It is four years since Dustin did his walk. Dustin is an artist — his full name is Dustin Ericksen. I own a work by him, called 20 November, 2005, London (all the signs on a walk from the studio to ‘The Cheshire Cheese’ to have a drink with Simon English)’. In this blog I [...]
We went to dinner to celebrate my daughter’s safe return from New York. Exciting trip, she’d wooed Sea Monster , been limo driven to a gig at Big Boar Motorcycles in Hicksville, Long Island (where big bellied bikers repeatedly approached to ask if she was Claudine Biggs) and had many experiences too hair-raising or titillating [...]
Matt writing, so spent day in the workshop. Developed familiar state of pathological uncertainty. Problem came from failing to find a visual solution to the relationship between the cell-like forms, and the field on which they are laid. At the moment the relationship is too frank, too different, too ‘plonked’. There is no suggestion of [...]
Working with Matt today, who feels he needs answers to some questions about our paintings. Not sure if the answers are for him, or for the potential viewing public, but in any case, here they are. Matt: What are the paintings of? Emma: The paintings are not of anything, but they are about something: perception. [...]
I recently recommended the Baldessari show, Pure Beauty at Tate Modern as essential viewing for the interested mosaic artist. Nancie Mills Pipgras of Mosaic Art Now (essential reading for the mosaic aware) wrote and asked why. I thought I would explain. The world bombards us with visual matter. Making effective work means accepting you can’t [...]
Spent the morning working on the paintings, and the afternoon working on the mosaic for the SLBI. Both tasks have their challenges. At the moment I am feeling frustrated by the limitations of my smalti palette. For those who haven’t come across it, smalti is beautiful, intensely coloured hand made glass. Most of it comes [...]
Matt and I are currently working on a show for FAS next spring. We work together, but we have different roles. Broadly speaking, I design the paintings, decide on the format, and mix the colours, and Matt paints them. At the moment we are making large paintings, with very transparent colours, put on with small [...]
I recently completed mosaics for a new park in Sheffield — Devonshire Green. Here are some images that show the process of making the project. A series of large flowerbeds were created, planted for year-round interest in colour and texture. The beds are surrounded by Gaudi-like undulating walls, which also work as benches, so the [...]
Fascinating series on Radio 4 this week. Whatever Happened To The Teapots by Roger Law, of Spitting Image. Apparently he went first to Stoke-on-Trent (the birthplace of the English ceramic industry) in the 80s to have a Thatcher tea pot produced by Moorland Pottery — still a thriving small potbank. (Moorland features in my project [...]
Last of a series of four lectures Matt and I gave at City & Guilds Art School today. Preparations burdensome but students lovely. Weekly discussion of current show: Turner and the Masters, Pop Life, Pure Beauty (John Baldessari) and Anish Kapoor. Matt gave context and I analysed structure. Our first experience of teaching together was [...]