A R T // Martin Creed, what's the point of it?

Last weekend I finally got a chance to visit Martin Creed exhibition at the Hayward gallery! It’s one of those exhibitions I’d been itching to get too since it opened, but  wanted to share the experience with a friend instead of facing it alone..Luckily for me, Michaela was lovely enough to agree to come with, so we took advantage of all the good weather and spent the day milling around southbank eating good food and soaking up the sunshine!

It was by far the best exhibition I’ve been to recently, and was everything I expected from Martin Creed; interactive, precise and surprising. I'm usually feel very at home around art- it feels comfortable and familiar. This exhibition however was quite the opposite. With the use of unexpected speakers places around the building (even outside the toilets), the awkward sound of coughing, creaking and laughter followed you everywhere until you finally escaped outside onto the roof terrace. The use of the piano player on the ground floor was another added feature that successfully creeped me out, and I was glad to get away from his random intervals of slowly played scales.

However, my favourite (and admittedly one of the main reasons for going), was work no. 200, Half the air in a given space. What is essentially a room full of 7,000 white balloons, this interactive installation was created to convey the idea of ‘visible’ air. By measuring and capturing exactly half of the rooms air inside the balloons, Creed creates a feeling of claustrophobia whilst at the same time altering our perspective of space.

Considering you have to squeeze yourself through small gap in a glass wall into what is essentially another wall of balloons, you’d have thought (being afraid of small spaces and a lack of air), that I’d have crumpled into a trembling heap on the floor. Surprisingly it was quite the opposite. I wondered whether it would have been different if say the balloons had been of various colours, or the room been darker. However, as everything was white, clear and light, that panicking feeling of entrapment didn’t surface at all! It may also have had something to do with the amount of fun we had in there- I felt such a sense of freedom (a little like running through the ball pond as a child). Despite sharing the space with a few others, it was so tightly packed with balloons that we rarely bumped into anyone else. The only reminders that we were with company were the squeals of excitement and occasional bang of a popped balloon.

If you are thinking of visiting before it ends (the 5^th of May, so get booking tickets now), then be prepared for a lot of crazy static hair, and I strongly advise packing a hairbrush(which sadly I forgot so had to endure electrocuted hair for the rest of the day)!
We finished the day with chickpea flatbreads from the food stalls outside, followed by mint icecream and a sun bathe across the river at Victoria Embankment gardens- definitly one of the lovliest days I've had in a long time :)

New talent: Wilma Harju

 

 

You know that feeling you get when you discover a new young talent? Whether it’s a designer you haven’t come across before, or a new blogger that gets you so excited your toes curl and you can’t sit still. I’ve been getting that a lot recently- I swear there’s been such an influx of talented people at the moment it’s hard to keep up!
I generally put it down to social media- what better way of getting your work out there when you’re still unknown… I have a lot to thank blogger, instagram and twitter for, both in terms of my own work and for finding others.

One of my recent discoveries is 16 year old Wilma, art textile student from Sweden. I was introduced to her beautiful delicate illustrations via instagram; her style is something I haven’t really come across before, and her hand is already so developed and unique for someone so young. Plus, not only is she hella talented she’s also extremely sweet and agreed to let me interview her about her work.

H: You have a really unique style of drawing, how did you get started?

W: Thank you very much!

Well, I have drawn and painted my whole life and I’ve used different techniques and drawn in different ways all the time, however it wasn’t until a year ago I found my own ‘style’. I don’t really know how I ended up drawing the way I do, but I’ve never been much good at drawing realistically with right proportions etc, so I guess that’s why I started out with a more abstract and I guess ‘weird’ style of drawing.

H: Why exactly do you draw?

W: Well, I think I draw because it appeals to me and satisfies me

H: Your characters always have a mysterious presence about them. I’m not sure whether this is intentional, but I sense a feeling of melancholy around some of them. Are these pople of you imagination, or are they based around people you know?

W: I‘ve always been drawn to people with different- some might say weird- appareances, and I’m not particularly attracted to the typically ‘beautiful’. Maybe this is because I’ve always felt weird and different myself, and I guess why my drawings depict quite odd looking characters.

