#inresidence26 becomes ‘Sobbing House’, update…

It’s been an enormous few weeks – 7 I think in total – since I began my self-imposed residency at my home, working to create an artwork which extends my thoughts about home, shelter and the house.  A very personal response to this concept which has happened to come at a time of terrible refugee trauma, earthquake catastrophe and domestic political argumentativeness about housing provision.  Why create a giant coral-coloured ghost house? and make of the first exterior a new interior? the first visible stage of the artwork.

The hundreds of passers stopping to see have questioned this, and yet my mate Chris who has been working on this with me, and who lives in a horse box in a field because he cannot afford housing and who is being hounded to move on even from this meagre accommodation, gets some of the idea and feeling here.

The next steps are developing performance and exhibition of this artwork, named ‘Sobbing House’. So, some pictures from the story so far.

                              

    London Metro, April 21st.

                     

Arts Show Good Friday Special – Emrys Williams, Calx Creo & Open Studios

Arts Show Good Friday Special – Emrys Williams, Calx Creo & Open Studios.

Arts Show Good Friday Special – Emrys Williams, Calx Creo & Open Studios

Tomorrow afternoon from 2.00-4.00pm on 102.5FM and www.monfm.net  I’ll be running a holiday Arts Special talk show. The Calx Creo group of artists are joining me in the studio to discuss their show which is on at Oriel Ynys Mon, and about how they came together, (http://calxcreo.co.uk).  Also I’ll be featuring an in-depth interview with artist and lecturer Emrys Williams ( https://emryswilliamsblog.wordpress.com ), who talks in a fascinating way not only about his own work, but in more philosophical terms about what it is like to make paintings. Touching on Nietzsche, Proust, Courbet, Braque, Mondrian and Bachelard, Emrys shares insight into a painter’s thoughts and processes.

In addition, on the show we’ll be discussing the Anglesey Open Studios event which is going on during the Easter period for a fortnight, and artist Rachel Rosen has been visiting some of the studios to report on how its going and what you can expect to find if you’re doing this event for the first time. Together with our other guests we’ll discuss the Open Studios concept.

As for me, excited by this weeks’ invitations to exhibit this year in Italy and once again in Lithuania, there is new work underway.  And here in Wales I’m open to the public on Saturday 4th April 11.00-5.00. You can share in the construction of my large new piece ‘In Residence 26’, where I am making a red cast of my house in latex, aided in this by a homeless friend.  Or you can simply come and have a look. The constant rain this week has delayed the project, but I intending to continue up the roof and over the remaining windows in the next week. Peeling the item off should follow the week after…weather permitting. You can follow my progress on #inresidence26  – and why 26? because, in a life of frequent movement, its the 26th place I’ve lived in.

                          

By the way, my new website should be completed later in April, having decided on a new look I have yet to re-design the content, having removed the previous one last month.

If you’re off for Easter, have a great break.

Eli

2014 Goodbye 2015 Hello

Some thank you’s for 2014……thank you to all the curators I’ve worked with this year, for their invitations, open minds and support:  Said Afassi, John Brown, Tomasz Matuszak, Antonio Manfredi, Ina Mindiuz, Katia Munoz, Gorgonio Sanjuan and Annie Zamero.

This was the year I started to send my sculptural work abroad, and it went to shows in to Spain, Lithuania, Poland, Italy and Morocco.  My paintings also made it to Spain and London. My film work debuts in 2015 as well as continued experiments in installation and 3D, first stop is Espacio Gallery, London in February.

What else is new for 2015? more artistic activities in Wales, and more experiments of course.

Thank you as well to all my guests who took part  in The Art Lounge this Autumn season:

John Brown  Adam Carr  Alfredo Cramerotti  Angela Davies  Glyn Davies  Mark Eaglen Jan Gardner  Mike Gould  Graham Hembrough Mike Knowles  Pea Restall  Rachel Rosen  Dmitri Rastropov  Menna Thomas  Andrew Smith, plus thanks to the guys at the station for their support, John Morgan-Jones, Terry Marshall and Tony Wyn Jones.

I will be making occasional features from January onwards rather than broadcasting weekly – so that I have more time to fulfil exhibition requests.

Some of 2014 events:

Giza, Cairo. January.

Fez catalogue

Fez Festival of Plastic Arts, April

Spain: and exhibitions in Granada, Blanca, Seville and Cordoba. April to June.

 

Lithuania, September, with Ina and Katia

Griffin Gallery, London, October

Kobro Gallery, Lodz, Poland. December.

 

And Shams’ first photo of Mum,

Thanks lovely husband and son, family and friends for all the good in 2014

I WISH YOU ALL A FABULOUS STUPENDOUS AND JOYFUL 2015

XXXXXXXXXX

 

ICAW at the Kobro Gallery

Thank you to lovely Lodz and the great crowd at the Strzeminski Academy of Art, especially Tomek Matusek and John Brown for all their hard work in getting the exhibition and symposium together.

