8 "Transformed"
Transformed - Andrew Vaccari "Helmets"
Transformed - Janice Myers - "Vinci"
Transformed - Andrew Vaccari
Transformed - Janice Myers
Transformed - Janice Myers
Transformed - Janice Myers - "Bugs"
Transformed - Andrew Vaccari - "Apples"
Transformed - Andrew Vaccari "Footprints" - "Splashes"
Transformed - Janice Myers
Transformed - Janice Myers - "Power Dressing"
Transformed - Janice Myers - "Heart"
Transformed - Janice Myers - "Cusions"
Transformed - Janice Myers - "Perfect 10"
Transformed - Andrew Vaccari "West"
Transformed - Janice Myers - "Gnats"
Transformed
Transformed - Janice Myers - "Friends"
Transformed - Janice Myers - "Bags"
Transformed - Janice Myers - "Gnats"
Transformed - Janice Myers
Transformed Dec/Jan 08
PRESS RELEASE:
They are masters of their craft, working with mixed media and papier mache respectively to a high level of control but they are not afraid to let go when the needs takes them. Their work is expressive, decorative and funny providing the viewer with small to large scale works to stand back from and enjoy, as well as providing us with compulsive close scrutiny for their technical cleverness.
For the past seven years, Janice Myers has been experimenting and exhibiting work using unconventional materials such as plastics, polythene and plastic tubing; colouring and fusing them with heat to create some beautiful effects like those on the wings of the mosquito swarm instulation. Janice also uses rubber, metals and wire, and delights in using found items of plastic that others have discarded or disregarded. Hand stitching is generally worked with fishing line, wire or strips of polythene and sometimes a computerized sewing machine is used for other detail.
Since 1999 Janice has exhibited widely with two textile art organisations, the South West Textiles Group and Stitched Textile Artists. In 2004 Janice won the Henry Foyle Award for stitched textiles, which is a national competition for new and promising textile artists, and in 2005 she was selected for a two year international touring exhibition, the V111 Triennale Internationale des Minitextiles, starting at the Musees D’angers, France. The work has since moved to museums in Switzerland and Quebec and has just this summer moved to the Textile Museum of Wesserling in Alsace.
During this time Janice was selected for another international exhibition at the Art Gallery of Szombathely in Hungary and won the Bradcombe Award of £1000 for a piece of work called “Diary” which had been excepted for exhibition in the “Ale and Porter Gallery in Bradford on Avon and won a further £500 for “The Public’s Favourite” at that exhibition. Janice has an impressive history of exhibiting around the Southwest of England and continues her national and Alexandra Palace, October 2007.
Running parallel with the same philosophy but from as far back as 1993, Andrew Vaccari has consistently demonstrated the extraordinary versatility of papier-mâché.
Using a mixture of pressing, moulding and hand-shaping techniques, his exhibitions have shown us a wide range of applications, including items of furniture, decorative wall-pieces, masks and architectural mouldings. Vaccari’s designs have even extended to a flat-packed coffin, (earthsleeper) picture frames - and a dome-shaped Petpod for cats to sleep in. Using mainly newspaper that has been soaked and pulped, his work – which he calls ‘Pulpture’ – has strong eco-friendly credentials and is a radical departure from the ornately painted and varnished objects of the 19th century: instead his work celebrates the tactile nature of the material itself, with further interest generated by the shaping of designs, which are modelled in high and low relief. A varied range of influences is apparent in the more decorative pieces, with figurative and floral elements suggesting affinities with, for instance, Art Nouveau or the 20th century sculptor Eric Gill.
Building on his last solo show in December 2006, Andrew will be exploring some of the elements that caught his audience’s attention and certainly his own. Like Janice, Andrew has been exhibiting in group exhibitions, making and supplying galleries and other outlets for several years, and has fulfilled internet orders from customers as far distant as the USA and Japan. His work is featured in The Eco-Design Handbook and in books, articles and television programmes focusing on the creative uses of paper. He has more recently become one of the founder members of Gallery 86 in Crediton, which has been set up as an artists’ co-operative and boosts excellent exhibition space for artists to take full advantage of, particularly if they live in Mid Devon.
Many of the works by both of these artists in this forthcoming exhibition are single one-off pieces; others are intended for repeat production, ensuring all visitors have a chance to purchase work that starts from around £20. They are strong believers in accessibility for all as well as appealing to collectors and if you are looking for originality then “Transformed” is not to be missed.
An exhibition of contemporary works of art by Janice Myers and
Andrew Vaccari presents a radical overhaul to the meaning of recycle.
They are masters of their craft, working with mixed media and papier mache respectively to a high level of control but they are not afraid to let go when the needs takes them. Their work is expressive, decorative and funny providing the viewer with small to large scale works to stand back from and enjoy, as well as providing us with compulsive close scrutiny for their technical cleverness.
See below for the Press Release and more info on the artists.
‘Power Dressing’ - Janice Myers