In The Bear Garden

NEWS

2009-12-19T07:22:00.000-08:00

NEW AND HOPEFULLY REGULAR POSTS VERY SOON ONCE WEBSITE IS UP AND RUNNING! SHOULD BE UP AT THE START OF THE NEW YEAR!

New Fox

2009-09-16T17:18:00.000-07:00

I have high hopes for the new fox pendant that I've had lasercut - I re-jigged him a bit and have made him a lot smoother, and hes also a bit bigger and will be available on a chain this time round. Hopefully everyone will like him.

He has just sneaked into the Viennahorses shop ...

Black Hole

2009-09-16T17:00:00.000-07:00

Love. This. Hehe the hole is so ominous!

After The Dream The Eternity Chamber

2009-09-16T16:26:00.000-07:00

Other things that I thought were pretty good whilst taking in the Walking In My Mind exhibition were the pieces by Charles Avery (whos work I had previously been meaning to see) which basically were artifacts and images from this imaginary island which he creates as part of this epic project where he documents and investigates the island and its inhabitants. I really like the idea, and I think it most comes to life in the biggest sculpture which is an Eternity Chamber - its a lot like the black revolving box I had in my exhibition at Brighton - apart from its much bigger and better! You can only see the inside through a a small opening - this is what the catalogue has to say about it: ' ...an Eternity Chamber belonging to the Island's Cult of the Gulls, whos insane leaders extreme longevity is attributed to his having once witnessed eternity. The kiosk's brilliantly patterned and mirrored interior presents a dazzling illusion of infinity, which we are only allowed a glance of through a crack in the padlocked doors.' The outside of the 'kiosk' is pretty special too.

The brilliance of the exhibition lay in the wildly imaginative landscapes that the visitor was able to experience by walking through them as the title suggests - there was a network of cardboard and packing tape catacombs, a red and white spotted inflatable and astroturfed wonderland, as well as Chiharu Shiota's soft yet disturbing web of wool called After the Dream. This was an incredible tunnel of interwoven threads which encased 5 long fairytale dresses in its woven thicket and gave the feeling of being inside a giant spiders lair where objects had been captured and forgotten, protected and ensnared.

Memorable things from London

2009-09-14T15:22:00.001-07:00

I wanted to write some posts about the Walking In My Mind exhibition I went to the other week (almost 2 weeks ago aaaghhh how time flies) at the Hayward, and also a bit about the Telling Tales exhibit at the V&A, plus about the little bit of research I did in the jewellery section there. Welllll it was all FANTASTIC.

So ...Walking In My Mind - I Loved Yoshimoto Nara's Drawing Room - which was a shed-like wendy house housing a mini studio and bedroom with loads of drawings and little bits and pieces which were meant to recreate his student room. I want that kind of space - even though it did concern me that both the chair and the bed looked really uncomfortable - but the cluttered effect was perfect and reminded me of my room in halls in first year.

Bead Landscapes...

2009-09-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

I am currently working expeditiously on my website which MUST repeat MUST be up and running by the end of the month - I've had long enough!!! The theme of the site is based on my bead collection which contains many graphic and interesting shapes which I'm planning on arranging in nice patterns to give a random feel to the website. I need a format which is not too clean cut and organised, because my projects inevitably are likewise. I plan to use the groups of beads as links to various pages - here are some pics to give an idea - they are a bit greyer and darker than the new photos I will take for the purpose, but still pretty.

New House

2009-09-14T13:56:00.000-07:00

I have a new house. Unfortunately it wont be new for very long, or even mine for very long as I am here for a month until I find somewhere a bit more permanent. Its a shame I had to find a room and house so suited to me which is only mine for the month - perfect even down to the french windows to the garden which mean I can spraypaint bits of plastic outside to my hearts content.

Brighton Show

2009-06-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

Just been sent a nice image by photographer extraordinaire Ben of my show area.

Mary Katrantzou

2009-06-21T18:14:00.000-07:00

I was reminded of the fantastico designs of Mary Katranzou today by the arrangement of some stationary on my desk so I had a look through her website. Its all hyperrealist aesthetic, bold graphics with matching industrial jewellery. I'm really interested in what shes going to come up with next, as I love the original stuff she made for her CSM MA show, and then theres the perfume bottle-inspired collection. I like the trompe l'oeil effect - the blur between 3D and 2D with the jewellery and prints.

GDI09

2009-06-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

Cant believe I forgot to post this! Look whats through the round window!

Plans...

2009-06-15T03:42:00.000-07:00

Since I pretty much shut down my etsy shop at the start of this year at uni, I have had quite a few questions through about whether I would be restocking the Bird in Fox pendant that I used to make, which was inexplicably really popular. Because of this, I've decided to start making it again, and this time to make it bigger and better, and also to make a series of pendants/jewellery along a similar line. The problem I've had before, though, is finding a good supply of chains for the pendants, which is why previously I've tended to sell them on their own or on a ribbon - I just dont seem to be able to find good quality chains which are long enough at an ok price! I'll update with images of the new designs as soon as they are finished.

