August 21, 2008 at 1:45 pm (Artwork 2008)
’Making Sense’ at Bilston craft gallery www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/bilston is getting closer and my work for that is now becoming more and more intrigued with taking embroidery 3d, mark making in thread and a mixture of textiles and drawing. Am looking forward to this show with great anticipation, not least as it is a joint show with a great friend and fellow artist Rachel Grant . www.rachel-grant.com
August 19, 2008 at 1:44 pm (exhibitions)
A fun day where myself and 3 other Bvacians took part in a flash Mob exhibition in Birmingham. The date..16th August 2008, the 5 viewing stations…1.Birmingham High Street. 2. St Philips Grounds, 3. Victoria Square, 4. Centenary Square, 5. Oozels Square.
Reactions ranged from genuine interest, British embarrassment, bemused interest and drunken abuse! A great day though, thanks to all who said hello and came along to support us. Thanks also to Antonio Roberts, Nick Duxbury and Jo Mills, my partners in crime for the day.
August 19, 2008 at 1:29 pm (Commissioned Work 2008)
16th – 20th June 2008 saw me working in 8 schools in Wolverhampton. A truly wonderful week when i got to work with students ranging from year1 all the way through to year 9.
I had been commissioned by excellence in cities to participate in the cluster schools creativity week. the theme for the week was music and i was the only visual artist working alongside a number of musicians. My brief was a visual art piece about music that also combined all the schools artwork to create collaborative work. Oh and the challenge…each school needed a final piece to keep, meaning anything produced needed to be made 8 times, one for each school!
It just had to be a piece about disco music as for me this is a very visual musical era, with fashion and glitz playing as important a part as the music itself. prior to me going into the schools the students explored disco music and imagery, they designed disco outfits and gave individual responses to the music itself. This resulting text and their fashion drawings were printed onto acetate ready for inclusion in the final pieces.
During the week itself i taught the students how to make mixed media paper. They created windows in paper which they filled with disco inspired sparkly elements, each school did a different colour. The very youngest children drew with disco coloured pulp to create multi-coloured disco paper and the older children created their own window shapes. All the resulting paper was combined to create a disco dance floor complete with disco ball, text and disco dancers.
August 9, 2008 at 12:01 pm (Commissioned Work 2008, exhibitions)
Here are some images of my artwork taken on the showcase evening for ‘The Battle of Bacteria’. It was held at Dudley College and featured all the visual art work produced, plus the dances, animations, pupil presentations and even a carnival procession!
August 7, 2008 at 1:33 pm (Commissioned Work 2008, Uncategorized)
May through to June 2008 saw me taking part in a large commission with schools in Dudley. Based around the theme, ‘The Battle of Bacteria’ the project aimed to find cross curricular links with science and the arts.
My own work for this project focused on teaching the students mixed media paper making techniques with an emphasis on how to add elements into and onto the paper. I also explored plastic fusion with the students and we created drawings using pattern development ideas. These varying elements were then combined to create 9 large scale mixed media pieces for the final exhibition. The science link saw us exploring ways in which hospitals are trying to win the battle against the superbug and the modern day obsession with hand-washing.
On the Scientists Shelf. produced with year 8
The large scale paper panels depict scientists reasearch notes and charts. Pattern development drawings along the shelf represent the bacteria.
Contamination. created with year 5
Students worked in small groups to explore adding elements to paper pulp. This slow contamination of the pulp was used to create paper banners that got progressively more contaminated along their length. These hang in the front of the piece. The back panel shows a sheets of white plastic slowly becoming contaminated with colour. The students all created a colourful bacteria on a white background using plastic fusion. These were then all combined to produce this highly textured backdrop for the paper banners.
As a final element the students added their pattern development drawings, now printed onti acetate circles, depicting bacteria in petri dishes. However in some of these circles they have added text to show what they would like to protect in this world of the superbug. Silver squares surround these text circles as a representation of protection.
Understanding The Enemy. created with Year 5 pupils.
A piece in which students created windows into paper in which they created their own bacteria. These windows were then surrounded with pattern development work and set underneath perspex circles to represent bacteria in petri dishes. Each student also added their own fictional research notes about their bacteria.
Superbug 20052006 created with year 5 pupils.
Plastic fusion rechniques were explored and combined to make a huge class superbug.
Superbug 22072006 created with year 5 pupils.
The Hospital Blanket. created with year 5 pupils.
Please Wash Your Hands. created with year 5 pupils.
At The Superbugs Party. created with year 7-9
Its In Our Hands. created with year 8 pupils.
