For our third day for the count down towards Christmas and Undegun closing for 2015, we have recent Glyndwr graduate Sarah Hoare! Here at THIS Project we are huge fans of her work and thought she would be a great addition towards the list of artists that we believe that you need to know about if you live in Wales.

Name:
Sarah Hoare

Current Location:
Brymbo, Wrexham

Favourite place, and why? 
Anywhere outside.  I love walking and exploring to find inspiration in nature, architecture, people and places.

Favourite Reindeer? 
Blitzen, it means lightning and that’s exciting!

Describe your self in 5 words.
Metalsmith, designer, nature-lover, mum and wife

What is your current practice and what have you been up to?
I am a designer/maker specialising in producing wearable sculptures in a variety of metals. I am currently Artist In Residence for jewellery/metalwork at The North Wales School of Art and Design, this position allows me to continue to develop my practice and explore other areas whilst helping students who are just starting their practises.

How long have you been a practising Artist for? 
I produced jewellery throughout the 3 years I studied at NWSAD. My first commercial range was creating jewellery from children’s drawings, this is a range that I have continued to produce as made to order products (facebook @birdandmonkey).

At what point in your life did you know you wanted to be a Artist?
From a young age I have loved making items for people to wear or display.  Im sure all my 7 year old friends loved their friendship bracelets and pebbles painted like hedgehogs!

If you could buy your 10 year old self anything for Christmas what would it be?
That’s an easy one, I would buy 10 year old me a stone tumbler. I loved to collect pebbles from the beach and had many ice cream tubs full of them, I always wanted them to be shiny and I suspect this is where my love of jewellery making came from!

Is there anything in particular you are looking forward to this Christmas?
I love Christmas, its my favourite season. This year I am looking forward to watching my toddler open his presents and probably playing with the packaging more than the toys, and of course lots and lots of chocolate!

Have you got any plans for the New Year?
I am going to be working on expanding my jewellery range into larger free-standing pieces and of course constantly seeking inspiration for new projects and ranges.

If you could get anything for Christmas this year what would it be?
I still haven’t got a stone tumbler!!

If you would like to see more of Sarah’s work please feel free to visit her on:

Twitter @sarahhjewellery
Instagram sarah_hoare_jewellery
Facebook @sarahhoarejewellery

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For our second day of the 12 days or artists THIS Project is proud to present the award winning Sophie Mckeand! Sophie is a huge supporter with Undegun and we have had the pleasure of working with her on a number of occasions, we have been very luck to work with someone who as much passion and enthusiasm for the arts in Wales.

Name: Sophie McKeand

Current Location:
Wrecsam

Favourite place, and why?
Would it be sad to say north Wales? I’ve lived here most of my life and I’m still always amazed at how beautiful this country is. People travel thousands of miles to experience mountains, forests, castles and sea all together. Perhaps we get complacent because it’s on our doorstep. We’ve been ‘staycationing’ for the past few years and every ’trip’ has been great. I wrote a poem about that feeling of merging with the landscape, ‘Rainforest’ (incuded below). I’m not against flying abroad but I am trying to keep it to a minimum.

Favourite Reindeer?
Comet. Woooosh!

Describe your self in 5 words.
Creative. Determined. Pig-headed. Resourceful. Loyal.

What is your current practice and what have you been up to?
I work as a self-employed poet, writer & workshop facilitator. The new poetry pamphlet ‘Hanes’ is out now. It’s a hand-stitched original design, letterpress, limited edition piece available from my website shop here:http://www.sophiemckeand.com/shop/index.php
Also I’ve just won the Out Spoken prize for Innovation in Poetry. This is a good year! I also workshop for organisations such as Literature Wales, Arts Council Wales, National Theatre Wales, Age Cymru and Oriel Wrecsam etc…  and love this element to my work. I believe it’s important for artists to put our energies back into the community and this work also enriches the poetry whilst helping to pay the bills.

How long have you been a practising Poet for?
I quit my job as a field sales exec. over eleven years ago to study a Ba Hons in English Literature & Creative Writing- I haven’t looked back.

At what point in your life did you know you wanted to be an Poet?
See above. The degree sealed it. I realised I couldn’t be anything else. It’s taken eleven years of solid work but I think I’m getting to the point where I’m happy with the poems. Or maybe I’m now at the point where I’m just starting to create decent poetry. I always think that though. I’ll be saying the same thing in ten year’s time.

If you could buy your 10 year old self anything for Christmas what would it be?
I have absolutely no idea.

Is there anything in particular you are looking forward to this Christmas?
Yes. Very much looking forward to taking three weeks off work during which time I’ll see family and friends, write, cook, eat, drink wine… repeat to fade…

Have you got any plans for the New Year?
I’m still touring Hanes in Jan and Feb. I’m also working on the next poetry collection and a play as well as some things I can’t talk about yet for fear of jinxing them. I’m the Poet in Residence at Focus Wales festival in 2016 which is really exciting. I’m also working on a number of community writing projects with various groups from aged 8 to 108. 

