Katie Owen: 2013

Friday 5 July 2013

Post New Designers

Back home after a busy week exhibiting at New Designers. Great fun, met loads of new people and I think overall, definitely worth doing.
Here are some photos from the stand:

Work by Neill Curran

Whole Stand

Work by Katie Owen

Work by Katie Owen and Ray Church

Work by Ray Church and Lyndon James Davies

Work by Lyndon James Davies

Neill, Poli, Katie, Lyndon, Ray

Also got the chance to speak to other exhibitors, both new graduates and makers in one year on. Really cool and interesting work, here are some of my highlights:

Drew Markou - www.drewmarkou.co.uk

Sian O'Doherty - www.sianodoherty.blogspot.com

Carrie Dickens - www.carriedickens.co.uk

Kelly Munro - www.kellymunrojewellery.com

Elizabeth Campbell - www.elizabethjcampbell.co.uk

Han-Chieh Chuang - www.hanchiehchuang.com

Sunday 16 June 2013

Next Stop, London Business Centre for graduate show New Designers. I will be exhibiting my jewellery alongside ceramic work by Poliana Bandeira, Neill Curran, Ray Church and Contemporary Enamelware by Lyndon James Davies.

DATE - 26TH - 29TH JUNE 2013
PLACE - BUSINESS CENTRE, LONDON
STAND NUMBER - CAA33

EXHIBITORS:

Katie Owen’s contemporary jewellery and small sculpture draws source material from the built landscape and related found objects. The work takes inspiration from abandoned industrial structures situated on the outskirts of towns and cities, referred to as ‘Edgelands’. The jewellery pieces involve multiple, interchangeable parts featuring enamel elements. When not on the body, these interchangeable parts exist as feature elements on small concrete and metal sculptures.

www.katieowenjewellery.blogspot.co.uk - www.kowenjewellery.wordpress.com

ktlo90@hotmail.co.uk

Lyndon James Davies - designer maker - When Lyndon’s not flying up and down forest trails on his bike, he will be tootling along at snail speed on road trips in OJO, his old Commer camper van. Lyndon’s creative practice brings together inspiration from these elements in a range of enamelware. The surface designs feature Commer and VW motifs created by photographing old unloved toy cars.

www.lyndonjamesdavies.co.uk/gallery/
info@lyndonjamesdavies.co.uk

Poliana Bandeira is a ceramic artist who is inspired by natural structures and geometrical forms. Her latest work explores the life cycle of butterflies and their transformation as continuity of life. Her biomorphic sculptures are hand built in stoneware using coiling techniques and finished with layers of dry glazes.

www.polianabandeira.com

ceramics@polianabandeira.com

Ray Church – Ceramic artist who makes classical styled thrown vessels. Ray’s inspiration is drawn directly from the use of imagery on classical pottery originating mainly from Greece. The images and surfaces are acute and challenging commentaries on our society and culture today. He has retained aspects of specific symbolic elements of Greek mythology and juxtaposed them with contemporary images in an attempt to convey a social discourse; such as class, digital culture and social stereotypes.

www.rfchurchceramics.com/

mail@rfchurchceramics.com

Neill Curran is a potter and ceramic artist who makes thrown Raku and soda fired vessels with distinctive and dramatic surfaces. The current theme of his work involves the uses of Anamorphosis, the idea of creating an exact viewpoint from which to view geometric shapes. The Anamorphic marks on the surface of the vessels are embedded by smoke penetrating the surface of the vessel. He is also incorporating an oriental theme within his work with the use of Japanese cultural symbols.

www.facebook.com/NeillCurranCeramics
neill79@live.com

Saturday 16 February 2013

Sketchbook

To follow on from the previous post, here are a couple of observational drawings I did right at the start of the project, taken from my sketchbook:

Third Year Work

I seem to remember saying I would try to keep this updated more often...

Well third year's going really quickly, already halfway through it and since my last post I have experimented a lot, made new pieces, written a dissertation and now have enough ideas to take me into my final degree show work.

To briefly summarise the direction my work has taken since the project started here is my statement as it currently reads:

The inspiration behind my current project lies in industrial structures situated on the outskirts of towns and cities. Referred to as ‘Edgelands’, these are places which tend to be overlooked as we don’t come into prolonged contact with them on a day to day basis.

My interests lie particularly in objects and structures which have surpassed their original function and provoke questions of curiosity when we engage with them - What were they? Why have they been left in this state? How long for? What could they be?

Uninhabitable and left to decay, they now lie on paths connecting us on our routine journeys from place to place, left only with the marks we leave as evidence of our passing through, marks which I aim to explore through processes such as enamelling. Through both these brief encounters and the process of decay, aspects of these structures become altered over time, changing them, presenting us with their history and a different narrative each time we pass by. This forms our connection with places like these.

They speak of their previous function and potential future through a layering of narratives. They cannot be fixed in time, they will continue to change. By working in multiples and through the interchangeable nature of my work, I can address this by encouraging people to engage with my pieces and make their own decisions to construct their own narratives.

Here are some photos of some of my more experimental pieces from the beginning of the project and also leading up to where I currently am: