Vicki Johnson (Pop, print & stitch)

 Vicki Johnson is a freelance artist, screen printer and surface pattern designer. Alongside developing her own practice as a visual artist Vicki has worked on a range of arts projects, residences and events and is member of Mesh Collective and Stew Studios. Vicki is currently working on a new series of screen prints for exhibition throughout September. 

Vicki studied textile design at Nottingham Trent, graduating in 2008. After graduation Vicki took a studio space at Stew Studios where she later set up Stew Print Rooms with Jo Stafford, an open access screen printing facility for paper and textiles. Alongside this Vicki began freelancing for Acorn conceptual textiles and selling her printed textile designs at trade fairs from 2008 onwards. Though having access to a range of screen printing equipment Vicki began experimenting using her textile design experience to create limited edition screen prints on paper. She began exhibiting her first paper based work as part of Mesh collective, a group of like minded screen printers who met though stew print rooms and went on to exhibit as part of Norwich Print Fair.
Vicki's current practice often explores connections with nature and man made environments working from photographs and drawings of pattern and texture in her surroundings. Similarities can be seen between her screen prints and her textile designs through her use of repeating elements and graphic silhouettes. Vicki uses a range of processes to create her layered images including collage, hand drawing, screen printing processes and CAD.
Vicki's current work is also influenced by her love of music, for her latest collaboration with folk duo Captive's on the Carousel Vicki will be designing the art work for their latest release and creating a series of screen prints to be exhibited as part of the album launch in the summer, 2012.
 

 Ian Kirkpatrick (Portfolio)


 

Ian Kirkpatrick is a Canadian contemporary artist and graphic designer currently based in York, with an international portfolio.

 Ian recently won a Canada Council for the Arts Project Grant to fund a new body of work based on the intersection between contemporary sculpture and packaging design and the results of this project grant is being shown as part of #Portfolio.

The playfulness and desirability of the cardboard sculptures shown here is immediate but equally important to these pieces of art is the blurring of borders between packaging design and contemporary sculpture. This highlights the similarities between graphic designers, product designers and artists.

On a more subtle note, the works even hint at the ever important issue of sustainable materials and economical and eco-friendly ways of creating products, let alone works of art. 


 

 

 

Sabine Kussmal (Abstracted)

 

Sabine is intrigued by the universal nature of structures and patterns.

Some obviously visual, others with no direct visual representation, she is fascinated to discover them as networks of lines, if temporary or permanent.

The surface of the Earth, footprints of animal movement on snow, erosion of riverbeds, a geological cross section through sediment. All of those are inspiring manifestations of a more complex "weave" of life's features of which those generated from data are equally relevant, like the spectral analysis of the light of the atmosphere, graphs illustrating the population numbers of birds on a Scottish Island or the mortality of mothers in childbirth in developing countries. 

All such structures are affected by change - essentially change in a sequential time frame. This notion of change is fascinating to comprehend and distils itself into the art-making process and then into its process of "usage".

Textures and patterns as described above appear to Sabine like background contexts or "environments". She perceives them as the platforms on which events happen, or, in a more visual sense, shapes and constructions are becoming manifest. The design of shapes, some designed by nature, e.g. leaves, the body of an insect, a termite hive, a blood cell,  others constructed by man, bear an interesting relationship to its background context, like a building relating to the environment in which it is constructed or the design of an animal's body as a functional response to its living conditions

Architecture and clothing are two such constructions that are typical of man's intentional relationship to its environment and an expression of his/her self-understanding. With a background in Fashion & Design, Sabine is much interested in the design of garments and how they "house" our bodies and relate us to our environment and life-style.In a wider sense, architecture provides a similar relationship but is more permanent in its expressions. Sabine likes to use architecture in the context of an image in a metaphorical, poetical way to "house" or provide "shelter" for a feeling, a mood, a memory and to play with the notion of inside and outside.

In Sabine's thread and canvas artworks she uses drawings made from thread and stitched onto transparent fabric, which are then suspended over a canvas background. The activity of weaving and sewing is one of the most archaic processes of creating. Letting the drawing develop on its (canvas and painted) background "atmosphere" it appears like some small event occurring, delicate and with a temporary nature to it, as one of many possible ones. String and line as solitary elements are forming recognisable images, but are also playing with their own deconstruction.

