FAILURE got a First!

Can you believe it - today I heard that my dissertation project on FAILURE got a FIRST - not only that but the University has asked me for a copy for their archive. I am over the moon - not least because of the 22 artists who supported the project with their artwork - I will be contacting you all separately of course but meantime thank you so much for submitting work because without you all it would indeed have been a FAILURE. So what about my last post then? Well I must try harder to fail obviously! This failure thing is complicated! But I have rather fallen in love with the subject and I'm definitely not finished with FAILURE yet!

I have just moved into my new house in Plymouth - so a double celebration! I am so ready to be settled in one place again - I will be spending the next few weeks unpacking boxes and setting up a small studio space. Meanwhile I have been mooching about taking photos of what I am calling 'found sculptures' - things I come across that seem to have a sculptural quality but are not defined as 'sculptures'. Not sure where this is leading but here are a couple from my BLUE BEACH series.........

What is happening in the salt shed?

I love this work - it is by the American artist Claudia Borgna who collects thousands of plastic bags to create her art. Her blog is HERE she has one of her sculptures at BROOMHILL - I haven't been here yet but I am planning a day out to see the National Sculpture Prize etc. Apparently they have a lovely RESTAURANT there too! SO if you are in the UK and find yourself in North Devon then here is an idea for an art day out!! You can even stay there in the HOTEL
Enjoy!

Rambles in Wales

Here I am in North Wales again with my artist friend Marged who lives in the Snowdonia National Park - today we up near Beddgelert on the National Trust footpath at Craflwyn. It is close to the ruins of Vortigan's Hill Fort near Dinas Emrys. This is the land of King Arthur and legend has it that Merlin spent a lot of time at the fort...... in fact he lived there for a while. The ground is quite sacred! It was also the scene of a battle between the White Dragon of England and the Red Dragon of Wales - the Red Dragon won hence the Welsh flag!
Naomi Leake's sculpture 'Dresser' sits on the hillside - an empty standing dress with a copper bodice and stone cairn skirt - you can read more about her here

We carried on along the path and next was this enormous 'chair' made by the sculptor Dominic Clare
We had fun being children again..............
and this is what I was looking at .................
Oh and in case you were wondering I'm not 3ft tall but 5ft 7ins in fact!!!

Rocks, stones and an exhibition

I am busy preparing work for a collaborative exhibition with 3 other artists, that opens on 1 July at St John's Church in Leeds UK. We are dedicating the exhibition to an orginal member of the group, Chris Lockwood, a lovely young man of 28 years who tragically died in an accident in the Alps in March this year, and is sadly missed by us all. We hope to include some of his last work in the show - a celebration of his artistic life!

This latest body of work, very different to my previous work, is my response to the space in the church and my religious upbringing as a Roman Catholic. The 'paper' stones/rocks that I am making symbolise the tensions between my stable foundation as a child and the fragility and vulnerability of growing older. They are markers of life's journey, stepping stones, hardships overcome and mountains climbed. Stones are an ancient pagan and religious symbol of stability, hardness and endurance. They often mark our way in the natural world, indicating the path ahead. We only have to think of standing stones, stone circles, cairns and boundary stones and their many meanings. Paper on the other hand hand is a symbol of literature, learning and law and for me is a magical material. The everyday ordinariness of paper makes its transformation into works of art all the more extraordinary. Paper can be both strong and fragile!

the space at the church is enormous and quite daunting - maybe that too is a metaphor for life's journey! The stones/rocks vary in size from 18 inches to about 3ft and are free standing objects which will be placed in the aisles of the church at stragetic points. Please come along between 6pm and 8.30pm on Wed 1 July if you are 'within a stone's throw away' - or even a bit further!!!