Claire Brewster

29 Jan 2013

Perrier-Jouet Arts Salon and Prize

Salon Arts Salon & Prize 2013, Ritz Hotel London

I am very excited to announce that I am an inaugural member of the new Perrier-Jouet Arts Salon and Prize.

The concept of the Perrier-Jouët Arts Salon stems from the origins of the Salons in Paris from the mid- 1700s, bringing together like-minded people under the roof of an inspiring host. Similarly, the Perrier-Jouët Arts Salon members will meet twice a year with two main aims. Firstly, to bring together a diverse and dynamic body of people from the Arts to share ideas and debate on developments in the Arts. Secondly, the Salon will support the selection of an annual prize winner who will receive a substantial sum to support him/her in the development of their career.

Guided by Rosy Greenlees, Chair of the Perrier-Jouët Arts Salon for 2013, the Salon members will select a London-based emerging talent in Contemporary Craft who has been working professionally for no longer than five years.

“In my position as Executive Director of the Crafts Council, I am delighted to Chair the Perrier-Jouët Arts Salon, highlighting the talents of young British makers, whose craft will be given the opportunity to shine,” said Rosy Greenlees.

Candidates will be nominated by leaders in the fields of Applied Arts and Craft, and the winner’s work will best evoke a contemporary interpretation of the Art Nouveau spirit of the House of Champagne Perrier-Jouët, ‘transforming the mundane of everyday life into something truly beautiful’.

My fellow Salon Members are:

Chair for 2013 Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director of the Crafts Council
Peter Aspden, art writer for the Financial Times,
Tord Boontje, Artist
Louisa Buck, art writer and correspondant for the Art Newspaper
Tony Chambers, Editor Wallpaper
Claire Coles, Artist
Nancy Durant, art writer for the Times
Nicole Farhi, Fashion Designer
Harry Handelsman, Art Collector
Stephen Jones, Miliner
Kate MccGwire, Artist
Julia Royse, curator and art advisor

We had our first meeting at the Ritz last week, and what an evening it was. We had a champagne matched dinner, which was amazing. Perrier-Jouet were wonderful hosts and made sure the evening was a great success. It was also great to meet my fellow members, who are all such distinguished members of the art and design world and to have them all in one place was just wonderful. I am grateful indeed to have been invited to be part of the Salon. At our next meeting we will be judging the 8 nominated artists, it will be interesting to see who has been nominated and make the big decision on who should win the prize.

It was one of those evenings that the time just flies by and suddenly it's very late and I had to leave as I had to get up early for a flight the next day.

Here are some photos of the evening. I'll probably do another post as there are so many and I haven't even touched on the food and the different kinds of champagne they served with each course.

The photos are all by Helen Abraham, she has some more photos on her blog as well.

The start of the evening, there was much conversation to be had

me looking a bit serious

I love this photo, the waitress looks so cute, and those canapes were delicious

There was lots of this...

and some more of this....

Rosy Greenlees - chair for 2013

The beautiful dining room

The place settings

James Robinson one of our hosts from Perrier-Jouet

Axelle de Buffevent, style director for Perrier-Jouet, also one of our hosts for the dinner

Neil Phillips, who talked us through all the different champagnes we had

I couldn't finish with out a couple more shots of the champage...

19 Jan 2013

Wynwood Walls - Miami

Miami and Miami Beach are not cities that you can get around without a car, well not unless you only venture very short distances. For a Londoner, who is used to walking most places or having amazing public transport it takes some getting used to. Luckily I was with the BF and we had a car so we could venture out and one of my favourite places we visited was the Wynwood Walls. This is a project where artists are invited to paint on the walls of small gated area in the Wynwood district (the art has also spread out side of the Wynwood Walls area). It's amazing, the area is a little edgy but great to visit. Here are some photos of my favourites. I don't know who any of the artists are, there didn't seem to be any information about that, but you can find out about the project on the Wynwood Walls website. It's well worth a visit if you are in Miami.

Here is a selection of my photos

14 Jan 2013

A little bit of summer in December

I was very lucky to go to Miami last December, it was my second trip and I have to say I love it, the weather, the art, the cocktails and the food.

We had such a great time and there is so much great art in Miami, from the galleries to the street art (I will do a separate post about this), it's like the ideal combination, swimming in the sea in the morning, visiting a couple of galleries in the afternoon and cocktails in a glamourous hotel bar in the evening. Ah it seems like a dream now, but I know I was there, I have the photos to prove it!

