The end of a POP!

Well this is how it all ends for the 'POP'!!

In a blaze 'o' glory !!!

It's been a grand night with lots of folk enjoying the display!! 

Pop night

This is an old Stromness tradition that happens on Guy Fawkes night.

A neep is carved into an ugly/scary head, the kids then go out with their 'pop' knocking on doors asking for 'a penny to burn their pop please!'

At the end of the night these pops get thrown onto the fire!!

Here's Thorfinn and Coleen's pops this year!!

Neeps carved ready for painting!!

Finished result!! SCARY!!!

Hands on welding!!

Creative Practise 3 is now underway, starting with the construction of a larger `sail` sculpture! So with my preliminary drawings, I set off to Sinclair`s workshop to become an apprentice welder!

I had the pick of what metal I wanted to use from the workshops stores and with my artistic eyes on I choose an old, corroded piece of metal bar which(to me)was just beautiful but from a welding point of view was possibly the worst choice as welding requires nice and clean surfaces to adhere together?!!

My `tutor` 17 yr old Dylan showing me how to clean up the metals surface with a grinder.

My turn!!

After preparing the surface, shaping the metal bar and making some `lugs` from fencing staples its time to start welding them together!

Yes, its me `WELDING`

Finished result!!

I had a brilliant 2 days and was delighted with the outcome but I`m not sure that Sinclair`s will be employing me any time soon as a master welder(or even a basic one!)

Perhaps I should shift my attention to the `welders` fashion range, think it could do with a bit of a make over! LOL! 

For me and my CP it was important to learn the art of metal construction. Even in this short time my understanding and relationship with the materials has changed and is now feeding back into my CP ideas. Happy Days!!

The Travelling Gallery

Eyes on the Prize

Touring mainland Orkney

Sept 2015

The Travelling Gallery is a mobile, contemporary art gallery custom-built in a big beautiful bus!
This year the Travelling Gallery commissioned artist Mike Inglis to create a new vinyl wrap for the bus and it looks great! To find out more about the ideas behind the wrap go to http://www.eca.ed.ac.uk/school-of-design/mike-inglis

This year the Turner Prize is being hosted in Glasgow (Oct-Jan) so to coincide with this event the `bus` is exhibiting a selection of works by Scottish artists who in the past have been Turner Prize winners and nominees.

 Douglas Gordon

Spiral, 2011

This film was viewed on 2 monitors, slowly played 8 sec apart so the eyes were out of sync when blinking/crying, it was quite strange to watch! Accompanying the film was an emotional ballad sung by Rufus Wainwright. I thought it was very powerful piece!

Jim Lambie

Metal Box (Blinded by the Light), 2015

This wall sculpture was inspired by weathered billboard concert posters which had curled at the corners revealing the previous posters beneath. Nice piece, great for selfies too!

Christine Borland & Brody Condon

Circles of Focus, Excerpt 1,2&3, 2015

This selection of pieces are from a larger circular sculpture with the clay being hand made here in Orkney. The clay was an experimental surface used to represent the human skin and a process called `hypostasis`. The concept was to re-imagine a contemporary approach to death&dying by proposing the body as a site of ambiguity, imagination&expression. 

Callum Innes

Exposed Painting Orange, 2015

Innes is probably beat known for these `exposed` paintings. The un-painting process is made by removing the layers of paint with turpentine.

David Shrigley

Bone, 2008

Shrigley is probably best known for his distinctive drawing style but he also explores materials such as bronze and ceramic, to make `physical` some of his more unusual ideas.

Ian Hamilton Finlay

The Boat`s Inseparable Ripples, 1969

Brought up in Glasgow and Orkney, Finlay was one of the leaders of the concrete poetry movement and here is an early example of that works. His concepts relate to his interest in mans relationship to nature.

Lucy Skaer

15.04.13-21.04.13, 2013

7 lithographs printed from The Guardian newspapers plates. The title refers to the dates of the newspaper plates which were set in advance, without knowledge of the event`s that would make up that weeks news. The plates were partially deleted using chemicals, leaving only traces of these events and then printed by the artist. In Skaer`s work she investigates the way we understand and relate to objects and images.

Ciara Philips

Things I associate with you, 2014

Phillips works mainly with screenprinting using traditional techniques in a very experimental way. Initially I thought this piece was depicting the sun and moon/day and night but is in fact an obscure image of a modern lamp (mmmmm maybe this is what it represents then??)

Martin Boyce

Ventilation Grilles (Punching through the Clouds), 2004

This was a set of 4 acid etched brass plates with the phrase `Punching Through the Clouds` a visionary remark by the influential Modernist architect Lugwig Mies Van der Rohe(1886-1969) expressing the souring optimism of his groundbreaking skyscraper constructions. When Martin made these works it was following the events of 9/11, taking this into account the artworks evokes something more troubling concerning the modern city!

