We always find something to give us the impression we exist...

Bumper post for you today! On Thursday, my good friend Chris and I had a bumper art tour of Leeds, taking in art, opera and theatre!

Glamourie at PSL

We started our tour at Project Space Leeds, for its Glamourie exhibition. The exhibition is focused on the common themes of ritual and ceremony, with artwork collected from a variety of little known British artists. It is a slightly disjointed exhibition, which doesn't always work as a whole, although there are a number of stand out pieces within it. It seems a little too like a graduate arts show, where not all of the work is of the same quality and not everything seems to link to the common theme. Not to be overly critical, as I did enjoy the majority, but this remained a minor criticism for me.

Below are a selection of my favourite pieces from the exhibition:

"Snap Like a Diva" workshop

"Nothing Here" - Kitty Clark

"I am a Real Artist" - Johannes Fa

"Zeco Sun" - Leon Sadler

"Super Supra" - Iona Smith

"Ruach Ha'Shem (Brain of God/Creation of Adam?) - Ant Macari

"The Law of Excluded Middle" - Ant Macari

My personal favourite, based on the work of Jorges Louis Borges.

Five Truths at Opera North

After finding a flyer at PSL we decided to investigate the new work at the Howard Assembly Rooms for Opera North. The work was a large video installation with numerous screens showing 5 different versions of Ophelia's mad scene from Hamlet. These were filmed in the style of 5 great film directors and overlapped the images and sounds so you were quite literally surrounded by the performance. I found this to be a really effective exploration of madness, and it was interesting to see the same scene and words interpreted in different ways.

Some images from the installation:

Waiting for Godot at WYP

To conclude our day of artfaggery, we went to see the newest production of Waiting for Godot at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. I am a big fan of Samuel Beckett, having based my MA dissertation and artwork on his plays, and performing the last scene from Waiting for Godot as part of my final exhibition. However, I had never seen it live.

The WYP version differed slightly from convention as it had an all black cast. Obviously there is no limitation to how the characters can be portrayed (they are, after all, only descried as wearing bowlers) but this was something slightly out of the ordinary.

I have to say that I enjoyed the performance very much. The set was very minimal as expected, with the tree bursting up from what appeared to be cracked judo mats. The background projection provided the difference in lighting, and added to the sense of nothingness about the scenery. The actors were very good, transposing Beckett's words into a Caribbean patois which worked surprisingly well. I particularly enjoyed the performance of Lucky and Pozzo (who I wasn't too fond of in my previous readings of the script). I was very pleased with the overall production, which had the right amount of humour and pathos, updating Beckett's words to a new audience.

Yet another example of the great Art on offer in Leeds. I often think how lucky I am to live somewhere with great artistic opportunities, and all this in one day really confirmed what the city has to offer! Even if all the walking around really takes it out of the knees!

Utopia/Dystopia at the Hepworth

I was lucky enough to get myself put on the guest list for the opening of the new exhibition at the Hepworth gallery (Thanks Hayley!). Despite the 2-pairs of gloves temperatures, and much faffing trying to find the car park (no thanks Sat Nav) I made it in. After claiming my free drink (part of the art fag tradition) I went straight up to the exhibition, ignoring the speeches so I could get a good un-interrupted look at the work.

Walking into the space you are met with a series of what appears to be antique fabrics. On closer inspection, these are painted, ceramic and had cut leather representations of fabric. I was very taken with the leather versions, which you really did have to get very close to before you could figure out what they were!

I then went in to watch the Ben Rivers film. He has put together 4 short films about islands and fictional islands to look at the idea of utopia. I will admit that I didn't watch the whole 4, coming in halfway through the screening. You are handed a set of wireless headphones with the films soundtrack playing and go into the space filled with beanbags, cushions and folding chairs (I managed to claim an empty bean bag - left empty as it was directly in front of the projector meaning I had to slump in the chair to avoid projecting my giant head over the screen).

The first film I saw was documenting a Japanese psychiatric centre on an island which was starting to decay (your usual art film gubbins, but not too interesting). The second film was about the fictional island of 'Somerset' which was inhabited by primitive natives in creepy wooden/found object masks. The soundtrack discussed the history and traditions of these people and was a much more successful piece in my view. I later found out that the soundtrack was written without seeing the finished film, which explains the disjointed elements of the film, but also added a sense of confusion which was in keeping with the images on screen.

