Ian Kirkpatrick

2011 summer update

imkirkpatrick — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:40:45 +0000

It’s been a busy year so far with lots of new and challenging projects. 2011 began with the launch of my collaborative installation with Julien Masson, titled Realms of the Unreal – a cinema-inspired piece involving elements ranging from banners to popcorn boxes, to a large-scale freestanding sculpture made from digital prints and MDF. We also collaborated on the RELAY exhibition, curated by aspace (Southampton) and QuayArts (Isle of Wight)—to create a sculpture inspired by children’s toys and world events. Finally we co-produced a 2D piece for OUTPOST which invited archaeologists and artists to explore new art/science hybrids as part of an international conference exploring visualization in archaeology (www.viarch.org.uk).

2011 also began with the amazing news that I’d been shortlisted for a Festival Makers Award, sponsored by The Making. After a presentation and interview at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, I was selected as one of this year’s four artists to complete a residency and produce a large-scale public sculpture. The Making was also very generous and selected me as the Maker of the Month to coincide with the launch of my artwork at Basingstoke’s World Party in the Park this July.

Also, I just received news that my Creative Campus Initiative (CCI) commission from last summer, Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, has been selected as one of 10 artworks from the CCI that will be going on a tour of UK galleries across the Southeast leading up to the Olympics. The first venue on the tour will be the Herbert Read Gallery in Canterbury this October.

Ethnographic Terminalia – Images

imkirkpatrick — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:48:47 +0000

I recently returned from New Orleans with Sara Perry, who was presenting at the AAAs in multiple sessions (please see her blog for more details). We both attended the launch of Ethnographic Terminalia 2010, sponsored by Stella Artois, at the DuMois Gallery on Freret Street. The DuMois is located in a classic New Orleans ‘shotgun house’, whose domestic setting suited my ‘Delftware’ series of artworks very well (please see the exhibition image below). Thanks very much to the organizers of the exhibition—especially Fiona McDonald, Kate Hennessy, Trudi Smith and Craig Campbell—for their generous support of my work.

'Transfer' at Ethnographic Terminalia 2010

Ethnographic Terminalia

imkirkpatrick — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 22:28:25 +0000

Tomorrow morning I’m heading off to New Orleans for the opening of the Ethnographic Terminalia exhibition at the Du Mois Gallery. The exhibition is hosting three of my paper ’Delftware’ plates (one of which can be seen below) depicting imagery related to the trade in blue and white ceramics. Ethnographic Terminalia is also hosting a roundtable discussion at this year’s AAA (American Anthropological Association) conference called Ethnographic temini: moving and agitiating within the borderlands of contemporary art and ethnography on Saturday November 20 10-noon. As a non-member of the AAA hopefully I’ll be able to get past the guards and attend the session!

With luck I’ll also be able to sneak in to see Sara Perry’s presentation about the circulation of imagery this Wednesday (November 17, 8:00-9:45am) and the session she’s chairing on the subject of Ethics in Visualisation. To find out more details please visit her blog.

Summer exhibitions

imkirkpatrick — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 16:29:20 +0000

It’s been a busy summer with lots of exhibitions (Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger solo show, Trilogy, and Arches Open Studios) and I just wanted to say thanks to everybody for their support. I especially want to thank Sara Perry (my wife) for championing my work so much over the last few months. Now its Sara’s turn to be championed: she just finished co-chairing a successful session at the Hague (for the European Association of Archaeologists conference), and will soon be presenting a paper at the American Anthropological Association in New Orleans in November. Sara is also co-authoring a peer-reviewed paper for Visual Anthropology Review, and recently won a British Academy fellowship to research at the Society of Antiquaries in London. Please see her blog saraperry.wordpress.com for more details. In the meanwhile, here are some of the images from this summer’s exhibitions and Private Views:

Article from the Southampton Daily Echo

Private View for 'Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger'

Two artworks on display at Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Article from Southampton Daily Echo for Trilogy

Trilogy - Private View

‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger’ – Solo exhibition

imkirkpatrick — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 00:03:18 +0000

I’ve recently received great news: my Creative Campus Initiative project will be hosted this summer (July 2 – Sept 2) at the Concourse Gallery at Southampton Solent University. Ron McCormick, the curator of the gallery, has kindly offered to host the large-scale painting – as well as several of my other artworks as part of a solo exhibition. This is my first solo show and so I’m very excited – and very grateful to Ron and to Bridget Cusack of Millais Off-site Projects, who is co-curating the exhibition.

As a result of it being incorporated into a larger show, the project has been retitled: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger and will feature at least 10 of my artworks produced since 2008. I’ll continue using the original title of the project (Swifter, Higher, Stronger) on the project’s Facebook site. But otherwise everything will be branded as Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, including on the Creative Campus Initiative website.

The private view for Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger will be held on July 1 at the Councourse Gallery, in the Michael Andrews Building at Southampton Solent University.

School Workshop

imkirkpatrick — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:24:26 +0000

A fellow Arches Studios artist, Stephanie Hood, recently invited me to lead a day-long workshop at the school where she teaches, Waterside Primary. The workshop happened on May 24 and was “Olympic-inspired” with the kids creating their own Greek-style vases on cardboard boxes. I was very impressed by their enthusiasm, skill, and innovative approaches to the project–their work gave me some great ideas for my own Creative Campus Initiative artwork. I thank Stephanie and the administration at Waterside Primary School for inviting me to their school, and for their support of my project.

The art room at Waterside Primary School

Raw Materials

imkirkpatrick — Tue, 18 May 2010 16:15:04 +0000

After much searching, I’ve finally found a “canvas” big enough to contain the future artwork. The nice thing about working on cardboard boxes is that the materials are free. The down side is that you often can’t plan a project well until you’ve found the box, as their size and shape varies so much and is entirely dependent upon whether or not somebody has thrown them out!

The photos below shows the box in its original folded format–and then sliced open to lay flat. The last image is a diagram of the flat surface available to be worked with. Now the hard work begins…

P.S. If you would like to submit an image (or images) to help me create this artwork, please upload them to the project’s Facebook page, or email me at SwifterHigherStronger2012@gmail.com. Thanks very much!

Swifter, Higher, Stronger – Facebook page launched

imkirkpatrick — Sun, 02 May 2010 21:37:56 +0000

The Facebook group page for ‘Swifter, Higher, Stronger’ is now live! Visitors are invited to participate in the project by uploading images and text related to the Olympics. All of these source materials will be used to help create a large-scale artwork for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

Click here to read more about this project – or click on the image to the left to go directly to the Facebook page.

Thanks very much for your interest in my project!

–Ian Kirkpatrick