WORK IN PROGRESS - For The Art Party Conference

Work in Progress - Michael Gove Head.

Started work on the piece I am creating for the Art Party Conference at the Spa in November. I don't have a title for the work yet... I'll reveal more about the work in the forthcoming weeks.

PORTFOLIO - The GM Reaper

Karen Thompson, The GM Reaper. Ceramic (56x58x30cm) Photo: David Chalmers

Just been sent the photos from David Chalmers of yesterday's photo shoot. I'm very happy with this pic of the GM Reaper. I've struggled to get a good photograph of this piece... I guess that's why it's a good idea to pay a professional studio photographer to take images...

OUT & ABOUT - David Chalmers Studio

David Chalmers at work

Spent the morning having some of my work photographed by David Chalmers. Tureen Heads and the GM Reaper went under the spotlight. A great morning... Thanks Dave!

THE FAMILY - 1980's photos

Wowsers! Just came across this photo when sorting through some stuff... all I can say in my defence is it was the 1980's and I was a teenager. I'm trying to work out how old I am here (I think I'm about 15). Maybe I should try backcombing my hair again! I remember Shockwaves hairspray used to feature highly in my regime.

THE FAMILY - York Minster Donation

Sorting through some of the family 'treasure' we came across this A3 poster recording the appreciation and gratitude of my Fathers donation to York Minster. Generous dad helped with the upkeep for a full minute... Blimey! I remember this trip as we all made some brass rubbings whilst we were there, that memory has vividly stuck with me all these years, I was nearly seven years old at the time. To this day I still find myself making random rubbings with a piece of gold heel ball which we got from this very trip on the 1st April 1980 (before the fire in 1984).

OUT & ABOUT - Attending Jet Workshop

Had my first bash at working with Jet today. The pieces of Jet over 180 million year old were sourced from local beaches along the Yorkshire coast. An interesting workshop. A very different material to work with than my usual ceramic or plaster, will definitely be trying it again. The brooch I made today was a little cruder than I had intended, ran out of time, might try to finish it at a later date when I have the necessary polishing materials to hand.

PRESS - Scarborough News Video

Scarborough News popped around to my studio last week to do a feature on my ceramic heads... somehow, I allowed myself to be momentarily filmed! Not sure how that happened... and now it's on their website.

http://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/news/talking-heads-with-artist-karen-thompson-1-5855057

I did get my own back on Sue and the photographer however making them both pose with my heads in a similar fashion to which I had been requested.

WORKSHOPS - August/October 2013

Upcoming workshops at Crescent Arts for August to October. I'm running a clay pipe workshop in conjunction with Scarborough Museums Trust.

ART PARTY CONFERENCE - It's on its way...

The Art Party Posse in the Crescent Arts Courtyard.

Bob and Roberta Smith, Jo Beddoe & Stuart Cameron in the courtyard of Crescent Arts today before heading off to the Spa for some publicity photos... Bring on the Art Party Conference in November!

AIM & CLICK - Harrogate Mayor, Week 3

Harrogate's New Mayor & Consort - June 2013

Still the same tie! The New Mayor of Harrogate was out again tonight, this time with his Consort... A double whammy. Couldn't resist....

EXHIBITION - At Sixes and Sevens

A couple of exhibition shots selected from At Sixes and Sevens. Clockwise from the top... THE CRITICS, Karen Thompson 2013. UNTITLED, Steven Potter 2013. ABSURD MULTIPLES, Susan Timmins 2013. MARKET PRICES, Jade Montserrat 2013.

 

THE FAMILY - Arthur Boy Burke Armstrong

My Grandfather - Arthur Armstrong. a.k.a Boy Burke

Been researching Victorian cabinet cards on the internet today, amongst the ones I've come across there have been some great images of wrestlers and boxers. With last months boxing bout still fresh in my mind, I started thinking about my Grandfather, who was a boxer in the 1930's. I know very little about him other than his boxing name was Boy Burke and then Arthur Burke as apparently there was an issue with him calling himself boy. I don't know the history behind him calling himself Burke as he was an Armstrong, he was an Arthur however! My Uncle Al had a collection of all his fight posters but these were lent out for an exhibition years ago and never returned. That's about all I know of my Grandfather, other than he disappeared when my mother was a child, my Gran used to say that he fell off the Tyne bridge one night, there were rumours that he ran off to start a new life somewhere else. I guess we'll never know what happened to him and if there's more of his story to unfold.

