Tag: contemporary art

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May 2022 – Its been a while since we caught up!!!

Plein Air painting at Botallick Mines, Cornwall

Well it has been quite while since I last wrote a post, so I thought it time to get my act together and let everyone know Im still here !

Its been a really strange time over the last couple of years what with Covid, lockdowns and general disarray but the Coulden studios have been beavering away both on the studio side of things as well as building and growing Red Dog Glass Designs, my glass design business.

Exhibition wise….I feel like I have adopted St Ives as my natural home for exhibiting, not because I am showing at the Tate (tee hee) but because I feel very at home by the sea and after all St Ives is home to some of the greatest abstract artists and (generalisation..) the people that come to visit to view the art galleries ‘get’ the abstraction side of the artwork. I continue showing at the fabulous Salthouse Gallery each September to coincide with the St Ives Art & Music Festival. Im going to be there Sept 17 – 23 this year if you happen to be in the area do pop in! Its a great time to come as there’s loads going on!

I have also been invited to present a solo show in Mayfair, London in October, more about that in the next post.

Not a bad commute to work in the morning!!

I have painted a few commissions over the past year which has been fabulous and have also been developing my Bonkers series of paintings which I absolutely love!! They do rather look like I let rip on the canvas which of course I do but only after great consideration and thoughtful planning !

Bonkers VII

Having decided at the start of this year I needed to invest in feeding my creativity and book onto some painting courses, that just what I did. Its so important to nurture and challenge your creativity and approach but so easily omitted due to being too busy … so not this year!! I have just returned from an epic 3 days on the Cornish coastline painting with Paul Wadsworth a fabulous and prolific abstract landscape artist. Wow… it was inspirational, windswept, wild and absolutely brilliant. I have painted in the landscape before but not on cliff edges and with the ocean – Ive come back with a load of ideas which is great with the 2 shows booked already for this year a great start to building the new series of paintings!!

Paul Wadsworth in action!

I can’t finish this post without mentioning Red Dog Glass Design my design business that I launched 3 years ago. Ive been working really hard growing the business and getting ourselves known. We now have a team of 4 and we successfully secured investment at the end of last year to help fund marketing and further growth. We are all about transforming spaces into the extraordinary through art and have had the privilege of working in some amazing spaces. I took part in a really interesting panel discussion as part of the Creative Collaborate event hosted by the amazing Bristol Upholstery Collective .

Not sure what I was saying but it was fun!!

We also managed to get ourselves on one of the BBC interior design shows – if you blinked you may have missed it but we did get on film 3 times!!!! :O) Im happy to take that!!!! :O)

For risk of droning on Im going to pull this update to a close, I hope you are all keeping safe and well and life is Ok in the new normal! More from the studio soon and I promise it won’t be as long a gap before the next one!

Sal

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Be the 1st to download …………..

Link here to the ABSTRACTED app – Requires iOS 11.0 or later

The ‘ABSTRACTED” team have done it !!! Covid 19 tried its best to derail us in our mission to create this extraordinary synergy between abstract painting and technology. Our planned tour dates all had to be cancelled but fear not!!……… we have developed an iOS app thats free for you to download & explore the installation in a scaled down form & you can do that from where you are sitting right now!!! HOW COOL IS THAT ??!! :O)

A bit about the work in case you’ve missed updates so far….

ABSTRACTED is inviting you to explore the development of an abstract expressionist landscape painting through technology ( an iOS App).

We have opened a window into my creative development process and this experience will allow you to become immersed in the physicality and psychology involved when I paint. The iOS app. takes you on a fascinating Augmented Reality exploration, ten hours of me creating this painting has been condensed into a seven-minute immersive experience. This unique work aims to demystify the process involved in my painting practice, whilst at the same time exploring how new technologies and fine arts can complement and amplify one another.

OK enough of all this chat I hear you say …… what do I need to do next ???

