Sarah Lee – Conversations Series I

Sarah – Buildings, Architecture and Fashion

Posted on July 6, 2016 by venturearts16

During her time on the OutsiderXchangeS project three things have inspired Sarah: Architecture, Sketching and Fashion.

Sarah constantly sketches the world around her and has a huge passion for the buildings around us in the North West.

“I like to take the tram or bus rides across the region to look at buildings. Recently Wythenshawe Hall had a large fire and I took the structure of the building as inspiration for a collection of clay sculptures. These included the roof, the fireplace and other parts of the building.”

Sarah begins her creative explorations by sketching these buildings or particular details of the buildings:

“I like buildings and like to draw parts of them. Sometimes I’m trying to find some unusal features in a building so I can capture that in a sketch. I’ve explored bridges in Altrincham, Errwood Hall and Wythenshawe Hall, buildings within central Manchester and lots of places that I come across on my journeys. I just sketch them in to my little blue book, to start with these are just little scribbles and what not and then I transpose them into more physical pieces of art, like the clay work I’ve done and currently as part of the leaf clothing on the model dress I’m making.”

Alongside the clay sculptures Sarah has also been sketching and designing a dress full of artistic flare. The dress has a leaf design within its tailoring and Sarah came up with the idea to merge the two explorations of her work recently – her fashion designs and building sketching. Sarah has now begun to move her sketches of buildings onto tiny leaf fabric and adding them to the small model dress she is constructing. Resulting in each part of the dress being connected to a place and a history. Bringing sketching, architecture and fashion together as one.

Reflecting on our Open Day event

Posted on June 1, 2016July 6, 2016 by venturearts16

Sarah- On Saturday, when the art space opened, me and my parents came to look around to view other peoples work. We also noticed some musicians who were performing in the space that we are using at the moment. I first took some time to explain and talk about my work. Once I got going, talking about the pieces on display,my ideas and what I’m doing on the float for the Manchester parade I was okay doing it.

Leslie-I drew some big cartoon work about this building, the Chorlton space. I also talked to people about my career and my picture of Tarzan. My mum came and my brother Geoff came which was fantastic.

Horace- I was there. I went to church first so I wore my black suit. I asked the fella about his school days. I met newer people to ask questions to. It was good. It was a bit like a party.

David- I thought it was really good. I didn’t realise there was so many people’s work in the other spaces. I was interested in what people did. Loads of people talked to me about my inspiration, I said ‘Its just Life; skin, colour, texture, genetics and vibrance’. They all liked what I did.

‘The difference in each of our styles’- Sarah

Posted on May 18, 2016July 6, 2016 by venturearts16

Last week I was hemming the bottom seam of the skirt for the dress to stop it fraying as well as the back seam to allow for the poppers to fasten it up this week.

This week I am going to cut out the second back bodice template, to sew on to the the rest of the dress and maybe do the press studs on the back seam.

Me and one of the tutors were talking about how we could improve the mannequin I was trying to make by seeing what materials and techniques we could use.We also discussed other styles of fashion there was on the internet, and how some of the historic places did their restoration work on old pieces in the manor houses.

Sometimes the difference in each of our styles in our work is what makes it interesting like how they can fill in detail or colour that I may not think of or not be able to do myself.

My leaf dress project- Sarah

Posted on May 4, 2016July 6, 2016 by venturearts16

Today I have been working on my leaf dress project, cutting out the the templates for the back of the main dress.I then had to cut out the fabric around it and sew it by hand to the front or other pieces but, I will have to undo the back next week to put in some fastenings so I can put it on some display.

In my sketchbook I also made up some illustrations for Jane Eyre today.

April – Quotes and Images

Posted on April 20, 2016July 6, 2016 by venturearts16

The last few weeks the OutsiderXchangeS studio has been a hive of great activity.

Collaboration between all artists has started and individual artists have started to experiment even more.

Below are some images and quotes from the OutsiderXchangeS artists from the past couple of weeks.

Sarah used different clays for her architectural 3D sketches- and Juliet sketched her in the process. Sarah has continued to experiment with different types of clay to construct her buildings.

Rosanne: “I’ve been recording Barry reading some of his wording. We’ve also been working with Horace to position records from history as well as collecting imagery for our AV collaboration”

Matt decided to gift Barry a calligraphy note pad to which Barry said “WRRIGHTING IN THIS BOOK IS DIFFERRENNT. IT MADE ME HAPPY”

Horace has also added a selection of Polaroid’s he took of his old school to his map drawing- “it brings back memories” he told the fellow artists.

Lesley bought in a chimpanzee figure to show Matt and has decided, “I might paint on the tarzan picture” which Lesley has been working on for the past few weeks.” When asked about his painting Lesley said “I used to watch Tarzan as a child in the 1970’s, on Granada TV, and it has always been a favourite of mine. So I’m really enjoying painting this. It makes me feel good.”

David has really enjoyed having a studio space for himself. “It feels a lot better to have my own space to experiement with my work. It has helped me realise sometimes I’ve got to reinvent myself’

We’ll be capturing the thoughts and progress of all artists every week and you can keep a track on the work and collaborations on this blog and on our Twitter page. Give us a follow on @oxchanges

OutsiderXchangeS Collaboration Begins

Posted on March 23, 2016July 6, 2016 by venturearts16

Last Wednesday (16 March) we brought all of our Manchester based artists together for the first time at their artist studio in Chorlton.

Joining Barry, Sarah, Leslie, David and Horace we have the dynamic Sophie Lee, Rosanne Robertson, Matt Girling and Juliet Davis.

As well as our lead artists Tanya Raabe-Webber and James Pollitt who will be helping to facilitate the collaboration between all artists.

Entering a new artist space can be an exciting time and for some of the artists the first time they have had an artist space to call their own. Horace in particular appeared to thrive in the space saying “This is my space and I am going to do some great work.” Matt, who is an experienced artist, this is also the first time he has had a space to experiment with his work adding “having this space gives me the space and the sense of calm to really experiment with my work.”

The first morning in the space all of the artists settled in their own space and then during the day sat and chatted about their own work with each other. One of the first steps in collaboration is being comfortable in their studio and space and then learning more about each other. Through these conversations inspirations of collaboration will happen and hopefully we will see some amazing work produced individually, together and inspired by each other.

By the second week in the artist studio all artists appeared inspired by artist Matt’s figurine stop motion work which he had set out in the centre of the studio. Leslie and Matt decided to experiment on an animation connected to Leslie’s interest in Tarzen and David decided to take his previous exploration in DNA structures further by looking at some of Matt’s figurines of dinosaurs. Horace started sharing his interviews and music influences with Rosanne and who knows what might come from that. It will be exciting to find out. Sarah continued to experiment with different media and inspired by the recent fire at Wythenshawe Hall has started to build part of the structures of the hall in clay as well as the coat of arms of the Tatton family (who originally owned the Hall). These are just some of the early collaborations happening across the studio and it will be exciting to see where they go on the OutsiderXchangeS journey of collaboration.