Kent Monkman

 Kent Monkman is a multidisciplinary artist who works in a variety of media, including  film/video, performance, painting and installation. Monkman has exhibited widely within Canada, and is well represented in numerous private and public collections including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. 

His paintings have a lot of focus on the view, always seeming to have big skies and clouds, filled with nature and a rather peaceful setting. They are rather relaxing to to look at, showing a lot of bright primative colours, and with such a big and open piece of scenery it all connotes freedom and peace.

 

 

 

 

His installation art is in some ways like his paintings, they are one again filled with nature and big open views, only they tend to focus more on the character within the piece. The sculpture created in this has the opposite effect to the paintings, it has an expressionless face, and with it being all white it once again shows how lacks emotion, reflecting a negative feeling without any peacful colours.

 "Group of Seven Inches is a naughty and playful musing on the relationship between artist and model"

    The films Monkman creates are a little like his paintings, and partially like his installation pieces. They show the same peace and focus, but with a figure involved at the same time. The film has been made sepia to state it's old fashioned style, and with it including a Native American it suggests freedom and peace once again, quite the opposite to the figure in the installation art. I think it is a very appealing piece, it makes me feel positive to look at it, it's a powerful image that expresses freedom, power and peace, a lot like the painting.

    The disciplines that Monkman works with seem to flow into each other, they all have similaries that roll off into the next piece he creates, some however are represented diffrently, they can show either a negative or positive effect but they still have something that connects each of them together.

Ken Adam

 Ken Adam, a well known production designer was most famous for working for Motion Picture and creating the set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960's and 1970's. Adam first entered the film industry as a draughtsman for This was a Woman in 1948, since then, Ken has created many more stage productions including Ben Hurr and Around the world in 80 Days. With his artistic passion ahead of him, this enabled  Adam to make his name with his innovative, semi-futuristic sets for the James Bond films. The Supertanker set for The Spy Who Loved Me which was created in 1977, was the largest sound stage in the world at the time it was built. He also designed the sets for: 
 Dr. No (1962)Goldfinger (1964)Thunderball (1965)You Only LiveTwice (1967)Diamonds are Forever (1971)Moonraker (1979)

Adam Designed all of the interior sets for this''tongue-in-cheek  spectacular'', Dr No, including the casino in the opening scene, Bond's apartments, M's office and the sprawling, futuristic lair of the villainous doctor himself. Adam designed the sets based on his life experiences and unique visual sense. He doesn't believe you can get a sense of reality by copying, and everything that is designed or created must have a reason to it. I think these designs perfectly capture a futuristic view for the Bond films, using big high-tech models like the rocket in scenes, subconsciously expressing wealth, power and the future. the design above looks rather simplistic and minimal with features, but the big open spaces allows you to focus on what is there and being shown, defying it's beauty and detail, and again expressing the wealth and power which is what the Bond movies capture brilliantly.

Richard Coyle

 Richard Coyle has been in the props making industry since 1979 where he and his company have produced props for numerous films such as Star Treks II, IV, V and VI, Reanimator, Ice Pirates, Creature, Trancers, and many, many more. He has also produced props for numerous television shows including Star Trek, The next Generation, Automan, Nightrider and The Fall Guy. Coyle Now owns and operates his own prop making shop in Arizona. 


Coyle's prop making career began when he went to see  Star Trek for the first time in 1977, and heard of the conventions that came along with it. After going to one, he wanted to do a little more. He found a dealers room where people sold all kinds of things, and with his background in electronics as a TV repair man, he was able to put lights and sound effects into the ray guns, fans instantly took a new shine to the updated models being sold.

This ray gun is possibly Coyle's most well known prop that he has made to date, which was made for the Star Trek movies. He explains having a career in making props is rather challenging, he doesn't get time off and works for a basic living wage right now, he was at his peek in the 1980's. I think this looks like a fantastically made gun, appealing to its sci-fi target audience very well with its futuristic look (When it was created in the 1980's), expressed through the metalic colours and high-tech features, Coyle made the perfect model that fit the film perfectly. 

John Newling

John Newling's works explore the natural world and the social and economic systems of society, such as money or religion. He belongs to a generation of artists whose work evolved from Arte Povera and Land Art, movements occurring in the 1960s. This is Newling’s first major survey exhibition that takes place at Nottingham Contemporary, presenting a selection of his work from the 1970s to the present day. The reason Newling  creates his works is because he believes it inspires a positive social change and playing with ideas of current issues.

These cabbage leaves are meant to represent a pair of lungs, ironic really as plants and leaves provide living beings with oxygen, allowing them to breathe. I think it's somewhat of a metaphor, without the build up of cabbage leaves to make up the image of the lungs, there would be nothing to show, just an empty canvas. Just like if there was no plants and trees, no oxygen can be created and used.

