Tuesday 3 December 2013

A retrospective by John Rickard

You may recognise the name, even if you don't know his work...

He has won a few times in the annual Pendle Open Art Exhibition, mostly in the landscapes and Pendle in Paint category and that gave John the spur needed to apply for a solo exhibition at The ACE.

We hung the exhibition yesterday, his first solo show in almost 20 years. John had an exhibition at Townley Hall in 1986, which mostly featured watercolours. So the show here, which has a mix of watercolours and oils shows lots of work that has not ever been seen before.

When I was chatting to John he explained that many of his works feature boats, water and often triangles, so keep your eyes peeled for triangles in the composition.

John has always loved painting, since he was a child. He experiments a lot. He gives demonstrations to art groups regularly and also makes films. His films are great, I'm trying to convince him to pop them on Youtube, so I can share the link here. (Watch this space).

A little bit about John; he was a printer - a job he loved as it included machinery, colour and artwork. He joined Pendle artists back in 1971. He used to love motorbikes, then moved onto a campervan in the 1980s and later on to Motorhomes. He said "the vans got bigger as the years went on". He loves to travel and the mobile homes have seen him go all over the UK and see much of Europe.


Some of the oils are painted like watercolours and are transparent on a white background - where the background colour becomes the highlights...


Like this one...




Called Colne Evening, there is no white on this picture at all, the windows and streetlights are made by leaving the canvas to shine through there.

In one of his films, 'Footsteps' John talks through the whole process of making this artwork...

He was inspired by Turner and encouraged by Turner's paintings about Venice (click here to see it) to experiment.

He starts with a drawing on canvas, then paints all the light parts with white acrylic and lets it dry - he puts more paint on the really light parts like the streetlight. Then he covers the work with liquin mixed with yellow ochre (sidenote - isn't ochre a lovely, ever so evocative word!) and covers the whole work. He lets that dry and then adds the colour to the rest of the painting and ends by scratching away at the painting to reveal the lighter colour underneath.





Sometimes John uses a palette knife and applies the paint more thickly, like this one...





A painting inspired by a trip to France, the Dordoigne - again in the Motor Caravan.

Sometimes he uses pen and wash,  a bamboo piece and Indian ink, to give a rough line.











Here in Mousehole, Cornwall - John uses the same technique he described earlier where the whites are scratched out while still wet. Do you recognise this picture? It was one of the winners in the 2013 Pendle Open Art Exhibition. This work was done from a composite of 3 photographs, imagined at low tide and inspired by John's trip this year to Cornwall in the Motor Caravan.

This painting is a previous Pendle Open Art Winner and is called Knowsley Street, Colne. It was created from memories of riding the streets in the 1950's around six o clock as the light was fading... John had a part time job, while still at school as a delivery boy for the butchers. I wondered if that was the butchers in the picture, but John told me Holt's was actually a grocer.




John often paints from memory and he often includes archival footage (his own) in his films. You can see why I want to share them with you!

I hope you get chance to see the exhibition. A few people were looking today as I was taking photo's and aswell as talking about the pictures, they were reminiscing about the streets and where they were. It was a nice experience to hear them.

 





 


This exhibition is open until January, free entry, and The ACE Centre is open from 10am until 4pm, Mondays to Saturdays.


Thanks,
Kirsty

Monday 18 November 2013

Remnants

Hello all,

The new exhibition is up, it's called Remnants and is a photographic exhibition by Lee Johnson....

Today we shall bring you the interview first, and then the images....

Tell us a little about yourself and how Photography came about for you?
 
As a young boy Lee was always intrigued by the camera his Grandfather would take out with him on family day trips, not that he would ever let young Lee get his hands on it. His love for cameras progressed and at the age of 25 he got his own SLR camera.
 
 
 
Why did you choose to photograph Lancashire and how did the process and planning if there was any begin?
 
 
Lee told us how the project came about by pure mistake, he went to photograph ‘The Atom’ at Wycoller, and was struggling to get the shot he wanted and decided to return another day to try again. In his attempts to try and get the shot he tripped over a loose stone on the ground that he noticed had chisel marks on it. Once he got home and looked at his shots he wasn’t happy with the colour of the pictures, he began to think about the stone he had tripped over and how we the public walk passed stone everyday without thinking about its history, this led Lee on a 3 month exploration of the history that lay in the stone around Lancashire.
 
Lee described how his regular process when embarking on a new project included, precise organised planning of an idea that he would research and then begin to take preliminary test shots however with Remnants the nature of the project very much determined the process, ‘Remnants was more spontaneous’.
 
 
 
Do you have a favourite photographer and does their work inspire your photographic style?
 
Sebastiao Salgado and Fay Godwin are photographers that have inspired Lee and he is influenced by their monochromatic style. Dark looking black and white pictures are Lee’s favourite type of photography letting the environment determine the kind of pictures he takes. Remnants was a nod to the icons that have inspired Lee.
 
Has your work been exhibited before, where and where is it going next?
 
This exhibition has been up in Dolce Vita in Colne, after The Ace Centre it will be time to put Remants into storage so that Lee can focus on his new project.
 
 
How are you involved in photography in general do you have any other sideline projects or is it more of a hobby?
 
Lee is a semi professional photographer that does private commissions; he loves to concentrate more on fine art photography and regularly talks about his projects and musings on his blog. In his spare time he is the editor of online magazine Pixel and president of the Blackburn camera club.
 
