Conversations with local artists
Over the last few days I have been schmoozing with the local artistic talent, picking their brains and I guess 'networking'. I hate that word - it's so cold! But it's great to chat to successful artists and makers and learn from them.
At Abergavenny food festival there was a Made in Monmouthshire enclosure, so I popped in to admire the wares and chat to the makers. Made in Monmouthshire is an artist and makers co-operative based locally to me.
Sarah Goodgame (aka Little Bird)
Little Bird
Sarah is actually the person who suggested I do the FAD in the first place, as she did it as a mature student a few years ago at Hereford. I contacted her to ask how best to approach galleries, and we got chatting from there. She suggested that I needed a confidence boost and that taking the Foundation Diploma had really helped her learn why she was doing the things that she did and how to analyse and write about it. And here I am! In 3 weeks I have learned so much - she was totally right.
At the food festival I chatted to her about her craft - felting.
She uses merino tops dyed in various colours to felt onto old blankets using a felting needle. She then embellishes her work with finer wools and finally adds hand stitched embroidery to add details such as flowers or outlines for rocks.
She doesn't work from photographs, preferring instead to go out with her sketchbook and draw compositions of her favourite local landscapes and seascapes.
As she is a full time nurse, she doesn't get much chance to pursue her felting and so currently only sells her work at a few galleries and at the Made in Monmouth events.
I love her work - the unusual medium of drawing and painting with wool gives a whole new perspective on my local landmarks - the instantly recognisable shapes of Skirrid, Sugarloaf and Blorenge mountains and the ever-present sheep and wildflowers. I find the depth of tone and shade that she achieves in such a tricky medium awe-inspiring. Many people are now copying her process and style.
Louise Collis
Louise Collis
I first met Louise in her studio in Abergavenny a couple of years ago. I had seen her on TV - she appeared on the BBC's 'Iolo's Brecon Beacons' as she was doing a painting a day for her 365 project and he caught up with her while she was painting the Punchbowl pool on Blorenge, so when I spotted her studio in town I popped in for a browse.
She has also encouraged me with furthering my education in art - she said that the FAD was the best and most creative year of her life! She went on to study Graphic Design and Illustration at Bath Spa University and advised me to be careful when choosing a course if I choose to go on to University. She is a painter, and found that when looking at Fine Art courses, they tended to be more conceptual, whereas the Graphic Design and Illustration degree was actually about 50% painting. Excellent advice as I had been thinking Fine Art, so I will have to do more research (again - IF I decide to go!)
Louise always paints en plein air - she has a little van and drives to her selected location - if it's raining she sits painting in her van or if it's dry she sets up her chair and easel outside.
She works in oils and has a limited but bright palette. She uses broad brush strokes to capture the glimmers of light on the hills and the movement of the clouds. She mainly paints in the local area around the Brecon Beacons, Black Mountains and the Valleys, but also spends a lot of time in Snowdonia and Devon and Cornwall, painting the scenery wherever she goes.
Philip Hughes
I am in a Welsh Artists and Craftspersons group on facebook, and after making a couple of items of pottery at the Cardiff Metropolitan University I decided to ask in the group if anyone would be willing to help me fire the pieces, and then glaze and re-fire them. Philip kindly offered his assistance as his good deed of the week!
I met him at his studio in Pontllanfraith, and we had a cup of tea and a chat about his work & ceramics. He is a retired Art Teacher and again was very supportive of my decision to go back into education in order to progress my work and develop my processes.
When he retired he decided to follow his dream of getting into ceramics - mainly as a hobby rather than a profession. He has not been formally trained in ceramics, and is self-taught from speaking to people, reading and experimenting.
He explained the processes involved in ceramics - the different clays, colours, glazes that can give different effects, like one he uses which looks like honeycomb or lava. He showed me how you can throw pots on a wheel, or roll out slabs to make tiles. He also showed me a range of his work where he had tried engraving, even lino printing onto his work. I wish I had been cheeky and asked if I could take photos of his work as some of his pieces were so beautiful! I particularly loved the pots above as they reminded me of shibori tie-dye (💓) and a small verdigris green pot with beautiful copper areas (again - I do have a thing about copper & verdigris!) He did give me this beautiful pot which I love - the pattern engraved in it and the colour combination, the weight of it and how it fits in my hand - I just love everything about it!
Whilst he doesn't consider himself a professional potter, he does sell his work in various South Wales galleries, and has exhibited his work. The first picture above of the ceramic hearts was part of an installation he created for Y Galeri in Caerphilly for St Dynwens Day in 2016:
Wales Online - Philip Hughes - St Dynwens Day Installation
I have always admired Ceramics, but never thought it would be something I would enjoy as much as I did. I am very excited to have found a mentor to teach me more - I am looking forward to going back in a few weeks to see whether my pieces survived the first firing and playing with colour and textures and effects.
