Shortlisted in British Airways Great Britons!

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I entered the Art Category for the British Airways Great Britons competition to design the exterior surfaces of their aeroplanes – it was the ideal opportunity to showcase my work on 12 BA aeroplanes flying around the world.  It couldn’t get any better!


[Thanks to Cara Pirie who helped me with my film clip]

The competition linked to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games; and I created a design especially for it as I thought my style would capture the excitement and drama of the Olympics!

After submitting 3 images (as above), a 2 minute film and 500 words, I was so excited to be shortlisted and to be in the final 10!  I received a giant posted parcel, with lots of exciting goodies from BA – a model plane, colour swatches and profile drawings and CD of BA planes, interview guidelines.  I loved the glossy swatches of paint!

The shortlist selection was held in the Royal Academy of Arts in London; where I had to give a 10 minute presentation and interview in front of a very high-profile panel – Tracey Emin (artist),  Eliza Bonham Carter (Curator of Royal Academy), Luiza Fernandez (British Airways), David Barnes (British Airways).  You can image how nerve racking that was!  And to top it off there was a film crew and I had to be miked up!

Here’s me sitting waiting patiently! Portfolio – check! artwork – check! power point – check! nerves – check! Psychological pee – check!

I wanted to engage the panel to visualise my work in 3D, so I got them to make a paper aeroplane and fly them as part of my presentation.  I was a bit apprehensive about asking them to do it but they were up for the challenge!  Here are the planes made by the panel – they only had 30 seconds!

I got to meet some of the other shortlisted artists as we sat nervously waiting – Andrew David Green, Jayne Stephen, Martin Herbert.

Congratulations to Pascal Anson who won, this will really showcase his work to an international audience.

I’m very proud to have been shortlisted to the final 10 but obviously a wee bit disappointed not to be the winner!  It was good experience and it’s all part of my mission to see my artwork on different contexts.

For the full British Airways press release click here.

Royal Academy Summer Show

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When for a whizz round the Royal Academy Summer Show in London.  I really enjoyed it and came out feeling all refreshed and invigorated.  There was a great mix of artworks from architects models, photography, sculpture, painting and printmaking.

I loved the way the paintings cover the walls and each room had a different theme.  Here are some of the things I liked.

The show is now finished but it’s on my to do list for visiting next year!

 

 

Buzzing Southbank

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There was so much going on in Southbank in London at the weekend – tunes, exhibitions, free runners, skateboarders, tasty food, graffiti, street performers………..

Tasty food at the market behind the Royal Festival Hall where I had lovely Morrocan food – it was hard to choose which stall as there was so many tasty delights.

Lots of colourful creative beach huts by different artists from holiday snaps, stylish swim wear to shell art and of course I liked the striped one.
and lots of summertime words around with a manmade beach with buckets and spades.

Great to see free exhibition as you walk along, The Lion & Unicorn was interesting created by aritst Gitta Gschwendtner working with refugees to create creative writing and paper aeroplanes that look like a flock of birds.

Dj Mr Scruff was playing his funky tunes at the Bulmers Cider Garden

Next time I’m there I’m going to catch the Tracey Emin exhibition at the Hayward

Childhood inspiration, fun and games

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I have discovered the V&A Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green in London, I loved it! Some much to see – tin toys, puppets, spiro-graphs, sooty and sweep, folk art toys. A great place to be inspired by and reminisce about.

Great exhibition of Judith Kerrs illustrations ‘From The Tiger Who Came To Tea to Mog and Pink Rabbit‘, lots of fun interactions for the kids and big kids too!

Lovely detail and craftmanship in the mosaic entrance with the 3d pattern.

There was a great exhibition where artists worked with school children to create an exhibition called ‘stuff of nightmares‘, the whole thing was put together very well with a pretty dark side from the line up of toys who were suspects, a lovely hand quality to the newspaper trees, great mix of toys and random things – it created a whole scene! Here’s a couple of photos of it.

Pick me, pick me, pick me – British Airways Competition!

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I’ve entered my dream competition – British Airways Great Britons! They’re looking for an artist to have their design on 12 aeroplanes in conjunction with the Olympic and Paralympic Games here in the UK in 2012 with some mentoring from Tracey Emin.  What an amazing opportunity! I’d love to cover the world in my designs.


