Well, it's happened.
I wondered who would be the first artist in our year to make a mark in the art world. Opened Scotland on Sunday newspaper to see that Michael Visocchi is one of five young artists singled out by art critic Iain Gale as "rising stars".
Congratulations Michael! you were always very hard working . He's a sculptor and actually MAKES THINGS!.....
Ann Shaw - "I am a writer/artist based in Scotland. After working as a Feature Writer on the Glasgow Herald I went to Glasgow School of Art as a mature student. Check out my web-site: annshaw.co.uk " Contact- annshaw
Monday, April 25, 2005
Friday, April 22, 2005
The Good News and The Bad News
First, the good news...the pedometer works like a charm, clocked up 10,000 steps for the second day ( O.K its early days!) but one gets a sense of achievement and that's important in this fitness lark.
Talking of which...the bad news. TV programme last night on vitamin pills pointed out the dangers of overdosing on Vitamin A just by taking a vitamin pill a day, nasty things happen like damage to your liver and thinning bones. I have been taking vitamin pills for years! Did a quick check on the labels, horrified to find that Vitamin A is the main ingredient! Have chucked the bottle in the trash can.
Talking of which...the bad news. TV programme last night on vitamin pills pointed out the dangers of overdosing on Vitamin A just by taking a vitamin pill a day, nasty things happen like damage to your liver and thinning bones. I have been taking vitamin pills for years! Did a quick check on the labels, horrified to find that Vitamin A is the main ingredient! Have chucked the bottle in the trash can.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Pedometer and video editing
Have just invested in a pedometer in order to encourage me to get away from the computer. 10,000 steps are recommended a day, that sounds like an awful lot of walking. Still, I need it. For the past couple of weeks I have been tied to the computer, editing my work from the Royston Road Project. Have got to reduce nearly 8 hours of footage to a maximum of 20 minutes. Help! need to do some walking to mull over ideas.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Artist residency
Royston Road Project
Have just finished filming in Blackhill/Provanmill, Glasgow. It has taken a lot longer than I expected, a combination of bad weather and difficulty setting up meetings with people. The two women who had agreed to be filmed today failed to show up. However, found another woman, a local activist in the community, was very co-operative and allowed her son and nephew to be filmed too.
Now into the editing stage.....
Have just finished filming in Blackhill/Provanmill, Glasgow. It has taken a lot longer than I expected, a combination of bad weather and difficulty setting up meetings with people. The two women who had agreed to be filmed today failed to show up. However, found another woman, a local activist in the community, was very co-operative and allowed her son and nephew to be filmed too.
Now into the editing stage.....
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Peer Crit- Glasgow
Some time ago a national Sunday newspaper did a survey on the best place to live in the UK - for employment, health, environment, children, culture etc.
Guess what? Glasgow topped the list as the most edgy place to live if you want to be a contemporary artist.
Well, after last night's crit at the CCA, organised by Steven Anderson, a young painter, I begin to understand why. He had gathered together a group of around 30 artists with four presenting work. These were Aya Iguchi, Japanese artist currently working with sound as artist-in-residence in Lanark musuem, Michael Wursteauer an experimental filmamker who showed a very creepy film made inside the pedestrian/cycle pathway underneath the Clyde and Rachel O'Neil a ceramic artist who has just negotiated an artist residency with Scottish Arts Council funding with a factory in Glasgow.
I showed some work I made during a week's residency in the Changing Room gallery, Stirling.
Guess what? Glasgow topped the list as the most edgy place to live if you want to be a contemporary artist.
Well, after last night's crit at the CCA, organised by Steven Anderson, a young painter, I begin to understand why. He had gathered together a group of around 30 artists with four presenting work. These were Aya Iguchi, Japanese artist currently working with sound as artist-in-residence in Lanark musuem, Michael Wursteauer an experimental filmamker who showed a very creepy film made inside the pedestrian/cycle pathway underneath the Clyde and Rachel O'Neil a ceramic artist who has just negotiated an artist residency with Scottish Arts Council funding with a factory in Glasgow.
I showed some work I made during a week's residency in the Changing Room gallery, Stirling.
Monday, March 28, 2005
Glasgow - CCA
Tomorrow I have volunteered to have a free crit in the CCA - Glasgow. No idea what this will involve. Will it be like Art College where they proceed to rip your work apart?
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Berlin
Saturday, March 12, 2005
The Herald: Old Comrades Reunion
A dozen of us turned up at Babbity Bowsers, one of those trendy Glasgow bars, for our annual reunion. Always feel a bit squeamish, wondering who will be missing...and who has died in the past year?
