Tag Archives: reviews

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Tracey Emin: 20 Years at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.

Visiting this retrospective was primarily valuable because it confirmed for me that I just don't rate Tracey Emin. When someone's whole shtick is an emotional outpouring, it's a bit of a problem if the viewer doesn't feel anything. I didn't hate the art, I just didn't care about most of it; instead I walked around the exhibition feeling uninvolved and rather bored.

The problem is that Emin's work is so autobiographical that it's like reading someone else's diary or worse, being grabbed by the collar and forced to listen to a drunken rendition of someone else's tedious problems.

I suspect that to be a great artist, you need to transcend the self and tap into something bigger. Emin seems - so far - to be unable to take that leap. I learnt that she loved her gran; that she has a cat; that her dad brings her flowers; that one of her abortions was traumatic; that her bed got messy and that her favourite uncle died in a car crash - but I didn't learn anything new about myself or the human condition. In my opinion, art needs to connect with the viewer, to touch something in them, to resonate, to disturb or to enlighten: apart from one work, Emin's art did none of this for me.

For something that purports to be going deep, her work is remarkably stuck on the surface. I was reading textile pieces that said things like, "I feel so fucking lonely" and thinking, "yeah, we all do sometimes, so what?"

There were a couple of pieces that I responded to, mostly her later work, which suggests that she may be improving. I sort of liked her rickety rollercoaster, the newer white and cream blankets and the little monoprints of birds but even these were nothing to write home about.

That said, I do appreciate the casual and forthright use of stitching on her signature appliquéd blanket pieces. I've always liked the way that Emin uses textiles in such a confident fashion - unlike many other female artists working with stitch (myself included!) she never seems to get hung up on the domestic and feminine history of fabric; she just cracks on and does it with a 'sod anyone who thinks sewing isn't real art' attitude! I am grateful to her for that because I think she makes it easier for the rest of us.


Tracey Emin: Hellter Fucking Skelter

The piece I liked best was a video work from 1995, the well-known, Why I Never Became A Dancer. The story of her early teenage sexuality and how she was punished for it strongly resonated with me. The tattered, grainy images of Margate shot on Super 8 film are very evocative and the ending, where Emin dances her heart out in defiance of those who tormented her, is genuinely filled with hope and joy. There's something more than pure autobiography here and if Emin could access that more often, she might become the talented artist she seems to think she is. But as it stands, it's the only really good piece in the whole retrospective.

For me the major problem is the literalness of Emin's work; if she could take her raw emotions and her autobiographical objects and transform them into something greater than the sum of their parts then it might work. As it is, I'm not sure that what she's doing is even art: most of the time it feels more like art therapy - just an exhibitionist museum to the self. In short, I feel that on leaving an exhibition, my dominant thought should not be, "well hey, at least she has great tits!"

I've always thought that Emin could be good if she could just get the hell over herself. It's interesting to compare her to someone like Louise Bourgeois, who has also extensively and obsessively mined her emotions and her past but to far greater and more lasting effect. I once saw a show of Bourgeois' art at the Serpentine that disturbed me so much that half way through I had to go outside for some fresh air. On the evidence of this show, Emin has a long way to go before she'll have the same effect.

If you want to see it, the exhibition is on at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh until November 9th.

A ROUND UP OF OTHER REVIEWS


Rather damning review from The Times and a slightly more sympathetic one from The Herald.

Emin talking about the work to The Sunday Herald.

Problematic interview with the artist where she comes across as infuriatingly arrogant. This bit made me particularly loopy!

Some people might find an unmade bed studenty and corny. But Emin is absolutely adamant that "taste cannot get mixed up with what's good and what's bad". There is a definite standard. Quality control. But presumably there are great artists out there, undiscovered? "No. They'd have made it if they were any good." I wonder how she can possibly say that. It shows enormous faith in the establishment for someone supposedly so anarchic. "Why would I be anti-establishment when the establishment is so good to me?" she demands.