For more information on the Travelling Gallery and what they do visit

http://www.travellinggallery.com/

Postcard Art Show

Custom House Gallery

Sept 2015

This exhibition is to raise funds for the Orkney Heart Screening event which is set to take place in March next year, when 200 young people from Orkney between the ages of 14 and 35 will receive free ECG tests.

Artists were asked to submit a postcard size piece of work, in any medium but put their signature on the reverse. The idea was that each item would be for sell at £10 but the buyer wouldn`t know who had made the works until it was bought. So basically you buy it because you like it, the aim to appreciate art for what it is, not for who created it whilst raising money for a good cause!! 

I think it`s a brilliant idea and sent in this piece..........................................................

Points of View Exhibition

An exhibition of works by Morag Tweedie and Jean Malone

Custom House Gallery

Sept 2015

Morag Tweedie

Alhambra 3, textile print (2015)

Sanctuary 1&2, Alhambra Floor, mixed media (2015)

Bathe 1, mixed media (2015)

Jean Malone

Custom House, ink and wash (2015)

Construction#1&#2, 

Groatie House#2, Petrol Pumps#2,

stitching on photographs (2015)

Lovely range of mixed media techniques always great to see!!

Lizza & Jenna Hume Exhibition

The Old School Gallery

10th Aug-5th Sept 2015

Lizza and Jenna are sisters who live and work in Westray, where they run a highly successful textile business and shop-Hume Sweet Hume. Both are art school trained and continue to make their own personal artwork. Lizza`s textile inspired pieces and Jenna`s paintings are evocative portrayals of Orkney life and landscape.

The galleries natural stonework and wooden beams really complemented 

the muted tones used in the artworks.

For me, Lizza`s collages were like fragments of fading memories,

 each one holding a hidden story.

Jenna`s paintings were atmospheric!! But perhaps the titles hinted 

at something deeper than just the weather? 

(Left- `heartfelt`& right-`sea whisper`)

Link to Lizza and Jenna`s business page 

http://humesweethume.co.uk/

The Loft exhibition - Aug 2015

`Collection`

The Loft Gallery

10th Aug - 8th Sept

`Collection` is a collaboration of works, brought together by textile designer and artist Morag Tweedie and ceramicist Eleanor Bartleman and are studies of pattern in paint and porcelain.

Morag works with paint, print and stitch on fabric and paper. Collageing them together she has made these wonderful studies of birds and flowers (and even a couple of toads)  taking inspiration from walks around her house and garden. Each piece is a patterned representation rather than an accurate recording. 

Magic carpet(heading north) and Magic carpet(heading south)

in mixed media textile

...bird in hand in mixed media

soldiers(plantain) in paint-inktense

Eleanor loves colour and has chosen to work in porcelain as the strong, high-fired clay 

displays colour with vibrancy. The original inspiration for her animal figures comes from the `Beast Epic of Reynard the Fox`, in which animals play out characters in society. Here she has a sort of fashion collection of these, dressed in their finery in ideas developed from Elizabethan and Jacobean embroidery and design.

Reindeer Treasure Box

Brocade Dog

Striding Brocade Wolf

What can I say, these two artists have produced a selection of works that sit perfectly together.

Although both work in very different medias the pieces complement each other with the rich textures, beautiful colours and the delicate details it is just an exquisitely, wonderful and delightful collection!

(And judging by the amount of `sold` red dots, I`m not the only one!!)

Open Windows update

Friday 29th August 2015

Northlight Studio was a hive of activity on Friday morning with artists (& cars) collecting

 boards and labels for installing work in their host windows and

 with preparations being made for the opening at night! 

My window is in 16 Alfred Street and my host is Marlene Crawford.

 I don`t think I could have wished for a more kind and considerate person, 

not only was she letting me used her window but she`d also arranged to have

 plain white fabric drapes fitted inside so as nothing could distract from

 the works on display.

And here it is.................................

............must go back and take photo with backdrops!! Opps!

And some pics from the opening (courtesy of Rebecca Marr)

Ros Bryant, Northlight Studio`s owner

Christine & Britt Harcus (artists)

Mark Edmonds (artist)

Viewers `admiring the works!

Taking to the streets!

End of the night........

The exhibition runs from the 30th Aug-6th Sept 

and is certainly worth a walk along the street, just remember to look

for the lightbulb stickers in participating windows!

Link below to feature in `Frontiers` magazine

http://frontiersmagazine.org/open-windows-lets-the-light-in/