I have a few exhibition opportunities coming up for the rest of the year so I have been busy in my studio, experimenting with new possible work. At the end of June we have an Open Studios weekend in the ASC Studio complex. I only have a small studio, so it’s always a matter of deciding what I am going to put on display and how I am going to manage to hide everything else. I think I will be mainly focusing on my mixed media art this year and will try to display a varied display of works– perhaps displaying a couple of each subject matter. It will be like a mini Noah’s Ark of paired art works.
In September I hope to be part of an exhibition showcasing pets and the curators are looking for more expressive interpretations of our furry loved ones. The problem is though, for various reasons, there are no pets living in my home (more’s the pity). Not to be deterred, this has set me off on a cat series which I have named ‘I don’t own a cat’. Firstly because there is no cat, secondly, because as cat people know, cats cannot be ‘owned’. I have taken to photographing the visiting cats to my overgrown garden as well as using old photos from a cat book I won in a competition when I was a kid to create collages and montages of cats in different environments, enhanced with watercolour paint.
Also in November, I will be involved in a curated group exhibition called ‘Truth and Lies’ in the ASC Gallery in Vauxhall. Whilst I have some possible work ready for this, I am keen to work on a new series exploring this, to give me some more possible options. I’d especially like to include some writing as part of this as the subject matter ties in very nicely with aspects of my Masters of Research dissertation called ‘My grandmother’s plait’.
There may of course be other exhibitions that come my way and I look forward to those too if that happens.
