I have decided to start the new year by joining in with the 21 day art challenge set by Tara Leaver over on Instagram; you can sign up via Tara’s website or screenshot the prompts and get going. Most people are doing the challenge by posting photos to their Instagram page however, I decided to do it as blog posts and sharing links on my Instagram. I haven’t joined in an art challenge before but I had several reasons to join:
So the first prompt of the challenge is called A Favourite Painting. I’ve probably considered myself a painter since my last year at university; around 6 years ago when studying for my Ba Hons. It doesn’t feel that long ago but that’s a lot of paintings in that time! I find that whenever I’m working on a piece of work, whether in my sketchbook, on the table or at the easel, I will leave it on display for a while. It’s like leaving it to breathe; even if it’s already dry I’ll keep looking at it from various angles. Whatever I’m working on becomes the favourite; I’ll keep giving it attention, tweaking the composition, wondering whether I can call it finished and share it on my Instagram and Pinterest pages. However, if I’m creating a body of work I will lay out all of the pieces and pick a couple of favourites and some that I think don’t work now but could become something else by cropping or working over the surface again. One painting that will remain a firm favourite of mine is one that I no longer possess; I sold the painting at the private view of its showing and I’m really happy that someone now has it on display in their home than it being stacked with others in my studio. The painting is called Towards Zennor and is the canvas I exhibited at Tate Modern in 2019 (you can read about it here) it is mixed media on stretched canvas. This painting isn’t a favourite because it was exhibited and sold in London but because of the experience of creating it. Towards Zennor is one of many pieces made as part of a mentoring project I did with landscape artist Liz Hough; a colleague from when I worked at St Ives School of Painting. We drove just out of St Ives town to do some sketching up on the hills whilst following the journey artist Peter Lanyon made. The grey clouds were looming, it was biting wind and it felt like a race against time to do as much as I could before we had to run back to the car. We sketched in various spots between St Ives and Zennor and once I was back in the studio I started picking through all the pieces to see which pieces stood out to be worked from. This particular composition was created several times; the original in my sketchbook, the canvas, a mixed media on wood piece (also sold) and a piece on paper. All worked from the same sketches made onsite but all are different because of the creative process used for each, not all of them were intended to be finished pieces but its common to have several pieces as studies or prep work.
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In January this year, I wrote a blog post called ‘2019 roundup and plans for 2020’, however, I didn’t know that all plans would be put on hold or completely changed for a worldwide pandemic. A scary time of being at home worried about our families, friends, and livelihoods.
So what were my plans for this year? Happy New Year and happy new decade! I thought I would do a roundup of 2019 and what is instore for 2020 post. I don’t generally do resolutions as such but last year one of my goals was to be more active with my creativity. I didn’t have a clear set plan of what I was going to do or a timescale which sounds really rubbish, in fact I was very vague because my art has to fit around my job and family. I felt if I was too rigid and things didn’t go to plan I would feel too defeated. However I had some great successes last year and a few low lights but that’s to be expected, as they say; a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor. I think it’s important to acknowledge what didn’t work rather than erase those bits and paint a ‘perfect picture’ for the world. I wrote about it here in my post 'How to deal with rejection as a creative practitioner'. In 2019 I was lucky to have 5 exhibitions in Cornwall;
When I went back to college I remember being nervous and telling myself several times I wasn’t good enough so to have exhibited and sold my work at Tate St Ives and Tate Modern were definite career highlights and experiences in 2019. The paintings I submitted for both Tate exhibitions were painted as part of a mentorship I did, one sold at the private view and the other about a week later! ‘From Trevalgon with Lanyon’ shown at Tate St Ives I had to take my artwork to London so I spent a few days there and also enjoyed the Olafur Eliasson exhibition, a few days is never enough though. I love London as it just opens my mind to more artists and I always come home with lots of new ideas. In February, many months before the exhibition at Tate Modern I went to see the Don McCullin photography exhibition at Tate Britain. This exhibition will be at Tate Liverpool 5th February – 6th May 2020. I know Cornwall has so many artists and galleries but it’s nice to get away from seascape themed artwork and look at different perspectives. So what’s the plan for 2020? I made a list a few days ago;
This week Tate St Ives are hosting an exhibition showcasing the creative talents of its staff based on the theme environments. I am really pleased to have a painting on show! The exhibition also includes sculpture, jewellery, photography, painting, performance, film and more. The exhibition runs from 24 - 29 September 2019, Foyle Studio, Level 3. From Trevalgan with Lanyon by Stephanie Croydon My exhibition piece is mixed media on wood and was made during a mentoring session with artist Liz Hough. We went to a high point in St Ives to sketch; between rocks, fields and with the sea at the horizon. Nearby is a memorial plaque dedicated to St Ives born landscape artist; Peter Lanyon. Statement; 'The coast, woodland and the countryside are places I often use as inspiration to create, working outside directly in the landscape. Primitive places unoccupied by technology and consumerism; particularly up on the hills and in fields where the landscape still feels raw, still bearing traces of how our predecessors occupied and moved through the landscape'. 