I think 2 and 7 resonate with me the most- during the pandemic I made sculptural pieces that were tactile and made to be held in the palm of your hand as an act of rebellion really. I cast things foraged on all those lockdown walks, so the pieces formed an alternative diary of the seasons
Hi Victoria I know this is late but I’m probably the oldest artist in your subscriber list. Feminism and rewilding are integral to my work. Recently got an ace grant to exhibit. Please contact me if interested. Invisible I am NOT
I’d LOVE to read more about women artists in older age. As a women in my late 40s I’m beginning to notice the ‘invisibility of age’. With this I’d also really love to explore with fellow artists and parents the issue of parenthood and being an artist. It often feels like the two are exclusive.
I’m also a huge advocate of the benefit of the arts on mental health. I explore this a lot in my own work and use creative exercises in my coaching and facilitation. I also feel that I wouldn’t have made it this far in life without my personal art practice. I has literally saved my life and sanity!
Lovely to see your plans for future content 👍🏻
Have you read your ‘Your Brain on Art’ by Ivy Ross and Susan Magsemen? It’s really good to see this topic being taken more seriously and the arts being recognised for their contribution to wellbeing
Hi, I’m a figurative sculptor working from life initially in clay and from there developing work in ceramics, paper, and found materials. I have work which explores the aging female body: imperfection, scars and the use of domestic materials as a way of exploring this theme. I recently exhibited in a group show at ‘the House of Smalls’ a gallery which focuses on the female perspective and I believe the upcoming exhibition there ‘we are the witches’ could be of interest on this topic, (although I didn’t enter work this time). If you’d like to see images of my work please see my Instagram @gillian.brett or email me gbsculpt1@gmail.com.
I also have work (and experience) of exploration of mental health through art, and teach adults to work with clay, which I believe is basically hands on mindfulness, allowing individuals to access their inner child to flourish.
No 2- 'nature and rewilding' fits in with what motivates me, as an artist. I've just completed some work within the theme of 'Up The Garden Path' as part of a group exhibition at The Mrs Jones Gallery, Shrewsbury being invited as it was a theme which deeply resonated with me.
I am a multidisciplinary, botanical printmaker. I grow many of the specimen I print with in my rural Lincolnshire home and also responsibly forage in the woodland on the farm where I live. We have re wilded a paddock and field which provide me with inspiration as well as a diverse habitat for flora and fauna.
I'm inspired by nature's cycles. I engage with ferns, pebbles, botanicals from first bud to decay's beauty. I print delicate wildflowers, weathered finds, depicting evocative barns illuminated, tales within. I'm drawn to kintsugi ceramics, mending cracks with gold, finding beauty in impermanence. I strive to capture fleeting, precious moments.
What a brilliant way to come back into our newsfeeds Victoria (you've been much missed!).
In my work as a sculptor - and as a woman in her late 50s, I've been getting much inspiration from ancient artefacts and imagery -including hags and harpies. Really fascinating archetypes are hidden beneath the layers and layers of accidental and deliberate misinterpretation and misrepresentation. Time and time again, beneath the depictions of crude flesh-eating monsters are examples of female strength and compassion. As a feminist appalled at the current state of the world, I think we have much to learn from the mythology of early (dare I say it — pre-patriachal) civilization.
Would love to chat with you about art and mental health ... I spent about ten years deeply researching the mental health benefits of crochet/craft starting with my own lived experience and branching outwards. In more recent years, I've been studying the "shadow side" of art and mental health ... coming from a foundation of believing that art is generally healing / cathartic, I've been interested in the times when mental health challenges make art difficult, exacerbate symptoms, etc. as well as how the business of art, the inequities in the art system, etc. all get tied up with art and mental health. I'm primarily a writer with books on these topics but I crochet and collage for my own mental health. You can email me at Kathryn.vercillo on gmail.
