Visit to the Saatchi Gallery

 On Wednesday I went to the private view of "Body Language" at Saatchi Gallery, and really enjoyed it. I always enjoy the shows at the Saatchi, but this one was of particular interest to me, as my own work deals with the human form. I always like the fact that there is so much variety within the show, and there's always a number of pieces that I really love. I particularly enjoyed the gallery with the installation on the left, the images on the wall were of engraved headstones, and the wooden headstone sculptures in the centre of the room really made an impact as soon as I walked into the room. I loved a lot of the work, but I found this installation particularly impressive. Definitely worth a visit, and I think I'll probably go back to see the show for a second time.
I really enjoyed seeing the human form described in so many different ways, and I came away with a few things to think about in relation to my own work.
In regards to my own work and shows, I'm in the final stages of a new piece for the exhibition in Camden, and I'm quite excited       about it. I'm planning to show this piece alongside the two smaller pieces that were made in Iceland, and I'm looking forward to
getting my work into the gallery on Friday. This week marks the start of a very busy period for me, but I'm pleased that there will be so much going on.

Vibe Gallery exhibition and other shows

The exhibition at Vibe Gallery was, I understand, a great success. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend as I was in Edinburgh, but I'm told that the private view was very busy, and there was a lot of good feedback about the show. My friend Alison curated it, and from what I can tell she did an amazing job. I really wish I could have been there, but nonetheless I'm really pleased that I was able to be involved. The space is great, and this was my first opportunity to exhibit the two canvasses I brought back from Iceland.
I have a couple of other exhibitions in the pipeline that I'm really excited about. From 7th - 17th December there will be the first ever exhibition at Camden Image Gallery, a brand new gallery opening in Camden Town, owned by one of my friends. I went to see the space for the first time on Wednesday evening, and I'm so impressed. My friend Elena has worked really hard to get this together, and I'm so proud of everything she's done. I'm really looking forward to exhibiting in this show, alongside a really varied selection of artists, I think it's going to be really successful, and encourage everyone to come along and see the gallery and show. I'm also acting as Promotions Manager for her, so I'm hoping that lots of people come along to see the gallery for the first time. More details will follow soon.
I'm very proud to announce that in January I will be having my very first solo exhibition, a pop-up show in my local area. I'm still in the planning stages as present, but I can confirm that this will be happening on 18th and 19th January. Again, this is a great opportunity that I'm really happy about.
I feel that things have been really exciting, and moving very quickly, since I came back from my residency at the end of September. The residency gave me a lot of time to reflect on my work and how things are going, and I definitely came back feeling extremely motivated. To a certain extent actually making work has taken a back seat for the time being, as I have a lot of work to do in terms of setting up shows, but from January onward I'm planning to get back to focusing on this, as well as continuing to exhibit as frequently as possible. Things are going really well at the moment with my work, and I feel that a lot of excellent opportunities are coming up. My renewed motivation has probably helped to actually bring up these opportunities; yet another benefit of my residency experience!
More details will follow about both of the upcoming exhibitions. At the moment I feel quite snowed under with work, but I have no doubt that it'll be very much worthwhile!

Current Works in Progress

 I'm really happy with how the fibre piece is developing. It's been outside for about a week now and is quickly becoming stained. I really wasn't sure what to expect from this piece, as it's brand new for me, but I'm liking the progress so far. I wasn't expecting the pigment from the thread to bleed onto the fabric in some places, as the embroidery has always come after the weathering process, so this is really interesting.
The fabric has become stained quickly, and as this piece has so  much negative space I really want to push this as far as possible, and make the surface as discoloured as it can be. I think this piece could

potentially be really impressive, so although I initially hoped that this piece would be finished quite quickly, I'm happy to wait to make sure this piece really makes an impact.
Today I've also completed a new shredded piece. I was really happy with the small scale experiment I made in this way before going to Iceland, so I've been keen to re purpose larger canvasses that I was unhappy with. This piece had already been embroidered, and the loose embroidery threads look great with the shredded strips on canvas, it makes the work much more intense. I have another canvas I want to alter in this way, and I love reworking something I was unhappy with into something I'm pleased to show.

Weathered Fibre Work and an Upcoming Show

I'm finally back in London, and back to working away. I'm now working on my first ever weathered fibre piece, this is brand new for me and I can't wait to see how it turns out.
The embroidery part of the piece was completed much more quickly than I expected, and the work has been outside for a few days now. I'm very interested to see how the material is affected by becoming wet and drying out repeatedly.
The material is already becoming stained, so I'm hoping the impact will be great. I didn't tidy the edges of the fabric prior to placing it outside, as I'm hoping this might lead to some fraying and damage on the edges. If the weathering process goes as speedily as the initial sewing I will hopefully be in a position to exhibit the work quite soon.

