#arts groups

A little bit about the Serenity Poetry Series.

Poetry Readings Have a Long History One of the more memorable evenings I’ve spent in stage theater occurred at a small forty person theater in Seattle called the Odd Duck.  A playwright, whose name I can’t recall and wouldn’t tell you if I did, had written a piece for the playwright’s group show.  His stuff was very watchable, but violent, bloody and transgressive.  It was also highbrow and…

Artists are doing it for themselves

There is this idea that art is a market, and that artists are in competition with each other, just like in any other market. But we artists are so unique, and have such diverse approaches to their work/career, that maybe it is foolish to think of us as being in competition.

With this in mind, a group of us London artists got together to organise events and exhibit their work. I’m a founding member of Creative Nunhead, together with artists Nick Cobb and Caroline Wright, a group of artists collaborating on a series of art events here in South London. We have taken over a space, the Nunhead Corner Gallery, and organised a series of exhibitions there. This weekend was the launch of the 10th annual Nunhead Open.

10th Annual Nunhead Open

Over 60 artists are opening their homes and studios in the area the weekend of September 27-28 to offer an intimate look at their work and lives. In order to open my space, I’ve been transforming part of my garden into a sculpture garden.

Biagio working on the Sculpture Garden

  Completed sculpture garden.

Workshop being organised for Open Studios

  After the Open Studios, I will be taking over the Nunhead Corner Gallery, 26 Nunhead Green, London SE15 for an exhibition from 6-12 October. The gallery will be open from 12 noon – 6 pm.

Exhibition Launch will be on Wednesday, 8 October from 6:30-8:30 pm. All are welcome!

The exhibition is called ‘Paper Scissors Stone’, a 3 dimensional collage of sculpture, painting and film taking a (fantasy) realism approach to the seasons in Nunhead and beyond. paintings of recognisable local beauty spots combine with animated film of dogs in snow, and leaves falling in the winds of autumn, as well as free standing and relief sculptures.

The Creative Nunhead series of events has included 7 weeks of an artist run gallery opposite Nunhead Green. Paper Scissors Stone, my exhibition, is the last of these. It has been an interesting experience, not least because of being here in person, with no dealer or exhibition director to hide behind. Just me and my work. But also because this is a first opportunity to see the unity within my diversity. Have worked for the last 10 years with a gallery has emin outraged me to separate my work into sculpture or painting. Now I have the chance to show the creative flow between 2D and 3D work, including for the first time my cutout reliefs.

Unity in diversity

It is great to see honest reactions to the work, and of course to meet the people who are willing to part with hard earned cash to acquire some of the work. I have begin a diary to give a sense of what it feels like.

Day 0

Nick Cobb’s Peckham Car Park Model

Sitting and having a coffee with my friend Andre Alleyne, when Biagio arrives with Nick Cobb unexpectedly to help take sculptures to the gallery. Without much thought or preparation, I take a load of work in his van. Together we take out Nick’s amazing model of the Peckham car park out and bring my work in.

Day 1

Installing the exhibition

Looking through the print browser

Photographer Phil Polglaze comes down to help me hang the show. He brings his camera and captures a few nice moments. Seems there are already friends stopping by.

It rains all day but still see loads of people. Andre comes in and tales some great pictures.It rains most of the day but I still see loads of people. Andre comes in and tales some great pictures.

Day 2

The sun is out! Great street food festival, Nunhead Bites right across the road on Nunhead Green. See loads of friends, new faces, there is a real carnival atmosphere around the green.

Day 4

Quite a remarkable experience to be sitting in a gallery with your own work on the high street. After so many exhibitions organised and run by galleries or else in public venues, this is quite a new experience. Great to be getting immediate feedback from people right off the street. Makes me think of my Dad, who had a shop for most of his working life. And how about Claes Oldenburg, with his amazing ‘Store Days‘ and Tracy Emin’s shop with Sarah Lucas. Also exactly what my dad used to do in his wine store.

Man comes in, very interesting face. We start to talk, interesting guy. Lost the sight in one eye as a child, he has done set design, graphics, etc. Even knew about One Shot paint!

He agrees to sit for me, and I make a sketch. He left me with an interesting thought on my Zippos Circus painting: “nothing as Sinister as a clown”.

Night Circus, 2012. Nothing as sinister as a Clown

Here is the sketch I made of my artist visitor.

An interesting visitor

    At lunchtime I went next door to Bajan Spice and Andrea makes me my very first Goat Curry Roti. As Jenny says, Open Wide! Delicious.

Very few people today, but still someone acquired one of my Moment to Moment sculptures, Windy Day. Very pleased it is going to a good home.

Windy Day, steel, copper, enamel. Randy Klein, 2014

Day 5

Getting ready for the launch. Hoping to see some friends and supporters at the gallery tonight. If you are around, please visit the gallery, eith for the launch or during the rest of the run.

