This is a blog by the artist sarah misselbrook

'New Creators' competition ArtVaults 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:42:00 +0000

Sarah Misselbrook has been commissioned by ArtVaults to act as mentor to the winning students from Winchester School of Art and Hounsdown School.

STUDENT ARTISTS WIN COMPETITION TO EXHIBIT

Students from Winchester School of Art and Hounsdown Science College in Totton have won a rare opportunity to exhibit at ArtVaults, Southampton's largest art event.
The winning artworks for the 'New Creators' competition will be exhibited in the city's medieval vaults every weekend from 12 July to 21 September, along with the contemporary works of 11 professional artists. Last summer ArtVaults attracted 19,000 visitors.

'New Creators' is the brainchild of Daniel Crow, director of arts organisation 'a space' which organises the ArtVaults project, and has been funded by Arts & Business and Lyndhurst-based company INEOS. "We have always tried to promote emerging artists, and introduced the competition for the first time this year to attract a new generation of talent," said Crow. We invited local entries from school years 10 to 13 and higher education students, and received some really imaginative ideas. The winners were selected because their designs connected so well with the vaults' architecture and history."

Higher Education category winners Sarah Tyler and Alyce Taylor are just finishing the second year of their Fine Art degree at Winchester School of Art. "Students at this stage wouldn't usually expect to exhibit work at such a major public show so ArtVaults is a fantastic opportunity for them," said Sarah Misselbrook, a professional artist commissioned by ArtVaults to act as mentor to the winning students.

ArtVaults 'New Creators' competition winners (Higher Education category) Alyce Taylor, left, and Sarah Tyler, right, are students at Winchester School of Art. Sarah Misselbrook, centre, is a professional artist commissioned by ArtVaults to act as mentor to the winning students.

"Their sculpture and textile designs will be site-specific installations, well suited to the special vault environment," she added. "It's going to be a multi-sensory experiment. Materials will include flour for example, so as well as enjoying the look and feel of the works, visitors will also experience the aroma of dough."

The winning proposal from Hounsdown Science College, Totton, is a joint entry by Lewis Jones and Abigail Davis, both aged 14, who have responded to the vaults' war-time history and the city's aviation heritage. Their idea is to construct a Spitfire plane which has crashed through the wall of the vault. "While this doesn't represent a specific incident, it's an interesting and relevant way to connect Southampton's medieval architecture with its more recent past," commented Crow.

Lee Wallwork, art teacher at Houndsdown Science College said: "The children have been really inspired by such a cutting edge art competition. The chance to work with a practising artist and have their vision developed in such a thought provoking environment is very exciting."

Supported by the rest of their art class, Lewis and Abigail will be working with Sarah Misselbrook to develop and construct the installation, which will be dramatised with light, sound and smoke effects.

Misselbrook will be calling on her own experience with the special demands of heritage sites, and her knowledge of the vaults from exhibiting at ArtVaults Season One in 2004. "The vaults present practical challenges for artists, particularly because you can't fix anything to the structure. I'll be helping the students to overcome this and to develop their works so that they become intrinsic to the space."

ArtVaults 'New Creators' competition winners (year 10 - 13 category) Abigail Davis, left, and Lewis Jones, right, are students at Hounsdown Science College, Totton. Art teacher Lee Wallwork is shown centre, with the rest of the art class looking on.

Exhibiting art in the city's medieval vaults draws a wider audience than might be expected at a gallery, believes Crow. "The locations are a major attraction, providing unique settings for contemporary art compared with the neutral backdrop you find at galleries. These are existing historic spaces with cultural and emotional resonance, and this produces more interesting and varied responses from visitors."

Both of the New Creators installations will deliver a full sensory experience, which he expects to be more appealing for families and younger visitors. "The vault environment and the nature of these works means there will be more interaction for people, helping to break down the boundaries sometimes experienced in galleries."

