Thursday 22 October 2020

Accidental Inktober & November Releases

I seem to have accidentally stumbled into Inktober - the relatively new tradition in which artists set themselves the challenge of producing an ink drawing a day for the whole month of October. Though strictly speaking I'm not doing this. For one, I didn't start making my ink drawings till passed the mid-way point of October, and secondly, I'm not making one drawing a day. So far I've only spent two and a half evenings working on them but in that time I have managed to produce over 30 drawings.


Selection of A5-size ink drawings on paper, 2020, by Wayne Chisnall, for Unlockdown project


It's been so long since I properly worked in ink (if I ever did at all) and I must confess that working on these drawings has been loads of fun and, for me, a mini voyage of discovery. I've final got to try out a couple of drawing implements that I've had sat in a drawer for years - never used. One of them is a calligraphy brush that a friend bright me back from China and the other is a bamboo ink pen (even the nib is make if bamboo) which turned out to be a joy to draw with.


A5-size ink drawing on paper, 2020, by Wayne Chisnall, for Unlockdown project


To backtrack slightly, a few days ago I started on a series of A5-sized ink wash drawings. The series is tied into the Unlockdown project - an art collaboration between myself and the artist, Sharon Griffin. As I may have previously mentioned, Sharon and I were planning a Kickstarter campaign for January 2021. The aim of the campaign was to fund the production of, and the touring of the sculptural work that we will be creating for Unlockdown.

 

Porcelain busts, 2020, by Sharon Griffin & Wayne Chisnall, for Unlockdown project


As such, we thought that we're going to need to offer some juicy rewards for the campaign. Our thoughts on this, so far, include a raffle to win a roughly 17 inch tall ceramic sculpture, ceramic badges, tote bags, possibly a book, a some lovely 4 inch tall porcelain busts/figures. And this is where the ink drawings come in - all of these original ink drawings are based upon the small series of porcelain figures that we've produced so far.

 

A5-size ink drawing on paper, 2020, by Wayne Chisnall, for Unlockdown project


We initially intended for the crowd funding campaign to start in January and for the money raised from it to be put towards the first major leg of Unlockdown's tour - a somewhat costly but prestigious London event, for which Sharon and I have been selected to exhibit. However, we have just this minute discovered that the event has now been postponed, due to the current pandemic situation, and put back till 2022.

 

A5-size ink drawing on paper, 2020, by Wayne Chisnall, for Unlockdown project


Regardless of this, Sharon and I had already been considering having a test run, ahead of the crowd funding campaign, and releasing a limited number of ink drawings and porcelain figures at regular intervals throughout November 2020. So I don't see why this cannot still go ahead. If you'd like to be kept in the loop over the release dates, and with Unlockdown news in general, please feel free to go to our website (Unlockdown.co.uk), where you can also sign up for our newsletter.

Monday 5 October 2020

'Unlockdown' Website Now Live

As mentioned in previous blog post, I'm now involved with an artist, Sharon Griffin, in an art collaboration project called Unlockdown. Sharon and I (well, Sharon actually) have set up a website and an Instagram page for the project.

 


It's still early days in the project, as we only started on it a few months ago, but there are already quite a few photos available on both sites, as well as information on what we've been up to so far. Both sites will be updated regularly, and if you check in on either of them, you'll be able to see how the project progresses, and evolves.

 

Artist, Sharon Griffin, viewing the first sculptural piece from the 'Unlockdown' art project.

Sharon is currently managing both sites, so they are very much in her voice for now. One of the great things about collaborating is having that other voice to bounce ideas off. When we're throwing suggestions back and forth, they subtly alter on each rebound (knocking the rough edges off), until we have something that we're both happy with - and resulting in an idea of which neither of us is quite sure who came up with.


Work-in-progress, clay, 2020, 'Unlockdown' art project/collaboration

In the next few days there will be an excited announcement or two about a key development in Unlockdown. Unfortunately our hands are tied right now, and we're having to keep everything secret squirrel. But, as they say, 'watch this space' (or the website, or the Instagram page).

 

www.unlockdown.co.uk

www.instagram.com/un.lockdown


Sunday 4 October 2020

'Your Art Matters' Talk For 'United Artspace'

I'd like to thank Michelle Lloyd, the founder of United ArtSpace, for inviting Sharon Griffin and myself to chat about our art collaboration, Unlockdown, and about our lives as artists in general. 



The talk was streamed live as part of Unites ArtSpace's 'Your Art Matters' programme, and it was great be able to interact with some of the platform's thousands of artist members, and answer questions in real time. I can't guarantee that any of my responses were particularly enlightening or that helpful but I did find the whole experience to be a lot of fun.