I’m definitely in that invisible category. Recently I was reading a photo magazine with only women photographers and at first I was inspired and then I realized that all of them were young, fit, and attractive. Where are the ones that look like me? Where are what I imagine is the majority that isn’t young, fit, and attractive??
An artist who has influenced me since we were art school classmates is Kathan Zerzan. At 45, she left her nursing career (primarily working with homeless youth), to return to art school. Her deeply physical, inside-out approach to figure drawing had a profound impact on me. Through the years, she continued to develop her very personal approach to abstract work, tying it in different ways to her political beliefs and activism (yes, one of those Zerzans, she has long co-hosted a radio show with her cousin, John, and done collaborative tours of Europe's anarchist info-shops). Her later landscape-based paintings and drawings carry the same empathetic-anatomy approach as her earlier figure work (to very great effect).
At 70, I am definitely an older artist. Hag is harsh but definitely invisible and in the wind. I am an artists' artist and support other creatives. The work is there whether you see it or not.
It’s good to have you back Victoria, and since starting here I’ve been pleased to send a few people your way. I think we’ll all be eagerly anticipating your new content. Things that resonate with me – apologies for a longish reply:
(2) I spend most of my time reimagining the world through the medium of water. It’s helped me evolve, connect with place and also my own imperfect vision. I’m interested in nature’s mark-making, and the way that she softens the marks that we have left on the land.
(4) Evocation, tranquility and the importance of creativity as a place of ease (which laps into 8).
(6) Guilty as charged on age grounds. I first picked up my father’s camera to avoid being the subject but over time making images has allowed me to find myself through photography, art and now writing, and to develop my own albeit quiet voice.
(7) Which might just be the feel of the breeze, And perhaps the role of sound too – I’ve begun to record and pair ambience with images.
Calling All the Artists
It’s effie.l.burns@gmail.com
Yes, definitely !
I think 2 and 7 resonate with me the most- during the pandemic I made sculptural pieces that were tactile and made to be held in the palm of your hand as an act of rebellion really. I cast things foraged on all those lockdown walks, so the pieces formed an alternative diary of the seasons
Hi Victoria I know this is late but I’m probably the oldest artist in your subscriber list. Feminism and rewilding are integral to my work. Recently got an ace grant to exhibit. Please contact me if interested. Invisible I am NOT
I’d LOVE to read more about women artists in older age. As a women in my late 40s I’m beginning to notice the ‘invisibility of age’. With this I’d also really love to explore with fellow artists and parents the issue of parenthood and being an artist. It often feels like the two are exclusive.
I’m also a huge advocate of the benefit of the arts on mental health. I explore this a lot in my own work and use creative exercises in my coaching and facilitation. I also feel that I wouldn’t have made it this far in life without my personal art practice. I has literally saved my life and sanity!
Lovely to see your plans for future content 👍🏻
Have you read your ‘Your Brain on Art’ by Ivy Ross and Susan Magsemen? It’s really good to see this topic being taken more seriously and the arts being recognised for their contribution to wellbeing
Hi, I’m a figurative sculptor working from life initially in clay and from there developing work in ceramics, paper, and found materials. I have work which explores the aging female body: imperfection, scars and the use of domestic materials as a way of exploring this theme. I recently exhibited in a group show at ‘the House of Smalls’ a gallery which focuses on the female perspective and I believe the upcoming exhibition there ‘we are the witches’ could be of interest on this topic, (although I didn’t enter work this time). If you’d like to see images of my work please see my Instagram @gillian.brett or email me gbsculpt1@gmail.com.
I also have work (and experience) of exploration of mental health through art, and teach adults to work with clay, which I believe is basically hands on mindfulness, allowing individuals to access their inner child to flourish.
Best wishes
Gillian
Hi I'm Su France
No 2- 'nature and rewilding' fits in with what motivates me, as an artist. I've just completed some work within the theme of 'Up The Garden Path' as part of a group exhibition at The Mrs Jones Gallery, Shrewsbury being invited as it was a theme which deeply resonated with me.
