Last weekend I took part in the BV Studios open studios event. Whilst it was a great opportunity to show my enamels and also demonstrate my enamelling…
the best thing about the Open Studios was that I could share my paper cutting experiments.
I’ve been playing with drawing shapes onto paper and cutting these out using my scalpel. They make my drawings look like they float on air and I have been trying out both 2D and 3D forms using this technique.
The sad thing about the Open Studios was that as I was alone in my studio I didn’t get to see much of anyone else’s work as I had my kiln on and couldn’t leave it unattended. I did make a point of popping along to see Angie Parker’s studio though.
Angie is a weaver who is an Associate Member of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen. I knew that she was in a shared studio but from the pics I’d seen of her space I expected it to be partitioned off. It was amazing, and a surprise, to see her loom in the middle of the shared space and surrounded by fine artists. She said that she really enjoys working there and that’s it very interesting being surrounded by people working in different media.
I also saw an amazing print in the process of being made on a huge experimental scale – the size of a small room – by my neighbour Alexander Stevenson. I didn’t have my camera with me, but if you look on his website you will see that he is really a performance artist. The print was an idea he had and is based on one of his wicker figures as similar to those on the website. It’s amazing!