Meri Wells - The Wakelin Purchase Award

Meri Wells - The Wakelin Purchase Prize winner 2011

This year's recipient of The Wakelin Purchase Award is the mid-Wales sculptor, Meri Wells. The award allows a selection of work by a Wales based artist to be bought for the Glynn Vivian Gallery permanent collection in Swansea. The selector for 2011 was Andrew Green from the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth.

Meri Wells lives and works near Machynlleth and has been quietly making her extraordinary, ceramic, anthropomorphic creatures for many years. I remember seeing a show of her work in The Tabernacle in Machynlleth some while ago which exhibited some of the larger scale pieces she makes, including strange characters from the Mari Lwyd folk tradition.

Meri Wells 

The creatures she makes are uncanny, archetypal and perhaps slightly mournful. They strike a deep chord and their earthy, salt-glazed finishes make them seem to be from the most fundamental part of our psyche. Liminal beings half-in and half-out of the mythical and the imagined. For me her work has a very powerful quality, an otherworldliness that somehow imbues these sculptures with a supernatural presence. I feel very pleased that she has received this recognition for her work and hope to see more in exhibitions and collections in the future.

Meri Wells

Second Star to the Right and Straight on Until Morning

Ben Rowe - Second Star to the Right and Straight on Until Morning

I finally got to see Ben Rowe's solo show, Second Star to the Right and Straight on Until Morning at Mission Gallery in Swansea this weekend, it closes on 24 July  so there is only a week left to catch it. 

The craftsmanship involved in the making of his MDF recreations of futuristic machines from iconic 1980's films is incredibly impressive. There is an obsessive focus involved in his working process, it can take him many months to create one of his sculptures in all its minute detail. 

The blandness of the material is unsettling, Rowe uses it to speak about the futility of escapism - the fictional machines he references often involve some kind of travel, but the uniformity of their construction in his hands and their ultimate uselessness denies the fantasy. The effect is somewhat dystopic, it does not bode well somehow for our society. Ultimately we have to stand face-to-face with the existential reality of ourselves in our world with all the frustrations and yearnings that involves but with little control over its mechanics.

Perhaps this is the purest kind of gesture an artist can make (and perhaps it is only artists that CAN make such a gesture) in confrontation with this unbearable futility of being.

Karla Black - Scotland + Venice

The Venice Biennale is a lot like the most fantastic sweet shop, one is horribly spoiled for choice. It takes some while to digest the fayre and come to a sensible conclusion about what one has seen and experienced.  Possibly my favourite confection was sculptor, Karla Black at the Scottish Pavilion. I'm using that analogy for good purpose, because the work itself actually does have the feeling of confectionary or 'Lush' cosmetics.

I had trouble finding the Scottish Pavilion, it is placed in a confusing little maze of streets and on my first attempt I found it just as the door was locked for the evening. Undeterred, I headed back the next morning and it STILL took me ages to find it...and then climb the endless stairs. I wasn't feeling terribly well disposed for a positive experience, but even before I reached the door I could smell the artwork - fizzy, fruity, soapy cosmetics. Walking in to the show I was confronted with an absurd and lovely landscape of pastel colours, towers and bulbous paper forms, powdery sugar like pigments, oversized cellophane wrapping and drapes of plastic. The network of little rooms either side of the main gallery space housed paper works suspended in space and fields of brown soil populated with big sculptural blocks of soap.

Karla Black calls these works 'almost objects' and considers them to be '...caught between thoughtless gestures and seriously obsessive attempts at beauty.' They are unashamedly about material, physical stuff - they are thoroughly sensual and tactile. The main space at the 15th Century Palazzo Pisani which houses the show is decorated in unusual ice-cream colours, I asked the attendant if Karla Black had responded to this with the work, but she assured me that the connection was purely serendipitous. If so, it's a lovely, playful exchange.

The show made me happy...is that ok??  Playful, honest joyfulness is relatively thin on the ground in the artworld - it feels almost wrong. I was delighted with the femininity of the work - feminine not feminist, it manages to transcend the angst of feminism and the issues of being a female artist, it is effortlessly confident and assertive. On a deeper level Black is using ideas about psychology and quantum science, and these concepts are perfectly realised in the work but cleverly balanced with its pure materiality.

