Hotting Up – Back to Ridgeway and Bronze Age

Things are beginning to gather momentum nicely towards my Graduation Show at the Art Academy in July (full details to follow) – the devil will be in the detail but for the moment I’m enjoying seeing my recent body of work coming together.

The challenge has been how to mould and cast my direct plaster sculptures as this isn’t straight forward - mainly due to the textures and holes which I have purposely left in a number of the sculptures.

I love working in plaster because it is so immediate resulting in dynamic work which hopefully feels alive.

Anyway, the great news is that working closely with my moulding and casting guys, we’ve been able to find a way – I’ll detail the process another time but essentially although it means more work, the results will be worth it.

In any event it’s a good excuse for me to spend more time at Ridgeway (for cold casting) and Bronze Age (for foundry bronzes).

Right – Laura working on one of the direct plaster sculptures.

Above left – Dill at Ridgeway putting the finishing touches to one of my larger works, Danseur.

Mark at Bronze Age working on patination – left is Figurative Abstraction I and right Reverie.

http://www.ridgewaymouldingandcasting.co.uk/

http://www.bronzeage.co.uk/

Medicine Garden, Cobham – Arts & Food Festival

This event was such fun last year that I’m doing it again – Bank Holiday 6 May.   Great family fun with workshops live music and stuff and this year it’s incorporating Food too…

Would be great to see you there!

The Society of Portrait Sculptors – Westminster Palace FriendsTrip

Yesterday I had the privilege of joining the friends group for a tour of Westminster Palace’s art collection with head curator Malcolm Hay.  Well organised by the Society’s Olivia Musgrave, there was the best part of twenty of us and it was great to see so many friends and colleagues.

Despite it being bitterly cold I was early and didn’t want to waste the opportunity of seeing one of my favourite sculptures, Rodin’s The Burghers of Calais.  As it happens I met one of my chums Gilbert Whyman, doing the same thing – lovely to compare thoughts on it.

We started in the Great Hall and  for me the humbling realisation of the history of it all – the earliest works we were looking at are from Medieval times!

We were impressed by some of the incredible detailing on the over-life size carved figures – down even to buttons and stitches; the drapery somehow appearing real and all in marble!  All in all our senses were given a real work out from the outset – by half way through (and the blinding bling of gold from The House of Lords didn’t help) I think we were suffering from overload.  So much to take in and all by the very best artists of the day.

I think we were all relieved to dwell for a while in the Lobby to the House of Parliament – here there are a number of portrait busts; more familiar territory!

Some wonderful portraits and it’s amazing how many are past or present members of the Society.  Left is a favourite of mine; Jacob Epstein’s Ramsay MacDonald and above right a great one from more recent times  - Sir Edward Heath by Martin Jennings.

For the grand finale we were taken into Portcullis House – in itself a spectacular piece of architecture – but what we were there to see was the ‘contemporary collection’.  A fantastic collection of more recent art and a real one-off opportunity.   We were very spoilt – thank you Malcolm Hay!

If you are interested in hearing more about the Society or becoming a friend and getting to do things like this – check out the web site:-

http://www.portrait-sculpture.org/

 

 

Cork Street Open Exhibition 2013 Winter Show

Update – Cork Street was a real success.  Great to be amongst such high quality artists in such a prestigious location and even managed to sell two sculptures.  One London based buyer and another overseas – makes it all worthwhile when others invest in you…

Original Post – Since my sculpture ‘Torsion’ was short-listed before Christmas I’ve been waiting nervously and to be honest I still can’t quite believe I’ve made the cut out of 1,600.  Really excited about getting into this prestigious Show in Cork Street, Mayfair – hope you can make it.

www.corkstreetopenexhibition.co.uk

Consolidation following Cornwall and a Positive Term

In the final year at The Art Academy there’s less structured teaching time and more emphasis on personal development and working towards the all important end of year Graduation Show.  There are frequent group crits to keep the group on our toes and to help keep us on track.

Mentally I must say that I’ve been in a positive place all term.  Not that I know what the shape of things will be, but simply that I now feel connected with my ‘inner thing’.  I won’t go over the detail (covered in earlier post)  but the essence is that I really struggled to find this initially but that the groundwork was laid at the end of the last academic year and was very much consolidated during my Cornwall Residency.

A big thing for me has been recognising my preoccupation with the lines and planes within the figure - I noticed that in the majority of my sculpting s-curves are strongly emphasised both in figurative and abstract work.  

                                            This knowledge has really helped.  I’ve focussed on this aspect by drawing more and experimenting with wire, mixed media and increasingly direct plaster.

What I’ve particularly enjoyed is the ability to see something in the model, to make quick sketches and to then be able to translate these directly into sculpture.  Using plaster means that you by necessity have to work quickly (the wet plaster is constantly drying as you sculpt) and so the results are often spontaneous, direct and powerful.

That old enemy of over-working does not exist in the world of fast setting plaster.  That said I’ve noticed that it’s still important to know when to stop - sometimes less is more.

 

 

We had a very positive last crit of the term with a special guest, a painter called Tai-Shan Schierenberg.  He was incredibly perceptive, articulate and empowering – he seemed to be able to see straight away the relative strengths and weaknesses of my groups offerings!

He’s a well established portrait artist - http://www.taischierenberg.com

I was particularly chuffed because he seemed to take to my work quite positively  describing it as ‘…amazing, quite extraordinary… I’ve never seen anything like it before…’  Suddenly everything is beginning to fall into place and whilst I’ve got a good way to go, at last I really feel as if I’m onto something.

I thought I’d share with you some of my sketches and a little of my plaster work.  Sorry I can only give a taster – you’ll have to come to the Show to see it all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

West Dean College and Effervescence Show

Recently I went on a short course at West Dean College in West Sussex.  It was all about how to make large scale sculpture using polystyrene as a base – perfect for me as I have been working on a number of new works with the aim of going large.

It was a hugely inspirational place and the tutor John Blakeley excellent and well experienced in this area having spent much of his career working in the film industry.

www.westdean.org.uk

I was able to work up ‘Danseur’ a new sculpture with origins in my ‘Iron Man’ piece but where I have sought to enhance the lines.  The photo on the right shows the work before the Crystacal plaster was added.

Anyway – I was incredibly honoured by Dr Sharon-Michi Kusunoki of West Dean who seeing my work wanted to include it in her Show ‘Effervescence’ – on until Jan 2013.

The Art Agency’s First Birthday Celebration

This is my new Gallery – hope you can make the Show.  I’ll be there for the private view and it’s a chance to see some of my new works…