Laura Alice studio visit

Last week the Revolving Gallery crew were again on the road visiting artists. We visited Laura Alice in Saltaire, Bradford on the same day that we visited Paul Stone in Sheffield. If gave us quite a long round trip but it was definitely worth it. The only problem was the Bradford weather but you can't have everything. I must say that I feel incredibly lucky to be able to visit all the artists studios.


Laura's art was a real contrast to the grey day outside, promise I won't mention the weather again. This in itself is an interesting point as a lot of her work represents nature, in particular mushrooms. For most people Mushrooms, meaning wild mushrooms and not the white ones in the supermarket, are associated with dark forests, autumn and wet weather. Hopefully you are nodding in agreement - this is what comes to mind when I think of wild mushrooms anyway. Laura's art anyhow is in contrast to these autumnal colours. From what I have seen of Laura's art it usually is using bright, fresh colours. Laura did explain that she is influenced by fabrics and textiles, indeed some of her art is made with textiles. I think that this is the influence for some of the colours. Certainly the influence of textiles appears to be present in the layering that is a feature of her work.

Having said all of this it maybe that some of the colours in Laura's Mushroom paintings are realistic colours. I know that mushrooms do come in some very bright and unexpected colours so maybe the colours are based on nature. I guess if you want to know the answer to this question and others then you can ask her in person at our opening exhibition on 09/12/09 at St John University.

Paul Stone studio visit

Last weekend the revolving gallery team went to visit Paul Stone in his studio just outside Sheffield. We initially had agreed that we should make studio visits to all of the artists that we feature in our exhibitions. There were many reasons why we thought this would be useful. Firstly we just want to meet the artists in person. We also thought that visiting their studios would give us a further insight into their work.

From our first studio visit it seems that our commitment to meeting the artists in their studio was a good idea. We talked with Paul in great depth about the kind of processes he goes through to produce his art. Also we learned a great deal about his passions and artistic influences. I was particularly interested to hear about the importance of light and reflection in his works and got to compare quite a range of his painting with drawings that he has done and found exactly the same trade mark attention to detail in light and reflection that can be found in his paintings
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I had previously only viewed Paul Stone's work on the internet and I must say that when his works are viewed in person they really come alive. It's difficult to explain, at least for me anyway, but there is definitely an added dimension that you get viewing his paintings in person. Having said this I really liked them viewed on a website even before I got to see them in person. I now definitely want to purchase some of his works for myself in the future.

I really hope anyone who hasn't yet viewed his work will be able to come and view his paintings on display at our exhibition on 12/12/09 at York St Johns University.


Tarot

Getting organised

This is my first post on the Revolving Gallery Blog. It was probably me who first pushed about the idea of having a Revolving Gallery Blog but since the initial idea I was, until now, the only member of the Revolving Gallery yet to post. Anyhow here I am making my first post.

It suddenly feels like the Revolving Gallery has changed from a concept into reality. First we spent a lot of time talking about the art itself and the concept of revolving gallery. Then more recently we have been bogged down in the practicalities of setting up a business which inevitably is much less fun than coming up with the concept. However this process was not too much of an ordeal and now it seems we are once again able to concentrate on the exhibition and the art.

During the last few days I have started adding new information to the website about our upcoming show and the artists involved. I have now added information and some images for Laura Alice, Freya Horsley and Paul Stone. Hopefully we will be receiving even more art and information to put on the website in the forthcoming days and weeks.

Joe last week went to meet with Freya Horsley in her studio and tomorrow me, Nathan and Joe are having a day out to visit both Paul Stone's studio in Sheffield and Laura Alice's studio in Saltaire. I am really looking forward to meeting both of them and maybe even getting a sneak preview of some of the art they maybe showing at our exhibition in December. I will report back soon...

Tarot

Print Making

This week at work (Art Technician at York St John University) I have been working with First year student on two original print methods; Lino print and Dry Point Etching. Both of these are amongst the most basic of original print making techniques but these can even have great effect. I have really enjoyed being in the print studio and its great to equip the students with this somewhat different way to approach there practice and I hope many go on to develop these skills.

Bring Art home

Yesterday I collected a piece of art I bought a few weeks ago by Melanie Alexandrou, it's a drawing of a Sea Gull. It is a nice simple good quality drawing which is refreshing. Mel graduated last year and in this show there was drawing, lino's and woodcuts; the graphic quality of her work is high as is her skill in these original print processes. The reason I have chosen to blog about this is after collecting the work I realised what a joy it is to bring it home, find a spot on your wall and even going through the process of hanging. I think there is an important link between this joy and the prospect of living with an artwork, the idea of placement and bringing art into your home to interact with it.



On top of this purchase for myself I even managed to pick up my first Christmas present from the show which is not something I usually start this early but I am looking forward to giving more original art to people this year.

Nathan

A day out in Newcastle

I agree with Nathan - the emerging artist section was well worth a look. We'll be keeping an eye on some of these young artists as their works evolve for potential Revolving Gallery events.

Bones and the Newcastle Gateshead Art Fair

Yesterday the Revolving Gallery staff all went on an outing to the Newcastle Gateshead Art Fair. We had a great day and it was nice to see other people out there with a passion for selling and collecting fine art up North. The place was packed and there were plenty of people buying (which is encouraging for both dealer and collector). I myself managed to restrain myself to by only a small and strange object in the emerging artist section of the show. It was a painted piece of bone by Iris Priest, it is an object of great beauty and detail with a delicate nature. It's going to look great on a fireplace with an acrylic case and judging by the paintings alongside this work she is going to grow into a strong and highly engaged artist in the region.

So I guess all in all this day shows that you can get out there and collect art, as always there was hit and miss elements but there where some really nice pieces of strong artwork, much of it at affordable prices. So I hope anyone who collects or hopefully people wanting to start will join me in supporting the fantastic talent we have in this region and country as a whole.

Nathan