WORKSHOP - Stroke Unit

This little penguin made in a workshop today in the Stroke Unit at Scarborough hospital really made me smile... I'm really enjoying running these workshops.

DRAWING - On Glaze Tile

I sold this tile at a recent Art Fair, I would love to focus on experimenting with surface decoration at some point soon in my ceramic work. 

OUT & ABOUT - Pigeons

Hmmm... I wonder if I'm encouraging the pigeons outside my studio a little too much!?

WORKSHOP - Stroke Unit Workshop at Scarborough Hospital

Pat's drawing was a bit of a star in today's Stroke Unit workshop, this workshop was inspired by Quentin Blake and it was great to see everyone get so much from the session. It's hard to believe that Pat had never really done any drawing in the past, this gave her so much confidence!

WORKSHOP - Ryedale Folk Museum

I really enjoyed running some Stone Age to Iron Age clay workshops at Ryedale Folk Museum recently. I even got dressed up for the part, think the costume may be making an appearance on this years Christmas Card. 

AIM & CLICK - Highland Cow

I love Yorkshire 💓 Always brilliant photo opportunities await, this was taken at Levisham, a really special and beautiful place.

NEWS - Hospital Workshops

I've just joined the team at York NHS Teaching Hospitals as a freelance artist to run a series of workshops in the Stroke Unit at Scarborough Hospital. It’s the first time I’ve delivered workshops in this kind of environment and I’m really looking forward to working with patients at the hospital to aid in their recovery. I’ll been programmed in to run these workshops in the Stroke Unit at Scarborough Hospital until February 2020.  

OUT & ABOUT - Catherine Bainbridge

I bought this lovely little knitted pigeon from local Scarborough artist Catherine Bainbridge. I installed it outside my studio door to see how my little pigeon chums would react, they were very skeptical and went to great lengths to avoid it, that banister would normally be filled all the way along! 😂

WORKSHOP - After School Club

Love this little character created by a young girl in the After School club today... it really made me smile on an otherwise stressful day.

DRAWING - Improved Fit

I came across this image I had drawn in one of my old sketchbooks, I had made the original drawing and a few years later felt compelled to put in the purple spot. A few years later again and I understand the drawing on a level I was not conscious of when I made it. The purple spot I see refers to the crown chakra and the piece is referring to spiritual growth.

EVENT - Illustration Included in Forthcoming Book

A little illustration I drew of Emmanuel Cooper and sent him as part of my Badgered project has made its way into this book just being released.... I look forward to getting a copy and chuffed that I have been included 😀

INSPIRATION - Mustard Pot

I absolutely adore this! I happened upon it at a car boot sale and it cost the grand total of £1, I'm the very lucky new owner... yay

AIM & CLICK - Light Parade

The view from my studio door on the annual Light Parade, every year I have a prime view and it's always fascinating watching the crowds gather and streaming in on the evening.

WORKSHOPS - 'Breathe' Land Art, Ryedale Council

I worked with MakeMore Arts in August to deliver 5 land art sessions for Ryedale Council. These were around the theme ‘Beathe’ and were commissioned by Ryedale Council to tie in with playgrounds in Ryedale going smoke free. We set up the installations in some beautiful sites working with enthusiastic children and parents. 

    

 

INSPIRATION - This Woman's Work

Help! I can't stop listening to this song....

EVENT - Arts Fest

AIM & CLICK - Internal Wiring

I love walking past those phone box cable cabinets and seeing them open whilst an engineer is working in them... this feels like my brain at the moment

WORK IN PROGRESS - Preparing for Art Fairs

Tiger theme going on in this kiln firing. I'm decorating some of my porcelain mugs with tiger stripes for selling at some upcoming Art Fairs. I'll be at the Arts Fest at the Monument in Newcastle this Friday and Saturday. 

AIM & CLICK - Cormorant at South Bay

I'm fascinated by cormorants, I love being by the beach and catching glimpses of them, this was a rare treat to watch, this cormorant spent ages on the RNLI slipway today with outstretched wings. It did almost feel like it was modelling for me at one point 😀

