Displays of Upwelling

At the end of this month I will be hanging many pieces of 'recycled' art at The Minories Gallery in Colchester. I will be showing a mixture of fused plastic and re-purposed books for the exhibition. 

If you are on my mailing list you will know that I have been fairly busy this spring/summer but I have been working regulalry with fused plastic and book pages, exploring ideas (around the sea) to incorporate. Below is the latest book page. 

Displays of Upwelling

The exhibit is an open call but my work will be upstairs in its own 'solo' space.  If you are interested in submitting work you can download the application here: 

https://www.michelewebber.com/uploads/media/OPEN_EXHIBITION_application_form.pdf

Homer and the Deconstructed Book

Rocky Shore Aldeburgh, fused plastic on paper with stitching,  25x20 cm

 I looked at a delicate sketch by Winslow Homer for Rocky Shore Aldeburgh. I am exploring the potential of holes and the way the colour bleeds through and the mark making potential.  I love the purple in the centre. 

While walking Lyra I wondered whether I could make a fused plastic book by deconstructing a book, preparing it as pages (so I could sew on them), adding to them and using fused plastic to respond to words on the pages. Obviously that was possible, so got on with it. 

Racing Cutters, fused plastic and stitch on altered book page,  24x18cm

One thing I forgot about was that the two page spreads would not be facing pages, so will have to think that through differently and work on a few pages at the same time to get the desired effect.  This book, entiteld 'Looming Lights' will be put back together to make a new shorter book.  There will be 32 pages with 16 fused plastic collages total.  I will try some opened books (a book opened and glued that way with an image on the top page) for the Minories show in this way too.

A Handful of Pebbles, fused plastic and stitch on altered book page, 24x18

Red Tide East China Sea, fused plastic with stitching, 20x20cm

This project needs a bit of research. Today I woke with the idea of 'red tide'. We have more and more red tide in Maine over the summer.  We can't gather mussels or clams most of the time anymore.  One year fish washed up on the beach. We have more jelly fish.  The water is warming. I wondered whether there were any historical paintings of red tide but couldn't find anything. I did find a work auctioned at christies in Hong Kong by a young painter, Na Wei called 'The Red Tide Landscape'.  Incidence of dinoflagellate red tides in the East China Sea is on the rise too. 

I looked at scrolls from the Quing Dynasty and thought about living in Singapore. I find the result a little dystopian.

 I took this in an earlier form to Patrick and gave him a little context - 'the theme is the sea,' I said, 'where is this and what could it be about?'  After a pained look and a little grief he replied 'Japan.' I'm not sure why it should matter but for some reason I seem to think art should communicate something universal.

Exciting new project to prepare for!

Nocturne in Turquoise and Gold, fused plastic collage and stitching (responding to Whistler) 

I met with Michele Webber last week to discuss one of her latest events. She is coordinating and participating in a show at the Minories in August and asked me to take part as one of the artists with a 'solo show' taking over a room upstairs. The theme is plastic pollution around East Anglia and particularly on the beaches/oceans. I will be showing fused plastic and opened books.  Sometime in August I'll also be doing an interactive demonstration about my plastic process.

If you folllow my other blog: https://virtualdrawinggroup.blogspot.com you will know that I haven't been focusing on my plastic so much lately, although I did have a piece in a show in Hailsham, East Sussex recently which coincidentally was about the sea 

Plastic Flotsum, for Vital Water Week, fused plastic collage with stitching

For the show at the Minories my first thought is to make a series of pieces responding to some of my favourite sea paintings, using found fused plastic. Nocturne in Gold (top) is my first piece using this idea and it is in response to Whistler's nocturne number 5.  Obviously we will have to see how that goes but I loved really looking at Whistler, thinking about the way he breaks up space and the marks he makes - finding a language to describe what whistler says and does using plastic is a different kind of challenge. Now I need a title for the body of work I am imagining making.

Sound of Stromness and Pigeons

The Sound of Stromess Fused plastic, paint and stitch 23 x 23 cm

While listening to Farewell to Stromness, thinking about a wonderful visit to Orkney last July and using only one specfic piece of plastic from January (the orange from Sainsbury 40 tie handle food and freezer bags), I tried to find the sound of Stromness.  The snow is melting, the wind makes music through the moors. Land comes in and out of cloud and birds build their nests. Somewhere in my mind I am standing at a painting of a window in the Picasso Museum in Barcelona and birds sing from the canvas.

SaveSave

Is this good plastic?

In December I put all the plastic bags I collected from charity shops, museums, supermarkets and the cheese shop inside one of the bags  and stashed it under my work table with the idea that I am going to do a snapshot of the months in plastic over the year. Not exactly dining on plastic, more seasonal plastic.  I wonder whether the attitude about plastic will change it, whether marketing, colour, size will change as the year wears on?

I love that the Waitrose bag had a winter theme and I chose to put some complete writing on this piece in case I decide to use it for something I am submitting to. It says holiday, winter, joyful abundance to me.

I worked in a furious sort of way following ideas one after the other for a day and half.  These are not in order of making. 

Having just spent a long time working mostly in an observational way, I enjoyed playing with all the same elements but in an inutitve and differently restricted way.  Most of these are first drafts.  I may free float them, put them on a surface and use paint to make them relate to their edge differently.  

front

back

 I wondered about mounting this one directly under glass so you could see both sides.  Which is 
'good plastic'?

And is there a male or female aesthetic in collage, in plastic? 

Growbags with an Orange View

Growbags with an Orange view, fused plastic collage with stitching 17 x 18cm

I began this week by looking at Alice Mumford's 'Still Life in Window'. it was sitting on the table as I'd shown it to Jos. I had collected two Sainsbury's bags (one with something I bought at the carboot sale and the other because I didn't have a bag in the car).  Earlier I had done a survey for my friend's daughter for her art foundation and I found myself choosing orange as my colour of HOPE, an outlook of orange, a sunny view. 

Mumford's painting has a series of rectangles and squares - a sash window opened from the bottom, a table, a view and walls. Although I had plenty of blues in my dining on plastic bag, I thought I'd work differently today, fusing blues over different colours to get a different range of blues. I cut up whites, creams, blues, oranges and  then a few greens. Instead of making a whole piece and cutting it up I fused five smaller pieces, abutting  colour next to colour in ways that felt exciting; then I cut them up, moving them around until I was ready to assemble my collage, ironing each piece to another to make a squarish shape.

Last weekend we planted up some pots of tomatoes.  I had been instructed to use tomato growbags as my compost.  The mustard is the grow bag and an exciting new colour for me! The last piece I added to the collage was the lemon yellow near the middle.

Seeing the Howard Hodgkin exhibit inspired me.  Those portraits! As I look at this I can almost see H H.  Perhaps I should make a series. Alice, Howard, etc…?