David Nash - Force of Nature

David Nash - seen here

If you haven't caught it yet, do take an hour to watch this beautiful documentary, Force of Nature about North Wales sculptor David Nash screened on BBC Four this week (only available to view until Wednesday 2 March) . The work of Culture Colony's Pete Telfer, the documentary is the result of the long working relationship Pete has had with Nash, and the lovely direction of the piece reflects that deep affinity and knowledge of the processes, the work and the man himself.

David Nash - Oculus - Image Courtesy of YSP - photographer Jonty Wilde

© Jonty Wilde

Nash's work has such authority, such enviable focus and continuity. There is nothing artificial, nothing pretentious about it. Straightforward and poetic, the curator of work for his current show at The Yorkshire Sculpture Park talks about the monumental piece Oculus as 'calligraphic', Zen-like in it's way of being, and I feel that is a feature of so much of Nash's work. It is - it is meant to be - it could not be anything other than that which it is.

Inventions of the Mind - review

Kirsty E. Smith - Colin

Here is a link to the full review I have written for Kirsty E. Smith's exhibition Inventions of the Mind at Erasmus Darwin House, Lichfield.

Mark Folds

Mark Folds - Lovespoon

Here's a little more about the work showing in Oriel Myrddin Gallery's current show, Outsider.

Mark Folds is a sculptor based near Newcastle Emlyn in west Wales, he moved here from Peckham in south London a few years back. Mark was the fella behind I Love Peckham, a one man campaign in the 1990's to love Peckham by anonymously mending dilapidated street furniture and transforming benches into art pieces. Badges, T shirts and a range of I Love Peckham seaside rock followed. The name has now been adopted by Southwark Council for their annual festival - so i guess Mark's hard work payed off - Peckham is loved!

In 2009 Mark had a solo show with Oriel Myrddin Gallery, Comfort Zone which posed a few questions about the low-flying jets we have an abundance of in west Wales. He installed a scale down version of a Tornado jet in the gallery space covered with raw sheeps' wool (accompanied by interesting aroma). On the hills around Carmarthen town, Mark sited giant sheep motifs cut from carpet - a little message to the pilots and a bit of fun for the residents - one did get sabotaged by Friday night revellers, but it's all part of the story in the end.

For Outsider, Mark has carved a giant lovespoon, here's a paragraph from Sue Griffith's catalogue essay for the show: "Mark Folds began referencing the Welsh tradition of the lovespoon some years ago, after relocating to Wales from London. The text on these large scale sculptures speaks of the uncertainties of love and commitment, and also evokes the irony of the object itself, once meaningful and rich in history, and now a tourist 'nick-nack' available in kitsch gift shops. They can be read as bleakly humorous, or hopeful - we smile, because we know that despite the irony, we will still commit to loving" Sue Griffith

The Pembrokeshire Open Art Exhibition

The Pembrokeshire Open 2010

I went with my friend Louise Bird to the opening of The Pembrokeshire Open Art Exhibition last Saturday. It is a new annual open competition for emerging and established artists showing at the Joanna Field Gallery at the Torch Theatre, Milford Haven.

Louise was chosen for the show with Iota, a 260 metre crocheted fishing line piece which was installed on the upper floor, a good spot which utilised the natural light and views across the harbour.

Louise Bird - Iota - reflected in the windows of the Torch Theatre - seen here

My own choice of winner would have been Amanda Benson, a London based artist who was showing two small pieces of sculpture commenting on luxury property.

Amanda Benson - Holiday Home St. Pere de Ribes - seen here

"Running simultaneously with and counter to the vogue for property make-overs Amanda Benson presents Dreamhomes that, although they have their origins in California or Nantucket, are constructed from the primitive materials to be found to hand in a Hackney artist's studio. The gap between Jackie O or Elvis' mansion and the plasticine and cardboard re-interpretations express both a grand and poignant wish-fulfillment and the basic human need for shelter common to both. The everyday materials make up delicate and beautiful structures that pique our imagination, let us re-build the lives of the rich and/or famous in our own image and with whatever means are at our disposal." seen here

Jeanette Orrell

Jeanette Orrell - seen here

I've been looking at the work of north Wales based artist Jeanette Orrell, the wire birdcages I posted yesterday reminded me of her wire sculptural drawings. She also makes drawings and prints on paper.