On the subject of exhibitions, I'm happy to say that I'll be showing some work at Vibe Gallery in London next week. One of my friends is curating the show and has worked really hard, I think the show is going to turn out really well, definitely worth seeing if you're in London! Unfortunately I won't be able to make the private view, but I'm really pleased to be involved.
There are a few other shows coming up for me soon, in London and New York. Details to follow in due course...

Mountains meet the sky

Here I have been writing a lot more than usual, I think this is because I've had so much time to think and reflect on various parts of my life, and writing is a useful way to get the thoughts out of my head. Before I came to Iceland I was working on a series of cut ups about various moments from a particular day in July, these are now completed, and I'm planning to turn them into some artist's books when I get home.
I've also been writing on other subjects, and feel that I've refined my cut-up technique. I used cut-ups in my work during the last year of my degree, but the current ones are longer and more detailed. I find that I prefer writing in cut-ups, because they are so reflective of thoughts and feelings, and the way the clauses combine can be revealing. Sometimes the results can be more truthful than what is written in the first place.
The initial texts I write are not structured into paragraphs, and are usually a stream of consciousness on a particular subject or theme. Writing a narrative doesn't really work for this type of writing, as the meaning and chronology can so easily be distorted, and I do not want the real feelings of the text to become lost.
I break the text into lines and sentences, and then reassemble these. Putting clauses back together at random can sometimes lead to very long, drawn out sentences, which I punctuate if necessary. Sometimes the combination of clauses can form a sentence that I do not feel is appropriate to the theme of the text, in which case I will add a comma to break it up and restore the desired meaning. I also insert paragraph breaks where I feel appropriate. Aside from this editing, I allow the text to be randomly reassembled, and I am not at all selective about the order in which the text is put together. To ensure that the reassembly is random I keep each piece of paper face down, only revealing what is written once I've already selected the next line.
Currently the titles for the texts come from phrases or clauses within the work that stand out for me, or which I feel are particularly representative of the theme or mood I am aiming for.

The following is a text I wrote yesterday, entitled "Mountains Meet The Sky". This is about a walk I took yesterday afternoon in the Icelandic countryside, in a bid to clear my head after receiving some bad news recently. I have written a number of cut ups about my experience in Iceland, and am considering how these could be presented, in the form of another artist's book, or in exhibition alongside the canvasses I have made here.

I climbed a, no one else could be seen. When the path became a puddle I decided to move the occasional wanted until this point. Everything. Harder than all of the times I have seen the mountains in the world. The strangest feeling. Was strange. Uneven where the mountains meet the sky. I through puddles, and really didn’t care if I looked, how did I ever come this far?

            Me there was some comfort in the silence of the for me. Only nature. Slight crackles as the grass and weeds settled around, I have stayed by the sea. I saw the whole village, and and as my time some perspective. For just a little while. Atmosphere. I could have been the only one left all of these autumnal, the many colours that form it.

            The simple act of sitting out there alone, it was today. Angle, and appreciated it all over again. Saw something new. Nothing matters, as long as you are free. But I decided to wander to the mountains. But I had reached my own, been no sound at all. Complete privacy. But I know it is not. Trying to understand.

            Here nears its conclusion, I wanted to reassure pure silence. One. In a week, which seems so hard to believe. Car passed in the distance, but nothing and no one and for I had space. I considered where I’ll be being closer made it hit me, it’s so the ground, absolutely no noise.

            Rocky peak, excited for what may lie behind. It wasn’t even cold, I was the sea, and the mountains in the distance, topped I was the mountains over there seem ice blue before. Blue sky and the plants surrounding me. I wanted some I was truly isolated, and that was ok. Ready for home, I wasn’t ready to give up. Just nothingness. Maybe I should have done this the concentration of life in the village, a few lonely there was colours in a winter land. Think that was exactly what was needed today.

            Maybe I just needed time to myself, with no risk at all, I saw this place from another perhaps it was a need to escape. And maybe that was what I needed. Landscape, which felt so alien to all that I know. Here is not flat at all. The sea is what I like best.

            I waded through marshy grasses, and odd. I tried to understand a lot of things very far. The skyline is jagged and here only myself and the cloudless hit me. The nature of my thoughts is fairly of being interrupted. To come in, it suddenly seemed like a hub of activity.