He has explained that different clays get fired at different temperatures, and require different glazes. I will update you in a few weeks when I find out whether they made it!
At Abergavenny food festival there was a Made in Monmouthshire enclosure, so I popped in to admire the wares and chat to the makers. Made in Monmouthshire is an artist and makers co-operative based locally to me.
Sarah Goodgame (aka Little Bird)
Little Bird
Sarah is actually the person who suggested I do the FAD in the first place, as she did it as a mature student a few years ago at Hereford. I contacted her to ask how best to approach galleries, and we got chatting from there. She suggested that I needed a confidence boost and that taking the Foundation Diploma had really helped her learn why she was doing the things that she did and how to analyse and write about it. And here I am! In 3 weeks I have learned so much - she was totally right.
At the food festival I chatted to her about her craft - felting.
She uses merino tops dyed in various colours to felt onto old blankets using a felting needle. She then embellishes her work with finer wools and finally adds hand stitched embroidery to add details such as flowers or outlines for rocks.
She doesn't work from photographs, preferring instead to go out with her sketchbook and draw compositions of her favourite local landscapes and seascapes.
As she is a full time nurse, she doesn't get much chance to pursue her felting and so currently only sells her work at a few galleries and at the Made in Monmouth events.
I love her work - the unusual medium of drawing and painting with wool gives a whole new perspective on my local landmarks - the instantly recognisable shapes of Skirrid, Sugarloaf and Blorenge mountains and the ever-present sheep and wildflowers. I find the depth of tone and shade that she achieves in such a tricky medium awe-inspiring. Many people are now copying her process and style.
Louise Collis
Louise Collis
I first met Louise in her studio in Abergavenny a couple of years ago. I had seen her on TV - she appeared on the BBC's 'Iolo's Brecon Beacons' as she was doing a painting a day for her 365 project and he caught up with her while she was painting the Punchbowl pool on Blorenge, so when I spotted her studio in town I popped in for a browse.
She has also encouraged me with furthering my education in art - she said that the FAD was the best and most creative year of her life! She went on to study Graphic Design and Illustration at Bath Spa University and advised me to be careful when choosing a course if I choose to go on to University. She is a painter, and found that when looking at Fine Art courses, they tended to be more conceptual, whereas the Graphic Design and Illustration degree was actually about 50% painting. Excellent advice as I had been thinking Fine Art, so I will have to do more research (again - IF I decide to go!)
Louise always paints en plein air - she has a little van and drives to her selected location - if it's raining she sits painting in her van or if it's dry she sets up her chair and easel outside.
She works in oils and has a limited but bright palette. She uses broad brush strokes to capture the glimmers of light on the hills and the movement of the clouds. She mainly paints in the local area around the Brecon Beacons, Black Mountains and the Valleys, but also spends a lot of time in Snowdonia and Devon and Cornwall, painting the scenery wherever she goes.
Philip Hughes
I am in a Welsh Artists and Craftspersons group on facebook, and after making a couple of items of pottery at the Cardiff Metropolitan University I decided to ask in the group if anyone would be willing to help me fire the pieces, and then glaze and re-fire them. Philip kindly offered his assistance as his good deed of the week!
I met him at his studio in Pontllanfraith, and we had a cup of tea and a chat about his work & ceramics. He is a retired Art Teacher and again was very supportive of my decision to go back into education in order to progress my work and develop my processes.
When he retired he decided to follow his dream of getting into ceramics - mainly as a hobby rather than a profession. He has not been formally trained in ceramics, and is self-taught from speaking to people, reading and experimenting.
He explained the processes involved in ceramics - the different clays, colours, glazes that can give different effects, like one he uses which looks like honeycomb or lava. He showed me how you can throw pots on a wheel, or roll out slabs to make tiles. He also showed me a range of his work where he had tried engraving, even lino printing onto his work. I wish I had been cheeky and asked if I could take photos of his work as some of his pieces were so beautiful! I particularly loved the pots above as they reminded me of shibori tie-dye (💓) and a small verdigris green pot with beautiful copper areas (again - I do have a thing about copper & verdigris!) He did give me this beautiful pot which I love - the pattern engraved in it and the colour combination, the weight of it and how it fits in my hand - I just love everything about it!
Whilst he doesn't consider himself a professional potter, he does sell his work in various South Wales galleries, and has exhibited his work. The first picture above of the ceramic hearts was part of an installation he created for Y Galeri in Caerphilly for St Dynwens Day in 2016:
Wales Online - Philip Hughes - St Dynwens Day Installation
I have always admired Ceramics, but never thought it would be something I would enjoy as much as I did. I am very excited to have found a mentor to teach me more - I am looking forward to going back in a few weeks to see whether my pieces survived the first firing and playing with colour and textures and effects.
He has explained that different clays get fired at different temperatures, and require different glazes. I will update you in a few weeks when I find out whether they made it!
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