This is just so monumentally stupid - being good at playing the art world game is NOT the same as being a good artist.

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Well, I've come back from a rather rainy Scotland to a rather rainy Bristol - are we going to get any sort of summer this year, I wonder? I've just been out in the garden between showers to re-stake my tomatoes, which were so battered by the recent winds that one of the bamboo canes had snapped completely. There's still plenty of fruit on my ramshackle three plants although they can't hold a candle to my dad's very impressive crop but then he does have two greenhouses full of them!

Scotland was good fun, despite the rain, and I managed to squeeze in some art stuff between all the family commitments. Unfortunately, despite taking my password with me I couldn't log in to my blog for some reason and had to content myself with taking lots of photos and notes instead.

So here's the edited version of my week:

Last Wednesday, I met Kate from the Needled blog for a delicious lunch at the Fruitmarket gallery. Meeting her was definitely one of the highlights of my trip; she's a fascinating and intelligent woman and two and half hours fairly flew by as we discussed everything under the sun.

On Thursday I visited Rosslyn Chapel (warning: link has music). It's only about 20 miles from my parents' house but I'd never been before.

Rosslyn Chapel
Kirsty Hall: Entrance to Rosslyn Chapel, Aug 2008

It's a stunning medieval church that has been popular for years because of its unusual architecture and disputed Knights Templar associations but interest sky-rocketed after it featured in The Da Vinci Code. Apparently the church used to get about 10,000 visitors a year but got 70,000 visitors in the year the book was published and numbers have remained high since. The Trust that runs the church was initially quite overwhelmed but all the extra visitors mean they can now fund an ambitious conservation programme for this unique and very special building.

Personally I was far more interested in the incredible quality of the ornate carvings than the possibility of the Holy Grail being buried in its crypts! A guide pointed out a lovely little fact to me: the botanical carvings on the outside show the front of leaves, while the carvings on the inside show the backs of leaves - how fantastic is that! Unfortunately you aren't allowed to take photos inside but the outside is almost as highly decorated as the inside and the protective metal structure that keeps rain off the building means that you can climb up to get a closer look at the wonderful flying buttresses, carved spires and large windows.

Photograph by Kirsty Hall of large stained glass window, Rosslyn Chapel
Kirsty Hall: Large stained glass window, Rosslyn Chapel, Aug 2008

Photograph of flying buttresses, Rosslyn Chapel
Kirsty Hall: Flying buttresses, Rosslyn Chapel, Aug 2008

Rosslyn Chapel
Kirsty Hall: Carvings on spires on Rosslyn Chapel, Aug 2008

The thing that struck me most about the church was the sheer confidence of it. To build such an ornate structure in the war-torn and brutish Scotland of the Middle Ages spoke to me of great power, wealth and artistic vision. I don't suppose that quality stone workers have ever come cheap and the building took 40 years to build and is absolutely covered with carvings, both inside and out. It really is a remarkable achievement and if you get the chance to visit, you should.

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Sadly most of the galleries in Edinburgh were in a changeover week so I didn't do my usual round of exhibitions but I did manage to see the Tracey Emin retrospective at the Gallery of Modern Art on the Sunday. I'll do a separate review for that because I have a lot to say about it.

Oh, and my son and I saw The Dark Knight, which we both thought was astounding. All the performances are amazing and although it's a fast paced action movie, it also raises a lot of questions about loyalty and the meaning of morality. On reflection, it doesn't completely hold together on certain plot points but it's well worth seeing.

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Something a bit different today - my very first blog tour. Alyson B. Stanfield, author of I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion is here to promote her book. I recommend visiting the other stops on the blog tour, I read them all last week and it was fascinating to see everyone else's questions.

Read on to find out how you can win a free copy of her book, but first here's our short interview:

KH: Firstly, I’d like to congratulate you on the book, Alyson, I think it’s amazing and an incredibly valuable resource for artists. I’ve already started working my way through the exercises, I’m currently rewriting my old artists’ statement using your guidelines and although it’s not finished yet, I already feel that the new statement is going to be much more accessible and powerful.

