Sunday inspiration

Just a few things that have been mulling around in my brain this week

lovely Matisse papercut, above. It's all about drawing with scissors. Stunning.
Below: painter Elaine Pamphilon, who I stumbled upon through her commissioned pin badges at the Tate. I suppose her style is 'naive', mainly still lives of flat pots and objects. I really picked up on her use of textures, typography and pattern. It's also nice sometimes to be reminded that you can loosen up a bit in regards to the depiction of reality... :) The below image is slightly different from her usual 'safe' still lives (slightly more illustrative- i suppose that's why i like it!)

Above and below: Bit of a different choice from the previous images, but Maurizio Anzeri's work caught me off guard whilst browsing the internet... evokes so many ideas of shrouds & fashion.. The intricate and precise embroidery also reminds me of spirographs... I love the below Dazed and Confused commission, pushing the contrast of his precise patterns against the wild loose ends of thread... makes me shudder.

Woodland UFOs

I'm still catching up on blogposts I've been meaning to write!
I was lucky enough to visit Goodwood Sculpture Park way back in July, on a school trip with some students. The sculptures are set in beautiful peaceful woodland. Visitors are welcome to follow beaten paths to view the artwork, which is set both in brush and on open grassland. I had a wonderful day- the students well behaved, it was sunny, and was a welcome day of calm amid the stress of work (end of term gets a bit hairy!).
This first post is about some pieces by Eilis O'Connell. I was fascinated by the infinite shades of grey and white created by the dappled sunlight. Her pieces look like UFOs that have landed 30 years ago and have never been discovered in the secluded woodland.

I could have taken photos of these sculptures all day, waiting for the light to change and finding different angles and nuances!





i also like how this last sculpture looks like a bottom.

More pictures coming soon :)

Dreamy Day

I was seriously impressed with this beautiful film made by Fix The Sky Productions. They were asked to film the Southampton Ejectorseat Arts Festival (in June this year), and have captured the atmosphere perfectly.

I was lucky enough to have a stall in the arts & craft market (see my blog about the day HERE). The festival boasts live music, interactive arts installations, workshops, food, and loads more!

Illustrators also featured in the video-

Keiron LeVine's Monarch butterfly installation

Simon Abbott's birdbox installation

Hannah Simpson's Live Illustration

Ejector Seat Festival 2011 from Fix the Sky Productions on Vimeo.

Scales

So, I work as an art technician in two schools. The photos in this post are from the pupils in one of my schools, from the GCSE & Btech students' end of year exhibition (which happened a few weeks back). I've already written a post HERE about the typography in the exhibition, and this post is about some great fashion/textural pieces.

I was so incredibly impressed with the quality of work that these young people created. The atmosphere in the art department is really positive and I have a great time working there- and I think the atmosphere shows through in their work, too! It's not suitable for me to mention any names of the students or the name of the school, but I would like to highlight that all of this work is not by me and I only took the photos. The work is by students who are 15-16 years old. Amazing!

The students have projects based around recycling and fashion, reflected in the pieces below.

Above: Textural experiment made from latex rubber gloves
Above: Beautiful headpiece made from 'soda' cans. This work reminds me a lot of the masks/headpieces by my lovely friend Keiron
Above: Shoulder detail from a papier-mache waistcoat. Scales/feathers made from construction paper. BTech students do a project on cubist fashion, where their final piece is an item of clothing made from paper crafts and origami.

Above: I think this was a study in different materials a shoe could be made of. Again, cut soda cans.

More to come :)

Photo mishmash

Dan relaxin' on our lovely new SKY PARLOUR QUILT! made by Mrs. Bangs, it features fabrics picked out by us to match our varying bedding and tie it all together. I seriously recommend!! Beautiful stuff! (photo also features dan's xmas jumper [bought by his mama] and vintage suitcase).
two successful sales have raised £240 for our degree show. everyone made such an effort and was so generous, as you can see in the photo above :)
bedroom wall photo (jonny hannah greetings card [gift from my mother] and sea animals from the isle of wight)

Yesterday we celebrated the Apollo 11 40th anniversary with a very informal event organized by a friend of mine. There was some music, art on the walls (above! mine on the left, lewis' on the right), delicious food provided by the lovely Tony Tang, and a no-show from an astronomy professor. Although not many people turned up, those who did certainly made up for it- I met lovely, interesting and friendly people for the first time, plus some lovely old friends showed up, which is always a wonderful surprise. The original plans for live "ambient moon music" soon evolved into everyone contributing with drums being made out of plastic tubs, tins, and jars, with a wonderful singer, and her adoreable two children amusing themselves using pots of nuts as "maracas" and tin trays as "drums".
My dear friend Nina also surprised me with these prints that I BEGGED her for. Yay! They are made from digitally-collaged photos of crockery found by the Thames.


ALSO LOL I have had my work experience at IKEA confirmed, after winning this competition...... I'll apparently be working in the "communication and interior design" team, described as "a busy team looking after the store and ensuring that our products are displayed in inspiring and innovative ways." I hope this does not mean I'll have a week of "tidying" the store...... fingers crossed!