N-SynconArt

Sunday, 13 November 2016

Illuminate Exhibition

The Loft Gallery in St Maragret`s Hope invited art students from
Orkney College UHI to put together a Christmas exhibition. Seven students from
the BA Fine Art and Fine Art Textile courses took up the offer using the title
`Illuminate` as inspiration for the works on display.

Poster advertising event!!

Below the pieces I submitted .........................................

Exhibition Set Up
Part of setting up an exhibition is curating the pieces, this can be a difficult process where you have to consider the wide range of ideas and media used in relation to the theme and how they will flow within the galleries space. Myself and Beccy May took up the challenge of this and I think we did a good job, it`s great experience for us plus we had fun doing it!!

First of the pieces hung....still lots to do

Opps, their a little bit squint!!

Finished overview
Works in their final positions, straight and labels on.......

All the pieces in the exhibition are for sale with prices ranging from £8 - £500.
This is probably the most difficult thing for an artist to
decide `how much do I want and what will someone pay??` especially
when your a student as there`s no exact science to this.
But as my husband says ` market sets the price` so it`ll be interesting to see
how I and the others fare in this particular market!!

The exhibition is on from the 12th Nov - 17th Dec 2016
with opening times Mon - Sat, 10 am til 5 pm.

So please feel free to pop along........ you don`t need to be in the market
for buying to enjoy the show!!!!!!

This is an up date to blog........
Photo of us at opening in this weeks Orcadian (17.11.16)

Pop Night 2016 !!

On the November the 5th every year in Stromness a `certain type` of artistic skill makes an apperance that of neep carving or more specifically creating a pop!! And here`s Thorfinn`s one!!

My husband Bruce craved this neep head and what a fantastic job he made!!
Now it`s ready for painting (my job)...........................

What do you think?? Scary!!!!!!!!

As is the Stromness tradition, Thorfinn braved the cold and spent the afternoon going round

doors asking for `a penny tae burn me pop`! That night we went to the local bonfire and met all the other bairns `pops` before they finally got thrown on the fire with a spectacular fireworks display ending the night !!

Below is a screen shot taken from the Orcadian showing the assortment of pops created

and the winners of the competition!! It really is great (and important) to see this tradition being

kept alive and hope that next year is even bigger and better!!

Monday, 10 October 2016

Knot Workshop

Mark Shiner from the Nav School in Stromness demonstrated the delights of rope and knots

to a group of us from Orkney College.

Talking mainly from a mariners perspective, particularly those of the past, Mark explained

that every `rope` had a practical use on board a ship but made aesthetically beautiful.

With a degree of status attached to creating the most intricate rope work pieces,

sailors took great pride in this skill combining function with decorative form.

This is a `monkeys fist` used as a weight for a heaving line on ships but
today is probably most recognizable as an ornamental knot on the end of a key fob!

Whipping (as seen below) is a binding knot used at the end of a rope to stop it from fraying but was also used as a form of protection round wood and gave extra grip on rails etc.

Snake whipping

French whipping

I really like this technique and there are many lovely whipping styles to choose from.

Mark showed us this beautiful sea chest `becket` (handle) which is constructed

entirely from rope using a combination of knot work styles.

These would have been finished by painting them with Stockholm tar, a black mixture

used for waterproofing rope protecting it against the seas elements.

The history of rope is extremely interesting,dating back to pre-historic times.

I`ve included a link below that gives a quick summary of this and a tutorial link so you can start exploring the world of knot making!!

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/06/lost-knowledge-ropes-and-knots.html

http://www.animatedknots.com/

Mark also suggested these book sources that give a comprehensive look into the knot world.

5 Artists Exhibition

A bit of a late post but thought it worth blogging!!

This was a collaborative exhibition featuring works by

Wendy Baker, Norman Cockett, Beccy May, Maureen McCubbin and Sue Whittingham.

It is my pleasure to know all of these five artists having met them

through Orkney UHI, where they also met each other.

A year on from their first exhibition they have come together once more

to show some of their more recent works which include drawing,

photography, collograph and sculpture.