But tonight it's fine. No talk of deaths though we know that some of our former colleagues had indeed passed away since we last met.
It's seven years since I left The Herald as a Feature Writer to go to Glasgow School of Art but it seems, after a few hours in the company of my ex colleagues, that I have not been away at all... sometimes I do miss that shared camaraderie we all had as journalists, the rough and tumble of a daily newspaper office and tight deadlines.
But tonight it's fine. No talk of deaths though we know that some of our former colleagues had indeed passed away since we last met.
It's seven years since I left The Herald as a Feature Writer to go to Glasgow School of Art but it seems, after a few hours in the company of my ex colleagues, that I have not been away at all... sometimes I do miss that shared camaraderie we all had as journalists, the rough and tumble of a daily newspaper office and tight deadlines.
Friday, March 11, 2005
web page
Well, I guess it has been some time since I did a posting. Have been to Chicago and I am now working as an artist-in-residence in Glasgow ( Royston Road Project).
What has spurred me on to put an entry in is that I am working with web designer Andy Allan to put up a web page and he wants to know what links to put in. Well, I reckon one to this blog is a start.
What has spurred me on to put an entry in is that I am working with web designer Andy Allan to put up a web page and he wants to know what links to put in. Well, I reckon one to this blog is a start.
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Fraud- Capodimonte museum, Naples
The phone rang. I had just returned from a week in Naples and Sorrento.
"Have you spent 700 euros on books in the Capodimonte museum in Naples?"
"Pardon?"
"And 500 euros in an Italian supermarket?"
Well, I had just been congratulating myself that despite all the horror tales of crime etc in Naples I had returned without being robbed or mugged. Now this. I had reckoneed without the new crime of credit card cloning.
So how did it happen? Well, the most likely suspect is the museum itself since I had bought some books - a mere 30 euros - there on the day of the first illegal transaction and had lunch in the museum cafe- that's when the waiter took my credit card away for rather a long time.....
"Have you spent 700 euros on books in the Capodimonte museum in Naples?"
"Pardon?"
"And 500 euros in an Italian supermarket?"
Well, I had just been congratulating myself that despite all the horror tales of crime etc in Naples I had returned without being robbed or mugged. Now this. I had reckoneed without the new crime of credit card cloning.
So how did it happen? Well, the most likely suspect is the museum itself since I had bought some books - a mere 30 euros - there on the day of the first illegal transaction and had lunch in the museum cafe- that's when the waiter took my credit card away for rather a long time.....
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Panther found with sheep!
Phone call from Bridge of Allan police.
"We've found your panther.It was in a field with sheep."
Well, I'm delighted to get it back, only slightly damaged, and to learn it has been used for an art installation, well a site specific one, though I suspect the pranksters ( students during Stirling University Freshers Week?) were unaware that what they were doing could be construed as a work of art.
Wonder what the sheep thought of it...
I put a poster up in the village( Bridge of Allan) offering a reward and it seems a woman walking her dog spotted it .
"We've found your panther.It was in a field with sheep."
Well, I'm delighted to get it back, only slightly damaged, and to learn it has been used for an art installation, well a site specific one, though I suspect the pranksters ( students during Stirling University Freshers Week?) were unaware that what they were doing could be construed as a work of art.
Wonder what the sheep thought of it...
I put a poster up in the village( Bridge of Allan) offering a reward and it seems a woman walking her dog spotted it .
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Stolen Sculpture!
"Where's your black panther?" said a friend this morning looking around the garden. I looked across into the wooded area alongside the road and - no panther. This is a life-size black resin sculpture I made some years ago which I am very fond of.
That's when I realised it had been nicked. This is not the first time I've had work stolen- the other occasion was a vcr/tv and tape from a gallery. But at least I could claim on the insurance and go out and buy another telly. As it was a digital work I still had the mastercopy.
But sculpture is different. It's a one -off.
The police were quick off the mark and two arrived within an hour taking statements etc. Maybe it will turn up on e-bay......
That's when I realised it had been nicked. This is not the first time I've had work stolen- the other occasion was a vcr/tv and tape from a gallery. But at least I could claim on the insurance and go out and buy another telly. As it was a digital work I still had the mastercopy.
But sculpture is different. It's a one -off.
The police were quick off the mark and two arrived within an hour taking statements etc. Maybe it will turn up on e-bay......
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
SIBOS -Atlanta
Well, my little seahorse video is certainly getting around!.... I filmed it in The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago (www.sheddaquarium.org ) a few years ago while on an international student exchange to the School of the Art Institute.(www.artic.edu/saic/) It was one of the films I showed recently in the Mission gallery, Swansea and while there I met Sue Foley of Peter Evans, (www.peterevans.com) the software company specialising in web security.