Choose 2 of your favourite pieces – describe them in detail, why did you choose these ones, what do they mean to you?
 
Lee names his lead shot of the Vaccary, the 3 Arches and Pine Street amongst his favourites, if you look carefully at Pine Street you will see a cat having its 15 minutes of fame as it was caught in the photo. Lee named these as his favourite pieces in the series because the natural light compliments the overall mood of the pictures.
 
 
What do you want the viewer to gain from your exhibition?
 
Lee wanted the viewer to go on journey through the story of the stone, from Pagan worship to Christianity, to the Victorian Mills and Capitalism.
 







 
You can seem more detail when you are here, so, as ever, we hope you can come along and see the work in person.
 
The ACE is always open  Monday to Saturday from 10am until 4pm.
 
Ta Ra
 
 
Kirsty
 

Friday 18 October 2013

Pendle Open Arts, Judges and Winners

Sorry it's a bit late folks, been a busy week! Lost blue cushions and pink bags mostly!


So here are the winners of the Pendle Open Arts Exhibition as voted for by you - and by our panel of judges - The Dream Team of myself, Joe Hesketh, a painter, and Richard Davies, owner of Dyson's Arts.

Here are the judges in action...
 
And now the winners full list...
 
 
Category
 
Textiles and 3D
 
Where the judges and the public agreed on our first place…
 
 
Judges 1st
 
Giraffe by Paul Graham
Judges 2nd
 
Untitled by Kathryn Sutton
Popular Vote 1st
 
Giraffe by Paul Graham
Popular Vote 2nd
 
All that Jazz by Juliet Tomkins
 
Category
 
Portraiture
 
 
 
Judges 1st
 
My Sunshine by Lindsay Sharp
Judges 2nd
 
Mick by Joyce Kerton
Popular Vote 1st
 
Woman in Fur by Julie Amos
Popular Vote 2nd
 
Spray Paint Madonna by Laura Shoesmith
 
Category
 
Pendle in Paint
 
 
Judges 1st
 
Nelson in a New Light by Sarah Glover
Judges 2nd
 
Club House, Nelson by Harry Robinson
Popular Vote 1st
 
Birch Hall Lane by Michael Kirkbride
Popular Vote 2nd
 
Waterfall with Pendle Hill in Background by Colin Kay
 
Category
 
Young Artist 7-11
 
 
Judges 1st
 
The Tree Swing by Ella Jordan
Judges 2nd
 
Splat Galaxy by Imaan Shah
Popular Vote 1st
 
One Man and His Dog by Harrison Wareing
Popular Vote 2nd
 
Splat Galaxy by Imaan Shah
 

Category
 
Young Artist 12-16
 
 
Judges 1st
 
Lily by Isabel Whittle
Judges 2nd
 
Essence of Flower by Erin Rose O’Connor
Popular Vote 1st
 
Calypso by Hannah Lauren Wareing
Popular Vote 2nd
 
Essence of Flower by Erin Rose O’Connor
 
Category
 
Open
 
 
Judges 1st
 
Meet the Wall Cow, Get Preserved in That! By Alistair Isle
Judges 2nd
 
Curly Wurlies by Susan Hermansen
Popular Vote 1st
 
Breaking all the Rules by Nigel Holt
Popular Vote 2nd
 
Meet the Wall Cow, Get Preserved in That! By Alistair Isle
 
Category
 
Photography Natural
 
Where the judges and the public agreed firmly on both first and second place!
 
Judges 1st
 
Puffin with Sand Eels by Lewis Imeson
Judges 2nd
 
Looking for Brian by David James
Popular Vote 1st
 
Puffin with Sand Eels by Lewis Imeson
Popular Vote 2nd
 
Looking for Brian by David James
 Oh and I need to add a huge congratulations to Lewis, as he is only a child and to compete against adults and win, well done!
  
Category
 
Photography Edited
 
Where the judges and the public again agreed on our first place…
 
Judges 1st
 
Who’s visiting Who? By David Lord
Judges 2nd
 
Untitled by Rafal Konat
Popular Vote 1st
 
Who’s visiting Who? By David Lord
Popular Vote 2nd
 
Baby Kacper by Kornelia Rozycka-Konat
 David's winning photograph was sold too, what a lovely piece to own! 
 
And last but not least….
 
Category
 
Landscapes
Judges 1st
 
Hebden Gill to Yarnbury by Bev Parker
Judges 2nd
 
Mousedale, Cornwall by John Rickard
Popular Vote 1st
 
Trees by Michael Kirkbride
Popular Vote 2nd
 
The Lizard by Eileen Hobson
 
It was a really busy time, but I managed to take some pictures of some of the winners.....
Here is Paul (the Giraffe's creator) and Juliet and Kathryn...

Julie Amos, winner of the Popular Vote in Portraiture, who wins a solo exhibition in The ACE.

Nigel Holt, winner of the Open Category who also wins a solo exhibition.

Our youngest artist and winner, Harrison age 7!

Eileen who came second in landscapes with The Lizard.

Lesley Sharp who won the judges award for her portrait.
 
 
And, finally, a couple of snaps of all the winners together with the Mayor, who presented the awards...
 

 
That's Lewis at the front, who won an adult category - I think we need to keep our eyes on him! Future star...
 
 
So, once again, we've enjoyed our time for the Open and have been very pleased to see the amazing talent in our borough.
 
Thanks to all who took part.
 
Kirsty