Urban Space III installed for Doors Open Weekend

On your trip to the Briggait for Open Doors Weekend, be sure to venture past the Artists' pigeon holes towards the staircase as I have installed a new sculptural installation titled Urban Space III.

The Briggait opens it's doors for Doors Open Weekend

The Briggait is a beautiful Category A listed building in Glasgow’s medieval quarter, the Merchant City. Originally built in 1873, the Briggait was the city’s fish market for over 100 years. By the turn of the millennium it was clear the building was in severe need of some TLC; rain poured in and parts of the Briggait were entirely derelict. In 2001, Wasps Artists’ Studios set out on the long road to redevelop the building and it has now been transformed into a vibrant new home for over 80 visual artists and cultural organisations.www.waspsstudios.org.uk www.thebriggait.org.uk

A few artists will be allowing the public to have a peek into their studios.

Wasps Artists' Studios Website

Check out the newly launched Wasps Artists' Studios Website

http://www.waspsstudios.org.uk/

You can search the different artists who have Wasps Studios and see images of their work.

Please note that plenty more images will be added in due course, so keep checking regularly!

Urban Space II at Vault

Vault (from above)

The Mutual and David Dale Gallery


LAPLAND and Market Gallery


The Mutual and David Dale Gallery


The Mutual, David Dale Gallery and Street Level


LAPLAND and Glasgow Print Studio


LAPLAND and Glasgow Print Studio and Glasgow School of Art


IRONBBRATZ


Glasgow School of Art


IRONBBRATZ

Briggait Artist Stand at VAULT

The Briggait Panel selected a number of artists with studios at the Briggait to exhibit at VAULT.



Selected artists were:
Janie Nicoll
Stephanie Spindler
Karen Vaughan
James Hamilton
Helen Shaddock
Chris Wallace
Jane Mcally
David Sherry



We had a range of work - sculpture, video, performance, drawing, painting, collage, representing the broad range of working practices artists adopt.

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Getting ready for VAULT

Since returning from Berlin I have been in VAULT mode -

casting more sculptures


coating them in polymer
filing them
painting the platform on which the sculptures will stand



photographing work
preparing drawings for the print browser
creating an inventory of works
writing a maintenance schedule
and all the associated paperwork and admin activities.

Today I assisted with installing the work of the Briggait panel.

Come along and all will be revealed!

VAULT ART GLASGOW
9 - 11 Sept 2011
The Briggait
141 Bridgegate
G1 5HZ

Fri 11am-9pm
Sat 11am-9pm
Sun 12pm-5pm

East Side Gallery, Berlin

We ventured to the East Side Gallery, aptly named due to it's geographical position in Berlin.

The remains of the Berlin Wall which separated the East and West of Berlin have been painted by a range of artists, including Margaret Hunter.

Lineage at Edinburgh Printmakers

Lineage
Prints by Michael Craig-Martin, Ian Davenport and Julian Opie
at Edinburgh Printmakers

All three artists push the boundaries of printmaking in the work in this exhibition.

Michael Craig-Martin's line drawings aim to be objective and without a style, but this actually results in the drawings having a specific aesthetic and style in their own right.

Julian Opie has produced a "set of Lenticular landscapes, where six Japanese views are represented in three dimensions using a technology in which a lenticular lens is used to produce images which offer an illusion of depth." Personally I found the works a little gimicky.

Ian Davenport's colourful 'Etched Puddle' prints are beautiful and are a great example of how a familiar printmaking technique (in this case etching) can be manipulated to produce unexpected results.




Similarly, in the Ovals series, Davenport has manage to create splashes and drips of ink in what is normally a highly controlled process. The thick layers of ink are visible giving a 3-dimensional element to the normally flat surface of screenprints.

There’s no E in book: 5 non-digital book-based innovations

There’s no E in book: 5 non-digital book-based innovations

Chris Ward


Printed books will never really go away. They’ll be superseded by e-books, sure. They’ll become a minority interest. They’ll be treated as relics of a bygone age, one where you had to actually leave the house to, y’know, get stuff.

