Discoveries Aplenty but Geology Exhibition needs to Dig Deeper!

‘Marking Time: Geology 2’ at Watchet’s Contains Art may have ended but for those of you who missed it, this week’s post aims to unearth and discuss some of its exhibits...
 

Moments in Time display of research materials at Contains Art

 ‘Marking Time’ continues where it left off in 2015 as the, culmination of a 2-year creative development project in which six local artists [they are; Alison Jacobs, Melanie Deegan, Sue Lowe, Angie Wood, Lucy Lean and Andy Davey] have met regularly, ‘braving the mud and tides to explore the full extent of the beaches and coast around Watchet’...and learning more about the processes such as erosion and weathering that formed the coastline to inform and inspire their work. Looking at fossils, ‘fossil tourism’, geology, mapping and woollen manufacture the exhibition featured an array of practices from print-making, casting, painting and drawing to paper-folding, hand-spun yarn and more.

 

Alison Jacobs' ammonites made from Geography notes 

The strength of this exhibition was in fact that there were so many different components to look it. The shipping-container space that is Contains Art, became a walk-in cabinet of curiosities with not only the works produced by the artists on display, but arguably in some cases more interestingly, the books, sketches, maps, paraphernalia and fossils themselves collected as part of their research (pictured). I am a firm believer that the ‘research itself’ if done well enough can become the ‘art’ itself and unfortunately there aren’t enough occasions when one actually sees this exhibited in Somerset; I loved looking at the books, fossils, sketchbooks and curiosities displayed on shelves within this exhibition. It said a lot about the interest, passion and depths to which the group of artists had researched geology and the coastline of the surrounding area. In-turn the connection this research had to some of the individual artist’s responses was clear.

 

Andy Davey

 Angie Wood’s earthy paintings (literally, she uses the local earth she collects) have an authenticity of the weather and elements that shape and age much of the Watchet coastline. Melanie Deegan casts large ammonite fossils and sculpts rock formations out of corrugated-card. Andy Davey (pictured) maps the patterns found in the erosion and texture of coastal formations whilst Sue Lowe (pictured) creates collographs based geological layers and textures. Visually these works are engaging and interesting pieces but I feel the weakness in this exhibition is in that, where some pieces touch upon ideas of erosion, layering and excavation that comes with geology and formations of the coastline,

Sue Lowe

they do so in little depth and so in some ways feel more aesthetically pleasing or obvious rather than really exploring much deeper. Or in some ways they feel so personal to the artists who made them that it is hard for the viewer to get anything else from the work.  Some of the colours, ideas and processes that inform the work could have been developed further to create work that was either more site-specific or referenced ideas of geology, weathering and erosion found in other places.
 



Lucy Lean

Elsewhere this is more evident, Lucy Lean spins yarn using local rocks as spinning whorls, her work exploring the human-response to the ancient local trade. She is looking at the primordial nature of ancient processes and human connections with the materials found in a place. The pieces made from this yarn are tactile, totemic, of-the-hand; their yarn having symbolic connections to the passing/threads of time. It makes you think about the physical passing of time and I personally like that it is less direct making the viewer relate the concept of time to the human relationship to craft and the land. It’s enjoyably unexpected.
 

Alison Jacobs

My favourite pieces from this exhibition however being Alison Jacob’s ‘Face’ magazines (pictured) in which she has cut the pages in coastline-like waves to create coloured layers that recede mimicking the geological layers on a map. I like the way these works take a modern and existing object and apply a geological idea to it; the magazine and its cultural history being excavated as stone and soil is -all we see being fragments and glimpses of past histories rather than the 'full-picture'. It brings, like Lucy’s work, a human-element to it that makes it more relatable and suggests the passing of time. Here we have something that was once disposable now being considered as a typological object; it had me thinking of other places we can find other ‘geological’ processes such as layers in billboard, peeling wallpaper, weathered or buried surfaces etc. In another paper-based piece Alison has transformed her Geography degree notes into a sea of origami ammonites (pictured) that neatly line the top shelves of a museum-like display cabinet like precious specimens before spilling out into a disorganised heap on the floor. It’s a thoughtful transgression of our relationship to studying and the paper it accumulates from being highly valued to lining the floors of many a student bedroom. They make you smile and are surprisingly interesting each individually as well as making up the bigger whole.
 

