Ann Shaw | Image | Artists talking | a-n

Digital finger painting - "We do not know the future we are inventing."


Ann Shaw | Image | Artists talking | a-n

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

Blippers have all been asked to submit a photo of the saltire to create an amazing film for Burns Night 2012 called Scotland the World Over, an online global project organised by Blipfoto.com

This is my contribution.


Tomorrow night we have the first pop up networking event in Stirling organised by Joe Hall, a young woman new to the area.

She tells me it is already over-subscribed.
We are delighted.

For those of us who live in central Scotland this area is like a cultural desert for the contemporary art scene, in its widest scene, with little in the way of printmaking, digital, music, performance or film

OK there are little pockets of activity – MacRobert Arts centre and Changing Room- but no central hub for contemporary artists.

Everything happens in either Glasgow or Edinburgh.

Through Forth Valley Open Studios we created the first ever database of all artists working in the area- and there are over a 100 of us- but most work in the traditional arts and crafts sector.

Hopefully these series of pop-up art events will help create a vibrant artistic community in the central belt of Scotland so that artists no longer feel they have to go to migrate to Glasgow, Edinburgh, or worse, London on emerging from art college.

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

Elizabeth Blackadder at the opening of her exhibition in Stirling University.
Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n


I reckon we are fast approaching a “tipping point” for the arts in central Scotland.

Instead of being caught in a cultural wilderness between Glasgow and Edinburgh we are beginning to establish our own identity with a vibrant art community.
Last Saturday saw the opening of the Elizabeth Blackadder exhibition in Stirling University to celebrate her 80th anniversary.
This followed on the previous weeks highly success Bridge of Allan Arts and Crafts Festival- first ever for the area-and we have two “pop-up” events scheduled – one is a weekend exhibition by two FVOS members, Libby Yule and Catherine Froy in West Mosside and the other is a “networking/music evening in the former Changing Room in Stirling Arcade.

Meanwhile my own work involves finishing off “Sully” a book about Wales and I am about to dip into electronic publishing.

Eskimo knife

www.blipfoto.com/Libra


Some time ago I was in a Glasgow ironmongers looking for a new kitchen knife when a group of young Glaswegian men came in.

They were buying knives.


For the city is the murder capital of Britain and knives the weapon of choice despite the Cultural Renaissance during
the 1980s and 1990s when the city made serious attempts to reinvent itself with the Glasgow Miles Better campaign and the opening of the Burrell Collection, It also became the European City of Culture.


I once made an artwork based on this incident called
Getting ready for a Glasgow nite out”.

The gallery, not surprisingly, rejected it.

I bought this multi-purpose Eskimo chopping knife in Anchorage some years ago during a stopover to Japan.
It can be used for skinning animals, preparing vegetables and cutting meat.
Most of the time though it sits on my kitchen window ledge coming into use for chopping herbs.

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

Gio Martin, sculptor with one of her quirky ceramics, at the first Bridge of Allan Contemporary Art and Craft Event.


It is ten years since I graduated from Glasgow School of Art. Here is a link to a blog about it:

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

'Mystery object', silver and wood, 24 October 2011. Photo: Ann Shaw. | Image | Artists talking | a-n

'Mystery object', silver and wood, 24 October 2011. Photo: Ann Shaw. | Image | Artists talking | a-n

Back from Morocco. I bought this high up in the Atlas mountains and I would love to know what it was originally used for. The inside is half hollow and it stands abaout ten inches and 3 inches in diameter, made of wood and engraved with intricate silverwork.

'In memori: Steve Jobs', digital, 6 October 2011. Steve Jobs made our world a better place. | Image | Artists talking | a-n

'In memori: Steve Jobs', digital, 6 October 2011. Steve Jobs made our world a better place. | Image | Artists talking | a-n

Also on my blipfoto site:
http://www.blipfoto.com/libra

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

"Nostalgia"
Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n



I used to work on The Herald newspaper in Glasgow many years ago – before I took redundancy to go to Glasgow School of Art-

I was one of the writers for the Women’s page (OMG! that sounds so sexist…).
Anyway The Herald has now launched a weekly Women’s Herald magazine and I bought my first copy today.

Will I buy it again ( at a £1 a copy)? Well....most of my reading is done online. For free.

Venice Biennale 2009

Finally got around to editing , or rather should I say, "mashing ", some footage from the 2009 Venice Biennale.

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

Still Life with glass bowl and fruit
www.blipfoto.com/entry/1418129

To view my site:
blipfoto.com/Libra

Well, we have signed the papers which will enable Forth Valley Open Studios to become a C.I.C – Community interest Company, a not for profit arts organisation dedicated to community interests.

This does not give us charity status – which would require us to jump through many more hoops- but it ensures we continue in perpetuity and opens the doors to, we hope, gaining grants and sponsorship.