            Content to sit on that small peak and watch over it was I was from further away. Alone. This afternoon in the sunshine. Belonged to me. With snow. At it felt both refreshing and unnerving, no one would see. Break from civilisation and reality. I am breathless here. As I am not at peace yet, but I became calmer in this wide open, exposed space, I had the concept of being outside and obvious at the present time. Maybe the space gave me think any place has ever hit me harder than I wasn’t how big the world is.

            Myself that I had really taken advantage of this it is peaceful here, but I needed more. Out of place, and really didn’t care at all. I could see everything. The sun did enough to keep me comfortable. I could never stay here, but I don’t colours everywhere. I probably looked completely a stony path that sometimes turned to mud, and I thought about how small I am, and blue sky.

            A home, but it is somewhere I have come to know, and am high above the village. All of the space had not planned this walk, but had been hit I was awestruck as the mountain a was near me. Free. And white, peeping through the clouds and the situation.

            By the time I returned to the village, tiredness starting at I could be completely alone time alone, truly alone. Far from the sea as I could be here, which is still not far removed from this place, which I cannot really say is through the tall grasses, past the stunted trees. Came closer towards me, and I could clearly see houses dotted on the outskirts, horses grazing far below. Little peak and could see clearly in every direction.

            Times this place has seemed bleak and grey, but not with my thoughts, which was never what I really, the contradictions in this village continue to I gained a new perspective on the place, and one time I decided to lie down, all I could see was me, but no people, no cars, no sources of noise. With a sudden desperate urge to just do something. Not seeing any other people is still strange to me, but I maybe the only time in my whole life when there has.

The last week

I can't believe it's the last week of my residency, and this time next Monday I'll be back in England. The week hasn't had the best start, as I've found that my final canvas was blown away during the night, meaning that only 2 canvasses have actually survived.
I'm not quite sure how I feel, as it is a bit disappointing, but it is a risk I have to accept when it comes to working here. At least I can say that I'm really pleased with the two canvasses I do still have, and I'm keen to exhibit them once I got home. It would have been nice to have come away from this with a larger body of work, and I didn't plan for this happening because I honestly didn't know that the conditions here would be strong enough to make this happen. I'm satisfied with what I have, but it would have been good to have more work.
This week will mainly be spent planning and preparing for future work, in particular the weathered fibre piece I hope to work on. I think I'll also try a couple of works of paper or wood whilst I still have the chance. I've put an experiment on wood out in place on the canvas piece, and hopefully this will last as it's a bit heavier than the canvas.

Final piece is in progress

My final canvas here is now outside, I can't believe I am going back to England in a week! On this occasion I've tied the canvas with a longer rope, so it can be carried around by the wind and moved a bit more than the other pieces. I'm hoping that this will lead to it being bashed around a bit more than the others, and will produce a new result.
The canvas has already been outside for a couple of days, which should give it plenty of time to become weathered, and then finished off before I go back to Reykjavik and then home. It does feel like a shame to be leaving, as having experienced the conditions here I feel that there is much more potential for this type of work to be made here, and unfortunately I don't have time to explore many more ideas.
However, I've had time here to experiment with using other materials and surfaces that I hadn't previously considered, and this has definitely been helpful. I was already planning to work on an exclusively fibre based piece, and then weather this naturally when

I got home, and I now feel really excited to get onto this. I don't know why it never previously occurred to me to bring together the weathering process with a fibre piece, and I'm sure this will be interesting as I have no idea what to expect from that. I've been doing a lot of embroidery recently, in sketchbooks as well as on canvas, so I'm really into that at the moment.
I feel that this experience has been hugely beneficial for me, as I am coming away with a lot of ideas and plans, as well as a body of work. I've gained exactly what I wanted to from this residency, and I'm keen to take part in further residencies in the future. Perhaps I will even find myself returning to Nes at some stage!
When I initially applied for a few residencies I was mainly interesting in visiting a completely different environment, any environment, in order to develop the weathering work. But I really think things worked out excellently, as not only is the Icelandic coast completely different to anything I'm used to, but it has been so extreme and unpredictable, and greatly benefited my work. I think this really was the perfect place to bring the work and develop in further. I'm unsure whether I will carry on working with natural weathering once I get home, aside from the planned fibre piece, as the results will definitely not compare to what has happened here. However, if I do decide to do that I have some clear ideas now on how to make the process more effective.
I've absolutely loved having a period of time to concentrate purely on my work without other distractions, in particular having a day job that takes away so much of my time and energy. It obviously will not be the same once I am back in London, but I have some ideas on how to use my time more effectively when it comes to art. This has been a very significant experience for me and my career, and I'm so grateful that I was given this opportunity, I think it was exactly what I needed. I'm sad that the experience is nearly over and that I'll soon be home and back to reality, but I am looking forward to the future.