Keith Harrison Lecture

This is the work of Keith Harrison, he gave a 

lecture eariler in the year which was probably

one of the best we have had.

He is a ceramics artist but he really comes at for a 

contempory take, it was really obvious from the

word go that music was key to his work and it 

really did effect every aspect of his art.

The main piece we were walked through was a

large piece he did for Jerwood Award. The piece

was a massive sound system he made up himself that

had so many different aspects, the speakers 

were corner in with large slabs of clay that solidfied

and cracked while the music played through giving a constant

changing piece. There was alot of leg work leading up

to this final piece, he did alot of drawings and

little samples to try and work out the right

look he wanted. Perfection is something he really

strifes for in what i saw, through his drawings

and samples you can see weeks were spent on the 

smallest detail. Bit of expensive trait to have

but its got to be respected.

This is the one picture i could find of his

Jerwood Prize work.

Rituals of Making

We were given the oppertunity to sit on a lecture

with three local artists, i really enjoyed it

myself the artists weren't to my taste but i just

enjoy to get a few new artists known.

This is Sue Lawty the first artist we got to look at

she was nice to listen too but i didn't really

get her field of expertise. She sort of did

little bits in alot of different things, metal,

stone, wood and even land art.

This piece is my faveriote of hers that ive seen,

  obviously being a smithy i am drawn towards

looking at metal so this peaked my attention.

The process is looping lead wire around

itself and being hammered flat

to produce a really different images.

Something that really made me think was when

she mentioned that the paper underneath

the lead made a really different looking 

picure.

Rituals of Making

This is the work of Matthew Harris,

these are large pieces put together sort of throwing

paper, fabric and paint together. The trouble

was during the lectures this guy came third

and i sort of went into very closed minded after

the last two artist and this guy suprised me 

because he really went in detail about his pratice

and the different techinques. Techinques is really 

what i look for in different artists, 

i just love to see how different people do the same

way of working. There was really intresting

stuff but the over all finished product isn't really

my thing, i thik it could be these fabrics pieces

that sort of put me off.

 

Rituals of Making

This is the work of Amy Twigger 

she is a fashion artist i think it is, she 

specialises in knitting clothing.

It was nice to look at but it wasn't 

really my thing. Its good to look at other fields

but i barley look at the clothes i wear

let alone people designing them and well

knitting i guess i jump straight to my nan

banging out a scarf on a sunday morning.
Her processes are mostly around knitting obviously
but she does use something that intrigued a
knitting machine something i had
never really heard of. Admitly with the 
machine she did some pretty amazing pattern
work that really got me thinking about this textiles.

Hereford Contemporary Craft Fair

 This is a piece of work from the Hereford

Contemporary Craft Fair that was in town, i had the

pleasure of going to. Alot of contemporary artists came

together and show off all there wares.

Just putting in a few pictures of the 

people i really enjoyed to look at.

This is the work of Harmony Jutle,

this was a really good stall. I was there for

a long time just checking out the stuff, man

if i had some spare money i would

love to pick up some of these items.

I asked about the techinques but the woman didn't

want to give her trade secrets away.

 This was probably my personal faveriote of

mine. I have been a big cog nut so this 

really pushed my buttons, i was stood in awe 

of it working away while the guy was just looking 

at me. There done by a guy called Bruce Aitken

they were a bit pricey but i would love to own one of these.

While i was talking to him he said he makes

himself up with a chisel so obviously the time it 

takes to make these up you can understand

why they are so costly.

This is a set of pots done by Josephine Harvey,

i used to do ceramics quite alot so i really got

into looking at alternative pots, i got into

a big talk with the lady about how she put them

together i thought it might be a slip and

attach process but she said during the bowl 

process she pulled the clay out making the spikes.

This was a piece that got me intrigued,

its these little bowels by Karina Gill it 

was more the design and techinque that

really made me have a think about it.

The stacking of the metal in a circle around, 

the pattern looks like it was machine done onto the

panels then hand done to place them together.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

This is the work of David Nash, one of my

all time faveroite artists. This a picture i took

myself at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, living in 

Yorkshire myself it was literally down the road from 

me so i always in there. When i found out there

was going to be a David Nash Exihbition i went 

mental waiting for his stuff, as soon

as it was put i was one of the first to be there and

see it, i must have spent 7 hours a day

there for a week looking through all his stuff

sketching it and talking to the curotors.