INSPIRATION - Emma Kunz @ the Serpentine

A friend told me about this exhibition when I was in London and highly recommended that I visit, suggesting that it was completely up my street. Emma Kunz was a clairvoyant and spiritual healer who used a pendulum to create huge geographic drawings which she used to assist in her healing, referencing these drawings as ‘portals’…. Well, this is indeed right up my street! Completely! Having taken a 3 year hiatus from ceramics to pursue a healing and clairvoyant path myself, this exhibition spoke more profoundly to me than anything I have seen in some time. Without question there is something to these drawings. I could not tear myself away, I stayed at the serpentine for 3 hours, finding myself drawn into working in a healing capacity with these images, zooming between rooms in strange sequences seeking and seemingly knowing which drawing should follow the proceeding one (this I found all the more interesting as Emma Kunz never dated any of her drawings or provided any information, when asked to describe them she would say that they were “shape and form expressed as measurement, rhythm, symbol and transformation of figure and principle”). I found this to be the oddest experience I’ve had at an exhibition . My impulse and instinct to work with these drawings in a way unfamiliar to a gallery context felt strange. I was responding to this exhibition from the perspective of a healer more than an artist. I was magnetically drawn to certain intersections in the images, my hands hovering, my fingers drawing energy from various points. This was a very personal experience which felt at odds with the ever changing influx of vigilant invigilators, one of whom told me off for touching the glass.

These powerful artworks find me at a time when recent spiritual events have brought me into an unanticipated place. I needed to interact with these drawings, that this work exists I found breathtaking, even more so that the work is retrospective. Kudos to the Serpentine Gallery for bringing this artist to a modern day audience….and especially to me.

I loved the added touch with this exhibition of the creation of the stone benches, importing large chunks of the healing rock AION A that Emma Kunz discovered. The simple form of these benches summed up by co-curator Christodoulos Panayiotou, “I shall add only a series of benches for Emma Kunz. I see them as viewing devices. They shall allow vision rather than being seen”…. for this he referenced Paul Klee- “Didn’t Feuerbach say: For the understanding of a picture, a chair is needed? Why a chair? To prevent the legs, as they tire, from interfering with the mind”. As crystal is also an amplifier it will indeed help allow vision 🙂

                                     

WORK IN PROGRESS - Portable Goveshy

Spent the past couple of days constructing a portable Goveshy to take to the London environment protests, just finishing off... the original Goveshy is too cumbersome but as I have some #michaelgove busts left from 2013 and now Gove is environmental minister seems fitting ... and I massively want to go and #protest #mustrebel #goveshy #craftscouncil #political installation ...I'll be heading to #parliamentsquare tomorrow as the last day of protests there 😀just need to decide on a slogan for the bottom board... is "Smash the Gove-rnment" too confrontational?

EVENT - Beer & Beard Festival

My Tureen Heads and Painting are having an outing to the North Yorkshire Beard Festival and the Cambra Beer Festival this weekend at Scarborough spa. This is rather a different setting than they are used to being shown in, I'm sure my creations will be keeping their eyes on everyone's goings on and shenanigans! 

EVENT - Poppies in Peace @ Beck Isle Museum

I’ve spent the past two months working with MakeMore Arts on their Arts Council England funded poppies in peace project. we’ve run workshops with 500 children in schools throughout Rydale and the culmination is an exhibition of the work produced to be displayed in the Beck Isle Museum in Pickering. Today we installed the poppies created by the children in the activity room, the exhibition will run until 24th November.

https://www.makemorearts.com/blog/poppies-in-bloom?fbclid=IwAR3yKSHshqz-Tk6U1x3zw6mgwwK8FoP8fXPTq5zHrNT0gsmOTHEfD-NZwhM

EVENT - New Gallery, Pineapple in Bishop Auckland

I've recently had my work stocked by the lovely Pineapple Gallery in bishop Auckland. They have taken some of my Large Portraits on paper and some of my smaller ceramic works. 

OUT & ABOUT - Gongers bid for Guinness Book of Records

Took myself off to London to join in with the Guinness Book of Record attempt at the most Gong Players in one room... what an amazing experience! One of the rooms at Hammersmith Olympia was full to the brim of the most amazing and somewhat huge gongs. Swoon...

EVENT - Summer Artfest

 Back at the Summer Artfest at Monument in Newcastle this weekend...

WORKSHOPS - Clay Inventions at Worsbrough Mill

A busy workshop today at Worsbrough Mill as part of Barnsley Museums Cracking Ceramics! project. 

OUT & ABOUT - Barry Basil

Met the very lovely Barry Basil today and received a gorgeous kiss 👄💓

WORKHOP - William DeMorgan Inspired Land Art

What a great day! Barnsley Museums invited Land artist Mim Robson and myself to run a special one day project in the grounds of Cannon Hall. We worked with the public to create a piece inspired by the ceramics of William DeMorgan. The final ambitious work was created using natural objects foraged from the grounds along with added freshly created ceramic flourishes. There were plenty of visitors around to help create the work… this was my first foray into creating this kind of land art and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was also very lovely to work with Mim on this project. Thanks to Barnsley Museums for bringing us together for this fun one day project.