Our exhibition was advertised on BBC Points West.

Our group was very excited to be advertised on the regional news by the weather man on the night of our private view!

The private view on the 5th April 2011.

We would like to thank all the companies who sponsored our exhibition. These companies helped make our exhibition possible and allowed us to supply food and drink on the private view night.

 A huge thank you to Wild and Wolf, Zad Industries and the catering company A Bit of a Do who supplied the food for a fantastic discount!

Thanks to everyone who came along to the private view!

Alice Falvey

James McNeill  

Amy Jones

Camila Sadler 

Molly Gibbons

Alice Bradley 

Olivia Mason 

Alice Woolliscroft 

Emily May Montgomery 

Setting up our exhibition on the 4th of April 2011.

The banner for our exhibition!

Not long to go now... a preview from James

 

I love working with clay. I like being able to turn an idea into a solid form, but show  that there is still a connection with the earth from which it has come from. Texture and colour are important to my work, for my current pieces I found myself collecting images of rocks and pebbles for inspiration on colours; I looked at pebbles collected from my childhood holidays by the sea, the shiny geodes that you come across in the seaside shops, they all have influence on my  work.  My sketchbook contains all my thoughts, I’ll explore shapes and themes to follow and let my thoughts flow onto paper, writing myself questions and suggestions of what else could be done or how would this look?  What colours will work well? When it comes to colour, I look to make glazes that represent and highlight my intentions best and adjust the recipe to suit my requirements, creating glazes of variation and texture.

James McNeill Ceramicist

Emily Montgomery

 print work

 

Artist statement

I am a textiles artist working in pattern and print. I enjoy experimenting with a manner of different printing techniques but am most experienced in silk screen printing.

My current work is influenced by geometric shapes and structure of the Bauhaus movement, though I have many other means of inspiration. My preliminary drawings have been likened to scientific diagrams which led me to investigate gene structures and cell construction. I search for patterns within these diagrams and new shapes which I can link into my drawings. My work, like the highly complex composition of DNA, is busy and systematic and I hope unique.

 I experiment with different inks and dyes and have become very fond of heat reactive disperse dyes, in which I have used a great deal in my current project.  I explore many different materials and see what effects I can produce by printing on them. I favour working on paper and fabric but have recently transferred my designs onto ceramics and look forward to learning more about this process.

emilymaylikes.blogspot.com

3 DAYS TO GO...

We are getting ever closer to the opening night of our exhibition which takes place this coming Tuesday at Walcot chapel. Pop down and come say hello if you get chance. we are hoping for a good turn out!!

see you then!

Artist Statement – Amy Jones

Born in Birmingham I have studied art and design for the past 8years. In 2006 I worked for Staffordshire Youth Service using Art as a media to help Young People express themselves. I was part of a group of workers called ‘Hand in Hand’ who travelled to Ethiopia with 8 Young People. We used Art to create self esteem packages to deliver to Young Females who worked on the street. I am intrigued by the use of Art to help articulate yourself. It is a very beneficial way to be heard when words are too hard to come by. This is why my work is so imperative to me.

My work is always inspired by something in my life, whether it is an event, or an emotion, it is very personal to me. It can be something very ‘everyday’ or it can be something ‘extraordinary’. This, for me, not only benefits the outcome of my work but it is also like therapy without the huge cheque at the end.

My tool of choice is the pen. Its ability to change every surface it touches captivates me. I then that these altered surfaces and introduce the use of stitch and/or various different materials I find around my house. I am a hoarder of grand proportions, I like to reuse rather than buy fresh (cheapskate!)

I am obsessed with texture. I initiate this into my work using layers of various Medias such as drawing, embroidery and sculpture. This helps communicate the emotive aspect of my pieces.

Currently I am working on a piece that revolves around Trees. I am intrigued by their sheer size, shape and strength but, at the same time, there fragility and delicate existence just like many aspects of life. I spend a lot of time drawing trees. Using Photoshop, I manipulate these drawings to look like reflections. I intend on creating a whole book made out of individual paper cuts that link these drawing. 104pages to go..  

Camila Sadler

Possessions follow us, go with us.  They provide us with a sense of home, a sense of the individual.  They can accompany us wherever we travel. These little bits of our past have varying relevance within our lives: some have a useful purpose; others do not; whilst others remind us of events or people in our lives.

Our rooms provide us with a sense of home through content, placement and familiarity.  We treasure anything from plastic holiday mementos to treasured bits of lace: each is protected and adored. These hoardings represent for us a sense of place, belonging and security.

Conversely, makeshift memorials and spontaneous shrines are like a marker of home away from home. Usually in public places, they contain items of particular significance or emotive memory to the life being remembered.  Whether religious or non-religious, these proffered ‘grave goods’ are often an odd assortment of objects that create a physical reminder of a life past or an  .  Yet we leave these objects exposed to the whims of people and the ravages of nature.