I am a multidisciplinary, botanical printmaker. I grow many of the specimen I print with in my rural Lincolnshire home and also responsibly forage in the woodland on the farm where I live. We have re wilded a paddock and field which provide me with inspiration as well as a diverse habitat for flora and fauna.
I'm inspired by nature's cycles. I engage with ferns, pebbles, botanicals from first bud to decay's beauty. I print delicate wildflowers, weathered finds, depicting evocative barns illuminated, tales within. I'm drawn to kintsugi ceramics, mending cracks with gold, finding beauty in impermanence. I strive to capture fleeting, precious moments.
@su_france_designs
sufrancedesigns.com
su@sufrancedesigns.com
I will share this although have no subscribers yet! Got to move my list over here. I’ve started writing poetry and number 6 feels
Like something is like to take as inspiration.
What a brilliant way to come back into our newsfeeds Victoria (you've been much missed!).
In my work as a sculptor - and as a woman in her late 50s, I've been getting much inspiration from ancient artefacts and imagery -including hags and harpies. Really fascinating archetypes are hidden beneath the layers and layers of accidental and deliberate misinterpretation and misrepresentation. Time and time again, beneath the depictions of crude flesh-eating monsters are examples of female strength and compassion. As a feminist appalled at the current state of the world, I think we have much to learn from the mythology of early (dare I say it — pre-patriachal) civilization.
Would love to chat with you about art and mental health ... I spent about ten years deeply researching the mental health benefits of crochet/craft starting with my own lived experience and branching outwards. In more recent years, I've been studying the "shadow side" of art and mental health ... coming from a foundation of believing that art is generally healing / cathartic, I've been interested in the times when mental health challenges make art difficult, exacerbate symptoms, etc. as well as how the business of art, the inequities in the art system, etc. all get tied up with art and mental health. I'm primarily a writer with books on these topics but I crochet and collage for my own mental health. You can email me at Kathryn.vercillo on gmail.
I’m definitely in that invisible category. Recently I was reading a photo magazine with only women photographers and at first I was inspired and then I realized that all of them were young, fit, and attractive. Where are the ones that look like me? Where are what I imagine is the majority that isn’t young, fit, and attractive??
An artist who has influenced me since we were art school classmates is Kathan Zerzan. At 45, she left her nursing career (primarily working with homeless youth), to return to art school. Her deeply physical, inside-out approach to figure drawing had a profound impact on me. Through the years, she continued to develop her very personal approach to abstract work, tying it in different ways to her political beliefs and activism (yes, one of those Zerzans, she has long co-hosted a radio show with her cousin, John, and done collaborative tours of Europe's anarchist info-shops). Her later landscape-based paintings and drawings carry the same empathetic-anatomy approach as her earlier figure work (to very great effect).
At 70, I am definitely an older artist. Hag is harsh but definitely invisible and in the wind. I am an artists' artist and support other creatives. The work is there whether you see it or not.
It’s good to have you back Victoria, and since starting here I’ve been pleased to send a few people your way. I think we’ll all be eagerly anticipating your new content. Things that resonate with me – apologies for a longish reply:
(2) I spend most of my time reimagining the world through the medium of water. It’s helped me evolve, connect with place and also my own imperfect vision. I’m interested in nature’s mark-making, and the way that she softens the marks that we have left on the land.
(4) Evocation, tranquility and the importance of creativity as a place of ease (which laps into 8).
(6) Guilty as charged on age grounds. I first picked up my father’s camera to avoid being the subject but over time making images has allowed me to find myself through photography, art and now writing, and to develop my own albeit quiet voice.
(7) Which might just be the feel of the breeze, And perhaps the role of sound too – I’ve begun to record and pair ambience with images.
No 6 is something I have been thinking about for a while too. Looking forward to reading and hearing more!
I would be good to get your take as a historian on these topics .