 I think it's his respect for the materail

which has made me follow the career of

David Nash for so long, he really puts himself

into every piece he does in a different way.

 This was my faveriote of all his works, 

its just the simplicty but beuty of it that just

made me stand in awe of it for hours. I know

very little about this piece but what i do

know is it is one of thee most beutiful pieces

of artwork i have ever seen.

This is my fondest memory of a gallery space

and of any Exhibition ive been too

Ludlow Castle

This is the work of Stephen Cox that we got

the pleasure of seeing at Ludlow castle,

I didn't think much to the castle going but

once inside is when it really came alive

there are several of Cox's pieces placed

around the grounds of the castle and

it was a real delight to find them around.

  I think the main highlight for me

personally was meeting Stephen Cox in person, he 

did a short talk to the group then walked round

meeting people and really giving an 

insight into his work. I was blown away

talking to him, i mean here he is an artist

at the real front of his field just wandering

around speaking to students.

This is the piece where i was lucky enough

to talk to him myself, i wanted to know how he

had done it and straight away he went into the

process of smoothing it off after carving, but

one thing that got me about this

piece was the section left unpolished, i asked him

and he just said thats the way he 

felt the piece was going in his eyes and i

couldn't agree more with him that little

bit of unpolished makes this so much better

than a shiny rock.

As you could see there was alot of odd angles

you could find yourself looking down on

these pieces and how they looked on a more 

360 degree basis.

I was really inspired by this entire

exihibition to see what i could do with stone and

how i could use it in my own pratice.

I never really saw the beuty in it until i saw

these pieces

Land of Lost Content

 The Land of lost content is a large museum

if you can call it that we had to visit, as you

probably tell from what ive written so far

i didnt enjoy the visit.

Basically its a three story building jam

packed with stuff from the last 100 years, 

i went into it with an open mind but
that quickly changed when i opened the door
its just packed, so much stuff in not even that
big a building i wasn't that bothered about
going round after the entrance but i 
soilder through into the other rooms.
Weaving through the narrow passage way 
that split the piles of crap. 

I mean there is some stuff in there that was

quite cool, they had a few vintage toys

upstairs i played with as a child

that brought back a few memories for like a 

minute or two but like

three old toys next to canned spam and beans

from 60 years ago, 20 different kinds of kettle

from the same year, a type writer missing

most its keys doesnt make it worth 

a look in my eyes. Suffice to say

i wont be going back anytime soon, maybe

Im just too young to enjoy it or just

too close minded to that much clutter.

This is another piece i managed to find a picture of it, 

Its called The Interlopers by Tessa Farmer. I

personally didn't really like this piece because the location was pretty poor

it was placed in a green house easily half a mile from the

actual house i understand that it is fitting with the theme of the piece but

it really wasn't well pointed out and if i hadn't been nosey and walked

all the way down there i would have completley missed it.

But all that aside on the topic of the actual piece its techincally

very good, it must take hours to put those little pieces togehter

its just i find you spend more time looking at it to figure out what it is rather

than appretiating the piece itself.

House of Beasts Exhibtion

House of Beasts takes place in the stables, mansion and parkland of Attingham Park, Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

The premsis of this exhibition is a group of artists

who work mostly through animals. 

This is a piece i really liked by Alastair Mackie 

named Untitled (Sphere). It is built of indivual

mouse skulls placed together to build up this

large sphere. Ive always loved the bones of animals

and how the look in a sculptural context, 

this was maybe the highlight of the whole

exhibition for me.

  This is a piece by Nina Saunders called Chandelier,

I didn't see this personally the first time i walked

round it wasn't until the second walk round

Eden pointed it out to me. I really

liked this piece because of the simplictiy of it

all, some could say it was more

taxidermy than art but i just think 

in this context it is so thought provoking like

how did it get in there? Why is it 

up there?

This is a piece called One for Sorrow by Polly Morgan,

this i spotted straight away while walking around

because admitly to the amusement of most 

people around me i thought it was a real bird.

 Another really thought provoking piece,

i never particulry enjoyed the look 

of birds but this really got me thinking about

doing something with birds.

Discourse File

Well this is the start of my discourse

Blog, i will be talking about exhibitions Ive 

been too over the course of the term.

Also be talking about a few lectures i have

received from local artists.

Il try and get pictures in here but

couldn't take many of my own due to

silly galleries saying no.