By far and away my favourite was the collaboration between Heather and Ivan Morrison, who were exhibiting a collection of objects which are complimented and used as part of a puppet show. The objects all appear to document some form of decay, from a collection of carved animal bones to paintings created with burnt bone dust and soot. There is also a metal stool which is being slowly dripped with water from above which will gradually rust over the course of the exhibition. This is quite startling at first, as my first impression was that something must be leaking from my bag! The story of the objects will be shown through interaction with the puppets, and is a story about the loss of a child, who is represented here by a giant floating ball of light filled with helium.

(Image taken from the Hepworth Facebook page, where you can find full images of the exhibition set up)

Sadly the puppets weren't in action on the night, but were hanging up in the Hepworth reception area. They have been hand carved, and correlate to the massive paintings displayed in the gallery space (grey for Anna the protagonist and Black for the man).

I will be going back to see the puppet show in a few weeks so will be able to expand on this review then. At the moment, I think that the objects are very interesting apart from the puppets, and am intrigued to see how these creations interact.

Overall, this is a very different show to the Eva Rothschild exhibition which opened the Hepworth. It is unified by the themes of utopia/dystopia, but without the additional explanations I had before and after looking at the work I think that this may be missed by some visitors. However, I would definitely recommend it!

'Endangered Species'

So it has been forever since I last managed to post! Crafting has taken a bit of a back seat to the inevitable xmas preparation, although some long term projects are finally reaching completion as xmas gifts! I will post a run down of these after the big day to avoid spoiling the surprise!

In the meantime, today I accidentally found myself at a new exhibition...........

I had a work meeting at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and on my way out decided to check out the new exhibition by Donna Wilson which is currently inhabiting the upstairs space of the main building. The work Endangered Species consists of a collection of knitted animals, trees, clouds and foliage creating a completely fabric world. Alongside this there are paintings, ceramic plates, screen prints and knitted direction signs. The knitted trees and clouds are amazing when put together to make a 'forest' and the creatures within are in turns cute and creepy. All of the work in the show is for sale and I had to force myself out of the shop before I succumbed to some of the gorgeous blankets (if someone would like to lend me £50 I wont say no!)

A few photos of the main exhibition (apologies for the crappy phone camera)

I was also drawn into the frankly awesome YSP shop, where I could quite happily fill my house with arty tat! I found an amazing cassette tape rubber stamp which had to come home with me. I have a minor rubber stamp obsession, and this is my favourite so far! Just a shame I've already wrapped my xmas presents as it would make great labels!

Odds and Sods

After a mega busy couple of weeks, I'm finally back to craft central!

As is tradition, all of my best laid plans have gone terribly wrong and I have managed to run out of time for Halloween crafting! Halloween is my absolute favourite celebration (my boss described me as a recreational pagan!) and I always go massively overboard on my halloween crafting, decoration, costume, food, the lot! I had meant to make a load of halloween things but have simply not had the time to do it. I have been up to lots of interesting arty/crafty things over the last few weeks though:

1. My momma came to visit for the weekend, and we went to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park to see the Jaume Plensa exhibition AGAIN! I have been to see this at least 4 times now, and I still enjoy it. The massive metal sculptures made up of different lettering are amazing. There were a few new sculpture that I hadn't seen before, and a new exhibition of drawings and animations by Rachel Goodyear that I liked a lot.

2. I did manage to do some Halloween crafting and have made a bunch of felt 'day of the dead' sugar skulls. They will be attached to ribbon for hanging when I manage to grab a moment!

3. The Halloween decorations went up! I tried to keep the madness to one corner of the room, but it has gradually spread out over the whole downstairs of the house. Most of the decorations are from various pound shops (and the now defunct hyper extra value in Newport) . The bat lights are from the current Sainsbury's range for a fiver!

Light Night / Steam Punk Market

I've just enjoyed a rather hectic and exciting weekend of arty doings for Leeds Light Night which has taken over the city.

I have to admit that I knew nothing of Light Night until I was given a flyer at last weekends Alternative Comics Fair and was asked to go along by a friend. There were so many events happening at once that I felt rather flustered as I wanted to see everything RIGHT NOW! Luckily common sense prevailed and we managed to pick some things to go and see.

