Monday 27th September 2010
Started the day badly. Arrived at the train station and my young person’s railcard ran out the day before! I found out the night before that the London Design Week event, one of which was 100% Design and most other exhibitions, finished the day before. However, Origins was the main event I wanted to attend, having never been before, so I went to see that.
Arrived at Origins and looking around, there were a lot of exhibitors who have focussed on birds as their main theme. This year is also the first time I have attended New Designers, and there was also a number of exhibitors with bird themes. Anyway, moving on… Cathy Miles who I discovered in Crafts Magazine recently and researched on her website, was showing her work at Origins, so I was able to look at her work up close. I discovered that inside her “bees” series of pieces, inside the wire form, there were really miniature light bulbs and cutlery! They were amazing! The birds were bigger than I expected and I noticed that she had a book on show as well which she had written entitled: Sculpting in Wire – Basics of Sculpture. She was not the only one who had produced a book. Lindsey Mann also produced a book entitled: Design and Make Coloured Aluminium Jewellery.
Exhibitors I saw and noted that inspired me in their execution of ideas:
- Ann Nazareth (uses buttons in her work)
- Amanda J Simmons (kiln formed glass and cameo engraving)
- James Letherbridge (glass – chandelier and sphere’s with additions) Exhibited at the Biennale this year which I also attended in Stourbridge
- Claire McAlister (jewellery design with metal and wood)
- Cathy Miles (wire and mixed media sculptures – birds featured)
- Michael Berger (kinetic jewellery)
- Lindsey Mann (coloured aluminium jewellery)
- Kasia Czarnecka-Clarke (glass kiln formed vessels)
- Rebecca J Coles (paper butterflies and flowers on pins in frames)
- Lauren van Helmond (mixed media sculptor and illustrator)
- Anya Keeley (mixed media wire and paper birds, cakes and butterflies)
- Ruth Lyne (wall mounted glass pieces covered in enamels – look like paintings)
- Marlene McKibbin (glass, metal and wood jewellery)
- Becky Adams (textiles and paper collage including newsprint)
- Abigail Brown (textiles birds sculptures – favourite piece was a peacock)
Next I went to Contemporary Applied Arts in Percy Street. Glass artists I liked were Bruno Romanelli (‘Mira’), Sam Sweet (‘Milk Bottles’), Bob Crooks (‘Flower Bomb Vases’), Anne Claude Jeitz (box with a head inside and on lot of legs). Textiles on canvas by Anna Raymond in the second room in “A Living Space” curated by Kit Kemp.
I then visited the Circus gallery in conjunction with the CAA showing “Untitled: Glass Inspired by Architecture”, a solo show by Kate Maestri which was a really long walk away and a massive disappointment after reading the flier advertising it.
The last place I visited where I found anything of interest was a piece by Julian Opie which was on a screen – a portrait moving to show the person breathing. Really great and simplistic style of imagery.
Long day, lots of travelling, no time to write anything up at the time to reflect hence the lateness!