A wonderful day with lots of visitors taking up our expressive drawing challenge for Made in Roath festival. We rolled out long sheets of paper, and invited participants to use paint, charcoal and pastels to experiment and have fun.
Art
Upcoming Exhibition and Workshop
Georgina Peach and I are running an Expressive Drawing Workshop on Sunday 22nd as part of the fabulous madeinroath festival - see here for details. Expect scrunched up paper, paint flicking, drawing with eyes closed, and other fun ways of drawing/not-drawing. "Expressive, or automatic drawing was used by the Surrealists to express the subconscious … Continue reading Upcoming Exhibition and Workshop
Creative Practitioner Project
I'm very excited to have been chosen to work as a creative practitioner in a local primary school as part of the Lead Creative Schools Scheme, an extensive five-year plan to embed the arts and creativity into the Welsh curriculum. I and a fellow practitioner, Lowri will be working with a group of about twelve … Continue reading Creative Practitioner Project
Seeking Transparency
For our Saturday afternoon drop-in session to experiment with cyanotype, or sun prints, participants brought along an assortment of things to try out on the photo-sensitive paper. Beads and seeds, feathers and flowers fresh from the garden were laid out and placed under the UV light bed for exposure. Creating compositions using a variety of … Continue reading Seeking Transparency
Children’s Printmaking Day
‘Children are remarkable for their intelligence and ardour, for their curiosity, their intolerance of shames, the clarity and ruthlessness of their vision.’ — Aldous Huxley We began the session drawing faces, practicing on tracing paper before transferring to the styrofoam. The children quickly got the hang of etching into it, creating wonderfully detailed characters. … Continue reading Children’s Printmaking Day
Cyanotype Workshop
This was a Cyanotype Drop-in Session I ran at Cardiff Print Workshop. After my short introduction about the history and process of cyanotype printmaking, participants experimented with a variety of objects and techniques to produce interesting, abstract photograms.
Sun Printing
In preparation for the drop-in cyanotype session I'm running on Sunday at Cardiff Print Workshop, I arranged some plant life and other things onto coated paper and left it to make its mark in the sunshine. Here are the results.
Cyanotypes at Spike Island
Prints developing in the bus stop: Charlotte Biszewski's cyanotype session at Spike Island in Bristol. Rinsing out the chemicals. One giant banner of tracing paper transferred onto the prepared paper for exposure by the sun (which happily obliged, despite rain forecast). Detail after being hosed.
Making a Mark: The Art of Automatism
Automatic drawing or painting can be described as “expressing the subconscious” using any technique that eliminates conscious control and replaces it with chance. The basic techniques originate from spiritualism, practiced by artists such as Georgiana Houghton and Hilma Af Klint, both of whom have recently had their work exhibited in a revival of interest and … Continue reading Making a Mark: The Art of Automatism
Homage to Hannelore Baron
There is something raw and deeply absorbing about Hannelore Baron's multi-layered work. Found materials are combined with enigmatic text and abstract figures in her collages and box constructions. The work suggests both the condition of entrapment and the possibility of release, no doubt informed by her early traumatic experiences of war in Germany in … Continue reading Homage to Hannelore Baron