The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo Concept Art

In February last year I created this image. In my head, this art was always an album cover or box set design; an alt-concept art creation that was more of a thought experiment than anything that would possibly go anywhere. I made the sculpture (clay, pins, etc) and created the photograph but left it at that; an incomplete project with nowhere to go.

I always knew belonged with Mr Bungle’s ‘The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo’ but not in a conventional sense. So when I ended up with these test pressings*, I knew exactly where this image needed to be.

The sculptural head has gone on to form Bunny Girl as part of my Paper Dolls collection which you can see HERE. Meanwhile, this concept art is pride of place in my vinyl collection. Both will be on show here in Wales at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir in a couple of weeks time. I’ll be writing more about this in a few days as I put the final touches on this show.

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*via eBay, thanks to Mr Bungle themselves

Four Exhibitions for 2021

So, it’s been a while since I wrote here last. I’ve been updating on my art via my Instagram account on a regular basis but it’s only now that the world is getting back to things and that there are exhibitions on the horizon.

First up is the Urban Bonsai exhibition curated by Collect Connect which is featuring as part of the Urban Tree Festival in London. This begins on 15th May and features my “Growth of an Idea”. The piece is a papier mache hand with wire. I hadn’t worked with wire before so this was really an experiment to see what was possible. My art is always about new ideas to growing out of the old so this felt like evolution in the making. There is no glue fixing the tree together, it is comfortably embedded in the hand just through its own need to hold. As with all trees, it is there because it wants to be there; simply existing in its own time and space.

From May 22nd I’ll be featuring my collection “Paper Dolls” as a solo show at The Workers Gallery in Ynyshir, Wales. While galleries have been closed thorugh the pandemic, Workers Gallery have continued to show art 24/7 via their Art Pane Relief window space. I’ve not shown this collection in its entirety before and I still feel there is more work to do; but here it will be. I’ll be sharing more about this show very soon. Meanwhile how about visit the Workers Gallery website HERE and see what else is on offer. This will be my first solo show in five years and also my first since getting married and becoming Melanie Honebone. It’s far from a traditional style of show but we are in far from traditional times!

Then from June 5th Rochester Contemporary Art Center in upstate New York, are showing some of my work as part of their 6x6x2021 exhibition. This annual exhibition is in its ninth year and I’ve been featuring here since 2014. There’s a global online preview happening in a few days and all work is available to buy so best head over to their website HERE if you want to see what’s on offer.

Later this summer will be the Twitter Art Exhibit on July 3rd at Cheltenham Racecourse. This year art is being sold to raise money for LINC. This charity supports those with Leukaemia and Intensive Chemotherapy and funds all those extra things that patients require to make their experience more comfortable. I’m really proud to be supporting such a worthwhile charity through donating my art. All art is for sale for £30 each with all monies going directly to LINC.

The Growth of an Idea

Being Human

I’m really pleased that some of my pieces will be shown in an exhibition later this week. The Being Human Festival 2020 is showcasing responses to people’s experiences of …well… 2020. It’s been a year of change as we adjust to living with a global pandemic. The theme this year is ‘New Worlds’ and this is exactly what I’ve been creating here.

The faces of the people we know have changed and the mental scars they are living with are evolving in ways we could never have imagined last year. It’s getting harder to recall the old world and even more difficult to imagine the face of the new world we’re stepping into.

These images will form part of a physical exhibition outdoors from 14th November at Queen Mary University of London Mile End campus. More information can be found on the Humanising Medicine blog by clicking HERE . This event is part of the national Being Human festival of the humanities, which is taking place in over 50 towns and cities across the UK between 12-22 November.

Below L to R: ‘Fear is the Mindkiller’, ‘About Face’, and ‘Mask’

Paper Dolls

Is this a new collection forming? Yes, I suppose it is. I’ve been evolving for a while into full sized doll constructs. Whilst my previous collection examined transience by continually destroying and reusing materials, now I’m in a position to offer something more permanent.

Pushing the art of collage into full-sized 3D constructs, this new series Paper Dolls is an anarchistic blend of disciplines. Paper, clay, and paint adorn these figures in exploring the potential of a flawed reality. The fragility and uncertainty of each mixed-media sculpture is enhanced by an uncanny smile and perfect posture. Each figure intact and yet struggling within its own existence.

