Art Bus - Galleries Night

If you don't get much opportunity to visit local art galleries, this event is for you. On Friday 30th October between 5pm and 9pm there will be special buses providing a shuttle service between mac, The Barber Institute (Birmingham University), IKON, Parkside Gallery (Birmingham City University), RBSA and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. All the galleries are opening late for the event. Click on the link to each gallery to see what's on. View the timetable here.

Artists Who Use Collage as Texture and Tone

Collage can be used in many ways. It can simply be a background texture or tone. Carefully selected newspaper cuttings can lend some extra meaning to an artwork. Cut or torn paper collage can become part of the image itself and in some cases create the whole artwork. 

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Georges Braque (1882-1963) 

The pioneers of Cubism started to experiment with collage around 1912, using cut and torn paper as a background surface.  Juan Gris (1887-1927) was influenced by their work and took the process further.

Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948)

Kurt was known as the 'Master of Collage'. He fled the Nazis, travelling across Norway and eventually settled in Britain. Throughout his travels he collected newspapers, bus tickets, receipts even pieces of wood that he incorporated into his paintings.

John Piper (1903-1992)

Many of John's landscape collages were made on the spot, using collage materials that he carried with him. During WWII he worked as a war artist recording buildings threatened or damaged by bombing.

William Kentridge (1955- )

The South African born artist often works on a large scale using newspaper backgrounds for his charcoal and ink drawings.

Mark Hearld (1974- ) 

Mark is inspired by British flora and fauna, and uses collage to create texture in his illustration and print based work.

Concertina Sketchbook Project

You have been given a small concertina sketchbook to work into over the next few weeks. A concertina sketchbook allows you to think of your sketchbook drawings as a continuous process rather than as separate entries. I have shown you one I am currently working on as an example but there are different ways in which you can approach the idea of continuity. This can be continuity of perspective - a panoramic view of a room, a street or a landscape, or could be continuity of time - perhaps a drawing done of the same thing over a period of time i.e. everyday at the same time. It could even encompass both ideas and be the record of a particular journey, on foot, on the bus or train.

The following are some examples of artists whose work may give you some inspiration.

Stephen Wiltshire's incredible panoramic cityscape drawings:

Maryclare Foa's 'Walking Drawings':

 (obviously take care if trying this idea!)

Alfred Wainwright's guides:

Richard Long's records of landscapes walked:

Stephen Taylor's drawings of a single oak tree made over three years:

Claude Monet's 'Series' paintings of the same subjects in different light/weather conditions:

If you simply google 'concertina sketchbooks' then lots of different examples will come up. You can use photography or collage as part of your project, but try to incorporate as much original drawing as you can. You can cut away parts of the sketchbook pages, but make sure you keep the integrity of its structure.

Artists Who Collect and Arrange

Most artists accumulate collections throughout their working lives, for many the collection inspires their practice, for some the collection becomes part of their work.

Sue Lawty (1954 - )

Sue is a textile artist who works with natural objects, such as small stones, fossils and beach-combed wood. These objects are arranged and woven into intricate patterns that feel as if they reach back to our primeval past.

Peter Blake (1932 - )

The eminent British Pop Artist continues to work today and is famous for his vast collection of art curios, toys, memorabilia, postcards, folk and fairground art and pop ephemera. His collection has both inspired and become his art throughout his long career.

Sonia Delaunay (1885 - 1979)

Born in Russia and living in Paris, in 1911 Sonia used her traditional skills to make a hand made quilt for her baby son from scraps of collected fabric. This is often seen to be the key inspiration for a whole art movement, Orphism, which she co-founded with her husband Robert. Strong colours and geometric shapes prevailed throughout her painting and textiles.

Joseph Cornell (1903 - 1972)

Joseph would wonder the street markets and junk stores of his native New York and collect Victorian bric-a-brac, old post cards and books. Inspired by the Surrealists, he began to place selected items in glass fronted boxes that the viewer could interpret in their own way. He became the foremost assemblage artist. His work is currently on display at the Royal Academy until 27th September.

Peter Randall-Page (1954 -)

Peter is inspired by the structure of seeds. He produces sculpture and large scale drawings of the incredible geometric patterns on the surfaces of these tiny natural objects.

 Vanley Burke (1951 - )

 Born in Jamaica, Vanley moved to Birmingham in 1965 with his family, he came to be regarded as one of the foremost recorders of the Black British community, through his renowned photography and a personal archive that fills his flat in Nechells. Much of the contents of his flat is currently on display at the Ikon Gallery (until 27th September).

Artists Who Wrap and Bind

Many artists use the act of wrapping and binding. It may be the end product of their work or it may be as a starting point to inspire further ideas. It may be on a small scale or very large, requiring a great physical undertaking. The artist may be wanting to draw attention to the object they are wrapping by subverting it's form and forcing us to look at a familiar thing in a new way. Or they may be simply exploring the materials that they are using, seeing how far they can push the media.
The following artists all use the technique, but in very different ways (click on their names to see more information).

Christo (1935-) and Jeanne-Claude (1935-2009)

At first they wrapped everyday objects such as bottles and chairs, but they graduated to trees and buildings - most famously the Reichstag in Berlin.

After years of negotiations, the artists persuaded the German Parliament to let the project go ahead in 1995. The wrapping of this iconic symbol of decades of turmoil reflected the fresh start for the newly unified German people.

 

Judith Scott (1943 - 2005)

Born with Downs Syndrome and profoundly deaf, Judith spent many years in an institution before discovering an outlet for her creativity through constructed textiles - wrapping and binding everyday objects with whatever materials came to hand. She achieved international recognition for her work.

The tightly bound objects can be seen as a metaphor for the years Judith spent trapped inside herself unable to communicate with the outside world.

Alice Anderson (1972 -)

Working with fine copper thread, Alice appears to perform a dance as she wraps her chosen objects. Her work is concerned with memory and the viewer is challenged to decipher the identity of each object on display

David Nash (1947 - )

David works with trees, both still growing and naturally fallen, carving and burning the wood to create his sculptures. He completely understands how the wood grows and how it behaves when manipulated.

Early in his career he would experiment with natural materials; binding, burning and bending to help him understand their properties.

Sarah Sze (1969 - )

Working with everyday detritus such as plastic bottles and tubing, electrical parts and wiring, boxes and cans, Sarah builds large scale installations of interconnected and suspended fragments.

Electric fans and light bulbs are often placed around the installation to create movement and pockets of light. The overall impression is of a circuit board or a map of the leftovers of modern life.