I have been in France for a few days and came back to a rather busy time straight away. Over the weekend I ran some workshops at the Riverhouse Barn in Walton, Surrey. This is the base for the Robert Phillips Gallery where the current show is 'Breaking the Mould', an international exhibition, curated by Hillary Sussum, of artists who work using paper. The exhibition is a really interesting survey of different approaches to the medium and I was pleased to be asked to run the course. I enjoyed the weekend very much, meeting a lovely group of people who responded to the materials and processes with enthusiasm and by making some wonderful work. www.riverhousebarn.co.uk/
The last couple of days have been filled with preparations for Wednesday when I am making a temporary installation of 'Storytrees' in the courtyard of the Lightbox Gallery for the launch of 'Contemporary Art in the Surrey Landscape'.
I have been having a busy few days. I have been working on some pieces related to my last project, 'Papertrails', more of that on my other blog but I have also been taking advantage of the end of my workshops at Woking to get out a bit and see some other people's work too which I have really enjoyed. On Tuesday I had a trip to Brighton for a couple of good meetings and I also went to Judith and Roz's discussion about their 'Breaking Ground' project and its development through 'Outside In'. It was good to meet them again and interesting to see the fruit of their collaboration. Their space was filled with beautiful books and evocative images and lists of words. There is an interesting structure to their project with distinct episodes or chapters which can respond to what has gone before. All the visitors were involved in the discussion and had to bring a 'gift' from the outside to the project and before we left had to make something from stuff from the worktable in the project room. I made a small posy of daisies. It was a good event filled with interesting ideas mapping connections and marking exchanges.
The last workshop went well. Everyone finished what they needed to finish and much paper-making was done. We also looked round the work from the Surrey Open which is showing at the gallery. At the end of this phase of the project it is good to be looking forward to the next bit. I still have to discuss a few things about the final show with Michael Regan and will be having a meeting on Friday.
On Monday evening I went to the Jerwood Space to see the 'Contemporary Makers' show there and to listen to a talk with ceramicist, Edmund de Waal and choreographer and dancer Siobhan Davies. This was a wonderful evening and I came away really inspired. The exhibition itself is the new initiative of the Jerwood foundation to support and promote applied arts. The artists; Gary Breeze, Sara Brennan, Lin Cheung, Drummond Masterton, Deirdre Nelson, Nicholas Rena and Clare Twomey were selected and asked to make some work responding to the theme of 'touch'. Edmund de Waal one of the selectors, described this as being a way of bringing 'seven artists from a diverse range of disciplines into dialogue with each other.'
The talk between Edmund de Waal and Siobhan Davies examined the differences and similarities between their own work and their approaches to their work. Both concluded that they were as concerned with the gaps, pauses and spaces as with what happens in-between.