Most of my drawings are created from imagination. I start with an eye, then a nose, mouth and so on… You noticed that some of them looked melancholy, and I’d say that’s probably right. I draw what I feel and take inspiration from my own emotions. I’m not a very happy person, and I often end up with quite sad looking drawings.

 

H: What inspired you, and what drives you to create?

W: Everything and nothing inspires me. I don’t really know what drives me to create, but I always want to create something all the time. Sometimes I even have to force myself to create, but when I do it usually just turns out crap..

H: The majority of your work is created in black pen, is there a reason for this? Are there any other mediums you’d want to experiment with?

W: The reason I use black fine liners isn’t particularly deep, I just like it. Before I found the pleasure of a black pen I was in a wate rcolour period and painted in it all the time. That was before I started to draw the way I do now. I think a simple black pen fits my style best. Since I go to art school, I experiment with different methods all the time and really enjoy it! However, when I get to choose exactly what I want to draw with, it usually ends up with my dear black pen.

H: As you’re still studying, is illustration/art something you’re considering furthering throughout your career. If so, how do you want your work to be recognized? What do you want to be known for?

W: I love what I do and that’s why I do to art/ textile school, and would absolutely love to have a future career in it, but I’m always doubting myself and thinking I’m not good enough. I also hate thinking about the future, it scared the hell outta me! For the moment though I’m just thinking about starting up a little webshop where I can sell my stuff- not only illustrations, but I make jewelry and other things too.

One thing I’m sure of is that I’m always going to continue to create things. It might sound like a cliché, but what kind of life would you have if you stopped doing the things you love?

H: Are you ever stuck for inspiration, and how do you overcome any creative blocks you may face?

W: I often run out of ideas and inspiration and when I do, I just put the pen away for a while. I hate those moments but it never turns out well when I force myself to do something, so even if I don’t want to face the fact that “right now I can’t create something good”, I know I have to.

H: And finally, could you try and sum yourself in three words?

W: Absent, strong (mentally) and shy

Wilma was such a joy to interview- I know for a fact that answering questions about your own work isn’t easy. You tie so much emotion to your work that explaining it to an outsider is one of the hardest things to do, but she managed it so well, and it feels so good to have so much more insight into her work.

I also know exactly how it feels to think you’re not good enough- I don’t know why this happens so often with creative people- but we all do it. I can say now though that Wilma has unbelievable talent, and no matter what she chooses to do in the future I’ll always be excited to see what she does next. Until then though, I’ll continue to wait in anticipation for her new illustration snaps…
You can see more of Wilma's work on her Instagram or check out her Photography blog.

 

Inspiration: Cambridge!

I know I've already made a blog post about Kettle's yard when I first began blogging (exactly a year ago), but I love it there so much that I has so share it with you again! 

A couple of weeks ago I went to visit my family in Cambridge, and seeing as every time I'm there I feel as though I have to pay this place a visit I decided to drag them all there as well...

To sum it up as briefly as possible, Kettles Yard is basically a house (now owned by Cambridge University), come art gallery. It's situated in this little courtyard tucked away out of sight, and basically you just go up and ring the door bell and someone will let you in to look around- in fact my cousins were really concerned I'd just taken them to some random house at first, and looked ready to run away...

But this is no ordinary house. 

Jim Ede (art curator at the Tate) and his wife Helen owned and lived in this house from 1958 to 1973, and it had always been Jim's dream to create a living space in which one could enjoy art from the comfort of the home. He envisaged somewhere were people could just come over, have a look around his house, and chat about art whilst he made them all tea.

True story.

His many connections to the art world enabled him to collect a ridiculous amount of incredible work from artists such as Ben Nicholson, Christopher Wood, Henry More and Barbara Hepworth, and by displayed these pieces alongside other everyday objects (shells, glass, stones, driftwood),in such a way as to create aesthetically pleasing installations.

What I personally love about this place is the fact it was designed for students- he just wanted to create somewhere where like minded and creative people could get together and appreciate and share their love of art, (that and it very much reminds me of my mum's house and her art of lovingly arranging found objects in really unexpected places...)