She asked if they could use the video when they go to SIBOS in Atlanta this month. Now I must confess I had never heard of SIBOS - international annual conference for the world's financial sector.
I understand the video will be shown on a plasma screen and there will be over 5,000 delegates. Phew!...my wee digital fishes are certainly seeing the world.( I tweaked them with some digital effects).
www.swift.com/index.cfm?item_id=40406-10k-4Oct2004
www.swift.co/index.cfm?item_id=40524
She asked if they could use the video when they go to SIBOS in Atlanta this month. Now I must confess I had never heard of SIBOS - international annual conference for the world's financial sector.
I understand the video will be shown on a plasma screen and there will be over 5,000 delegates. Phew!...my wee digital fishes are certainly seeing the world.( I tweaked them with some digital effects).
www.swift.com/index.cfm?item_id=40406-10k-4Oct2004
www.swift.co/index.cfm?item_id=40524
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Art Scam - Scotland
Who says you can't make money out of the internet? well, there is a very clever scam operating out of Nigeria that is working its way through the Society of Scottish Artists. It is a money laundering scheme. They e-mail members and say they want to buy work. They send too much money and ask you to send the surplus on to a "shipper". You do and the original cheque bounces.
Anyway, its worth visiting our site:www.s-s-a.org
Anyway, its worth visiting our site:www.s-s-a.org
Monday, September 27, 2004
Crowsteps
The Crowsteps exhibition in Blairlogie has just finished. Well, I guess we can all learn a few lessons from it. To start with only about ten pieces of work sold and the reason is n0t hard to find: the prices were far too high with some work in the £1,000- £7,000 bracket.
Folk don't expect to pay those prices when they go to an art exhibition in a small, conservation village on the edge of Stirling. Still the aim of the exhibition was to bring together again a group of artists who had shown there over twenty years ago when they were in the early stages of their career.
Folk don't expect to pay those prices when they go to an art exhibition in a small, conservation village on the edge of Stirling. Still the aim of the exhibition was to bring together again a group of artists who had shown there over twenty years ago when they were in the early stages of their career.
Sunday, September 19, 2004
Chinese art.
A recent trek through Mongolia and the Gobi desert by artist Hock Aun Teh has resulted in a stunning exhibition which opened yesterday ( Sept. 18 ) in Edinburgh at the Phoenix 369 Gallery.
I had just trawled through seven Edinburgh galleries and was on my way home when the sheer exuberance of Hock Aun Teh's colours caught my eye across a busy Edinburgh street. There in all their splendid glory was a new exhibition by this Malaysian born painter who came to study at Glasgow School of Art and remained in the city. The gallery, unfortunately, does not have a web site but its worth a visit to the following sites to check out the work of Hock Aun Teh:
www.gpsart.co.uk www.tukido.co.uk www.eapgroup.com/china2.htm
A recent trek through Mongolia and the Gobi desert by artist Hock Aun Teh has resulted in a stunning exhibition which opened yesterday ( Sept. 18 ) in Edinburgh at the Phoenix 369 Gallery.
I had just trawled through seven Edinburgh galleries and was on my way home when the sheer exuberance of Hock Aun Teh's colours caught my eye across a busy Edinburgh street. There in all their splendid glory was a new exhibition by this Malaysian born painter who came to study at Glasgow School of Art and remained in the city. The gallery, unfortunately, does not have a web site but its worth a visit to the following sites to check out the work of Hock Aun Teh:
www.gpsart.co.uk www.tukido.co.uk www.eapgroup.com/china2.htm
Friday, September 17, 2004
South America.
How often do you talk about this vast continent, or even think about it? In my case very rarely. Except to-day. Had lunch with Sue who had just returned from spending a year travelling around the world and raved about South America,especially Chile and Argentina.
Along with her partner Wolf they belong to the new breed of Gap year travellers- older people who have downsized and used their money to travel the world. See their web diary at:www.angelfire.com/trek/wolftours.
This evening saw Motorcycle Diaries, Che Guevara's travel diaries up the South American continent. Great film.
How often do you talk about this vast continent, or even think about it? In my case very rarely. Except to-day. Had lunch with Sue who had just returned from spending a year travelling around the world and raved about South America,especially Chile and Argentina.
Along with her partner Wolf they belong to the new breed of Gap year travellers- older people who have downsized and used their money to travel the world. See their web diary at:www.angelfire.com/trek/wolftours.
This evening saw Motorcycle Diaries, Che Guevara's travel diaries up the South American continent. Great film.
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