Much like 2020 then.

So far there are three pieces in this series. To see more as it evolves head over to my Instagram page HERE or see the full collection as it currently stands HERE.

3 Victorianna

The world so far…

Ok so it’s been a while and the world has moved along in a very strange and interesting way. Collaborations, it seems, have taken off in ways that I would never have expected at the start of the year.

During a strange fortnight of isolation at the end of March I found myself contributing footage to the music video for Contact by US band Human Impact. Really this is the soundtrack to the last six months for me. Watching this video reminds me of how March felt like it was around 300 days long and took place a decade ago. So much changed so quickly. Filming for this kept me sane in a very strange period of 2020. Click here to view/listen.

But what isn’t a strange period of 2020? I work as a social care worker by day so this aspect of my life became all encompassing for a while and my art was forced to take a backseat. Creative collaborations took place via phone or email rather than in person. Opportunities were random and frenetic. Communications were often understandably nervous or delayed. Exhibitions I have been part of have been mostly online and I have really missed travelling to galleries.

I’ve made the most of it all as much as I can. Other creative outlets, such as making music videos as part of Stone Letter Media , have all but stopped, for now. As a temporary pause turns into a semi-permanent one in the arts and creative industries it’s hard to find any momentum or purpose. But somehow I’ve been rolling on regardless.

I’ve been sketching a few interesting pieces which will be showing this September as part of the Environment Trust Secret Art Sale 2020. Naturally I can’t show you, otherwise it wouldn’t be a secret. All art is for sale for only £40 and there are some opportunities to own some art by some very talented and acclaimed artists. Don’t take my word for it though. Browse HERE and decide for yourself. I get very nervous about my drawings because they never quite portray what’s in my head. I’m still much more comfortable working in real time on collages or sculptural forms.

I’m pushing on though with my series The Art of the Doll. My work has evolved beyond heads and faces and I’m losing myself in adaptations and reconstructions of whole dolls. These have become internal reflections on my own state of being as the year progresses. Updates are regular on my Instagram page HERE although I will occasionally still add to the gallery of images on this website. Here’s something I’ve been working on recently. There’s loads more to follow. I’m not done with 2020 yet…*

*Phew! Managed to write a whole blog there whilst avoiding any existential angst, political ramblings, or any mention of Covid. I figure there’s enough worry about all of that going around that I don’t even need to go there. Keep safe and keep creating everyone!

Collaboration, Ideology, and Symbiosis

I’m writing this whilst waiting for clay to dry on my latest piece for The Art of the Doll. As this new series evolves I will be adding more to my Instagram account rather than continuously updating this website. Follow me on Instagram HERE.

I’m still keen to go digital as far as possible with The Art of the Doll. I like the idea of turning something totally physical into a digital-only presence. The sculptures themselves have so far been only temporary, with all materials being recycled and reused to create further pieces in the series.

The theme throughout my art career has been one of construction and deconstruction. I’m happiest when I’m distorting, evolving, diverging, and reforming. I’ve always felt as if I’m working outside of time itself, in a strange and uncanny world only half visible in the shadows behind me. My art is starting to explore this temporal disconnect. I’ve always felt most comfortable to be on the outside looking in; a traveller passing through the daily norms of society on my way to my own space beyond.

This year, I’m determined to travel my art far and wide through collaboration with other artists and musicians rather than purely in the gallery setting. I want my creations to have an artistic, intrinsic, soulful value to others just as much as they do to me.

So far in 2020, images from my previous series Future Fossils have appeared in the music video for Nove Note in Nero by Goldbringer. If The Art of the Doll is to emerge in physical form then I want it to be through a symbiosis with other artists. Meanwhile, I’ll focus on making and remaking. I’ll get back to my clay then and see what strange opportunities emerge.

Coming soon to USA, London, and Wales!

My own personal art practice is just that, it’s personal. I don’t mind where it exhibits or even if it does exhibit just as long as it’s out of my head. I create mostly for me as a way of expressing things I need to get out. I can’t always explain why it looks like it does, it just is.

Sometimes my art escapes and takes on different forms which is a great thing. I’ve always described myself as a renegade so I rarely hang onto one discipline or theme for too long. I’ll take the risk and experiment on ideas and forms just to see where it takes me. I like to include myself in a small selection of annual art shows which challenge my practice and encourage me to think beyond my current practice. These shows raise funds for charities and galleries but also challenge the perceptions of the general public.

