Summer Exhibition

My entry form for the 2011 Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition is winging it's way to the metropolis as I type so I thought I'd share the two pieces of work I've submitted this year.

Possessed by My Own Shadow

First up is a piece of work I made earlier this year for a local exhibition organised by the Fenland Visual Arts Collective and the Fenland Arts Association.
I'm a journaler, well, nowadays I'm more of an art journaler, but I've kept journals in various guises for most of my adult life.  I kept written journals for years and never throw them out.  I've burnt them, altered them, added to them and worked over them but never got rid of them.  I rarely look at them, my purpose in writing was, and still is, to release feelings, to get stuff out of my head to free up space, to purge, to rant, to ramble.  Recently while pottering about the studio waiting for inspiration to swoop in and slap me into action I came across a stack of old journals in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet.  I flicked through a few of them, they were from a time when I was in an intense, stressful situation that was very much out of my control.  It was a difficult and distressing time for me and the words are very uncomfortable to read even now.  Shadows from that time still fall across me periodically, the experience shaped a part of who I am now.

An on the spot decision to use my old journals in a piece of work found me tearing pages from the A5 books in a manner bordering on frenzied!  ;oD  It was oddly satisfying to deconstruct and repurpose my journals into this piece of work.  I wanted them to be tighly held in a vessel, open but inaccessible, visible but indiscernible words.  The box is vintage, it was used by my former neighbour to house things he used for fretwork.  I love knowing it's provenance, knowing the lovely gentlemen it belonged to and, in my mind's eye, I can see him at work with it sat beside his tools and materials on the workbench.

The cord tied around the box is stretched video tape.  My work over the last year has featured alot of video tape and I continue to be excited and surprised by my experiments with it.  I have been exploring the properties of stretched video tape and have another piece under construction at the moment using it.

I've exhibited the piece a couple of times since I made it and it has elicited some varied responses ranging from outright puzzlement to complete connection.  Job done.  ;o)   

The Internal Lexicon      

My second piece I made specifically to submit to the RA Summer Exhibition.

This is one of those pieces that started off in my mind as something completely disparate to the eventual finished piece!  ;o)  I love the evolution of my work.  Contrary to what some people might think, it doesn't bother me when a piece becomes so utterly different from how I had initially planned, quite the opposite to be honest, it feels right, it feels like my mojo is home to roost, it feels like I'm doing what I was put on this earth to do.  ;o)  

My mind is usually fit to burst with words and phrases and, added to that, I am of the ilk that when I lay my head on the pillow of a night time my brain instantly clicks into overdrive and off I go on a jaunt through every whole and half formed thought, phrase and word lurking in the darkest corners of my mind!  I wanted to construct a piece which reflected this in some way.  All the words were written on the spur of the moment, just a stream of consciousness with no rhyme or reason.

I read a book recently which mentioned the phrase "internal lexicon"  and it seemed to fit this piece perfectly.

The piece is constructed from a pliable metal mesh and roughly 150 food bag ties. 

All I have to do now is wait...

All images courtesy of Rob Morris. 

2010 Review

So, here for your edification is some edited (be very pleased about that!) highlights from my 2010...

In January I was very excited to exhibit two pieces of work, Tragedy and Every Possible Mistake, at The Forum in Norwich in their exhibition, Man and the Environment.  To add to the excitement my work was used on some of the publicity!

Me, viewing a giant sized poster featuring my piece, Tragedy.

In February, I became an internationally exhibited artist when I had three assemblage pieces exhibited in Putting-It-All-Together: Collage, Montage and Assemblage at Climate/Gallery in New York. 


Separate Burden, one of the pieces exhibited in New York

 During March I unleashed Real Maz on the world briefly!  ;oD  I went to see The Rocky Horror Show at Cambridge Corn Exchange, which afforded me the opportunity to wear my much beloved corset, ridiculously frilly skirt and back laced thigh boots!  Bloody fantastic!

The outfit!  Image by Rob Morris

In April, my friend, Katherine, and I had a fun filled day at Deepdale Farm in Norfolk taking part in their Scrap Heap Art Challenge, part of the North Norfolk Earth Day celebrations.  The idea was that each artist(s) had to make a piece of art from a pile of junk and recyclable materials.  The sun shone down on us and everyone there had a great day of creativity.

Screwdriver at the ready, pondering the job in hand...