There's also the fact that the whole house has been arranged in such a way that, at different times of the day and depending on the season, the light will create multiple shadows and patterns through the displayed objects. Literally everywhere you look you'll find some form of beautiful shadow created by the holes in a piece of wood, or the reflection from a seed pod or vase.

If I had it my way I could seriously spend all day here just drawing and reading. I also love that, unlike many galleries, at Kettle's Yard you're actually encouraged to sit down and enjoy the surroundings- no furniture roped off, no moody security guards! It's like walking into your own home. Plus everyone who works there is so passionate about it and the work displayed there, that every time I've been there I've come away having learnt something new.

It really is an incredible place to visit, and I highly recommend if you're ever in that area, to go and check it out- plus it's free, and who doesn't love free shit?!

I thought I'd also include a little picture of me and Madeleine punting on the river- another thing I can cross off my "things to do in England that I've never actually done" list... Although word of warning, if you go- DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PUNT BY YOURSELVES! 

It may be cheaper, but you'll end up like us- half dead, hanging from a willow tree, and causing a pile-up. And we only made it five minutes down the river... and I thought my arms were going to fall off... 

I'll write again as soon as I do something interesting!

Hannah

Inspiration

Thought I'd share a few images I've come across over the past few months that really caught my attention...
Enjoy!

Images do not belong to me...

Week5? Week6?

I thought I was well overdue an update on my Final major project (I was working on my dissertation last week, so didn't have an awful lot to update), but I've been in the studio for the past two days and I think things have developed a little further... 

To put it briefly, I'm now beginning to focus on elements of my research I think are the strongest, and starting to push it further. At the moment I'm really enjoying different weights of line- delicate pencil contrasting with strong, sharp linear edges. I've also started including more organic structures after buying some plastic/net tubing last week (a whole 16 metres of it in fact)... Drawing from little 3D structures such as the little wire squares I threw together when I was bored have actually proven really beautiful, so I think the majority of my idea will probably come from "happy accidents".

Anyway, I'm really enjoying how it's coming along at the moment, and my tutors seem really enthusiastic about it as well which is really encouraging!

I'm about to throw a load of gothic makeup at my face for halloween, so I'll leave you with some photos of my studio..

Hannah

Caffeine free!

There's been quite a few things I've wanted to blog about over the past few days, but due to my decision to wean myself off caffeine, things haven't gone quite to plan. Instead, I've been dragging my zombie self to uni in a attempt to do work, before wallowing in self-pity and falling asleep.. 
However, while I have the chance (and the energy), I thought I'd take this opportunity to share with you the photos I took at the design museum on Tuesday. I originally went just with the intention of seeing the "digital crystal" exhibition, but I ended up falling in love with Lawrence Lek's work while I was snooping around the rest of the museum...

Perving on Michaela...

Lawrence Lek is an architect and sculptor who "investigates the processes of natural growth and industrial fabrication through sculptured objects and environments".
His "unlimited edition" consisted of huge plywood modules, which he bent into really beautiful organic forms. 
I was really drawn to the simplicity of his work, and at first I actually thought his structures had been created with leather, so I was amazed to discover that the fluid shapes had been created with rigid plywood. I even loved the way he'd stitched the modules together... It was also interesting to see his early inkblot tests which has clearly been a strong influence on his often even more exciting than the final outcome..

You can see his Designer in residence video HERE!


A complete change of subject here, but despite the lack of caffeine and temporarily dying situation, I am actually a very happy bunny indeed as I managed to get tickets this morning to see bigbang in December! I think the thought of potentially being in the same room as G-dragon is keeping me alive and awake! :)
For now!..

Little studio update..

I've kept my promise and have been documenting my research development for the second week- I've started drawing more from my initial research and have begun to narrow it down to just the key pieces that really inspire me. 
I think you can tell by the photos that my colour palette already seems pretty determined, although I've been debating introducing some flashes of brighter colour in there somewhere.
For now though my tutor has just told me to continue playing and not to be afraid to be bold... 

Enjoy for now!..