a few pics of Venice…

I returned yesterday from Venice, many songs in my heart, the swaying of the sea still in my bones. I feel inspired by many things at the Biennale, and by the magic of the place.

Here are a few pictures, more to follow soon…

My first evening, my feet led me to this beautiful church.
My first evening, my feet led me to this beautiful church.
The air was full of prayer in this peaceful place
The air was full of prayer in this peaceful place
Another view of Coco
Another view of Coco
Little boat 'Hangover' had just docked, Arsenale.
Little boat ‘Hangover’ had just docked, Arsenale.

I am still needing time for all my experiences in Venice to settle. I made the mistake of travelling there and back by coach, which took over 30 hours each way, and left me very tired. It did offer a microcosmic view of modern Europe, and I spoke to more people then I normally do when travelling, which was good. I had hoped that that time would give me the oportunity to write notes and reflect, but actually it was just an endurance test! I bought the Biennale catalogue and I am looking forward to a good read when I travel to York on Tuesday, to visit the New Schoolhouse Gallery. I am also beginning to plan the blog I am writing for a-n.

at another Opening party, Venice, lots of free prossecco, cheese and salmon.
at another Opening party, Venice, lots of free prossecco, cheese and salmon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Venice!

I am about to leave to begin my journey to Venice, travelling via Bournemouth and the Russell Cotes Museum, then London where I’ll see Alice Herrick and Samantha Sweeting at Sam’s show at the Herrick Gallery. I am also going to check out the space at the Art Pavilion in Tower Hamlets. Venice on Tuesday!

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What is in my Heart May 2013
What is in my Heart May 2013

May 2013, thinking about new work on the theme of Flight, being winged, aerial…..

The person hidden in the wing. The open wing, expansive wing. You hide between the feathers. You hide as breath, as shivering rustle of white resistance, just giving to the touch of my lips, I feel you all around me, your whiteness I see through my closed eyes. There was a day when I met you, when you first came to me, introduced yourself to me, and I could smell your feathers, feeling them all around me with their white slippery sleekness.

The Feathered and the Unfeathered.

Freedom from Torture, West Cornwall Supporters Group news – drawing workshop during Golowan

I recently became involved with this charity and I wanted to contribute something towards it.  I feel that raising awareness through creativity is a dynamic, productive and positive way of approaching this area of challenging, confusing, often hidden, shadowy, and shocking human activity.

I will be leading a workshop on drawing and working creatively with themes implied around the theme of torture.

Title of event: Drawing the Line: Freedom from Torture. How can we respond to human cruelty and injustice through creativity?

 Details of the event:  In aid of ‘Freedom from Torture’,  Kate Walters will lead a workshop exploring a number of themes including how the body stores our life experiences, dreams, nightmares, fairy tales, archetypal imagery and how we feel/can respond to  the human-instigated torture towards others which is going on in the world. We will aim to focus on empathy and the heart-mind as a way to safely explore these themes.

 

Participants will work with drawings, writing, and colour in a supportive and sensitive environment.

 Please bring drawing supports (e.g. paper, board) and your preferred materials.

 Age limit: participants must be 17 or over

 

Venue including full address

School of Art

Morrab Road

Penzance,

Cornwall  

 

Date Thursday 27.06.2013                    

To book a place please email Martin Kerrrison at martinkerrison@tiscali.co.uk

 

Times 09.00-12.00  Price for morning £20 & £15

http://www.freedomfromtorture.org/

 

Venice!

Last week I was delighted and surprised to hear that my bid for a bursary to visit the Venice Biennale for the Opening had been successsful. So I am getting ready to go, after taking some work to Bournemouth to the Russel Coates Museum. I have also heard from the lovely Juliet Gomperts Trust who have agreed to support part of my next project, which is really great news, and again, a lovely surprise!

Thank you to Shiquine for his very perceptive commentary on our show at the Stephen Lawrence Gallery, in South London Art Map

I post below an edited cutting from the South London Art Map (permission given). I thought the sensitive and perceptive response by Shiquine worth sharing, and celebrating.

