Artist Studios - Isa Bilstein
Before Christmas we visited Isa Bilstein's pottery studio in Cardiff MET. Isa took us through her working process using the most amazing wooden kick wheel. She explained some of the finer points of creating functional pottery and brewed lots of coffee to keep us going.
CLYC EXHIBITION OPENING - MIX
Last night's CLYC exhibition opening at the Cynon Valley Museum, Aberdare. A huge thank you on behalf of the group to everyone who was able to attend. The show will continue through the Christmas season if you're in the area.
Screenprint workshop - After Cezanne
Last week we led a screen printing workshop at Merthyr College, testing out a new process prepared that same morning to accommodate foster kids aged 7-18. Many of those participating had never attempted a printmaking process before, so the lesson required a simple task that could yield satisfactory results. The aim was, after all, to encourage them to consider further education where they might not have bothered otherwise. In the end we went with an oil pastel ground (which they could be as expressive as they wanted with), a bitmapped key layer was then printed over the top to complete the image. This is Paul Cezanne’s ‘Still Life, Pitcher and Fruit’ 1894.
Wonderbrass' 25th Anniversary
Wonderbrass' 25th Anniversary gig at The Gate. Celebrating the band's illustrious history, with prior members taking the stage to kick off the annual Made in Roath festival. These are a few photos I took of the evening.
Artist's Studio - Emma Pughsley
Yesterday I spent the afternoon with Emma Pughsley to document her working process, part of an ongoing photographic series on artists and the spaces in which they create art. Emma works from Cardiff Pottery Workshops by Central Station, a co-working space (formerly) based in The Sustainable Studio. As the startup economy becomes ever more accessible, it makes sense that an increasing number of artists are making use of these co-working spaces, they provide an opportunity to share knowledge, resources and build niche communities. This support structure is unfortunately lacked by many art graduates in South Wales, and it’s a significant factor to why so many abandon their practice soon after their course ends. When considering a ceramicist, the cost of a kiln itself is enough to be a deterrent for many, which goes to show why spaces like these are invaluable, particularly to culturally vibrant areas with potentially high populations of creative practitioners.
When I arrive at the studio Emma is already busy handbuilding a few animal heads for an upcoming craft stall. She directs me around the workspace and pours a cup of coffee into one of her own thrown mugs. A disembodied tentacle doubles as the handle, like much of her recent work it follows a zoological theme. She carries on working while I take a few photos of her handbuilding process before she moves on to the wheel. I'll be back next month to take finished photographs of her ceramic pieces and, if everyone’s schedules coincide, Dan will put together a short video of Emma in the studio.
For more info on Emma and her work visit her website or Instagram.
For more on the Artist Studio Series visit: link
Part 2. Voice Figures - Margaret Watts Hughes
Part Two. A brief account of the life and work of Margaret Watts Hughes, including an overview of the discovery of the Voice Figures and the presentation to the Royal Society.
Who was the singer-scientist behind these enigmatic Voice Figures? When the eidophone was first presented to the Royal Society in 1887 it was met with both astonishment and wonder. The figures themselves allude to a cultural apotheosis - stringing together the disparate disciplines of physics, natural science, visual arts, music and theology to a single impression emanating seemingly from within a transcendent self. Through this resonance phenomena Hughes inaugurates the voice as a catalyst of internal creation. How is it then that even in her hometown of Merthyr Tydfil her name and works remain unrecognized?
Traces towards her relative obscurity might lie in her biography, her journey is one of assiduous religious devotion and of scientific exploration. Margaret Watts Hughes remained dedicated to a higher cause throughout life, abandoning a successful career as a soprano singer to care for the destitute and continue her Voice figure research.
