.....2012 the best bits!

I was thinking about how quickly we forget some of the great things we have achieved!....

2012 has had its fill of challenges and as always our household has aimed high and taken the bull by the horns! 

Never one to turn down opportunities I have tried my hand at a variety of things....so in a quick re-cap this last year has been quite a busy one!

'Pebble 1"

This was the starting point for the direction my final degree year was going to take....Pebbles...their beautiful, intricate, individual and amazing marks. I had to really fight to prove I was a fine artist and that cloth and materials can be a part of "fine art".... I have nothing against craft and embrace it whole heartily but when it is murmured as if it is a dirty word, I find it offensive and this made me work all the harder to prove my art was of a level worthy of a degree.....

My influences - (I may have repeatedly mentioned them!)... are artists such as Louise Bourgious, Annette Messager, Cornelia Parker, Joseph Cornell....their clever and ingenious use of objects that have had a previous life, often mundane...like those artists I love that gutsy, special feeling I get when I can  breath new life into something salvaged, rescued or saved....creating and articulating a new and different future infused with memories and possible past associations....

So I am happy to admit that craft along with many other techniques is used within my work!.....I strongly admire traditional techniques handed down from generation to generation....time spent together learning and sharing skills...flair and expertise... working maticulously for hours, dexterity and care to attention and detail....often using and re-using garments and belongings full of memories and distant times. When I found a book by 

by Mildred Constantine and Laurel Reutor, "Whole Cloth" I thought all my Sundays had arrived at once...this not only helped me tremendously but made me realise that I had to stay true to myself if my work was to stand up on its own...

....so highlights of the first 6 months, finding a book, realising my direction within my art....and getting a Fine Art (BA) first class Hons Degree....

....then....

Jogging, nee sprinting! alongside my degree work we decide to try our hand at running a pop-up gallery for a year, why not we thought, if you don't try you'll never know! Its been an experience, some good some not so good!....offering artists like myself the opportunity to exhibit a body of work has been just fantastic, one artist managed to sell 50% of her work in 3 weeks....in out economic climate it just shows you that people still and always will seek out art. Being tied to the gallery though has made me realise how hard it is to get my work out to other galleries, to promote myself elsewhere. I haven't done very much work either....I need to really get my head down and start to produce some new stuff....the opportunity to get out and about has been a 'tad lacking what with opening hours and the horrid weather we have had...but what I have done has been well received so thats a bonus!

Sharing the experience with my husband and family has been really, really good. Hubby has been such a power of strength and support and his boundless love and zest for life is priceless......the kids I am sure think we are crackers, but they knew that before! 

...highlights for the second six months....running a gallery and being able to exhibit my work alongside my husband and other new and emerging artists....

So I have to confess, 2012 has been a really good year, lifes been good, we have our happiness, our health and our achievements....and it's the start of another year, who know's what it has in store for us....but as always I'll ramble on and keep you up to speed as and when I can...

Hope 2012 has  been good to you all?  thanks for  reading my blogs and following my progress...

back again soon, bye