Stephen Lawrence Gallery BLOG

I’m Shiquine; I’m a student at the Woolwich Poly School, doing a GCSE in Art.
I’m doing work experience at the Stephen Lawrence Gallery because I felt that I should do my work experience
in an area I would like to work in the future, I also felt that I should do something related to my interests.
While I have been here, the exhibition that was on was called ‘Being at the Edge: at the Edge of Being’.
It seems to me that this exhibit is about the different ways you can exploit artistic feeling.
For example, you don’t have to only use different types of media using your hands;
you could show your point in view on life through a sculpture or a video.
It shows how what you can do with art is limitless.
As I spent my days in the gallery, the exhibition showed me each piece
tells a story that has a beginning middle and end.
This can’t really be spotted out of the blue; you have to look at the art
really closely to see the significant quality in each piece.
It made me think that any time I’m doing a art piece I shouldn’t
just draw because I want to, I should draw,
but while I am doing this art piece I should also try to tell a story with it.

This art work (above) is made by Mat Osmond. My opinion on this piece is that

he makes it as if this animal wants to be a human being.

The way the rabbit can accomplish that is by doing things that humans

do in life for example making a book.

The artist incorporated a lot of feeling on this piece and also

incorporated a story into it. This piece has its own story.

This is just one of the pieces he had made.

This piece (above) by Kate Walters shows the bond between the animal and the human.

This artist tried to show how people’s characters may be portrayed within a animal.

This artist went back to her roots, like the ancient times just to like gain some

knowledge about the world back then what they used to believe in and what kind

of relationship they had between the animals and the plants and the rest of the living organisms.

That’s my opinion on what she must have done at the time to be able to paint this piece.

During my time in this exhibition, I’ve learned how the exhibition was laid out and how

it was decided that all of these artworks will fit in this exhibition. For example, the curator of the gallery,

who is David Waterworth, had to think about how all the art works link together and

how they all have their own way of expressing themselves.

Because the art gallery is in a small space, it had to be organized really well.

Being at the Edge: At the Edge of Being
Curated by Kate Walters and featuring:
Susan Bleakley – susanbleakley.org.uk
Karen Lorenz
Mat Osmond – www.dark-mountain.net/dm-mountaineers/mat-osmond
Kate Walters – www.millenniumgallery.co.uk  ;  katewalters.co.uk
Belinda Whiting – www.millenniumgallery.co.uk/belindawhiting/belindawhiting.htm

 

Sue Bleakley

 

ABOUT Stephen Lawrence Gallery

The Stephen Lawrence Gallery was established by the University of Greenwich in 2000.
The Gallery represents visual culture in its diversity through curated group exhibitions of
the work of contemporary visual practitioners from a range of disciplines and backgrounds.
The Gallery is open 9-5 Mondays to Fridays and 11-4 Saturdays.
It does not usually open on Sundays and Public Holidays.

CONTACT

The Stephen Lawrence Gallery
Queen Anne Court,
University of Greenwich,
Old Royal Naval College,
Park Row,
London SE10 9LS
020 8331 8260

Flight with a single wing

I had a dream of a mother bird, possibly an eagle owl, flying with one wing. The other wing was just resting, nestled against her side. She was flying around, trying to gather her young, guiding them back to her nest.

I have been working on what the ancestors tell us, of the birthing power of water and the new universe of the bright cell, the bright being, which come with prayer.

The Tree, the Horse, the Heart and the Spirit Line.

New work, April 2013

I  am beginning to understand about the need to respect the natural laws of ebbing and flowing.

Facebook, hands, feeling one’s way through

I joined Facebook yesterday, receiving a warm welcome from many, feeling a little unsure about how to use it at the moment.

I have been working hard in my studio, feeling my way, hands returning to foetal forms, forms we share with all young life, plants also. About being re- made? Finding a way back to a womb where I can be re-made? Reaching into the unknown. About re-entering the womb of possibility? Re-entering the womb of the yet-to-be-known?

2013-03-25 11.14.31

 

Detail of new work. March 2013.