  1. You need to have an iPhone or iPad thats pretty well up to date and can support AR functionality (Im afraid due to tight budgets we could only run to developing on iOS sadly not android)
  2. Using either your iPad or iPhone click here ABSTRACTED which will take you straight to the app. or go to the App Store and search for ABSTRACTED, download it and then you’ll be ready to have a play! When you first open the app please make sure you allow access to your camera otherwise this won’t work!
  3. 1st screen is ‘Info‘ have a read then at bottom of the screen tap ‘AR‘, have a read then tap ‘Enter AR Experience‘ Follow the instructions on the screen (basically you need to aim your camera at a horizontal surface and tap!)
  4. An easel should appear on your screen and music should start (you can mute at bottom of screen)
  5. OFF YOU GO ……. I encourage you to really play around with the imagery. You can move your device close to the canvas and watch the painting grow, if you place your thumb & finger on your screen and twist, the image will rotate. You can walk around my avatar & painting to observe the performance from above, below & behind. Walk around the imagery, I would like to encourage you to explore and watch the performance from more than one spot to really get the most out of the experience :O)

This project is a pilot project. I would really value feedback from you lovely people. In 2021 I plan to return to the Arts Council to propose a much larger project using this technology. If I can submit REAL feedback from REAL people it would truly add a huge amount of credibility to my project application. Heres a few questions to get you thinking :O) Thank you in advance :O)

  • what did you think of the experience?
  • has this altered the way you think about abstract art?
  • do you think this approach makes abstract paintings more accessible to the public ?
  • did you watch it more than once?
  • if yes, why?
  • would you like to see more of this immersive type of art in your galleries / art institutions?
  • any general comments and feedback for me to take with me into the next project ?
  • PLEASE EMAIL Sally Coulden with your thoughts :O)

I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to the amazing team Scott Fletcher (Producer), Benjamin Walbrook (Immersive technology specialist, developer extraordinaire), Zubr VR Studio, Jenny Male (communications) and most importantly The Arts Council England for providing funding for this extremely exciting project.

I hope you have enjoyed a brief immersion into the world of AR and abstract art!!!

A last request…. PLEASE SHARE THIS APP WITH AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU KNOW, I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO GET IT GOING GLOBAL :O) THANKS!

Watch this space for more exciting projects in development :O)

Tootle pip

Sal

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Its the end of JULY already!!!!

dont forget your mask…..

Greetings from Bristol, I hope you are all managing to stay safe and well. Wow… what strange times we are living through, as lockdown is gradually lifting we are all having to adjust to the ‘new normal’ whatever that is!!!

BV Studios – M3

As an update from the studio I actually moved into BV Studios during lockdown – I have to say it was a bit bonkers as I did it on my own and nearly killed myself. I have been super lucky to have been allowed to paint right through the whole period which has been fabulous. I didn’t really see anyone else but it gave me an excuse to get out of the house for a change of scene.

Benjamin adjusting the cameras in the studio during the shoot
Sal as an avatar painting !

My augmented reality project ‘ABSTRACTED’ has undergone a rather massive change in scope due to our friend ‘covid 19’ ! I did have a fabulous exhibition tour all booked for the month of May in major public venues across Bristol but sadly this all had to be cancelled due to the venues being closed and no one being allowed out!

Quick rethink as I wanted to keep momentum going with the project even though we couldn’t meet etc… so we decided to repurpose the funding slightly and aim to develop an app. which means anyone globally will be able to download from their iPhone or iPad and watch a scaled down performance in 3D on their kitchen table! Check out the ‘Abstracted’ page on my website which explains what its all about and includes a short film of the making!

App due for public release beginning of August – I will let you all know & send you a link :O)

Salthouse gallery, St Ives. Solo show Aug 8th – 14th 2020

So just cos I didn’t want to get bored Ive painted a whole new series of paintings especially for my show in St Ives!! Its just 2 weeks away as of today and of course Im not panicking aaaahhhh….. :O)

I think Im pretty well sorted, its just all the logistics to get organised, but Im really looking forward to it. I have the whole Salthouse Gallery to myself so Im spreading out with loads of paintings for sale. Red Dog Glass is coming as well, so I will have plenty of glass samples on show to tempt visitors into treating themselves to a beautiful bespoke fine art kitchen splashback, a new shower wall or if they happen to own a hotel or bar I have just the thing for them!!

If you or friends are coming down to Cornwall in early August I would absolutely love it if you popped in :O) I promise to give you a personal tour of each painting! I will be there from 10am – 6pm everyday – obviously social distancing and appropriate PPE will be in place, make sure you have your mask !!

I think Im going to stop chatting now and let you get on with your day, trusting you are keeping well and adjusting to this new way of living, which quite frankly is quite odd, all the masks and no hugging unless you’re in a bubble…. keep smiling and heres to a sunny and fun summer :O)

The ABSTRACTED painting – 10hrs of painting condensed into 4 mins of film

Tootle pip for now

Sal xx