AS: Kirsty, I’m so glad to hear that! I’m glad that you found value in the book right away--that you could pick it up and use it immediately.

KH: I did have one small problem with the book though – it was really tough to come up with a question for the blog tour because every time I thought of one, I’d turn the page and find you’d answered it already! It was as though you were anticipating my needs before I even knew I had them.

AS: I’m psychic that way. :)

KH: I know you’re a big fan of blogging for artists, as am I. However, I’ve noticed that much of the art world doesn’t seem to have caught up with us on this; I feel that I’m far better known online than offline. So my question is, how can an artist translate blogging success into offline art world success?

AS: Oh, wow! You are spot on with this question, Kirsty.

First, let’s define “the art world.” I’m going to assume that you mean the traditional art world that is defined by high-end galleries and museums. Is that correct? (I tend to believe that there are many different art worlds that are somewhat oblivious to one another.)

Second, remember that blogging is only one tool in your marketing arsenal. It has to be part of an overall self-promotion plan in which everything works together to help you succeed. Again, I return to your original question, which is a search for “offline art world success.” And I have to reiterate what I wrote in the book: You must define success for yourself (pages 9-12). Knowing what “offline art success” means to you will help you clarify your path.

The best advice I can give you (an artist in the “online art world”) is to keep it up. The more people who know you, the better off you are. It doesn’t matter if the people are in a virtual or real space. It only matters that you are known and that you keep your name in front of people.

At the same time, most art needs to be appreciated in a real space. And most people need to see the art in a real space in order to fully value its complexities. That means getting your art out there and on exhibit as much as possible. Keep showing, keep showing, keep showing. Use your online contacts to set up shows in new venues or to trade venues with artists in other locations. Differentiate yourself from other artists (and other artist-bloggers) as much as possible.

Kirsty, I loved the energy behind The Diary Project. I think this was a stellar example of how to bring the virtual world into a real space. Artists who create online projects such as these should also come up with some sort of marketing plans to go with them. These might include mailings (snail mail as well as email), updates to patrons and potential galleries, being a guest blogger on other sites, creating articles about the experience, issuing press releases, and so forth.

Getting your art appreciated in the real world might also mean developing strategic alliances with others (pages 190-193). In The Diary Project, I can see possible strategic alliances with a stationery (envelope) supplier, stamp collectors, or even with the post office. I can’t tell you that this will meet your definition of success, but I can tell you that these people exist in a real space and are involved in the real as well as the virtual world.

Bottom line: an online presence can’t be seen as separate from your overall goals. Take a serious look at how the blogging fits in with your definition of success and what you need to do to supplement and to build on your Internet fame.

KH: Thanks for your detailed answer, Alyson, that's really helpful to me and I hope it'll be helpful to my readers as well. Guess it's time to do the first step in your book and define just what I mean by success.

Thanks for visiting Up All Night Again, Alyson and best of luck with the book.

And now onto the all-important freebie! Visit this site, read the instructions, and enter. Your odds are good as Alyson is giving away a free copy on most of the blog tour stops. You can increase your odds by visiting the other blog tour stops and entering on those sites as well. I highly recommend that you do this as the book is great, with masses of helpful information and lots of well placed nudges for even the most reluctant artist (and let's face it, when it comes to promoting ourselves, most of us need all the help we can get). In short, it's a very helpful addition to any artist's library. Although I got my copy for free, I would have gladly paid for it; I found it much more useful than the other books I've read on this subject.

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I went along to the Spike Island Open on Friday evening. Unfortunately I wasn't really in the mood, so I didn't get as much out of it as I'd hoped. However, there were some artists who impressed me...

Ceramicist Karen Welsh was showing an unsettling series of domestic porcelain featuring little doll hands and feet. I especially loved the tiny little milk jugs with a hand instead of a handle. Unfortunately the only photos I could find were tiny, so you'll have to go to her website to look.

