Just finished

 White Flowers, 2017

 

Very excited to be invited as a 'special guest' at The Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

from 26th April - 2nd May 2017

 The last time I worked in Abu Dhabi was back in 2013, 

when working on this commission in the foyer of the luxurious 'Bab Al Bahr' Hotel.

More details of what I'll be doing at 'The Book Fair', coming soon.

Still Showing - 'Telling Tales' at Collyer Bristow Gallery, London

Telling Tales

“A fascinating exhibition that lures you in gently...A superb and cleverly curated show” Art Top10. 

Read the full review here.

Exhibition Closes - 15th February 2017

     Collyer Bristow Gallery, 4 Bedford Row, London WC1R 4TF.Full info here

Congratulations on a really fascinating and intelligent show. It was engrossing, insightful and intelligent. Spectacular! Graham Crowley

“ This group show is one of the best I've seen all year & I highly recommend it.” Emily J Campbell

A little late on the Instagram train, but here I am!

Official instagram page documenting my inspirations, influences and day to day activities in and around my studio.  

follow me @

https://www.instagram.com/sublackwellstudio/

Coming Soon - Stunning New Greeting Cards

 New Greeting Cards from my collaboration with Roger la Borde

 featuring Once Upon A Time,

and a special new laser-cut card

 Alice: A Mad Tea Party. 

Roger la Borde have also begun adding intricate lettering to my designs

 starting with this 'With Sympathy' card.

Available from my online shop
from 1st February

Excerpt from an upcoming article in Creativity Magazine on 'Upcycling in Craft'

'I’ve always been interested in upcyling, in taking everyday objects and through their manipulation, changing them into ‘works of art’. This is something, I learnt from my father, who used to raid skips for old electrical equipment, which he would excitedly bring home and fix back to working order.

I began my studies in textiles by using safety pins and tailors pins, all sewing paraphernalia that my nan used when dress-making. She had hundreds of pins, press studs and buttons.

I experimented with different techniques, welding the pins together to create skeletal bird shapes, and bird masks. I realised the pins lent themselves to the shape of feathers, and through the process of welding I was able to create interesting shapes, colours and textures, thereby altering the pins, so that they were almost unrecognisable.

It was while I was studying for my MA in textiles at the Royal College of Art, after recently returning from an inspirational trip to South East Asia, that I began to explore the qualities of the humble paper.

Paper had always been a material I had returned to, using it to draw on, write ideas down on, and I had always loved reading, and creating narratives in my work. 

In South East Asia I had come across paper-cutting artists, and small paper models used in spiritual ceremonies. These ephemeral objects, while simple, had a delicate beauty to them, they told something about the person living. These paper objects were often set a light, sailed down the river, or floated up into the sky by a small candle flame.

As part of my own studies I experimented with different types of paper, folding, sculpting, burning, and even leaving paper cut-outs in a forest, which I photographed over a year, thereby documenting the paper’s disintegration back into the earth’s soil.

It occurred to me that there was cyclical process happening, as the paper came from trees, and here it was returning to the ground.

Paper was now my medium of choice.

The books came later.' 

This is an excerpt from an article to be published in the March edition of Creativity Magazine. 

I will posting the full article here soon. 

Alice: A Mad Tea Party Notelets added to Online Store

While having a sort-out of my studio, I came across these small notelets, which I have just added to my online store.

There are only a few Alice: A Mad Tea Party notelets left. 

Sold in packs of 5 

For details, visit the online store.

'The Little Mermaid' - New Commission

'Outside the palace was a large garden with trees of deep blue and fiery red; the fruit all shone like gold, and the flowers like a blazing fire with stalks and leaves that were never still. The soil itself was the the finest sand, but blue like a sulphur flame. Over everything down there lay a strange blue gleam; you really might have thought you were standing high up in the air with nothing to see but the sky above and below you, rather than that you were at the bottom of the sea'.

'The Little Mermaid' by Hans Christian Andersen.

 

With lights...

A letter from a fan

I just received this letter. 

What an inspirational lady!

One Year On!

It has been a year to the day that I upped sticks and moved from London to the South Coast. I'd always wanted a live/work space, with a studio to meet my needs, and to call my very own, 

rather than paying landlord's extortionate rent for studios with leaky roofs, too chilly to work in winter, as my hands would become numb with cold.

But this was not an option for me in London. So like a lot of artists, I had to move out, to up-size.

I do miss London. I miss the diversity, the buzz of the place, and I miss the fact that in 20 minutes I could be in Central London or Richmond Park, or (my favourite place), Kew Gardens.

It took a year to sell and buy a property, and another year renovating the property we are in, a 4 bedroom Victorian terrace in East Sussex.

The house was in need of modernising, and in desperate need of some tender loving care. 

After a year of doing renovations, and renting a temporary studio, it is now (more or less) complete.

The two upstairs bedrooms were knocked through to make one large room for the studio. The ceilings were removed to expose the roof, and velux windows fitted for extra day light. A kitchen area was also installed.

Elsewhere in the house, there has been major works undertaken.

It has been an all-encompassing year. 

But the New Year, marks a 'new start'.

Not that living and working from home doesn't have it’s drawbacks. 

But I think the space that we've created (for now) far outweighs these.

Before the renovations, 

from this...

 
to this...

Want to Send a Thank You Note?

Set of 10 (end of line stock) notelets, featuring my 'Twelve Dancing Princesses' design.

Each notecard is 10.4cm x 15.2cm, with envelope. 

Last few available from online shop