Claire Brewster: February 2013

28 Feb 2013

The Caledonian Hotel - a commission

I realised I hadn't posted about this, very remiss of me, but things got a little hectic last year and somehow it got lost in the mix.

So better late than never!

Last year I was commissioned to make 4 pieces of work for the Salon Prive in the new Galvins restaurant in the refurbished Caledonian Hotel in Edinburgh.

The commission was to produce 4 pieces based around the seasons, with a food element.

These are the pieces I produced. I haven't made it up to Edinburgh to see them in situ yet, but hope to this year. I used birds that were either native to Scotland or migrate to Scotland, and used maps of Scotland, trying to match the colours with the season.

The first is Autumn

Autumn © Claire Brewster 2012

I used geese for Autumn as they migrate from Russian to Scotland in the Autumn.

Autumn © Claire Brewster 2012

Then we have Winter

Winter © Claire Brewster 2012

I chose Pheasants to represent Winter as that is the hunting season for them. And they are such beautiful birds, particularly the male. I use a WW2 map for this, which I thought had sort of wintery colours.

Winter © Claire Brewster 2012

Then Spring

Spring © Claire Brewster 2012

I chose an Osprey for Spring as they migrate to Scotland in the Spring and they were endangered but now their numbers are increasing.

Spring © Claire Brewster 2012

And finally Summer

Summer © Claire Brewster 2012

The obvious choice for Summer was grouse, they are an iconic Scottish bird and also Summer is the season when they are hunted

Summer © Claire Brewster 2012

Summer @ Claire Brewster 2012

24 Feb 2013

Free Bird -Wall plates

One of the hardest commissions I have ever done was designing a set of plates for Non Sans Raison. You can read my posts about it here.

Now I think about it, I'd quite like to design another set as I can see how I could do it better and would make sure I enjoyed it this time.

Any way here are some photos that I received from Non Sans Raison of the plates installed in a couple of different locations. I originally thought they should be on white, but I quite like them on the dark blue.

21 Feb 2013

Corinthia Hotel

I have blogged about the commission I did for the Corinthia Hotel before it but didn't have any really good images of the piece installed. Well now I have, I got a really great photographer Rosario, you can see more of her work here, to take the photos.

We went along early one morning to the Corinthia to take the photos. It's quite a challenging site and the light is quite difficult and it's a working hotel, and we had to be very discreet so as not to disturb the guests.

Here are the images, I'm very happy with them, it's a very beautiful location to have a piece of work and the people that worked there were really helpful and very charming.

19 Feb 2013

The Harbingers - Manchester Art Gallery

I've posted lots of photos of the Harbingers before but I've never had any of the whole thing, so it's good to have some finally. These were taken during the First Cut exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery. The exhibition is over now, but the exhibition will touring later in the year, so there will be another opportunity to see the Harbingers again.

15 Feb 2013

Why did it have to rain today

We've had a lot of rain in the UK recently (2012 was the second wettest on record or something like that), so rain has been a lot on my mind so it's probably no surprise that I made this piece of work.

I used parakeets and a map charting the rainfall in the British Isles. There are a lot of parakeets living in London, they seem to thrive despite the cold and rain. They always seems slightly incongruous and exotic to be living in London.

The piece is for sale though TAG Fine Arts, click here to see more and buy.

Why did it rain today (c) Claire Brewster

11 Feb 2013

An apocalypse of butterflies

I can't believe that The First Cut exhibition in Manchester Art Gallery is over, it went so quickly. But luckily the exhibition is touring to the Djanogly Gallery in Nottingham in April and Sea City Museum in September.

I'm not sure The Apocalypse of Butterflies will be on show though, it may be flying down to Southampton, but not in Nottingham, so here are some proper (i.e. not taken on my phone!) installation shots.

I am pleased with the way it turned out in the end and hope to get another chance to show it.

7 Feb 2013

Being stuck at Edgware Road Station

I got stuck at Edgware Road Tube station recently. It was snowing, there were delays on the tube, it was very cold and really I wanted to be in my studio. Then I looked up and saw this beautiful at work by Jacqueline Poncelet, called Wrapper. I had read about the the work being installed, but had completely forgotten about it. What a great treat on a cold and snowy day, it really lifted my mood, even when I found out there were no tubes coming and I had to go back the way I had just come and find a different route to my destination.

London Transport (who run the tube network here in London) have an amazing arts programme, this work is one of the best I've seen. It's so easy to get lost in your thoughts when travelling around so it's great to have art that shakes you out of that.

You can read more about the project on the Art on the Underground website. And if you happen to be in Edgware Road, don't forget to look up.

It was very hard to photograph as it is huge and the only way to get any picture was to stand very close to the edge of the platform, luckily there were no tubes coming (why I was stuck there in the first place!).

And I just read on the Art on the Underground website that she is also doing an installation in Piccadilly tube station, which will be finished in April this year. I can't wait to see that.

3 Feb 2013

New Works - travelling to Hong Kong

I have some work going out to Hong Kong for The Affordable Art Fair there. I am showing with TAG Fine Arts. I am excited to be showing in Hong Kong for the first time, though sadly won't be going myself. If you would like tickets or know someone who would please contact info@tagfinearts.com

The fair is 14-17 March, you can find full details here.

For further information about the works please contact TAG Fine Arts.

Here are the works I will be showing.

For this piece I use a double page spread from The Times Atlas, the birds are connected to each other to create a sense of a flurry and movement, like when birds are gathering together in a flock.

Here are some details

For this piece I use a full page map of SE Asia and cut very detailed intricate flowers out of it. I wanted to express the negative space between flowers when they they bunched together, whilst remaining slightly enigmatic, like you can't really tell what it is, until you look closely.

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