An inspiring exhibition

Poster for a talk with West Street Potters in Farnham last month - with images from the exhibition.
There is a fascinating exhibition of pottery on at the Crafts Study Centre in Farnham.  I managed to visit today, not long before it comes to an end next week.
"This exhibition, curated by Professor Simon Olding and Professor Magdalene Odundo, is comprised of ceramics (with some textiles) from the important collection drawn together by Michael OBrien. The ceramics explore his deep and resourceful fascination with pots made in Africa, and most especially in Nigeria. In addition, the exhibition is used to encourage a critical reflection on OBrien’s own ceramics, which are less well known. We can see Africa in them, too."

Michael OBrian's dish above is not in the exhibition - image from here
Here is an illustrated list of the work in the exhibition.  I particularly like Michael OBrian's square dishes.

Unfortunately I did not take my camera with me, and the textiles in the show are not included in the list.  My favourite - and the most dramatic piece has been captured by Tim Parry Williams in his tweet on the exhibition, here (the pot below is also from the tweet).

The large pots from Nigeria have such a presence, and I also particularly liked their woven supports.  Have a look at pages 5 and 6 of the hand list pictures, and see the 'cushions' under the large pots.

Michael OBrian examining a teapot by Danlami Aliyu - image from here 
Interview with Michael OBrian here.

I found the exhibition inspiring, and perhaps has nudged the beginnings of an idea for a project.  Enough to give me something to think about, anyway.

Ceramic delights: two servings

Our exhibitions and landscape tour took us from Cumbria across first to York, and then to Norwich.  Two much admired women and one man were the reason: Frink in Norwich, but also in both destinations the two potters, Lucie Rie and Hans Coper.  My admiration for all three has been firm since forever, and increases as time goes by.

There is currently an exhibition of Lucie Rie's work at York Art Gallery.  Eirene's blog A Place Called Space has many photographs showing the exhibition.  The image above (from that blog post) shows a Lucie Rie bowl with a beautiful work, Portent, by Claire Curneen in the background.  She is also an artist whose work I have admired.  The added benefit of the York Art Gallery is that its collection of ceramics gives the opportunity to admire, enjoy, refresh, and introduce the pleasures of others' work as well as that of the main focus.  Gordon Baldwin's work was well represented too - see again Eirene's specific post on him.
While at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts in Norwich to see the Elisabeth Frink exhibition, I also made a point of seeking out the ceramics collection.  There is a large vitrine each for Lucie Rie 

(image from here)
and Hans Coper, 

(image from here)
and both vitrines full of such extraordinary pieces.
It has been a positive stimulating start to a new year, and I am raring to go on my own work.

Autumn art

As we enter the last month of Autumn I try to drink in the glory of leaves that are still around before the frosts blacken them and they drop to mulch.  Folks often prefer to have windows which face south to catch the warmth of the sun, but I love our north-facing windows showing the south-facing garden.  It's the light in the early morning and in the evening as it illuminates the leaves which I savour every day.  It takes but seconds to pay attention and drink it in, and it lifts the spirits immeasurably.

(image from here)
Nature does a pretty fabulous job, but also many artists cannot resist the temptation to take those leaves to a different level.

Christine Juillard (image from here)

Andy Goldsworthy (image from here where there are more works)

Lesley C. (images from here)

What I admire most about great Land Art is that it makes the observer look hard at the land at least as much as at the art.

Elaborate, joyous, outrageous, ...

are all adjectives applied to the ceramics of Angus Suttie.  There is an exhibition of his work on at present at the Crafts Study Centre in Farnham.  The exhibition originated at the Ruthin Crafts Centre which also produced a beautiful slim catalogue.

(image from here)
I am not a fan of the over-elaborate, of anything which I put into the category of encrusted, and so I was not eager, but simply curious to see the exhibition based on the quality normally found at the Crafts Study Centre.  I was so pleased that I made the effort, because although still not my favourite ceramics, there is something vitally compelling about the power in these pieces.  They are very obviously personal expressions of strong emotion.  At the very least teapots with attitude!
By taking a traditionally functional object and riffing on that theme, anthropomorphising it, stretching credibility, a cheeky joy is evoked, and even more, I found them thought-provoking.