If you could get anything for Christmas this year what would it be?
Honestly? I’ve got everything I could ever have dreamed. I love my life as a self-employed poet. I have a lovely home life with my partner Andy Garside and Kit the dog. Our kids-who-are-now-adults are both happy in their chosen lives and we see them as much as you might expect given that they’re 19 and 21. My family live close by (although I don’t see them as often as I should). I’ve got amazing friends.  All of this is a lot more than some people have. I don’t need anything else in my life. Except another award of course. I could always do with another award.

rainforest

Snowdonia’s Celtic rain forest in Cwm Mynach (Monk’s Valley) has around 200 days of rain each year.

rainfall tears
blister on skin
rivulets’

persistent fingers
plough scars
worry at the ground
toss thoughts like stones

the landscape shifts
is reformed
-changeling-

and other times
old memories
are excavated
tribal roots
so deep I didn’t know they existed
so profound I couldn’t tell you their name

the rain falls relentless
washes clean
veins & roots
that shimmer like
the backs of dolphins
in darkness

and I can’t look away
can’t turn away
can’t go back

the rain falls
through the earth
and so do I

by Sophie McKeand

If you would like to follow Sophie on Twitter go to twitter.com/sophiemckeand  or www.sophiemckeand.com.

The post 12 Days of Artists: Sophie Mckeand appeared first on This Project.

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Wanderbox or fully understand its ambition, it is a portable gallery and residencancy that allows artists to set up their practice just about anywhere and carry out a residency and exhibition at the same time.

The project started off with Jo wanting to convert an old wardrobe for the purpose of being able to exhibit herself and other artists work but soon quickly expanded on the idea and had to redesign to accommodate other residencies.

On the road trip to Caernarfon I had the enjoyment of going up with Jo and got to ask her a whole bunch of questions about Wanderbox and what the challenges of creating the gallery have been, as well as what it has meant to Jo as an artist and curator.

Whilst on our trip, Jo explains that from the start Wanderbox is all about portability, so has been specifically designed to fit through a standard doorway and so that it can fit into a small van. As well as it being aesthetically pleasing she has understood that good design is key to ensure the success of the traveling aspect of her work. Next is about the artists and how the folding desk at the side is at standard height for an adult to ensure comfort whilst on residency. For the construction of Wanderbox Jo contracted a joiner and engineer to ensure the durability for the long term, which is vital considering that it will be making a 5 stop tour around Wales which include; Ruthin, Caernarfon, Swansea, Cardiff and Llandudno.

After Jo explained the design aspect of her work, I wanted to know who Wanderbox was aimed for and what type of artists is she working with currently and in the future. She expands that Wanderbox is for artists in the early stages of their carrier to help further their practice.

Within Jo’s previous work there have been themes of playfulness and interaction that makes her work accessible towards the public and encourages participation within the arts. Some of Jo’s previous work has included; Today is the Deed, I Know You, You Can Come With Me, Woolgathers Art Vendors and With Love, From the Artist.

Wanderbox is a great addition to this list and while I was in Caernarfon at Galeri, it was interesting to hear Morgans take on his residency as well as his process to creating his artwork.

Morgan’s process starts off by exploring and searching for materials in places such as charity shops and markets in Caernarfon, making the artwork created personal to the area that it has been created in. Morgan was asked when he started his project, what was his end goal and what was he was hoping to achieve? He replies, “to finish it” and that he see’s his work as a “story without an ending” and that the way he works is to gather his materials and explore his options until his work feels finished, Morgan also says how colour is a vital part of his work, he achieves this by adding layers to his collages. Questions were then asked about the weight hanging from the bottom right frame and then threaded through each frame. Morgan explains that it is a way of creating tension within the narrative of his work.

It has been spotted within Morgans work, that a fascination and fondness towards mushrooms and fungi keep cropping up, such as Homēros, 512 and Impolicy. This is due to what Morgan sees as the aesthetically pleasing nature of mushrooms and fungi. With Morgans work there is a tendency to pick an object and experiment and indulge with its use, eg. Shells that have been used in such work as Trochus Niloticus and Tritons Trumpet.

During my conversation with Jo and Morgan they describe the experience of the Wanderbox residency as a performance piece and that every artist that is involved  will contribute to a completely different experience for the audience. By the time the 5 stop tour is finished they will have been 5 different performances. Just like on stage, the artists bring their own props, in this case Jo has asked each artist to bring their own chair to help bring a sense of identity and comfort for the artist. The idea that every day the artist comes into the space and sets up their work for the day and creators, is not so different from an actor warming up and putting on a performance. Interacting and engaging with the audience can often be a challenging aspect for an artist that normally works in solitude, but there lies the test, coming out of their comfort zone and experiencing a new environment to work in.

For the rest of the tour it will be interesting to keep up with the artists involved in Wanderbox and see how each performance evolves and differs from one to the other The conversation with Morgan and Jo was a great opportunity to see the insight of this contemporary portable gallery and how it is helping develop artists within their practice and how important it is to push not just the artist but the way we, the audience view the art.

Sources:

http://sonomano.tumblr.com/

http://withlovefromtheartist.blogspot.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/wanderboxbox

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