Out of Line Online!

Exciting news everyone! Thanks to the Graphic Design production skills of Rob Watts, I am pleased to reveal the first online version of HIVE, available to view online here and as a pdf on Scribd.

Previous issues will be available to view online soon (it is our ambition to have a HIVE website sometime in the, hopefully not too distant future...?!) but, until then, please cast your eyes over this issue of HIVE 3#. This is the issue I co-edited on with Nina Gronw-Lewis in 2016 and saw 14 artists make work in response to the theme, 'Out of Line'. I wanted to use this as an opportunity to test what it would look like online and of course practice sharing it with those interested! Let me know what you think!

Hive 3# (June 2016) Visual Arts Zine, Edited by Natalie Parsley and Nina Gronw-Lewis.

Featuring work by; Rico Ajao, Frank Edmunds, Jon England, Nina Gronw-Lewis, Kevin Hawker, Tim Martin, James Marsden, Natalie Parsley, Stuart Rosamond, Eileen Rosamond, Ruby Rowswell, Chris Taylor, Deborah Westmancoat and Rob Watts.

All work is Copyright of the Artists ©2016

HIVE 3# 'Out of Line' by Natalie Parsley on Scribd

For more info about what HIVE is and some of its history then please refer to some of my previous blog posts for clues.... http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=hive

Ahem, and if you really like what you see and are interested in procuring your very own CD digital copy of the latest HIVE V, meeting the artists and celebrating then please come along to the launch of HIVE V on Friday 23rd March at 06.00pm. Info on poster below and via our Facebook event page; https://www.facebook.com/events/407305959707446/

Edited by Chris Dart and featuring the creative stylings of: 
Chris Dart, Frank Edmunds, Jon England, Martin Jackson, Tony Girardot, James Marsden, Tim Martin, Rashid Maxwell, Anna Newland-Hooper, Eileen Rosamond, Stuart Rosamond, Natalie Parsley and RobWatts 

Into the Wild...

The independent artists’ book HIVE IV is to be released into the wild on Saturday 1st April 2017. The publication of the book will coincide with an exhibition featuring each contributor’s original artwork at The Old Brick Workshop, Wellington, Somerset, throughout the first week of April.

 

The exhibition Private View / Book Launch will take place on Saturday 1st April, 18.00 - 20.30. A limited edition, signed copy of the book will also be auctioned on the  night.

HIVE is an ever-expanding group of artists associated with the occasionally-published artists’ book of the same name. Since 2014 there have been three issues of HIVE, each edited by different artists who have also set the theme for each issue. Past themes include: ‘Track 6’, ‘The Wrong Side of 15 Minutes’ and ‘Out of Line’. The concept of HIVE [that has since inspired the spin-off publication SWARM] was originally initiated by artist/educator Stuart Rosamond and artist Frank Edmunds to promote creativity and give exposure to the work of an eclectic group of artists, photographers and designers based in the South West and beyond. HIVE IV will feature the work of twenty artists;

 

Rico Ajao,  Chris Dart,  Roger Dean,  Frank Edmunds,  Jon England,  Tony Girardot,  Nina Gronw-Lewis,  Kevin Hawker,  Martin Jackson,  James Marsden,  Tim Martin,  Jane Mowat,  Natalie Parsley,  Eileen Rosamond,  Stuart Rosamond,  Ruby Rowswell,  Chris Taylor,  John Watling,  Rob Watts,  Deborah Westmancoat.

 

 and the list of potential contributors to future editions is constantly growing. HIVE IV is edited by graphic designer Rob Watts and will feature artworks responding to the theme of ‘Lost &  Found’.

 

Visitors are invited to celebrate the launch of HIVE IV with the artists at the Private View of the exhibition at The Old Brick Workshop, Wellington, Somerset, on Saturday 1st April, 18.00 - 20.30, where they can view the original artworks from HIVE IV [Lost & Found] created by its twenty contributing artists. This will be the first time that contributors’ works have been publicly exhibited. During the evening there will be a live auction when visitors can bid for a limited edition, signed copy of HIVE IV, as one of 22 copies only ever to be produced; proceeds of which will go towards funding future HIVE publications. The exhibition will remain open to the public to view for free from Monday 3rd April to Saturday 8th April, open 11.00 - 16.30.

