Artist introduction: Amy Freeman

Here is the introduction to our second artist, Amy Freeman

We asked Amy our set of questions to find out a bit more about her and her work to share with you...

How did you get into art? 
When I was 16, my parents took me to New York for a week. Whilst my mum and sister shopped every waking hour, I dragged my doting father from gallery to gallery, whilst I sat on floors and surrounded myself in colouring pencils and copied and scrutinised image after image. I had always been arty and decorative, but this made me realise that I needed to be a part of the art world. 

'La Luna #1'

Where did you study?
I came to Falmouth for my foundation year, and am now in my third year of studying BA Drawing. 

'La Luna #2'

What are your main inspirations in your work?

My work has two very different threads, one being process lead, exploring printmaking and it's capabilities and allowing meaning to emerge from experiment, and the other, a more socially aware but joyful approach to issues such as gender equality and female sexuality. The work that I will be exhibiting in Midsummer Nights will be from the former part of my work. 

'La Luna #3'

How do you wait out a storm?
I am affected by a storm much like a child sometimes, bizarrely excited but perturbed, watching and listening from my bed, preferably with chocolate. 

Added Extra...

Amy's recent work is very different to the work she'll be exhibiting with us but we think it's great so here are some examples for you to browse:

Check out her website and Tumblr here:

www.amyislesfreeman.co.uk

amyislesfreeman.tumblr.com

We hope you enjoyed this second post and we'll keep introducing you to our artists as we get closer to the event date!

Porthleven Lifeboat Studio

Imagine a building so close to the Cornish sea, you not only taste the salt in the air you can hear the sea through the very walls of the building...

Welcome to The Lifeboat Art Studio, Porthleven

This exciting building is the home of our next exhibition: 'Storm Front'.  It has a rich history in the story of Porthleven.  Built in 1894 for £1395 it launched the lifeboats in Porthleven until 1929.  After this the slipway for the boats was dismantled and the building went through many guises through the years before being turned into the Lifeboat Art Studio that it is today, almost 100 years later.

It's now run by the lovely Rosie from Porthleven Holiday Cottages who let us in to take some sneak peak photos to share with you all...

When we first stepped inside we were awed by the bright, surprisingly large, space.  We can't wait to see the inside of this studio full of art, people and life

Through the salt water sprayed door you can see the famous Porthleven clock tower

Just waiting for the art...

Willow came along to check out the view (she say's it'll do!)

We hope you like this little sneak peak into the Studio and hope you'll want to come and see the space used and full of life on the 20th to the 22nd of December!

For more information on the Studio visit: 

www.lifeboatartstudio.co.uk 

For more information on the lifeboat history of Porthleven visit : freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~helstonhistory/porthlevenlifeboats.htm

Artist introduction: Laura Menzies

As promised, here is the first of our introductions to the artists in our show!

Today is Laura Menzies, here she is in the Lifeboat Studio...

We asked her a few questions to get to know her a bit better (and dotted a few of her paintings through the text as well)...

How did you get into art? 
I have always enjoyed art and making things, but in the last few years it has become an integral part of my life and the thing that I enjoy doing the most.  Growing up I was really into performing arts and attended dance and drama classes several times a week. This passion lead me to study a degree in Performing and Visual Arts, which allowed me to continue developing both.  It was during my degree that I realised how important the visual arts were to me and it is this that I have since focused on.

'Inscribed'

Where did you study?
I studied a multi disciplinary arts degree at Birmingham University, which combined aspects of fine art, theatre and contemporary dance. Studying this way allowed me the opportunity to work in many different ways and to combine elements of different disciplines together, which was a very exciting way to work. In September this year I completed an MA in Fine Art at Falmouth University, where I spent a year focusing on developing my painting practice. I decided to study for an MA as I was looking for new ways to develop my work and challenge myself. I now feel I have the skills to be able to take me practice forward independently and am currently focusing on getting my work into the public realm. 

'Deluge'

What are your main inspirations in your work?
As an artist I am interested in the visual remembering of personal experiences and seek to communicate this through the medium of paint. My most recent work, developed during my MA, is formed from construct of memory, emotion and in-direct references to place. 
I try to integrate the sensations I feel whilst in the landscape into the making of my work. The extremes of weather and light I witnessed during my explorations have had a strong influence on my colour pallet, which has gravitated towards atmospheric, darkened hues. The paintings are not of specific places, but are of elements that have been experienced and then fused together using imagination, exploration and chance.

