SHAF Arts Trail: Fiona Cocks

Fiona Cocks is one of 60 artists opening their studios for the SHAF Arts Trail.

Fiona Cocks

She will be exhibiting a selection of her work, including her sea glass and flower collections.

WHAT IS THE SHAF ARTS TRAIL?

The South Hams Arts Forum (SHAF) is a lively, actively engaged association of artists and craftspeople from across the region. Over the past decade, SHAF has regularly staged a number of exhibitions in the South Hams, and is glad to announce that the annual Arts Trail has this year been extended to include the Half-Term week and will run from October 14th – October 29th in most venues.

SHAF membership is extremely diverse, so while some artists create in purpose-built studios, others produce their work at the kitchen table. Consequently, the Arts Trail will lead visitors to some artists working in their home studios – as is the case for Fiona – and to others exhibiting in galleries and exhibition halls.

Found objects, such as sea glass, can be set and made into lovely pieces of jewellery

At each venue, visitors will find artists happy to discuss their art-form, explain the processes involved and provide the opportunity to view, appreciate and buy unique pieces of work.

Following the Arts Trail also gives visitors an unusual opportunity to explore the glorious South Hams as they map their route and discover more and more artists’ venues (as well as cream tea venues).

 

Meet Fiona Cocks

Fiona has been working as a Metalsmith since graduating from Sheffield Polytechnic in 1987.

After her daughter completed a Foundation in Art and Design, Fiona has set up a business from our Devon home with their combined jewellery interests.

Fiona has lived in Devon by the coast all her life and, since a little girl, she has been collecting beach finds. This has influenced her work today, often using these finds either for mould making and casting, or for incorporating shells and, in particular, sea glass into her jewellery.

Fiona is fascinated by the weathering process sea glass has undergone after decades of being pounded by the sea, the smoothness and the frosted look gained, and the recycling of our pollution!

A few years ago, Fiona took up surfing which has further influenced her work. Having seen first-hand what our pollution is doing to our seas, this has encouraged Fiona to use as much recycled materials and packaging as she can in her work.

Fiona cocks Sea glass jewellery

Jewellery Making Workshops

Fiona also runs workshops!

You can learn to make jewellery using traditional techniques: texturing, soldering, piercing, drilling, stamping, stone setting, casting, colouring, forming, hot and cold enamelling, anodising aluminium, etching, and hand engraving.

Fiona holds her courses in a well equipped metal working workshop at Bigbury Mint in Ermington. There are five-week workshops for beginners leading on to more advanced techniques, or taster one-off workshops.

Taster workshops might result in your making a silver bangle or silver ring.

 

FROM THE BROCHURE, PAGE 25

SHAF Arts Trail brochures are available in libraries, information centres and many other places in the South Hams. There are 18 SHAF Arts Trail venues, each with one or more artists displaying their work and available for you to see them at work, and to answer your questions.

Fiona Cocks SHAFIn case you can’t get you hands on a copy, here are the details for Fiona Cocks’s venue in Ermington – and the opening times.

This venue is being hared by three artists: Fiona Cocks, Jackie Gale and Sue Stewart.

 

HOW TO CONTACT FIONA COCKS

You can contact Fiona by email at f.cocks@blueyonder.co.uk or call her on 07986 253666 or visit the A & F Jewellery Facebook page

INTERESTING IN JOINING SHAF?

Visit the SHAF website for more details.

Postcard from Paris: Musée d’Orsay

Musée d'Orsay Au Pied De CochonDuring our recent trip to Paris, we visited the Musée d’Orsay – a first time for us – and what a delight!

What made us choose this venue?

 

The Musée d’Orsay comes recommended

While enjoying a lovely French dinner at the Au Pied de Cochon restaurant on the Monday evening, we fell into conversation with the couple at the next table.

Having discussed what we might order from the menu, talk turned to our plans for our two days. The Louvre is top our our list, I declared.

Musée d'Orsay

Central area with sculptures

No! They thought the Musée d’Orsay was much better.

Then the following morning, when we went to purchase our tickets, we discovered the Louvre doesn’t open on a Tuesday, so off we went to find the Musée d’Orsay.

 

At the Musée d’Orsay – so much to see?

As you walk through the entrance to the Musée d’Orsay, this huge exhibition space is what you see first: a central walk filled with sculptures.

It takes more than a moment to take in the layout of the building, but, having consulted the free tour guide, we identified the exhibitions and ‘rooms’ of most interest to us.

We were pleased to discover the lifts. Our first chosen exhibition – the Impressionists – was on the 5th floor!

En route, we walked through the cafe area. That was a masterpiece in itself, but we did not sample the delights.

Later, we were to explore all the rooms which led off from the left hand side of the upper corridor (level 2) of this enormous entrance hall area.

 

At the Musée d’Orsay – more Impressionists than you can shake a stick at!

Musée d'OrsayI have attended many Impressionist exhibitions in London but none compare with the one on at the Musée d’Orsay at the moment.

