A Loo with a view

Really pleased to have got my latest commission installed into its home in the downstairs toilet in a lovely late Georgian house in Teignmouth. This double fronted house has been converted from offices back into a family home and there is still lots of renovation to go (there isn’t a toilet yet!). The window add a great wow factor as you enter the house by the front door and creates visual feature at the end of the long central entrance hall.

This is my take on our local coastline of the Teignmouth Back Beach, estuary and The Ness Cliffs. The seagulls, beach huts, tiny boat and tree line have been painted and then fired in the kiln and are indicative of our town, as our the rich red cliff sides and deep green rolling hillside. 

A Toast to the Hosts!

This week I am enjoying the hospitality of Adele and Mike Yates, in their wonderful historic home ‘Mallards’. Their son Ben Yates has his studio there and we have taken over the barn and woodland for a week, with a fabulous art exhibition. We are open every day until Sunday 10th August. Click here for details

There are 5 artists showing their work in total (and I will post about the others later), but today I am going to focus on the magical world of Ben’s Electi-Cities and Photocubism.

The Electri-Cites are being displayed in a blacked out room! For good reason, they all light up with hundreds of LED lights and are made entirely from discarded electrical goods, from bits of old washing machines to DVD players. These are fascinating micro worlds, complete with tiny people and the dark room is like a big magical disco!

Photocubism it Ben’s other concept. Here he makes 3D pictures made up of many small square digital photos, to great effect. Keep up with Ben’s wonderful creations here

Small Town Vandals wont spoil our show!

Several of the sculptures in our TRAIL were vandalised last night, I think it is the first time we have really been affected in this way! My Do Do had been pushed over, thankfully no unrepairable damage done and its all intact. Liz Lockyear’s  Igloo was used as a party room by the local al fresco drinkers; which I found quite amusing until I realised they had also collapsed the structure by pulling it down, which is miserable for her and she had to do lots of repairing today, its back up, but not quite as sturdy as it was before. Several of the other sculptures had minor injuries, but mostly suffered shock. It is our 10th year and there has been so much good news for us with TRAIL being included in the United Nations Its Our World online art exhibition (a huge international event for young people aged between 4 and 19) so we will not let some thoughtless people bring us down!

I wish people would take Michelle Greenwood-Brown’s advice to Love your Planet!

recycled ceramic mosaic
Michelle Greenwood-Brown

In better news our Art in the Sun exhibition is looking glorious and open all week from 10-5pm. It is a lovely setting with a barn and woodland full of art. Its being held at  Ben Yates parents home and he has a fabulous darkened room with all of his light up sculptures making it a magical experience for young and old.