Wednesday 17 July 2013

Julian Stair at St Mary's, York

Back in May I posted about my first visit to St Mary's in York and mentioned that following the Aesthetica Art Prize exhibition there would be a display of pottery by Julian Stair.

I was lucky enough to be taken to York by my beloved for the first weekend in June, and while we were there we popped in to St Mary's to see the Julian Stair exhibition.


This pieces on display came about because;

'(Julian's) 2012 exhibition 'Quietus: The vessel, death and the human body' at (the) Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), resulted from a ten-year period of research into means of containment of the human body after death. He develops these ideas in his new installation at York St Mary's, incorporating historic and archaeological ceramics from York's collections.'

To be honest, it wasn't very clear which pieces were by the artist and which were actual archaeological pieces (the intro to the exhibition said it was a mix of both but nothing appeared to be labelled?), so sadly I couldn't judge how I felt about/ found the artist's work.

However, my favourite thing on display was the casket type item shown below-

 

The picture isn't very good really, but basically the outline of a human corpse was really distinct and clear/ detailed.

The Julian Stair exhibit has finished now and instead St Mary's is currently playing host to the work of Bruce Nauman.

'This exhibition brings together a selection of his art work spanning 30 years, exploring Nauman's constant experimentation and re-invention in his artistic practice.' You can catch it from now until 10.11.13. Bruce works with numerous media including photography and neon (got to love a bit of neon lighting!)

Posts to come soon= Venice Biennale 2013, Holmfirth Art Week, the latest at YSP.

For more information on the artists, venue and exhibitions mentioned refer to the following websites;

http://www.yorkstmarys.org.uk/Page/Exhibitions.aspx
http://www.yorkstmarys.org.uk/Page/YorkStMarys.aspx
http://art.yorkshire.com/artists/julian-stair
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/bruce-nauman-1691

Tuesday 2 July 2013

A Gift for my friend Sarah's 30th Birthday

My oldest friend (as in, known the longest, since childhood) Sarah turned 30 in June and one of the presents I gave her was the painting below.


Its a small canvas which I painted in a lovely bright blue acrylic paint with birds made from maps glued on top.

The bird on the left is a map of the village we grew up in, Netherthong in the Holme Valley. The bird on the right is a map of the area she lives and hangs out in now- Thackley/ Idle/ Saltaire/ Shipley in Bradford.

I'm really pleased with how this piece turned out. I've got a bunch of old maps stored up now so thinking of doing some more pieces similar to this. Most importantly, Sarah seemed to like it!