Tuesday 24 February 2015

COME & SEE

You are warmly invited to come and meet the artists involved with the development of the yard:ARTspace. See what the yard can offer you in your creative journey, a course or a workshop, artistic support or a place to get a little inspiration from.
I am exhibiting some enamel pieces.

You can meet Louise Millin Inchley who will be running a workshop in painting with water-mixable oils,
18-19 April
Christine Waygood will be delivering a felt making workshop at the yard:ARTspace, 9th May.
Lorna Prudden is showing her glass as part of Cheltenham Open Studio in the yard:ARTspace
Jane Sasanow is showing her work as part of Cheltenham Open Studio and delivering a book arts workshop in October in the yard:ARTspace
Dinny Pocock is showing her work as part of Cheltenham Open Studio in the yard:ARTspace and will be running a needle felt, Robin on a Bobbin workshop in November.
So lets cREAte.ART come and talk to these artists on Sunday or go to www.theyardartspace.com for further information about courses, workshops and events at the yard:ARTspace, Cheltenham.


Saturday 21 February 2015

HALF TERM BREAK?

So I have had a break from classes this week and have found plenty to fill the gap.
I am still full on editioning, it has been lovely to come across images I haven't seen for awhile.
I may have made the plate and not taken many prints from it.
Having made a print a month I may have just pulled a couple from the plate then gone on to the next image.
Lucky me, I still have the shed to work in so I can spread out my work to add the colour,
 then sign and number each print. The shed is still my working studio although the lovely Mr Brown has been making moving in noises!!
Meanwhile back at the enamel project for the Museum in the Park, Stroud
I have been making Gum Arabic transfers on labels of domestic machinery to juxtapose with the 
images of women working on factory machines.
The Museum has put together a great web page describing the project  www.museuminthepark.org.uk/echoes-in-enamel/  The pressure is on as this piece will be installed on the 2nd March.

Wednesday 18 February 2015

www.theyardartspace.com

It has been an amazing few months, from signing the lease for the yard at the end of October to this half term break in the first term of my 10 week printmaking classes.
Looking back the yard has come along way, from this
to this.
From shell to
a hive of printmaking activity.
Thanks to the help of Friends and family I have a lovely studio to work in and to share
with other creative people.
Come and see what is going on at the yard on a Tuesday or Thursday, 2-5pm in term times, have a cuppa and a creative chat.
Come and have a look around and meet the artists involved in the yard at the Come and see event on the 1st March.
Find out all about the yard:ARTspace, Cheltenham by checking out the new website www.theyardartspace.com have a look and see how you can get involved at the yard.

Friday 13 February 2015

AMAZING MONO PRINT

It is half term already, but before my 10 week printmaking course has a well earned week off, we tackled one more technique. Mono printing.
The plan this term has been to make collagraph prints that can then be embellished with mono printed details.
Making cut card shapes, inking them and laying them on paper builds up dynamic images in a low tech way.
Often we have a variety of printed images that have not quite worked for one reason or another.
By over printing using card shapes or textured wall paper, compositions
can be softened, developed and
graphic elements can be added giving 
the work a new lease of life.
This is a collagraph with a card bird added and a variety of wall paper textures added in vermillion and silver has more interest and form than the original sample print.
Mono printing can be seen as drawing in print.
My 3 Wednesday groups produce beautiful
results working their way through a pile of what they considered as reject prints making new and exciting work or
producing new work from scratch.

Monday 2 February 2015

FRENETIC FEBRUARY

February is a dull, dreary month and unless you are a teenager or a complete romantic St Valentines day does not always lift the spirits. But then there is always viscosity inking!!
At the yard:ARTspace my Wednesday printmaking classes have made a variety of collagraph plates using textured papers of every description. It is making recycling virtually impossible in some households. 
 We are now exploring the delights of inking these plates using the viscosity, or simultaneous colour separation method. A snappy title coined by the printmaker Stanley Hayter who developed this technique in the 1960's.
 
 It fills the room with richly coloured prints that sent everyone home with a spring in their step despite the chilly weather. I will be covering this technique on the Silk Aqua Tint workshop on the 25/26 April, there is 1place remaining.
On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons the yard:ARTspace has Solo sessions from 2-5pm. This allows printmakers who want to develop a personal approach to their work and 
use the press and the space in the yard to experiment or make larger collagraphs. Everyone is making very exciting and confident looking work. It is also lovely for me to have creative company when I am working in the press room
I have spent the last week developing this silk aqua tint plate. 
I have a great tit coming into the garden at the moment with this exact expression.
 
For those of you who do not follow my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sue-Brown/1478939815714857 my big news is that I have received Arts Council Funding to do a 3year project with the Museum in the Park, Stroud. I will be responding to their First World War collection making 4 new art works in enamel and print.
The first work is being installed on 2 March so I am in the shed developing a collection of enamelled objects inspired by women munitions workers .
From Home to the Factory will compare and contrast the machinery used domestically and industrially. It will celebrate the women who took the step of leaving their domestic environment for the factory floor.
Thanks to the Museum staff and Stroud District Council for the support they gave me when applying for the Arts Council grant.
Last but not least it is editioning February and I have started with the large Dunstable Swan and this group of chickens. Thank goodness I made the decision to have an editioning month as I have just heard that I have got into ...
This is a fabulous artist led printmaking festival in Ulverston, Cumbria on the 2-3 May, www.printfest.org.uk and well worth a visit.