‘Marking Time’ achieves much and does not disappoint in the breadth of treasures it contained; it is rewarding too, to see the research and passion of the participating artists displayed as part of the exhibition as a whole. How that research has then manifest itself in some of the work is perhaps where I am more critical, some of it feels a little obvious or would, ironically perhaps benefitted from more time in allowing the ideas in this work to develop. Even so there is much delight to take from the skill and visual and aesthetic appeal of all the work. For the serious fossil hunter (as with the art in this exhibition), finds found deeper in the earth, in the tricky places that may be hardest to reach are often greater as they are rare.

‘Marking Time-Geology 2’ has ended but visit http://www.containsart.co.uk/ for news of more ‘Contains Art’ exhibitions!
 

Let The Light One In

Lessons in art history for the uninterested. How do you make the old relevant to today and why does it matter?

 

 In my personal battles of wanting but often struggling to engage with history, I have come to the understanding that for the past to be preserved and remembered it has to constantly be reaffirming its relevance or connection to the present. In this post I will be exploring this thought whilst touching upon two recent experiences from Rome to Watchet, Somerset that look at the art of the 17^th Century Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio whose work is combined with new technologies and ideas in an attempt to illuminate his art for new audiences...

In ‘The Caravaggio Experience’ the viewer is immersed into a floor-to-ceiling projection across a number of sizeable rooms at the Palazzo delleEsposizioni, Rome. Across several separate animations (each portraying a particular theme or technique) Caravaggio’s paintings are presented anew. It aims to draw attention to his work in contemporary way and explores how he created the drama in his paintings to how he created his compositions. It also looks at how he depicted light through using extreme contrast between dark and light, a technique known as chiaroscuro, but also as a metaphor for the moral ambiguities of darkness for ‘wrong-doings’ and light for enlightenment and ‘goodness’.

 

Appropriate therefore that light should be the means from which Caravaggio’s work here is presented, not the illusion of light on canvas but the light itself becoming the medium in which the work is manifest. This in mind, the resulting affect does become more ‘Experience’ rather than mere projection, the 48 minute work is even accompanied by its own composed music by Stefano Saletti and scent courtesy of Officina Profumo – Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella (yet surprisingly, or thankfully none of which can be bought in the gift shop). Knowing it’s heavily tourist-based market the whole thing unashamedly wades further into gimmicky waters, but does so very endearingly and quite imaginatively too, as the animations become their own moving artworks in their own right. One piece animating how Caravaggio constructed his compositions creates drawings on the gallery walls and another leaves you in darkness with glimpses and traces of figures and light within the work. Having seen a few actual Caravaggio’s on canvas, this show is by no means a substitute for seeing the real thing (the projection is good but paint is inherently better) but offers something new, part tribute, part transcription that cleverly compliments and taps into audiences’ familiarity of the emotive qualities in film, cinema and music to appeal to all our senses not just our eyes. The music score is wonderful and begs the question of whether why all art should be viewed in silence and how music may improve, distract or ruin an artwork; an interesting thought.

‘The Caravaggio Experience’ is subject to its criticisms for being novel, gimmicky, commodified or dumbing-down, (it is somewhat unfortunately named to sound like an American theme-park ride) but for its faults bravely offers forward the idea that reverence doesn’t have to come from seeing these paintings in a religious context or even a museum one but begins with an enthusiasm for looking albeit from a  projection, phone screen or book; and if that can ignite a sense of curiosity and interest in its audiences to go experience the real art work(s) or see more art generally then it can only be a good thing. I’m of the opinion that the art world should be conscious not to dumb-down to appeal to wider audiences but does need to try new ways of presenting the idea that with ‘the greater the challenge in reading art’ comes ‘greater reward’ to encourage new and returning audiences to experience art.

 

Elsewhere in a shipping container in sunny Watchet (better known as Contains Art)...visitors can experience another example of how ideas and techniques in Caravaggio’s paintings have been interpreted into new contemporary paintings and drawings. In 2012 James Marsden began making work depicting people using their mobile phones, locked into the world within their mobiles each individual oblivious to the presence of the others around them. This loss of direct human to human interaction being replaced with mobile technologies has generated increasing debate amongst writers, theorists and psychologists as to whether technology has brought us closer together or further apart. Marsden’s work gives visual form to this debate, the figures in his portraits hold aloft their phones with fixed, often neutral expressions so it is hard to tell exactly what they are thinking or doing; devoid of interaction with anything else beyond the screen. It is a truth of our times with the long-term effects of these new human to phone relationships yet to be determined. Is the loss of social interaction any different to how people felt when the book was first invented?

 

James Marsden 'Detachment' Oil on Canvas. 240 x 200cm.