The ArtVaults project, now in its fourth season, is a collaboration between the Conservation Department of Southampton City Council and the 'a space' arts organisation, and is sponsored by Lyndhurst-based chemicals company INEOS. The annual event presents an opportunity to explore Southampton's historic medieval vaults, which are usually closed, and to see a collection of contemporary artwork from the country's finest artistic talents.

As part of the prize, the winning students will be given a budget to construct and install their winning proposals. Their work will also feature in an exhibition about ArtVaults at the Bargate Monument Gallery and will be included in the show catalogue.

Editorial contact:
Brian Davenport/ Richard Broughton
Dryden Brown Limited
Building 2, Shamrock Quay
Southampton SO14 5QL, UK
t: 023 8022 9041
f: 023 8022 7274
press@dryden.co.uk

Note to editors:
Photographs: images of vaults available on request. ArtVaults Season Three (2007) can be viewed at www.myspace.com/ArtVaults
About a space: The arts organisation a space supports emerging artistic talent and enables the development of sustainable careers within the arts. We endeavour to build the reputations of early career artists through encouraging the creation and exhibition of new works. Our exhibitions also supply the public with an alternative visual arts programme, not dominated by established names. The organisation delivers its objectives through a growing infrastructure, which currently consists of three major project platforms: the Bargate Monument Gallery, ArtVaults and the Arches studio complex

t: 023 80 338778
info@aspacearts.org.uk
www.aspacearts.org.uk

About INEOS: INEOS is the world's third largest chemicals company, manufacturing petrochemicals, specialty chemicals and oil products. Comprising 18 businesses, with a production network spanning 68 manufacturing facilities in 17 countries, the company produces more than 30 million tonnes of petrochemicals and 20 million tons per annum of crude oil refined products (fuels). INEOS employs 15,000 people and has annual sales of around $36bn.

t: 023 80 287000
richard.longden@ineoscapital.com
www.ineos.com

'read me' group exhibition opens April 12th 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 11:52:00 +0000

'read me' is an exhibition exploring the use of words and text in contemporary art. Misselbrook has two series of works in this exhibition, 'I Dream of a Common Language' 2005 and 'Know Your Place' 2007. The latter created during her recent stay in Cyprus as part of her Post Graduate study.

'I Dream of a Common Language' depicts varying states of female 'ness' using make-up, fat and chocolate struggling to communicate with the viewer. These canvases embody the skeletal, sexual and suffering self - one body moving through each state.

'Know Your Place' presents symmetrical inkblots on pages taken from Faludi's 'Backlash' spoilt by stains of consumption. The artist used this series of works as place-mats on the dinner table during every mealtime for a period of six weeks. The works show the drink ring marks and food debris, heat sealed to preserve them.

Please come along to the Artists Preview on Tuesday 6th May at 7.30pm, the exhibition runs until 21st May at the Havant Arts centre, 56 East Street, Havant, Hampshire, UK, PO9 1BS.

Latest Artist Statement

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 10:43:00 +0000

Socio-cultural concerns about femininity and feminism, about the body, about individual control and consumption within a consumer society - the inspiration for the creation of my work. My work is a way of exorcising something from myself, which is very emotional, maybe troubled. I become a subject who produces that which is visible. It is my silent, non-verbal response.

The artwork plays on traditional sculptural concerns, the process of adding or taking away. However, this is not only achieved using stone or wood but adding chocolate, soap, latex, wax, degradable or even edible materials, underlining the transient state of the body. I believe food is the medium through which we, particularly women are addressed and, in turn; food can become the language of women's response. Obsessive and routine acts of measuring, producing and perfecting envelopes both my creative process and the disciplined quest for an unattainable bodily perfection. Meanwhile, the works degrade as does the body.

The final artworks attempt to present the seductive yet simultaneously repellent nature of human anatomy embodying ways of externalising a very internalised self-analysis of the body personal. The juxtaposition of hard against soft, of sensual against skeletal, of void against object, this is my visual language of a struggle within and of a body.

