As promised more details on the open studio for Skibbereen Lifelong Learning Festival. The gallery space is showcasing collaborative artwork by Paul Forde-Cialis's Arts for an Active Mind group, based on artwork by Dermot Seymour.  The studio spaces will also be open so you can catch up on what Paul and myself have been up to recently, and see the work of our new member Neisha. The studios are open every afternoon next week (Monday 11th - Friday 15th April) from 1pm - 4pm, but you might catch us there on some of the mornings too.

I had a really enjoyable day last Saturday at Astrid Jaekel's papercutting masterclass. Astrid has been artist in residence at West Cork Arts Centre for the last three weeks, and headed back to Edinburgh this weekend. It was lovely to have some new input from an artist from outside of west cork, although she spent some of her childhood here, and was revisiting her roots with this residency.  Her loose, expressive drawing style, which she often translates into skillful paper-cuts gave me a new direction in my own work with cutting out photographs.

The masterclass was a chance for the dozen or so artists who came along to try their hand at her approach to working with paper and a scalpel. It was also a nice chance to get together and catch up with other artists from around the place, as working as an artist is often a solitary business, so a masterclass was a great opportunity to work alongside others.
Astrid encouraged us to draw, fast and loose, with continuous line, just working with the views of the Skibbereen rooftops that we could see from the windows. She then showed us how to adapt the drawing to work as a papercut without losing the quality of line that a quick drawing can capture.  Here's my effort to the left<

Big thanks to Astrid for the class, and we hope to see her back here again sometime to complete the project she began here. You can see more of her work, and the drawings from Skibbereen here and you can see some images of the workshop here

In the meantime, I went back to the studio and tried a paper-cut of a portrait of my grandmother, cut out of a landscape photograph, from a book, then tried combining it with other landscapes behind. Which do you think works best?

Alison

Join us for the opening event this Friday, 21st August at 4pm....artwork by Neisha Azzopardi, Paul Forde Cialis, Edwin Cridland, Alison Cronin, Tom Doig and Susan Montgomery.

An Occurrence of Diverse Elements is a collage exhibition curated by Shape Art Studio artist Alison Cronin
Featuring; Neisha Azzopardi, Paul Forde Cialis, Edwin Cridland, Alison Cronin, Tom Doig and Susan Montgomery.

The origin of the word collage is literally to glue or paste, however collage is now used in so many ways that this definition is no longer accurate. In a world overwhelmed with images the creation of something completely new becomes less and less likely. Creativity comes in combining what is already there in new and interesting ways, upcycling if you will.

Collage; an assemblage or an occurrence of diverse elements or fragments in unlikely or unexpected juxtaposition (Dictionary.com)

This definition seems more appropriate than the physical act of gluing to a surface. An Occurrence of Diverse Elements juxtaposes a number of artists who each explore collage in different ways, but share an interest in combining individual elements within a surface to create something new.

Neisha Azzopardi works with automatic writing to bring text collage into her mixed media work. Automatic writing itself creates a collage effect with words, diverse elements and fragments of thoughts strung together by the subconscious.

Paul Forde Cialis says; ‘The collage aesthetic is a very significant medium to me, as it taps into my subconscious by creating unlikely juxtapositions using imagery garnered from both popular and archaic culture.’ His work brings what can seem like a haphazard accumulation of images together, in a way that often provides its own darkly humorous narrative.

Edwin Cridland's series of digital photo-montages, move collage completely into the digital world, where the pixels themselves are the glue that binds them. His richly textured prints playfully subvert the notion that the camera never lies, and add new layers to what we think we see.

Alison Cronin's collages use archival photographs, rather than commercially produced imagery and cutting through techniques that emphasise the nature of surface as a two dimensional reflection of reality. For her, photographs are a moment in time, captured in a surface that can be manipulated, re-aligned, or obscured.

Tom Doig brings us back to the original definition of gluing images carefully clipped from his vast collection of printed imagery to create complex, skillful compositions. Work shown includes a series of marine themed works were created as part of a commission for the Ocean to City festival in Cork.

Susan Montgomery works with found objects to create simple delicate works that combine a variety of materials. The most 3 dimensional of the collages featured here her works exemplify the idea of diverse elements being brought together to become something new.

Some images from the studio exhibition Is Anybody Watching? currently on show at Shape Art Studio for the Skibbereen Arts Festival week. We're open everyday from 11am - 5pm on Mardyke street. These shots are of the exhibition space but there's plenty more work to see by all three of the artists in their studio spaces and upstairs on the balcony, so call in for a good old nosey around, and meet the artists - at least one of us will be in there each day minding the exhibition and will be happy to stop for a chat and show you around. There are loads of exhibitions on across Skibbereen this week, and maps available around town to help you navigate your way around all the sites.

The exhibition includes brand new collage works from Paul Forde Cialis, available at the very reasonable price of €120 (unframed) so now's your chance to grab an original Forde Cialis. A nude by Rebecca Keyser was recently praised by Cristin Leach Hughes in the Culture section of the Sunday Times and this exhibition features two more of her large expressive life paintings, along with other works. Alison Cronin is continuing her exploration of old photographs, but this new work has taken a diversion into painting, with acrylic works that exploit light and dark to dramatic effect. Her work also includes the first Skibbereen showing of her Jimmy the One installation, previously exhibited at the Courthouse Gallery in  Co. Clare, and Hive Emerging in Waterford.  Don't miss out!