In May, I was absolutely thrilled to exhibit in Out Yer Tree, a contemporary outdoor art exhibition, at Lickey Hills Country Park near Birmingham.  I had become enamoured with video tape in the months leading up to the exhibition and it was the perfect opportunity to try the material in an outdoor arena.  I was really excited to install the work, Suspended re:Purpose, and quite moved to see it in situ.  I was very fortunate to exhibit with Out Yer Tree again in August where I also had pieces using cassette tape.

Me with Suspended re:Purpose at Lickey Hills

In June, a group of artists including myself completed a community project for Chatteris In Bloom, painting a huge mural populated by vintage movie stars in a marketplace setting, to improve the frontage of a local disused building.  It was a great project to be involved with and, for myself, quite challenging as painting figures isn't really my bag.  I'm brilliant at stripes though!  lol

In front of the completed mural, artists Richard Savage, me, Yvonne Welsh and Heather Kinnear

In the summer of 2009 I took my grade 4 piano exam and failed by 5 points.  In July this year, following relentless scales and exam practice, I retook the exam and passed with 7 marks to spare much to mine and my piano teacher's surprise! 

Detail of Relentless Anthem from my Washed Up series

This August saw me taking part in the Fenland Visual Arts Collective (of which I am Vice Chair) Summer Open Studios event.  I shared the studio of my friend Rob and we had a lovely week welcoming visitors, working and stuffing ourselves with my home made rock cakes!  ;oD

Part of my display at Open Studios

In September, my lovely daughter and I started visiting wide flung parts of the UK to give the once over to a variety of prospective universities, we had some fabulously fun road trips and some delightful multiple circuits of some towns and cities whilst we were "temporarily unsure of our whereabouts"!  lol

She won't thank me for sharing her Christmas morning bed hair with the world!

October saw me taking on a completely new challenge by making my directorial debut with the autumn production for MADAOS.  I had long wanted to put on a 1940s revue style show and this was my opportunity.  During the rehearsal period of eight weeks for Pack Up Your Troubles there was lots of challenges to be faced but overall it was a fantastic experience and one I'd love to repeat... I think!  ;oD

Backstage fun!

In November, I started blipping!  It's a fun thing to do and I've enjoyed sharing random photos from my everyday life as well as seeing the photos of other's lives. 

One of my favourite blips so far

This month I heard that I have had a piece, A Deeper Incision, accepted for an assemblage exhibition, Spare Parts, at the Renaissance Centre in Tennessee in February.  ;o)  I'm delighted to be exhibiting in the US again, now I just need the funds to jet my piece over and deliver it in person!  ;o)

Detail of A Deeper Incision

I'm very excited for what 2011 has in store, I love New Year, new beginnings, fresh slate, new FOCUS, new opportunities, ideas aplenty!  Bring it on!  ;oD

Happy New Year to everyone!

Things I'm NOT going to do at life class in 2011!

In my quest to improve my skills as an artist I will continue to go to life class in 2011 but changes are afoot...

I am not going to say "I can't do this!"

I am not going to huff and puff and tut when things don't go according to plan

I am not going to say "I can't draw feet/hands/faces"

I am not going to take different papers and not use them because I don't want to spoil them

I am not going to take different media and not use them because I think I will make a hash of it 

I am not going to scribble ideas in my life class books and then forget where they are!

I am also not going to compare myself to the other artists in the class such as Ric and Neil.

Wish me luck!  ;oD

Who the hell is looking anyway??

Art journal spread

Advent-urous Artists Day 24

Day 24 is upon us and our Advent-urous blogathon has drawn to a close.  It's been fun and good practice to post on a daily basis, I am very good at slacking off in the blog department so enforced daily posting has done me alot of good.  ;o)  I am planning to try and keep the momentum and blog on...

This evening Michael Nobbs' Get Your Important Work Done dropped into my Inbox.  In it he talks about looking back at your achievements for 2010 and I have found time inbetween Christmas Eve preparations to have a little think about what I have achieved this year.  I started off thinking "well, it hasn't been a rip roaringly successful year" but one thought led to another and I have something of a list now.  ;o)  I shall be blogging about it in more detail over the Christmas period but I would encourage you all to look back and celebrate your achievements, however big or small.  Big it up, people, we all rock!  ;o) 

Wishing you all a warm and peaceful Christmas!

See Rob and Ric's last Advent-urous Artists blog posts too.