Angus Suttie: Doodle plate (image from here)
Although I could feel the power of the brighter, elaborately coloured works, like the Doodle plate above, my preferred pieces were the 'duller' more sculptural ones made later in his short career, when AIDS had made an impact on his friends' and his lives.

Angus Suttie: Large Blue Form (image from here)
This piece above in the V&A collection appeals to me more - but I surprised myself by how drawn I was to the work as a whole.  This is not only the result of such a powerful expression of personality, but also the excellence of presentation.  A solo exhibition is a wondrous vehicle for examining an artist's work on their own terms.

(image from here)
I could not find images online of the pieces I responded to most in the exhibition - probably because the pieces in the show are mostly from Suttie's own collection.  But I found several examples which I think show his style.

(image from here)

(image from here)
Suttie also made ceramic rings - decorative knuckle dusters.  In the exhibition there is a photograph of dancer/choreographer Michael Clark wearing one.

(image from here)

The above and some more images can be found here.

Simply exquisite

I have not been to the Crafts Study Centre in a while and was just checking up on what is on there at present.  They hold designs, blocks, and printed samples by Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher, and my wanderings today found that Christopher Farr Cloth is reviving some of their designs.

Already a fan of his rugs, I now admire his choice of fabric designs.

All the images in this post are from the Christopher Farr Cloth website.

Barrels of delights

(image above from this article)
On the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park in London at present there is a floating pile of barrels, a Mastaba by Christo and Jean-Claude.  

The artists' work has intrigued me for many years, but I have never experienced one for real until now.  What a fun intervention, a thought-provoking piece of public art, a temporary delight, with elaboration in an exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery.

We arrived early, before the galleries opened in order to walk around the Serpentine before the heat and the crowds arrived.  People were already swimming, and of course the waterfowl were out in force, many with young.

When going round the exhibition, looking at Christo's seductive sketches: combined painting, mapping, photography, and his models, and his other works with barrels, I was struck by the symbolism of the barrel.  Not only the overwhelming image of the importance of oil, and transporting oil and other goods; but also I had a sudden vision of similar importance of amphorae transporting olive oil and fish sauce round the Roman empire.  And of course dear Diogenes! - how relevant he is these days.

Christo and Jean-Claude's great ambition has been to build a similar barrel Mastaba in Abu Dhabi, and I hope that not only is this achieved, but that for once it will remain a permanent piece of public art.  There is a scale model of this proposed Mastaba in the Serpentine exhibition, showing minuscule insignificant people at its base. (image above from here)
Christo and Jean-Claude's work has divided opinions, and this review is not favourable (although it does also contain a positive review of Tomma Abts' exhibition I wrote about in my last post).  I have always thought of the work as admirable: fun, thought-provoking, and cost-free to the public.  And I have always greatly admired the preparatory works which are sold to finance the projects.  

(image above from here)

That feeling of excitement

Peter Sacks: Report from the Besieged City 1 
I have been bumbling along, doing this and that, not having anything to write about, just moving forward day by day.  Not exactly doldrums, but not far off.  And then, just checking my list of galleries to try to propel myself out of this almost-stasis, I encountered excitement.

Peter Sacks: Outpost 2
The Marlborough Gallery in London is having an exhibition by Peter Sacks: Migrations.  His website is full of more inspiration for me, I hope, as I wander and read therein.

Peter Sacks: Aftermath 5
I have barely scratched the surface: this is me just bursting with enthusiasm.

Peter Sacks: Road to the Interior 5
All images in this post from Peter Sacks' website.

Wondrous Frink heads ... with one extra

I never tire of photographing Frink sculptures when I can, especially her figures - and most especially her heads.

These were snapped some years ago at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and on Salisbury Cathedral Green ...

where a young man decided that an extra head was necessary!

