Friday 29 October 2010

Autumn Painting

Press Release

Kit Glaisyer to open his studio on Saturdays

Artist Kit Glaisyer will be opening his studio to the public on Saturdays from 10am to 3pm, starting October 30. He is based at St Michael's Studios in the emerging Art & Vintage Quarter of Bridport, on the St Michael's Trading Estate.

Kit will be showing a wide range of recent paintings, including his current commissioned project: a late-spring view from Lewesdon Hill looking towards Pilsdon Pen. Visitors can talk to the artist, see several works in progress, and buy original paintings, prints and cards.

Kit Glaisyer is probably best known for his popular series of paintings of the "Cafe Royal" - the 50's style diner located down by the old bus depot. He followed this with a series of life-size "Drip Figure" paintings, first shown at a solo show at the Bridport Arts Centre in 2004, and then in an exhibition in London in 2007. He is now gaining widespread acclaim for his series of large-scale landscape paintings, many showing views across the Marshwood Vale.

Kit says he wants his "art to remind people of the beauty and mystery of the world, whether it's an old cafe or an epic landscape.When we feel inspired by life then our inner creativity is unleashed, and we realise we already have all the talents and resources we need."

St Michael's Studios is located in the red brick building with a tower, on the St Michael's Trading Estate, visible to the south-west of Waitrose car park. The area is now becoming known as Bridport's Art & Vintage Quarter, with art studios and dozens of antiques & vintage shops opening, as well as a monthly Vintage Market and the new Red Brick Cafe.

Kit Glaisyer's studio will be open from 10am to 3pm every Saturday from October 30 until December 2010. Visit www.kitglaisyer.com for more information. To make an appointment to view his studio at another time call 0798 3465789.


Also on:
The monthly Vintage Market takes place this Sunday 31 October.

A group of local artists are exhibiting at Eype Centre for the Arts this weekend.

Recent graduates Alice Jones and Helen Jones are part of a group show at Artwave West, in Morecombelake.

Simon Quadrat is showing alongside Peter Swanson and Petter Southall at Sladers Yard.

Monday 11 October 2010

Indian October & Art Fairs

Painting the Sublime
I've been busy working on my "Lewesdon Tree" commission. After some time spent gradually building up the background, I've now moved onto the foreground, and it's becoming a very intense process. This is where it gets fun, and also more complicated, as I have to switch between painting on several different picture planes. It's the point at which the painting really begins to communicate with me, to beguile and seduce me. This is always encouraging because there's still a fair way to go...

Some landscape painters develop short-hand techniques in order to express certain effects of light, shape and ambiance, but I'm not interested in mimicking these sensations, I want to get to the essence of the experience, and capture the over-whelming emotional complexity of the moment.

We've got so used to getting scientific explanations for how we 'interpret' reality, but all of these lack an appreciation of the mystical, the infinite, and the unknowable. The truth is that we're just a part of something far bigger than us that we'll never fully understand. But we can always feel it. And we can all have a mystical experience simply by standing in a field, watching a sunset or looking up at the night sky.

Thinking of skies, I've also been working on the stormy clouds in the latest in my series of paintings of views from Allington Hill looking out across the Marshwood Vale. I always start from a photographic reference for my skies, because they contain such a dense fluid complexity and chaos, and I don't want to only paint the parts I understand. This for me is how Science and Art can complement each other, the photographic process offers a form of scientific reality, and my painted poetic interpretation expresses my subjective reality.

Art Fairs
It was the Frieze Art Fair in London last weekend. This contemporary art fair has established the Frieze Art Week in the 2nd week of October, and has led to several satellite fairs popping up to mop up some of the visiting international art collectors. This year these other fairs included the Plus Art Projects underneath Atlantis (the largest art materials shop in Europe) just off Brick Lane in the East End. There was also the Sunday Art Fair, and the Street Art focused Moniker International Art Fair, plus the Future Can Wait - yes it can in their case...

Before I go to London I like to check out what's on in all galleries, and I tend to use the Art Forum Magazine online listings page. I also use Artinfo.com which has a smaller selection of galleries.

I also like to keep abreast of happenings in the art world while I'm in Dorset, so I subscribe to a weekly newsletter from Artinfo.com which offers a wide range of stories covering the international art scene. Another good source of art world info comes from the Art Newsletter. Then there's Artnet.com, which is broader contemporary art resource and also has an online magazine with some good reviews and stories.

In terms of 'real' magazines, there's Art Review, Art World magazine, and Modern Painters - which unfortunately seems to cover less and less actual painting...

For broader cultural insights KultureFlash is a weekly online magazine that has been covering contemporary culture since 2002, and is well worth a read.

