Milan, MOMA and a Happy New Year!

So, it been such a busy time, I hadn't realised that so much time had passed since my last update! I guess I should start in chronological order then! 

Visiting Milan with UK Young Artists

In October I went to Milan with a group of other artists through UK Young Artists. We flew late in October for the Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean (BJCEM) opening and stayed there for the opening weekend. We were able to see performances from installation and visual artists from around Europe. It was such a great experience to meet other artists, and get to see other art disciplines. I'm so used to visiting ceramic and craft exhibitions it was an inspirational trip where I learnt a lot about how to market myself in the art world. Here's the Minimus Maximus Collection installed in Milan:

We had the opportunity to visit other parts of Milan too, I visited the Museo del Novecento which had a great cubist collection. I was able to sketch here for hours! There was also a temporary exhibition there which was small rooms in which the viewer could enter, that would warp reality with lasers, lights and platforms on the floor. We were also able to visit the sights of Milan, such as Duomo Cathedral, and various parks around the city. 

Here is one of the other artists' work from the UK that represented the photography category, Sam Laughlin. 

And here is his website:

http://www.samlaughlin.co.uk/

 Here is one of the performances from the opening weekend. This artist was based in Greece and the circular structure would turn dependent on where her weight would lie. The structure was very cleverly made, as the top lay completely flat, but the artist was able to pull sections apart, lift them up, and completely drop them down. I felt that the performance was very strong, and I love this photo from the performance.

---------------------------------------------------

Made by Hand, Cardiff City Hall, October.

I exhibited at the Made by Hand Fair in October-November and for the first time was able to demonstrate the making of the work too. I produced the work the night before, and was able to take the work in to fettle (finish the pieces off) at the fair. This seemed to be of interest to people, especially they were able to ask how the pieces were made and was a great way to interact with the audience. I had a successful fair, with lots of sales, contacts made and best of all, I had a hand full of pieces ready to fire! What can be better! 

Here is a piece that I had produced in the demonstration. I feel that although some parts of the piece is successful, the shape was too similar to some of the other pieces that I had already produced. The lady with the hat was a great addition, and I will use her again I think.

There were some photojournalist students from Glamorgan University taking photos, and here's one below. 

I got chatting with one of the groups and they were keen to make a documentary film about my practise. They visited the studio and produced this lovely film about my work:

-------------------------------------------------

MOMA Wales - Eluned / Glyn Joint Exhibition

In November I had the privilege and honour to exhibit alongside my father at MOMA Wales in my home town, Machynlleth. My father has inspired my practise and my transition from canvas to clay ever since I was in school, and I felt that exhibiting together was such a natural progression for my work. Somehow I managed to twist his arm (as his artwork is made only for his own eyes usually) and we went to set up the work. I was quite nervous to see how the exhibition would come together, but I feel that my father's portraiture and life drawings and my ceramic work complimented each other well. 

---------------------------------------------------------------

Craft in the Bay Christmas Exhibition

I exhibited at the Craft in the Bay Christmas Exhibition this year, with other CITB members. I wanted to exhibit a new piece of work, and this new wall piece had just come out of the kiln. It has various objects in it, including handles from a Victorian style piece, a IKEA cup, an old fashioned decanter stopper and parts of a Toby jug.

I'm hoping to work with more glass this year, as at the end of last year I had worked with a glass stopper in the piece above, where usually I work with broken ceramic pieces.

I'm hoping to create bigger pieces in the next year, but also to expand the current Minimus Maximus Collection further. I hope to use the facets and angles in glass work to create surface pattern in my work.

-------------------------------

CRAFT: Redefining Handmade, Top Drawer 

On Saturday the 16th of January I set my work up, sharing a stand with Design Factory group members, at Olympia, London for Top Drawer. I was exhibiting at CRAFT: Redefining Handmade within the Top Drawer Trade Fair from the 17th until the 19th of January. It was such a great fair, and I gained a lot of new contacts and stockists. It was a great opportunity to exhibit with other artists from Design Factory, and to catch up with other makers that I had met in past fairs and exhibitions. Here is the fair during set up; it was such a wonderful venue!

And here was my stand set-up. I wanted to keep the design of the stand simple, and let the forms of my work speak for themselves. I was exhibiting the Minimus Maximus Collection, with the new Toby Jug and Swan Espresso Cup. The feedback was great, and I met a lot of new contacts and possible stockists. Everyone seemed to like the new work, and it was great encouragement for me to develop more in this range of work.

I would definitely like to be a part of this fair again, it was such a great trade fair. It was inspirational to see other stands, and how they market themselves too. It's given me more ideas for possible stands in the future.

-------------------------------------------

Art and Craft Design Award, Certificate of Excellence

I have found out in the last week that I have won a Certificate of Excellence in the International Art and Craft Design Awards 2015. Lovely news to start a new year! Have a look at the other winners in the link below:

http://www.acd-award.com/#!winners-lounge-2015/c18v9

-----------------------------------------

Next step...

