As one exhibition is about to end…

The past few weeks have been so busy it’s actually difficult to remember what’s been happening. After the opening of the exhibition in Glasgow I had one day off (where I basically felt ill all day) and then went headlong into more deadlines and festival activities. The talk that I did at the West Port Book Festival went really well and thankfully drew in a large audience. I really enjoyed it, and it was great to have to put so much thought into what I’ve spent the past 2 and a half years working on and actually talk about it. I even managed to include a taster of what an actual learned pig act might have been like with the aid of a toy pig, some number cards and a very silly magic trick. Not sure the audience were entirely convinced of the sagacity of the stuffed pig but they seemed to like it nonetheless.

On the exhibitions front the show in Glasgow is now in its final week and will finish on the 5th September, after which it will all go up to Inverness for the touring show Now You See It with Highland Council until February 2010. And I’m pleased to announce that I now have a space in London to exhibit the series in May 2010 at artsdepot, which looks like a great venue and I’m really looking forward to that.

In the meantime, three pieces from the series will go on show in Newcastle at a group show on a vintage theme called Past in Present at The Art Works Galleries during September and October. My friends Annabel De Vetten and Chantal Powell are also going to be in this exhibition. The opening for that is this Thursday but unfortunately I won’t be able to make it down.

Next week I’ll be in London where I’ll be meeting up with Roxana Halls once again to see her studio, which I’m very excited about. I’ll also be going to see The Bay, a play that my friend Rachel Stevenson is in, which was running at Te Pooka’s Big Red Door during the festival and has now transferred to Theatre 503 in London and runs until 11 September.

Incidently, it’s a bit late now, but I really meant to write a blog post earlier in the festival and mention some friend’s exhibitions and events such as Carmen Moran’s mini exhibition Kunst Im Klo (Art in the Loo) at the Glasite Meeting House, Madeleine Shepherd’s exhibition and collaboration with Writers Bloc Alba Ad Astra at Transreal Fiction and Gav Inglis series of spoken word nights Underword at Fingers Piano Bar. Oh well, better late than never? Hmmm.

Facebook is good for something after all…

So, a very nice thing happened on facebook recently. A friend of mine posted up a link to a piece of artwork that I had seen before and loved, I commented on it, and then it turned out that the artist was also a friend of my friend and so thanked me for my comment -  since then we’ve become facebook friends too and mutual admirers of our art. I love it when things like that happen.

The artist in question is Chantal Powell. She makes beautiful and exquisite pieces using objects and ephemera to create what she calls ‘visual poetry’ – memories are preserved and narratives are evoked as the viewer pieces the elements together. Chantal is interested in the ‘emotional response to beauty and melancholy’ and romanticism. I find the materials she works with so alluring and I’m drawn in by every one of the works that I’ve seen.  I’m very much looking forward to the chance to go and see her work in person some time and I’m hoping to make it along to one of the exhibitions she has coming up this year. Chantal also has a fantastic blog, where she talks about her art, her inspiration, other artists and much more besides. It’s insightful and wonderful so check it out.

Fragile © Chantal Powell 2009

The Lacemakers Guild © Chantal Powell 2009