'I use these areas as a place for quiet contemplation, places where we can be still from the world. ‘From Trevalgan with Lanyon’ is taken from a larger body of work; Out West, and was created with the starting point of looking in more depth at the ancient Cornish landscape. Following Peter Lanyon’s map along the Penwith Coastline, I started from Trevalgan near Lanyon’s memorial plaque, information gathering directly taken from my surroundings'. 'Evolving from my previous work; looking at how the world touches us on an emotional level, working outside leads me to question our movement in the landscape at a time when it has become critical to question the future of our environment. How we move through the landscape every day; our footprint and the wider impact we are creating with consumerism, waste and the impact of climate change'. The private view was really busy and there were performances of music, poetry and other reading on the night. On Friday there will be another performance at 12.30pm by the wonderfully talented Alice Ellis-Bray which is not to be missed! The show has numbers next to each piece rather than text but there are sheets and a booklet available for visitors to find out which piece belongs to which artist, the booklet gives a short statement about each artist. The exhibition is family friendly and free with a paying ticket which will give you access to the rest of the galley. Modern Art and St Ives and Otobong Nkanga: From Where I Stand are the exhibits currently on show. Although this isnt a selling exhibition, there are no prices listed, I am happy for this piece to be displayed in a permanent home should a collector be interested. The exhibition is featured on the Tate website Whats On section HERE The instagram page for the exhibition which also features more artists can be found HERE I recently travelled to London from Cornwall to take my painting ‘towards Zennor’ to be exhibited at Tate Modern and spend a few days in the city. The exhibition was the Tate Staff Biennale by the Inside Job Collective and based around the theme of Movement showing work by collegues from all 4 Tate sites; St Ives, Liverpool, Tate Britain and Tate Modern. The exhibition was held on floor 5 of the Blavatnik building from 28th august – 3rd September 2019. The private view evening was really busy and although it wasn’t a selling exhibition my painting sold that evening and has now gone to its new home! In total 6,070 people visited the exhibition and was featured on the museum and heritage advisor website. The work varied from painting, sculpture, film, textiles, prints, photography and also workshops. I attended 2 of the workshops by my colleagues; Annabel who lead a cyanotype workshop and Sayra who lead a comic book making workshop. I interviewed Sayra recently in another blog post. There are more photographs on my instagram page. In the third Meet The Maker I had the chance to put forward some questions to Jade who is also a colleague who will be exhibiting in London with myself and Sayra Begum this month. CAN YOU GIVE ME A BRIEF OUTLINE OF YOUR CREATIVE PRACTICE? I mix and pour coloured resin (usually epoxy) to create layered paintings often on circular boards. I do consider myself a painter but also the process of creating my works is semi-sculptural as I work in layers with the resin. Casting resin in moulds and working with ink on paper are also part of my working practice so I guess a combination of all of those things really. WHAT WAS YOUR PATHWAY TO THIS; HOBBY, A WORKSHOP, EDUCATION, SOMETHING ELSE INSPIRING? I have always been creative since I can remember so art was always one of my favourite subjects in school and college. When I left college, I went on to do a foundation in Art and Design which I really enjoyed, and it really confirmed my decision to study Fine Art at Falmouth University. I graduated in 2017 and since then have worked at Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth museum alongside my artistic practice. Being around amazing art daily and being able to research new artists all the time has definitely had a positive influence on my practice. IS THERE A STORY OR A THEME BEHIND THE BRAND/MAKER? My Dad is also an artist, so he and my Mum have always been very supportive and encouraging of my creativity. I was born in Cornwall and I have lived here all my life so naturally the sea and the landscape have always been a big inspiration. I think whilst I was at University, I combined this interest in the Cornish coastline with research into global warming. Particularly focusing on the worlds water systems and the changes they are undergoing as a result of dramatic climate change. CAN YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR PROCESS FROM IDEA TO FINISHED PIECE AND DO YOU WORK FROM HOME, OUTSIDE OR A STUDIO? My initial inspiration is usually walking in the landscape or along coastal paths - I take a lot of photos and videos– especially of the sea and the Cornish coastline. When making a new work I often refer to these for inspiration and ideas. When I’m working with resin I usually work from my studio at home – I use various pigments which I mix with the resin. As the resin begins to cure as soon as Part A and B are mixed together I only have a limited time to work with it. I use a butane blowtorch to heat the resin as I tilt which helps me to manipulate the resin on the board – the heat also pops any air bubbles. Once I am happy with the first layer, I leave it to cure for about 24hrs before starting on the next one. Some of the layers (usually the background ones) are opaque colour and then some (usually the top or final layers) are mostly transparent with a few finer details. I find this layering process helps me achieve the depth in my work. Recently I have developed a series of small cast resin works called ‘Wave Studies’. This involves pouring resin into a round silicone mould and again using a blowtorch to pop any air bubbles. I then work into the wet resin with inks and pigments before leaving them to cure. I sometimes use this process as a way of trying out different colour combinations before starting on a larger piece too.