Shapes and drawings cut from steel are permanent; some have even got sharp edges. This nature contrasts heavily with the fragility of a drawn image, binding them both together by this opposition and the shadows they cast onto the same background.

 

Petra Lee (Macarbe Macclesfield)

 

Petra Lea is a Congleton based artist who works in both figurative and abstract styles. Often working with oil paints and mixed media / collage

 

Her work is very diverse and she is interested in a range of subjects including Japanese art and pop culture, oddities and the unusual, as well as portraying landscapes both internal and external.

 

Her most recent work displays a high degree of experimentation using collage and paint, mixing found images with painterly mark making.

 

Michael Leigh (Portfolio)


Michael specialised in painting but his practice gradually moved towards to collage in the 1980's when he discovered the international mail art network.

Michael continues to create intricate collages, manipulating existing images to create new works that layer meaning and questions. The use of collage in the visual arts began hundreds of years ago but made a dramatic reappearance in the early 20th Century as a novelty art form.

The term collage derives from the French coller, meaning glue. Coined by Picasso in the beginning of the 20th century when collage became a distinctive part of modern art. Michael's collages are held in many private collections across the world.

Born London in 1947, Michael studied at Southend, Manchester and Chelsea Schools of Art and graduated with an MA in Fine Art in 1971.

 

Jude Lloyd-Johnson (Cheshire Open Studios)

 

Jude merges photographs, choosing to bring elements of life that are not usually seen together in a juxtaposition of harmony & balance.

 

Hannah Luxton (Focus photography exhibition)


Hannah is a London based artist who graduated in 2012 with an MA from the Slade School of Art.

Hannah's practice is oriented around the ethereal, and she is interested in Romanticism's notion of portraying divinity through nature. Hannah's work play with these ideas through juxtaposing the definitive qualities of geometry against the indeterminable (weather, light, space).

Photography and print are integral methods that Hannah  uses in the development of all her ideas, which often lead to paintings and installations but in this occasion a mixed print and photography installation.

The various processes of making encourages Hannah to think about layers, lines and strength of marks. Her fondness of photography is in the way it allows her to play with light and space in the landscape.

In all of Hannah's work her motive is abstract, but she takes a documentary approach, by capturing found moments of natural composition within the frame.

Hannah Luxton | Photographer & Printmaker | London


 

 

 

Bruce Lyons (Macrbe Macclesfield)

 

The subjects for Bruce's paintings are drawn from any number of sources: from imagination; from direct observation and experience; from man-made media and art history. In a world overflowing with still and moving images, nothing and everything is a worthwhile subject.

 

The starting point for his work originates in many different places and they all develop along the same set of processes. Although landscape is dominant in his ideas, Bruce has developed an interest in the textures formed by the various methods of decay on materials, man-made and natural. A recurring theme in his work is rust with its multitude of colours and textures.

 

Bruce has always had a keen interest in the work of the Japanese woodblock printers of Ukiyo-e, the Floating World, the painters of the Renaissance, and twentieth century artists too numerous to mention. Artists who deal with a combination of the abstract and qualities of texture such as Tapies, Anselm Kiefer and David Nash have been strong influences in Bruce's development although he is always looking, learning and changing.


Liz Macdonough (Cheshire Open Studios)

 

My paintings begin with feelings derived from alternative perspectives bordering on a spiritual level. Working the contrasts of depth, texture & luminosity. My jewellery is created with a slightly obsessive edge, intricacy & layering; displaying angelic imagery Vs devilishly gothic undertones. My work can give an enlightening or uneasy impact.

I choose to take art back to basics, by stripping away any facade I facilitate in sharing the exploration of my inner universe. Take you on a journey of the cosmos around me and the discovery of art being a spiritual experience.


Pete Marsh (Gifted)

 

Pete began painting and printmaking again in September 2009 following the discovery that

an old friend and artist, Garry, had died.

