And I said what about…

Breakfast at Tiffany’s!

I just returned from another visit to London, with some old school friends.  Whilst there we went to see Breakfast at Tiffany’s at the Royal Haymarket Theatre.  I thought it was a stunning perfomance, Anna Friel was superb as Miss Holly Golightly, nobody can say Audrey Hepburn is an easy act to follow, and the accent was spot on.  Oldham Theatre Workshop turns out some of the best actors.  The costumes were terrific and the acting was full of energy, the set was fairly minimal, but the famous silhouette of the New York skyline, set the scene perfectly.  I had never been to the Haymarket Theatre before, it is a lovely size and we had a great view, diffinately worth going to see.

The only thing that left me a little confused was that Anna Friel was blonde on stage, yet in the theatre programme and the famous movie Holly Golightly was a brunette!?

Blog City (Part 2)

Over the summer I have been splitting my time between various cities, juggling work/job hunting and work experience.  I recently spent a fair bit of time in London, doing some voluntary work in Community Arts.  I am lucky to have the opportunity to work with CoolTan Arts, an amazingly busy charity, based in Southwark.  The hub of the charity is an industrial unit behind Walworth rd, which has been transformed into an inspirational arts centre and gallery.  Every month CoolTan run the Largactyl Shuffle, a guided walk around London, that offers the chance to learn about the history of the city and mental health.   I am looking forward to working with them later this year, on some Christmas craft activities.

Alongside meeting lots of new people I have been exploring the capital and thought I would share some of the highlights of my visit.

Some interesting Architecture

This is a new development on Central St. Giles, not far from Covent garden Market.  I was tipped to visit this by my Dad, it is an unusual concept, designed by Renzo Piano, but I actually think the luminous colours work!?

This interesting structure is the Back of the Mile End art pavillion, which nestles underneath the hill.  Unfortunately the centre has not actually been open any time I have been past, but the building itself is worth a look.

Taking some time out, you would not think these images were from the ‘City’.

We found this beautiful creature at the side of th Serpentine after a lovely lunch at The Serpentine Bar and Kitchen.  I think the only thing that tells city birds apart from country birds, is how tame they are.

This is Isis, a new sculpture in Hyde Park, a more urban bird, it is better from the other side (as you can see in the link below), but this was taken from across the river.

“Isis, by Simon Gudgeon, represents the Egyptian goddess of motherhood, who could take the form of a bird”

I spent a lot of time with a friend of mine who works as a woodland educator, so I learnt a lot about the surrounding nature.  This is a Weeping Beech Tree in Victoria park, you can stand inside the branches, like a curtain.  The bumpy bit is because one tree would have been grafted onto another.

something we are working on…more to come later.

Whilst I was there I went to several different events.

I was lucky to get free tickets to See Peter Pan at Kensington Gardens, it is worth going just to experience the 360 degree scenery.  I have to say it was an unusual twist on the traditional story, but the atmosphere was terrific.

Finally, but by no means least…Interesting 2009!

It was  my first experience of the conference and I would deffinately go again.  As well as learning a lot, hearing a lot of, well interesting things and meeting lots of lovely and important people, it was great to see such a sense of community spirit.  I don’t think I am alone in presuming there is a lack of community in big cities.  People came to visit from all over, all contributing tea, biscuits, cakes and their own mug.  At the end of the conference, before heading to the pub, everyone pitched in to help clean up.  I also went to a stitch and bitch meeting, people of all ages, getting together, having food and sharing a hobby.  The amount of events like this has been a lovely surprise and I think are definitely what’s needed to take time out from the inveitable hectic city lifestyle.

This was one of my favourite presentations all about Guerilla Gardening, (now thats my kind of London)

It has been lovely to spend more than a day or two in the City and actually have quite a normal lifestyle.  In keeping with the theme, I just thought this was quite interesting…

Blog City (part 1)

In keeping with the Credit Crunch Summer trend, I seem to have seen a fair few cities of the UK over the past few weeks.  I could have written a post about each city, however I thought I would just share a few of the lovely sights.  This post is going to be pretty image heavy, so I will keep words to a minimum.

First a little trip home to Saddleworth, this is not a great photo, but anyone who has experienced the Rushcart event will know how colourful and extravagant the costumes can be.

Then a little camping holiday in York with my family, every morning we had breakfast with these little critters:

A little trip into the city, led us to the famous and magnificent York Cathedral.

Most evenings were spent here, apologies to Dan Germain for this image, however in my defense I was taking a picture of the tent and not the sunset!

Next up to Newcastle, for a friend’s wedding, it was my first visit to the City.  This is a beautiful old shopping arcade we wandered through, on the way to the Biscuit Factory an Arts Centre, which is well worth a visit.  An eclectic mix of art, a crafts shop and a lovely cafe.