Spring Fling Open Studios on the Scottish Borders already formed themselves into a C.I.C.some years and we are using them as our role model.

Unlike Spring Fling we have not had any public funding and the only reason we have been able to reach the stage we are at in less than two years is thanks to the internet. So much of the work from gathering a database to registering, design and marketing our Open Studios has been done online.

Another new venture I have become absorbed in is www.blipfoto.com

This Edinburgh based project has created an amazing online global village for photographers.
If you have never visited the site then I would strongly recommend it:
www.blipfoto.com

My work is on www.blipfoto.com/Libra

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

Visit Tate Modern

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n
Sunset over the Thames - view from Tate Modern


Night light: silver birch trees outside Tate Modern


Just had 24 hour visit to London to see Miro exhibition. I love Miro's work yet I was faintly disappointed. It looked dated.
Why? because now I have come to expect more from art than a painting hanging on a wall.

I wanted to interact with it somehow. Afterwards I went out on to the balcony of Tate Modern . It was packed with people with their smartphones and digital cameras all busy capturing the scene.

Visiting Open Studios in Perthshire

Lys Hansen in her studio in Braco, Perthshire.


Textile artist Clare Robinson in her Braco studio..


Perthshire Open Studios started yesterday. Visited two in Braco, Lys Hansen, an international artist and Clare Robinson a young textile artist who has re-located from Edinburgh to Perthshire and works for Liberty.



And this is what always surprises me about visiting Perthshire Open Studios - you find artists have moved here from the cities, many from down south, because they can combine their work with a good quality of life.



Going further north today to Dunkeld where I expect to find even more artists who have opted for the good life: big cheap ( well not that cheap this is Perthshire) studios, beautiful locations and thanks to the internet they can work anywhere.
Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

The new creative economy?....

My latest blip photo on www.blipfoto.com . You can find me under my screen name of Libra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IehUM7XxJNU




What does the future hold for art and artists?

Well here are three very different perspectives:

Open Studios
We in Forth Valley Open Studios are looking into forming a C.I.C – Community Interest Company, in order that the organisation continues impetuity and makes it more attractive for investment i.e sponsorship, and grants. We have our annual general meeting in a month’s time and hope to get it all formalised by then.
In moving towards this structure we have been influenced by “Spring Fling” Open Studios on the Borders who have already adopted it.
(Incidentally I noted on their web site that they had a turnover of over £800,000 this year.
Not bad for a long weekend in the country.)
It is worth noting though that the creative industries on the Borders are both a major tourist attraction and source of employment for artists, craftspeople and all those associated with them.
We believe Open Studios empowers artists and at the same time enriches the cultural life of the community.

Digital networks
Just back from Tallin, European City of Culture, where
The Director of the Kumu Art museum, Anu Liivak, says in his introduction to “Gateways – Art and Networked Culture”.
“The exhibition focuses on works of electronic media, which use digital networks in various ways and re largely interactive.
As such the display clearly shows the paradigm shift from traditional visual art, where the artist presented viewers with a completed object.
Contemporary electronic art is closely connected with the latest developments in technology which, in most cases, are not used to create a finished object but, rather, an interactive communicative platform.”

Finally take at look at this Youtube contribution which argues that the artist’s career in the past operated in a vertical structure- art college, gallery, exhibition, catalogues, museum whereas the reality today for most artists is one of a horizontal structure, a portfolio of work where making art is just one part of what artists do.
These artists, far from being a failure because they have not become stars or household names are in fact making a great contribution to the community.


Which is right? I would hazard a guess that they all are.
For contemporary art has many different strands and in the future we are going to see an even richer diversity of creativity.

Have just joined blipfoto.com where you are invited to submit a photograph a day.

Tallinn- Kumu museum

Tallinn Wall
Artists collect words and phrases from Facebook and Twitter and publish them as standard size posters on the gallery wall.So this becomes the physical manifestation of the invisible digital city all around us.


Tallinn - European City of Culture

Just back. City was a big surprise. Had expected the medieval side but not that it had jumped straight into the 21st century.



Glad I had my ipad with me because if you wanted information on the European City of Cutlure you were referred straight to the web.



I saw some amazing stuff in Kumu, their new museum which is a cross between the Guggenheim in New York and the Jewish museum in Berlin. It looks terrific though it is not that user friendly inside.



The top floor was given over to "Click Here" and this was superb. Here we had cutting edge art where Man ( or should it be Woman) meet with computers to create a whole range of images and experiences that reveal a new world.



It was the immersive, interactive work that held peoples attention longest and opened up whole range of new art experiences.

bit.fall, Julius Popp's video installation turned water in words trawled from top news sites on the internet- as we walked in we got the London riots already turned into an art form.

The viewer is able to experience the digital world as an analogue sculptural installation.

Phew!....



Video installation bit.fall by Julius Popp in the Kumu museum, Tallinn.