Httyfat a great success!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:08:00 +0000

With over 5500 visitors to the Paphos harbour based gallery, 'How to Tell Yourself from a Television' was extended until the 10th February to allow for the growing interest in this eclectic exhibition. As one of the artists involved, I was responsible for invigilating which allowed me to witness the amazing public response. Visitor comments were insightful and press coverage extensive. Works were collected by Cypriot visitors and international tourists alike as well as commissions ordered.
Talk about going out on a high! I have since returned to the UK to continue creating work. My stay in Cyprus gave me the time, freedom, space and light to concentrate on looking and responding to my environment. And now I am back in the UK - the light is almost depressing, the traffic, people and consumable things - so many people yet I know no one. I should be here for a few months and then I am on that search again for another place. A place other than this, space. Where is that again?

New exhibition at En Plo gallery, Paphos

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:21:00 +0000

You are all invited to attend the opening of 'How to tell yourself from a television' the latest show featuring new works by Sarah Misselbrook and three other international artists; Marcus Cope, Paulina Hortynska and Stephanie Moran.

Click on link below for more information.
Thanks!

httyfat

Marcus Cope has made a life size replica of a 1970 Cadillac Coupe DeVille using papier mache. The car is emblazoned with basketball logos. The idea for the work stemmed from Cope's house being the only one on the street without a car in the driveway. For reasons unknown to him he chose to make the Cadillac which measures almost 6m x 2m x 1.5m, of which he says, 'It was a stupid idea, I wish I'd just made a Mini Cooper. It would have been a lot easier to make a Mini Cooper'.

Paulina Hortynska is exhibiting paintings influenced by travelling which are inspired by things that surround her from nature and the environment. This art represents figurative, abstract and surrealistic styles. The artist adds, 'the most important thing for me is to use my imagination to characterize the atmosphere of an unusual world similar to a fairy tale'.

Sarah Misselbrook's work addresses issues surrounding the body, the feminine and the feminist, drawing on personal, cultural and societal experiences. Her observations of natural life with its beauty, symmetry and perfection as well as its defence, aggression, self-preservation and ageing has provided raw material for her work. Misselbrook adds, 'these works show the polarities of beauty and ugliness, ruining perfection by excessive consumption'.

www.sarahmisselbrook.com

Stephanie Moran is showing paintings from two new series, pictures for two girl bands which exist only in her head (as yet). The first of these is a Riot Grrrl group, 'Sisters of SCUM'; the paintings show imaginary photoshoots based on mythological, fictional and real figures of female revenge. The second is a gothic/experimental band, 'Tallulah and the Vampire Bees', with influences from Mazzy Star, Daisy Chainsaw, the Raincoats and All About Eve. Like most pop songs, the paintings are about love and relationships.

A seriously worthwhile blog

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:12:00 +0000

I have only just found www.any-body.org/ on the net and it is the only one I keep going back to. With submissions from people in the fashion industry and comments on body size, image and beauty, it parallels concepts behind my own artwork.

It seems to be getting worse, the portrayed 'ideal' bodies are getting progressively smaller and unhealthy in a society where, if the current trend continues, in 20 years half the population will be considered obese (according to bbc radio one newsbeat).

In an attempt to attain this so called 'ideal' it seems we are failing. This failure leads to further self-loathing and further dieting/ overeating leading to further failure.

What are we doing to ourselves? As discussed on the Any Body blog, certain regulations are being enforced as to the bmi of catwalk models - how is this going to address the underlying issues? I am in no way pretending to have the answer(s) but in an attempt to highlight the absurdity of this situation, my artwork suggests the consequences of a generation of women trapped within the quest for a perfect body.

When one thinks one is in control in fact we are being controlled, we are being reduced, silenced and forced to fit into an ever-decreasing space whereby we lose the strength and power to speak up against anything. Any body tries to address this problem. I am trying to address this problem. The problem is worsening.

Freedom to create

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 12:37:00 +0000

It all seems to be making a lot more sense to me. The urgent need to create being fulfilled at present with the freedom, time and space to make work as and when I want/need to. I no longer have to time the making of work around other things, in fact I time everything else around making work now. It is giving me the chance to really explore creating work and I am constantly finding ways of visualising how I feel.

I am using materials I find around my here in Cyprus which include cactus spikes and leather and I am collecting everything that is dead and no longer considered beautiful.

In an attempt to create something beautifully appalling to reflect the fragility of life, our inevitable fate trying to question the importance of surface image, beauty and youth when all around and we are dying. This control over our image, our bodies, our politicised vessels keeps us from making changes that would make the world right.

And yet all I do is continue making work about it, is that enough? Will this make changes? Aren't I simply posing questions rather than offering answers? Like this blog, questions. I don't have the answer so the work reflects a/my situation and asks of you to change it or to simply think about it.

'unnatural selection' - new exhibition

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 14:23:00 +0000

I am showing my new figurative canvases in 'unnatural selection', a new exhibition at TC's Rock Bar in Kato Paphos, Cyprus. Bringing together the figurative and symmetrical abstract imagery from previous sculptural works, I am showing a series of large scale drawings using pen, charcoal and food colourings. TC's Rock Bar in Kato Paphos is the best venue for music lovers in Paphos where I have been living and making work for the past year. The venue lends itself to showing contemporary artwork.
Details of the show can be found on my website www.sarahmisselbrook.com/tcs
The exhibition opens on Monday 8th October 2007 and runs until 21st October, open daily from 6:30pm.

Non gallery based shows for me are just as important to make sure I can get my work seen and TC's Rock Bar provides an environment where you want to stay, have a drink, some food, listen to great music and now view art at the same time. If any of you can make it, please let me know what you think.

Latest artwork

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 07:15:00 +0000

My body is caught up in the symmetrical battle on these canvases. Please take away that mirror, reflection line, that Golden Section, perfection, I will never be. We are not perfect, nor beautiful, we are here, that's enough. We imperfect everything; taking, eating, spoiling, devouring, consuming, ruining and yet we think we have the right to.

I want to make beautiful images with an ugly undertone, aesthetically pleasing but appalling. The figures featured are alone even in groups, bound to the weight of the perfection quest. I try to ruin the canvases with stains of food colouring with no control over application or result.

I feel less alone in a foreign country, I am liberated like a child lost in translation. I feel close to people I can say only one word to and receive a nod of the head from...'Man dies after confronting youth who threw half eaten chocolate bar into sister's car'...the internet keeps me up to date with events in England. Too many people crammed in to such a small space keeping their heads down, eyes off each other - through fear?

Is it all connected? If we continue putting too much emphasis on the superficial, the surface, are we widening the gap between our inner self and that of others. 'I' is not the surface, it's beneath that, it's in 'here'.We are creating a gulf between me and you... I fear you, you fear me, we don't communicate. I am certain this is the route of many awful things. Many wonderful things too but the awful things surely could be addressed. It's that reminder that's needed - we are all intrinsically the same, one, vessel, being - there are too many things used to separate us.

Repetition, reflection, the inside of the body or where the body has been - this will fuel the next pieces of work - the space inside, the void within rather than the visible surface. Relating to travelling too, traces of the body, where we/ I have been using stuff/ landscape around me to create husk/ positive form/ shell/ cage/ constriction. Travelling/ wondering reminds me I am not permanent, to constantly move, see, smell, experience - to not settle. Photographing these works with me in them but then left as husks...'Knives are being used in crimes every 8 minutes, 175 per day which is double that of 2 years ago'...I am on the outside looking in.

The Sarah Misselbrook blog widget

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 14:24:00 +0000

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Misselbrook's year in Cyprus

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 17:39:00 +0000

Reflecting on my year in Cyprus; the environment, plant life, animal life, development, consumption, landscape, my aim for the final show was to create a space that reflected my response to all of these physical attributes of the island. Developing the perfectly symmetrical inkblot into a large-scale sculpture embodying the sensual forms I have observed in this environment appearing from the floor of sand with chocolate pouring from every orifice. I have attempted to comment on the seductive qualities of the island whilst trying to simultaneously appeal to and disgust the viewer.

The skeletal forms protruding from the walls, reminiscent of cacti defence systems, are at first visually attractive and then, upon closer inspection, threatening and aggressive. The juxtaposition of hard plaster against soft chocolate, sculpted mdf bonelike forms against stuffed fleshly latex attempt to provide a visual contradiction for the viewer, again relating to my surroundings.

Upon entering the sand filled installation, the viewer is confronted by a repetitive soundtrack comprising thirty-six verbs relating to the somewhat unnecessary routine of beautification, self-policing and consumption. These words appear as written text on a series of three figurative drawings, which attempt to show a personal struggle during my stay in Cyprus. Family bereavements and feelings of isolation also fuelled the production of a blanket-covered figure, solitary and crouched on the floor of the gallery space. I became obsessed with budgeting, not being wasteful (particularly when witnessing such waste and a lack of recycling and spoiling of the environment). I kept every single cash withdrawal and purchase receipt to use to draw on instead of buying a new sketchbook. Struggling between a sense of rigid self-control and a total lack of routine, drawings varied from hard skeletal forms penetrating through lines of stitches into sensual vulvic pencil drawings.

A series of stuffed canvases have played on this struggle between the skeletal and the sensual. With a view to producing small scale, more accessible works (both visually and in dimension) using the fleshly latex sculptural inkblots as an opening to look beyond the surface of the canvas. Drawing the viewer in to the canvas as object rather than painted surface. The works play on visual desire to explore with zip opening, corseted entry and splayed canvas skin and on close inspection visually disturb. To contradict the concave, vulvic canvases, a series of defensive sculpted mdf bonelike profiles protrude through the canvas surface, pushing the viewer away.

Within the simplistic environment of the Lempa studios, my practice has temporarily moved away from the direct body casting of previous works towards a more detached way of sculpting. Still of the body but producing a series of separated components or suggestive imagery to evoke skeletal and sensual structures. The basic natural forms in Cyprus, so simple yet so beautiful, intriguing and often simultaneously disgusting. Soft, sensual openings, entrances and voids alongside prickly, skeletal defensive protrusions, the main inspiration for and effect upon my work whilst in Cyprus. Commenting on the beautiful against the ugly, the rich landscape against the appalling consumption and littering, these polarities in existence around me and my placement within this either proliferating the situation by buying in to it or a complete refusal to consume it.

The vulvic form has embodied the device for consuming, the devouring void with viscous matter spilling from its labia, swallowing its surroundings and being swallowed by its surroundings. The skeletal spikes simultaneously feed and rape the sensual form as well as acting as a defence and protection.

The stuffed latex spikes and plaster and chocolate vulvic form installation are gradually drying out, withering and aging in this environment. Insects are infesting the melted mars bars from the local beach sand, which scurry adding movement to the piece when disturbed by viewers. The decomposition and impermanence of this piece runs parallel to our inevitable transience and results in the need to recreate the artwork for new spaces for future exhibitions. I aim to develop the scale and number of components within the installation with a view to completely immersing the viewer in the work as well as in the sound.

Ruining a 'perfect' world?

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 14:57:00 +0000

This all consuming, all devouring nature of human kind. In our attempt to live the perfect life, have the perfect body, the perfect house, possessions - we ruin this perfect world. So is this struggle between the skeletal and the sensual related to this? If I were to follow the disciplined quest for a non-body, a skeletal fragile figure I would be consuming less, taking up less space in this already overcrowded world. But to embrace the sensual me involves consuming; beauty products, food, clothes, magazines, an image requiring consumption I would be adding to the depletion of what is around me.

To live on air - a story I once read about a cult following who believed surviving on air alone was the answer.

Obsessed with what enters my body; mouth, vagina devouring and consuming - denying myself these things to control myself and my environment. My work at present shows vulvic devouring forms - on the floor in sand creating this environment (the sensual self) and on the walls/ceiling protrude the skeletal defenses acting as a control to this consumption and simultaneously a result of the lack of consumption (ie skin stretched over bones, spine protruding through skin).

To be experiencing a far simpler existence at present in Cyprus, a limited budget, very few and only essential possessions, solar panel electricity, walking, bike-riding, I am even more determined to resist the temptations of the consumer world.

Losing the 'self'?

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 16:52:00 +0000

It's as if everything that has been until now has disappeared and I have truly lost my 'self'. 'Affirmation' was a complete purge of the system, how I felt about the world, where I lived, other people and myself - an honest and very public portrayal of my frustration and struggle, putting my body and face and the disciplined routines I gothrough on show for all to see.

And now? I am living in a foreign country and, primarily due to media messages getting 'lost in translation' as well as not owning a tv, I feel I am rid temporarily of the importance placed on image. I am still in a Western European country with all its cultural and societal norms and ever growing prescriptions however, I am also surrounded by a majority who still 'live off the land', women head to toe in black even in the August heat and strangers who make eye contact and greet each other with a sense of caring and respect.

I am not naive, I know there is no 'perfect' place without hate, crime, self-centredness but I feel I have stepped back in time in comparison to the UK. No one knows me here and for this I am lost, not mentally but physically and, for now, my work has lost 'me', the body, the explicit aggressive figurative image. Instead I am looking outwards and seeing through to where true beauty lies, those things we all tend to take for granted and get lost beneath the layers of self-importance. I see beauty in the life around me in plants, insects, birds, fruit, vegetables, sand, sea, sky and that view - that waking up and seeing the horizon, then the sunset which offers a true sense of self, of belonging - one which no commodity or material posession could ever fulfil. Everyone should witness this sunset and see it, not just look or watch but really see the beauty that has always been and will out live us. Our sense of self is so overinflated but we are temporary, transient.

Although, I am also witnessing the spoiling, staining of these perfectly beautiful elements; littering, consumption of land, a growing population and booming economy - is this inevitable? Human nature to spread like a virus?

I am in a country which mythically claims to hold the secret to eternal youth and beauty but what now seems to be a more spiritual one - a vibrancy and energy, a feeling on the inside under this surface image. I feel at one with the elements - my body in the sea, on the sand, sweating. No longer in a caged box littered with belongings to call a home. I feel outside my body - this is the feeling I have dreamt of. I have felt trapped inside the boundaries of skin, surface, image and now...

now I feel imageless, experiencing, sensing structures, colours, life and sharing all of this with the most important person in my life.

How long will this last?

Introducing Sarah Misselbrook

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah Misselbrook) — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 16:38:00 +0000

My name is Sarah Misselbrook. I am a conceptual female artist from Southampton, UK and I would like to take this opportunity to tell you more about where my ideas come from, who I am as an artist and how I feel about stuff. I have produced work for exhibitions, commissions and residencies for 10 years and my website, launched in February 2006, includes an on-line gallery showing the multi-media approach to conveying my ideas.

It has always been with great urgency, the need to create. I can say so much more within a drawing, photograph or sculpture. It is in the making of artwork that I feel and think clearly; a determined form of communication which purges my system. My voice is not heard and I cannot put into words what I am trying to say through the artwork, maybe it is too close, too personal and that the work is detached from me it can therefore speaks on my behalf.

My inspiration stems from a basic need to feel content. Content in life, in society, in my body. It is as if through the focussed creative act I can somehow transcend this body and gain a sense of weightlessness, of not needing to 'belong', to sign up to a societal prescription. And my work produced? It attempts to question why I/we feel this way in the first place. Who am I/are we listening to?