Chris Richards has just sorted out our blog page and I was testing it out so sorry for the mis-information in the previous twitter feed. We are two weeks away from our exhibition in CYFARTHFA CASTLE (October 7th) not Redhouse (same town different location).

Both Rob and I are working flat out to produce our new pieces. Rob’s is an exciting interpretation of his poem Alchemy… the largest piece of fused glass you ever did see -beautiful and curving WOW! My migration piece is refusing to dry even though it is situated in the warmest place in my house – on top of my highest kitchen cupboards. If it doesn’t dry soon I will be sore distressed. come-on clay …. dry!

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Over the next 7 weeks we are taking a virtual tour of our exhibition “Message in a Bottle” Piece by Piece. You can see it for real at Redhouse Merthyr Tydfil.

Here goes the beginning

The Title “Message in a Bottle” may well have been the hardest thing to come up with in the whole exhibition; it was the result of many hours of debate over quite a few months.
Other contenders were:
“Inconvenient Truths”
“Echoes”
“Reflections”

Each piece tells a story which we believe is important and deserves to be heard.

The stories within each piece are held like messages in a bottle. You will see them, read them, interpret them as you will, take them away with you or leave them at the exhibition.

The exhibition is art from Merthyr Tydfil. Over the centuries Merthyr Tydfil has been a cultural melting pot. The Industrial Revolution saw a mass influx of people from all over the world, China, Italy, Spain, Ireland and Portugal, a great mixing of culture floating here and being uncorked. These many and varied histories created a radicalism, liberalism, tolerance and friendliness that is deeply embedded in our tradition. This for us makes Merthyr Tydfil a great place, where cultures have blended and messages in bottles symbolically come to rest.

The poetry for the title installation was created by creative writing students from Merthyr College who previewed two of the pieces and penned their interpretation for us all to share. Our thanks to them for their contribution.

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The last day of summer saw me courageously throwing not just a cylinder but a bottle shape. Last time I tried anything As technical as this on the wheel was at college! I made a load of mistakes including not watching Simon Leach’s videos to refresh and refine my memory and technique. Having said that I really enjoyed myself and each bottle I made was better than the one before. I have since sliced down the middle of each bottle; the ultimate potter’s acid test, are the sides and base of uniform thickness? Hmm! I need another fine summer’s day!

Its fantastic when you finish a piece and all the elements come together and tell the story you have had in your head for weeks. This is the sounds of sunrise , its sunrise over Pen y fan reflected in the lake below. I am particularly pleased with the crescent shaped piece of stainless steel I used to frame the rising sun it really works visually and from a construction point of view is a very stable media to hold the glass. I will definitely use this technique again its worth the additional time. What do you think!

I had a great idea to use a piece of stainless steel to frame the stained glass of the sunrise, the question when trying something new is will it work

here’s the starting piece of stainless steel
and here’s the sunrise piece cut from the stainless steel with the stained glass sunrise inserted

a bit of a transformation

I am so pleased with this piece of wood the grain and feel of it are just fantastic and after all my caressing it is beginning to love me back. It is taking form; the shaping and cutting and sanding and smoothing help it become as I envisaged. And its got a name “the Sound of Sunrise”. All we need now is the glass. I will keep you posted on progress.

Well! We caught the 18:29 train from Abergavenny yesterday. Bathed in evening sunshine I breathed a contented sigh looking forward to, ‘kicking off my shoes’; letting ‘the train take the strain’.
You know how tumble driers make a relentless rumbling noise, toss the clothes every which way and the humidity depends upon the fibre mixtures?…. Add 4 very drunk lads in the table seats opposite who I could hear oh so clearly through my ear plugs. I could go on but I won’t you’ll be pleased to know!
This is really what I want to say:
*Thank you to the girl who gave us the remainder of her box of grapes (I devoured them using both hands I was hypoglycemic and dehydrated by that time).
* Thank you to our daughter Lois for recommending the so so good book ‘STEAL LIKE AN ARTIST’ by Austin Kleon austinkleon.com if you’re reading this Rob, you’ll have to read this book very soon. Austin’s style is didactic but so wise and encouraging to artists of all persuasions. If there’s anyone else out there who is creative but just needs a push off the shore of uncertainty into the sea of creativity READ THIS BOOK.
We arrived in Leeds 00:30. Christopher our son’s beaming smile and ‘taxi service’ has never been more welcome.

I just loved that burr and it is now part of a piece called trees. Doesn’t it look great and just the right piece of wood to set off the stained glass. This photo is from our pop up exhibition in Rhiwbina the day was fantastic. Our collection of pieces in the ARRT style continues to grow and we seem to have hit on a formula that engaged with the people who visited.

What do you think?

Untitled from the previous blog became ‘Orbits of Creation’. Rob wrote a stunning poem reflecting the symbolic nature of the rainbow; prehistory imaginings, ancient history beliefs and an outpouring of how we can still marvel at natural history today. I chose the line’ A glory in the firmament that makes the heart beat fast’ to inscribe around the rim of the bowl. The full poem is to be found at the drop-down menu ‘ARRTWORKS’.Rob tweeted about the Pop-up exhibition in Gwen’s Garden. (follow us on twitter for images of the day) – Tweeting is well outside his comfort zone… but I think he might take to it more quickly than me! It was a great afternoon. 400 people visited the garden and over £700 was raided for charity. Not a bad afternoon’s work!  Gwen and Meurig were brilliant hosts, introducing us to people who they knew (and some who they didn’t). It was a fine warm day and even though I find it difficult to sing ARRT’s praise, being a retiring Brit, the striking sculpture and beautiful garden were an excellent partnership. I like Pop-up ARRT. Could be coming to a garden near you!