Advent-urous Artists Day 22 & 23

Oops, I did it again.... so, another double whammy for you!  ;o)

I have a love of cemeteries.  ;o)  I think it began when, in my late teens, I began researching my family history and investigations led me to a cemetery or two!  Even when they are in the centre of busy towns and cities they are still places of tranquility and havens of wildlife.  On holiday in Scotland earlier this year we came across a tiny remote village cemetery which had beautiful huge headstones but had suffered in storms with lots of trees coming down and breaking headstones and tombs.  None of the trees had been cleared at the time either.

On a completely different subject, books....

My library book shelf

I love to read, I love books.  ;o)  This year I have been trying to read more, particularly more fiction as I tend to read alot of biographies (nothing wrong with that but I just want to expand my literary horizons) and I wanted to beat my orevious best total of books read ~ a very poor 24!  I dip in and out of alot of books but I only include books that I've read (or listened to) cover to cover.  I just hit book 26 of 2010 and look set to get to 28 by the end of the year.  ;o)  It's not about racking up a huge number, it's just about feeding the well and keeping count is just something fun to do.  For the record, the 26 books to date are:

• Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam by MC Beaton
• Panic Snap by Laura Reese
• The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
• Notes from an Exhibition by Patrick Gale
• Topping from Below by Laura Reese
• Confessions of a London Spank Daddy by Peter Smith
• For One More Day by Mitch Albom
• Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell by MC Beaton
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• All Balls and Glitter by Craig Revel Horwood
• The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
• Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren Groff
• Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill
• Rabbit Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington
• Anything Goes by John Barrowman
• Varjak Paw by SJ Said
• Cocktail Time by PG Wodehouse
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
• Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
• Spanked by Richard Savage, Cara Bristol & Starla Kaye
• Last of the Few by Max Arthur
• Predator's Gold by Philip Reeve
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
• The To Do List by Mike Gayle

I recently read this blog post about reading a book a week and I read the last book on the list in 9 days by enjoying reading time first thing after breakfast every morning.  :o)  Very much looking forward to a good year of reading in 2011.  Feel free to give me some book recommendations to add to my "to read" list!  ;o)

Advent-urous Artists Day 20 and 21

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that I didn't post yesterday so it's a double whammy today! 



Life drawing by Richard Savage

Occasionally I stand in (although I much prefer sitting or reclining!) at life class when the models can't make it or are snowed in as was the case with last night!  It's a surreal experience at times...there I am, on the other side of the drawing board, in front of friends I know well, in the buff with just a wisp of fabric between me and my dignity... my thoughts, while modelling, range from "what's on my to do list for tomorrow?" to "why the fuck am I doing this?" and everything in between!  It all smacks of a serious split personality defect as I whack between feeling empowered and liberated to feeling fat, hideous and a waste of any ink/paint/pencil/pastel expended in drawing me!  Weird.  Overall, I enjoy it though and try to squash the negative, insecure shit swimming through my mind.

Moving on...lists!  I'm an inveterate list maker.  Some folk who know me will be surprised to hear that I used to put "organised" on my CV and job application forms.  Honestly, I did!  I don't when I became the rather less organised individual that I am now.  So, lists are important to me, very important.  I make lists on my phone, on scrap paper, envelopes, serviettes, in Word documents, in art journals, you name it I've probably made a list on it!  Does it help?  Well, yes, my head is so crammed full of stuff that I forget things all the time but if it's on a list it's out of my head and made real.  ;o)  The spiral bound journal you can see in the photo is a journal I began on my birthday earlier this year, all the lists in it have 44 items on them (I was 44 this year, go figure!) and are many and various, some useful, some thoughtful, some ridiculous.  The hand written list is my ongoing pre-Christmas to do list, it's nearing the end of it's useful life and will probably be replaced tomorrow with a brand spanking new version!  Lists in art journals are often work related or, as in the glimpse of the one above, self exploratory.  In addition I also love using mind maps, both on paper and with some software I have.  Life with lists.... ;o)
 

Advent-urous Artists Day 19

Image by Ellie Savill

My daughter, Eleanor, is a talented young thing!  Yes, I'm completely biased and I make no apology for that!  Yesterday she performed with Noted, the St John Fisher Catholic High School Choir, alongside the Gildenburgh Choir at their Christmas concert at  St Andrews Church, Netherton, Peterborough.  This afternoon she was at dress rehearsal as techie for The Steph & Luci Christmas Spectacular at March Town Hall.  Tomorow we will be singing together with MADAOS at the Wisbech Christmas Market.  Ellie has decided to have a gap year after she finishes her A levels next summer and it will be excellent to have her at home for an extra year before she goes off to uni to follow her passion and study technical theatre.  The photo above was taken and manipulated by her.  She has many, many talents and, if you hadn't already realised, I am very proud of her and love her very much.  She is my shiny star!  And she's now probably thoroughly embarassed!  lol 

Check out Rob and Ric's blogs today.