I've been aware of Philippa Lawrence's work for a while now, ever since I saw her stunning gilded lightbulbs in [AN] Magazine a few years ago.


Philippa Lawrence: Glow

For this event, she was showing some wonderful melted lightbulbs (they'd clearly been slumped in a kiln) and large photographs of her wrapped tree pieces.


Philippa Lawrence: Bound

Keep an eye on this one, she's definitely an artist to watch!

Patrick Haines makes gorgeous cast sculptures based on birds and deliciously spiky houses from thorn branches. I love his stuff because he such has a light hand: his work captures the essence of birds, rather than being literal and boring copies. As a birdwatcher, I appreciate this feeling of a bird that's only just alighted on a branch and is just about to flit off again - there's a real sense of movement in his work.


Patrick Haines: Blackthorn and Swallow

Nicola Donovan was my favourite artist of the night, she makes edgy works in textile that references clothing and childhood toys and her sinister but funny fetish rats made from black vinyl and leather knocked me for six. Unfortunately they're so new that they're not online yet (I overheard her telling someone that she'd finished the last one the night before the private view - btdt!). She makes works with pins too.


Nicola Donovan: The fur sedition-21st century silver fox

Kate Raggett was showing her latest works, ink drawings based on visits to sacred landscapes. I'm a big fan of her drawings, I own a small one and it's my favourite piece in my art collection. I couldn't find an example of her most recent drawings but this is typical of her work.


Kate Raggett: Discatom

Jessica Bartlett makes exquisite drawings by burning images of natural forms into thickly primed canvas.


Jessica Bartlett: Feather

Invariably, there were several other artists that I wanted to showcase but who don't have an online presence - their loss!

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Despite the heat, I managed to get over to Sydney to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art today. There are currently two exhibitions on: Force Field, a retrospective by Australian artist, Fiona Hall and an exhibition of Aboriginal Bark Paintings.

This was the first time that I'd seen Fiona Hall's work and I had mixed feelings about it. The pieces I liked the most were the ones where her technique and obvious skill worked in conjunction with her ideas rather than being overwhelmed by them.

I found the pieces made from tupperware consistently witty and engaging. My favourite installation in the show was Cell Culture, a vitrine containing abstract animal forms made from tupperware and thousands of beads. Being able to recognise many specifically Australian birds and animals added an extra dimension to the work for me and I'm sure I enjoyed it more than I would have before I visited Australia.

Fiona Hall: Cell Culture
Fiona Hall: Cell Culture

This image was too wide and I'm working on an unfamiliar laptop and don't fancy hunting for editing software, so just click on it for the bigger version.

Fiona Hall: Cell Culture, detail
Fiona Hall: Cell Culture, detail

I also enjoyed an installation that featured a wall of tupperware containing lights that blinked on and off in sequence - simple, yet strangely hypnotic.

Paradisus Terestris, her large series of sardine tins containing metal reliefs of human body parts that blossom out into intricately cut metal plants was also enticing.

Fiona Hall: Paradisus Terestris
Fiona Hall: Paradisus Terestris

This work reminded me of The Song of Songs in the Bible - using plants to describe the human figure or vice versa is an ancient story but one that Hall manages to make refreshing here through sheer audacity of technique; you can hardly believe the detail and the fineness of cutting involved in the plants, while the parts of human figures are breathtaking in their minimalist assurance.

Two large installations containing multiples cast in yellow soap also caught my attention, as did the nests made from shredded bank notes and some very beautiful goache paintings of trade plants on bank notes. For me, Hall is at her best when making sculpture, although I also enjoyed her etchings, drawings and some of the photograph and video pieces.