Sadly I forgot to take my camera with me, so I apologise for the lack of photos with this post!

Particular favourites for me were the Craft Garden in the old victorian cells underneath the town hall, which had turned the cells into different crafted worlds. My favourite was the autumn/urban room complete with crack fox rooting through an upturned bin, knitted mice and snails and demonic creatures with red glowing eyes. Well worth the 20 minute queue!

We also experienced the Caravanatron - a Barbarella / Sleeper themed installation. After a 45 minute queue in the frankly freezing cold each participant was given a silver pill (a Smartie) and indiviually entered the caravan. Inside was a silver room, where you lay on a silver bed/cushion and were strapped in to experience a projection about the stars and a vibrating bed.

We also got to see the takeaway poetry van operated by Morely Literature Festival , paper nests in the Art Library, an 'art trail' across the city using flashing buttons as beacons (mine fell off at the Caravanatron), free cocoa on the 18th floor of West Riding House and a knitted interactive keyboard from 'Knit a Bear Face'. Some of the events we fancied were fully booked by the time we got to them, so pre-booking is a must next time!

On Saturday it was also the Leeds Steampunk Market in Headingly. This was a tie in to the Semaphore Office which appeared as part of Light Night (although we were unable to find it!).

Loads of fantastic stalls full of shiny things, comics, memorabilia, costumes and of course tea and cake. I was horribly underdressed compared to the good gents and ladies of the market, but was complemented on my 'fox fur' scarf several times!

I managed to miss out on the goggles I wanted as they had sold out by the time I'd gone to the cash machine (Note to self: get money before attending market!) but I did managed to come away with this awesome stuff:

" Kill your Velocity, Not an Air Kraken" poster

"milk 2 sugars" and octopus patches

and this amazing leather cuff (technically for my boyfriend but still awesome)

I have also been trying to craft in between all of these arty doings, so there will hopefully be some Halloween decorations appearing in the next few days.

Leeds 3rd Alternative Comics Fair

On 1st October it was the 3rd Leeds Alternative Comics fair at Nation of Shopkeepers and like a good nerd I went along! I have managed to miss the last 2 of these, so was really keen to go along and check out the local comics on offer.

Despite it being the hottest day for quite some time (vest tops in October. IN YORKSHIRE! What is going on?!?) it was reasonably busy, and everyone seemed to be enjoying the comicy goodness. I had a bit of a splurge and got some really awesome comics I thought it would be worth sharing!

'The Steampunk Literary Review' by Dr Geof which features fictional reviews and adverts of all things Steampunk. And smut. Lots of smut! My Favourite is the 'REDUCE YOUR VELOCITY - SAVE A SKY CRAKEN' poster!

'Hermit' by Andrew Waugh about a guy who goes crazy in the modern world and tries to escape to the wilderness (I mainly bought this as the font cover looks a lot like my loveable housemate who is also keen on a little hermitude)

'Find Comet Hit Comet Watch Comet Sleep' by Hugh 'Shug' Raine about the end of the world if it were to happen in Dewsbury!

Some gorgeous hand printed cards from Hello Memo

And this little guy! He has a moustache and boss eyes...whats not to love!

Interior Lighting

I was invited to the opening of the Interior Lighting exhibition on wednesday. The exhibition features work by very talented employees of the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield and has a wide range of artwork on show. Some of my friends were exhibiting work, so I had no excuse not to go!

The gallery building is almost as impressive as the exhibition itself, and had all of its original wooden pillars and woodwork as additional features to the room. It is round the corner from the shiny new Hepworth building as part of the dock regeneration, we can only hope that it stays a gallery/performance space and isn't turned into flats!

The exhibition had a variety of photography, illustration, textiles, paintings and installation which was displayed using the natural alcoves and structures of the space. Lighting was kept to a minimum, creating pools of light round each piece of work.

Anyway, I'll let the work do the talking! Here is a selection of my highlights of the show:

Tribute to Martin Creed!

Beautifully printed textiles by Hayley McColl

awesome wool installation (my favourite!)

"Food Porn"

Painting by Rachael Gorton

Fab bird illustrations! Sadly the lighting prevented me from getting a clearer photo, but the sequence shows a series of birds performing magic tricks!

The Interior Lighting Exhibition is running until Sunday 2nd October 12 - 5pm so if you are near Wakefield this weekend go and check it out!