The artist Ximena Garrido-Lecca has produced installations which reproduce Peruvian burial walls.  The small niches which make up the wall are adorned with photographs, flowers and objects to accompany the dead into the afterlife, and which are intended to commemorate life rather than illustrate death.  It is the composition of these small enclosed compartments - like rooms of a doll’s house - that influences both my textile and photographic work: both include objects in a staged venue – some I create, others I observe.

My textile installations, such as recently exhibited in a Bath shop front, refer to content, placement and familiarity.  They include personal objects and textiles which belong to myself, or have belonged to members of my family. Recognition of the significance of objects is like that of the artist Sophie Calle, whose works include objects of personal significance also placed in public venues.

An important aspect of my current photographic work is light: specifically, how the control of light on makeshift memorials influences our readings of the objects they contain. The light installations created by the artist Rune Guneriussen illuminate the ground beneath them whilst creating forms within the darkness, and I aim to recreate the same magical, almost mystic feel of his work in my own.

Alice Bradley - Artist statement.

Growing up in south Devon I’ve been surrounded by nature, and somehow that always seems to sneak into my work. I’ve always watched television and films and loved the fantasy side, a world that doesn’t exist but when you’re sat watching something for 2hours you can get so caught up that you can sometimes forget about the outside world. I have the problem of always noticing dresses. It’s what I love. Ballroom gowns, the detail that has to be applied to just one item of clothing to end up with something truly spectacular. And then you can look at period dramas, the reality of what our ancestors were wearing 200 years ago, how simple some of it seems in comparison.

I really am taken with costume, when it comes to understanding a character having to figure out their own view and what would seem realistic to them, but then I do like to add my own details, that link to the personality of said person but in reality makes their outfits seem a bit to special for everyday wear.

Currently in my textiles work I’m looking into the tale of Alice in Wonderland. After seeing the Tim Burton film of the story I think that I was truly inspired by the different outfits, dresses, gowns that the character of Alice is wearing. Traditionally Alice is wearing her simple blue dress with an apron, but in this interpretation she’s now a young women no longer a child and so this gave the designer more room to play around with her clothing, to give a more womanly aspect to her dressing.

Artist Statement-Alice Woolliscroft

As an artists i am forever frustrated by the fact that when you go to a textiles exhibition you have to conform to the traditional boundaries of typical art institutions, i want to abandon this idea that work cannot be touched and i want people to be able to use those senses that are usually forbidden when viewing my work. I feel that when viewing textiles work, the tactile dimensions of the work are of the upmost importance, so i don't feel they should be placed behind screens or glass cases, but out in the open for the public to have a personal experience with the work. 

My work was initially inspired by the idea of; How can Art be enjoyed by people less fortunate enough to have the use of all their senses, predominately sight. I started by looking scientifically into the ideas of, touch, taste, sight, sound and smell, and how art can be changed or manipulated to help or inspire when there is a lack of one or more of the senses. This made me realise just how many ways we can look at the senses, is it to benefit those with a lack of sense? Or is it to play on the senses, to entice, intrigue and maybe even confuse them?

I quickly became more intrigued with the idea of touch within the use of my textiles work, and how the choice of material can stimulate so many different reactions and emotions when used as a fabric on a garment. Once i chose my fabric i decided to use the technique of drawing with stitch as a embellishment to the garment. Using the idea of touch within my work, led me to think about how touch is used within the human body and in turn this led to researching anatomical drawings, especially those of Leonardo da Vinci. 

When people see my work, I'd like them to get up close and personal with it, touch it and use all their senses to enjoy it.

1. Alice Woolliscroft

No one likes change –Project- Exhibition Work

       Examining change in a personal way has been the central investigation in my current project. Art for me has never before been truly personal or conceptual; but this illustrated emotion has, in hindsight only benefited me with my work, allowing clear direction and personal motivation.

‘No one likes change’ is extracted from my personal memories of a difficult time. This, in broader terms has allowed an insight into the contradictions of the controlled and uncontrollable aspects within ‘Art’. I am also exploring the idea of pursuing the mistake, allowing it to perhaps change the direction or encourage and benefit the spontaneity of my work in an otherwise controlled structure as such.

The use of colour suggests warmth and familiarity and juxtaposes with the phrase suggesting change, There is a range of medias within this body of work, and simultaneously explore text, the visual and the audio, in the use of sound waves to give direction of line, and illustrate change of direction.

In essence the current work explores the juxtaposing feelings of good and bad change, the contradiction of controlled and the uncontrollable, and amid that, using a colour palette of comfort, warmth and stability.

Alice Falvey