Here are a few photos I took and some images of the art I saw. Rather foolishly I didn't write down who any of the artists are, I must try harder next time, for I shall be back in Miami, that's for sure!

The life guard stations in Miami Beach are painted such beautiful colours.

Vizcaya

One of the art works I saw

A pigeon in the Rubell Family Collection

A beautiful textured painting

Another piece by the same artist

31 Dec 2012

Happy New Year!

Well, 2012 is nearing it's end and it's time for a little reflection. This year has brought so many wonderful experiences and people in to my life. Some I might have predicted, others totally unexpected, all of them great. I am already excited about 2013 and all that it has to offer and I'm looking forward to sharing it all with you on this blog and hopefully in person.

And don't forget The London Art Fair is on from 16 - January. I will be exhibiting again with TAG Fine Arts. If you would like a free ticket please email info@tagfinearts.com and they will be able to send you one.

See you on the other side in 2013.

Clairexx

29 Nov 2012

What I learned from being on live TV

I was asked to do a demonstration of simple paper cutting on Blue Peter (which for anyone who doesn't know is one of the longest running children's tv shows in the UK, it started in the late 1950's and everyone used to watch it and I mean everyone, it doesn't quite have the reach now, but it has serious TV heritage) as they were doing a piece on the First Cut exhibition.

It was an honour to be asked by the curators at Manchester Art gallery and I said yes, mostly for the my 10 year old self that would have loved to have been on the show and because I'm always up for new experiences and this certainly was a new experience.

The show is broadcast live, yes LIVE! Which did send me into a bit of a spin for a while

And here is what I learned from the experience

that saying yes to things that scare you is a good thing

that it is important to put yourself in places where you will be vulnerable and highly visible.

that the benefits of saying yes to new experiences or opportunities that seem scary far out way any downsides that there might be.

that people in TV are very focussed and good at being in the now. I am in awe of the presenters, who presented all their pieces to camera with no autocue, they learnt all the information and ad libbed, and made it seem to easy and natural.

that you have to take responsibility for yourself and step up to the plate when the situation calls for it

that I can rock it when I need to, I don't have to be the shy, nice girl, I can be professional and confident and competent

that it's fun and it's good to just let yourself go along with the flow

that there is so much I can take away from this and I feel very grateful for being given the opportunity to do something like this. I love that my chosen career opens up doors for me that I didn't know I wanted opened or that I even knew existed

I also feel proud of myself for saying yes to something that a year ago I would probably run a mile from. I put a lot of this down to a course I did with Tara Mohr, called Playing Big, check it out here. She is a great teacher and leader.

I'd love to hear about any experiences you have had that have taken you out of your comfort zone.

And for anyone who want's to see me (UK only I think), here is the link to the show. It's available until 1 December.

19 Nov 2012

The First Cut - Susan Stockwell

I met Susan Stockwell last year when I was exhibiting in the Art of Mapping with TAG Fine Arts so I was very happy to find out that she was also exhibiting in the First Cut exhibition in Manchester. I am a big fan of her work so it was a great opportunity to see more, check out her website for more info and images of her work.

When I arrived at Manchester Art Gallery to start the installation of my work they were in process of installing one of Susan's pieces, Imperial Quilt, which is a quilt made of hand sewn maps, you can imagine how fragile it is. It was fascinating to watch them install it. The team of technicians were amazing, they didn't seem phased by the fragility of the work they were installing at all

Here are a few photos of how they did it.

Installation at Manchester Art Gallery of Imperial Quilt

And here are a couple of photos of the piece installed, courtesy of Susan herself.

Imperial Quilt installed in Manchester Art Gallery

16 Nov 2012

Singapore Affordable Art Fair

Hi All

I thought I'd share the work that I made for the Singapore Affordable Art Fair, that is taking place this weekend. I am exhibiting with TAG Fine Arts. Do pop a long if you happen to be in Singapore.

I made 3 works all based around birds I thought you might see in Singapore. I've never been there, so enjoyed imaging a tropical world that the birds would live in. Some of them are only visitors, and some you might find there more permanently. They are all dancing to their own tune and are defying the rules of where they might belong.

I hope you enjoy.

First up a piece called Honeypies, they don't really have humming birds in Singapore, or not these ones, but in my fantasy they are the kind of exotic creatures that are flying about Singapore.

The there is Set us free - I'm not a big fan of caged birds, it always seems to sad when creatures that can fly are confined. Here my budgies are answering back.

The final piece is The Bee eaters - these are native birds of singapore and Malaysia and I loved their shape and the shapes they make when they fly around .

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