I've got a few exciting opportunities in the pipeline that I'm hoping by the next update I can tell you all about! 

Milan, Made by Hand and Christmas excitement!

I’ve been busy making work for the various exhibitions that I’ve been chosen to exhibit in the next few months. I’m looking forward to travelling around the UK and to Milan with the UK Young Artist group for the Biennale des jeunes créateurs de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée, Milan with UK Young Artist. 

Here's a small article about the work that's going to Milan through my old university news page: 

http://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/news/Pages/Cardiff-Metropolitan-University-graduate-selected-to-represent-UK-at-international-art-festival-in-2015.aspx

And here's some of the pieces that I've been making for the Festival in Milan:

A friend of mine recently made this beautiful picture of the above photo as a birthday present. It's a programmed machine that can replicate shapes and facets, then it's possible to create layers in the image by using various colours of pen. What an amazing invention! In the photo below, every mark is made in a small circular motion, I can't believe how realistic it can draw.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I’ve found out that I will be showing at Y Galeri, Caernarfon for the Art Open 2015 between the 30th of October and the 11th of November 2015. I will be showing with some of my original moulds from my degree show, although the pieces are new this year. I hope to use the same floating shelves too in order to re-create the impact of my previous display, inspired by the Victoria & Albert’s Ceramic Collection. 

http://www.galericaernarfon.com/

I will also be exhibiting at the Christmas Show at Craft in the Bay, Cardiff with some new work that I have been working on in the past few weeks. These pieces will be a series of 3, and will be introduced in the joint exhibition that I will be showing my work at in Machynlleth, MOMA Wales. Here is the link for the exhibition information for our joint exhibition: 

http://www.momawales.org.uk/?page_id=433 

I hope to also create some new 3 dimensional pieces to complement the existing pieces in the Minimus Maximus body of work. Here's a step by step of a new wall piece I've been working on.

Above is the master copy piece that I have made a mould of in order to slip-cast once the mould is finished. I wanted to create a piece of work that can be wall-mounted, as I had only attempted a wall piece once before. Unfortunately due to the complexity of this piece, I struggled to get the piece out as a whole. The handles around the edges in the below photo were so fragile before firing, and would break off so easily. I wanted to find a way to continue the idea that I had previously touched upon, but wanted to find a way that the form is slightly simpler, and smaller in order for the fragility of the handles to only be a problem on two sides of the piece, instead of all the way around. I do understand that this piece might say something different to the other, and that the simpler form is not as pleasing to the eye, but unfortunately due to the issues that I had encountered I couldn’t risk having to use the mould as a press mould instead of a slip-casting mould which evidently I struggled with, and lost a lot of texture from the surface decoration and intricate details in the work.  

 ---------------------------------------------------------------

I have also been shortlisted for the Arts and Crafts Design Award, check my work out on the below URL:  

http://www.acd-award.com/ 

There are some amazing artists that have previously been shortlisted, and are shortlisted this year so I’m so happy to have been shortlisted and now have to wait a few months to find out the result. 

I will also be demonstrating in Made by Hand, Cardiff Hall which I'm so excited about. The fair runs from the 30th of October to the 1st of November. Here is the link to my demonstators page: 

http://www.madebyhand-wales.co.uk/Eluned-Glyn/Exhibitor/

------------------------------------------------------------------

I had previously shown images of the Milk Jug that I have also been working on recently. Here are images of the pieces once fired, glazed and ready to sell. I feel that the texture of various facets are successful in this piece, and is one of my strongest so far. I have also been thinking about a less expensive range of work that can be sold, that are slightly more craft led. This is the first piece that I have created and is really popular, selling out in the first day in the Contemporary Craft Fair in Bovey Tracey!  

Here's another piece I've been working on recently, that's more of a retail item than the Minimus Maximus Collection. 

These are small espresso cups, I wanted to create a collection that had a simpler form, but would still echo my work.

   

 ----------------------------------------------------------------

I treated myself to a visit to the National Museum last week, as I really wanted to see the Fragile? exhibition before it ended in October. What a fantastic collection of ceramics, it was so inspirational to see ceramics from different eras and countries in one big room. My favourite part was this room where they were showing the makers creating their particular ceramics. It's great to see how other artists make their work, and the final pieces that they created in the video was there in the flesh. Here's Adam Buick's moon jar:

 And Walter Keeler's Work.

I can't wait to visit Milan, and see my work among other artists' work from the UK. There will be roughly ten of us representing different disciplines from photography, fine art to sculpture and installation based work. My work will represent the Applied Arts discipline. I've got a busy few months ahead of me, and I will try to post more often from various fairs and events that I've taken part in, but for now that's all.