Material Subversion
This week I will be installing my work for the Material Subversion exhibition, running alongside Hidden Agenda, a Crafts Council touring exhibition at the Naughton Gallery at Queens University Belfast. It will be an installation of found objects, fabricated pieces and complete objects in a variety of materials. As promised yesterday here is a wee peek at the work in progress. The exhibition opens this Thursday night, the 31st of August and runs until the 14th of September and I will be giving an artist talk on Saturday the 30th of August at 1pm.
Upcoming show, artist talk and general excitement.
Lots of plans and upcoming events at the moment- I will be showing a series of works and objects as part of Material Subversion at the Naughton Gallery at Queens University, Belfast which runs alongside Crafts Council’s traveling show, Hidden Agenda. The exhibition opens next weekend and continues on until the 14th of September. In support of this I will be giving an artist talk at lunchtime on the 30th of August, alongside my Mak9 colleague Gail Mahon- should be lots of fun and hopefully pretty interesting. I’ll be putting up a sneak peak of the series tomorrow- watch this space!
As well as that Mak9 will be getting out of the workshop and into the environment at Craftfest in Castleward over the weekend of the 15,16 and 17th of August. Myself, Gail Mahon and Heather Wilson along with Alice Clarke, Paula Bernardelli and Aidan Deery will be exploring working in the environment, exploring ways of making, documenting and recording in order to capture a sense of a place. Craftfest is a great event- lots of makers to meet, demonstrations to see, stalls to visit and set in the fantastic Castleward estate which is stunning. Come up for a visit, hunt us down, see what we are up to and have a chat.
All of which got me thinking about my work, which got me thinking of my solo show next year, which got me really excited about my plans.. a lot needs confirmed but I have some ambitious ideas in terms of scope and scale. So excited I can’t wait to get into full flow with it. For now I’ll leave this little photo as a teaser until more of it gets confirmed, then i’ll outline my plans a bit further. I have a few photo essays to upload as well and some new drawings on the go so the blog should get busy again soon.
S.
Material Subversion
The next exhibition featuring my work will be Material Subversion, shown in alongside the Craft Council’s touring exhibition Hidden Agenda as part of august Craft Month at the Naughton Gallery at Queens University, Belfast. I will be showing a series of made pieces and found objects alongside work by Irish makers such as Gail Mahon, Rachel McKnight and Joe Hogan as well as artists from the Crafts Council’s collection including Grayson Perry, Doug Jones and Angela O’Kelly. The exhibition opens on Thursday the 31st of July and continues until the 14th of September.
Little Spoon Drawing 12/7/14
Little Spoon Drawing in sepia, watercolour and knife.
Signals
Signals- A new set of utensils. Silver, linen thread,found objects- wiper blade reinforcements, rusted washer, toothbrush handle, plastic and electrical wire.
v-spoon for Belton House
Contemporary British Silversmiths are having an exhibition of spoons made by its members at Belton House with the National Trust. The exhibition will run from the end of July through to September and will be shown alongside the Silver Trust collection.
For the show I sent this piece- the first of a series of long, thin utensils I am working on- it is silver, linen thread and found wiper blade reinforcements and has a long “V” section.
Brush drawing 1/7/14
Another watercolour drawing- concept for new works. I love the variety of tones and marks on this sketch, a ghost image of an idea, almost like an x-ray. Enjoying how the work is progressing.
Black brush drawing, watercolour on fabriano 9 X 12 “.
Utensil sketch 30/6/14
Utensil sketch in watercolour. 30/6/14 -exploring some new ideas for fresh work.
The Rosy James Award
Last night was the official announcement on my winning the very first Rosy James Memorial Award – revealed on the BBC Arts Show. Here is a clip from the show where one of Rosy’s friends and her solicitor talk about her and about setting up the award.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02167qd
And more about the award-
Silversmith receives first award from a Trust Fund worth £500,000
A new annual craft bursary, the Rosy James Memorial Trust Award, worth £15,000, has been awarded to Silversmith Stuart Cairns. Administered by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the new award came about thanks to the generosity of Rosemary James (Rosy), a colourful patron of the arts who bequeathed over £500,000 to help craft makers pursue their careers.
Originally from Belfast, Rosy had a lifelong commitment to the arts and following her death in 2010, a Trust Fund was set up offering a unique bursary to help craft makers develop their careers. This will allow them to create work which would otherwise have been unachievable. It can buy them time to explore new ideas and develop a new body of work.
Silversmith Stuart Cairns said, “I am totally thrilled to receive this bursary, it will allow me to invest in research time, equipment and materials enabling me to develop a new, considered body of work for exhibition locally and internationally.”
Suzanne Lyle, Head of Visual Arts, Arts Council of Northern Ireland commented: “Congratulations to Stuart being the first craft maker to receive the Rosy James Memorial Trust Award. Stuart’s work is unique and impressive. He is one of the best silversmiths we have practicing in Northern Ireland; he has won numerous awards and has successfully exhibited internationally. I wish Stuart every success in leaving all of us an exciting, lasting legacy from this first award in Rosy’s name.”
Alan Kane, Chief Executive of Craft NI, an organisation which supports and promotes the craft industry in Northern Ireland, added: “This new bursary scheme generously funded by the Rosy James Trust will provide an ongoing, annual opportunity for the development of exciting new work which probably would not otherwise be created. It will provide successive generations of makers with a vital resource to push the boundaries of their practice and influence the future direction of the whole industry in a very positive and inspirational way.”
For more information visit http://www.artscouncil-ni.org
Drawings 14/6/14
Further drawings towards long, thin utensil forms. Finding drawing on the small format works really well, liking the delicacy of the marks. 
Watercolour on Fabriano 5×7″ using knife.
Stuart Cairns 