CMYK Exhibition

From February 26th until March 1st the Level 4 Fine Art students of Leeds College of Art are holding a huge collective exhibition showcasing the work of over 100 artists. The exhibition aims to bring the work of the students together for the first time outside of the studio setting for all to enjoy. The opening night was fantastic! It was packed with friends, family and alcohol and was an excellent opportunity to finally see what all the first year students have been woking on for the past five or so months. I managed to get some photos of some of the work so I thought I'd share them with you.

Rex Southwick

Tobi Brown

Max Rent-Isaacs

Ollie Roberts

Nyasha Pedyo

Daniel Harland

Hollie-Grace Clarke

Jess Cox

Chloe Goldsmith

Emily Rogers

XOXO Exhibition Coming Soon!

It's exactly two weeks until the opening of our Level 5 Fine Art exhibition XOXO, which will run until the 15th March. There will be approximately eighty-five students exhibiting work across a range of disciplines such as painting, drawing, sculpture and performance displaying the diversity and individuality of second year. If you are in Leeds between the 10th and 15th of March, then be sure to pop in and have a walk around the gallery space and experience some fantastic art!

Off The Page - Illustration Exhibition

Leeds Collge of Art's BA Illustration students present 'Off The Page', a fantastic print exhibition at Colours May Vary delivering a collection of stunning publications based on the lives and works of numerous authors. Limited to only two colours, s square format and traditional printing processes the Level 5 students have organised and lead a great display of works for all to enjoy.

I luckily managed to get down to Colours May Vary for the opening just before the last drinks were consumed. The place was packed with guests and artwork which provided for a buzzing and inspiring atmosphere. Unfortunately the place was a little too busy to get some quality photos of everyones work but I got enough to give you a flavour of what then exhibition has to offer. The show is open until March 13th (my Birthday!!!) so if you have any spare time I would recommend dropping by and having a nosey, you wont be disappointed with either the exhibition or the wonderful shop!

Show Room

It's been over a month from when I submitted my portfolio of work for my first two modules and I am delighted to announce that my hard work paid off! I managed to bag myself two First Class grades; one for my Website and Blog and the other for being able to evidence a relationship between Practice and Theory which I am over the moon about. I had some great feedback from my tutors including some artists to look at and some ideas to push.

Since receiving my feedback I have finished this painting, 'Show Room', which is a slight change from my still life based works. I have started to extend the idea of looking at assemblages of objects to looking at rooms and interiors to try and understand how we read them. I am going to start looking at interior spaces and paint motifs such as chairs, tables and objects collaged together from places like Ikea and Home Style magazines to comment on the idea that everyone wants the 'ideal home'. 

I'm not sure how my work will evolve yet or whether it will be successful but I will keep you updated on my journey through the coming months.

Reform

The Batsford Prize is an annual competition for all studying artists who are invited to submit work related to their chosen theme. This year the prize is 'Reuse, Recycle, Reclaim' and the judges will be looking for works that reflect the need to reuse and recycle materials.

I decided to create a piece that reflects on this brief and enter the competition because I believe engaging in the art world outside of university is very important. Taking into consideration the theme of this years Batsford Prize, 'Reform' is painted using recycled household paint from an environmental social enterprise, Seagulls Reuse, in the aim of promoting the 'reuse of leftover and unwanted paint to create opportunities for local people'. The frame of the canvas is constructed from repurposed timber in an attempt to fight back against the disposable society we live in. Centered on shape, colour and abstraction 'Reform' seeks to bring a more contemporary quality to the often overlooked genre of still life, whilst using plat motifs to reference the carbon cycle and impermanence of life.

I hope you all like this new piece and fingers crossed I might be selected for the next round!

Anna Valdez

Anna Valdez | Coking with Bacon | Oil on Canvas 

Anna Valdez | Laptop with Landscape | Oil on Canvas

Anna Valdez | Plants and Drawings | Oil on Canvas

I recently stumbled across the work of Anna Valdez, a visual artist with a background of anthropology and video who paints still life arrangements composed of various household objects. Houseplants, books, quilts, clothes and drawings are some of the reoccurring motifs that appear in her paintings and are enable her to 'understand the domestic sphere as emblematic of both personal and collective experience'.

Valdez's playful contemporary still life paintings really resonate with me because of her use of bold colours and cleaver juxtaposition of organic plant life and man made objects. Incorporating bright textiles into her paintings it provides a lovely textural backdrop for her twenty-first century arrangements. I really admire Anna Valdez's work and she has become a huge source of inspiration in my practice.

CMYK

So as promised, here is my post about the CMYK prints I produced in the second half of the screen print workshop. The process started with scanning in a section of one of my paintings and turning it into four separate positives (one for each of the process colours - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) using Photoshop and Illustrator. I then took these positives into the print room and exposed them onto a large screen ready for printing. Once setting up my screen and preparing the ink I was able to create 20 finished pieces, totalling 80 separate printed layers, a feat I never thought I could have achieved prior to the workshop.

I learned a great deal from the process and it has inspired me to think about using screen printing more within my practice. I am really keen to turn some of my sketches into printed tarot cards to use in making up compositions and I would love to create more small CMYK prints of my paintings. Hopefully with my newfound love of screen printing you will see some more of them in the future.

If you missed my first post about the screen printing workshop here is the link.

Silk Screen Shenanigans

In the past I have found the print room an intimidating place because it is usually full of people who know exactly what they are doing. Printed Textiles and Illustration students are often found there working away with such confidence that it is slightly off-putting for the likes of me who have no clue how to do any of it... until now. Luckily for me the print room facilities were booked out for my course last week to do a couple of workshops which I found extremely valuable.

I spent the first half of the week in a digital preparation workshop learning about the aspect of making positives to use on a silk screen. It was an amazing workshop as I gained knowledge on how to prepare for colour separation, half tone and CMYK printing. I then took what I had learned in those sessions to the print workshop where I was able to have a practice with a huge screen and a vacuum bed which was super fun! Unfortunately, because of timing constraints I was only able to print one design but I played about with multiple colours and different papers. Above are some photos of my two colour prints.

I was really surprised at how easy the whole process was. It's time consuming and a lot of the prep is spent waiting for things to dry but the results are well worth the effort! I had such a great time in the workshop and it has definitely inspired me to think about taking my work into silk screen, especially now as I know how the whole system works.

I also did some CMYK prints at the end of the week but I am going to do another post about them so keep an eye out for that!