Feeling compelled to produce his own work again for the first time in nearly twenty years, Pete is exhibiting and selling once again.He feels his work is perceptual rather than conceptual, emotional rather than intellectual and he prefers expression over realism, subtlety over sensationalism, substance over noveltyand intuition over reason.

Pete's work is held in private collections in the U.K., Canada and Australia. See some of Pete's work at www.petemarshfineart.com




Greg Meade (The Collection) 

 

A Manchester based artist, Greg is known for his use of vibrant colour and abstracted perspectives. Drawing inspiration from travelling throughout Europe he applies elements of creative photography to the contemporary impressionism of his paintings. The use of double/triple exposures is a key element to his photography work, using mostly 120 film format to facilitate this. The idea of merging structures or 'remapping' them to create a new object is a theme that runs throughout his work.


Marcia Micheal (The Collection)

 

Marcia Michael, studied BA Photography at Derby University, heading back to London  where she was born and raised.

At this time Marcia freelanced, working with fashion designers and magazines in the UK and world wide and taught part time at London College of Printing.

In 2009 Marcia attended London College of communication and completed an MA in photography passing with a distinction. Upon leaving, Marcia won a bursary from Rhubarb Rhubarb, in which her work was exhibited as part of a group show at Flowers East gallery London and Rhubarb East gallery Birmingham. 

Marcia's work The Study of Kin' won as a finalist in the International photography awards "family section, she won Honorable mentions in Lens culture and Santa fe awards and is currently participating in the  Lucie Foundation E-pprentice. Mentor program.

Marcia's work The Study of Kin was chosen as one of 14 International discoveries at Fotofest Houston 2011.

Marcia's work The Study of Kin won the Spotlight Award in the 2010 FotoVisura Grant', while as part of the 2010 Taylor Wessing Photographic portrait prize held in the National Portrait Gallery London, Marcia's image 'Back of girl was chosen for exhibition and traveled to Sunderland in 2011.

Marcia Works has appeared in numerous publications, on and off line, with the latest being a portfolio piece in Exposure: The Journal of the Society for Photographic Education.

Marcia is not just a photographer she has had poems published and is also an accomplished bookmaker.

Marcia has an upcoming show in 2012 at the New Art Exchange Gallery Nottingham  UK in their new central gallery for emerging artist.


 

Davide Maione (The Collection)

 

In this work, while attempting to link photography and performance together, Davide explores notions of selfhood in relation to its surroundings and language. The images are conceived as sketches of situation or annotations of ideas that comment on the way people interact with each other and the way we look at ourselves and identify with the other. Accordingly, while using a visual rhetoric open to interpretation, Davide is interested in highlighting the ambivalence between essentialist truth (or the quest for it) and the interplay with fictional selves imbued with humour and self-denial.

Davide was born in 1978 in Milan, Italy. In 2007 he graduated from a BA in Photographic Arts at the University of Westmisnter. In the same institute he completed an MA in Photographic Studies in 2011. Davide's work has been exhibited in the UK, Russia and Italy. Some of his work is held in private collection.

 

Jane Mitchell (Cheshire Open Studios)



Having spent 28 years teaching Art and Design I now submerge myself in my own work developing a printing process on an obsolete machine and creating wall art and Limited Edition silk scarves based on my two loves Nature and Travel.

 

Mocksim (Contra-Invention) 

 

An Arts Councill funded exhibition of the photographs Traffic Wardens take, as evidence, in one British Town.  Over a two year period artist Mocksim managed to obtain hundreds of these images of other people's illegally parked cars. Occasionally Wardens inadvertently capture themselves in reflection and the artist manoeuvred his way into a number of the pictures. A selection of night shots have been chosen for exhibition and the infamous catalogue will also be available. 

 

Brigid Mullally (Cheshire Open Studios)


I am a Cheshire based professional & versatile Artist & Art/Craft tutor of painting (in any medium), drawing, calligraphy & illustration. Open to commissions & project work. Enhanced CRB checked.

My main aim is to share, encourage, inspire and promote art for everyone to enjoy! Whilst much of my own work is inspired by the landscape and the changing seasons along with a great love of nature, the human form and wildlife the real passion behind each painting is to capture mood, atmosphere and colour. I find great inspiration from dabbling in various art and craft forms and am forever experimenting with new artistic methods and techniques.