 This outward looking and self-scrutiny echoes trends elsewhere which call us to be less dependent on our phones and more 'mindful'. It is apt therefore that to counterbalance the high-technology observed in his work that it should be told through the medium of oil paint and even more ancient, silver point. Thus the human element so devoid in the people on their phones is present in the artist’s hand, of timely, painstakingly and intently capturing their portraits in oil paint. Stylistically influenced by Caravaggio and old master’s painting techniques, these paintings are intentionally built up in a similar process of layers, glazes and colour palette so that they have a sense of richness and glow to their surfaces [The history of human imagery almost being an evolution of surfaces themselves, from pigment to pixel].

James Marsden 'The Fall' Oil on Canvas, 120 x 180cm

The most significant likeness to Caravaggio in Marsden’s paintings for me, is the direction of light and tonal contrast. In Caravaggio’s paintings the light is candlelit or celestial, otherworldly light and in Marsden’s it is coming from the artificial glow of the phone screen that both illuminates and casts shadow on the users facial features. Interestingly however, this light is still otherworldly just in a man-made rather than in religious sense and, for me at least, alludes to a metaphorical sense of enlightenment that is generated from our relationship with technology as a tool for discovery and learning. It is the counterbalance to the argument that our relationship with technology is an unhealthy one. In another series of paintings the composition from Caravaggio’s ‘The Entombment of Christ’ [left] is directly transcribed, its figures replaced with modern-clothed people (modelled by friends and family) used to recreate the scene of Chirst’s body being lifted by mourners. In Marsden’s version the hands which once pointed upwards to heaven are now holding phones marking the shift in what our current society values as 'sacred' and how our notions of mortality has changed from the idea of spiritual and everlasting afterlife to the '15 minutes of fame' and selfie generation. They’re a bit too close in reference to Caravaggio for my liking, the painting and colour-palette is richer but compostionally I prefer taking the subtlety of taking ideas from Caravaggio in the earlier paintings or making new works which explore the violence, passion or drama  of Caravaggio and reinterpreting those themes into modern day ‘phone-rage or passion’ based situations.

 

James Marsden. Silverpoint.

In his newest work, Marsden uses the ancient technique of silverpoint pioneered by masters such as Da Vinci and Raphael in a series of ‘people on their mobile phones’ drawings depicted onto specially prepared surfaces on wooden tablets in the size and dimensions of an ipad. It is a clever play on the evolution of the ‘tablet’ from being an object to write or draw on, to its modern-day equivalent which does everything. Whereas the paintings sit more awkwardly between not being a highly polished Caravaggio and a loser modern interpretation the silverpoint images here are much more suited to being inbetween high realism and loosely drawn. They bring a more human element to the scenes they depict, the time and patience taken to create each one an important contrast to the immediacy of the ‘selfie’ or ipad photo. Most importantly however, these works will last hundreds of years after their ipad predecessors are long obsolete and this is the most rewarding message in Marsden’s work; not the critique or judgement whether technology is good or bad for us, but that good art will always have permanence and a preservation to ways of seeing/experiencing the world that has already proven historically to in many cases outlive and be held with more reverence than that of technology as Caravaggio and many other artists, musicians and writers have shown though the immortality of their works. Through both of these exhibitions, it is how we utilise both that will prove the longevity of both.

 

"The sacredness of both life and art does not have to mean something cosmic and otherworldly-it emerges quite naturally when we cultivate compassionate responsive modes of relating to the world and each other." -Suzi Gablik

 

‘The Caravaggio Experience’ at Palazzo Esposizioni, Rome is on until July 3^rd: http://english.palazzoesposizioni.it/categorie/exhibition-caravaggio-experience

‘James Marsden: Thousand Year Series’ at Contains Art, Watchet until June 26^th: http://www.containsart.co.uk/

 

 *Images sourced from: http://www.jamesmarsdenart.co.uk/ and http://english.palazzoesposizioni.it

Jurassic World!

Old fossils spotted down on Watchet’s quayside!

‘Jurassic: Triassic: a Geological Journey’ currently on at ‘Contains Art’ in Watchet is an exhibition of drawings, paintings, felt and mixed media work ‘inspired by the strata, rock formations and landscapes of the coastline from Doniford to Blue Anchor’. Featuring work by six local artists (four of whom also have container-based studios on site alongside this exhibition) Mel Degan, Lucy Lean, Angie Wood, Leo Davey, Sue Lowe and Alison Jacobs.