 

Graphics and Photo by Rob Watts

 

HIVE IV [Lost & Found] EXHIBITION

The Old Brick Workshop

Higher Poole, Wellington, Somerset TA21 9HW Monday 3rd April - Saturday 8th April 2017 Open 11.00 - 16.30

PRIVATE VIEW / BOOK LAUNCH / HIVE AUCTION Saturday 1st April 2017 18.00 - 20.30

 

For further information please visit www.theoldbrickworkshop.com

 



 

"Nonsense is better than no sense!"

  I sell books therefore logically, I'm someone who fortunately enjoys books! I’m also an artist. I hope it goes without saying I love art. So anything that combines these interests very much excites me...

 

09:30am, Tuesday December 15^th, a wave of euphoria descends upon the Mead in Taunton Somerset. The postman in accompanying van has just delivered a colossal-sized VIP parcel. The visual cornucopia, feast for the eyes, art extravaganza that is Hive 2# has landed!  

 

Hive 2# Outside Cover of Casing (left) and Inside Cover of Zine (right)

 

First swarming in March 2015, issue 1 of the celebrated visual arts zine (collectively known as) ‘Hive’ was formed, featuring the work of 12 ‘deliriously excited’ artists, each making work in response to the theme, ‘Track six’. Their work collated/distributed into the completed zine by issue 1’s editor, Stuart Rosamond.  See[http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/here-are-my-bees.html].

 

“With the ambition of publishing biannually throughout the year each issue of ‘Hive’ is guest edited by a different artist who sets the theme, collates the work, binds it and produces the cover plus any supporting content. The brief, that each participating artist produces a response to the theme on an A3 sheet of paper/surface in any medium of their choosing making either thirteen copies or originals of their work and sent to said editor. Each artist as a result receives a completed copy of ‘Hive’ featuring their page and that of the eleven other artists.”

 

Are we clear?!

 

15 Minutes of Fame. Selfie with Hive!

Nine months later and the second issue of ‘Hive’ has just been distributed to each of the 12 participating artists. They are; Nina Gronw-Lewis, Rico Ajao, Jon England, Malcolm Plastow, Frank Edmunds, Eileen Rosamond, Megan Calver,  Kevin Hawker, Stuart Rosamond, Tim Martin, Ruby Rowsell and me (Natalie Parsley)! Hive 2# edited by Frank Edmunds, has set the theme for the issue, ‘...the wrong side of 15 minutes’.                          

 

 What proceeded from first opening my copy of Hive 2 was a series of increasingly delightful surprises. Hive 2 arrives in its complete own ark, an almost zealously protective, bespoke, outer wooden case/sculpture complete with Dada-esque style collage of mousetraps, cuttings, painting and text. In the same way that Hive 1 had its own tailored CD of track 6 songs, Hive 2 has its own additions that includes an Andy Warhol, ’15 minutes of fame’ magnet! Whoop! It is like being a kid at Christmas, but a hugely refreshing reminder that art can be fun! Both uniquely different, both reflective of the characters/interests of their host editors. Inside Hive 2 features more accompanying Warhol quotes to the theme of ‘...the wrong side of 15 minutes’ which are dispersed throughout the pages in between the artists’ work. It reminds me of ‘The Jolly Christmas Postman’ children’s book which had the opening of envelopes and layers, of a book within a book within a book. This is a childhood memory and is something I’ve always taken delight in trying to incorporate in my own Hive contributions (my Hive 2 page includes a 15 piece jigsaw influenced by this very idea). Even in my offshoot zine, ‘Swarm’ [see: http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/keep-on-swarming.html] I have always been interested in the mechanics of books and book-making so that pages have holes in them, viewfinders, things to open and fold-out and are generally more interactive, tactile and open to discovery as art objects in themselves in addition to the content produced within their pages.

Snapshots of the Hive 2 Artists' work

From a Bookseller point-of-view it certainly seems as though the publishing industry has almost turned full-circle in recent years, in the wake of digital ebooks that threatened to topple printed book sales mixed with the recession and increase in online buying the publishing industry and booksellers have begun to fight back by recreating traditionally bound and special editions of books adding value with materials (surface design), quality of print, illustrations and more. Two brilliant examples being, the intricately designed fiction ‘S’ by J J Abrams that includes multiple inserts, recreated postcards, maps, notes and photos within its pages that become part of the storytelling and the elegantly produced, ‘The Strange Library’ by Haruki Murakami which combines imaginative typography and ladybird-style nostalgic illustrations. I digress but this tangent raises an important point on the imagination and creativity that can be involved in book/magazine design and I think is an important in the continued re-growth of physical book sales. Should more artists be making books? More artists involved in publishing?

