PARKart at Grand Designs, London

Tomorrow I will be at the Grand Designs show at Excel in London. As part of their 'Meet the Artist' schedule, I'll be on the PARKart stand between 2-5pm to talk about my work that they are exhibiting. See us in the Interiors Hall, stand no. L330. The show continues until the 11th May. Hope to see you there!

Milford Haven School textile commission

In December 07 I was invited back to my old comprehensive school to give a presentation of my work to a group of sixth form students who had raised money to commission an artwork in memory of a much loved textiles teacher, Karen Davies who passed away last year. I was absolutely delighted to be considered for the job and was thrilled to be offered the commission on the day. Whilst I had never met Mrs Davies, I know what an impact a good teacher can have on students - my art and design teachers throughout my education have been fundamental in helping me become who I am today. It was very humbling to hear the students talk about Mrs Davies with such affection and to learn how they had independently raised a significant amount of money in her memory.

Yesterday I presented the students with my design proposals for them to select their preferred option. I had already talked to the students about their feelings regarding colour, and the response was that bright pink was Mrs Davies's favourite colour and that which they most associated with her vibrant personality.

I presented a number of colour ideas, all tonal arrangements merging pinks with reds and burgundies. The selected design is pictured below - an almost unanimous choice.

The five panels each measure 90cm x 35cm and will mounted onto a white backboard, and will be sited in the school hall - a digital simulation of the design in situ can also be seen below. The panels will composed of silk and cotton threads encapsulated in acrylic.

The artwork will be installed on the 23rd June with the dedication service being held on the 25th June.

Shortlisted for Welsh Artist of the Year

Just had a letter saying that I have been shortlisted for the Welsh Artist of the Year competition & exhibition for my submission of a Resonate 'Loose Threads' sculpture. The exhibition is at St David's Hall in Cardiff from the 22nd June - 26th July 2008. The winners will be announced at the opening on the 22nd June - keep your fingers crossed for me!

UK and Las Vegas exhibitions update!

I have a lot of work out in exhibitions over the next month or two..... so if you are wanting to see (and buy!) some work in the flesh...... here's where you can track it down:

• Wales Millennium Centre - 'Heritage' a group exhibition by a selection of members from the Makers Guild in Wales. This exhibition opened on the 14th April and continues to the 16th June. I have five 'Loose Threads' wall panels on show here.
  
• PARKart will be presenting a series of my 'Resonate' sculptures at Grand Designs, Interiors Hall, stand no. L330 in London from the 3rd-11th May. I am going to be on the stand from 2-5pm on the 7th May. This is one of the five pieces they will be exhibiting:

• Fibre Art Wales group show at Banbury Art Gallery and Museum from the 7th May - 22nd June. These are the five 'Convergence' sculptures that will be exhibited:

• From the 15th - 17th May you can find me at HD Expo in Las Vegas! This is a largest hotel design trade show in the US, and I am exhibiting my Resonate wall panels and sculptures on the International Business Wales stand number 873. Hope to see you there!
  
• Inspires Art Gallery in Oxford. From the 17th of May, a selection new Resonate sculptures will exhibited alongside prints by Terry Frost, Peter Blake and Sandra Blow.
  
• From the 22nd May, you will be able to see my 'Grid Weave' work that has been shortlisted for a Wesley Barrell Craft Award at the Wesley Barrell London flagship store. It will then tour around the country before finishing at an exhibition at Origin, the Crafts Council show at Somerset House in October where the winner will be announced.

There are lots more shows in the pipeline - will keep you posted!

British Craft Trade Fair

Just got back from a busy few days up in Harrogate where I was exhibiting alongside other members of the Makers Guild of Wales at the British Craft Trade Fair. Had a very positive response from lots of galleries which will hopefully materialise into lots of exhibitions over the next few months....

Pleasingly these brand new black and gold designs were particularly well received....

Wesley Barrell Craft Awards

Great news: I have just learnt that I have been shortlisted for the Wesley Barrell Craft Awards in the Textiles for Interiors category for the work entitled 'Grid Weave: chocolate.' (Picture below.)

It will be included in an exhibition at the Wesley Barrell flagship store in London which will then tour around the country, finishing at Origin, the Crafts Council show at Somerset House in October when the winner will be announced. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

http://www.wesley-barrell.co.uk/

busy busy busy.....

I need to apologise first for not keeping very up date with my blogging activity.... have been so busy recently, I even had to miss out on my Easter break.... get the violins out eh?!

So what's been keeping me occupied?

Primarily, it has been the very exciting commission to 'respond to the Iron Trials in the World Heritage Site centred around Blaenavon in the South Wales Valleys, and to make initial proposals for public art ideas'. There was huge time pressure to get this work done, hence no Easter respite. This is an extremely new way for me to think about my work, but obviously an amazing opportunity to start thinking about translating my artworks to become applicable for the outdoor environment.

I came up with several proposals focusing on two sites - 'The Gap' on Broad Street in Blaenavon, and the Garn Lakes just outside the town. The two images show my very basic digital simulations for two of the ideas. At this point in the commission process, it was about demonstrating the way I would plan to tackle the project, the likely aesthetics, materials and processes.

Both the images show a development of my 'Loose Threads' acrylic encapsulated process - by Garn Lake it would be a large block with the threads echoing the contours of the land behind - surreal window or doorway into the landscape. In 'The Gap', a continuous panel would stretch around the three walls, which would be dramatically back lit to enhance the colour. This would be complimented by central stone seating which would incorporate glass inserts to make a visual link to the wall panels.

The presentation was given last Friday to a packed room of all the interested parties, from the Arts Council, local Council, residents, landscape architects etc. Perhaps one of my most nerve racking experiences! Nevertheless, my ideas seemed to generate a lot interest, and so hopefully something will be selected to move forward with.

