Wonderland

                 
 I had to opportunity to photograph an interesting fun event a couple of weeks ago. Wendy is a performance artist who does a variety of things. She started a Kick starter to raise money for an interactive adaptation of 'Alice in Wonderland' in her very own forest. Wendy lives in Luxulyan Valley which is a tucked away forest with hobbit houses and perfect for her play. She wanted to create 'Wonderland' in her own woodland and with help from many friends it was made possible. With actors, circus performers, singers and many other people just helping out with costume, make-up and the design, it was a crazy event that really was well put together. Wendy herself was Alice and her husband was the White Rabbit, the play was to happen on Easter Sunday with three performances to commence. The public would arrive to a field where the play would start and then when the White Rabbit runs towards the forest so does Alice and the public follow her along a magical journey filled with humour, singing and entertainment. 

John Howard's Studio Week 3

I went back to John's studio again as I want to get to know the different artists that go in there and also to get to know John himself more as well. I hopefully after this will have an archive of artists working on their pieces and a few medium format portraits of them as well. I wanted to print these on fiber based paper and this will create an artistic, romantic look that shows myself doing an art technique just like they're doing with print making.

This week I met Michael Donnelly who has been a painter in Cornwall for many years and has done a range of series of paintings on still life, landscape and culture. For the last 5 years he's been doing a series on landscapes around Cornwall and wanted to experiment, Michael chose the subject of landscapes as he feels it neglected in the contemporary art space. As well as painting he has now been doing Etches and Print Making and has been coming to John's studio for guidance on the subject. His etches of landscapes are copies of his sketches that he does everyday and thinks it's important to draw all the time to gain skill. He will also use aqua tinting on his etches after he has printed them as this brings out shadows and makes the piece have more depth. I will be photographing John print making and aqua tinting next week.

I also met Duncan who has been an artist in Cornwall for several years, also doing landscapes at the moment, although his are more experimental and he's just practicing the technique. He unfortunately has Parkinson's so it is getting harder for him to concentrate and do art as he needs steady hands but he was an interesting man who told me about previous projects he did around his dad's garden shed and how he enjoys his practice but it's hard to say no because of his illness.

Sarah an Art Foundation student who is friends with John was also doing some print making around the subject of 'figures' and has been print making for years, she enjoys it a lot.

Oliver's

A few weeks ago I had a six hour assignment where we had a topic to photograph for a couple of hours then had to come back edit, caption and upload to a 'news blog'.  I had the subject of 'Restaurants & Street Food Review', I first thought of all the restaurants in Falmouth and there are quite a few, I rang some places up firstly trying all the vegetarian places as I thought that could be my story angle. As of the short notice a lot of people unfortunately said no but I rang a place called 'Oliver's' who are a local fresh produce restaurant on the high street and Wendy Symon's the owner said she'd be happy for me to come along.

It was a lovely restaurant which has been around for 5 years, owned by Wendy Symon's and her husband is the chef called Ken. They only cook fresh produce from Cornwall and have a variety of dishes that they change all the time to create new cuisine for their guests and to keep up with season. One of Ken's recipes has even made it into a cookery book which they are both very proud of. Wendy  mainly hosts and waits the guests on her own during the day, she is very warm and welcoming to them. She has a waitress help her in the evenings and an extra cook in the kitchen for Ken as it gets  quite busy for them otherwise. 

Jean, 70, eats at Oliver's every day for lunch
"You get made to feel special and the food is out of this world"

I also photographed the food market as I had to wait for a while for Oliver's to open for lunch and thought I'd get the street food part of my assignment done. I went to the market and met a lady Lucy Trinder who works for The Little Cornish Deli in Penryn she was selling spices, olives and mixes. They are getting a new shop in Falmouth this year.  I also met Dave Busker who has a stall for the food his wife and son makes on his farm Cornish Mill Bakehouse. So together I have collated some images that show all the day.

Street Artists

For my artist themed work I have been also looking at street art. If I've seen any artists doing work whilst on my travels I have asked to take a photo of them with their practice, this is to document an archive of research into different types of art. I met a Graffiti Artist, Steve in St.Ives who was painting the outside of his gallery to attract visitors. I also met a couple of girls (names unknown) at Camden Market, they had a stall where they painted shoes, t-shirts and accessories, I thought this was quite interesting.

                                      

I have also a few snaps that I took, nothing to do with the project just photos! 

205dpi Magazine Issue 6

This is yet another issue of 205dpi which is an online publication made by a few people from my course. This is the 6th issue and they have some intriguing stories in them including one of mine about Margaret

Please read & enjoy

http://issuu.com/205dpi/docs/issue_6

Artists, John Howard's Studio, Week One

For another project I wanted to base my idea on artists and especially looking at artists around Cornwall or those who have moved down to the South for their practice. I wanted to also work with artists who use different techniques and use a variety of mediums other than just painting or drawing. I looked into artists who had studios and found John Howard who has a printing studio in Penryn, he moved down from Birmingham to Cornwall in 1995 and has had his studio since 2007.  His practice involves traditional etching and print making in which he goes through a series of stages before actually creating the final piece. His studio is welcome for graduates and artists in the area to come in and create artwork, he helps them by tutoring them with his knowledge as he used to lecture. John also has a few regular assistants Hannah and Clementine who as well as helping John make mass prints but in their spare time can focus on their own work.

John Howard is preparing a copper plate in order to be etched on
the first stage is filing down the edges to make a smooth base

After filing down the edges, John must polish the copper plate and
afterwards he must put powder on it to make it soluble when washing

He then heats the plate and puts a layer of hot wax before
setting it alight and then it is ready to etch onto

These are all of the rollers for print screening which is another
technique that is used in John's studio

These are  cloths that are especially used for ink as they grab the particles
which makes it easier to spread onto print screens.

Clementine creates etchings in her spare time at the studio
although she did not do an art degree 

These are the printing machines that you put the final
etched copper plate onto to create the final piece

Hannah is a Fine Art graduate from Falmouth University
and she assists John in his practice as well as developing
her own style and work. She is working on a heating technique
where she uses a product that creates ink bubbles.