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.

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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:

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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

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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! 

NEW STOCKISTS, EXHIBITIONS AND EXCITING OPPORTUNITIES

So I haven't wrote for a while, and I've been busy preparing work for a very busy last 6 months of this current year, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

I've been working on new pieces for various shows, including new cards with my own original designs that have been selling very well. Here are some of the designs, they are £2.20 each and are blank on the inside for your own message. The cards are made on high quality paper that makes for a long lasting beautiful finish.

I have also been working on some new ceramic pieces that have a gold lustred addition. I have struggled previously as lustre is so difficult to get right, as there are so many things that can go wrong. I used to paint it on too thick then too thin, but I think I have managed to get the application just right as the gold is beautiful!

While working on new cards, and a new collection of gold lustred ceramics I have also been changing my display of jewellery, so they are now in neat little boxes, which are easy to post, and are a bit safer with regards to the ceramic cracking or breaking in transit.

 

From my previous post, I have finally managed to cast the wall piece that I've been working on. I've really struggled with the making of the mould, as the piece is a flat two part mould, the air bubbles would get stuck in between the two parts. I spoke to a friend, and he suggested press molding the piece, as the piece would be against the wall, the rough part would not show anyway. I tried this, and so far they seem to be working! Yay! Here's a picture of the work.

The only thing is, I have made them too big to fit in my kiln in the studio, so I will have to try and get them fired elsewhere. Let's hope that I will manage to fire them, as I feel it's a different avenue to venture into.

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 In August I took part in the Cornwall Design Fair in Penzance. It was a great fair with many incredible makers and I had the opportunity to get to know makers from the South West that worked in Glass and Precious Metals. 

I have just returned from the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair in Manchester over the weekend, and what a great fair it was! I loved meeting new makers and talking about my work. I had a bit of a struggle getting up to Manchester due to an accident and didn't arrive until 5.55pm and the opening was at 6! I managed to set up quickly and the rest of the Fair went well with no problems. Here's an image of my stand at the Great Northern.

I also took part in a Fair in London called Ceramics in the City in the Geffrye Museum in Hoxton. It was great to exhibit along side many artists that I researched at university.

There was a lot of interest in my work from various galleries, and I have just started stocking with a boutique in London called Bermondsey Fayre that is close to the Textile and Fashion museum and the White Cube gallery. Here they are at the Boutique:

I am also taking work up to Caernarfon in North Wales for an exhibition over the Christmas period in Y Galeri.

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I'm currently running a challenge on Instagram to sketch every day for 100 days. I'm really enjoying the challenge and feel as if it benefits my practice and the interest in my work is increasing. Here are a few examples of the 3-5 minute sketches.

I've been selling my work at the Parliment House in Machynlleth, and their new coffee and gift shop 'Siop Alys' with new personalized Sterling Silver and Porcelain jewellery. These are also some new jewellery pieces that I have been working on, they are made from a silicon mold then high fired to 1280 degrees celcius.

During the next few weeks I will be exhibiting work at Made by Hand, City Hall, Cardiff from the 31st of October - 2nd of November, then I will be travelling to Leicester to exhibit at the UK Young Artist Award for the next weekend, the Friday the 7th of November - 9th of November. Then exhibiting at the Hereford Contemporary Craft Fair from the 14th- 16th of November, so it's going to be a busy few weeks before taking part in the Cardiff Arts Collective Christmas Fairs in December. 

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My work has gone through a selection process to be selected by The Makers Guild in Wales, and I'm chuffed to say that my work will feature in Craft in the Bay from the 28th of November!! I can't wait to be featured at the Members Showcase for two months from December to January!

Pictures to come! 

New stockists and beautiful images of my jewellery!

Hello Blog Readers!

I understand it's been a while since I last updated my blog about my work. I've been in the shed almost continuously making new pieces and producing more from previous molds. I have been arranging stockists around the UK which now includes:

• Cloud 8 Gallery, Bacup, Lancashire.
• Siop Alys, Machynlleth.

This next week I will be preparing for a festival in Cardiff that I'm taking part in. I have a stand at Tafwyl, the annual Welsh Festival of Cardiff that is a free event to encourage the speaking of Welsh that will be held in Cardiff Castle on Saturday, the 12th of July. There are events on all day, music, games for children and my stall will be there too! 

www.tafwyl.org/en/

I have been in touch with Cloud 9 Gallery in Bacup, Lancashire and they have started to stock both my ceramics and jewellery. If you are in the area then go and visit, it's a lovely new gallery with hand-made and crafted produce!

Here are some images of my work that is showing in Machynlleth Parliment House over the summer. I hope that my work will then move to Siop Alys, which is the shop just next door to the Parliment House long-term with other makers and designers based in Wales.

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I visited Collect 2014 about a month ago, here are some images from the Fair. There were some amazing pieces from various galleries, such as Bodil Manz, Elizabeth Fritz and Michael Eden pieces, it was great inspiration for me to continue my work in Cardiff.

These two examples of work both had similar concepts to my practise, that of breaking up and re-building ceramics creating new pieces from traditional inspirational methods and processes.

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I also visited the last year of Degree Show work at Howard Gardens, Cardiff. It was a brilliant show with some amazing pieces. The sculpture area had some amazing installations and the ceramics was also incredible.

This was an installation using acetate and film like materials to make floating shapes that were then reflected onto the walls using a projector. The way they moved in the space was incredible.

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I thought I'd give you a small insight into how my pieces look just out of the mold, and how much fettling is needed for all my pieces due to the complicated form of the work. I have also included a video of my making for you bloggers to see!

 

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I also wanted to show you my lucky streak in finding these beautiful two items in a skip near my home in Machynlleth. This mahogany veneered antique cabinet is a beautiful way to display my work, and compliments the pieces very well. I am to use it for my various craft fairs this year as a part of my stall to show my work. I also came across this lovely mirror in the skip that I will use for displaying jewellery for the fairs.

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Lastly, here is one of my exciting new wall pieces that I have been working on for a possible solo exhibition next year. I hope to cast these in plaster and including images of my work as transfers on the flat middle part. I love how the small handles and additions from previous ceramics flow into a frame-like shape around the centre part.