In terms of videos, the Tate Museum offers a wide selection of artist interviews and exhibition reviews, for instance, here's a short film on Peter Doig. There's more interviews on the US TV /Internet Show "Charlie Rose", and while it doesn't have many fine artists on, it does have lots of Film Directors (JJ Abrams) and much more besides. Here's his interview with Damien Hirst from back in 2008.

Anyway, back to the easel...

Sunday 3 October 2010

Autumn in Bridport, West Dorset

I've started October with a major clear-out of my studio. I seem to accumulate so much stuff, but everything interests me, so it's hard to chuck it out. But I've also been working on my "Lewesdon Tree" commission, which is quite a large painting at 42"x56", so I want all the space I can get.

Another painting I've been really enjoying is a view of the path on Lewesdon Hill, disappearing into the darkness as you head up hill. The row of trees actually reminds me of Moby Dick, as the trunks are like a whale's ribs... I guess I thought of this because Steph Goodger, a painter I've known since college days, loves Moby Dick, and also the painting "Raft of the Medusa", by Gericault.

I've also updated my website www.kitglaisyer.com which is a constant job, but it's now so easy to share what I create with an international audience. I've also added a 'share' button because I've found that I often share things I've found on-line on Facebook or Gmail. I might as well make it easy for people to share my work!

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(I've also added a Share button to this Blog if you'd like to spread the word...)

I've also very excited about all the new works I've got planned for these coming months. I've got many more panoramic paintings in my mind, with vistas from Eggardon Hill and Shipton Hill, and more across the Marshwood Vale. I was also out today, photographing and sketching the brilliant Autumn skies. So watch this space...

I love living in Bridport; this town is full to the brim of people rich in imagination and independent in spirit. We love it here because we have managed to retain a quality of life and sense of community that seems to have been lost in most other towns. And in recent years Bridport has been experiencing a renaissance that is the envy of our neighbours -

* The Electric Palace goes from strength to strength, with a packed house at most events
* The Bull Hotel has expanded with it's own Pie & Pizza Bar in their Stables
* The St Michael's Studios complex is thriving, raising the national profile of our art scene
* Next door the Antiques & Vintage district has now transformed the old Top Gear garage, with dozens of small businesses providing a cornucopia of furnishings, clothing and adornments
* While over the road, the new Cafe in the Red Brick House is proving to be a major hit
* The Lyric Theatre - formerly at threat of residential development - has been bought by performers Niki McCretton and Mark Parrott, and will re-open to the public next year
* Our 1st Hat Festival was a great success, and a brilliant celebration of a local family business
* The Vintage Market really is THE place to be on the last Sunday of the month
* The Literary Festival is about to start, it runs from Fri 29 October to 7 November, with talks by the likes of Andrew Graham-Dixon and Peter Snow giving talks.

You'll notice that all of these lovely enterprises are driven by inspired individuals and supported by the local community, and yet they're receiving national acclaim, and pulling in visitors from across the country. We're not waiting for some government policy, Council approval or 'social initiatives' to get us started, we just rely on our own ideas and passion to make things happen.

I mention this because recently there have been some indications that developers are once again eyeing up Bridport's historic St Michael's Trading Estate, in the hope they can get mixed-use planning permission (it's currently just light industry), cash in and convert it into Poundbury mk.2, despite the fact that it is now home to a thriving Arts and Vintage district.

What these misguided architects, developers and Councillors don't appreciate or understand is that the majority of people love this untouched part of town just the way it is, and certainly don't want it to be 'gentrified'. The other key concern is that if the new development plan is anything like the last one, then it will turf out dozens of small businesses - that rely on low rents - and replace them with units that only solicitors, accountants and estate agents will be able to afford.

If you would like to register an interest in protecting Bridport's Art & Vintage Quarter, please give us your email HERE and we will be in touch about future development plans.

On a lighter note, in art, there's some great art coming up this month, first of all with an Autumn Exhibition coming up a Artwave West Gallery, in Morecomelake in a couple of weeks.

The exhibition includes work by recent graduates Helen Jones and Alice Jones. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing Alice's drawings after meeting her at the Bridport Open Studios launch in August. She is also the winner of the Young artist of the year award awarded by Clarke Willmott, Bristol, UK. I haven't met Helen Jones, but judging by her website, she makes remarkable charcoal drawings of the sea.

Meanwhile at the Sladers Yard Gallery in West Bay, Simon Quadrat is giving an artists talk on 15 October at 7pm, as part of "In My Mind's Eye" (until Nov 7), with Peter Swanson and Petter Southall.

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