Speaking of ancient history, it has been almost two years since I last visited Watchet when I attended the ‘Contains Art’ grand opening on the sixth of July 2013*! What kept me away for so long?! For those not in the know, ‘Contains Art’ is located on Watchet’s quayside in the form of three large beautiful blue shipping containers that have been transformed into studio spaces and an exhibition space for artists. A visit to these unique and imaginative studios and exhibition space was clearly long overdue and so on May’s last bank holiday Monday I paid them a visit.

Leo Davey

The practicalities of an artist working and exhibiting in a shipping container is no mean feat, the spaces are long and relatively narrow (and probably quite cold in the winter months), but as ‘Contains Art’ continues to prove the resilience of artists is such that we are prepared to make it just about anywhere. Printmaking, sculpture and painting all happen on site in these seemingly impractical containers in a real working example of the innovativeness of creative practitioners. It is quite inspiring and has already become a successful addition to the contemporary arts landscape in Somerset with ambitions for future expansion in the pipeline.

Sue Lowe 'Helwell Layers I'

 The small but geologically formed exhibition currently on until Sunday 31^st May is an example of some of the local talent on offer and brings together some varied and imaginative approaches to the theme of the local Jurassic/Triassic coastline. As you may expect to find in an exhibition about geology there is a lot of layering going on in the work! Printmaker, Sue Lowe produces collagraphs layered with chine collé in totem-like columns. The colours and layering Lowe uses create a sense of the maritime, salt/minerals through their depth, texture and wear. Minehead based artist, Leo Davey provides a series of watercolour/ink based drawings depicting the strata and layering of the coastal rock formations. The longer you spend looking at stone the more you notice the amount of colours and tones that seem to change in different light and weather conditions. Davey’s drawings seem to pick up on this being extremely colourful becoming stylised and almost pattern-like in their appearance. Elsewhere Lucy Lean felts undyed natural fleece into tightly packed, dense forms mimicking the shapes and layering of fossils or rock. It is an interesting choice of material [fleece] as it’s soft, more malleable properties have parallels to geological processes of squashing and compressing of layers of rock and sediment.



Lucy Lean

Angie Wood and Alison Jacobs both create their own interpretations in paint inspired by the cliffs and coastal landscape; Wood through stained/layered acrylic paintings which seem to celebrate the roughness and texture of the canvas surface they’re painted on creating earthy, moody and contemplative scenes inspired by the local cliffs but could also connect to a broader reaching sense of our relationship to space, the ground and terra firma. Jacobs, another accomplished painter depicts coastal landscapes with vivid, expressive colours and energy, some of which have been created on an iPad in a sort of David Hockney style experimental playfulness. They are slightly detracted from, however, in my opinion by another of her works (coincidently my favourite overall in this exhibition) made entirely from used artist’s paint brushes. Titled ‘Fossil’ (pictured) as the name would suggest, the brushes are arranged together in rows taking the curved form of an ammonite fossil, or as I saw it mimicking stratum layers. It is possibly the most conceptual piece in the show, but is very cleverly affective and brilliantly observed at communicating the same subject matter in the paintings but in an altogether wittier way.   

Angie Wood

Alison Jacobs 'Fossil'

In true cabinet of curiosities style ‘Contains Art’ is full of many wonders and diehard fossil hunters fear not, for there are also a few actual fossils in this exhibition as well as alabaster and various stones!   ‘Jurassic: Triassic: a Geological Journey’ is a vibrant exhibition that is only limited by its deserving to expand into a bigger container!

 ‘Jurassic: Triassic: a Geological Journey’ is on at Contains Art, Watchet until the 31^st May! Get a move on!

http://www.containsart.co.uk/

*http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/contains-art-is-unleashed-in-watchet.html

Contains art is unleashed in Watchet!

On Saturday 6th July at 4pm the Containers at Watchet were officially opened. I popped down on the bus to see the art contained within and of course have a glass of the elderflower champagne I'd heard so much about....

Avast there! The Contains Art flag, proudly aloft in the Watchet breeze.

Quite a crowd of discerning artists and alike turned out for the opening, for which there was booze, bunting, falafel, postcards and sunshine.

For those of you wanting a bit of context to this event then please read the following:

"Contains Art provides flexible, affordable space for artists, designers and makers to develop and showcase their work and to connect with the creative and wider communities of Western Somerset."

Set up in July 2013 by artists and volunteers the containers located on Watchet quay will host studio spaces for several artists and a temporary exhibition space to be hired out.

http://www.containsart.co.uk/

Does what it says on the tin.

Beautiful boat next to the containers, perfect for some inspiration.

