Tag Archives: artists

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Ulf Nawrot from Germany seems to be doing a post-it project. Unfortunately I can't tell you much about it because his site doesn't have any information apart from the images and his contact details.

Ulf Nawrot - Post It Drawing
Ulf Nawrot: Post It Drawing

The page of post-it drawings is utterly fab though - go have a look. While the individual drawings are fun, you definitely need to see them all together to get the full effect. It really shows how effective a repeated form can be - even though the drawings are all quite different, the yellow of the post-it's and the repeated size, ties them all into a coherent visual whole.

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the heartful blogger has started a project called 100 Letters, that is directly inspired by The Diary Project. I'm so flattered!

She will be sending out 100 proper handwritten letters in a year and she'll be doing a drawing on the back of each. As you can see, her drawing style is quite different from my own.

The Heartful Blogger - Envelope No 1
The Heartful Blogger: Envelope No 1

I wish her every success and hope she enjoys her project as much as I (mostly!) enjoy mine. And now, I really must give myself a small mental kick and go and draw my own envelope...

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Ullabenulla is a good art blogger who always seems to find inspiring links and images. Her latest post about gloves, features this lovely piece by Kate Fletcher.

Kate Fletcher - The Glove Laid Bare
Kate Fletcher: The Glove Laid Bare

Kate describes the work, thus:

"A pair of pristine white 1950’s gloves was a very beautiful and – aspirational thing for women of that time, although they often belied the work worn hands they hid.

I have turned the gloves inside out, dyed them with Eucalyptus cordata, stitched them, embellished them, so they are presented in a more raw and honest light, accentuating the more limited mould of their origins."

I just love this piece - the idea of ageing something, turning it inside out and revealing the hidden centre, both physically and emotionally, appeals to me so strongly.

Unfortunately, I can't find any real information about Kate Fletcher, she has another piece of work on the same website and she seems to be based in Tasmania, Australia but that's it. Kate, if you happen to find this blog entry and you do have a website, let me know and I'll happily link to it.

It kind of proves my point though, doesn't it - artists need to have more information about themselves easily available online. While I don't mind spending ten minutes looking for information on artists, it's much easier for me to promote you if you pop up in Google straight away. And if you don't have a website at all, then you're definitely missing out on a lot of potential publicity from other artist bloggers. I have to go off and do this evening's Diary Project envelope but then I think I'll start looking at how to improve your Google rating, since it's something that several people have asked about.

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I just randomly found Annie Ok's work on Flickr. I find her Flickr is a slightly easier way to see her work than her official website.

Annie Ok - thread art
Annie Ok: 11-06

I love her use of thread, although it reminds me that it's way past time for me to get back to my own Thread Drawing series.

Kirsty Hall - art, Mnemonic, thread drawing
Kirsty Hall - Mnemonic, January 2007

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Htein Lin
Death Row
67 x 34 Vinyl housepaint on cotton 17 May 2001 Myaungmya Jail

Other people's struggle to create art can be truly humbling. Burmese artist Htein Lin, a political prisoner imprisoned for supporting the pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, managed to create art in absolutely dire circumstances. Three years after his release, the paintings and drawings that he managed to smuggle out of a harsh Burmese prison are being exhibited in Asia House in London.

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Htein Lin
Biology of Art
18 October 1999, Mandalay Jail, mixed media on cotton shirt 21 in x 21 in

I find his story incredibly inspiring:

"The death row prisoners, though tough and not the least bit aware of art, wanted to help him. “They wanted to participate in something. They felt, ‘Before our death, we can help this artist.’ ” So the men on death row willingly gave him their sarongs that were their only form of dress and served as Mr. Htein Lin’s staple canvas.

The prisoners would then be left naked because sarongs were only issued every six months. “They would sit there naked, but they were very difficult to punish,” Mr. Htein Lin said. So the prison guards would give in and issue new sarongs, ensuring a future supply for the clandestine artist."

Read the rest of this excellent and moving article at The New York Times.*

* You may have to register.