Advent-urous Artists Day 18

This is a close up shot of Rodin's John the Baptist sculpture which I took on holiday in Scotland earlier this year.  In a similar vein to yesterday's post, I hadn't looked at the photos I took while we were away for months and looking through them this evening prompted all sorts of memories, not just from that holiday but from previous holidays too, leading to thoughts of my childhood holidays with my parents and grandparents, onto family Christmases...to silliness with kazoos... to the conception of my daughter... to being in plaster and finally to menu planning!  lol  It's like visual word association!  Earlier this week I was thinking about word association as a vehicle for helping me brainstorm ideas for an exhibition I'm involved in during January and I'm now thinking a visual version is an excellent idea...

Check out what Ric and Rob are blogging about today...

Advent-urous Artists Day 17

Miss June 2011

Over on Ric's blog today he is talking about his experience of being on the "wrong" side of the camera for a charity calendar raising funds for the Chatteris Christmas Lights charity. I was also involved in the calendar and after reading his piece I went to look at my picture as it's a good while since I have seen it. The photo was taken in April 2009 shortly after I came out of hospital after my Achilles tendon/pulmonary embolism drama and looking at it with fresh eyes today after a long time evoked some strong memories for me. You can't see in the picture (thanks to Rob's left a bit, right a bit approach to positioning my arms!) but my stomach was a mass of purple bruises from the injections I had been having whilst in hospital. I was still wearing the hideously hampering surgical boot on my leg at this point and had to schlump into position and then remove it and squeeze into the more aesthetic shoes I'm wearing! Without making it sound too over dramatic, my brush with blood clots bobbing about my lungs forced me to face my mortality and it changed my life in alot of ways.  One of the changes I decided to make was to lose some weight to improve my health and since this photo was taken I have lost 4 stone but there are so many more invisible changes.  My month doesn't roll round until next June (it's an 18 month calendar and I'm last in line!) and although I love the photo, very much enjoyed taking part in the project and have absolutely no regrets about doing it, it is still strange to look at myself then and look at myself now and know that those two women are the same and yet very different.  Looking at that photo has reminded once more of how very transient life can be, how very powerful the effect that period of my life had on me, how life has to be embraced and lived out loud.  ;o) 

Have a look at Rob and Ric's blog posts for today.  

Advent-urous Artists Day 16

I was recently pointed in the direction of Blipfoto by my lovely friend, Elizabeth and have been posting my daily (well, ok, not quite daily but there are only a few days I've missed so far!) photo for a couple of weeks now.  It's a lovely place to waste a few hours of your life away and I love catching up with what folk are blipping about.  Today I blipped the above photo of a book I started reading this morning inspired by this blog post.  I love books and reading and of late have been trying to read a bit more but a book a week??  Wow!  I'm a Goodreads person too so if you knock about on there too, do come and find me, I'm sadly lacking in friends on there!  lol  I plan to read more in 2011 but whether I'll manage a book a week remains to be seen!  ;oD  

Check out Rob and Ric on their blogs today!

Advent-urous Artists Day 15

What a thrilling image I hear you cry!  ;oD  Well, a shot of carpet may not be very interesting to the outside world but for me yesterday was a red letter day!  After twenty two years of marriage this is the first time we have bought brand new carpet!  It has been a long time coming and prior to the arrival of said carpet yesterday we have been living with floorboards for what seems like eons!  We are now snug and fluffy underfoot!  ;o)  And Floss is pretty happy about it too...

The carpet laying has led me once again to thoughts of new beginnings, progress, moving forward, there's lots to look forward to in 2011.  ;o)

Have a look at Rob and Ric's posts for today too.

Advent-urous Artists Day 14

There's seventeen days left of 2010 (yep, I just counted!) but today my thoughts fell to next year.  A few years ago a friend pointed me in the direction of  Christine Kane's Resolution Revolution blog post.  Since then I've chosen a word at the beginning of each year as an alternative to making resolutions.  I've been idly pondering what I might choose as my word for 2011 over the last week or so but today I was thinking about what I want to achieve in 2011 and the perfect word popped into my head as it usually does when I go through this process.  FOCUS.  ;o)

See what Rob and Ric are posting about today.