So far 2020 has produced four such challenges. In April, I’ll be exhibiting in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, at TAE20. I’ve created a postcard sized artwork to be sold in aid of Horry County Disabilities and Special Needs. Then in May, two tiny mixed media sculptures will be showing at the Unsettled Gallery in London as part of the Sentinel Trees exhibition (more on that soon).

Also in May I’ll be exhibiting in London again as part of The Art of Caring. Now in its sixth year, this exhibition celebrates the work done by those in caring, nursing, midwifery and coincides with International Nurses Day. I’m putting the finishing touches on my submission for that this weekend so I’ll share the results with you soon.

Finally, I’ve already submitted the picture below for 6x6x2020 at Rochester Contemporary Arts Center in upstate New York. This collage from some of my old sketchbook material is one of three pieces which will be sold in aid of the gallery.

I’m also still showing here in Wales at Glynn Vivian Art Gallery as part of the Swansea Open until the middle of next month. 2020 is turning into a busy year for exhibitions already!

The place I cannot go…

I have a recurring dream. In this dream the house, or place, in which I live has an area I cannot go. Sometimes the home is a modern apartment, other times it’s a converted factory, or a repurposed school, or a place I used to live, or somewhere completely alien to me. Every time there is a dark area in which I cannot go. It can be a lift shaft, a basement, a cellar in an old castle, a locked room, or an attic.

This place that I cannot go is always very damp. Sometimes there is water running down the walls and holes in the ceiling letting in the rain. It smells old and oppressive. The floor is difficult to navigate and I often stumble after a few steps of trying to enter. The air is thick and hard to breathe. This place is always small enough that I can see the walls but it is always windowless. There is only one entry in or out of this place.

More than anything though, this place has a presence. It has something here, living here, that doesn’t want me to enter. It does not make a noise and I cannot see it but I know it’s there. I can feel it. Often, when I know I am in this place, I turn back immediately. Other times I feel brave enough to enter and see if I can conquer this place. I am always aware that this is only a dream. Surely there is nothing here that can hurt me?

It is always cold here. I get goosebumps and as I try to enter. These chills suck all the heat out of my body and my legs freeze. I am stuck. There is no way forward. There is never any way forward. If I don’t choose to turn back and leave then something pushes me and slowly forces me back. I have goosebumps writing this now and remembering this place.

After leaving, my dream continues as it was before. The characters of my dream behave as if nothing untoward has happened. I have to pretend that I am okay and go along with the charade but inside I’m shaking. I walk past the door, the opening, the crack, to the place I cannot go and I know. I know that this place will return to me again and I will never conquer it.

When I wake I try to erase the feelings of this place from my mind. The only way I’ve found to do this is through my art. My art can feel uncomfortable, uncanny, unkind, but when I look at them I see relief and release. The faces I create bring me recognition and comfort because I feel they understand the torment of the place I cannot go.

You can see more of these images at the Glynn Vivian Gallery in Swansea until the middle of February or CLICK HERE to see more from this series.

Now Showing at Glynn Vivian Gallery Swansea

I’m really pleased to announce that two of my new series The Art of the Doll are showing as part of the Swansea Open at the Glynn Vivian Gallery in Swansea.

Simply titled One and Two they evoke ideas on the uncanny. To me, they are soothing representations of the things I dream, but others have told me they are just really weird and freaky and they’d love to stop seeing what’s in my head please.

I haven’t managed to see the show yet but I’m planning a visit very soon. Swansea is a massive hotbed of artistic talent and has a long tradition of expression so it will be great to see what the city has produced this year. The Swansea Opens runs until the middle of February so if you find yourself in South Wales then why not take a look.

The Art of the Doll

The Art of the Doll is an emerging series working and reworking doll heads with clay. The sculptural forms are temporary and exist only for the photograph before being destroyed and rebuilt in a different form.

Uncanny personalities evolve, diverge, and reform. The potential of this series is infinite and limited only by the raw materials and my own imagination. Future artworks exist in a temporary present before quickly becoming only a digital memory.

I’ve printed out a few of these for exhibition and am hoping to be part of the Glynn Vivian Open exhibition this year with some of this new series. Already four images have been created. You can see more on my The Art of the Doll page HERE.