Inspired by exhibition at The Jenner Museum May 2014

The proposal forms are now ready for circulation...
So if you would like to participate in this exciting exhibition, bringing together art and science, medicine and creativity, here is your chance.

The exhibition will be taking place in the first 2 weeks of May 2014, but proposals need to be in well before then.

For more information please contact me- by email or phone.

We hope to produce a really stimulating and dynamic response to his work in a beautiful Georgian rural setting·

sorry!

Sorry I haven't been keeping in touch these last couple of months- the usual excuses like Christmas, and now busy preparing for an assessment for my MA. I'll be uploading some photos from that very soon.

In the meantime, to whet your appetite here are a few...

My work has been based on an old dictionary, from 1936, that I found. I've been randomly opening pages to choose a word that attracts me, cutting it out, rolling it up and then creating a "chrysalis" round it in papier mache, using the rest of the page. Some I have skewered onto fish hooks as I make them, some are tied on to them later. They are then suspended from a net, crocheted from fine wire and fishing line, to be looked at from below. Are they trapped, or are they suspended? Is the word set free or concealed?

And why 81 of them? That's how many years ago my grandparents arrived in the UK, not really speaking English. Indeed they may have owned a dictionary like this one.

And that stringy thing? I've made crocheted "wasp nests" as a friend has described them, stuffed with bits of dictionary. Set fire to it (video as well!) then dip the charred remains in wax- to preserve, to seal, to contain. There is something very deep about looking into the inner sanctum of those sculptures- not quite sure how, but they profoundly move me.

And why language? Because it's all we have. It makes us human, but it is what divides us. Language is beautiful, both to hear and to look at its image, but can be cruel, fatal. By ripping up the words am I destroying them or creating new ways of expressing myself?

One of the pieces I'm working on is made up of pieces of dictionary page reformed so that the alphabet is no longer  in order. I then doodle, make grafitti, scribble, again, as my mind takes me, often when on the phone or listening to music so I am deliberately not really engaging with it. Fascinating what the mind picks out...

More on this next time!

2014

We already have an artist in residence booked for next year! Paul Dingley is going to be working and exhibiting the weekends of 5/6 and 12/13 April. We look forward to seeing what projects he is working on, as his artistic style develops. Always exciting, always very livable with, well worth visiting.

And in August 2014 Nicholas Jones will be exhibiting landscapes of the mind, in mixed media. Again, colourful, expressive and remarkably mature.

Next exhibition

We are really sorry that due to illness, Alison Kirby's exhibition, based on her new work created while in Greece, is to be postponed for a short time. Please watch this space as we will be hosting an exhibition as soon as she is well enough.

In the meantime, we don't want you missing out on a cultural experience up in the woods, so I have decided to show some of my work in progress, based on the contained and elemental.

This will be an installation in the gallery, that you can walk amongst, and if you wish to purchase any part of it, you're welcome to do so!

Looking forward to seeing you all 16/17 November!

Looking forward to weekend of 16-17 November

Alison Kirby, who has been in a beautiful, unspoiled part of Greece for a month, has been producing the most sensitive drawings and paintings which will first be shown at her solo exhibition at The Gallery at the End of the Lane on 16th-17th November.

We are so looking forward to having her exhibit and cannot impress enough on you how worthwhile it will be to come along and view her art.

Of course the usual teas & cakes will be for sale for charity in the caravan.

Some examples of her work will be put up in the next few days, so keep looking....

today's project

 Crocheted piping trim (from Freegle) & wire- limited in size because of how much trim I had- and massive crochet hook! Still quite hard work to get hook through as both piping and wire have no give.

Decided to be a pyromaniac again and set fire to it...
Hung it on bird table. Like the way the charring and wire contrast- and some of the wire started to go a little black..

 A section that didn't get burned....

 And now for the fun bit...

I love the way one item can look so different from alternative angles, using different photographic effects- and how an abstract piece of art can be created.


Videos won't upload.... sorry!

a picture in a frame

Interesting how framing something makes it "kosher", proper, real art. Why is this? Do we need the frame to give it value, credence?

I do like this though, in the box frame- space in front and round to breathe and yet kept safe. I guess I have to accept my art does need framing sometimes, if only to protect it so if survives a little longer...