Unfortunately, her work didn't always quite hit the mark and although there was much that engaged and amused me, there was nothing that absolutely knocked me dead. Her work was often just a little bit too obvious for my tastes; I felt that she often spoilt the work by over-egging the pudding. For example, a set of figurative sculptures made from knitted video tape seemed fairly effective until I noticed that the images related far too directly to the film they'd been made from - i.e. a foot coming out of the box for the film, They Died With Their Boots On. I prefer work to be a little more mysterious and I don't mind having to work at understanding art - generally, I'm far more tolerant of ambiguity than I am of being preached at and I felt that Hall's work fell into the didactic far too often. She is clearly an artist who is strongly engaged with her subject matter - colonialism; sexuality and the interaction between people and the environment - but I personally believe that it's a mistake to let your politics overwhelm your art.

There are a couple of interesting articles about the artist here and here. This quote made me laugh:

"I'm just relieved that I live in an era where, particularly for women, it's easy to have a life as an artist. Otherwise I don't know what I would be good for," Hall says.

Boy can I relate to that!

The exhibition runs until 1st June 2008 and despite my reservations, I do think it's well worth a visit if you're in the Sydney area. This post is already quite long and it's late here, so I'll save the review of the other exhibition for another day.

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The Decorated Journal by Gwen Diehn is a book that focuses on art journalling.

Gwen Diehn book

The book is divided into sections, the first is an extensive exploration of the different materials used in art journalling including paper, pencils, paints, pens, glue and other commonly used materials. This section is, to my mind, the strongest in the book. It contains handy tables that show the advantages and disadvantages of different types of glue, a section on the paint colours you'll need to be able to mix a good palette, lots of information about the different grades of paper, explanations of the properties of various different materials and clear advice on what to buy and why. There's even a page on making your own ink and paint from naturally occurring pigments that you've gathered! I also like the way she emphasises investing in a few well chosen, quality materials rather than getting suckered into buying endless new products that are actually quite limited in scope.

In the second section of the book, Diehn describes different types of journalling. She categorises journals into 7 different types and provides techniques that she thinks are particularly appropriate for each. I wasn't totally convinced by her categories and most of the stuff I objected to occurred in this section.

The third section of the book is called 'Pages In Stages' and Diehn splits the working process into 'starters, middles and toppings'.explores how to work with the different levels of the page through techniques like layering, collage and using text. This is one of the shorter sections in the book since it's basically reprising things that have already been described in earlier sections.

The final section of the book deals with some basic bookbinding - Diehn is a big fan of making your own journals so that you can control the size and type of paper and she demonstrates how to make several simple handmade books plus how to customise existing journals and reuse the covers from old hardback books. I have several other bookbinding books already so there wasn't a whole lot here that was new to me but the information seemed clear and competent and it's obvious that it's something she's passionate about.

Although there is undoubtedly much of value here, this is not a book that I can wholeheartedly recommend. The main problem I had with this book was Diehn's tone, which I found overly lecturing and didactic. It's very clear that she feels there's a right and a wrong way to do things - for example, she assumes that paper buckling is always to be avoided but personally, I've found that buckled paper can be an interesting design element on a journal page rather than a problem.

Sure, it's important to learn 'the correct way' to do things and I can understand her desire for 'good practice' but I also felt she could have recognised that art journalling is an expressive, experimental and free space for the artist, where the rules don't always need to apply. It's not that what she says is necessarily wrong - I agree with many of her opinions - but the way she says them invariably seemed to get my back up. Reading her words made me feel as though I was back at art college again. This isn't surprising since Diehn is a tutor at an art college but I didn't find it at all helpful or inspiring. Since I'm currently trying to unlearn quite a few of those art school conventions, I don't need this approach. I took particular exception to her saying things like "you have to earn the right to draw the details": I think that's a staggeringly unhelpful thing to say to anyone, whatever stage of drawing they're at.

In addition, I wasn't particularly blown away by the journal pages shown; they often seemed to fall into a particular style and I felt there could have been a lot more variety. There also frequently seemed to be a disconnect between the illustrations and the text and it was sometimes hard to work out why a journal page had been selected to show a particular technique or idea.

