Exhibited in Plymouth

This was my first time exhibiting in Plymouth - my home town. I left it aged 18 desperate to get to London. Decades later it has a fast growing arts scene - thankfully - and Plymouth Arts Weekender is in it's 2nd year. Six Caroline Place is the project of Charlotte Squire who selected 8 artists for Uncanny World of Interiors. The setting has layers of domestic unspoiled-ness (I loathe all those super modernised interiors you see when perusing rightmove etc.) - a perfect backdrop.

Holding their own against the funky wallpaper are the skillful, intriguing paintings by David Edmond.

A curious corner created with a sculpture (made from interior items) by Charlotte Squire and paintings by David Edmond against the wallpaper that Charlotte and inhabitants haven't decided whether to keep yet or not; lovable and livable are different things aren't they?!

Where the wallpaper is gone there are many different coloured patches of plaster wall; gorgeous colours and textures. I loved showing my chandeliers here because the texture of my tarnished and rusty metal items felt so at home in a space that also showed it's history. It was a fantastic weekend chatting to the many visitors doing the Plymouth art trail - thanks to all who took part!

Uncanny World of Interiors

Please excuse my absence from the blog - I got distracted by joining instagram! I really don't know how people keep up with using all the social media, the networking is fun but time consuming. Now I'm about to dip my toes in the Plymouth art scene at Plymouth Art Weekender. I was a foundation art student here aged 16-18; several decades ago, in an age before drastic cuts when we actually got given boxes of pastels, paints and a drawing board on arrival, oh happy days. 

If you are in this neck of the woods at the weekend please come along to 6 Caroline Place, Millbay, Plymouth PL1 3PR. Curated by my friend the artist Charlotte Squire the Uncanny World of Interiors, 'showcases the work of 8 artists and designers working with everyday materials, transforming the mundane into objects of desire'.  Sat & Sun 24/25th 11am-6pm

Chain Accessories Large and Small

These kind of chain link connectors are very useful when I'm rigging up systems to hang my chandeliers so I have a little collection of them.

Yesterday I took some friends to a place known as Bogey Knights in a tucked away corner of Plymouth next to the dockyard. It sells army and navy surplus stuff and chandlery, so if you're looking for an old anchor....this is your place.

Here we marvelled at the huge accessories, I stuck my very cold fingers into the photo to show you the scale. This is exactly the same design as the little one in the top picture - but surely I would need huge arms and hands 10 times bigger to screw these securely!

I love this huge pulley part, it looks like a pantomime prop! I've used the domestic size for putting my candle only chandeliers on a pulley (no electrical wiring to disturb) with this part guiding the cord, but this one looks like it would pull your ceiling down. So - respect to all those deck crews who actually handle all this enormous stuff.

Capital Culture

I have seen loads of fantastic exhibitions in London over the past couple of months. I'm not able to be there all the time so I try to see as much as I can when I am. One of my favourites was Disobedient Objects (til 1st Feb 2015) at the V&A museum. It looks at the role of objects in affecting social change. I LOVED the Barbie Liberation Organisation; watch this short video - hilarious.

This tree in the V&A courtyard went from yellow up to beetroot and looked beautiful against the red brick.

I also loved: Egon Schiele at the Courtauld; amazing nudes, virtuoso drawing until 15th Jan 2015, Rembrandt at the National Gallery til 18th Jan, late Turner at Tate Britain til 25th Jan: all these guys were radical in their day. And Constructing Worlds at the Barbican Centre; fantastic photographs of amazing architecture and environments, until 11th Jan 2015.

I wanted to live in London since I was about 12, I thought that's where it's all going on, I still do and it's easy to dismiss the provinces; to be honest - by my demanding standards there isn't remotely enough going on in the Plymouth area, so I was thrilled to see Light Fantastic, a projected light spectacular in the city recently. Hats off to Illuminos who created it, enchanting. Below is the facade of the beautiful but derelict Palace Theatre with ever changing moving images and sound collage on a loop.

This gave us time to walk to another site, the Eddystone lighthouse on Plymouth Hoe.

This piece was simpler,  to suit the tower and so beautiful on a clear night by the sea. Both pieces incorporated historical snippets from the locale cleverly put together. Look out for Illuminos - they work all over the country and it's a treat to see really great public art.

And I took this photo of the Palace Theatre 3 years ago - check out the buddleia, must be like trees by now. I remember seeing a pantomime here when I was young, Aladdin I think with the late great Irene Handl. I wonder if the building really will be saved and used again for something.