Vidya Wolton

That was my latest entry in the Comments book at Quay Arts earlier in the week. Atleast I have evoked a reaction albeit less than favourable. I’m aware that the exhibition won’t be to everyone’s taste although on the whole feedback has been good and there have been some really well thought out comments which point to an enriching experience. I continue to ponder the whole question of audience and what my role is as an artist.

My exhibition continues in the Rope Store at Quay Arts and today I witnessed a sudden influx of visitors, much to my delight. Firstly, youngsters with behavioural and medical problems were having a session with one of the gallery educators. They were then joined by a group of adults with learning difficulties who were guiding one another around the gallery. I looked on in wonder and await further feedback from those who were there. It would be gratifying to find that some profound learning was taking place for these most marginalised of groups. Bar the Private View, for which quite a lot of planning took place and was well attended, this has to be the next best thing – a public viewing en masse!

Yes, my exhibition at Quay Arts has finally come around, or at least from saturday when it officially opens. I have been installing the work this week, a culmination of several years activity in the studio. It is hugely gratifying to see paintings go up in the gallery space of the Rope Store. I was last there five whole years ago and it all seems like a long time in the making. A few brutal decisions had to be made in the selection of the work, although those decisions were largely governed by the space together with quite alot of forethought and preparation. I’m hoping for some positive feedback at the Drinks Reception next thursday. The dates are as follows:

Sat 24 April – Sat 5 June with Drinks Reception Thur 29 April 6-8pm

Hello, from the roof tops of Cowes for some festive cheer. This winter wonderland looked quite magical from the Co-op car park. It just goes to show what a transformation takes place at this time of year.

News from the studio is that I seem to be having a bit of a breakthrough on the painting front. After the constraints of making my many small art boxes over the past year painting on a grander scale has taken second place. It was something of a revelation to be painting on canvas again and extending my palette back to conventional acrylic to supplement pots of household paint, with which I had become rather too cosy. Colour has become more of a challenge, as has the subject matter, which is ever changing, so let me not bore you with something that seems impossible to pin down at the present time. I hope there is a freshness to my painting which will become evident in my next Solo show at Quay Arts at the end of April. More about that closer to the time. However, for now, let me leave you with Cowes at Christmas on a chilly evening in December and offer my festive best wishes. For any out there wanting to offer a festive toast, my tipple of preference for the Season is Baileys on the rocks. Plenty of ice please!

And finally. . . . . . are we heading for a white Christmas? The bookies are looking to have a big pay out. Keep warm out there in cyberspace. More ramblings in 2010.

These Autumn days can be deceptive. The promise of blue sky gave way to cloud by lunchtime. This in turn gave way to some heavy showers. We decided to brave it and headed down to Sandown in search of a new artists’ venture involving the transformation of a shop on the High Street to the rather more fashionable ‘Boojam and Snark’. Unfortunately our timing was not good as it was closed and to add to it all the heavens decided to open upon returning to the car. I was consoled by a trip to the local garden centre for an excellent slice of fresh cream Victoria Sandwich. This rather saved the day in the ‘teddy cafe’ together with a browse around some rather fine, if pricey specimens of Bromeliad. This is a plant I find needs very little attention and is one I have managed to foster for a few years now. Anyway I digress. The drive home was inspiring as the sky cleared and gave way to a mellow light which precedes sunset. I am at present absconding from the studio, having had a break in Barcelona and then spent time getting ready for ‘Art in Woodstock’. I look forward to giving more ramblings from the studio and those all-important ‘away from the studio’ visits which make living on the Isle of Wight worthwhile.

First attempt!

Today I was part of a group embarking on some experimental feltmaking with tutor Jeanette Appleton, who is currently showing a major body of work at Quay Arts. Jeanette is truely international in her themes, drawing on impressions of the landscape in Spain where she lives and driving home a message on environmental issues through the most subtle and delicate of means. This is an exhibition not to be missed as it pushes the boundaries of feltmaking beyond the purely decorative to challenge the viewer concerning the meaning behind the work. The works are beautiful, well-crafted, yet potent as a means of comment on environment and tourism issues with their associated politics.

It has been known to be asked about ‘crits’ and what are they? Usually a group of artists get together and give constructive criticism on someone’s work, in this case myself and the venue, the Aspex Gallery at Gunwarf Quays in Portsmouth. Discussions were facilitated by Jonathan Parsons, an International artist based at Aspex, who gives advice to those of more modest achievements like myself.

I have been continuing to pursue my small boxes alongside some larger paintings and have found it quite helpful to move between the different scales. Here is an installation I set up for the crit. group to give feedback on. One point which came through is the way boxes are imbued with meaning, so that you want to know what is inside. There are many permutations with my boxes and the suggestion was made to continue making them to be installed as a floor work alongside some stacked up and generally to impress the viewer with sheer volume of numbers. I’ll have to keep up a certain momentum to achieve this and also find the right space for installation.

It’s been a long silence since my last post and I have to say it’s not always been easy getting into the studio. I continue with a particular teaching commitment in mental health and look to build on my involvement in community arts during the coming months. I hope this might form suitable ammunition for future posts!

Well what can one actually fit into an A3 envelope and send off to the Farnham Maltings to get shown in their cafe and exhibition spaces?  Here are a few Island entries. The ‘umbrella’ mobile is a memory piece by Island-based artist Lisa Traxler. Lisa is perhaps better known for her painting but has a background in fashion photography, with current work using old photographs in new and inventive ways. Check out Lisa’s website at www.lisatraxler.com . My own piece is actually on the cafe wall at the Maltings and isn’t quite in the intended envelope-form as shown here. However, if there are any readers local to Farnham who happen to look at my blog (always hopeful), then check out this piece on the wall, together with its envelope which also has a fair wack of paint and collage. Great to see there is still snow in Farnham. The Isle of Wight has it’s own adventure at the moment with local flooding. Negotiating the roads around Ryde was quite hazardous and in my local town of East Cowes the fire service is at work even as we speak pumping water out from the town centre. Freaky isn’t it?