ARE THERE ANY ARTISTS/MAKERS YOU ADMIRE, WHAT IS YOUR INSPIRATION? I find Bernhard Edmaier’s work incredibly inspiring. He is a photographer who ‘combines his training as a geologist with an exquisite talent for capturing dreamy, seemingly abstract images of earth from above.’ He also highlights the effects of climate change on the environment in his work – which is really important. Since staring work at Tate St Ives, I have done lots of research into many of the St Ives modernists and I have found that Bryan Wynter’s work very inspiring. Learning more about how he captured the beautiful movement of water in his paintings in various ways is incredibly interesting. Olafur Eliasson is another artist I really admire – especially his works that draw attention to the important topic of climate change. His ‘Ice Watch’ works were particularly inspiring for me and along with other inspirations led me to make a series of ‘Readymade’ Ice works myself a few years ago. I am really looking forward to seeing his big retrospective at Tate Modern in a few weeks. INFLUENCES DO YOU HAVE ANY UPCOMING PLANS/EVENTS/NEW LINES/EXHIBITION/WORKSHOP? Currently I have a piece of work on show in the Penwith Gallery in St Ives as part of their summer exhibition. The next exhibition I’m taking part in will be the ‘Movement’ exhibition at Tate exchange at Tate Modern in London 27 Aug – 4 September. Following that – ‘Environments’ at Tate St Ives 24-29 September. I have been experimenting with a new colour palette with my resin works – inspired by rocks and minerals rather than the sea so I will be working more with more earthy tones and pigments alongside the bright blues and turquoises I usually use. It’s a little scary but really refreshing to try something a bit different and I’m looking forward to making more works with these colours. NEW WORK…. I have decided to run a meet the artist feature on my blog as I thought it would be a good idea to introduce how others found their pathway into the creative industry and what their niche is. I could just put this straight into my about section but to start the first post off I thought I would write briefly about my practice and my journey so you can see what to expect from future posts. If you would like to be a part of this drop me an email at [email protected]. My creative practice is mainly painting at the moment however I like to try different techniques and experiment particularly with textiles, printmaking, mixed media, sketching and fabric design. I work from a small studio from my home in Cornwall. My pathway into art started from a love of drawing as a child (I still have some of my childhood books with scribbles in) and art was my favourite subject at school. I did art at GCSE level with a predicted A grade but I never took my schoolwork seriously; too busy socialising, and I didn’t enjoy sixth form so I dropped out. I eventually came back to art much later when I started receiving commissions from family and friends and I was encouraged to see an art exhibition at the local college. I signed up to an access to HE course and I had to apply for University only 3 months into the course. I was really unsure about which degree to choose, I couldn’t decide between fine art or textiles and several people said I should do illustration, I was really confused. The degree I chose was Ba (Hons) Contemporary Creative Practice (now called Art & Design Practice) with Plymouth University. This degree is interdisciplinary; a combination of subjects which gave me the time I needed to start to define what my practice was and become more autonomous. At the end of my degree I went on to win a one year residency at Krowji studios where I focused more on painting and taking part in open studio events. My story or theme behind what I do is mainly landscape based. This exerpt is taken from a recent painting submission; 'The coast, woodland and the countryside are places I often use as inspiration to create, working outside directly in the landscape. Primitive places unoccupied by technology and consumerism; particularly up on the hills and in fields where the landscape still feels raw, still bearing traces of how our predecessors occupied and moved through the landscape. I use these areas as a place for quiet contemplation, places where we can be still from the world'. I grew up in South Yorkshire and my best childhood memories were playing in the garden and then going into the woods and other local nature places with friends. When I moved to Cornwall I was surrounded by a different sort of landscape plus the coast so I started to try and make connections as I put down new roots. I found a quote that stuck with me for a while; ‘to make visual how the world touches us’ by Merleau-Ponty, 1993. My last project ‘Out West’ looked further into this. I am inspired by other types of art such as street art, figurative, ceramics; if you follow my Pinterest account you will see it’s quite