Turns out curating the apocalypse is way more fun than it should be..

Ceramics, collage and creatures exploding, exploring and expiring in the Milking Parlour….this intriguing show brings together the work of David Burns and Mary Tambini for the first time; in a conversation that begins in the cradle of civilisation and ends in planetary implosion at our own hands. Open until 26 November, Tuesday-Saturday, 11-3, it’s a must see.

Having been already familiar with David’s work, from the moment I visited Mary’s studio in Childe Okeford I knew I had to get her in a room with him. There is something fragile here and yet deeply grounded in a collective cultural consciousness.

I felt that here was a conversation to be had – and here it is.

Mary researched this latest work on a visit to Kurdistan, where images 1000s of years old were the inspiration for the distilled motifs threaded throughout the work. It is a beautiful body of collage and ceramic sculpture with a collective feeling of cultural substance.

David has this to say about his recent work:

“The 11-year ticking clock in which to fix climate change and global warming has led me to respond with the present pots. The way humanity has squandered the resources of the planet we live on for what? Gain is only a relative term, some of the least affected by technology would seem to have a more carefree, healthy lifestyle than the likes of those making a financial killing by killing themselves.

I see the bowls as various versions of the cosmic black hole relentlessly sucking in everything in its path, all the trappings of success and achievement in the modern view going at light speed down the toilet to who knows where. It could be argued by the kinder folk amongst us that our present predicament is due to everyone not firstly understanding our planet home and secondly thinking that because things in the old days changed grindingly slowly it would always be so. Some would say”it’s not about misunderstanding and ignorance” but a pure, couldn’t care less attitude. Human beings are far too smart for their own good.

Surprising then that precious few have seen the writing on the wall. Possibly a condition of having a knowledge base that starts at zero and ends at zero point one.

Over time I have collected various different textured surfaces that are used in combinations on the bowls. They are made into press mouls and combined with thrown surfaces to produce the outside of the bowls complementing the interior pattern. I then use combinations of keys, coins, other metal objects and broken porcelain dolls to create the final images. My direction and ethos to highlight the effects of global warming, climate change, degeneration and decay are thus integrated into the work. I use many unconventional methods and materials to create the surfaces I require by adding brick dust, fibre and ground glass into my clay bodies firing them in different temperatures and atmospheres.”

In my last post I posited a posit from an unknown source on l-e-a-k-a-g-e.

is social media the undoing of us all, are there no more surprises? Are we all un-forming and pre-ejaculating ourselves?

Well it seems not me with this as Instagram took it down owing to it’s ‘inappropriate content’. Jeez they didn’t treat Rubens like this….

Menage a tout le Monde

“There is no need to tell anyone anything. The allure of social media is shortsighted, and especially in the long run. Being glued to dopamine-infused communicational needs spells l-e-a-k-a-g-e. Why spill the beans before they’ve even had time to cook?

Work, work, work. Then package, market, sell. But avoid leakage to the greatest extent possible because it will decimate the potency of the end result. It’s devious how this works: you think you’re informing – enthusiastically so! – but in actual fact you’re deforming both form and content by not keeping the process hermetic.

If you have a tight hermetic vessel, you’ll attract far more than with a wide open vessel with ten social media megaphones attached. It’s all in the silent force. Work, work, work. Then package, market, sell. Not the other way around.

By the way, this little text could actually be seen as leakage too, so I’d better… stop… writing…”

wise words…… but whose are they?

So in my last post I mentioned finding myself at a farm…. here’s what happened next….

I ended ip redesigning the website [very s-l-o-w-l-y] and here is what I wrote on the first page….

“At Guggleton we are about creativity and development. We aim to provide a welcoming environment for the creation of the new. In whatever form that might take for the individual. We support established artists by providing them with a space to experiment, new artists with the network, structure and exposure to develop and raw artists with the opportunity to grow.

Exhibitions at the Guggleton vary from season to season with one core theme, growth. We are, after all, occupying a farmyard.

Now in a period of regrowth ourselves we will, over the next few months, be developing our facilities in line with what we feel is needed to provide this ongoing resource. 

With the appearance of galleries such as Hauser and Wirth and Messum’s in the area, and new projects underway in Sherborne, we really feel that we have an opportunity to provide a more accessible alternative to these facilities, growing another audience already identified by others, piggy-backing on cultural tourism and demolishing the ‘threshold’ issues of many Fine Art institutions by remaining true to our community.

We are now in need of vital funds to upgrade facilities in order to host more exhibitions, events and workshops and to create more studios and spaces for artists, makers and practitioners to work out of.

We hope that your support will allow us to stage and host events that will let us include far more people in our endeavours, whilst in themselves raising funds for the ongoing development of the farmyard and program. 

We will be:

– Upgrading our lighting and hanging spaces in the galleries, especially environmentally. 

– Developing our yard to be fit for the purpose of staging outside events such as concerts, performances and cinema. 

– Providing 6-8 more low rent studio spaces for artists and makers. 

– Making our bathroom facilities much nicer….. 

– Creating a cafe/coffee house – as we hope to be able to offer refreshments on a more permanent basis rather than in just a pop up fashion as we currently do.

Over the next few months we will continue to support artists by helping them to develop their practices; alongside a comprehensive offer of workshops and talks in the following: 

Stone carving, drawing, oil painting, ceramics, printmaking, leather craft, watercolour painting, equine and animal painting and sculpture, Japanese flower painting, life drawing, upholstery and up cycling. 

We firmly believe that creativity has much to offer the individual on every level whether it be participating in workshops, developing an arts practice of one’s own, visiting exhibitions and talks or simply socialising in a creative environment. To this end we will be developing an all inclusive membership system – which can be entered by cash or time barter to ensure all aspects of the community are served. 

We will be developing our GUGGLEHEADS program aimed at getting more young people and children involved in aspects of creativity they may not be have the facilities or time to encounter at school.

As we believe that a creative outlet is a great resource for ongoing mental healthiness we also aim to increase our GUGGLEHEALTH offer with courses in Meditation, NLP, Reiki and life coaching. We firmly believe that the capability to create is part of every human nature. The health benefits of creative pursuits are inarguable, sometimes though a person’s enjoyment of their creativity can be compromised physically, mentally or philosophically.

With that in mind, at the Guggleton we like to surround ourselves with people who can help creativity flourish; whether that be advancing your painting skills, freeing your hand, loosening your brush work or advancing your life skill, freeing your mind and loosening your back…  

We aim to offer support over every aspect of a persons’ creative outpourings and at the same time stay both accessible and relevant to as many people as possible.

If our approach to life in any way coincides with your own then there are many ways that you can become involved at the yard. Please visit our Support uspage to learn more.”

Gubbins huh?

www.guggletonfarmarts.com