Back to the 3D thing

This week I went on a two day workshop on sculptural textiles with Debbie Lyddon at InStitches.  I have been following Debbie Lyddon's blog for some time and am intrigued by and attracted to her work and her methods.  When the opportunity arose to attend a workshop close to where I live - well, it would have been daft not to try it out.  Especially as I have this longterm background itch about doing something 3D-ish.

Debbie Lyddon: Auricle (detail) image from here
The two days worked really well.  The venue is great - a good space, well equipped, friendly, and generous folks.  The other participants provided such a broad range of input, and fun.  And Debbie herself is a great instructor, provider, and facilitator - as well as being great fun.  Obviously I had a great time!

But it was a productive time too.  I think that maybe this time I have come closer to what might suit my needs.  On this workshop I actually made a more or less complete piece of work.  Usually my intention is to make samples to remind me of techniques, but this time I was moved to try to marry one technique - stiffened pleats - with some element which would make the piece mine.

Wax as a surface, a material, an idea has long held an allure for me, reinforced by an excellent Experimental Batik on Paper workshop I attended some ten years ago or so at West Dean with Hetty van Boekhout (the course is on this year too).  It was the wax element of the Debbie Lyddon workshop that was initially what interested me the most.  And the sample I made for myself has ignited even more enthusiasm.

A piece of muslin was stiffened overnight with a coat of emulsion paint.  On that I stitched (using an awl to make the holes before threading the needle through) quite a thick slippery, disobedient but scrummilly beautiful space dyed thread round an outline.  Ironing wax all over this gave a fabulous feel to an even stiffer cloth, flattened the thread into the fabric, filled out the awl holes, ... gave me something very exciting.
So much to bubble away on my back burner now!  Even though I did say a couple of posts ago that I enjoy thinking, I do also enjoy trying things out.  As Andreas Gursky the photographer said in the Guardian newspaper yesterday: 'As I'm always telling my students: you won't get anywhere sitting at a table thinking.  You learn by doing.  And even if you do something wrong, the result may be much more interesting than what you went looking for.'

Treasure

Today I have been wandering through the ArtUk site, gazing at the wealth of content, working from the artists.  These are paintings in public collections in the UK, and can be seen - well, not all are actually on display, but the theory is that by contacting the institution a viewing can be arranged.

Anne Redpath: Terraced fields, Gran Canaria (image from here)
I wanted to reacquaint myself with old favourites, as for example Anne Redpath.

Anne Redpath: Landscape at Kyleakin (image from here)
I love her use of colour; three of the paintings in the public collections particularly catching my attention today.  I was taken with the transition from the deep reds of Gran Canaria through the reds, greys, and whites of Kyleakin to the whites and greys with scant but essential red of the still life below.

Anne Redpath: Grey Still Life, The Venetian Blind (image from here)
How wondrous to include a venetian blind!  I cannot off the top of my head think of another still life with such dynamic horizontals, translucent, arising from what might otherwise be thought a boring object.  Doubly delightful after having seen this image for the first time is the discovery that it is held in the collection of the Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal, Cumbria - a favourite destination of ours when we are up in the North West of England, or on our way to Scotland.  So I hope to be able to see the painting for real some day.

The Herring Girl

It was raining, my knees had had enough, and I was making my way to the car when a woman caught my eye.  Such a beauty - I had to have a closer look.

We were in Stornoway - our first visit and a fleeting one.  I had noticed a few sculptures around, but it was a sheer delight to encounter this one.  The plaque said that she is a Herring Girl, by Charles Engerbresten and Virginia Hutchison.   I just love the attention to exquisite detail, the basket, the knitwear, the fish.  The makers worked with local craftspeople to recreate them, and the sculpture was cast from life. 

(After we had left the town I discovered that there is another Herring Girl in another car park - something to look forward to seeing on our next visit.)  The herring industry was an important one for Scotland and the women played a vital part.  I had heard of them previously in connection with the North East coast of Scotland, but had never seen any commemoration as beautiful as this. 

In beginning research for the links here I found the ceramic work of Katie Scarlett Howard.

Her researches, and her work, with the impact which the sculpture in Stornoway made on me, have inspired me.