But just as vinyl records have survived in the sweaty-but-carefully-dust-gloved hands of music geeks, and cinephiles are ignoring the convenience of watch instantly video streaming in favour of the hi-def glories of a decent Blu-Ray restoration, there will always be an audience, however small and specialist, for a nice binding and a dog-ear, ready and waiting for publishers to peddle their wares.

Alternatively, publishers could decide they’re not content to punt such simple pulp-and-ink pleasures, and instead chuck gimmick after gimmick at the reading public until something sticks. Either way. Here’s five of the latter.

1. Flipbacks

Initially, of course, there’s disappointment at realising it’s Flipbacks and not flip books. Then, there’s further dismay that they have nothing to do with animated stick figures finally getting revenge on the thumbs that’ve made them dance jauntily from side to side across a page for years.

But with those hurdles cleared, these pocket-sized novels are certainly an attractive proposition for commuters, coming in around the size of the average phone, with text printed top to bottom rather than left to right, on pages as thin as rolling papers. So not only can you read Cloud Atlas, you can tear the pages out, light up and create your own.



2. Book as art/collector’s artefact

Working with the form of the book has long proved fruitful for visual artists, from William Blake illustrating, printing and binding his own writings through to the modern-day likes of Yorkshire-born, Glasgow-based Helen Shaddock, who incorporates artist’s books into her work alongside sculpture, installations and performance, has twice co-organised the Glasgow International Artists’ Bookfair and is in the process of organising her third.

‘I appreciate the intimate and personal nature of artist books, and enjoy their tactile quality,’ says Shaddock. ‘Sometimes I use the book as a means of documenting a work, such as “My quest to find a Shaddock”, which relates to the public artwork I did at the Barras market. Recently I have been making sculptural books, exploring the potential of hand-cutting and folding paper.’



Some of Helen Shaddock's work.

Incorporating such innovations and playing up the one-of-a-kind nature of these pieces is certainly a way for creative publishers to divert attention from e-books and offer the kind of experience that necessitates the physicality of real-world materials. Think of it as The Very Hungry Caterpillar for grown-ups.



3. Added value content

Because the joy of reading clearly is no longer its own reward (imagine! Reading a book just for the hell of it! Hah!), some authors, big and small, have started expanding their domains beyond the realm of the printed page and even the humble audiobook.

When Canongate published Nick Cave’s The Death Of Bunny Munro, for example, the audiobook came not just with the standard ‘read by the author’ hook, but with the promise of original music by the cult hero and his regular collaborator Warren Ellis, sound design by filmmakers Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard – who have also been collaborating with Cave on a series of documentaries about his albums – and 3D spatialised sound by Arup Acoustics.

On the other end of the spectrum, and perhaps taking a leaf from the likes of Matador Records’ Buy Early Get Now scheme (encouraging pre-orders of albums from independent record shops), Californian kids’ graphic novelist Dan Santat came up with a pre-order package that not only included all manner of extras, from art prints to deleted scenes and other making-of material perhaps more commonly associated with film, but also benefited his local independent book shop.



4. Author as rock star

In 2007, venerable Scottish record label Chemikal Underground put out Ballads Of The Book, a collaborative album that saw some of Scotland’s finest indie acts set lyrics written by some of Scotland’s finest writers to their own music.

One unexpected result of the process was the taste for live performance developed by Alan Bissett, whose “The Rebel On His Own Tonight” was translated to record by ex-Arab Strap man Malcolm Middleton. Buoyed by positive reaction to the record, Bissett went on the road with Zoey Van Goey and Y’All Is Fantasy Island, performing excerpts from his fiction and specially created spoken word pieces in between sets.

The innovation here isn’t so much the act of performing as the context in which it took place: rather than read at a literary festival, Bissett took his pop-culture saturated work in front of the kind of crowd most likely to appreciate it, one already used to supporting stuff they like via the merch table and one who, much as they kept the turntable alive, would likely find a certain retro glamour in picking up a paperback to then sit and read ostentatiously outside a hip cafe, perhaps while nonchalantly smoking a page or two of Cloud Atlas.