After a lot of walking we gave into our throbbing feet (unrelated to dancing all night) and took the city metro back to town, all of a sudden it didn’t feel like we were in the UK anymore.

I then took a lengthy trip to the ‘Big Smoke’ but I have way too many images to fit in this post.

So finally I landed back in Manchester, I think this will always be my favourite city.

This is not very clear, but I came across this fantastic shop window display on Market Street, it was in fact hundreds of…

Traditional Singer sewing machines.

So that concludes part one of my UK tour, I have visited many places ‘on my doorstep’ I never have before and I have seen so many lovely sights, turns out a credit crunch summer is actually quite fun

What’s that you say…?

Another little trip I took after graduating was to visit a friend of mine, working as a forest school volunteer at  the Bishop’s Wood centre, in Worcester.  So here, better late than never is a little review of my day at Ecofest!  This was an open day at the centre, there was lots of activities to join in, relating to different ecological concerns, Emma ran an activity all about water.

You had to get the water from one well to another, without spilling a drop.

I went a fascinating talk about bees, from Brigit Strawbridge (seems an appropriate name), on the Big Green Bus who inspired us to create bee hotels.  We got lots of lovely freebies too.

The Big Green Bus

Everything was powered by bicycles

Lots of the activities and the entertainment…

we even had to pedal for our refreshments, this was great fun and encouraged everyone to be a little bit more active, it was definately an eye opener to learn just how much energy we can generate from a simple bike ride.

This is emma blending our smoothie.

After a lovely picnic lunch in the Willow maze:

We settled down for a story.  This was no ordinary story, first of all it was in a giant dome, secondly it was read by Katrice Horsley…

Katrice has worked all over the UK as a storyteller.  Her stories are performances that incorporate drama, dance and song. Everybody joined in with the actions, which were actually telling the story in sign language.  It was a fascinating experience and such a lovely atmosphere with everybody joining in.  I had such a wonderful day, it was great to see so much enthusiasm, especially from young children, to take care of the environment.  To top it all off, the sun shone all day

Just a little fungi i discovered on my walk around, for erm…fun!

You too can become a friend of Bishop’s Wood and hear about all their events here.

The Graduates

Phew well what a busy few months it has been.  In between handing in, graduating, job hunting and exhibiting at New Designers I did manage to get around a few of the other BA degree shows, admittedly to see the work of friends, but educational none the less.  New Designers was a fantastic experience, if you are thinking of applying to attend it is deffinately worth visiting.  Not only was the standard of work incredible but the displays and attitude of other students was very professional. Congratulations to Melissa Selmin, one of the designers from our course, who won the Graham & Brown award.

Ok first I headed up North to see the Leeds Metropolitan Universty Fine Art show.  There was a vast range of work on display, some deffinately more unusual than most, and the atmosphere on the opening night was terrific.  I was especially drawn to Cara’s paintings of derelict cow sheds.  Cara and I studied art together for many years, during school and foundation and have seen how her technique and style has become so beautifully refined.  The photographs do not do her work justice, I love the subtlety of the colours and how the lines just suggest the structure of the building.

Cara Campbell: Fine Art, Painting

This collection of paintings was also amazing, look closely can you see that the painting is layered up using a stencil of a human figure.

Laura Havenhand: Fine Art, Painting

Then it was back to my home city, to visit the Manchester Metropolitan, Textiles and Textiles for fashion show.  Absolutely outstanding quality of work, a diverse collection of textiles for the home and fashion.  The Manchester course deffinately make the most of access to more traditional techniques, such as industrial knit and weave.  However as always I find myself drawn to handcrafted work.

This was part of a wall length drop of hand cut paper landscapes, made into a light feature.  The attention to detail is incredibble, the work must have been incredibly time consuming.  I think there is potential in this style of work to suit a variety of disciplines, card-making, illustration, home furnishings…

As a complete contrast, the bright modern printed fabric by Amy Dagger, would suit many fashion retailers.  Developed from a series of watercolour paintings of make-up and flowers.

Amy Dagger: Textiles for Fashion

Finally it was back to Cardiff School of Art & Design to have a browse round the Fine Art on display at our Howard Gardens Campus.  I was particularly struck by these stone lithographs, I really like the contrast of the heavy black lines over the delicate pastel shades.  They seem quite mysterious.  I also love these little paper sculptures that were displayed in a little wooden, cobwebby box, mainly because I love paper and I love old trinkets and such.

Lianna Arnold: Along the Track, Stone Lithograph

Lovely little paper sculptures

I then took a little trip to London to visit the BA Graphic Communication lot at New Blood, you can see more about that on Tom’s blog, here.  They had a lovely inviting space, bold work to draw people to the space and smaller work to encourage people to really get involved.

