David Mach - Precious Light - the sculptures

The sculptures made from coat hangers in the David Mach exhibition I talked about yesterday.

David Mach - Precious Light - the collages

On Saturday, we went to the City Art Centre to see David Mach - Precious Light: A Celebration Of The King James Bible. The exhibition:

explores the themes and legacy of the King James Bible (the first mass produced bible) in the year of its 400th anniversary. The text is widely regarded as one of the most influential works in the English language. Precious Light, which represents the Turner-nominated artist’s largest solo show to date, is a contemporary imagining of the King James Bible in collage, sculpture and words.

The images in this post are massive collages made from contemporary magazines, posters and books. They illustrate well known scenes from the bible, from top to bottom:
1. Noah's Ark
2. Jonah and the whale
3. Babel
4. Nativity
5. The last judgement
6. The plague of animals
7. Jacob's ladder
8. Hell in Paris
9. Heaven in summer
10. Jesus walking on water
11. Plague of Frogs

They are really big (at least 2 metres across) so there's an amazing amount of detail that you can't see in the reproductions. There were also some amazing sculptures made from coat hangers and matches, I took some photos of those which I'll post tomorrow.

Images from David Mach's website, except the last two which are from the City Art Centre.

National Museum of Scotland in vignettes

Our historical/natural history/technology/anthropology/science/art/that kind of thing museum has been refurbished and I must say it looks amazing! Not that different, but better, lighter, airier. I went late on Sunday afternoon after I finally finished my last economics assignment, and I want to go back soonest. There's some fab mid-century interiors/housewares in one of the rooms, trust me for that to be my favourite bits when there are hippos suspended from the ceiling. Though that is pretty amazing too!

Here's more about the refurb and the architecture.

Jupiter Artland

Last weekend, we took advantage of the lovely weather and cycled out to Jupiter Artland, a sort of sculpture park in a country house outside the city. We got there quite late, so we didn't go into the part you had to pay for, but instead just had iced coffees and wandered about the main attraction, which is the landforms created by Charles Jencks. People that have visited Edinburgh may recognise the type of landscape from the gardens outside the National Gallery of Modern Art, but this is much larger and more complex. I really want to visit the gardens of his home in Dumfries now!

Kirsty Baynham Illustrations - Interview and GIVEAWAY

I few weeks ago, Dave and I went for a weeken wander into town, on which we visited the Red Door gallery, which stocks lots of lovely local crafty things and art prints. We've got a few things from these in the past, and although we are completely out of space on our walls (as well as out of money, eek!) it's always fun to fantasy re-decorate.

One of the things I loved the most were the prints of Kirsty Baynham. As you know, I love all things bright, colourblocky and graphical, but sometimes I am also drawn to the whimsical pastel prettyness that is showcased on so many blogs, I just never feel it is quite for me in its delicateness. But these prints, and especially the image shown above, were the perfect marriage of the two aesthetics, and I immediately knew I wanted to feature the artist on the blog. So I got in touch with Kirtsy who kindly agreed to be interviewed AND to offer both a giveaway and money off for Oranges and Apples readers!

On with the interview...



Tell us about yourself

I’m an Illustrator, and I’m just about to graduate from Edinburgh College of Art. I’ve always been interested in painting and drawing, graphic design and textiles, and when I started college I got very into Illustration, but I still use elements of graphic and textile design (sewing and painting onto fabrics) in my work now. I’m also interested in writing - poetry and flash fiction – and in words in general. I have developed a love of poetry zines and typography mutually.

I’ve just opened an Etsy shop where I’m selling Giclée prints of my illustrations. You can also buy my prints in the Red Door Gallery in Edinburgh Grassmarket. 

Tell us about your art, e.g. favourite subjects, inspirations, techniques etc.

My art is almost always very colourful, and I love pattern. Most of my drawings involve some form of make-believe - I often work from and use themes from my own writing, which is sort of modern-fairy-tale-esque and quite abstract and so my illustrations are often based around abstract ideas. I like the concept of idealism and fantasy, to the extent where it is confused with and merged into reality.
My process of working involves layering surfaces (digitally and by hand) so much so that I need extra disc space on my laptop to cope with all my Photoshop layers! My essential tools are Lamy ink, ZIG pens, fineliners, felt tips and my watercolour Moleskine.

I suppose I would describe my illustrations as digital collages as they are generally created by collaging together various sketches, watercolours, surfaces and patterns I’ve drawn. Most of my inspiration comes from poets and illustrators - specifically artists who paint interesting textures, and those who use unusual and sometimes childlike imagery. I collect sets of things (like Russian dolls) and I often draw from these collections.

My love for words manifests itself in my experiments with typography. I am interested in the aesthetics of speech, the sound of words, and in people who write in an abstract way – a few of my favourite poets are Tao Lin, Kristy Bowen and Leonard Gontarek. Poetry can be extremely visual, and inspires many of my colour schemes and compositions.

You're just about to graduate. What are your plans for the future and where would you like to be in 5 years time?

I think realistically, I would like to be a freelancer of some form, and to find work in multiple places. I would like to be able to continue with the things I love - drawing and painting, making books and prints, and writing - and ideally I would be able to combine these things. I like the idea of being part of the crafts community and selling work online, and locally. I used to be very interested in making in general - customising clothes, sewing, combining materials like papers and fabrics - before I became so heavily involved in illustration. There seems to be a firm line drawn between craft and design - but as an artist who does not like to too strongly define my work, I think I can sort of see myself in either of those places, maybe both. I would be equally interested in commissioned design projects, the opportunity of working within a design team, and ‘making’ and selling things. Ideally, being able to eventually make a living just by doing the things I love would be perfect.

Name some of your favourite etsy sellers/craftspeople/artists/websites

I am always fascinated by the work of Naja Conrad-Hansen, Kime Buzzelli, Talya Baldwin, Gabriella Barouch, Alyson Fox, Yoko Hasegawa, Beatrice Alemagna, Mirko Hanák, Sarah Moon, and many more. Charles Wilkin’s book Index A, was responsible for initially sparking my interest in design.

As for Etsy sellers, Emily Green’s shop is one of my favourites - she makes beautiful, colourful patterned brooches. I also like Dr Craze’s unusual concrete jewellery and Jennifer Davis’ paintings and prints.

Shadowtrain is my ultimate place for finding poetic creativity and I would recommend it to anyone looking to be inspired.

 




Thanks Kirsty for the fascinating answers and for introducing so many wonderful people! I can't wait to visit the Edinburgh College of Art degree show to look at her final project as well as lots of other brilliant stuff - the illustration bit is my favourite part every year!

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And now for the giveaway:



Kirsty was also kind enough to offer one of her lovely prints as a giveaway price! To be in with a chance to win, simply visit Kirsty's etsy shop, pick your favourite item and fill in the form below. I'll keep this open for two weeks from today.

She is also offering 10% off everything in her shop - use voucher code "origami".



This giveaway is now closed.

Our wedding invitation

Now that our wedding invites have safely made their way to their recipients, I thought I'd share this with you. It's based on the cover of a Life magazine cover from 1943.

Camouflage art by Liu Bolin

Camouflage art by Chinese artist Liu Bolin. Liu uses a team of two assistants to paint the camouflage onto him to make him invisible, and each photograph can take up to ten hours to set up.

Found via here. Images from here.

P.s. I had this post sitting around in drafts, so I thought I'd just post it.

Video Saturday: Making multicoloured stripe paintings

Winter break: money less

flickr here.