5. Digital to analogue

Of course, if all else fails, turn the tables. Rather than passively watch the digitisation of every piece of printed material available, several publishers have taken it upon themselves to bring portions of the web kicking and screaming into the real world: cute photo blogs like Hipster Puppies and Sleeveface, cool web comics like Dinosaur Comics and Achewood, and even, in one confounding instance, the edit history of Wikipedia’s entry on the Iraq War.

Physical copies certainly seem to be the only way to turn a profit from such endeavours – who would buy an eBook version of a site when the site itself is freely accessible from any phone or computer? – and removing them from the unending bombardment of information that is web 2.0 (and beyond) gives readers a chance to appreciate them apart from the intrusion of IMs, pop-ups, and pop-ups pretending to be IMs.



http://bookmachine.org/2011/08/09/theres-no-e-in-book-5-non-digital-book-based-innovations/

Catalogue Available

Leeds College of Art Vernon Street Leeds LS2 8PH

18 August - 9 September 9.00am - 4.00pm Monday - Friday

Alex Farrar

and Jayne Allen, Keith Arnatt, Jonathan Ashworth, Bob Cobbing, Georgia
Dennison, James Dixon, Lucy Freeman, Hamish Fulton, Joe Hancock, Howard,
Leeds United, Richard Long, Frank Lisle, Claire Macalister Hall, Harry
Meadley, Michael O'Sullivan, Helen Shaddock, Holly Stott, Eric Taylor,
Liz West, Lynn Wray

Catalogue Available

PRIVATE VIEW

17 August 5.00pm - 8.00pm

'Catalogue Available', Alex Farrar proposed that his exhibition
catalogue be expanded to include all the artworks currently in the
Vernon Street College building. The resulting publication reveals a
found-exhibition of 30 works made in the past 50 years by over 25
artists, present at the time of Farrar's solo exhibition.

Featuring the college's hanging collection and ongoing temporary
exhibitions, the catalogue also documents many clandestine projects
which remain in the building long after their makers have left. These
latent exhibits were researched by a group of former students,
responsible for collecting verbal accounts of the mythical works that
persist in the fabric of the building.

The project will be accessible through a single hand-printed book that
will be permanently shelved in the College's Vernon Street library.
During the preview of the exhibition, a one-off tour of the exhibition
will be led by Georgia Dennison.

The Briggait on Central Station

Central Station has posted a blog all about the Briggait and I am included as one of the artists with a WASPs studio in the building

http://community.thisiscentralstation.com/_The-Briggait/blog/4999229/126249.html

Vault Website is live

Vault Art Glasgow is a new opportunity for artists to sell their work and for the public, collectors and galleries to buy contemporary art.

Twelve of the most innovative galleries and organisations have been invited to present a selected range of new art by emergent, alongside leading artists from Glasgow and beyond: a snapshot of one of the most original and exciting contemporary art scenes in Europe.

I have been selected as one of the Briggait artists and am making new work to exhibit. I am excited and curious about what the event will bring.

The VAULT website is http://www.vaultartglasgow.com/

Vault on Facebook is http://www.facebook.com/vaultartglasgow

Twitter twitter.com/VaultArtGlasgow

Festival set to highlight work of leading artists living in city

In September I will be participating in Vault. This is what the Evening Times has to say about the event.


The Briggait is to host a new event set to encourage people to buy work by Glasgow’s world-renowned artists.

In September, the former fish market will host Vault, a festival involving 12 galleries from around Glasgow.

Artists living in the city have won international acclaim in recent years, with a number of Turner Prize winners and nominees living and working in the city.

Organisers of Vault want the public to support artists by buying their work.

Neil Butler is artistic director of UZ Arts, the cultural group organising the event.

He said: “We want this to be a major celebration of the exciting work being produced by Glasgow’s artists.

“At these times when it is difficult for everyone working in the cultural industries to make a living, it is important to encourage people to consider buying art.

“This festival will bring money into the city and, more importantly, create an economy which supports artists.

“When people make a decision about how their house should look, what better thing can they possibly do than buy a piece of work that makes their home a more interesting place to live and supports the person working to make that art?”