The work is quiet, modest even - there's a fragility about the sketchiness, an only-just-there-ness. The wire utensils, however are over sized at around 75cm which is not necessarily apparent from the images and I have not seen the work other than in print and online. The work is undoubtedly feminine concerned as it is with the domestic; and viewing as a woman this fragility creates a slight sense of discomfort for me. There's a dreaming quality, an insularity that comes from the intimate, day-to-day nature of domestic life - the lightness of the techniques might hint at how tentative identity can feel when one is deeply involved with nurturing the lives of others.

The scale of the work is interesting, have the pieces become iconic? Totemic? Surreal? Funny? Over bearing? I hope I can see them in the flesh at some point to find out. My personal response is one of disquietude, the unusably light construction and scale of the utensils and objects niggle at my sense of autonomy and weight as a woman; both beautiful and subtle, their sub text is slightly unsettling.

Jeanette Orrell - seen here

Miss Flite's Birdcages

Fun Is Always In Style - Birdcage - seen here

I found this lovely project today through Flickr. I don't know the artist's name, but on Flickr she is Fun Is Always In Style and is based in California. The series of birdcages use reclaimed domestic objects and relate to the character Miss Flite, in Charles Dickens' Bleak House. Miss Flite is an elderly eccentric whose family has been destroyed by a long-running Chancery legal case through which she expects financial settlement. Somewhat unhinged by her obsessive fascination with the legal process, she owns a large number of little birds in cages which she says will be released "on the day of judgement". The birds have "...allegorical names like Hope, Youth, Beauty & Words, Confusion, Jargon, Plunder, Precedent, Despair, Ruin, Sheepskin, Spinach & Gammon to signify the consumption of all things by fruitless law cases." seen here


Fun Is Always In Style - Birdcage - seen here

Fun Is Always In Style - Birdcage - Seen here

Mary Sikkel and Simon Gaiger

Treasure Trouvé - from World of Interiors (February 2010)

We're all a little bit proud in the gallery of our Education Officer Mary Sikkel and her husband Simon Gaiger. Both trained as sculptors, they met at college many moons hence. Their exquisitely beautiful west Wales home is featured this month in World of Interiors magazine (February 2010). Feast your eyes - but go out and buy a copy too to keep forever!

Kaori Tatebayashi

Kaori Tatebayashi - Collar - seen here

We have some new ceramics in the gallery from Kaori Tatebayashi - perfectly wonky, artfully imperfect domestic tableware.

Kaori Tatebayashi - ceramic tableware - seen here

I particularly like her hand built stoneware sculptures of clothing and domestic objects - white, unspeakably fine; melancholic. Ghost-like, but solid and brittle - calcifying the everyday nuances of objects into fragile memorials.

Sara Hubbs

Sara Hubbs - Angle Grind - seen here

Thanks to Abigail Doan for reminding me about American artist Sara Hubbs today. Sara works with old shoes using their inherent sculptural qualities to make new assembled forms: "... I create assemblages from discarded remnants of shoes and other personal ephemera. I investigate the relationship between these forms, and their materials while at the same time, providing these relics with new meaning. I am interested in the play between narrative and form and how it shapes the way we see. Looking to use and accumulation as points of contact with the world, muted and unseen spaces take shape..."

Sara Hubbs - Frequency Radio - seen here

I have often excused the compulsion to buy shoes by claiming them to be wearable sculptures (oh, the indulgence and self delusion!). Of all the personal possessions surely shoes are the most poignant as they mould their substance to our bodies and the nuances of our movement, recording our travels and encounters.

Sara Hubbs - The 4 M's: Material, Movement, Metaphor, Memory - seen here

Patrick Haines - Myth and History, The Bristol Gallery

Patrick Haines - At Rest - seen here

I blogged recently about a small bronze which was part of the Red Shift show hosted by The Collective First Bristol Group. My favourite piece was by sculptor, Patrick Haines, a small bronze of a dead bird discretely placed on a window sill. I read a review (thank you Marcus!) today of an exhibition in The Bristol Gallery called Myth and History in which Haines' work is represented. From the images on the website I found the small, intimate pieces really subtle and beautiful - I am not such a fan of the larger and more literally interpreted pieces.

Patrick Haines - King of All Birds - seen here

I'm very interested in the folk custom that informs The King of All Birds, another version of which is shown here, a wren house from St Fagan's National Museum of Wales near Cardiff.