  If you are free, come join us at the launch. Or else come visit during the run of the exhibition. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Invitation to the exhibition

Just before getting ready for the launch, an 89 year old woman came in to chat. She told me lots of interesting things about the local area, and brought me some of her work to look at. And here is the sketch I made of her and one of her paintings.

A local artist visits the exhibition

To read more about Paper Scissors Stone, click here and also here

Things I Learned

Coincidentia oppositorum

A self portrait?

Unity in Diversity

The exhibition at Nunhead Corner Gallery ended up being an intense learning experience. Not just in getting over my inhibitions about showing the full range of my work, but also beginning to see the underlying unity across so many techniques and approaches. There seemed to be a thread connecting even the most disparate individual works. This itself was a lesson in how to exhibit my work most effectively.

A bit of changeable weather

Thematically, the works hinted at its theme successfully, so that there was a feeling of the ‘changing seasons’. But this was conveyed subliminally. Each individual piece had an ‘is-ness’ while remaining integral to the whole story. The theme of weather had unforeseen consequences, and my gallery days were full of changeable English weather. I had only myself to blame for that.

Nigel Cox and Ed Gray and family

Terrific responses from artist friends who I respect in particular Joss Smith, Nigel Cox, and Ed Gray added to the feeling that the work is ‘coming together’ in a new and slightly more communicative way. Long term supporters and collectors also responded to the way the work grouped itself, and were quick to demonstrate their appreciation. Even people walking in off the street, with zero expectation of walking into an art exhibition were also ‘getting it’, some even taking a punt on a print.

My daughter interested in the films

My daughter brought some of her friends to the launch, who seemed to enjoy it – or at least to be somewhat bemused. Hard to gauge responses from the tablet generation, but they stayed for ages and seemed to engage with the experience. My daughter even came around on the final day to help meet and greet.

My daughter and friends

…….. and Things I Earned

As Mark Twain said about learning to be a riverboat captain, all the better to earn while you’re learning. The sympathetic reaction of friends and clients was expressed in lots of sales and future commissions. But even more satisfying was that people responded so positively and understood the scope of my work, without objecting to the diversity of approach and technique. In that sense it was the best display ever of the full range of my creative method. Getting direct feedback in a monetary form reminded me of the situation in New York City, where I held my first exhibitions. People express their appreciation through their chequebooks. When I have previously exhibited in the UK, it has always been with a dealer who has handled the sales. It was such a pleasant experience to be dealing directly with the public, seeing their reaction to the work first hand. Having said that, I am very keen to work with a gallery again, just as soon as the right one appears.

What next?

In the midst of their excitement at seeing all the new work, visitors didn’t hesitate to ask me,’What is Your Next Project?’ Of course this is some kind of compliment and further expression of interest. However I will need a few weeks to digest this unique experience and to devise my next large project. And in fact, there are lots of exciting projects on the drawing board – literally.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for the next instalment in the creative odyssey.

Read more about the Paper Scissors Stone exhibition

I find it easy, at seminary, for my brain to get all the attention, like the MVP of a high school basketball team, while the rest of me—my body, my social life, and my imagination—warm the benches and get flabby. So, this spring break, I’ve decided to rehab my imagination. According to James. K. A. Smith, imagination is at the nexus of who we are. (I would recommend his book Imagining the Kingdom: How Worship Works—along with its prequel, Desiring the Kingdom—but, since my goal is to to coax hyper-intellectualism off the court for a while, I’ll just suggest that you index those books under the category euphemistically called “When I Have Time To Read For Fun.”) According to Smith, imagination is how we interact with the world. It connects our physicality with our past experiences, and enables us to generate new possibilities as we encounter ever changing situations. In short, a healthy imagination is essential to human flourishing—even intellectual flourishing—and, even at DTS. So if over the break, somewhere between finishing House of Cards and charting out the book of Leviticus, you want to buff up your imagination—here are five 20-minute ideas for getting your imagination off the bench. (I’ve previously done the first four, and plan to raid Kroger for the fifth next Saturday).

Nature • Go for a walk—without your earbuds. Watch for dancing. Listen for music. Feel the tapestry of nature.

Poetry • Read or listen to John Keats’s poem “Ode to Autumn.” Read it a second time, slowly, swimming among the images. Then, read it out loud.

Music • Listen to Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet Overture,” performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Close your eyes, and see love’s first meeting, the swords, and the tomb.

Art • Take in Rembrandt’s 1667 “Portrait of an Elderly Man.” Then compose a letter from this man to his son, taking cues from the painting. 

Food • Buy an asian pear, a kumquat, and any other fruit you like. Go on, splurge a little. Eat them with a friend, describing each fruit’s qualities and imagining what it would be if it were an animal, a sport, or a DTS professor.

Find more from Shannon at http://shannongianotti.com/