 

 

Talking about MOSTYN, St Asaph and Łódź

This gallery contains 1 photo.

On this week’s Art Lounge we’ll be featuring a discussion with MOSTYN director Alfredo Cramerotti, who will discuss the gallery’s ethos and gallery programme. And we’ll be chatting with artists Angela Davies and Rachel Rosen. Angela is currently Artist in Residence at St Asaph Cathedral, and Bangor-based Rachel is currently exploring sound art installation in sensory theatre. …

Portraits and Poland

On tomorrow’s Art Lounge we’ll be talking with Mike Knowles, John Brown and Andrew Smith. Mike will be chatting from his extensive experience about art in the region and particularly referencing the art of portraiture – in line with his daughter artist Emma Knowles’ exhibition at the Ucheldre Centre.

John Brown is curating an exhibition of artists from Wales in an international exhibition at the Streminski Academy of Art in Lodz, Poland next month. He will be joining us together with artist and Bangor University lecturer Andrew Smith to talk about this event:

So join us live on 102.5FM in the region or on-line at www.monfm.net from 10.00-11.00am gmt on Tuesday.

ICAW exhibiting in Poland.

Welcome back to Wales

 

I’ve just returned from my first exhibition in Lithuania where I showed three pieces of soft sculpture – one hot-footing it from shows in Murcia and Granada up the road to Kaunas Castle. Thank you to Ina Mindiuzenko and Paulius Stanishauskas for their curation, direction and hospitality. What a great week to be in Lithuania, the week of gallery openings everywhere across the city marking the start of the new arts season. Not confined to Friday night or Saturday lunches, this was my first time to do an extended gallery crawl, purging the isolation of life in the studio. Really great to hook up with artists in the region. Talks of exhibiting in Berlin sounding good.

 

 

On to London and the Griffin Gallery now opening in mid October.  And in the studio, working on new video and putting down thoughts from passing too briefly through Denmark – which has impacted on me with its simplicity, luminosity, ergonomic intelligence and lightness of thought.

This morning found me back at the editing desk at Mon FM, honing the first of several interviews with curators and artists in the region for The Art Lounge, due for air on 23rd September, 10.00-12.00. If you run a gallery in the region you may find me calling you soon…

 

With friends artists Anastasia Balysh and Katia Munoz, photographer Aidas Augustis Penki Vėjai and curator Ina Mindiuzenko. Photos by Aidas, Eli and Yasser Elmassry.

 

www.eliacheson.com

New series of ‘The Art Lounge’ in planning now….

I’m so looking forward to this autumn..so much is happening. Exhibitions in Lithuania and at Griffin Gallery in London for one thing and then my new series of ‘The Art Lounge’, which will be live on FM for the first time, with Radio Mon FM 102.5FM, so Anglesey and Gwynedd county can tune in easily. We’re not just digitally available anymore , although we’ll still be doing that and hope to win back listeners in the US, Brazil, India, Argentina, Australia, Egypt, Finland, Spain and Korea…to name just a few locations!

‘The Nourishing’ (detail), exhibited Fez, April-May. La Festiival des Arts Plastiques de Fes 2014.

So artist friends, arts professionals and art lovers everywhere, tell me what you want to hear about and what you’ve got going on. Now’s the time to get in touch if you have any events you want flagged up, locally reviewed or any burning topics you want aired. I’m planning some round table discourse (well more like triangular table, given the studio furnishings….) …covering themes like gallery exhibiting, Open Studios, Art in Cafes, artist’s pay, art in war torn areas, and I want YOUR ideas too. Please email me at eli_acheson@hotmail.com. In the last series I interviewed illustrators, designers, painters, jewellers, glass artists, sculptors, performance artists, and photographers and I’m looking to include arts administrators too this time.

My Spring was busy with exhibitions in Spain and Morocco, and I started sending my sculptures abroad for the first time. I was thrilled to bring out my new catalogue with an insightful and so eloquent essay by Andrew Smith of Bangor University. A very hearty big Thank You to him. Hopefully soon I’ll have this in some additional languages but for now just in English, click on this link to see it.

New Catalogue

 

WHAT ARE YOU FEELING? …….AND WHERE IS YOUR INSIDE? call for artists…..

From this week’s Mon Cafe arts programme, artist Gilly Thomas created an idea for you to take as a starter for an artwork in any media. Please send your images to eli_acheson@hotmail.com and we’ll make an on-line gallery and discuss them in an August programme. Deadline for submissions: MONDAY AUGUST 5TH.

Here’s the challenge:

Using any media, suggest an emotion in an image of one or two people in an internal space. Play with the perspectives of the room and the positions and attitudes of the people to describe what they may be feeling. Views out of windows allowed – could just be brick walls!

Here’s a link to Gilly’s work again…Thanks again for coming on the show!

www.gillythomas.co.uk

TUNE IN TO MON CAFE ON RADIO MON FM EACH THURSDAY 11.00AM-12NOON ON www.monfm.co.uk