruct how these narratives frame our world. I am particularly interested in the way that science over wrote religion but in many ways we imbue it with the same power.... this is what is says in the press release: 'to explore the undercurrents and issues beneath the surface of Victorian Britain during a time when we were becoming modern: science as a belief system, the museum as an institution, the decline of oral culture, the industrial revolution, the beginnings of rationalisation, the birth of consumerism - all in the shadow of Darwin, uncertainty and anxiety. Through object, text, audio and moving image we are invited to question our perception and understanding of the world and the stories we have inherited.'

I am making this project as part of the Art Share scheme at the National Museum Wales and Oriel Davis, a lovely gallery in Newtown Powys. The premise of the collaboration is to use the museums collection and so the exhibition is based on the work of artist and collector TH Thomas.
 
What attracted you to becoming an artist? 
I don't know really. I have always been quite a passionate person and care deeply about certain issues. I think I found being an artist the most freeing way to persue my interests and work across disciplines, collaborating with other people and making things happen that I care about and feel that I can maybe shed a different light on. Many of my projects are socially proactive and I am primarily working site-specifically. I am exploring the root causes of who we are today and how we have become who we are in relation to the actual realities of our day-to-day lives.

What has been your career path? 
After I finished my MA I had various part-time jobs and carried on making work. Gradually the projects built up until I was able to go full-time as an artist – although I still teach at a few art colleges, which I really enjoy.

What has been your proudest moment? 
The whole STAR Radio project was absolutely amazing from a personal point of view and I still look back and wonder how it all happened. I was really proud of the energy that the project created and the number of people who took ownership over it and got involved – I think be the end we had had about 500 people through the doors doing something.

What or who has been your biggest influence? What or who inspires you? 
I am most inspired by litrature, novels, books and always have something on the go. Although I enjoy seeing art it almost feels to close to be inspiring. Whereas a good book, whether it is a novel, theory or more specific interest I always feel excited to feel that I am learning more.

What's the best advice someone has ever given you? 
If a jobs worth doing its worth doing well. (my mum)

What advice would you give someone who is just starting out as an artist?
Be ambitious and proactive and don't wait to be chosen. I think being an artist can be really dis-empowering in some respects as you are always waiting for somebody to notice what you are doing. Don't. Do your own thing, work with friends and make your own thing happen.....If you have a huge idea, try to realise it...it might take years but at least you will feel empowered. Do stuff for free to a point... but also when you have a bit of experience, expect to be paid. If you are contributing something to the 'cultural economy' why should you work for free? Value what you do!

The exhibition Fables from a New World: The Life and Times of TH Thomas as Imagined by Jennie Savage will run from 5 February to 6 April 2011 at Oriel Davies, Newton Powys.

MICHAEL CRAIG-MARTIN'S NEW CROSS UTOPIA

An inspiring talk today with the artist Michael Craig-Martin. What came across most was his passion for good arts teaching and I really wish he'd been my tutor! He spoke a great deal about teaching the YBA's (Damien Hirst, Fiona Rae, Sarah Lucas, Anya Gallaccio, Gary Hume, Simon Patterson, Sam Taylor-Wood etc) at Goldsmiths' College during the late 1980's and it sounded like an such an amazingly fertile environment.

During that time the fine art undergraduates were all located in one building, with no departments and no actual structured teaching, but they did have was access to over 20 visiting professional artists/tutors. Students were free to work in any discipline they wanted to and could requests tutorials with any of the artists, as and when they needed it. He said that the students who went on to become successful artists, like Damien Hirst, would probably have had 3 of these tutorials every week for 3 years! it is mind boggling to think of a student having that much contact and guidance from established artists. The art college I went to was ok but you would have been lucky if you had tutorials more than twice a term! No wonder Goldsmith's produced 20 Turner Prize nominees from that period.

It is sad that it now seems impossible for such a place to even exist in the current climate of cuts, form filling and the reduction in teaching staff.