The artworks are inspired by the natural world and its ecological systems. Newling has previously produced sculptural artworks and he has worked with two plant species with extraordinary properties. Newling grew and harvested over eighty Walking Stick Cabbages (Brassica oleracea). These can be seen to change physically over time in the exhibition as they dry and harden. Newling became interested in their use value, the trunks have traditionally been used as walking sticks.
    In my opinion I am not too keen on his natural art works, I think it's the simplicity what catches the target audience, it's a very bold piece of work and you can see it go through stages, hardening up and discolouring all the time, however I do like the idea of the piece that represents a pair of lungs, it's very metorphorical with the message behind it. Apart from that, for me it lacks originality and its simplistic form is something I unfortunately cannot connect with.

Sarah Turner

Sarah Turner is a Nottingham based award winning ECO artist, originally from sussex, who studied art and design at university and when she graduated in 2008, she began doing a lot of eco work - using recycled materials. she works with a variety of recycled materials such as metallic cans and plastic, but her most well known pieces are her beautifully hand created sculptures made from plastic bottles alone.


Sarah originally got her idea for her artistic sculptures when she was at university, she had to do a dissertation on recycling and after learning a lot about it, she wanted to explore it further. Her inspiration for these stem from setting herself challenges, she wanted to use something different, and she really liked the idea of using organic forms. The only tool she uses to make these delicate sculptures are a pair of scissors, a lot of work for one person to create alone, but that's the challenge that motivates her to do so. All the bottles are collected locally from cafes and households, they are cleaned and sandblasted to give the opaque look then hand cut and sculpted into decorative forms.  The waste bottles are totally transformed, looking nothing like their original state. 

Sarah designed a range of centre pieces and lighting for the Olympic Park, and after successfully taking off, Coca Cola then commissioned Sarah to create centre pieces for the tables at the Ballroom of the Langham Hotel. Coca Cola have taken over this prestigious hotel for their guests to stay in for the duration of the Olympics. The centres pieces are made in the Olympic Rings colours to suit the rest of the ballrooms Olympic decor. Each flower in the centre piece is made using two or three plastic bottles. The bottles are then sandblasted to turn them opaque and then dyed the vibrant colours.

Sarah's eco lights have been exhibited at shows in London, Milan, Paris, LA and locally in Nottingham, her original hand crafted sculptures are finally starting to take off - even world wide!

Iain Simons

 Iain Simons, a man with many careers behind him and who has always been on the move with them, is now based in Nottingham with his most recent and well known gaming festival, Game City. He is the director of Game City, which was founded in 2006. His idea behind it was to take video games and make an arts festival, with tech and culture being the main starting point, and adding in theatre to as he says, ''bring the game to life''. Game City involves a wide variety of professions in the creative industry, a few being: designers, musicians, stage light technicians, theatre and costume designers.

Iain's ideas have not always been a successful hit, I personally think there is nothing wrong with this video game cover, it's bright, shows interaction between players and what is to be expected in the game itself, it's very appealing and grabs it's target audiences attention. However, shortly after this was released, Courtney Love (The Wife of Kurt Kobain, manipulated as the main lego character), tried to sue Game City as this character in the game, could sing any song of any genre, which she believed he would just not do in reality, perhaps giving off false perception. Luckily, nothing too serious happened, they had to change the cover of this particular game and Game City still continues every year.

It's not all bad with Game City though! They hold fundraising events, a great way for people from afar to get involved, bring up some new and original ideas for video gaming and helping to advertise Game City. They try not to use old symbolic images like Pacman and Space Invaders, as they are trying to achieve a more modern view on gaming, make it more appealing for the generation of today.

Iain's previous work experience to get him where he was today!

* Piano Player

* Macdonalds
* Casual theatre Technician
* He graduated in 1994
* Musician / Musical director
* Performer
* Producer
* Writer
* Programmer
* Designer
* Part time Lecturer
* Company Director
* Publisher / Writer
* Event Producer
* Festival Director

He goes on to explain that no matter how hard it is to get through, no matter how many career changes you have to go through, you will get to where you want to be if you don't give up. He tells me how Game City most probably wont be the last thing he does as a career, it's what he enjoys, but there is so much more he wants to achieve yet.

Game City, Nottingham 2012

Sue Bulmer

Sue Bulmer is a Nottinghamshire based artist, originally from the North East, and it was back there when she was a young girl that her inspiration for her prints and illustrations began. Sue's first career started when she graduated from Nottingham University in 1993, where she went on to become a pharmacist, however she always knew that she wanted more, and so she left the sciences to fulfill her real passion of becoming an illustrator and print maker and so she took a foundation course in Art and Design, which she believed was enough to get her into the new career she had always wanted, and from then on she has been self taught.




