My February notes from the studio is going to be fairly brief as February, already a short month was made even more condensed by snow days, half term and sickness!! Roll on the Spring is all I can say.
But this has meant I have had time for planning and daydreaming and sketching up plans and ideas. I have also managed some reading which is a real treat.
My focus for my making over the coming months is going to be on woodlands as an overarching theme. It’s something my work has touched on over the years with my interest in leaves and trees but I have never used woodlands as a focus for a body of work before. I am going to start from a visual standpoint and look at the structures and lines found in woodlands before exploring the potential for poetical and narrative content. I am lucky as we regularly visit Leigh woods (on the outskirts of Bristol) as a family and there are pockets of wooded areas to be found locally to where I live. In fact the more you start looking the more trees you find.
I am also interested in the notion of native species of trees and local habitats, perhaps this reflects the current political and social climate. However, I am not ready to carve into that just yet! The feeling that I get when I am in a woodland is a sense of uncanny quiet. The line of sight is interrupted and therefore the mind can play tricks on you. Perhaps this is why woodlands are the back drop for so many fairy tales. The quietness and solitude playing to our fears as well as our nostalgic comfort. This tension between this dark and the light is something I will try to explore in the new body of work.
An exciting date on the horizon is BV Open Studios 2019. It’s the annual chance to explore behind the scenes of around 100 different creative spaces. I will be opening studio G8 for the weekend so please come along and say hello!
Studio G8
BV Studios, 37 Philip Street, Bedminster. BS3 4EA (opposite the Windmill Hill City Farm)
Friday 12th April 6pm-late
SATURDAY 13th April 11am- 6pm
SUNDAY 14th April 11am-5pm