Paper Creations

Just thought I would share this little gem.  Jade Peglar is a crafts artist from Australia, who works with paper and textiles to create delightful scultptures, some of which look like little creatures.  Jade Pegler spent time working as an artist in residence, this is something I would love to have the opportunity to do one day.  

This little character is part of a series called The Demonstrables.

Her work has a lovely organic appearance, the series ‘The Paper Garden,’ really inspired me during my degree show module.  I particularly enjoy working with natural materials and explored placing the objects I made within the natural environment.  The delicate texture of these paper sculptures is a beautiful contrast to the bark, the organic forms look as if they are part of the undergrowth.  

You will find all sorts of other lovely creations on the Spectrescope blog.

CTP 06-09

Well I can’t quite beleive it, but I have now completed and presented my Final Exhibition, this marks the end of Contemporary Textiles at UWIC, however eleven students get the fantastic opportunity to exhibit their work at New Designers, in London.  I was lucky enough to be selected, I am really excited to be showing and glad I get to continue my textiles journey and spend an exciting week, hopefully meeting lots of new people, in London with friends from the course.

The show was looking pretty good as we were ushered out of the studio at 5pm on the dot.  The course is split into two sections, students select to be either a designer or a maker, I selected the maker route.  The work produced shows such a variety of styles and techniques and reflects the diversity of the course.  I managed to get a few shots of the work, looking forward to a proper peruse at the official opening on Sat 13th June.  Llandaff Campus is home to Contemporary Textiles, Broadcast Media & Popular Culture and Graphics, you will find us tucked away in N-block.  Come along. 

 

In With the Old – ‘Mouldy’ sewing box from my collection.

 This is my work, made using handmade paper & felt, natural dye and free machine embroidery.  This was my 100 word rationale.

‘In with the Old’, is a visual representation of nature’s reaction to the haste with which we conduct our modern lives.  I have re-imagined a body of mould, which is beginning to consume the space, using handmade paper, felt, and natural dye.  Mould is the most natural form of recycling, and one of the most powerful organisms on the planet.  I aim to challenge the perception of mould as something toxic and undesirable, instead creating something of intrigue and beauty.  The work is applied to abandoned or found objects, revealing a possible consequence of relying on nature to take care of our wasteful actions.  

In With the Old

A view of all the objects in my collection and the laser tran wallpaper patterns.  Huge thanks to Tom Harle for his excellent carpentry skills, building this wonderful plinth (from scratch) complete with lino floor, beading and skirting boards.

This is Hannah’s work, a design collection inspired by the seaside, developed for home and outdoor furnishings.  

(Hannah’s work proved very popular at New Designers, attracting interest from several household names.  Just to be on the safe side  of copyrite issues, the images are temporarily being removed.)

 

Seaside Collection – Hannah Bragg 

Hannah worked on the designer side of the course.  This was one of the most attractive displays in the show for me.  I love the use of lovely bright colours, the fabric designs are fun and the collage pieces have a wonderful sense of nostalgia.  For me the most successful design collections were those who dared to be a little more unconventional.   

 

Seaside Collection (Printed Samples) – Hannah Bragg

This is Amanda’s work.

Berlin Suitcase (detail) – Amanda Joynes

Amanda is a maker like me, we have shared the same studio space for the past year.  Amanda’s final collection tells the fascinating story of her family in Germany, crossing the Berlin wall.  The piece actually incorporates items that belonged to her Mother and Grandmother.  It is a very evocative piece and aims to show the sense of loss felt by so many, during that period.  

Berlin Suitcase – Amanda Joynes

The great thing about this piece is it could be closed up and carried around, which Amanda did, to and from uni pretty much everyday.  The attention to detail on the little people and houses is incredible.  These photographs really do not do any of the work justice, but hopefully are an incentive to come and see the show. : )

Final Major Project

We have just short of two weeks to go before the big hand in, I cannot quite believe three years of uni are coming to an end.  It’s interesting to look back at how much my work has changed over last few modules, let alone over the full degree.  The main difference I have noticed in my own practice and that of other course members is the concern for the display of our work.  In first year we would slap work on the wall with double sided tape and hope for the best, this module has found me installing skirting boards and developing some wallpaper designs, something I never saw myself doing.  

I have developed the design from an ink and watercolour drawing I did, to resemble the microscopic structure of mould and the patterns of decay as it spreads across different surfaces.  My exhibition space is going to resemble a room, housing ‘mouldy’ furniture.  I have been fiddling around on Photoshop, not a program I am particularly confident using.  I hope to get about four lengths printed, that look as if mould patterns are creeping from the skirting boards and up the walls.  

 

One of the smaller designs I am working on.

Hello

I am a textile artist in my third year at Cardiff School of Art & Design.  I am currently preparing for my final degree show, so things will be pretty quiet for the next few weeks.  In the meantime here is a little sample of some of my recent work.  

Photography: George Wood

Photography: George Wood

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