 

Thanks to Cara Pirie who  helped my out big time with the 2 minute film clip.  – and it was exactly 2 minutes!

So fingers crossed I get through to the next stage, out of all the thousands of entries!

Pick me, pick me, pick me!

Goodbye Meadow Mill and Hello Airlie Place!

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I’ve moved temporarily to Airlie Place for 6 months while the refurbishment goes on at Meadow Mill.   I’m loving my new space at Airlie Place, which used to be Dundee University student residence.  I’ve settled in really well, it’s a great location, love having a sink in my studio and a fireplace to sit my brushes.

WASPS provide cheap studio rent for artists and are refurbishing all 3 levels of the mill – heating, improving the windows, gallery space, some wifi and a common area for all those creative collaborations and including a lift! The unused space on the 4th floor is going to be made into studio too. Here’s what it look like now.

I think it was a really good process to have a good clear out, sort through years of clutter and box ever thing up.

Here’s my new view from my window

There’s some great views from the corridors of the river Tay and Law hill.

Think I’m going to enjoy my time at Airlie Place! For lots of creativity – playing with colour, pattern, textures and silhouettes.

Scottish Parliament – what is child labour?

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I was really privileged to be invited to the Scottish Parliament to celebrate the artworks created by Scottish pupils, where pupils looked at global citizenship through the visual arts ran by Learning Teaching Scotland.

Myself, both primary 7 teachers Mrs Martin and Mrs Jack, head teacher Mrs Davie and 3 pupils Yasmine, Rachel and Caitlyn took the trip through the rain through to Edinburgh to see the exhibition. It was lovely to be there see the textile cushions in the Parliament also the diverse range of interpretation by other schools and to see the interior of the building.

I was the lead artist that worked with Fintry Primary School, primary 7 classes to look at – What is child labour?  Pupils discussed issues and translated these through a range of textile methods from hand printing using stamping and relief printing, applique, embelishment and blanket stitch to make cushion panels that explored issues of child labour.  Sketch books were also on display showing the issues, templates, ideas in progress and test samples.

Pupils looked at Article 32 or the United Nations Convention on the rights of the Childs – ‘The government should protect children from work that is dangerous, or might harm their health and education’ – They explored the links between the textile industry and child labour and what is sold in shops in the UK.  The children printed patterned on to the fabric  – a metaphor for the comfort we in the West can take for granted as the expense of others’ living and working conditions.  Learners gained an insight into the lives of working children and this provided them with opportunities to discuss the complexity of child labour.

For more information of the exhibition please follow this link LTS

It was a delight to also got see the wall hangings of textile artist and researcher Norma Starszakowna  – amazing flow of colour, texture and marks!

Edinburgh Anthropologie Opening

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I had a fantastic night at the opening of the 1st Scottish Anthropologie Store in Edinburgh on George Street.

What an amazing store! There’s so many great things about it, it’s boutique-like on a large scale, with lovely displays, lots of lovely textures, and amazing clothes and home ware.

I can’t believe how they have used my artwork form the hoarding, amazing blocky feature near the stairs – much bigger and better than I could of imagined.  Some of  my pattern used within the artwork spanning over 2 floors.

It was funny as lots of people recognised me from the video of me creating the hoarding artwork.  Concept & Graft were there too.

It was great to see my hand printed scarves within the store and also being worn!

Cocktails, delicious hor d’oeuvres and oysters – top night!

Lindsey Gardiner and her quirky dog paintings, fantastic!

Also there’s an photography exhibition by David Eustace.

Live auction for With Kids and the lovely ceiling.

Here’s a link to the Press Release on Textiles Scotland website.

Sneak preview

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Here is a sneak preview of the scarves I did for Anthropologie Edinburgh.  I’m looking forward to going to private opening tonight – cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, exhibition, auction and I can only imagine a fabulous range of products displayed in their boutique style.  Looking forward to seeing my scarves within their store.

I was asked to do a collection of scarves for the opening after creating the giant temporary storefront artwork, a piece of this will be in-store too.  The scarf design combines my dapple print with some flying or standing pheasants.  Hand printed with a merging of colours to create the blended effect and overprints.   These scarves are only available in-store.