However, many people might find her 'voice of authority' reassuring and comforting rather than invasive and irritating, as I did. If you want a book that tells you to 'buy this colour' and 'don't do that', then this would be a good book to invest in because, despite my personal reservations, there is a huge amount of good information in here. In particular, if you're new to art or art journalling and want to know about different materials and to be talked through the basics, then this book has a lot to recommend it. I just didn't like the feeling of being talked down to but I'm well aware that this may be my personal hang-up. Certainly the book gets generally positive reviews on Amazon.com and elsewhere.

I borrowed this book from the library and while I'm glad that I've read it because I did learn some interesting new stuff, I was even more glad that I hadn't bought it or added it to my Christmas list because personally I would have been disappointed. That said, I'm sure that many people would find it invaluable but I'd advise getting it from the library or checking it out in a bookshop before you buy to make sure it's right for you.

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Last night I pottered over to my friend Camilla's private view at the Here Gallery. Unfortunately I got there quite late, which meant that I missed seeing some friends but there was a silver lining because I got to go to the pub with Camilla and a few people afterwards.

The show is called Abracadabra and features work by three different artists - Cindy Jaswal, Claire Platt and of course, Camilla Stacey. It's a fun little show and well worth a look if you're in the Bristol area. Interestingly, the show came about after the artists met through the internet - yet another example of how artists can find and develop art opportunities online.

Camilla is showing some of her series of reglazed found porcelain figures against a background of hand made wallpaper. She hunts for little figures in charity shops and then re-paints them with gold lustre glaze and then re-fires them. The glaze seems to make the figures heavy and sometimes slightly melancholic because it's not a bright gold but more of a dull, thick colour that seems to pull the light into the figures rather than reflecting it. She also had a set of white figures in varying states of decrepitude that she'd cast in plaster. She gave me a little head with a missing nose, which I'll be putting in my cabinet of curiosities. I hadn't seen this work before, so I was interested in how it was coming along but I was sad that Camilla hadn't shown any of her excellent drawings.

Camilla Stacey
Camilla Stacey - Virgin Mary

Claire Platt trained in Bristol but now lives and works in London. She's showing a large group of her embroideries, drawings and ceramics based on human anatomy. I liked these a great deal, they're shown in a big group and I love the way they work together. A lot of the pieces have gold thread, are encrusted with sequins or are shown in mirrored or gilt frames - it could be tacky but somehow it really works.

Claire Platt
Claire Platt - Installation View

I was a bit naughty and bought myself an early birthday present - one of the most abstract drawings (you can't see it clearly but it's the little blue rectangle on the bottom left). Claire, if you happen to read this, I'm thrilled to have got one of your pieces but both Camilla and I think you're drastically underpricing your work!

If I'd had the money, I would definitely have bought one of Cindy Jarwal's exquisite ink drawings too. Sadly, although they were very fairly priced at £100, they were just a bit out of my reach - one of the downsides of being an artist is that although you'd happily buy art, you don't usually have much of a budget for it. I'm not showing Cindy's work in this post because she asks that people don't reproduce it without permission but you can see more of it on her Flickr or her website and it's gorgeous so I strongly encourage you to hop over and have a look. Her style reminded me quite strongly of my own Diary Project drawings, so it's not surprisingly that I liked them so much. They were my favourite things in the exhibition and I may just have to go back and see if I can buy a piece in instalments. I don't buy that much art - usually just one or two pieces a year - but I know that I'll absolutely kick myself if I don't get one of these.

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Wow, I didn't mean to be away for so long - sorry about that. Despite my policy of trying to post most days, the last two weeks have been completely hopeless. Last week I had the cold from hell, on top of an existing illness and it just knocked me flat. I'm still sneezing explosively but at least I've got my voice back and I'm thankful that I'm no longer violently coughing quite so frequently. Ah well, at least it's taught me is that I need to store a backlog of extra posts to use when I'm not well - so I guess it was useful for something!