Although she has lived in Nottingham for 23 years, her love for art began when she was growing up in the North East. Sue lived on a farm with her parents and would often draw or make little sketches of the chickens there, which is when her passion for the natural world began, her motivation was the changing colours and the texture of the seasons. 
    A lot of the pieces that she creates have a lot to do with with her upbringing, her recent ink illustrations express a lot of love which she explains is to do with her being extremely close to her 3 sisters. Also, having lived in a 200 year old cottage filled with vintage finds, she found wealth of material to spark her creativity within her own home.  She felt the comfort of being at home gave her the ability to express the sentimentality in her work, she describes her work as 'down to earth' and the whole reason as to why she draws what she does? Because she loves it! 

As well as doing her beautifully designed illustrations on paper / card, she also transfers them on to textiles, and sometimes uses other media in her work such as watercolor, stitch or different inks. Her mood and current interests dictate her work quite often which makes her pieces quite subjective and fluid. Sue always looks for new idea where ever she goes, may it be to the shops, a quick walk or something rather exciting! She will never be with out a sketchbook in hand to keep up with these heart warming, sweet illustrations.

Gillian Lee Smith

  Mixed media artist Gillian Lee Smith is based in Nottingham (originally from Edinburgh), who's career path took a massive change at the age of 27. In her early 20's she did nursing for a few years, knowing that this wasn't her true passion she decided to go to Edinburgh College of Art, and graduated 8 years ago now. Knowing that this new career would take her on the move to different places, she tried to get her work recognized by showing it in different galleries, she eventually settled down in Nottingham and has been there for 7 years now.

    

Drawings & Paintings

 In the beginning of her new artistic career, Gillian studied costume design, she used a variety of media to create these beautifully painted a drawn pieces, from pastels to paints, pencils, acrylics, oils and much more. Trying to express her experimental work, she would use a lot of anything she could find. Soon enough, Gillian had bigger ideas that she wanted to perceive, and turned these fantastic art pieces into little sculptures of dolls, and just like the paintings and drawings, they each shared a story behind them, which is what inspired Gillian to create all these wonderfully dark and spectacular pieces in the first place...

Her Inspiration

When Gillian was creating all of her art pieces, the drawings, paintings and the dolls, she had a story for each of them. The designs were all created from her imagination, however there was a story that inspired her ideas and she knew exactly how to express them through her art pieces. Gillian has to work part time so she can sustain her art career at the moment, she works in care homes looking after the elderly. Some of the people that she works with suffer with dementia, she uses objects and story telling to try and stimulate their memories throughout their lives, some have happy stories to tell her, however some unfortunately have more darker stories to tell, but all of what she hears inspires her to create her fantastic pieces. 

Dolls
With Gillian's head full of imagination after working as a nurse, and then with dementia sufferers, she wanted to go beyond paintings and drawings, she wanted to bring the characters in these stories to life, and went on to pursue this by creating wonderful little dolls. Each doll is different, they take hours and hours to create and have such amazing detail painted on to their fabric based bodies. Gillian explained that ''The dolls represent memories and story telling, they are very personal. They show things we try to hide, secrets and fears''. The dolls have had such a positive response, growing in demand, she managed to sell more than what she thought. Although they took off really well, Gillian has gone back to focusing on her experimental 2D paintings - not because she didn't want to keep creating her wonderful dolls, but, she explained that ''It's easier to sell art than dolls. People seem to connect more with paintings than they do with sculptures''. Although she managed to sell many of the dolls, they came at a smaller price compared to her paintings, and she already sacrifices a lot of time  and luxuries, which she would like to gain back at this current time.

Stefanos Lazaridis

Stefanos Lazaridis (28 July 1942 – 8 May 2010) was a stage designer, best known for his work in opera. Originally intended for a business career, he studied stage design in London, and was quickly in demand in theaters and opera houses, working with other directors. Originally his style was lavish and naturalistic, but he changed to a less traditional style, after working in the ENO and elsewhere. He occasionally directed operas, and was for a short time director of the Greek National Opera.

The Mikado

This is the stage that Lazaridis designed for Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular operetta, The Mikado. Everything is set at a white scale which shows how simple one colour can be, yet so elegant and appealing at the same time. Perhaps the focus is more so towards the characters and the costume designs, rather than the stage and scenery, however, it being white like a canvas lets the music and drama display the colours on the stage for you. The quality of a set designed like this is that it is very well lit up and expresses a clear positivity. This production was first performed in 1885, so when trying to relate to something that occurred in the past, a common technique to portray this is the absence of colour. Using black, white and grey shades symbolize something to be aged in the past, as that's how television and photographs were first viewed. I think this is a really effective set because the white scale lets your imagination get to work and visualize your own colours for the stage, the audience make their  own interpretation of the scenery and can allow them to change with each scene or mood change.

Working at the English National 

Opera

Lazaridis's early designs were naturalistic and lavish, but when he started working at the ENO, his design style moved away from naturalism, and embraced a non-naturalistic approach which David Pountney introduced to him as they worked together a great deal of time. With his amazing understanding of scale, colour and imaginative scenery, Stefanos Lizaridis eventually designed more than 30 outstanding productions for the ENO.