Friday 15 March 2013

Looking ahead

Hello!

This week I have made a start on my final piece for Cambridge Contemporary Art's exhibition 'Cambridge at it's Best', which opens on April 6th. I have spent the last few months putting together ideas and have ended up with 6 pieces, 5 of which are now complete and below.

The Fountain, Trinity College

King's College Gate

The Round Church

The Wimpole Folly

The Bridge of Sighs


I shall be delivering them to the gallery in just over a week, so this week I have started to look ahead to what's next. I have two 'big' exhibitions this year (shows that I have helped organise); The first is Paperworks at Masham Gallery in May, the other is Down Hidden Tracks, with Charlotte Morrison, at Fountain's Abbey in September. Time seems to have flown and everything is suddenly a lot closer than I imagined it to be - luckily I have tons of ideas and plenty of materials so now I just have to get on with it!

My obsession with follies is continuing, constantly giving me new possible subjects for work. I am so intrigued by these often bizarre buildings, and never realised how many are in this area. I have just finished a picture of one just outside Richmond called Culloden Tower - built on the parkland of Yorke House (now demolished) in 1746.It's a beautiful tower, and one of a number of follies in that area.I took a few shots of the pinning process, so you can see how the piece comes together.










My next few pieces will be over buildings at Fountain's Abbey - probably starting with St.Mary's Church, and another piece of somewhere in York!

Watch this space!

Monday 11 March 2013

Back to Workshops

Hello!

I postponed my usual Friday blog last week as I was busy preparing for my first workshop of the year, at ArtisOn, near Masham.
Having not taught in a few months I was a little nervous this time, even though I was teaching a popular course - papercutting. We had a great day, I had a lovely group of 9 and as always was thoroughly impressed with the results. One of the things I like most about my workshops is the way everyone interprets the projects differently. The brief I've given may be simple - for example, cutting out your own name, which is always the project I kick off with on my papercutting courses, but despite having never used a scalpel before, everyone always embellishes and pushes themselves. Here are some of the results from yesterday.






Later we moved on to cards and hanging decorations, and had a look at the amazing variety of artists working with paper today. I made sure to tell everyone that they could see some great examples of this in the Paperworks exhibition I've organised at Masham Gallery in May. All in all a great first workshop of 2013!






Later in the year I will be tutoring an Further Papercutting workshop, aimed at anyone with an interest in the medium who has had a little experience using a scalpel. This workshop will focus on a larger project, so you could come away with a larger and more ambitious piece of work. If you are interested in finding out more about this workshop, please contact me or ArtisOn and I will be happy to answer any queries. You do not need to have attended one of my introductory papercutting workshops to attend my Further Papercutting course, so if you have practiced papercutting at home this course will be perfect for you!

Well, back to work.

Have a great week!
Rosie x

Friday 1 March 2013

Pins and paper

Hi!

I've just been uploading some pictures of the two pieces I've finished this week, and couldn't help noticing the amount of work I've produced so far this year. I feel like I've been going straight from one project to another, and my work output certainly reflects that. I'm really pleased about this, as not only have I increased my productivity by a good amount from last year, but I'm pretty pleased with the pictures themselves. I know using phrases such as 'increased productivity' doesn't chime with the romantic image of an artist following their inspiration, but it's great feeling like I have lots of work to do, and even better knowing that I'm getting through it. There have been a number of times in the last couple of years when I was desperate for a project, and a deadline, so having lots in place this year is a good thing.

It seems I have the humble dressmaking pin to thank for this, as this latest collection of my work has proved very popular so far. I must admit I really enjoy the process of pinning the papercut pieces, and it's much cleaner and less gluey than my other papercuts!

Pinning my latest papercut.


If you are interested in seeing some of my new pinned work, visit The Biscuit Factory in March, Cambridge Contemporary Art in April and Masham Gallery in May - that way you'll see brand new pieces in their relevant locations!

Here are the new pieces I've finished this week:

The Round Church, Cambridge



King's College Gate, Cambridge


Have a great weekend!

Rosie x