Tag Archives: exhibition

Janette Place Mini Artworks Prize Draw 2011

The Janette Place Mini Artworks Prize Draw is a colourful display of thirty 6”x 6” original works of art created specially for the exhibition by Artworks artists.

Christine McKechnie’s mini artwork for 2011

The Mini Artworks wall is a visual feast for the eyes, on display throughout the duration of the Artworks exhibition. The Janette Place Mini Artworks Prize Draw is an established annual event at the Artworks exhibition and it provides funding for Artworks outreach work with schools, with a proportion of the draw proceeds going to charity.

Artworks chairperson Penny Bhadresa congratulating one winner

The Janette Place Mini Artworks Prize Draw is so-named in honour of the artist Janette Place, an enthusiastic member of Artworks, always full of good ideas, who initiated the first prize draw in 2004. Sadly, she died in 2005, so the Annual Mini Artworks Prize Draw is now a lasting tribute in recognition of her contribution to the success of Artworks.

All the Mini Artworks 2011

The Annual Artworks Prize Draw takes place on the last Saturday of the Artworks exhibition. This year it will be held on Saturday 1st October 2011 at 4pm. Every year Artworks chooses a different charity to benefit from our prize draw. In 2010, we supported the East Anglia’s Childrens’ Hospices’ Tree House Appeal.

Mike Ashley’s mini artwork for 2011

In 2011, we are supporting the Bradfield Green Oak Centre project of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust who are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. They are designing and building an innovative new education centre at Bradfield Woods. The building is being constructed from green oak harvested from Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s‘ nature reserves as part of their conservation management. Work is well underway – see some progress photos on the Bradfield Green Oak Centre’s blog.

Jazz Green’s mini artwork for 2011

The Janette Place Mini Artworks Prize Draw
Saturday 1st October 2011 at 4pm.

Draw tickets are just £2 each, on sale throughout the duration of the Artworks exhibition – just enquire at the reception desk. Buy one ticket (or more to be sure!) to be in with a winning chance of securing an original work of art to take home and treasure!

Ben Platt-Mills mini artwork for 2011

The Artworks 12th annual art exhibition runs from 10 September – 2 October 2011, open 10am – 5pm daily, at Blackthorpe Barn, Rougham, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP30 9JG. Admission is FREE. Read more about Artworks annual exhibition on the Artworks website.

ARTWORKS : Artists making an exhibition of themselves

A not-to-be-missed special evening of artists’ demonstrations, in association with the annual Artworks exhibition at Blackthorpe Barns. This special event is sponsored by The Curwen Press. New to Artworks in 2007, the Artists Making an Exhibition of Themselves evening (AMET for short) was a resounding success.

Artists Making an Exhibition of Themselves

on Saturday 1st October 2011, from 6pm to 9pm.

Lynn Hutton demonstrating image transfer techniques

AMET is a special, one-off event when some of our Artworks artists set-up mini working studios in front of their work in the Artworks exhibition at Blackthorpe Barn, to demonstrate the media, materials & techniques used in their art, ready to answer any questions that visitors to the exhibition may have about their art.

Valerie Armstrong explaining collagraph printmaking

The atmosphere is always bustling, creative & very inspiring – and refreshments are also available in the adjoining cafe gallery. In previous years our artist demonstrations have included:

Pastel Painting NOT Drawing

Taking a (wax) line for a walk with brilliant dye colours

Wire Sculptures

Watercolour Landscapes

Lost Wax

Transferring textures and images onto surfaces

Linoprinting

Acrylics in Action

Flowers in Watercolour

Constructing a Collagraph Plate

Printing on Slate

This special event proves very popular year after year and the next Artworks AMET evening is  on Saturday 1st October 2011  from 6pm-9pm, at Blackthorpe Barn – a special date for the Artworks diary!

We also have artist demonstrations throughout the Artworks exhibition so please follow our new blog and check back in early September 2011 to find out who will be demonstrating on the days you might like to visit the Artworks exhibition!

