So ...... talking to you again has been on so many of my to-do lists !!! but hey ho ... I got there in the end !!! So what have I been up to since March the 6th ??? !!!!! Well the biggest and most exciting thing that's happened since I last sat down to chat to you (apart from my youngest fur baby finally having his cone of shame removed after a fight with a police car !!) is that I have had the honour of being accepted into Design Nation ... For anyone who has not yet come across Design Nation .... this is how they introduce and explain themselves ... 'Design Nation is a portfolio of some of the most acclaimed and innovative designers and craftspeople from across the UK' ... (http://designnation.co.uk/) NOW you can see why I am so excited to be part of this amazing organisation ! So ... what a great time to join Design Nation as next week we set up 'Time-Lapse' at the Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro. We will be open to the public from 17th of May until 25th of July 2021 Photo above taken from the Design Nation homepage (thanks guys) A little glimpse of some of my pieces being installed next week ...Covid 19 Stuck in a boat, Stuck in a boatyard, Stuck in Gweek, Stuck in Cornwall ... ... (and the sun shone) We were the lucky ones ... locking down, in what (we think) is the most beautiful place in the world. Living in a bubble. Living to avoid the lurgy Normally ... I live in my boat, I walk my dogs, I go to my studio, I socialise with people in a safe cyber world of artists and makers ... (and my mum on the phone) Now I physically talk to more physical people ... Those ... who like us ... were ... Stuck in their boats, Stuck in this boatyard, Stuck in Cornwall. This boatyard of people ... who guiltily confessed ... in hushed tones ... of actually rather enjoying this new locked down world of staying at home. And my work ?? Well it's still being made from discarded objects found in the same boatyard as before lockdown .... ... (and the sun shone) I am very honoured to be exhibiting alongside fellow Design Nation members .... Abigail Brown, Alison Brown, Bridget Macklin, Fiona Sperryn, Lucy Spink, Maria Andrews, Maxine Greer and Susan Kinley (click on the Artists name below to see more about them and their work ...) In 2020, during the peace of the first lockdown, I became increasingly concerned by how far-removed from nature humans have become. The pandemic has distracted attention from the climate change crisis that we are already experiencing. “Ghost Fishing” highlights industrial fishing techniques and world-wide overflow of detritus and flotsam. Washed up sea twine is twisted into hand-made braid and hooked with porcelain fish. Ovid wrote ‘Where belief is painful we are slow to believe.’ We need to cherish our beautiful planet and it's extraordinary inhabitants. Every piece of work begins with a blank canvas of pure white porcelain representing beauty, value and fragility. Into this she mixes other materials. Sometimes these are raw clays which she finds whilst walking. These interact with the porcelain to build strata of colour where the only limit to interpreting the finer detail is the viewer’s imagination. Fiona Sperryn hand weaves unique tapestry-style artwork. She enjoys the physical interactions of the creative process, from textural mark-making outdoors to hand finishing the woven cloth in her studio in Cornwall on the edge of Bodmin Moor. She draws inspiration from her environment and a love of weave structure. Cornish based jeweller Lucy Spink places a high value on nature and its fundamental influence on the human condition. Combining traditional jewellery techniques and thought-provoking contemporary design with the influence of her fine art education, Lucy hopes to draw wearers of her work into looking at and engaging more deeply with the landscapes we live in, seeing nature in more detail and with greater awareness and compassion. Maria Andrews is concerned with our personal journeys which can bring joy and pain, beauty and ugliness as we navigate life. She explores this in her collections through how they are reflected and echo in the natural world. Working primarily from precious metals she incorporates other materials such as found natural objects, wax and copper. Maxine Greer is an artist based in Cornwall who creates thought provoking installations, animations and drawings. Maxine coordinates and delivers public engagement projects in a variety of community settings including garden sheds, schools and fields. Susan Kinley makes artworks and installations that cross boundaries of disciplines, materials and processes, responding to particular places across time. Her starting points are often ancient archaeological sites, and works in glass, enamels and Japanese papers mirror both the wider landscape and close up surface details, with changes of viewpoints. So ... I have lots more exciting news but I'm going to be a mean-y and keep it to myself for the moment as I've given you lots to have a look at and think about !!
Wish us luck setting up and even better pop into the museum and have a look at what promises to be a really exciting and thought provoking show ... Till next time lovely people and as usual I couldn't leave you without a picture of a helping (yet distracting) fur baby xx
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