'Flux'

How did you get involved with Midsummer nights?
I attended the Midsummer Night event in the gardens of St Michael’s hotel in August. The great thing about the event was the location and how each artist responded to the site in a completely different way. The diverse mix of artwork shown and the ways it was displayed was very inspiring and original and after the event I approached Cathy and Natalie expressing my interest in any future exhibitions.  

'Percolate'

How do you wait out a storm?
I grew up on the island of Portland in Dorset which is very exposed and gets regularly battered by storms during the winter months. When the sea is fierce and sprawling I love nothing more than wrapping up and heading outside.  One of my most recent paintings was inspired by the sublime feel of the ocean and how at times it can feel completely overwhelming and incomprehensible. 

Check out her website and Facebook here:

Website: www.lauramenzies.co.uk
Facebook page:  Laura Menzies Art

We hope you enjoyed this post and we'll keep introducing you to our artists as we get closer to the event date!

We've chosen our final artists for the Porthleven exhibition!

We've chosen our final artists for the Porthleven exhibition!

We're so excited that so many artists were interested and think we have a nice range of disciplines in our final group.  (Each week we'll be introducing you to one or two of the artists, so keep your eyes peeled!)

On Saturday we had our first meeting with a few of the artists and looked around The Lifeboat Studio, where the exhibition will be taking place.  It's a wonderful building, full of atmosphere and as close as physically possible to the sea.  (We'll have to do a blog post on the studio soon!)

Here's a photo of some of the artists looking around the space, sorry about the quality - it was taken on a phone.

  

Calling All Cornish Artists!

We are organising another event in December, if you are at all interested in getting involved then please do not hesitate to get in touch with us on midsummernights21@gmail.com
We have a limited number of spaces at this upcoming venue so confirm your place with us as soon as possible!

An Evening Of Art Outdoors

An Evening of Art Outdoors

Starting up as a new creative events group we wanted to make sure that our debut exhibition was not only successful, but unforgettable. We decided to host our experience outside allowing both the artists and the guests to be inspired by the context of the arts surrounding as well as the pieces themselves.

Through this event our artists explored our theme of 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' in a variety of mediums and styles. The work on display ranged massively and included; Performance Art, Sculpture, 3D Design, Illustration,  Fine Art, Installation Work and Photography.

Due to the unconventional layout of our outdoors exhibition we decided to create a map, which would help people to navigate the garden as well as to provide details and information on the artists.

Our event took place in the gardens of St Michael’s Hotel & Spa in Falmouth, Cornwall.

 

 These are some of our sculptures created for our exhibition by Alistair Dean.

These photographs were part of an installation piece by Natalie Lauren based on the quote;

"With the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, and make her full of hateful fantasies" - Oberon

 

 Some of the illustrations created for our event by Briony Smith.

 As the evening began to draw in and the sun went down the garden seemed to come to life as the pieces of work started to light up drawing more guests in from the nearby beach to have a look.

 Involving our guests in releasing beautiful Chinese lanterns as it became dark created a lovely friendly atmosphere and rounded off our evening perfectly.

The evening was such a success and we are so grateful to everyone who helped us along the way, but particularly a big thank you to all of our contributing artists;

Ali Gibson - Alison Pascoe - Alistair Dean - Briony Smith - Cathy Evans

Natalie Lauren - Safia Megtali - Sally Crabtree

[Our Photographs come courtesy of Lewis G Manners]

Midsummer Nights founders, Natalie Lauren & Cathy Evans.

Midsummer Nights on the Air.

Check us out on the Radio!

 
We were privileged enough to be invited on to the 'Cosmic Art Show' at the Source FM in Falmouth to be interviewed about our upcoming event 'An Evening of Art Outdoors'.

This interview took place on Friday the 21st of June at the studios, at which point we were still looking for artists to contribute to our exhibition.

If you would like to listen to the podcast of the show it is available online here:

Cosmic Art Show Guest Interview

 
We were also interviewed live at our event by the 'News Source Show'. Our interview was then played out on their show on Wednesday the 28th of August.

In this interview we discussed how the event itself went as well as our inspirations and the process of putting the show together!

If you would like to hear our interview live from our event the podcast of the radio show is avaliable here:

News Source Show Interview