'The Indiscipline of Painting' Meads 'Knit, Stitch and Crochet'

Hi everyone, how's your weekend panning out? It started off drizzly this morning outside my window at Sock 'N'Soul HQ, but the sun's shining now! That's good news because I have to meet a fellow artist in town later and it'll just be a wash out in the rain.

Speaking of fellow artists, I've got something really exciting to tell you about today. My lovely friend Emma (and Coventry art guru) has collaborated with the Tate St Ives to bring a really interesting exhibition to the Mead Gallery at Warwick Arts Centre. I love the title! It's called 'The Indiscipline of Painting', and I'll just borrow a snippet from the Mead website to tell you what it's all about:

The Indiscipline of Painting is an international group exhibition including works by forty-nine artists from the 1960s to now. Selected by British painter Daniel Sturgis, the exhibition considers how abstraction has remained a site of urgent, relevant and critical enquiry for generations of artists over the last 50 years. The exhibition goes on to demonstrate the ways in which the history and legacy of abstract painting continues to inspire artists working today.

I can't show you many images of the show as there are specific restrictions on photography at the exhibition (not imposed by the lovely Mead gallery, I might add, which, unlike Indiscipline, recognises that freedom of press is important for gaining exposure), but, anyway, this should give you even more reason to go and see it for yourself!

Here're the only paintings I was allowed to photograph. They continually appear on press releases for this reason, which makes the other well-kept secrets at Indiscipline all the more tantalising, I suppose...

Emma's also come up with a rather clever tie-in to this event. The Mead runs a weekly 'Knit, Stitch and Crochet' club where any ol' villager (or townie, or urbanite) can go for a little yarn gathering and hang out with other knitwits. I often go along with Crafty Bastard, Jen, and we whip out our crochety li'l things while the others get their knitties out. You can also learn to spin, roll your threads up into a ball or sit in a corner and gossip if you prefer.*

In a move that ties the ongoing activities of Knit Club with Indiscipline, the Mead has been inviting knitters (or other kinds of yarn dancers) to knit, stitch or crochet their own abstract art inspired by their favourites from the exhibition. There's been a surge of contributions to The Indiscipline of Knitting in the past week, so there's lots of new stuff to see if you pop by in the last week of the show.

Indiscipline lacked company at first

Surge

Someone's even made an homage to one with lobsters, which is my favourite piece:

I was allowed to photograph the book, but the real thing (painting, not lobster) is far more impressive. 

Here it is! Second from left...

I'd been thinking of making a tribute of my own too, and, if you've been following my blog, you may remember my lobsters. But the thought of trapping them in a frame and sticking them up on a wall pains me somewhat. Shellfish should be free! And tasty ;-)

It's okay when we do it! This was only playfighting, honest.

True, the thought of eating them doesn't bother me at all. I'm such a peskytarian...actually, I'm a pesky-omnitarian ('vore, for picky people)

Shellfish fetishes aside, do paddle on over to the Mead on your comfy sushi riceballs, folks! There's plenty more to see here...

Do note though, there's only a week left and Saturday 10th March is the last day. Check the website for more details :)

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*Spinning, threading and gossiping are activities that regularly occur during the practices I share with my fellow bboys/girls. Things are less punny when you have to explain them, but if you have no clue what I'm on about, just click on the links to read more.

New Year Update!

Happy New Year everyone!


New year, new update...yes, I know that to most people the new year started on January 1st, but that's so the Year of the Bunny. Plus, many people have probably forgotten, or ditched, the resolutions they made on the Gregorian 1st by now anyway, so this is as good a time as any to take stock.


Besides, I'm a girl, so my sense of direction is instinctively based on cuddly animals (go past the bunny, to get to the dragon, etc) rather than boring numbers (after 2011, comes 2012 - I flunked my first maths test aged 8, unfortunately). And, yes, I do know some cuddly dragons out there.

See? 

More to the point, it's been a pretty eventful week/end. I'd submitted an interview to UK Handmade earlier in the week that's now published on their wonder web. I find it's really helped me take stock of what I've achieved until now and make my next plans of action. So, if you want to know what my resolutions are for the Year of the Dragon, do lend that interview your 龙眼, or any other 眼! I'm not fussy. Hehe.

龙眼 ('Dragons' eyes' in Chinese), or mata kuching ('cats' eyes' in Malay) are these tasty little fruit. Named for these yummy little sclera found between their scaly brown shells and shiny black pupils. Guess there aren't many dragons in Southeast Asia though
(Credit: Pic filched from a fellow blogger)

Here's a quick update on what I've been up to (and been too slow to report on the first New Year's Day, I think I did an okay job of covering that up though, don't you? > u - Well, until now that is...)


Christmas brought me a a bit of a windfall in terms of an unprecedented demand for my Bboys, so I've come up with a new and improved version of Bboy Hollowback. He comes with his own non-slip lino and has a handgrip so strong that it's positively magnetic. This bboy never crashes his freeze!

Rock steady

Hong 10 freeze. Whooo! *jump up and down maniacally*

My work buddy had also been helping me plug my work by showing it off to friends and family. Many of you probably know that I usually make stencils and spraypaint my own packaging. Ranjit had also seen a top I painted for myself.

Rockin' that Banksy-style style at the Breakfest jam, and at work some days

Anyway, the result was a request for this T-shirt, based on my packaging design.


From my bezzie, for his cousin's prezzie! Hopefully, more of these will be trotting out of Sock 'N' Soul HQ, but I need to not spend hours cutting out each stencil from cereal boxes. There has to be a better way...

Frontside view

Backside view

While I was getting creative with stencilling, I also came up with a new packaging design for my commissions.

'Cos you get all of me when you request a commission rather than picking something up from one of my standard ranges, like Darn Stuff, or Sock 'N' Soul, or Sock 'N' Pole, or Sock 'N' Shoal...okay, I'll stop now, promise! haha...

I used those for a commission made for artist Hamish Blakely - a Christmas present from his wife. Blog report to come, but you'll see pictures of in the UK Handmade interview, and, if you haven't already, WHYYYY??? Go look now! Uh, pleeeease?


While I'm on the topic of personal goals and bboying, I just have to show you this! It's my incredibly hardworking, creative and original training buddies battling each other at King of the Bboys on Saturday, left side won, but right side got through to next battle. Go figure about judges' decisions, but anyway, I'm proud of them all.

My personal goal with breaking is to practice the moves I don't like as much as the ones I do; at least 10 times per session. I've already made huge improvements in my flares, swipes and blowup freezes using this approach. Enter the dragon! RARRRRR!


Maybe I'll upload a video of my progress sometime. Mayyybe. By the way, here's a date for your diary, Andy's organising an event which is scheduled for 28th April in The Studio at the Herbert Gallery, Coventry. So train hard, enter the battles and stand to win awesome prizes like Sock 'N' Soul Bboys and a Bboy Dynamick original.

One final thing. As of Friday, I'd been appointed online marketer at jobs.ac.uk and start today. It's going to give me a chance to learn more about social media and boost the ol' income while I take my time getting to know you, my faithful friends. And it gives me a chance to use my creativity, and academic background, and get paid to hang out on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn! Cool beans.


So that goal I talked about in my interview has come to fruition *happy face* 


This dragon is one good-lookin' year...