Close- Knit

Julia Douglas & Sutherland community present an exhibition of mixed media artworks.

Julia Douglas is a mixed media visual artist based in East Lothian, Scotland. She has exhibited extensively, most recently in 500 Miles North in the Hannah Maclure Centre, Dundee, as one of seven artists who have been voted as ‘future rising stars’ on the The Future 500 list published in the Observer. She is also currently being featured in craftscotland’s, The C Word advertisement, showing in international cinemas and on STV. Douglas has won a number of awards for her work, including The Russel Trust Prize in 2008 for her work as a professional member in Visual Arts Scotland and the RSA Ottillie Helen Wallace Prize at the Royal Scottish Academy in 2007. Douglas is also opening an online shop at www.baffie.co.uk selling unique gifts and treats for a comfy home.

Inspiration for her work comes from the home and the relationship people have with the objects they put in their homes. She makes art by exploring seemingly trivial, day-to-day household objects, and remaking these by playfully transforming them, often using them as surrogates for the owners body, and drawing attention to their significance in helping to tell a story about the inhabitants’ life and the culture in which they lived.

 

Close Knit
Timespan’s vision focuses on linking culture, heritage, the arts, people and their ideas. Recently, Timespan commissioned a curatorial research report in order to help them develop an ambitious, exciting and sustainable visual arts programme over 2010-2013. As a result of this research and further discussons, the main programme theme is ‘bridging’ arts and local area/community interests. As part of this programme, artists in residence will work with comminuity members and the museum resources to identify distinctive ideas and local-global issues. Close-Knit, by Julia Douglas, is the first in a serieis of projects using this theme.

This intriguing exhibition is the outcome of a seven-week artist residency, during which Julia Douglas turned her attention to the ruined croft houses around Helmsdale and the lifestyle of the people who lived in these houses during the 1800′s. Douglas’ focused on the size and design of the croft house as well as the crofter’s daily domestic routines of toileting, sleeping and eating, caring for the children, the sick and the elderly, their approach to health and safety, and their ability to care for the limited possessions that they had.

Douglas worked with members of the local community on several pieces for this exhibition. One of these collaborations, ‘For Your Own Good’, was created by enthusiastic members of the knitting group and several children from Helmsdale Primary School, who all gave up hours of their precious summer holiday in order to be a part of the project.

This exhiition is accompanied by a series of activities and information, please do:

• Join the knitting ladies in the Cafe on Tuesday afternoon’s at 2pm
• Read the handout on the table
• Visit http://timespanartistflat.blogspot.com to read about Julia’s residency
• Come along to the Book Launch and Project Chat on 24th September at 7pm

This project was supported by The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the European Community Highland Leader 2007 – 2013 programme.

 

Showcase | Artist

Emma Macleod

Biography

Emma was born in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland in 1985. She graduated in 2007 with a BA (Hons) in printmaking at Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen. Emma is now based in Edinburgh where she works from her studio in the Arts Complex.

Artist Statement

That which is sinister, eerie or uncanny plays an important role in the subject matter of my work. Through a variety of media that includes photography, installation, projection and small-scale-set-ups I am building and developing a visual language of imagery that may be perceived as unsettling. My main focus is on themes of isolation, emptiness and abandonment through the creation of dramatic staged environments and placement of objects, light and atmosphere.

I am heavily influenced by staged photography and film, particularly the genres of film noir and horror. In recent work I have been investigating the way in which films are cut and edited-particularly film stills and how, by giving a snippet of information, a narrative is formed. As part of my investigation in this area, I am researching the way in which a group or series of images play off one another to form a narrative; seemingly unrelated objects, spaces and text are shown together urging the viewer to make a connection.

Contact Info

Website:www.emmamacleod.co.uk

Email: emmamacleod01@hotmail.com

Tel: 07833965107

 

Showcase | Maker

Jenny Pope

Artist Statement

Ideas

I am a visual artist working in ceramics, drawing and assemblages. I work in this range of media so that i can choose the process to best express a particlar idea. I have studied ceramics and I love using such a versatile and tactile raw material. I value the craft skills i have learnt and am able to produce a range of effects from celicate to large organic pieces. I use these in a fine art context and explore concepts which matter to me.

I have several interlinked themes that inspire me, all radiating from my fascination with the inescapable changes that happen in our internal lives and also externally in the natural environment.

Walking, in particular by the sea, is a constant source of inspiration. I am an avid beachcomber and earlier work reflects ideas around found objects worry beads, collecting man-made relics, and trying to make sense of remnants of information. I like the meditative calming effect the sea has on me as well as the sense of the sublime.

For 4 years I worked part time in a hospital, as a social worker in a specialist transplant unit. This had a profound impact on my sense of mortality and in turn my art practice. In my work now I seek to explore the vulnerabilities of our bodies and the change process related to illness. I am humbled by the complexity of human experience as people respon to serious issues and the changes this necessitates.

 

Recent Work

I have been researching the act of breathing to better understand the conscious and unconscious processes involved. This work has culminated in a series of assemblages in boxes using medical and other machine parts.

I have produced a series of porcelain vessel forms based on the idea of a signature sound that each of us has depending on the volume of our lungs. The hanging wave installation is based on the repeated form of an individual epiglottis, a part of our breathing anatomy.

I am fascinated by the manual skills that surgeons have and have researched the sewing involved in surgery and relating it to traditional craft skills and techniques originating from fishing, upholstery etc. This involved a research residency at the Royal College of Surgeons Museum, Edinburgh.

I continue to explore and experiment with ceramic materials and am pursuing tests with porcelain and mixed materials, this is related to the theme of buoyancy, resillience, meditation and balance. I often walk along my local beach and find the experience invigorating and calming, contemplative and restorative. I have recently completed a course on Mindfulness and this is having a profound effect on me.