Besides working on my own portfolio & exhibiting my work I also teach various art workshops throughout Cheshire either as group sessions or on a one-to-one basis. Occasionally I organise group art holidays and day trips out and a keen participant in community based art projects providing demonstrations and workshops in various artforms.

 

 

Judy Musselle (Abstracted)

 

Judy is an artist and illustrator living in Southport. Her work has been widely and exhibited featured in a children's book commissioned by Harper Collins.

Judy studied Art and Design at Doncaster College of Art and Bradford College of Art where she  went on to teach Illustration.  Her work has sold worldwide as posters, greeting cards and stationary and has been used for advertising, educational books and magazines. Clients have included Paper House, Canns Down Press,  Mothercare and  Bookstart . Judy has also won the Bohemia Award at the recent Open Exhibition at The Ferens Art Gallery in Hull.

Judy's pieces are created in acrylics and she is also a printmaker using linocut and etching. She also considers herself to be a muralist;  creating murals as solo projects or with groups of children and young people with 28 schools in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

Judy  draws her ideas from the people and landscapes around her, memories and her children but she is also inspired by stories and dreams of magical faraway lands.

Judy aims to describe visually  her thoughts on the complexities and fears of childhood and adolescence , the loss of innocence and facing up to responsibilities.  Judy's paintings have a strong narrative quality and it is clear she enjoys using colour and pattern. The stunning works have been described as humorous and but dark. 

 

 

Liz Mylonakis (Macrbe Macclesfield)

 

Liz Mylonakis is a painter from Macclesfield, Cheshire

 

Her paintings explore simple organic / biomorphic imagery and shapes inspired by forms in nature with an emphasis on bright colour and striking, bold composition. She also sometimes uses a variety of found materials in her mixed media work.


Mark O'Hara (Portfolio) 

 

Mark O'Hara is currently studying Fine Art at the University of Derby but was born in Macclesfield.

Mark's most recent work is lens based primarily using video however he also uses photography to capture stills to highlight key images in his projects.

Mark's project Waste exhibited here at Marburae Gallery explores the dull colours of urban buildings, roads and city planning, in this case Manchester contrasted with the bright colours of rubbish that Mark feels is slowly taking over our urban areas.

 

Sam Paechter (The Collection)

 

With an insatiable appetite for fiddling and a background as a composer of music for theatre and site-specific performance Sam came across 3D photography through his interest in Victorian illusion - the praxinoscope, mutoscope and stereoscope. In his art he tries to reproduce for the 21stcentury viewer something of the wonder of the Victorian sideshow.

Sam uses techniques invented in the 1850s and developed in the mid twentieth century by American air force reconnaissance technicians, along with digital processing to make anamorphic anaglyphs - 3D photographs which give the impression of an object being really there.

His subjects are objects and people that are important to him or are specific to the venue in which they are to be displayed. 

Previously Sam has concentrated on site-specific installations in public spaces. For example inThe Ironmongers of IllusionI worked in a functioning DIY shop, replacing items of stock with anamorphic anaglyphs of those items; a playful, interplay between the real objects and their illusory counterparts.

More recently Sam has been exploring the compelling and unsettling potential of life-size,  and larger than life, portraiture.


Charlie Penrose (Abstracted)

 Charlie's practice seeks to question subjectivity and objectivity in relation to human existence. He employs language and text in his exploration of this dichotomy, and in doing so indulge a fascination with the strengths, weaknesses and intricacies of these as communicative tools.

Charlie's work finds him recurrently questioning the subtleties of interaction and communication that permeate human existence as well as analysis of iconography, social constructs and ingrained philosophies. Charlie is as interested in the grand narratives that underpin our being as he is in the trivialities and frustrations of day to day being. Charlie's work adheres to no one philosophy or sys­tem of belief in particular, instead he is interested in delineating common and distinct themes that pertain to an idea of 'the self'.

Apparent in his practice is a desire to define and establish some sort of justification for his own purpose within an ever ex­panding sea of nothing, and it is this dynamic and uncertain position that provides the starting point for much of Charlie's work.