 

The artist in me continues to be inspired and there is much to be enthused by in the zine process. They offer the collective opportunity to share/produce work with other artists/makers in a 2D exhibition that is sent through the post! Wonderful!





 

 

Something(s) Wicked This Way Comes!

That's right! When I'm not visiting, writing about or talking about art I do try squeeze some time to indulge in the process of making my own! On that note there are a few news related items this week as projects and art happenings that have been brewing away begin to bare fruition...

1#

'Yellow Hammer' (pictured above) accepted into Ilminster Art Open at The Meeting House. Mono print/ink on paper. First drawing of a few new 'tool' related pieces of which retrospectively I feel is now the least successful in how it was drawn/placed compositionally but has lead to other work(s) ideas that I am more pleased with. This piece, originally intended [and is] as part of the art zine project (mentioned below) and works better within its printed, page context  as I've added details/text/format to make it more of a parody of a bird spotting guide book, rather than being quite the 'one-liner' it appears as here. However, elements of how this was printed/painted have since been used in other work (watch this space) so it marks an important, albeit slightly tentative beginning to new work that has followed.

2# 

swarm (n)– a temporary collection of bees, containing at least one queen that split apart from the mother colony to establish a new one; a natural method of propagation for honey bee colonies.

Through a competitive, megalomaniac driven act of plagiarism, 'Swarm' visual art zine was born. Shameless; a hybrid off-shoot of its 'sister' zine 'Hive'! Maybe I got greedy, maybe too ambitious, but being part of 'Hive' had feverishly inspired me that what the art world was missing was, well more art! The aim to make my own zine with friends whom I'd met/known over the years who could 'Swarm' together and celebrate each others work!

'Swarm' is basically a smaller more compact version of 'Hive', hosting a printed platform from which a select group of contributing creatives produce work to a set theme which is then produced into zines distributed to each of the participating artists. There is no profit, they aren't for sale but exist as a exclusive slice of owning and participating in something that is quite intimately special. To those involved its purpose to provide a fun outlet to both make work, share it and discover new artists!

The button badges are ready, the covers have been made and the work has slowly been flying in for the publication of this project toward the end of September! More news here when its out!

3#

*

 Speaking of which, the 'Hive' 2# will arrive on September 23rd, once more featuring the artistic workings of Nina Gronw-Lewis, Jon England, Anna Newland-Hooper, Malcolm Plastow, Frank Edmonds, Eileen Rosamond, Megan Calver,  Kevin Hawker, Stuart Rosamond*, Tim Martin, Ruby Petts, me (Natalie Parsley) and joined by a new contributor Rico Ajao!

MORE DETAILS ON 'HIVE' 1#:
http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/here-are-my-bees.html
*Image by Stuart Rosamond from 'Hive' 1



4#

Spent a significant proportion of yesterday looking, chiselling and hammering away at this section of brick wall at Somerset's most exciting, upcoming NEW exhibition space in the former Virador Waste Management Offices in Wellington. Looking further back into the buildings' history in the 19th Century when it was home to Poole Brickworks it has since been dubbed the Old Brick Workshop (and, my there are a LOT of bricks!). The building boasts nine self contained studios and communal space (currently occupied by local artists). OBW will host activities and workshops and is soon to have its own exhibition space opening in time for the public during Somerset Art Weeks 2015 on the 3rd of October! 

As if that wasn't exciting enough, I am  deliriously delighted that myself and a dozen other artists will be amongst the first to exhibit in this new venue during Art Weeks. Featuring amongst others, Alex Conetta, James Marsden, Anna Newland Hooper, Diana Pilcher, Debbi Sutton, Jane Mowat, Teresa Wilson, Ashley Thomas, Jane Kelly and Judith Crosher.

More details as and when it happens, you'll hear it here first!

We are Venue 1, The Old Brick Workshop

The Old Brick Workshop
 Higher Poole
Wellington
Somerset
TA21 9HW

In the mean time, pick up a preview of our venue in the Somerset Art Weeks catalogue for 2015 or visit link below:

http://somersetartworks.org.uk/venues/the-old-brick-workshop/

Look out for the propeller!