Experimental Studio Residency

Last Weekend was a chance to head off and see Fiona Tan’s new exhibition. I always love going to the Baltic, it still feels fresh, friendly and exciting to me. Tan’s diptych film based on the travels of Marco Polo was one of my favourite pieces alongside Leviathon which shows every couple of hours next to the massive truck. The latter being an archival film of Whalers flaying a large whale on the docks nearby. It was black and white – less visceral than I had imagined and a more precise process.

I took up the free daily guided tours from the staff on each floor which are well worth doing! Very friendly and insightful. In general, a lot of people in Newcastle seem to actually like their jobs. Have to admit I haven’t yet met any abattoir floor moppers but still, there’s a marked difference.

New to me was Tony Swain’s work on the 2nd Floor, he paints directly onto collaged newspapers with acrylic paints. I found them very absorbing, different layers and layers and layers of landscapes BLU tacked onto the wall, yes BLU TACked! Someone mentioned it was a conservator’s nightmare, but Swain doesn’t seem lay any importance on that, only framing the works at the request of private collectors. Well worth seeing and inspecting closely.

If anyone is interested in Joining me on future Gallery visits to The Hatton and Baltic 39 Project Space please drop me an email – [email protected] Everyone welcome!

Last night a few of us got together in Commercial Union House to have a look inside each others studios.

Alannah Lamb, Nick Christie and myself shared our work – with Paul Jex, Helen McClafferty, Jennifer O’Neill and Melanie Kyles kindly pitching in with feedback.

Alannah Lamb showed us two video pieces from an ongoing series of moving portraits. The works are incredibly powerful.

Alannah is about to embark on her Foundation course and I’m amazed at the maturity of her work! You can see her photography here.

Jennifer O’Neill and Alannah work together running Praxis Gallery within Ampersands Inventions‘ space – on the 4th floor of Commercial Union House. Keep up to date with what’s happening on Praxis’s facebook here.

Ampersand Invention’s facebook is here for you to follow/like.

Nick Christie seems very drawn to the experimentation processes of printmaking – etching, linocuts, cyanotypes, collographs, monoprints, lithographs and every other printing technique you can think of. He has recently been exploring our relationships with smartphones, thinking about how we touch them and the traces we physically leave on their glass, these marks in turn revealing which app someone may have been using, which in turn reveals something of their desires and personalities. We all seemed drawn to some of his mistakes/tests as well as his more finished works. I was also enjoying the physical weight of some of his printing plates and admiring these as objects in their own right.

Nick has been involved with Northern Print and the 20:20 print exchange where each artist creates an edition of prints measuring 20x20cm and receives a box full of prints from other artists. With some of the editions going up for sale in exhibitions to help fund-raise. What a great idea.

I’m very much looking forward to working with Nick on testing some glass cyanotypes tomorrow. It is relatively complicated compared to just cyanotyping onto paper – involving mixing in gelatin and heating everything to exact temperatures to allow the chemicals to adhere to the glass. It’s a first for both of us and the science bit is always somewhat easier to grasp with two heads!

Kirsty Harris I showed the gang a finished film and one I had only started a few days ago. I’ve been thinking about the out takes from military footage and splicing together some pieces of film that cut away prior to the money shot. I want to include more of the increasingly frantic film-work of the cameramen while scanning the skies for the mushroom cloud, searching for the monster. www.kirstyharris.com
Keep tuned for following insights into Paul, Mel, Jennifer and Helen’s work.

I found The Tee Sharps busking in Newcastle town centre, beautiful voices, especially when they harmonise, and a little more rare to see girls busking, (only really just realised that) The busking scene is amazing here, every corner you turn around there’s someone to stop and listen to.

Then happened upon these lot collecting signatures against fox hunting, great hand painted signs and good to see young people out protesting off their own backs.

This contradictory poem by John Donne is said to have inspired Oppenheimer to name the first atomic test Trinity. It suits him down to the ground. I find him such an interesting character.

It’s understandable how life can carry you along suddenly into a world that you’re not sure is good or right, but keep the lid tight on the bottle and so you never need cry over spilt milk.

Not meaning this to sound flippant, I suppose I’ve realised how important it is to stand back and take stock…in advance, if that’s even possible?

I’m really looking forward to seeing Lizz Brady again – a Manchester based artist and founder of Broken Grey wires www.brokengreywires.com She’s popping to Newcastle soon to spend a day with me collaborating on a future piece based around J. R. Oppenheimer and his complex temperament.

I’m also hoping to organise some informal crits soon with Newcastle artists based in Commercial Union House – the very same building as Vane Gallery.

Will be great to see what happens behind closed doors on the 4th floor. I’ll post some pictures and introduce their work to you too.