The studio spaces themselves are a good size, they've been finished and built to a really high standard, have more light then I though they would (due to inserted windows/window doors, obviously), electric and smooth white walls to produce/hang work. There is a lack of running water/toilet facilities in the studios themselves, which could be a problem but the containers are located next to public toilets and there is running water taps located on the quay that the artists have liaised to use. Practical stuff aside, the location and community of fellow artists in containers and buzzing arts scene in Watchet and Minehead make up for a few technicalities.  It was a fantastic atmosphere at the Containers on Saturday afternoon with much cause for celebration and many thanks rightly went to those who worked hard to make it happen. A bottle of that very fine elderflower champagne was cracked open against the containers to signify the 'official' launch and long may they reign, in my opinion, it is a truly great idea and use of space.

Another added bonus to the day was being able to see the entries to the postcard competition (of which I mentioned on this blog a couple weeks back http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/wish-you-were-here-contains-art.html). Good to see so many entries and even better that quite a few had sold. Whilst viewing work in a container, due to its length and limited viewing distance, took a bit of getting used to, I think for the postcards (which are smaller) actually worked really well. I also think it's it's an interesting opportunity to have a gallery that is a challenging shaped space to work with as it could result in some unusual creative responses. What was also refreshing is that this exhibition was fun, it was great not knowing whose postcard was whose (although I enjoyed trying to guess a few) and there was a real mix of styles and ideas.

Glad to see the art in the containers finally unleashed to the public and I really look forward to seeing what's in store next....

Recognise this postcard? I think it's sold...

A few of my favourite postcards now, it's all anonymous so do let me know if I've picked yours! This one seems apt given the harbour setting, the surface looks like a weathered and worn hull of a ship or indeed a container. 

I'd know that yellow plastic anywhere! It's a SAW sign. Good to see it being recycled! Also like the cows which on first glance look like a fused two-headed beast. Weird-I like it!

This reminds me of a Susan Hiller series of postcards featuring stormy seas. Or a Peter Lanyon. The two aren't necessarily connected its just a few reasons why I was drawn to this postcard.

 This is one of a series of...lino cuts, I presume, from a Cornish artist in St Ives. An additional card with some poignant words and advice was displayed alongside these. It went something like this:
 'Dear Watchet, Advice from one seasoned harbour to another, Your sea may not be as blue, but your strong stone harbour walls are just as strong and beautiful. Your lighthouse is beacon red, mine sea spray white. Don't ever let the seagulls get the upper-hand, your ice cream eating promenaders will never forgive you. Keep your galleries small and ensure your artists stay true--make sure they use the right blue. My sands are white, a colour favoured but your layered red rock holds secrets of old, fine fossils and pink alabaster. The famous have trod and been inspired by your shores and yet your secrets are still hidden, yet to be explored. Not leeched to a cliché. With love from St Ives x'
Superb.

"Wish you were here" -Contains Art

Looking forward to the opening of 'Contains Art' on Saturday 6th July. The launch or perhaps, anchoring of several artists' studios made from shipping containers on the east quay on Watchet harbour. Artists include Angela Wood, Melanie Deegan, Sue Lowe, Jenny Barron, Alison Jacobs, Tria Raffield  and Victoria Ward.

 

To mark the opening Contains Art are inviting the public to send them a postcard. Please see my own response below -as you can see it has nothing to do with boats, the sea or any such-like and it doesn't have to be. The more unusual the better. 

 

"Contains Art provides flexible, affordable space for artists, designers and makers to develop and showcase their work and to connect with the creative and wider communities of Western Somerset. "

 http://www.containsart.co.uk/

 

"SOLD" red dots on Fernand Leger 'Still life with a beer mug' 1921-2

We must all welcome these iron ladies into Somerset, and what better way to celebrate their convalescence than a decent prescription of art! So sharpen those pencils, fluff those bristles and send us an art post card, draw it, sketch it, scratch it, snatch it, burn it and wax it, just go create and post it to Contains Art, The Harbour, Watchet, ready for the opening exhibition in May. But don't just send one, send eight, send in a whole darn crate, but make them fabulous for all to see for the launch exhibition will be made of these.   Just follow these four steps...
	Prepare a postcard (A6 148mm x 105mm in size)
	Be creative with the postcard - paint draw,  sketch etc.
	Post card to: Contains Art, The Harbour, Watchet, TA23 0AH
	Attend exhibition and studios Saturday 6th July where a selection of cards will be displayed for the launch exhibition

 

http://www.containsart.co.uk/