Kyoto the first

Well this is all rather fab. Monks chanting in the street, geisha's emerging from the subway and heated toilet seats. The house is lovely, thankfully I have a quiet room at the back as the front door opens out straight onto the street market. The gallery is just round the corner from the house and the sculptures are up today.......and then kept on the floor overnight for fear of the earthquakes! My fellow artists are lovely and good fun. Raquel Carro Lopez is a photographer, Roger McNulty is a painter and the the creative director here, David Stetson is an other photographer who has had the privileged of being the first foreigner inside the emperors tomb. So, all rather surreal for the moment. As this page assumes I read Japanese, I am now unable to upload photos until I sort out either a translation or find a translator or learn to read. I suspect finding a translator will be the easiest, sorting out three alphabets is going to take some time

こんにちは日本

こんにちは日本 ……hello Japan! Please don't ask me to say this, I am really struggling with remembering anything. With 3 alphabets, and a counting system for flat things and another for rabbits, I suspect I shall be as fluent at the end as I am now. I shall try to get 'tea please' sorted before I land though I suspect it won't be a Yorkshire brew out there. Flight confirmed for Sunday evening when I fly off to Kyoto for a 3 week residency. The sculptures are already on their way if they haven't already got there. Below is 'Brennan' in progress-not my usual scale but now I have forgotten just how many hours I spent sanding, it was good making it. Installation shots when I get there

Creative colony exhibition

Massive thanks to the amazing Amy Mountney, http://amymountney.com one of the current AA2A artists at Chelmsford College, I shall be showing in the 'Creative Colonies' exhibition, a pop up gallery in the centre of Chelmsford, later this week along with staff from Chelmsford College and the other AA2A artists

A lack of Jimmy Carr

Channel 4 contacted me earlier in the week with an email which I misinterpreted, I got the impression that Jimmy Carr would be joining one of my classes but no, it turns out he will use a clay sculpture of Michelangelo's 'David'  that I make and then pass it off as his. I had several interesting and very pleasant chats with a lovely chap on the production team about the logistics of making and delivering said sculpture. I had the distinct feeling that he thought I had a series of differently sized 'Davids' suitably adapted with the faces of different celebrities already on my shelves, ready for when the TV companies phone in an order. I am sure he wanted to send someone round to collect that afternoon……….Alas, no sign of the contract

postcards will be sent

What was a possible residency in Japan is now certain! Hurrah.  However, I shall not really believe it until I get on the plane and it takes off with me still on board which should be in March. I speak no Japanese so this may prove interesting and I hope I don't inadvertently cause a major diplomatic row or knock someone out by bowing at the wrong moment.  I am happy so far with the work I am making for the exhibition, there is still some way to go but it will get done in time. Being a far smaller scale than my usual work has been an interesting experience, as much as anything I have found it tricky trying to construct with smaller elements.  This is burnt lime with a wax finish, almost done.

an art week and lost tea

The London Art Fair saturday evening, masses to see as usual.
Up early sunday morning to get down to south London for the sculpture brunch http://www.sculpture-network.org/en/home/program/new-years-brunch/nyb13.html hosted by the sculptor Jeff Lowe. He has converted an old warehouse into a fabulous gallery, before this it housed artists studios and the front door goes into the space that I used as a studio some years ago. It is quite a transformation from messy studios into a huge, glorious light and airy space. It was fab to catch up with so many artists and some excellent presentations by Lee Tribe, Sam Cornish and Charles Hewlings
Wednesday evening I trundled along to a performance by Lisa Selby www.lisaselby.com at the RBS HQ, http://rbs.org.uk/exhibitions/past It was packed, standing room only and it got even more squashed as those nearer the front moved back away from the tea being spilt all over the floor. I actually found it quite distressing to see women holding a cup of tea aloft for half an hour, seeing the difficulty of keeping still and the ache of holding the cup at all after a while. I didn't see the joke that others saw, I felt sorry for the performers, so the audience had a very mixed reaction.

 'warders' keeping cups straight and refilling when empty

 Spilt tea

POSK

At the last minute, the Free Painters and Sculptors Society have been offered the Galleria Posk in Hammersmith. Private View on Thursday 9th Jan and the show is on now until the 16th. 
http://www.posk.org/index.php/pl/galeria 

Dijana Bekvalac, Pasquale Cesare, Alexandra Harley and Joanna Ciechanowska are showing prints, sculptures and paintings. Invited guest artist; Wojciech A Sobczyński.

Curator: Joanna Ciechanowska

POSK Gallery, 238 King Street, W6 0RF

Nearest tube Ravenscourt Park (District Line) 

Exhibition open daily 5 - 16 January, 2014

10 - 9pm. Free entry 
Photos of the hang in progress

Pascale and Wojciech hanging paintings

My sculptures in front of Dijanas very fine drawings