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Because you can never have too many skulls!

Skull-A-Day

Skull-A-Day is making and posting a skull every day for a year. There are some wonderfully images and creative uses of a wide range of materials.

I just love the idea of reinventing a very simple, iconic image every single day for a year - it kind of makes the Diary Project seem easy! I think I'd go bananas if I was restricted to one image for an entire year but maybe being restricted to an envelope and whatever you can fit inside it would feel too restrictive to other people. Everyone's art boundaries are different and I can definitely see the joy in being able to explore so many different materials whilst having the focus of repeating a single image.

I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this project - they only started in June so they've got quite a way to go but they've certainly got off to a roaring start. Oh, and if you want to participate they also post skull images sent in by readers.

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The Guardian had a small piece about photographer Idris Khan today. I can't find that particular piece but here's a long, more reflective article that they did on him last year. I hadn't seen his work before but I think it's wonderful. He scans and layers photographs to produce beautiful blurred, mysterious images that seem to relate as much to drawing as photography.

Idris Khan - every… page of the Holy Koran
Idris Khan: every... page of the Holy Koran, 2004

This image is every page in the Koran scanned and layered. Khan grew up as a Muslim and apparently he made this work to reflect the importance that the Koran had in his childhood. It took him 2 months to make and he followed the correct procedure for handling the Koran whilst making it - I love the implied ritual of that. I think it's an amazing piece, I particularly love the blackness in the centre of the image. Even though that's obviously an artefact of the scanning process it makes me think of the mystic void at the heart of spirituality - the ineffable nature of the divine.

Here's another piece called every... stave of Frederick Chopin's Nocturnes for the piano.

Idris Khan: every… stave of Frederick Chopin’s Nocturnes for the piano
Idris Khan: every... stave of Frederick Chopin's Nocturnes for the piano, 2004

When I look at this piece, I get the sense of the number of times it's been played. It seems to take the ephemeral experience of making or listening to music and fix it in time.

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beige, originally uploaded by Maditi.

Maditi takes absolutely exquisite polaroids and medium format photos.

She also has a great blog over at Maditi Likes - she describes it as "a collection of things I like, no words - only visuals" and it's full of inspiring images by lots of different artists and makers. Well worth a look.

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Jill Rumoshosky Werner writes an interesting blog over at Redefined.

I discovered her blog when Alyson Stanfield of Art Biz Blog linked to her very funny post, Top Ten Reasons For Becoming An Artist. Too true!

I particularly agree with her latest post about knowing when to get outside help as an artist.

"When I started, I never thought I'd need to know web design, digital imaging, search engine optimization and mass marketing techniques to become successful, but unlike most artists, I have a heavy marketing, computer and writing background...Even with all that experience, there are things I can't do by myself and for those, I look for outside help."

This is such a key realisation for any artist. I had a conversation with another artist last year when she told me that she always budgets for someone else to do the documentation of her work because she hates to do it. That moment was very instrumental in me deciding to pay someone else to design my website. I'd been trying to do it myself for years but just didn't have enough design or technical skills. I'd been coming to the realisation that I needed to pay someone else for quite a while but like most artists, I was used to doing everything myself on a shoestring budget so I was quite resistant to the idea of paying for something that I thought I ought to be able to do myself. However, while it's useful for artists to learn stuff like marketing and publicity, there comes a point when you have to say 'I can't do this as well as another professional and it's false economy for me to try'.

Do this today: Make a list of the art things you know you suck at or really hate to do and work out ways in which you can delegate that responsibility.

Can you pay someone else to do it for you?
Can you share or swap hated tasks with another artist?
Can you find creative ways to make it more interesting?
If you think you could do it but just lack confidence or knowledge, can you take a workshop or learn from someone who does know how to do it?

Remember to do the maths - if something is going to take you ages to learn and you'll never need to do it again, then it might be a false economy. Unless you actively enjoy it and it feeds into your art, it might also be an excuse for not working on your art. Remember that while you may be a 'starving artist', your time and energy are also important and worth valuing.