UPCOMING - At Sixes & Sevens Exhibition

The P.V. this Friday 7th June 8pm - 10pm of At Sixes & Sevens, a joint exhibition of all the resident Crescent Arts Artists. The exhibition is on for a month, it's also open to the public on Sunday 9th June and Sunday 16th June from 11pm - 4pm

THE FAMILY - Chloe's Dishes

Trying to sort my laptop into some order and back up my files before it gives up the ghost. I've been trawling through tons of old photographs, I'll probably end up posting quite a few over the coming weeks and months. Here's one for today, this was the very spoilt family cat's feeding hole. I couldn't believe how many dishes my mum and sister had booby trapped the kitchen with. Sadly the old dear passed away at the beginning of the year, I miss the random collections which accrued in this area.

PRESS - Scarborough News

The ART KO! MUSEUMS AT NIGHT RUMPUS exhibition has been taken down now... It did manage to garner some attention from the Scarborough News however. Seems fitting!

CHARMOLOGY HEAD II - 108 Fine Art, Harrogate

108 Fine Art - Cold Bath Rd, Harrogate

Charmology Head II found its way to 108 Fine Art in Harrogate this week, it joins the Trilogy of Death & PMN-2 Landmines which are already on display there (alongside some mighty fine pieces by Stephen Bird). I will be having an exhibition with 108 Fine Art in October 2013.

AIM & CLICK - Harrogate Mayor, Day 1

Harrogate's New Mayor - May 2013

I love the tie the brand new Mayor of Harrogate chose to wear on his very first day as Mayor. A down to earth chap who was in his element at the thought of being chauffeur driven around for the next year! 

EVENT - Headline Poster Competition Winner

Andy Terrett, Ed Asquith & Karen Thompson.

The news poster competition Crescent Arts ran in conjunction with the exhibition was won by Andy Terrett. Thanks a million to Ed Asquith, editor of the Scarborough News for coming down for the Museums at Night evening to judge the entries. It was great hearing Ed talk about the content bills & also some of the near misses... everyone heartily laughed at his retelling of 'Last Chance To Enter Miss Scarborough'. Ed's also kindly arranged for me to be able to collect all the content bills which have been on display in the window of the papers HQ. This will hopefully mean that I shouldn't miss any more corkers!

EVENT - Art KO! Museums at Night Rumpus. The Bout

In the ring with Tigger Watts, Thompson The Terror of the Tyne's knockout moment

Jade the Monster Rat Vs Baxter the Barbarian

The Competitors

A couple of pics from the ART KO! MUSEUMS AT NIGHT RUMPUS event on Friday evening in the foyer of Scarborough Art Gallery. I was in the ring taking on Scarborough Museums Trusts - Tigger Watts. I won the round, yay! The overall result was a draw. A fun event which seemed to live up to its title! Thanks to Ruth Smith for the photos.

PRESS - Art KO! Museums at Night Rumpus

The hour is drawing near... For one night only I will be battling it out in the boxing ring with Scarborough Museums Trust's head of public programming 'Will Watts'. Wish me luck!

http://www.culture24.org.uk/places%20to%20go/museums%20at%20night/art434825

 

EXHIBITION - Scarborough News Posters

A selection of my collection of Scarborough News Posters

Just finished installing an exhibition of my collection of genuine Scarborough News posters from the past two years. I've been fascinated by these posters since I arrived in Scarborough, having come to Scarborough from London there was a noticeable difference in the content between a major city and a small town. The more ludicrous & everyday headlines compelled me to begin to start collecting the posters with a view to exhibiting them someday.

The exhibition runs at Crescent Arts, Scarborough. 2nd May to 18th May - Thurs, Fri, Sat, 11.00am - 4.00pm & by appointment.

Some of my favourite News Posters...

UPCOMING - Art Ko! Museums at Night Rumpus

DRAWINGS - A1 Jesus

'A1 Jesus' 21/04/13

WORKSHOPS - May/June 2013

Upcoming Workshop programme for May to June at Crescent Arts... I'm running some slab building Workshops.

WORK IN PROGRESS - Headline Sorting

Scarborough Evening News / Scarborough News Headlines

Sorting through with Stuart Cameron some of my collection of local headlines, I've collected these on and off since I've been in Scarborough. We're having an exhibition of them in Crescent Arts at the end of the month. There are some corkers!