Work by Chiharu Shiota from the Lost in Lace exhibition I managed to catch at The Gas Hall in Birmingham. Finishes in a couple of weeks, get along if you can.

Adore Maissa Toulet’s Curiosity Cabinets via Design Milk.

Also from Maissa above.

So unhappy that a New Year virus prevented me from visiting Grayson Perry’s The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman. Happily there is a wonderful book to accompany the exhibition. I love the page (above) entitled The gardener and the Bear (from a manuscript of The Lights of Canopus by al-Kashifi). The man has done the bear a good turn and in reward for the man’s kindness, the bear seeks to kill a fly on his face with a stone. The inscription reads: ‘A clever enemy is better than a stupid friend’. Delightful!

Hold your beliefs lightly indeed. The exhibition has been extended until 26 February.

I spend a fair bit of time melting silver these days, I can also be found admiring my tools, I especially like my ring mandrel and hammers. Pop back to see what the unprepossessing bit of metal becomes (if it works!).

Have you seen Fine Little Gallery over at the super-amazing Elisabeth Dunker’s blog? Elisabeth loves kid’s art and decided to begin a web gallery dedicated to it. I have been enjoying the submissions so much & had to share one of Ishi’s drawings, he drew it a few weeks ago, I love it because it features a tiny imaginary cat we hear a lot about nearly every day. Children are the most wonderful storytellers.

Some Cat People heading off to the Hannah Zakari shop in Edinburgh next week. I am hoping to get my Etsy shop up and running again, I make so few pieces these days it is looking increasingly unlikely. Doesn’t stop me window shopping over there though!

Flying Rabbit with Sea Inside here.

Peg Leg Demon here.

Gluehmonsters here.

Doll House here.

Buying (but not for me).

Reading.

Watching.

Jumpsuit finishing.

Last week the lovely people at The Working Proof contacted me to tell me all about themselves and a new print, illustration/animation goddess Julia Pott, has produced for them. The print is titled Whale Hill and below you will find some more information about it and The Working Proof: “an online print gallery and shop with the mission of promoting both art and social responsibility through a series of limited-edition prints.”

“Julia was influenced by English beach towns. Julia says that while she was creating the piece, it was brought to her attention by a few people that she’s not very good at sharing things (whether it be her dessert or lending someone a book), so she created the fox as a version of herself, keeping the houses and ponies to himself. As always, Julia’s print is full of great details: an intricate landscape, the night sky, the fox’s awesome knit pants…15% of each print sold will be donated to Transportation Alternatives, a NYC non-profit that advocates for bicycling, walking and public transportation as the best transportation alternatives. “

“Prints [from The Working Title] are affordable (always under $100), and each print is paired by the artist with a charity to which we will donate 15% of each sale – creating what we believe to be a product with not just aesthetic, but social value. Our charities support a wide range of causes including humanitarian outreach, animal rights, environment, and research. A new print is released once a week, on Tuesdays at 1:30 pm, EST. “

The Working Proof

I am intrigued by Ian Carpenter’s paintings; landscapes that morph into creaturely forms, arresting blocks and swatches of acid bright colour, these works will take you on an emotional journey into spaces where stories are woven. Let’s join Ian and learn some more about his work.

Tell me us little about yourself, the media you work with and your creative process.

“Well I have a natural inclination towards the creative process and I find paintings to be a good outlet, a great medium for myself. I find working with gouache at the moment (I’ve worked with oils and acrylics too) with wood board a spontaneous way of creating and the way the colors mix and react with the wood itself. Sometimes I work without any plan and paint as I go along but lately having a predetermined idea of what I want to do has been my creative guide.”

From where do you draw your inspiration: music, books, people, nature etc?

“Music, so many things, just today I’ve been listening to Tortoise again, great ambient and jazzy sonic textures and now I have some sad ol’ Wilco song drifting through my head, so yes, songs can help out in terms of a painting’s atmosphere when one is painting. Nature plays a part too obviously – I like landscapes, from the Fauves to the American Tonalists to De Stael to various artists of our time. People, well, hm, I’m not much of a figurative painter of late. I’ve studied Classical Drawing and have rendered the human form in many ways (paint, pencil, charcoal), but in the last few years I’ve focused on nature and abstract forms – why is that – I don’t know – maybe just living in New York City I get enough of human beings and human interaction daily, ha.”

If you could talk briefly about the background to one of your pieces which would you choose and why? Tell us the story behind the piece.

“For example Bánh Hỏi Weather (above), I had that Vietnamese dish on my latest birthday and being a foodie (and an artist), just putting that dish into a landscape seemed fun to me – and maybe the thoughts of growing older influenced me to put stormy clouds in there, something greyish and forlorn overlooking tasty sustenance – and again everything is regenerative so nature provides/nourishes the food we eat then we or I live on to experience another day – or more specifically in this case – to paint another day. So looking at this painting again I’m getting that meditation from it and a colorful one at that.”

You can find Ian here:
Blog
Coming soon to:
Artquiver

Ian tells me that he is planning to open an Etsy shop at some point in the future. Do let us know when your shop is up and running Ian, thanks so much for joining us today and sharing a little corner of your life with us. What is it about Tortoise’s music that creates such vivid mental imagery? When I was going through an “I’m going to be a filmaker” phase I plotted out a cinematic journey to Standards. Sadly my film was never made!!!
I have a plush related interview coming up soon, in line with my all new super-relaxed attitude to blogging I can’t say when. But soon kittens!

I am supposed to be filling in my Dad’s tax return for him this morning, instead I have been lost in the work of Mari Andrews (found via The Storque). This is really incredible work. Here is a snippet from Mari’s website:

My work has evolved out of years of drawing and obsessive collecting. Through sculpture I weave these two actions together. Wire, pine needles, branches and other linear material carry on the drawing practice while moving the work into the sculptural realm. Time spent gathering, cleaning and storing of collected objects, whether they are man-made or natural, allows for a kind of wonder and intimacy with each object. This gleaned information is crucial while combining materials to make new, hybrid forms.

Structures of all kinds from cellular and mineral to plant and skeletal, inform the work. The pieces become a collaboration of materials and intention, with the materials often altering my concept and practice of working. Various temporal and delicate objects I elect to work with often mirror our human sensitivities and vulnerabilities…I transform the materials used in these sculptural drawings to bring attention to fragile and often fugitive objects that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Hop over and immerse yourself in all this beauty. Now on with the number crunching-urgh!
Mari Andrews
The Storque