There is a song by Karine Polwart, the Scottish folk singer songwriter, about Thrift, the little pink flower that clings to the edges of our land. One of the lyrics goes, ‘Thrift’s gift is, Thrift’s grace is, to thrive in harsh places, And show us hardship is a limit not a failing’ I had the good…
I always remember the first time someone bought one of my pieces and said ‘that will look great on my gallery wall’. It’s not a new idea- one of my favourite things about going to my grandmothers house was the slow walk down the stairs, stopping frequently to look at her collection of prints,…
I’m collaborating with Spike Print Studio again this January and February to bring you another chance to learn ‘Monoprint Landscapes’ (9th January- 6th February) and ‘Drypoint at Home’ (20th February to 26th March), both live and online. I’m also running 2 short online morning workshops ‘Botanical Printing by Hand’ on 27th January 10am-12pm and…
This month I’ve watched two beautiful documentary films about artists – ‘Tish’, about the late Tish Murtha, documentary photographer, and ‘Amselm’, Wim Wenders film on Anselm Kiefer (who needs no introduction!). Both films were wildly different and about wildly different people, but interestingly one thread wove it’s way through them both: which was the…
For the second time, Art and Ppl (aka art consultant and mentor Claudia Kennaugh) is hosting her ‘Precious Postcards’ exhibition, online and for 1 day only at ‘That Art Gallery’, Maudlin Street, Bristol on Tuesday 5th December (from 10am, drinks between 6 and 9pm). Claudia has assembled postcards from many wonderful artists, all for…
I’m now a member of Jamaica Street Studios, having moved into a small studio there at the beginning of November. The Studios have acquired the ground floor events and exhibition space and will be hosting a Christmas Art Show with work by all the studio holders between Saturday 2nd December and Saturday 16th December…
I’ve always thought of artist’s studios as places of magic- safe and sacred. The way I often think of churches and some kitchens. I always remember going to an exhibition in the Pompidou Centre in Paris in the late ’90s where Brancusi’s studio had been meticulously recreated in the gallery and it thrilled me.…
What is it about the etched line that gets me? I’m still not sure, but I think something to do with the scratched, ragged nature of it. Also, a certain, almost photographic nature to it, the same thing that attracts me to old silver type photos. A certain darkness. Most of my ‘lines’ these…
I know the importance of rest, the trouble is, it’s so hard to enact in this world I live in. Emerging out of the (rather wet) summer holidays, I was starting my run up to leap into all the things I said ‘I’ll do in September’, when, mid-leap, Covid felled me. I seem to…
When I moved to South Bristol in 1998, as a student, the area was run down, cheap to live in, and the only places to go out were small, scary, ‘old man’ pubs. The area’s changed beyond comprehension now. Some might call it gentrification, but there’s certainly a lot to be grateful for in…