Emily Speed

Inhabitant - Emily Speed - seen here

One of the speakers at yesterday's seminar at Chapter - The Centre Is Here - was Emily Speed. Emily spoke to us about the way she uses blogging to talk about her practice, but also to raise issues of interest to artists through entries on a-n magazine and her blog Getting Paid.

When I came home I had a look at her work - about which she was very modest in her talk. Fragile, vulnerable, in between existing and not existing, temporary - her work explores ideas about transience and often makes reference to architecture and shelters, hiding places and spaces. Sensitive - almost unbearably so, she makes sculptural installation works, artists books, drawings; more recent work has involved performance also.

Emily Speed - My Humble Abode - seen here

"More a multiple than a bookwork, this piece involved 21 envelopes, each with a different scene inside the window. An exploration of how where we live shapes us as people, each scene sits in the place of an address."

Emily Speed - seen here

Cy Twombly sculptures

Cy Twombly - Untitled - from Tate Modern Catalogue Cycles and Seasons

I'm planning a new piece of work, and all sorts of threads and thoughts are coming together. Today an unexpected reference came to mind. Last summer I went to the Cy Twombly retrospective at Tate Modern, Cycles and Seasons; lovely to see those big works in that space. What I was not familiar with however were his sculptures; they actually had more impact on me for their unfamiliarity.

Lettering has always featured in my work, and much of my own training was with practitioners who were expanding the boundaries of the discipline. I was very much interested in that grey area between the craft of lettering and the practice of fine art. Here was Cy Twombly making paintings with his scribbly, drippy, sgraffito script - I didn't really think about the connection - but subliminally, almost by osmosis some of that sense of materiality and surface seeped through.

Cy Twombly - Arcadia, 1958 - seen here

Discovering the sculptures made me jump though - I felt very familiar with them although I hadn't seen them before; they resonated with my recent work and my own move away from the two dimensional. Now they're tiptoeing lightly through my thoughts again, it's the simplicity I think, the whiteness. It's the use of everyday, reclaimed materials and the deep, implicit connections to mythology and story. Some exhibitions and artists shout at you and demand attention; some steal in quietly and loiter in the shadows whispering, so it has been for me with Cy Twombly.

Ruthin Craft Centre

Ruth Duckworth exhibition at Ruthin Craft Centre

To round off our north Wales odyssey, we visited Ruthin Craft Centre. This was my third visit and it gets better each time. The newly designed building was opened in 2008 and is a serious space for showing international craft and applied art of the highest quality. The show in the largest of the three gallery spaces was a 90th birthday tribute to sculptor Ruth Duckworth. The curation was exceptional. This exquisite modernist work in the light, airy space of the gallery was really refreshing and the use of a large, wall-sized image of the works in the artist's house brought colour and personality to the formality of shapes. My photograph is a poor representation of a beautiful show.

In the third gallery space were a series of Mary Lloyd Jones pieces on fabric from the 1970's. I was really taken aback by their freshness and energy. I particularly liked this piece for the rough pleating detail in the centre.

Mary Lloyd Jones

We also met Becky Adams who is the artist in residence at Ruthin for the summer. I liked the sewn and collaged book she is working on.

Becky Adams

Becky had also been working with Ruthin children to produce a book of drawings and collages of their town - I loved this drawing.

Angharad Pearce Jones

Angharad Pearce Jones

Whilst visiting the Eisteddfod, we also went to the Welsh cultural centre Canolfan Cywain in the park opposite the festival site.

Blacksmith/sculptor Angharad Pearce -Jones has been working on education projects with Oriel Myrddin Gallery recently and I saw some photographs of the giant chairs she was making for the Centre. I was very pleased to get the chance to see them in situ. They were surrounded by beautiful wild flowers covering the little twmp where the chairs are installed.

Angharad Pearce Jones

Simon Gaiger

You have to start somewhere...so I'm starting Bird in the House here, on the first day of July. I shot images of some gorgeous pieces we received in the gallery today for the retail section of our forthcoming show - WOOD.

These pieces are by Simon Gaiger, he is essentially a sculptor using wood, metal and found materials but these pieces are domestic and utilitarian, I think that's what I like about them.

'Moveable Feast', oak with steel.
Size: length 780mm, width 200mm, height 370mm



Chopping boards





"Clickety Clack"

A spice crusher - the crusher is made from the rail of the old Carmarthen to Lampeter rail track - hence the name!

Beautifully designed and made - sensitive to the materials, solid, tactile and satisfying.

Here's Simon's website