HI IM BAACK

2009-06-15T03:14:00.000-07:00

Its a new post!! (Hoping to be much more regular from now on!!) Just to get a few pics on here of the big white sculpture as it looked at the Brighton show (which has just finished). The pics are unfortunately over exposed and not brilliant, but I'm hoping to get a photoshoot done of this as well as my Secret History city in the next few days to get up on the website I'm creating. I had some really good feedback on the show which was encouraging - I think it was really successful for everyone - it looked so impressive with everyones work all together!

2 weeks to go...

2009-05-02T06:02:00.000-07:00

I've got further with the chandelier thing - not finished yet, needs probably a couple more days work. Here are the parts ready to be assembled on my bed. It has been so tricky cutting accurate pentagons that are equal on all sides and angles. I just need to do some big windows now for the main barrel shaped bit and a trip to B&Q is required for hardcore glue and things to hang it by and mirrors!!

This was my desk even after a lot of tidying up the mountains of mountboard scrap.

I bought these boxes in WH Smith the other day - they are metal frames with a stretchy plastic skin which I'll be cutting off to replace with tracing paper. Perfect bases for the next chandelier thing that I'm planning.

Emotional Paper

2009-04-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

Jum Nakao's 05 collection of paper dresses is an amazing spectacle on the catwalk which I happened upon today through Stylebubble (superb blog). Just make sure you follow the link to the Jum Nakao site and watch the video there to the end.............!!!!!!!!!!! :0

Board of Bored

2009-04-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

Work is finally in progress and I managed to complete the top of one of the *chandeliers* that Im planning for the show. I say complete, I mean get the basics sorted, as there still needs to be an owl on top and details added to the outside, but I thought I'd try and get the main bit done first. The whole 'chandelier' thing is my attempt to make the show multilayered with different exhibits - in this case, hanging in the space. The idea is to eventually have a mirror suspended below so that you can see up into the interior, and be surprised by whats inside!

Just to add to the white board theme, heres one part of the other piece that I'm developing for the show - the Secret History themed architectural thing. The top of the temple got bashed when I was taking it outside which is REALLY ANNOYING!! haha

Paper Inspiration

2009-04-25T04:14:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post some of Lizzie Thomas' work that I particularly like:

On the way to finding the images, I came across the work of Emma Van Leest which is also really interesting, and has some architectural and layered qualities which are pretty inspirational.

Windows

2009-04-25T03:59:00.000-07:00

So my work is going actually quite well at the moment, although I am worried about the time I have left before I'm meant to be mounting my show. I have a hefty amount still to do and I'm really excited about it, but I'm also thinking I might have planned too much stuff - I'll have to see how it goes. Over Easter I designed a book cover sculpture for Donna Tartt's novel The Secret History (one of my favourite books), which was meant to be entered in the Penguin Design Competition. I'm extending this model for the show, as well as making some hanging models, based on the Gormenghast Trilogy which I've got plans for being interactive on some level. All this book -related work was sparked off by my exam project on Edgar Allan Poe and the house I produced. This pic shows the house in progress - all the cut pieces arranged together before I glued them, and it shows a lot of the elements and atmosphere that I'm trying to develop in my new pieces.

Diorama Drama haha

2009-04-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

At the end of the Easter hols, me and my sister went to a little workshop in Birmingham at the RBSA Gallery which was run by Lizzie Thomas, a brilliant craft artist who makes beautiful books and cutouts in various forms. I first saw her work at the Brighton degree show last year and the again at Hove Art Gallery not long ago where I happened to join her mailing list. It turns out that she was doing this workshop during the time I was at home so I had to go along! We were basically the only marginally grown up people there - everyone else was about seven, but I still enjoyed it loads!! We made paper dioramas - Lizzie's version, and the one she brought in for an example is called Blue Fox and is beautifully toned and has a select number of layers, making a lovely composition. My diorama was sort of doomed from the start in terms of subtle tones, as the kids had chosen all the best box frames before I got mine, so I had a red one. I then thought id would be a good idea to put in as many layers as possible, which turned out a little bit haphazard, but I did like it in the end, and its inspired a few aspects of my work for the show! I'll do a post soon about Lizzie's work...

New Blog

2009-04-23T16:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome, welcome to my new blog, which will be a little visual diary of what I am doing everyday, anything interesting that I find and projects which I am working on. An actual bear garden is where bears used to be kept for fighting etc. hmm... however the idea of a bear garden sounds cute and/or relaxing for bears, which I am in favour of. It sounds a bit like the bear version of Monkey Forest (a real woodland in Stoke where monkeys are allowed to live). I quite like the idea that a bear garden sounds nice if you are a bear, but is a pretty scary place for anyone else he he... - enough of this rambling! See you very soon :0