TRAVERSATION | The TRAVERSE CREATIVES Blog

Kate Robotham’s paintings explore the beauty of nature.

A Kate Robotham painting can be described as, vivid, colourful and reflective. Through the materiality of paint she presents a deep, dream-like, unknown environment full of wonder and curiosity.

 “In my paintings, I intend to convey to the viewer a vision of my personal perspective and experiences of nature” she says. “I aim to capture a sense of the magical and mysterious”.

With an obvious understanding of colour and how it affects our perception, she creates paintings with visual depth that invite you to move swim through.

Each image she has created expresses a subjective approach to the world around her and an inquisitiveness about her environment. An infectious innocence can be found in the paintings, as if every encounter is new and vibrant.

As a viewer, you feel drenched in what she depicts. “Especially evident in my larger pieces, I seek to immerse the viewer in a personal encounter which speaks of both paint and nature”

Paint itself plays a huge part in the story. “The materiality and gesture of paint enables a fusion of the representational and the imagined, exploring the creation of a personalised landscape”.

“One of my favourite pieces in Autumn Leaves, because it marks a real turn in my progress as a painter” she says. “This painting was a struggle, but through it I really learned to love the materiality of paint. I learned to get lost in colour and mark-making, taking an experimental, more intuitive approach to painting.”

The past six months have been busy for Kate. “I have finished my degree in Fine Art and graduated from Loughborough University, I have had paintings in five different shows over the summer months – in Loughborough, London, Nottingham and Derbyshire”.

Alongside her creative practice she spent her summer using her skills to teach art at The Arts Academy summer camp in Leicester and has now settled into part time work as Student Worker at Open Heaven Church, Loughborough.

The next few months holds some exciting possibilities for her work as an artist. “I am looking forward to getting stuck into a fresh series of paintings in my new studio, but will also continue to develop my online presence” she says. “I am especially excited to be exhibiting my paintings as part of a group show at the Suzhou Jinji Lake Art Museum, China in December.”

“Time and money is always a problem after graduating – you usually either have one or the other. Being able to support yourself whilst also really going for it in your career as an artist can be really tough” she says. “Progress is slow, but the main thing is to keep your practise going.”

   Image 1: Light Breaks, 2013

Image 2: Autumn Leaves, 2013

Traverse Creatives’ Open 2013 exhibitor, Kevin Holdaway is a traditional printmaker whose craft encompasses a wide variety of themes.

  His work is characterised by bright, bold colours and geometric shapes. His prints of the urban environment feature often imposing buildings that tower above, sink below and sweep away from the perspective of the viewer towards the borders of the frame and beyond.

  “I work my experiences of environments into image form with the intention of perhaps reflecting the initial feelings on first contact; or the memories I associate with these spaces now.”

  Indeed, his prints are highly suggestive of personal experience and subjectivity. For me, his work has a playful, imaginative element, usually found in children’s stories, such as The Chronicles of Narnia or perhaps even Mary Poppins. When I look at them, I do feel like I could leave the real world behind and step into the world he depicts.

  “I work with my own original fragmented imagery, re-adjusting the angles by measurements that might not be obvious to recognise, but nevertheless allow me to subtly reconstruct and bend the world around me”

  His pieces have an abstract quality. There is a lot of focus on shape, colour and pattern. As you move around the piece, you see it in different ways. From one angle it looks like an urban landscape,  from another a sophisticated pattern made up of different blocks of colour.

  “My prints are made up of many components, some are of a topographical nature, others are more concerned with monumentalism, but all explore pattern, tone, historical context, artistic references and social comment.”

  Kevin discovered printmaking after a slightly turbulent relationship with paint early on in his career. “I struggled with painting which culminated in me trashing my studio a number of times” he says.

After taking a short course in printing, he found a craft which suited him. “For me the process was important as it became the main focus of my work initially and the imagery followed as I gained skill and more control over the medium”.

  “My interest is further enhanced by the magic of never knowing exactly what you are going to get each time you pull a proof or edition.”

  Kevin has been the Senior Technical Instructor in Printmaking at De Montfort University since 1990 where he teaches a wide variety of traditional printmaking techniques. “I really enjoy passing on my skills to others who share my passion for print” he says.

  As well as exhibiting work at Stockport Art Gallery and the International Mini Print Competition in Cadeques, Spain, he is also exhibiting at the Off The Wall exhibition at Bankside Gallery, London.

  2014 looks to be an equally exciting year and will see Kevin showing his work in large scale exhibitions across the UK. “I am also working on a series of black and white linear portraits reminiscent of an earlier style and also a new suite of reduction linocuts based on London, Athens and Leicester.”

An Article by Kathryn Worthington

Michelle Morgan is an illustrator and designer based in and from Leicester.

Winner of BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year 2012, as voted for by Discover Wildlife magazine; a love for animals and nature is an undeniable influence on her work.

Over the past year Michelle has exhibited pieces in galleries across the UK including Twycross Zoo and Marwell Wildlife in Hampshire.

Sophie Currie

Having graduated this year from the 3d design course at Loughborough University I am aiming to become an established designer-maker. I am based in the East Midlands and will working and making in my studio in Loughborough for the next few years.

Throughout my degree I have specialised in jewellery and metalsmithing. I have been able to refine my silversmithing and metalsmithing skills throughout my degree these past few years and have more recently been exploring the more industrial process of metal spinning.

See below some of the fantastic work by our exhibitors.

Gillian Hawkes

My inspiration comes from nature, how one form can often create different layers of look and texture as well as providing so many variations to one piece.

The interest in nature focuses on geodes, crystals, rocks and bark from various types of trees, where you can get a different perspective of the piece from different angles.