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

Life drawing on mobile devices

The old and the new
What is it about drawing that brings us back all the time to the studio for Life Drawing? Last night I went to the monthly class at Delta Studios expecting no more than maybe three or four people, after all it’s the middle of the holiday season and it was a very hot sultry evening.
Instead twelve of us turned up.

There is something in human nature, almost primeval that craves the desire to make marks.
For three hours I worked just using a piece of pastel and some wet paper towels- how much more basic than that can you get, not even the pretence of a brush.

Fast-forward today to the 21st century and the sharing of the images on mobile phones, Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

Forth Valley Open Studios.....the future?

(Skyscape - Bridge of Allan - Ann Shaw)

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

Should Forth Valley Open Studios become a registered Community Interest Company? how do we ensure the organisation continues into perpetuity?

Wales and Essex- video performance

This is a video I made a couple of weeks ago during a video performance workshop in the Changing Room gallery, Stirling. We were put into pairs and I worked with Jon Piccolo, a young man from Essex who has recently moved to Scotland.

Interview with Andrew Bryant of A-N magazine

Ann Shaw talks to Andrew Bryant about working in the virtual realm, her career development from journalist to artist, and current concerns.


'"Forgotten"', digital. Centre for Older Adults, Chicago.

Andrew Bryant: You had a previous career as a journalist. What made you
switch to art and how difficult was the transition?

Ann Shaw: I come from Wales and in those days it was unheard of for anyone
to go to art college – you either went to university or teacher training college.
When I moved to Scotland I found myself for the first time in a country with a
strong visual culture. This allowed me to renew my interest in art by going to
evening classes, weekend courses, holiday courses and even a masterclass
with Eduardo Paolozzi. I switched to job-sharing so that it would give me more
time to practise my art and I had a WASP studio, though I was aware that I
needed art school training.
Leaving the security of a very well paid job, which I thoroughly enjoyed, for the
insecurity of life as an artist took me several years to resolve. In the end my
desire to make art won through. I had by this time already started exhibiting
work, but it was very much a hit and miss affair. I knew that in order to progress
I needed both the training and the official stamp of approval of an art degree. So
I took voluntary redundancy from The Glasgow Herald (as it was known then)
and started a four-year, full-time course at Glasgow School of Art. Once inside
art school it became obvious that there were many different strands to art. A
year in Chicago on exchange to The School of the Art Institute opened even
more doors (especially digital video and performance).


'"The Waiting Game"', Digital. Ann Shaw says:" This was taken in Mexico after visiting some Mayan ruins. The juxtaposition of the iguana and the couple caught my eye."


AB: Francis Alys trained as an architect and Susan Hiller had a previous life as
a sociologist. Both are high profile artists with major retrospectives at Tate. Has
your background as a journalist shaped the kind of artist you are?

AS: I am curious to see your reference to Francis Alys and Susan Hiller, whose
work I greatly admire. In my own case I found that I was not taken seriously as
an artist because I was already known as a journalist (in art school I reckon I
got an extra tough time because of it). I think it’s only now, very late in life, that I
have the confidence to combine the two, to let the one feed off the other.
For a long time I tried to banish my background in journalism but now I realise
that it feeds into my current practice more and more. For example I am working
on a project ‘The Time of Our Lives’ which challenges our stereotyped image of
our ageing population. Because of my journalistic background and contacts I find
it very easy working with people. In fact I seem to be moving more and more
towards ‘social sculpture’ where the interaction between people and their
contribution becomes greater than the finished film. Having said that I have
recently gone back to a life drawing class in order to get back in touch with the
special kind of magic of putting marks on paper – something lost in computers.


Ann Shaw, '"Strong"', digital.Inspired by Moodscope.com the free online testing kit which analyses your daily emotional state.


AB: Your blog is currently concerned with preparations for the Forth Valley Open
Studios. Open studios raise the hoary old question of putting a price on art.


AS: There are many different threads to art and one of the things that organising Open Studios has taught us is that there is a role for all. Studios are not vetted. We let the public decide."

Ann Shaw talks to online editor Andrew Bryant

The other day I did an online interview with Andrew Bryant of AN Magazine.


It was a novel experience to be interviewed, to find myself at the other end of the questions, for I used to be a journalist.

Knowing how easy it is to misinterpret a persons story, to give added weight to something in order to make it more readable, a common newspaper practice ( think of current newspaper scandals) it was with some trepidation that I read Andrew's interview.

I was both surprised and delighted at his well-balanced article which summed up my work. Moreover it caused me to look more deeply and critically at my practice and what I wanted to achieve.

Blurb.com

Have created my first mini book using Blurb.com It is a very simple venture, a small gift for Kit Gow of Opening More Doors , the charity that organised an exhibition of work made by day patients at Strathcarron hospice for our recent Forth Valley Open Studios.

Once books involved an enormous and costly process. Now its possible to have one-off glossy books for less than a bunch of flowers!