Nothing like a tiny two day reisdency to make a girl happy!
After exhibiting and helping out with Test Space Leeds I started a little two day residency at the 42 New Briggate shop.
I was given just the single word of BURN as the theme.
It was a really busy environment, with people coming in and out of the shop and on the first day an exhibition was being hung around the gallery as I worked. So it was a bit of a test to get anything done, especcialy when my attention span is short darn short in the first place.
Check out my little work space nestled inside the gallery.
I first played around with burning some silk and paper, lining the edges with wax so the flame was concentrated into a space. (I'll add those pictures when I retrive my little silky bits from the shop itself
After a while of dilly dallying I thought of using our little interplanetory exhibition as a bit of an influence.
These are ten little zines filled with water colours of comets burnin' through space. They're called 'Solar Flare' and where on sale at the last Test Space craft fair at Crash Records in Leeds city centre.
It was an awesome itty bitty experience and digits crossed I get to do another one soon before I go back to college starting third year.
Over and out.
Here's an update, and a whole lot of images (!), on how our exhibition went at the window of 42 New Briggate with Test Space Leeds from the 7th to the 9th of June - it's a planetarium on an itty bitty scale!
Me cleaning and preparing the window we displayed in - had to clear a previous artist's window mural.
Sophie hanging some of the planets - there's still a lot more to hang! (First two photos from the Test Space Leeds
facebook photo album).
Some of the materials used... Some of the planets were surprisingly heavy even when they only made from polythene, so we had to use stronger and thicker wires to hold them.
Here's our planetarium completed from the inside of 42 New Briggate, we've even hung the LED lights but they are not that visible as it's still daylight outside, it would be effective at night!
and outside...
Since the room is dark in the background it makes it easier to see the planets, we had to cut some from the wires and move them forward to more visible areas.
Here's another photo when it was a bit darker, around 8:45pm!
If you look closely you can see some of the LED lights -there's 5 of them
altogether. They looked really good when they were spinning around as it made the lights flicker.... almost like an
intergalactic disco! The lights should have lasted for a good couple of days until the exhibition needed to be taken down for the next batch of artists!
If we were to explain what our exhibition was about: it is our own playful concept of a solar system in a galaxy far, far away , inspired by heaps of sci-fi movies, books and games. It is a light-hearted and personal version, compared to the seriousness of the reality space. However, we have looked at many hubble telescope images which inspired us with the colours found in space, but took it a step further by experimenting with vivid colours, textures... creating imaginative gas giants to planets containing 'life'. It is kitsch, bold and out of this world... it is our planetarium on an itty bitty scale!Check out the Sputnik!
It was a wonderful experience to exhibit at 42 New
Briggate, thanks to the Test Space Leeds guys! We hope to get this
itty bitty planetarium exhibited in various locations in the future!
...
We had another lovely time at the Faversham with the Marvellous Tea Dance Company for the Summer Fete, although the weather wasn't quite summery! However that didn't stop the fun and games that the Fete had to offer, which I had a few goes myself. It brings back childhood memories of summer fairs with the school and village. Good times!Have a look at our winnings!
Sophie won a little musical box in the shape of a chalet with watermill and all, and a little gypsy looking doll whose eyes fliker when to tilt her in various directions. I won a round gold-coloured frame with a (painted?) floral coaster inside and a COCONUT!
Which I will be opening soon to drink some lovely coconut juice and make some coconut cakes!It was all fun at the fair!
Do you remember our post on Pearls of Wisdom? Well these are Gold Nuggets of Wisdom that will be available in our art vending machine very sooon (as well as our original Pearls of Wisdom!) All they need is little fortunes attatched to them and off they go to you lucky ones :DWe still have origami cranes in our machine, so come nab one for 20p at our next upcoming show at The Faversham (in Leeds Uni) on the 29th May for the Summer Fete (with The Marvellous Tea Dance Company), for summer fun!...
Here's our idea planned for the window space.... and this was the email/proposal we sent:"Itty Bitty Art Committee to Neil, over!
Houston, we have an exhibition!
We're proposing to turn the window space into an itty bitty planetarium. Planets, comets and satellites suspended in front of a starry painted back drop. Each planet will have all its geography illustrated onto it, include hidden faces and the odd interplanetary outpost.
We'd like to suspend a constellation of approximately twenty galactic objects and have a little stand to place a bowl of business comets (three dimensional business cards).
Could we have the dimensions of the window space? When would you like this to be exhibited? Any other questions or comments please e-mail or call us.
Roger, over and out!"
The Itty Bitty Art Committee
Hello there! Just updating on our latest event which was held at Found by Create, the vintage clothes shop in the St. John's centre, Leeds. This event was in collaboration with The Marvellous Tea Dance Company, who notified us about the event the day before, but we were happy to participate! Here's the flyer for the event...
People who wanted to attend the event were also asked to donate a piece of clothing - I donated my cream batwing 80's dress (probably the most vintage dress I had!), and the money is donated to charity. The shop was full of vintage clothes and bunting, and outside the shop The Marvellous Tea Dance Company held a tea party. All was wonderful!
Here is the table we were given to set out our art and craft work for the event - on a vintage sewing table with a singer sewing machine! We were limited for room, but we made the most of it!
I just love the designs on the singer sewing machine! Here are some of the new works featured at the event. They will also be available at future events!
These are Sophie's beautiful, hand crafted lucky charms! Each delicate letter contains a lucky charm which has been sealed with gold wax for a special someone, or for some luck for own self!
Here are some magnets that I made from my gocco prints. I'll be making more handmade magnets, pin badges and some rings... so keep a look out!We will notify on twitter (IttyBittyArt) of any upcoming events we will be attending!
See you soon!
It was a really busy environment, with people coming in and out of the shop and on the first day an exhibition was being hung around the gallery as I worked. So it was a bit of a test to get anything done, especcialy when my attention span is short darn short in the first place.
It was an awesome itty bitty experience and digits crossed I get to do another one soon before I go back to college starting third year.