Alice Peacock

My practice focuses on the evolving process of creating materiality led forms and patterns that hint at the organic.

These biomorphic shapes are part of an ‘artificial evolution’ created through the gradual and repetitive interaction between artist and material. Eachobject relies on the physicality of the medium and its potential for creating tactile forms. Each form is inspired by the materials own limits and capabilities.

You now have until Friday 5th July to apply!

  Call for Artists and Designers

Traverse Creatives Open 2013

16th – 29th July

Malt Cross Gallery

Nottingham

    Traverse Creatives welcomes both established and emerging artists and designers from any discipline to take part in our first annual Open Exhibition.

  The Exhibition will provide a fostering environment between mid-career and emerging practitioners. By bringing established local and national talent together with Traverse Creatives’ growing base of promising future practicing creatives we hope to offer the show’s visitors a fully rounded experience of East Midland’s vibrant art and design scene.

  Spaces will be limited so please apply as soon as possible; we will, however, attempt to accept as many works as we can.

  All work can be sold without commission during the event.

  All successful applicants will benefit from FREE online exposure of their work via Traverse Creatives social media and newsletter, The Flying Pyramid.

  Entry Requirements

  All artists and designers from all creative disciplines can apply to exhibit. Both emerging and mid-career creatives are encouraged to apply. Creatives from outside East Midlands and international creatives are also welcome to post their work should they be selected. To gain entry please provide:

  ·      A completed application form with an included image of intend/related work

·      Payment of the £20 entry fee at the time of submitting an application, applications without an entry fee paid will not be accepted. This fee is non-refundable and can be paid via PayPal at www.traversecreatives.com (click join).

  To apply, go to www.traversecreatives.com and click ‘join’

  Deadline for submitting an application and paying entry fee:  Friday 5th July

    www.traversecreatives.com

  Like us on Facebook

Or check out our blog traversation.tumblr.com

Ambrose Yalley started his film career as a poet.

As I sit here trying to think of ways in which to describe the music videos and films of Ambrose Yalley, a few words come to mind: Gritty, surreal, intimate and unnerving to name a few. Needless to say, I find his work hard to pin down, but for me this is all part of its intrigue.

“I wrote a short story/poem-like piece” he says about how he first discovered film making. “The editor of the magazine found enjoyment in the words and published it and suggested I should really put my words to video”

His films do have a poetic quality to them. The images act as words and there is always a suggestion of something deeper. To say that his films follow a linear narrative would be wrong. They are surreal, like fragments of memory or dreams strung together and are more like continuous streams of thought that the viewer has wandered into for a few moments.

“I want the viewer to be on a voyage when indulging in my work” he says. “My intention, which is a fundamental requirement with all my pieces, is to bring ‘galvanized thought’, to self reflect”.

There in a peculiar intimacy about Yalley’s work. You get a sense of personal history from his characters, without necessarily perceiving what that history might be. As a spectator, you often feel intrusive. His short film, The Surroundings and its Bearings shows the intimate conversation of its two characters. The camera is so close to them that you can see in detail the texture of their skin. It gives you the sense of being a voyeur, taking notice of every gesture and movement, no matter how seemingly banal.

Yalley’s success has in the last six months been taking him on some voyages of his own. He has travelled to Ghana to create a music video for the artist Chronik and was invited to Japan to work on spec-visuals for a cutlery brand.

This lifestyle is set to continue. The next six months sees him working on two new music videos and then jetting off to Holland to work on a visual arts piece.

As a contemporary practicing artist, Yalley feels that the biggest challenge to emerging creatives today is budgets. “Not having enough finance to craft is often the obstacle that causes worry” he says. However he argues there are ways in which new talent can progress to forge a career. “One can find in aid in possible art specialized grants, there are sponsorships and some establishments offer direct funding based on originality of concept.”

  An article by Kathryn Worthington

http://cargocollective.com/ambrose-yalley

Sign up to 'The Flying Pyramid'! The third installment of our monthly newsletter filled with artist interviews, opportunities and events will be out within the next few days! Sign up today today to receive our next issue, featuring an interview with film director/producer Ambrose Yalley! Just go to www.traversecreatives.com and click 'join'

Traverse Creatives Open 2013

16th – 29th July

Malt Cross Gallery

Nottingham

  Traverse Creatives welcomes both established and emerging artists and designers from any discipline to take part in our first annual Open Exhibition.

The Exhibition will provide a fostering environment between mid-career and emerging practitioners. By bringing established local and national talent together with Traverse Creatives’ growing base of promising future practicing creatives we hope to offer the show’s visitors a fully rounded experience of East Midland’s vibrant art and design scene.

Spaces will be limited so please apply as soon as possible; we will, however, attempt to accept as many works as we can.

All work can be sold without commission during the event.

All successful applicants will benefit from FREE online exposure of their work via Traverse Creatives social media and newsletter, The Flying Pyramid.

  Entry Requirements

All artists and designers from all creative disciplines can apply to exhibit. Both emerging and mid-career creatives are encouraged to apply. Creatives from outside East Midlands and international creatives are also welcome to post their work should they be selected. To gain entry please provide:

·      A completed application form with an included image of intend/related work

·      Payment of the £20 entry fee at the time of submitting an application, applications without an entry fee paid will not be accepted. This fee is non-refundable and can be paid via PayPal at www.traversecreatives.com (click join)

To apply, go to www.traversecreatives.com and click 'join'

Deadline for submission: Friday 28th June 2013 

  www.traversecreatives.com

 Like us on Facebook

We want to know what you think of the way we run things around here! Complete our quick survey to have your say.