Feminine Pursuits at Manchester Jewish Museum

I'm very excited to share that I will be doing a week long artist residency at Manchester Jewish Museum beginning next Monday!

This will be a perfect opportunity for me to explore certain strands of my new project looking into 'feminine pursuits', specifically women's history of needlework and its ties to acts of devotion.

Manchester Jewish Museum has a vast collection of artefacts dating back to the 1800's and I've already been told a little bit about some of the textile and craft pieces that I'm keen to look at.

I'll also get the chance to meet and chat to the museum's Women's Textile Group, a collective of women from Jewish and Muslim backgrounds, to find out about what they do and ask more about the whys and hows behind their shared activities.

I'm keen to find out more about the history of women's needlework in Jewish history and culture and how it has helped to shape a sense of identity for the individual, the community and the subjects it represents. I also want to look into the universal language of needle based crafts and try to unpick some of it's meanings to translate into my own work.

My Dolly Parton embroidery in process

I do a lot of embroidering in my art practice and my current stitched portraits of glamorous iconic women from popular culture has been my own act of worship or devotion to them. It's made me want to know more about this way of communicating ideas and also why things like glamour and needlework are classed as 'feminine pursuits', and as such are down graded in artistic importance.

I hope that from my research at Manchester Jewish Museum I'll get a good start in finding out some of the answers or leads to what I want to know and be able to frame my ideas in new ways. I'd like to find a way in the future to use 'feminine pursuits' to empower their users, regardless of gender, and help to give the acts themselves more artistic significance while retaining all the fun and fabulousness they evoke!

During the week long residency I hope to blog regularly about the things I find and share my thoughts with you! So stay tuned, much more to come!...

Grotto

It's now December and I can officially mention Christmas!!! So if you revving yourself up into a festive shopping frenzy (it can happen!) drop into Grotto on Manchester's Oldham St where I have several works for sale!

Detail from 'The Devil to Pay'

Grotto is a pop-up artists shop-cum-gallery-space in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and is currently stocking a fine selection of arts and crafts from home grown talent including limited edition wrapping paper and cards to one off canvases and art works at low prices!

Not only that but Grotto doubles as a gig venue in the evening where you can catch some amazing live music, whats not to love? You can follow Grotto on Twitter or Facebook

Grotto: 88 Oldham St Manchester United Kingdom M4 1LF
Mon -Sun 12-8pm

A night of art and entertainment!

It's an age old situation; many an artist or musician has had to work full or part time while pursuing their creative ideas, yet in this instance art and job have combined in a new website to showcase their work!

Next Wednesday will see the launch of a brand new concept for artists and galleries! Urbis, Manchester's premier landmark building and gallery of city life, will be hosting Urbis Creatives. This one of a kind brand new project has been put together by the staff from Urbis to showcase the various creative expertise we have outside of work.

The evening will also include orignal artwork on display, workshops, live music and myself performing in The Chantilly Belles burlesque act!

With creative endevours ranging from; Photography, graphic design, fine art, illustration, creative writing and music this is sure to be a very unique and orignal event!

I will also be displaying examples of my artwork, so come along and support the best artistic talent Manchester has to offer for a very fun and different kind of private view!

Private View tomorrow!

I'm off to Sunderland again tomorrow for the private view of the exhibition in Sunniside marking the end of my burlesque art residency. Here's a little bit about the show!

Gemma along with others have created overblown burlesque characters taking inspiration from the 1861 census to bring some of Sunnisde's rich history back to life

Directed by Gemma and working with Art-wave, local artists and Sunderland University students the project 'What do you think you're looking at... The Sunniside of burlesque' is a collaborative work designed to highlight one of Sunderland's most overlooked areas currently undergoing a major redevelopment including the building of multi million pound art venue The Place.

A saucy dressmaker with a dark secret (that's me!), a radical freethinking minister, a French shipbroker, and a gothic widow in all her mournful glory all star in this provocatice and unique exhibition along with a selection of Gemma's burlesque paintings.

Tomorrow is the exhibiton's last day so if you're in the area please get down to see it before it ends! We will be having a live V.J set about the work and I will be in my character's costume, here's a sneaky peek of what to expect;

Photo by Square Photography

Photograph by Photogracky

Private view is 7-9pm and people are encouraged to dress the part when they come along, burlesque, vintage, glamour, Victoriana you name it! Really hope to see you there!

On other subjects; my current painting is coming along well, but slower than usual as I haven't had much time to spend on it. I've also had a bit of a to-do with the lack of natural light at this time of year, but on the whole the work is almost finished and should be completed in my next session at the studio

I just need to finish painting the purple ribbon and fill in her hair. I'm also working on the right upper arm and elbow which is being a bit of a pain as the fixative I used for the gold leaf bled through the taped off area and wont take paint well. In fact every time I add paint it actually take off the paint I already applied. Has anyone got any suggestions? This is my first outing with gold leaf on a painting and I'm learning how to deal with it as I go.

Also in my last posting I told of the sad passing of Pin-up Queen Bettie Page. I thought it was only fitting to mention again the woman who inspired generations. This fabulous interview is titled 'Her life in her OWN words' enjoy;

Behind the scenes of a burlesque and pin-up artist

I decided a while ago how good it would be to show the process and workings behind my paintings and other art work, and have finally set up this new blog!
My aim is that this piece of web space will act almost like a sketchbook showing where my ideas have come from, what has inspired me, where I've visited and what I've been doing as an artist who specialises in burlesque and pin up.

So without furthur ado, let me show you my most recent project:

I've wanted to experiment with a gold leaf effect for a long time now and my newest painting has allowed me to use it as a sumptuous backdrop to a new sultry image.

I recently did a photoshoot for a commission with a friend of mine who often models for me. The client wanted a rather abstract painting of a section of naked back. But during the shoot I saw the potential of looking further into the idea of a provocative image exploring the dynamics of hiding and revealing.
My ongoing series, My Baby's Got a Secret seemed like a great platform for this idea as each painting gives a glimpse at a hidden story which challenges the viewer to make their own judgement as to what is going on .
A woman's naked back can be one of the sexiest views of her body, for although she is naked she reveals nothing but promises much. I wanted to add a further hint of hidden agenda by having my model wear a ribbon tied around her neck.

I began by outlining the image on to a small canvas, small because I want this painting to be very intimate and sexy rather than overwhelming.

Then after masking around the image I began to add 'Size' a special adhesive for leaf metal. I used a brand called Easy Metal which can be bought in most art and craft suppliers. I find Fred Aldous to be really good for supplying things like this..

I heard that size used to be called 'rabbit size' as it was made from rabbits, but as far as I know this is no longer the case, at least I hope not.
The size takes 15 minutes to get tacky and is then ready for the leaf metal to be placed over. Again I used leaf from the Easy Metal range.
It's harder than it seems. I found the best trick was to let the leaf float onto the surface and then pat it into place with a padded up towel. I always overlaped each piece so that there will be no gaps and little evidence of joins.

It takes about two hours to set properly then using a soft brush I pressed the leaf into the canvas with circular motions. the excess leaf breaks away and I was left with gold in all the right places. The only problem was I got tiny pieces of gold confettii alll over my studio.
I then sealed the leaf with shellac, again from the same range. I was a bit unnerved as the shellac goes very blotchy before it dries and turns the gold into a murky mustard colour.

Thankfully after a while the whole surface settles and I was left with a uniform lushious gold. I then began to block in the colour and the painting was on it's way!