Working with Circles continued.

Following on with the theme of circles that we have been working with at Blank Canvas for a few terms

 I have been photographing circular forms and using them in other art works.
Walking along the Harbour arm in Margate, there were circles in the stones, on the walls, and as part of signs and structures.

 The weathered stumps of iron railings looked like metal nests for some strange mechanical birds.

The sunsets we have here in Margate, continue to inspire and gather groups of people to photograph them, or sit and simply enjoy the show.

Dreamland continues with it's restoration of the site and buildings and here the big wheel was lit up for an arts event.

A Calming Stone,A Blank Canvas Happening at Turner Contemporary.

Blank Canvas organized a happening at Turner Contemporary last week, called A Calming Stone, as part of the closing day events for their exhibition.
We collected stones and pebbles from local beaches and arranged then in the gallery on one of the benches, over spilling to the floor.

The simple act of arranging them in size, colour and shape, turned an ordinary collection of random stones into something much more interesting and attractive.

Our plan was to invite visitors to select a stone, or rather let a stone select them, they could take their stone with them as they walked around the gallery and then return the stone to a sculpture on the floor, or select a stone and add it to the sculpture straight away.

We also encouraged visitors to think about why they chose their stone and if they wanted to, allow the stone to absorb any thoughts they wanted to leave behind.

We were returning all the stones and pebbles to the sea, and any thoughts left in the stones would be washed away in the sea.


Well a lot of visitors were interested in the event, talked about their choice of stones, love of collecting or memories of collecting from their childhood.

For some, the stones called to them straight away, others took their time. Visitors described things such as the texture of their stone,the patterns and suggested images they could see on the stone, the noise it made, what it reminded them of and qualities like love.

 Some took their stones away with them as they explored the gallery and became quite attached to them. There is something very tactile and soothing about holding a stone or a pebble.

Everyone however wanted to be part of what was a ritual in someways, and added their stone to the growing sculpture on the floor. We had envisaged a spiral but went with what the visitors co created.

After the event we collected all the stones and pebbles together and all took some of them with us to return them to the sea.

Working with the Theme of Circles.

Inspired by the current exhibition Seeing Round Corners at Turner Contemporary , I have been exploring circles in my work. I have also been working in Blank Canvas with circles and ephemeral works like bubbles.

It is interesting to see how universal an image, form and symbol the circle is.

Bouy on the harbour in Margate.

The eclipse of the sun.

Symbolic forms.

Most of my circles have been drawings and paintings of full moons, or planets. I am drawn to the moon and its symbolism and power.

At Blank Canvas we've been using liquids to make bubbles, ink, paint and glitter and blowing mounds of bubbles, watching them move, pop and dissolve. Making prints from the bubbles and photographing them.

I like the way that the structure of the bubbles starts to look like wire sculptures and the reflections can look like crystals suspended on a framework.

Mr Lion exhibition at Turner Contemporary

We, Blank Canvas,  have a second exhibition, based on the mysterious and enigmatic Mr Lion, at Turner Contemporary, on show now till the 8th of January.   Link to the website here.

  In this exhibition called Mr Lion 14, we are showing a couple of short films with a soundtrack and a series of photographs which have been printed in the polaroid style. The work in part, reflecting the fictitious relationship we created to Mr Lion.

The film is as mysterious as the character of Mr Lion, using film we shot in various locations including, Dreamland, Quex Park, Turner Contemporary and Margate seafront.

Our photographs explore what we realized was the uncatchable nature of this figure, working with shadows, reflections, movements, balloons and spheres to indicate fragments of who we thought this Mr Lion was, and what sort of life he lead.

The exhibition invites the viewer to also explore this character, using the fragments and clues we provide. We also welcome any ideas about Mr Lion generated from the exhibition to our  twitter feed here

The Wateland and Altered images

 

We are working on a project looking at TS Eliot's The Wasteland in Blank Canvas.  A poem, part of which was written in Margate, with Eliot sitting in the shelter at Nayland Rock, near the station.

The poem is rich in symbols, imagery and references, as far as I can tell, to much classical, literary, religious and secular thought.

The Wasteland would not be a choice of reading for me, but as an exploration in visual terms, I do find it interesting.

I've not tried to make any art using poems as inspiration before, so this is a new way of working.

Here are some altered images, working with ink on found images of land and seascapes and on paper.
I will continue altering some of my own images next time.

Experiments in photography for Mr Lion film.

We are finishing our project on Mr Lion at Blank Canvas with a film about this mysterious character.

 

All of us have different ideas about who or what he might be and have explored this through, sound, print, photography and other visual arts. This culminated in an exhibition earlier in the year at Turner Contemporary.

Following our explorations with Lucy Steggles, our lead artist and others, we have decided that Mr Lion is essentially ungraspable and this is what our film will be about.  At the moment all our photography and filming is being put together for an edit. And will hopefully be ready for a screening in the Autumn.

As part of this exploration of the ungraspable and mysterious, we have been using various props including, balloons, glass balls and shadows. I have enjoyed these experimentations and the painterly effects that some abstract photographs have. I can see more cross overs from these abstract works with painting.