Needless to say, not much art has been happening around here lately - I've been managing to do my daily envelope for The Diary Project and that's been about it. However, in between doses of cough medicine and Lemsip, I have been getting plenty of knitting and reading done - so here, for your delectation and delight, is a book review.

Following Katherine's positive review of The Drawing Book by Dr. Sarah Simblet, I ordered a copy from the local library (don't you just love interlibrary loans!) and it's been my late night reading for the past week or so.

I can safely say that The Drawing Book will definitely be going on my Christmas wish list because it's absolutely chock full of good stuff, including one of the clearest explanations of traditional perspective that I've read.

The book is split into short, well written chapters on a variety of subjects including landscape drawing portraiture, nature drawing and even abstract drawing. I particularly liked that drawing from the imagination wasn't ignored - so many drawing instruction books focus solely on realism, which often puts me off since that's not my primary interest. Simblet introduces each topic with relevant drawings, both her own and other artists, before going on to detail a drawing exercise that the reader can attempt. However, even if you don't try any of the exercises - and I haven't yet - you'll still get a lot out of this book.

I was particularly struck by the way she looks at drawing with a fresh eye and how she's able to communicate that to the reader. The book is full of a wide range of great drawings and she has included some more unusual artists alongside the usual subjects such as Picasso, Goya and Rembrandt. The range of drawings is pleasingly global and stretches from neolithic cave painting right through to contemporary artists who are taking drawing in new directions. It was actually a little odd that I'd met three of the people whose work she showed but since she used to teach at my college and they also had links there, I guess it's not so very strange - the British art scene is staggeringly small at times!

The information about materials is also very solid. Apart from focusing on the usual things like paper, pencils, ink and charcoal - which all have handy, nicely illustrated, double page spreads scattered throughout the book - Simblet also highlights some more unusual drawing materials like silverpoint, which I've never considered using before and am now very keen to try. Her explanations of drawing materials are straightforward and easy to understand without being overly simplistic. Indeed, the same can be said for all the language throughout the book, which makes it pleasingly accessible - frankly, this is an absolute blessing since far too many art books are heavy-going to say the least.

I'd say this book would be good both for relative beginners and more experienced artists who are looking to expand or develop their drawing skills. Older children who are keen on art might also benefit from this book, not least because of the potted tour of art history. That said, I don't think it's a book that I'd give to a complete beginner because I think they might find it a bit daunting. But if you've been drawing for a little while and have got past the absolute basics, then I'd definitely recommend it - I've been drawing for years and I still learnt loads. Plus, it's beautifully laid out with high production values, reasonably priced, well edited and best of all, it doesn't make drawing seem boring!

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I've been involved with The Here Shop and Gallery in Bristol for several years now. Until the spring of this year, I was on the gallery committee and did a fair bit of curating over there but I'm taking a break from it at the moment to concentrate on my own work. It's a fantastic place - the shop part is full of funky crafts, art, magazines, independent music and small press books, while the gallery shows monthly exhibitions of cutting-edge, emerging artists. And despite being entirely run by volunteers, it's survived for nearly 4 years without any significant public funding (we've had the odd little drop but mostly the shop funds the gallery). It's unique in Bristol and deserves a much higher profile than it currently has.

This month the gallery is showing Mark Pawson. I went to the private view last night and had a fun time hanging out with folk I hadn't seen much lately, including Alys, Camilla and Peskimo.

The show is good with lots of different stuff to see but all of it with a clear and identifiable 'Mark Pawson' look. I like his 'low tech' ethos, particularly in relation to printing and the emphasis on the handmade.



Mark Pawson - Sugar Packets, originally uploaded by here shop and gallery.

I loved these little sugar packets all sewn together like a patchwork pattern.

If you're in or near Bristol, you should definitely try to get along to see this one but if you're a bit further afield, you can experience the exhibition virtually on the gallery Flickr page.

If you're interested in showing at the Here Gallery, take a look at the previous exhibitions page and the submission guidelines.