The Artworks 12th annual exhibition runs from 10 September – 2 October 2011, open 10am – 5pm daily, at Blackthorpe Barn, Rougham, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP30 9JG. Admission is FREE.

You can read more about Artworks history and view full profiles of all our exhibiting artists on the official Artworks website.

Take five with… printmaker Janet French

This week, the Artworks blog has a ‘take five’ chat with artist printmaker Janet French. Janet’s artistic process & practice is concerned with nature and the environment:

‘My work explores the fragile symbiotic relationship between man and the natural environment. I work in tune with nature to create work that is testimony to my interaction with materials, conditions, seasons and weather.’

Janet French, Fagus Diptych – Part One, 62cm x 62cm

Nature, landscape and the environment seems to be a strong theme in much contemporary art. In your own work, you use natural materials such as beech leaves to create handmade paper which you then use to print on.

Are there any contemporary artists that you particularly admire?
Environmental artists like Chris Drury, Richard Long and David Nash most interest me because I share the desire to work with the available materials in the environment.

How do you generate or develop ideas for your own art?
My ideas often come from unexpected sources. A few years ago I joined a group of London artists in an exhibition in Bethnal Green. The common theme among the group was ‘earth’ and I decided to look at satellite images to see what earth could be seen in the area of the gallery. This sparked a continuing fascination with aerial views. Other ideas simmer away for years, occasionally rising to the surface but never quite resolving in to finished work.

Janet French, Bethnal Green, 54cm x 56cm

Could you describe your art studio?
My studio space is a converted garage. It is full of bags and buckets of leaves and fibres in various stages of papermaking production. I have a small table top printing press which is good for small work and for working through ideas. For larger work I go to Gainsborough’s House Print Workshop which has a wonderful range of printing presses. I like to plan a piece of work and make the paper in my studio at home and then produce the finished print at Gainsborough’s House.

What do you listen to while working in your studio?
Turning the radio on to Radio 4 is part of the ritual I go through as soon as I enter my studio, along with lights, heater, overall etc. Whether or not it stays on depends on what I’m doing. If I’m preparing paper or clearing up ink I like to listen but as soon as I’m doing something creative I turn the radio off. In a typical day I never seem to hear a whole programme.

What time in the day are you at your most creative?
I am always up early and most creative in the morning. If I get off to a good start early, I can keep going until about 5pm but I can never work in the evening.

What’s in your current sketchbook?
My present sketchbook has become a great unwieldy heap of drawings, photos and notes on scraps of paper, all of which relate to my present obsession of light seen through trees.

If you had to choose between using a pen or a pencil to draw with – which one and why?
I prefer pen to pencil and particularly like water soluble ink pens with watercolour paper. I like to draw quickly, add some water, and when it is dry work back into the drawing with pen.

What do you think is the role of an artist in contemporary society?
One of the by-products of creativity is the ability to see things in a different way and to present new ideas in a way that no one has seen before, as well as highlighting beauty and the expression of human emotions. In some cases, artists are in a position to reach multitudes of people by using their status to bring attention to a worthwhile cause or environmental issue. For example, Richard Long’s Africa Mud Maps, which Long has made for auctions and whose proceeds have contributed to aid for the developing world.

One of the most interesting things that artists can do is spur public conversation and in future I may find that I am able to draw attention to endangered species or threatened habitat through my own work. I am currently working on a collaborative print project with another printmaker Emma Buckmaster, and our aim is to produce a series of tree portrait etchings on related leaves.

Janet French, Into the Light, mixed media on beech leaves, 34cm x 32cm

Thank you Janet for sharing a little of your creative world with the Artworks blog!

Janet French has a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Colchester School of Art. In addition to Artworks, Janet is currently Joint Chairperson of Gainsborough’s House Print Workshop, and is a member of the Essex Art Society and the collaborative artist group Nine Artists.

Originally from London, Janet French has lived in Essex for twenty five years. You can read more about Janet’s environmental artworks on her Artworks page or visit www.janetfrench.co.uk.