The show will be curated by Patricia Fleming, who was recently involved in Channel 4’s Big Art Project, which created public art projects around Britain.

She said: “Visitors can meet artists while engaging with innovative galleries, studios and artist-led initiatives not necessarily on the familiar gallery circuit.”

Councillor George Redmond is chairman of Glasgow Life, which is helping to fund the £40,000 event.

He said: “There has never been a more exciting time for the contemporary arts scene in Glasgow.

“Vault will see the newly refurbished Briggait building brought to life, and it promises to be one of the most popular contemporary arts events of the year.”

Glasgow artists Richard Wright and Susan Philipz won the Turner Prize in 2009 and last year, while Martin Boyce and Karla Black were placed on this year’s shortlist.

Vault is supported by Creative Scotland’s Own Art scheme, which offers the public interest-free loans of between £100 and £2000 to buy art and craft.

Jasper Hamill

The article was published in the Evening Times on Wednesday 3rd August 2011

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/festival-set-to-highlight-work-of-leading-artists-living-in-city-1.1115503?50571

AHM voice concerns

As you may know, I am Research Assistant for AHM, the wonderful Sam Ainsley, David Harding and Sandy Moffat.

AHM, Ray Mackenzie and Ross Birrell have voiced their concerns about the 'massive piece of art dubbed the Star of Caledonia' by Cecil Balmond which has been selected by the Gretna Landmark Trust to welcome travellers to Scotland.



The letter was published in the Herald on Wednesday 3rd August 2012

Photos from Open Studios

Artist Open Studios at the Merchant City Festival

Join me at the Briggait Open Studios Weekend as part of the Merchant City Festival

Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th July 2011
11am - 4pm

Studio 122
The Briggait
141 Bridgegate
Glasgow
G1 5HZ

I will be in my studio (122) both days and hope to see you there!

VAULT ART GLASGOW

I will be participating in

Vault Art Glasgow
9 – 11 September 2011
The Briggait
141 Bridgegate, Glasgow

For more information visit
http://vaultartglasgow.com/vault.html

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Tracey Emin on drawing

"drawing is a solitary act; it's your own line, your own imagination, your own rhythm, your own blood flow and vision"

TRACEY EMIN

New Designers

New Designers is a showcase of Design graduates from Universities all over the UK. It takes place at the Business Design Centre in London, and is split into 2 parts.

Part 1 features work by graduates working with:

Textiles, Fashion & Accessories
Contemporary Applied Arts
Ceramics & Glass
Jewellery & Precious Metalwork

Part 2 features work by graduates working with:

Product Design
Furniture Design
Visual Communications
(including Graphic Design and Illustration)
Spatial Design





I visited during part 1 and spent Saturday looking at the amazing work on show, wishing that I had more money to spend!

The amount of creativity and talent housed in one building was incredible, and I would certainly recommend going and supporting the recent graduates.

Transmission Gallery Members Show

I have work exhibited in the following exhibition:

Transmission Gallery Members Show
28 King Street

July 5th - July 23rd 2011

London here I come

I am just about ready for my trip to London this weekend. Tomorrow I hope to visit the Haywood Gallery to see the current Tracey Emin exhibition.

On Saturday I will be heading to New Designers to look at the wonderful work of many design graduates including my sister and her friends.

I have a long list of other exhibitions I would like to see, so hopefully I will manage to visit a fair few of them on Sunday.

Must get some shut eye now before my weekend of art!

drawings

Screenprinting at Transmission

As a member of Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, I opted to participate in the Screenprinting workshop during the Transmission Summer School.

The workshop gave an insight into how artists can build their own screenprinting facilities and alternative methods of screenprinting to using light sensitive photo emulsion.

I tried experimenting with using vinyl stencils and, using blends of colour, created some rather interesting results.

Certainly could be explored further - watch this space!

Tina Webster blogs about my work

See to read what Tina Webster has to say about my work

My artists books in the Here Gallery Bookshop

To accompany my exhibition at the Here Gallery, I have a number of artist books in the Here Gallery Bookshop upstairs.

Testing install options in Here Gallery

After unwrapping all my sculptures I began testing different ways of presenting the works in the space.