 

Sam Pearson (Focus, photography exhibition) 

 

 

Life & beauty in South America

During his recent travels in South America Sam took an extensive collection of photographs to document his journey through seven countries of a hugely varied and beautiful continent.

The pieces exhibited are selected with 'Life & beauty in South America' in mind, showing  the people, the landscapes, and parts of their lives that make up their identity.

From the working fisherman of a Chilean seaside village, to the rural Ecuadorian woman herding cattle, to the local Peruvian kids enjoying a game of football on the beach, both the life and beauty in their different existences comes across strongly in these snapshots into their lives.

Sam Pearson | Travel photographer | Stockport


 

  

 Lisa Petterson (Pop, print & Stitch!)


Lisa Pettersson grew up in Sweden but has since 1995 spent most of her time living, studying and working in the UK. She is currently living in Edinburgh where she works as an artist and graphic designer. She exhibits regularly around the country and beyond and has paintings in private collections in the UK, Sweden, Holland, France, USA, Brazil, Vietnam, Australia and Hong Kong.

Intimately familiar situations and domestic life and spaces has been a long running theme of Pettersson's painting, which bridges fine art and graphic design. Her most recent works are inspired by 50s children's book illustrations and childhood nostalgia, and are jerked into modernity with compelling results.

 

Deborah Pitmann (Focus Photography exhibition) 

 

Deborah's photography is a love song to where she lives.

The built environment and the natural landscape both catch her eye as  she searches for new ways of reveal their beauty in her art.

The pieces selected for 'Focus' hint of memories, deep thoughts and lost moments. Each image allows the viewing to dwell, dwell on the image itself but also dwell on the thoughts and memories that it provokes.

Deborah Pitman | Photographer | Derbyshire


 


Kevin J Pocock (Pop, Print & Stitch)

  

Kevin is fascinated by the thoughts, memories and dreams we carry with us each day. The ones that make us tick. He likes to incorporate the universal to represent the very personal. Private thoughts made public. The internal made external.

His work consists of paintings, drawings and video. Most pieces start as a very small, rough, spontaneous sketch. He jots an idea down wherever he might be and later select from these to create a larger piece. This could be a painting on canvas but it could also be a film. The final work is very close in spirit to the original sketch.

Kevin enjoys playing with symmetry and asymmetry, and mixing different architectural representations of space - elevation, perspective and 3D projections such as axonometric and isometric

.He was brought up in Dorset, on the south coast of England. His memories of that landscape and coastline, together with his studies as an architect at Cambridge University, has helped form and direct his work. Kevin loves creating new spaces and mixing the artistic with the technical.

He trys to achieve an effective simplicity. No more no less. A quiet contemplation. A private moment.  

Kevin has just been selected for the John Moores 2012 painting prize.

 

 

Adrian Pritchard (Pop, print & stitch)

  Adrian makes work that attempts to redefine our relationship with matter by using gravity, the very force that universally dictates form. By working with the tensions between friction and fluidity, the dynamic and the static, the imposed geometry of the support/venue and the inherent viscosity of commercial substances, Adrian explores the on-going visual aesthetic. Just as a research scientist sets up the parameters of an experiment, he sets up the ground upon which the interaction of self-regarding man and nature can take place, and the resulting work moves from matter to metaphor.

Adrian Pritchard captures motion in his paintings using practiced techniques such as pouring on a single point on a flat canvas before spinning to disperse the colours. The works are left to dry flat for several months. Some 'grow' thick layers of paint which can produce stalactite-like forms; others crack revealing sub-layers below.
These accompany kinetic art installations - a live work in progress during exhibition's. Viscous liquids are chosen for their symmetrical and entropic qualities - watching paint dry has never been so interesting.

Yasmin Ali British Architects Journal 2009 The Critics Choice August 2009

Artist Adrian Pritchard "Investigates the nature of Matter" via "Viscous Substances, entropy and symmetry". I think that means he pours, spins and throws paint at stuff and it LOOKS COOL. I'm in!

Lauren Laverne Top 5 Must see Grazia July 2009