I saw more of the Impressionists in one day than I had in my entire life: Bazille, Caillebotte, Cassatt, Cézanne, Degas, Fantin-Latour, Manet, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro, Renoir, Sisley, Whistler.

It was a knock out!

The catalogue (at 14 euros) is a delight and is split into three historical sections.

  • Impressionism from 1863 to 1874
  • Impressionism from 1874 to 1886
  • Impressionism after 1886

If you are quick, you can see the Portraits by Cézanne exhibition – ends 24 September.

 

At the Musée d’Orsay – Les Régates à Molesey by Sisley

Musée d'OrsayOne exhibit, I had never seen before, by Sisley, was Les Régates à Molesey (Boating at Molesey).

Painted in 1874, it shows a spot on the Thames, near to where I lived for many years.

Seeing that painting brought back memories …

I’m not sure if we were allowed to take photos in the Musée d’Orsay; certainly, the placement of the exhibits in relation to the windows didn’t encourage it!

This post is one of my POSTCARD series, sharing all things ART with you when I go travelling. It’s the second one for this particular trip. The previous postcard was from Paradou, and the next is Paris again, at the Louvre.

Postcard from Paradou

Only one postcard from Paradou – as most of our few days in Paradou were spent with family, catching up and relaxing after our long journey from Devon.

Paradou 1However, as luck would have it, our visit coincided with the summer fete. This included, on the Saturday, an Abrivado: a day of bulls running through the streets, being chased by young men trying to show off to the local lasses.

The Sunday was also fun: a festive meal for 600, hosted by the mayor (a lady), in which we were served tomato and mozzarella salad with French sticks of bread, a dish of steaming paella (a popular Spanish dish in France?), followed by cheese and then ice cream. And as much rose/red wine as you can consume.

We were entertained by a brass band and there was much laughter and dancing. It was a long day!

The one art experience was a visit to Les Baux-de-Provence, to see the fantastic exhibition at Carrières de Lumières which is open now until 7 January 2018.

 

Carrieres de Lumieres: Bosch, Brueghel and Arcimboldo. Fantastique et merveilleux.

The exhibition focused on Bosch, the Brueghel dynasty and Arcimboldo, prefaced by a tribute to Georges Méliès, the cinemagician.

For just six minutes, the audience shares the life of Georges Méliès, who is credited with being the inventor of the first special effects in film-making.

Then, for the rest of the show, Bosch, the Brueghel dynasty and Arcimboldo, these major 16th century painters, with their unbridled imagination and extraordinary creativity, are brought sharply into focus by the presentation of their images on the walls of this amazing venue.

Within the exhibition space – effectively a cave, with no natural light – the floor is sandy and as uneven as the walls. The projections – using cutting-edge laser phosphor projectors – fall on all surfaces, including the ceiling.

The complete ‘show’ lasts for about 45 minutes, and there are plenty of ledges on which to perch or sit and take in the atmosphere.

It’s not a static show. With accompanying music, the images are brought to life through clever transitions.

 

Hieronymus Bosch
Bosch: The garden of earthly delights

Bosch: The garden of earthly delights

As an example of the method of transitions, within this image, a tiny extract from Bosch’s The garden of earthly delights, various body parts of the people depicted – heads, arms, legs – moved back and forth to create the impression of a film, rather than a painting on canvas.

The original painting is a triptych, housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1939. It dates from between 1490 and 1510, when Bosch would have been 40 to 60 years old, and is probably his best-known – and most ambitious – surviving work.

Projected onto the walls and ceiling of the Carrières de Lumières, mermaids and giant strawberries glide past knights in shining armour astride flying fish.

It’s all very weird and wonderful!

And, definitely living up to the title of ‘sensual excess’.

 

The Brueghel dynasty

Works by all three of the Bruegel dynasty were featured: Pieter the Elder, Pieter the Younger, and Jan Brueghel.

The chosen musical accompaniament – a waltz – particularly suited the Breughels’ paintings. The image ‘rocked’ in time to the music, so the otherwise static images in the original paintings looked like they were actually dancing. Very clever.

The transitions worked well also when applied to crowded landscapes, with movement across the walls enhancing the sense of movement of those in the scene.

 

Guiseppe d’Arcimboldo

His Four Seasons were outrageous fun!

This is Autumn, with every part of the face created from seasonal produce.

 

Would I recommend you to visit this exhibition?

While the ‘art’ was impressive, the transitions brought everything to life. Discussing it afterwards with others who had visited the exhibition previously, this ‘modern’ approach to art is clearly not of universal appeal.

However, whether it was the addition of snow flakes gently falling on a wintry scene, or butterflies  flitting across the sky, or heads, arms and legs moving, in my opinion such wizardy made the message more vivid and more immediately accessible.

The finale ‘Staircase to Heaven’ was particularly poignant.

Yes, definitely worth a visit!

 

This post is one of my POSTCARD series, sharing all things ART with you when I go travelling. It’s the first one for this particular trip. Watch this space!