Robbie Bushe III

Above are details from Robbie Bushe's installation, a modular drawing called the 'accumulation of small advantages' at Visual Arts Scotland 'FLY 2016' at the Royal Scottish Academy building on the Mound, Edinburgh until Dec 27th. This is a dynamic mosaic /mural drawing in a similar format to Laura Carlin's ceramic tile mural of  The History of London'.
Robbie's drawings have layered coloured line which creates a lively three-dimensional offset effect and a highly detailed rendering and composition.

Susan O'Byrne

Susan O'Byrne has a wonderful wall of creatures, on exhibition as part of the annual VAS 'FLY16' show at the Royal Academy in Edinburgh until December the 27th. Susan uses coloured slips to create incredibly patterned pieces of ceramic so that her work often resembles textile sculptures or patchworks.

Our childhoods are filled with animal images, their many names, shapes, colours and patterns fuel our early imaginations. Throughout history animals have also been used in storytelling, legend and folklore to simplify the complexities of adult life. In the same manner, I use the animal form as a vehicle for the expression of human emotions.

"I aim to give my animals a certain awkward vulnerability. This is achieved through a very personal making process. I make a wire framework on to which layers of printed and patterned pieces of porcelain paper clay are applied to form a skin. The natural twists and kinks of the wire frame and the shrinkage of the clay around it during firing are allowed to dictate the posture of the finished animal. The element of chance in these processes is central to my work."  Susan O'Byrne

Barbara Rae II

Today I am sharing a Painting and Monotype by Barbara  Rae. Barbara Rae has work included in this years VAS exhibition (not pictured) it is glorious to see works by Barbara in the flesh as the colours are so vibrant and iridescent plus the scale and quality of the painting is awe inspiring. Do try to either see Barbara Rae's work at VAS, The Royal Scottish Academy, The Mound, Edinburgh before the exhibition closes at the end of February.

Simon Ward I

Simon Ward makes ceramics but  his ceramics are made into large displays and installations. One of Simon's main themes is taking ordinary functional objects and giving them a new role with their meaning and function elevated.

The throw away, the mundane and the common are re-positioned, and given center stage and inspiring re-evaluation. You can see Simon's display of small porcelain birds with blue and white glaze at VAS until February 28th 2015.

Hazel Vellacott

Another interactive piece in the VAS exhibition is the award winning medicine cabinet by Hazel Vellacott.

"Imagine a medicine chest that is packed with capsules that, rather than being filled with drugs, are full of the hopes, dreams and wishes of hundreds of people.
I have made an interactive sculpture based on this idea and am looking for some help." Hazel Vellacott 

This piece has empty capsules and a mixture of paper scraps on which to write your own medicine, and add it to the cabinet. Mine was 'tickles and laughter', Freya's was 'sunlight and words'. it is fun to sift through the medicine and see if it is medicine you would benefit from or not.

Martine Foltier Pugh

Martine Foltier Pugh is a French born Edinburgh based artist who graduated from Edinburgh College of Art with an MA in 2011. Martine's piece 'Spinning Poetry' is one of the interactive exhibits at VAS this year and Freya (my daughter) and many other people and children were enjoying it today. Here is some of the lottery of poems that it threw before us this morning:

'The worm between slithered with learned eyes'

'Gusty fine beach bees'

'lemon eye snakes organised flakes' 

This sculpture has stayed with Freya since we came home and she has cut out pages of random words for us all to pick and piece into poetry. This is a great piece of interactive art and a fantastic literacy tool. Indeed a piece like this was installed at Abby Hill Primary School as part of Martine's weekly visual poetry sessions for Primary 4 and  5 pupils in November 2014.

What is love? by Jenny Smith

Jenny Smith and I once shared a house, 'before I was an artist' as Jenny said, but she always was an artist and a big character with a flair for interior design and a clever eye.
'What is love?' is a new work that is part of the VAS exhibition at the Royal Academy, Edinburgh which I have been featuring since last week. For 'what is love' Jenny asked people to submit hand written answers to this question and then randomly selected 21 answers to create this limited edition cut out screenprint.

Fiona Michie II

Fiona Michie's detailed pencil/ charcoal work reminds me of Pre-Raphaelite classics like Ophelia by Sir John Everett Millais, women lost, abandoned or in dark sorrow, held by nature, in water or foliage. They do not make eye contact, indeed often you are staring with them away into the distance at seemingly broken dreams.
Fiona's work has a compelling melancholy, you want to find the answers to the stories she creates in her vast drawings, unlock their code and help the women locked in them.

“I create storytelling pictures of female figures in landscape settings, exploring the symbolic connection between nature, femininity and the supernatural. I work intuitively creating monochrome drawings of varying scales. Inspiration comes from my love of Gothic romanticism in art, film and literature. What they have in common is the intermingling of a supernatural event occurring within a familiar place. In my drawings I create a world reminiscent of this.” Fiona Michie 

The top image  'Inverleith' is being exhibited as part of the VAS 2015 annual exhibition at the Royal Academy on the Mound, Edinburgh until February 28th.

Robbie Bushe II

Robbie Bushe and his partner Catharine Davison spent last summer creating a studio and now it is complete they are making full use of it. The top image is Robbie's piece 'Widening Anticipation' exhibited at VAS, The RCA, Edinburgh until the end of February.
At the moment Robbies work is going through a frantic linear stage, where thoughts observations and imaginings overlay one another in a massive shimmering translucence of action and line.
Robbie has been working in sketchbooks with coloured ball point and this visual language has moved into his paintings whilst his narrative is the panorama of the city of Edinburgh, its urban landscape and its people, mixed with Robbie's own imaginings and fantastic daydreams.

Alice Kettle

Alice Kettle in front of one of her amazing stitch pieces, 'Loukanikos the dog and the cat's cradle' currently exhibited as part of the annual VAS exhibition at the Royal Academy on the Mound, Edinburgh.  Alice uses free machine embroidery and other techniques to 'paint' with thread creating jewel like figurative works on a grand and strangely mythological scale always telling a story.

Jenny Pope

'Worry Stones -One months supply' by Jenny Pope made me smile last night at the VAS opening as it was such a funny idea and a beautiful collection of beach combings beautifully worked and presented.
The annual VAS exhibition is a fantastic representation of art, design and craft in Scotland with stunning paintings, tapestries, jewelry furniture and sculpture, it runs until February 28th so if you are in Edinburgh and enjoy this eclectic and exciting show.

"Walking, in particular by the sea, is a constant source of inspiration. I am an avid beachcomber and earlier work reflects ideas around found objects as worry beads, collecting man-made relics, and trying to make sense of remnants of information."  Jenny Pope