varied! The process from idea to finished piece starts with ‘information gathering’. This is mostly sketching outside but also collecting poems/words, being inspired by other artists/places, collecting images, visiting exhibitions, making notes. It can vary which keeps it interesting, then I’ll make a pile of all that I have collected and when I go through it I will pick bits that stand out and start experimenting with materials. The advice I would give to someone interested in working in this discipline/industry is to keep drawing, keep a notebook, sketchbook a file on your computer; whatever works for you and keep adding to this to develop your practice. Even if you don’t know what your practice is yet add to it regularly. I had to take a portfolio to my college interview so having a selection of sketches and paintings showed how I work but that there was potential for it to develop- it doesn’t need to be perfect. I also recommend following other artists through Instagram, it’s a great platform to be able to see other creative people and so many people use it as their ‘sketchbook’ as well as to sell their products. You can see my recent instagram images in the sidebar to the right. Even if college or university isn’t for you Instagram can really build your following and generate some commission work. Pinterest is good for finding different styles of work and ‘collecting’ and building boards as well as also sharing your ideas. Local libraries and book shops have lots of art books, if you prefer not to go down the digital or social media route. Attending exhibitions, reading creative magazines and articles and networking are all good for building up your knowledge and discovering opportunities. My inspiration is mostly landscape as I am surrounded by beautiful countryside and beaches but as I work in an art gallery and museum my introduction to other artists is increasing with each new exhibition. I also go to a lot of other local art exhibitions. I have started to look more into feminist and political art, buying books and researching online around this subject but I haven’t yet started to introduce this into much of my work. I have written a piece for a zine and I would like to be involved in doing more work like this. I think it’s important to go with what feels right; follow the path if it’s something that you are surrounded by or calls to you in some way. This year I have been involved in several exhibitions and I have a few yet to come which I am really excited about. So far this year I have exhibited at; The Sloop Inn; St Ives, Penwith Gallery; St Ives, Penlee House; Penzance University of Greenwich. This year I will be exhibiting at Tate Modern; London and Tate Gallery St Ives. I don’t have any big projects planned at the moment, just a few ideas I would like to finish off and I would like to reopen my Etsy shop to sell original small pieces to make room for new work in the studio. I am hoping to start writing more ‘How to’ posts on my blog but having some more in-depth tutorials that can be downloaded from Etsy as I don’t have the space to teach workshops from my home studio. My plan is to head up to London this month for my Tate exhibition and attend other shows whilst I am there for more information gathering. I am hoping that in the future I can exhibit outside of Cornwall more often and find work in a museum or gallery in London even if just a temporary placement for experience. I am really happy to announce that this year I will be exhibiting at Tate Modern, London! The exhibition is the Tate staff biennale and will be open to the public from 28th august – 3rd September; Level 6 of the Blavatnik Building of Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG Times do vary so check with the website first. "Responding to Tate Exchange’s theme for year 3, Movement, The Inside Job Collective have been invited to take over Tate Exchange and pull together the work of staff across all Tate sites into one exhibition. The exhibition showcases the often-hidden skills of staff members at Tate and allows you to see the impact of working with Tate’s collection has had on their practice". "Approaching the different strands of Movement through varying mediums, there will be a dynamic series of live performances, workshops, installations, film and 2D works, as well as an evening of specially curated music and performances from staff for the August edition of Uniqlo Tate Lates" -Tate website. Responding to the theme of movement I will be showing a black and white landscape painting. This painting is part of a bigger series called Out West and was made looking over towards Zennor from Travalgan, St Ives. I went sketching here with Liz Hough as part of a mentorship program with help from Cultivator Cornwall. This weekend I was interviewed by The Rebel Magazine about the exhibition and what this painting is about, you can read it HERE |
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