Heather Meyerratken: August 2012

Tuesday 7 August 2012

' SCENT ' The Final Show

For the past eight weeks I have been screen-printing in a Pop-Up Studio in the countryside of East Sussex. Whilst this has been a very exciting time it hasn't come without the occasional hitch ! Not to mention the horse and very strong animal smells which drift around! Although the clip clop of horses walking past the door made up for it I have to say.

Finding the studio is of course the first dilemma. I got very lucky as I searched for the right specifications.

For example :

the right size room - the work I have done is 30 meters long

water available - a necessity when printing and you need a strong water pressure

relaxed landlord - the last thing you need is someone who is hanging over you, being demanding

that includes being able to make a mess with ink !

being able to drive to the door was an important feature - the 47" x 49" screens are cumbersome and heavy

Buying all my own inks, squeegees,bases,screens and many sundries. So it was a very expensive exercise as well.

However, if I weigh up all the negative sides to this project and then look at the work today, how I feel as an artist etc. completing such a challenging task, I feel very pleased with the overall result. It has been a very rewarding experience and I've met many very interesting people along the way. Ranging from the other people working in the units on the property to sourcing suppliers at Ad Colour to Artizan in Brighton where I have been exposing my screens - ( I saw Bridgette Riley's work being editioned )

This latest work 'SCENT' will be shown at the PRIVATE VIEW

PRINTMAKING MA

CAMBERWELL COLLEGE, on the 5th of September, 2012

and for the following week except Sunday.

Please come along if you are free

Monday 6 August 2012

Bolingbroke Hospital

Exhibition - 'A View Backwards'

Bolingbroke Hospital, Wandsworth closed in 2009. It was a hospital for the elderly and provided social activities one of which was the inspiration for the exhibition, 'A View Backwards'.

Julie Arkell, Penelope Batley and Shelley Goldsmith were all given a selection of objects that had been used to help the patients remember their past experiences .
Photographer, Jason Oddy was commissioned to take photographs of the hospital.

Hospitals are a there to serve us at our best and worst moments. Birth, death,dementia,recovery etc. Hospitals are layered in history and embedded firmly in the communities they serve. However when conservation comes into play it is difficult to preserve all of these objects (practical and otherwise) including the therapy techniques which had been used in the past. All too often these threads are lost and entombed within the rubble of the buildings, perhaps lost forever.

This exhibition struck a very strong chord with my own practice and stimulated thoughts such as how to use the found object as a conduit and in turn express what we want to say or what we want to convey to the audience.

Jason Oddy works with the often unseen ways architecture
affects us

I felt this exhibition had made it possible to save these memories, ideas, and caring work, through the playfulness of the artists. Feelings arose for me which could almost lead me to believe that the patients had made the objects themselves. Some being handmade others containing feelings of confusion resembling dementia and disability. In fact for me , the more the objects pertained to being child like the more they exuded authenticity.
It was difficult at times to see where the artist had left off or indeed where the artists work had begun. I enjoyed this confusion and blurring of lines.