Wendy Baker

Photography

Top L-`Shore Reflection` R-`Pier Reflection`
Bottom-`Stone Texture and Shadows`

These were beautiful B&W images of Stromness stone piers.

Norman Cockett

Charcoal

L-`My Last Sketch of Micheal` R-`Figure Drawing ll`

The portrait of Micheal was drawn several months before he pasted away

and was a poignant tribute to this colourful but troubled character.

Beccy May

Monoprint, collograph & photogram

L-`Night, Pool, Rock, Sky` C-`Creeling l&ll` R-`Seaglass l,ll,lll`

Various aspects relating to the sea were gorgeously captured

in these prints.

Maureen McCubbin

Photography, drawing & sculpture

L-`Time Passes l&ll` C-`Times passes lll` R-`Sketch l,ll,lll&lV`

The pencil portraits looked very relaxed with simple, natural lines and shading.

Sue Whittingham
Pastel & photography

`St Magnus Cathedral Triptych`

These three pastels illustrated the wonderful textures and colour

of the cathedrals internal stone work.

`Shades of Home ll`

What I like about this image is the reflection of the houses on the galleries window

giving another dimension to the photograph inside.

The Northlight Gallery is a lovely wee place to exhibit and the
installation from these 5 artists worked really well here!
I`ll look forward to next years exhibition!?!

Friday, 7 October 2016

Kirstin & Jenny graduate!!

Congratulations

to Jenny and Kirstin who graduated

on the 30th of September 2016

from Orkney College UHI.

Don`t they look fantastic in their graduation gowns
and I hope this will be me in the not to distant future!
I will miss them dearly as I continue on in my studies
without them but wish them all the best for the future
and know that they will both succeed in whatever
direction life takes them!!

Oh and Kirstin................

.............for the one that got away!!!

Monday, 12 September 2016

Science Festival 2016

Currently in its 26th year and with over 60 events, the OISF offers `something for everyone` with a wide range of lectures, demonstrations and activities!!

I decided to go along to some of the talks and find inspiration to `kick start` my CP4!!

The first talk was called `A Ghost in the Family` delivered by Dr Maria Martinon-Torres, an anthropologist of the University College London. It detailed the previously thought theory that our closest relations were the Neanderthal but in 2010 a Siberian cave revealed traces of an unknown group of hominid-The Denisovans. The discovery of this `unknown relative` has raised many questions about human evolution and our own genetic history. It was a fascinating talk and did give me something to think about in particular the links between DNA and genetics!

`The Mathematics of the Neolithic` was the second talk I attended with Howie Firth as speaker. He suggested that the Neolithic people were masters of number theory and felt it necessary to express these number patterns on earth on the form of stone circles. The audience was taken on a journey through history, physics, geometry, algebra, mythology and spirituality, he also spoke of his continued fascination with the Fibonacci number series, its evidence in nature and Pythagorean triangles. Combining these hypothesis, Firth proposed that the Neolithic people used their knowledge to track what they considered as the disorder between Earth and sky and to try to restore that order.

It was a very intriguing proposal, I loved the concept of it and felt it related to some of my past works so with my note book full of `scribbles and sketches` I`ll start researching and see where it leads me!?!

Also on display through out the festival were these funky outfits which could be seen in the window of Age Concern on Victoria Street, Kirkwall.

These costumes were part of `Fashion the Future` and were created to show the potential of upcycling. They combined repurposed textiles such as men`s ties and vintage curtains with recycled plastic, 3D-printed into new design accessories.

The outfits were designed by three art graduates from Moray and Inverness with the 3D graphics and printing carried out by the Moray makerspace group, the T-Exchange.

The idea of transformation, the making of something new from the old appeals to me and could be applied to so many concepts for artworks..........mmmmm more `food for thought!`

I wish I had been able to go to more of the Science Festival events but with other commitments this was not possible so I guess I`ll just have to wait til next year!!

I`ve included some links for additional information

http://oisf.org/

http://frontiersmagazine.org/fashion-the-future/

http://www.t-exchange.net/index.asp