Advent-urous Artists Day 13

I have no reason for posting this image of a statue atop a clock in Newcastle other than the fact that I fell in love with her as soon as I saw her!  I'd forgotten all about the photos I took on a weekend visit to the city earlier this year until I came across them while idling about looking through old albums searching for some inspiration for a blog post.  ;o)  I knew nothing about her so I've just had a little Googlette and discovered that the clocks and figures (there were two originally, I don't know if both still exist but I assume so) were commissioned by Northern Goldsmiths in 1932.  The figures are based on Venus and the outstretched arms symbolise progress.  One of the clocks (not sure if it's the one I snapped) was a popular place for servicemen and their sweethearts to meet during the Second World War.  I love her lines, she has a beautiful naked sweep, as Miranda Hart would say.  ;o)

Check out Rob and Ric's posts for today!
     

Advent-urous Artists Day 12

No, I haven't taken up smoking, I just wanted to show you my groovy vintage cigarette machine!  ;o)  I'm sure you may have heard of Art-O-Mat, the US movement with over 90 converted cigarette vending machines which now vend original works of art.  ;o)  I totally adore the ethos of the project and have long wanted to do something similar.  I bagged this vintage machine on eBay a couple of years ago, it's for packs of ten cigarettes so smaller than the Art-O-Mat version but even so I still think it has potential.  It is currently mounted on the wall in my dining room operating as my daughter's Advent calendar.  ;o)  Unfortunately 24 boxes, divided between the three columns, only just peep above the windows so they aren't now visible.  I would love to see the whole machine filled to the brim and delivering artful joy in little boxes.  ;o) 
See what Rob and Ric are blogging about today.

Advent-urous Artists Day 11

I am posting remotely today as I'm in the great metropolis for the weekend.  ;o)  The last time I was in London I had a brief visit to the Natural History Museum where I took a few photos including the above one in the Earth Hall.  I have to say though that probably my most favourite museum is the Victoria and Albert.  I have spent many happy hours amongst the galleries gleaning inspiration, drawing and just soaking it all up.  ;o)  I particularly like the jewellery galleries but there is so much to enjoy. Museums so often get a bad press... borrrrrrring... but, honestly, even the worst museums I've visited over the years always provide a nugget of inspiration however small.  ;o)

Check out Rob and Ric's blogginess today!

Advent-urous Artists Day 10

Tomorrow morning the Friends of March Station are putting on an event to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the opening of the platforms at the station.  As part of the celebrations the Fenland Visual Arts Collective is having a railway/train travel themed art exhibition in one of the rooms that's being restored on one of the disused platforms.  Although it's a small exhibition there is some lovely work, a nice variety on display.  As the event tomorrow is only for the morning we have arranged for the exhibition to go back on display at The Boathouse in Wisbech during January so that more folk can have a look at the work.  If you're local do pop along tomorrow, there's lots of other attractions at the event so there'll be plenty to see and do.  If you fancy an early morning, there's a steam train passing through the station at 7.50am!  ;o)
I've always loved train travel, as a child my family used to travel by train to visit my paternal grandparents and it was always carriages with compartments which I loved!  On our recent FenVAC art day to the Nene Valley Railway the trains in steam were pulling carriages with compartments "just like in Harry Potter" as my daughter pointed out!  ;o)  I always find railway stations fascinating places, not just some of the glorious architecture but also as fabulous places to people watch!

Have a look at Ric and Rob's blog posts for today!

Advent-urous Artists Day 9

A Deeper Incision by Marian Savill

I had some exciting news yesterday!  ;o)  I have had a piece of work (see above) selected for an assemblage exhibition called Spare Parts at The Renaissance Center in Tennessee, USA in February 2011.  It's always fantastic to have work chosen for an exhibition, the validation I feel every time it happens is like an internal rosy glow.  ;o)

On the subject of rosy glows, see Ric's post today about his new woodburner and Rob's post about a personal project he completed recently.  ;o)

Advent-urous Artists Day 8

Photo courtesy of Rob Morris

unconventional

but with

her open heart

her soulful eyes

the way she moves

the smile she shares

her little kindnesses

her gentle touch

her beauty burns

within
and without

Catch up with today's posts from Rob and Ric.