Studio Visit - Joumana Medlej

The internet is a bit of a strange beast, but through it I have come to make some very good friends, link up with oodles of creative souls and share their work and my own. Sometimes I have actually met some of the folks and continue to do so. Recently I had the opportunity to meet someone whose work I've followed for sometime now, years if not a decade via Deviant Art...she was the reason I ended up on Etsy too. 

That person being the super multi-talented Joumana Medlej, doing anything from illustration to digital games. The work that I have been especially drawn to is her calligraphy especially being a bit of a fan of all things typography based. Not that you would ever know.

I popped along to her open studio day last Sunday, 28th June, in London. It really was an honour to get the chance to meet her and to see her work in the flesh, honestly photographs don't always do it justice. 

Part of her London studio, lovely amount of space and light

Just some of the equipment she uses...like looking into a apothecary (you know, a word that I have always had issues with saying aloud)

Also, gave me the chance to pick up a few pieces for the flat, which was fantastic. Can't wait to get these framed and up on the wall, they will be going pride of place in my bedroom...well once I've finished decorating it (so close).

I have to admit, I am not sure how I missed it, as I do have a tendency to get distracted, but I missed the fact she was in London and had been for sometime. So I have Instagram to thanks for helping me to see she had the open studio day! Gawd love social media.

It was a lovely opportunity and I'll certainly pop along to another one of her open days, and maybe I'll get the time to do one of her calligraphy classes, that would be amazing!

You can follow Joumana's work, and travels too (she does take some cracking photographs):

• Twitter - @joumajnouna
• Instagram - joumajnouna
• DeviantArt - majnouna
• Website - http://majnouna.com/

Lecture at the RA - Conrad Shawcross RA

Last Friday evening, 19th June, I had the pleasure of accompanying my mum to a lecture at the Royal Academy. It's been a while since I had been to one, the last being a couple of years ago on Turner and was held at the National Gallery. There is always that moment of anything post work that is a tad intellectual, if you are going to a. keep awake (post a day at work, and already a long commute) and b. understand it. I admit I was a little clueless on knowing who it was we were going to listen to an Q&A session on, I had failed to do any sort of research...so I was going in a little blind. 

The talk was with Conrad Shawcross RA a name, as previously mentioned, not one I had come across and as it turned out is a bit of a pity as I came away really loving and appreciating his work. The lecture/ Q&A / interview whatever you want to call it, was a lively talk with a man whose really rather quiet and unassuming. He was a pleasure to listen too. 

I really now also have a major appreciation for anyone whose willing to come up with the concept for a large scale outdoor installation. Especially one that involved 8,000 individually welded, tetrahedrons. The sheer number alone, not even factoring in the number of man hours to construct it, then ship and construct it, is pretty spectacular and that's even before you look at the final piece itself. 

The making of Conrad Shawcross RA's 'The Dappled Light of the Sun' from Royal Academy of Arts on Vimeo.

Back to the talk which was on his installation piece 'The Dappled Light of the Sun' which can be found in the Annenberg Courtyard at the Royal Academy. Rather impressive venue, and place to have such an amazing piece of work. Now I didn't get a very good shot of the piece, that beautifully shows the dappling shadow work, which amazingly looks more like the shadows of trees and leaves, than a ton of metal. However, this shot taken by the artist himself, shows it perfectly:

#dappledlightofthesun #conradshawcross #RA

A photo posted by Conrad shawcross (@conradshawcross) on May 25, 2015 at 1:48pm PDT

Of course, the work of creating the thousands of tets, wasn't just by the artist, and what was nice about the talk was Conrad's appreciation for the expertise and skills involved in the project, from the fabricators Ken Ware Engineers in Newark, with profiling by Cutting Technologies, and with his own going work with Peter Laidler, Structure Workshop (engineering design practice). 

What I find amazing, is that something that is made of weathered steel, weighs over 25 tonnes can look so fluid, natural and just beautiful. Think it's easy to forget that steel isn't something ugly, or just merely for practicality (construction) that it can be something that can replicate or be inspired by nature.

So if you get the opportunity nip along to the RA, whilst no location for its permanent home has been found, as of yet, I am sure a perfect place will be found for it soon.

It will also be worth keeping an eye on the progress of the new Francis Crick Institute building that is presently being built in King's Cross, London, as Conrad Shawcross won the commission to design an installation for outside the building. To quote from the 'The Dappled Light of the Sun' book, 'where the RA installation 'maps the installation of the tetrahedron over a sprawling horizontal plane, Paradigm (2016) takes up its vertical impetus'.

I am rather looking forward to the final outcome, it won't be hard to miss, and so I will certainly be making a point next year to go and have a look for myself. 

You can also see some of his work at Dulwick Park, The Three Perpetual Chords. 

Stop...Collaborate...

No I am not suddenly quoting Vanilla Ice....there is a reason though why I might have seemed as though I was starting off down that line, I am in the process of working on a collaboration with the very sweet, and highly talented Heidi Burton. Details are still being worked on but its hoped between us we will come up with some super fun pieces and I must say its really has been quite the creative kick I've needed. With this and the lovely sun starting to make its presence known I am feeling far more inspired. So I can't wait to start working on it. Though I do have to finish up some prep and get it over to the lovely Miss Burton.

What else is happening in my world well aside from a very super busy time at work, at slight annoying issue with the neighbour upstairs there isn't much to report on other than I had a huge clear out of my crafting stuff I have been threatening it for years and finally pulled my finger out. Though I have a couple more boxes left to go (I've started and will finish in Easter) I have put up several bags and boxes worth of crafting stuff up on freecycle whilst a good chunk of it could have actually could of been sold I just really didn't want to be dealing with listing it all. Lazy but really the idea of it all going to one good home seems a much better way of doing it.

There is one exciting bit of news though I have finally booked my sort of mini once in a lifetime holiday! I am going to Washington DC on my own in October and I can't flipping wait! I've been wanting to do it for so long and now its finally happening. Hotel and flights have been booked and paid for and now all I need to do is plan what I want to see and do and do a spot of research. 

And now its time for me to pull my finger out get dressed, perhaps do a spot of baking and some more stitching!

If anyone has any crafting based places to go in DC be it a store, gallery etc then leave me a comment.