In the current circumstances, I am more grateful than ever to have a space to go to to be creative. I thought I would share with you some beach finds I picked up on Rhossili beach, before the lockdown. Some of them are enough in themselves - perfect examples of wabi-sabi art, like this block … Continue reading In the Studio
Creative Process
Mythical Monsters
Kids love monsters; they never tire of stories from myth and legend. At the beginning of the Story telling and Art course, we travelled around the world, exploring stories from many different cultures, finding out about the spirits and mythical creatures that populate these tales. We encountered trolls from Iceland, dragons in China, a host … Continue reading Mythical Monsters
Writing as Art/Art as Writing
Here are some of my asemic experiments. I often use asemic writing as a way in to abstracts works. I create a mysterious script that transcends semantics. It is like a complex future language, a child's first attempts at writing, an ancient script or an undecipherable code. Asemic works place the viewer somewhere between reading … Continue reading Writing as Art/Art as Writing
Mentoring Role
A student from the BA Creative and Therapeutic Arts course based in Treforest is joining my class for the next twelve weeks, and as his mentor, I will be overseeing 14 sessions that he has planned and facilitated. As the student is a visual artist, his first session was based around his own practice, which … Continue reading Mentoring Role
Breathing Space
I'm really looking forward to facilitating a new Creativity and Wellbeing course with Katja Stiller from Valley and Vale Arts. We will be delivering person-centred creative sessions that will combine mindfulness exercises for relaxation with a range of art forms. For people who are in the process of recovery from mental health challenges such as anxiety … Continue reading Breathing Space
Intuitive Collages
In this week's Creative Wellbeing session, I asked participants to look though piles of old magazines, choosing and cutting out images that appealed to them, while trying not to think too much about why. The collection of images and/or words, could then be arranged and stuck down in a way that is pleasing to each … Continue reading Intuitive Collages
Artists Apart
Two exhibitions in Swansea this weekend: Sarah Poland who has a residency in GS Gallery, and Frances Richards at the Glynn Vivian. Sarah Poland's mark making using inks made from oak galls has a zen-like quality. I love how she combines this with photographic images she calls 'moon-drawings', made by using a long exposure on … Continue reading Artists Apart
Alchemy and Healing
Catherine Lewis has taken over the gallery 1a Inverness Place, an empty shop, as part of her wellspace residency. Cat works with materials that she gathers from her local environment - natural, local plant materials, and uses sustainable print processes and recycled cloths. Catherine had collected water and wood from a nearby healing well site, … Continue reading Alchemy and Healing
New Work
Once again using set parameters of reclaimed tile 50x50cm, and circular form, I am continuing to experiment with elements of relief using plaster and glue to create texture (inspired by Ernst's experiments). The composition, apart from these self-defined limits, is automatic. “The joy in every successful metamorphosis conforms . . . with the intellect’s age-old … Continue reading New Work
New Studio Space
For a few years, when the Kings Road Artists have had open studio days, I have visited, and always come away thinking how wonderful it would be to have a permanent space in a building dedicated to working artists. I was warned that spaces were much in demand and hardly ever became available, so I was … Continue reading New Studio Space