Aside from that commission, amongst many other things, I have been finalising my 'Woven Structure' chapter for a book entitled Smart Clothes and Wearable Technology to be published by Woodhead - date tbc. Also I am busily preparing for the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate which opens this Sunday. Hope to perhaps see you there!

Design Wales films - Melin Tregwynt

Just arrived home from the Design Wales 'Design Futures' event in Newport. Great evening of inspiring speakers.... and this film about Melin Tregwynt was premiered (and features me!) Hope you enjoy....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY1lwZaUwSQ

I have just returned from a wonderful day in North London installing a triptych commission for a delightful couple who discovered me at Origin last year.

Below you can see some pictures of the commissioned 'Loose Threads' wall panels which were designed to compliment the colours of their interior. They are made from cotton and silk threads encapsulated in acrylic, and each panel measures 40x40cm.

website launched and other news....

First things first: the website has been finalised and I am delighted with the results. Please do visit http://www.laurathomas.co.uk/ and let me know what you think!

I have now properly moved into my studio and after a tense couple of hours getting the loom working after the move, it's behaving itself. I'm now onto the second warp: a black cotton leno which is giving me some interesting results. Hope to post some picture up here soon.

Am also in the midst of planning my forthcoming exhibitions. Firstly I will be showing at the British Crafts Trade Fair at Harrogate, which is open from 6-8th April to trade buyers only. I will be on stand number 310. For further information please visit http://www.bctf.co.uk/

The following week I will be helping install a Makers Guild in Wales group show at the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff Bay. This will be open to the public from the 16th April through until the 16th June.

Hope to see you at one of the shows!

new stationery!

I am so excited about my new stationery! I picked it up yesterday afternoon from my graphic designers, Kutchibok Design and I think they have done a wonderful job. Can't wait to actually start using it!

The headed paper and business card both have a solid dark aubergine/charcoal/cocoa colour (it's a tricky colour to define!) on the reverse with fine diagonal lines reminiscent of the twill weave structure. I opted for a folding business card so recipients could jot notes on the inside as to where they met me or remind them what we spoke about. A single diagonal line in orange is carried onto the 'right' side of the paper, above which is my address and contact details. Unfortunately my digital camera isn't the sharpest so its difficult to show it at its best in these pictures but hopefully it gives you a good idea!

grid weave

Thought I would share a picture of one of the newer 'Resonate' artworks. This is entitled 'Grid Weave: chocolate' (16x16x8cm) and is composed of cotton, silk and lurex encapsulated in acrylic. The fabric is just trapped in the centre of the block, but you get fantastic illusions being created by the highly reflective nature of the acrylic - at certain angles it looks like the fabric is on the outside surfaces too, which is what I've tried to capture in this photograph.

If you're interested in buying this or commissioning something similar, please do get in touch!

three words...

Well, I'm pleased to say that today has been a GOOD day. My computer is (touch wood) behaving itself, so I've actually been able to get on with my work. Have finished some upholstery colourways for Melin Tregwnt further to some research and development work I did for them last year. Excitingly, these fabrics should find their way to the Milan Furniture Fair this coming April... will keep you posted.

Had a great email today from Ann Sutton regarding her new website FlukeLuck - please do check it out. I'm sure all you creatives out there have had times where you feel a little brain dead and in need of some inspiration to get the ideas flowing again. This game aims to help you over that stumbling block and spark new ideas from three randomly generated words. Well, they're not completely random - they are carefully selected depending on whether you state that you're an artist, designer, architect, musician, writer, or cook. You can then share the work generated from these three words on the website.

Tomorrow I'm going to be back at the loom pondering:
red
cacophony
orderly

fancy new logo!

Have had a little re-jig of my blog.... now its complete with my lovely new logo courtesy of the boys at Kutchibok Design. They are just finishing off my website redesign and hopefully you'll be able to view that by the weekend..... very exciting.

Have had a particularly rubbish few days - I appear to be jinxed. My computer slowed to a near standstill by the weekend, so my long suffering boyfriend had to clear everything off the hard drive and reinstall all my software which inevitably has meant there's been lots of glitches getting working again. Unrelated to that, my monitor has died, and my printer is behaving like a diva - only working when it feels like it, without rhyme or reason.

And then thanks to all this lovely rain, I've discovered a leak in my home office window which has soaked all the bits'n'bobs I'd stacked there. Bob the builder (yes, he really is called Bob!) is coming tomorrow to hopefully solve the problem....

Hopefully in my next post I can tell that I've actually started doing some long over-due weaving, rather than just regaling you with my tales of woe!

Right.... now I have got to try and keep this blog up to date!

Have had a manic week out and about, but am now looking forward to a good few days in the studio actually doing some weaving!

On Friday I started winding on a white 2/16 cotton warp to trial some warp painting ideas I've had lurking at the back of my mind for a while. I'm going to be trying to achieve some very optical effects, where vivid stripes of colour will almost make your eyes vibrate! The fabrics will then be encapsulated in acrylic - a new series of 'Resonate' artworks to compliment the existing 'Loose Threads' examples of which are in the photo below:

Am also in the midst of planning my forthcoming International Business Wales research trip to Dublin - am flying from Cardiff next Sunday 20th Jan, and will be staying for 5 days. The trip is to coincide with Showcase Ireland, so I'll be spending the Monday there and then the rest of the time will be researching galleries and hopefully visiting seom interior designers etc. If you have any suggestions as to any places I should visit or make contact with, I'd be very grateful!

Anyway, am teaching tomorrow.... so its high time I go to bed!