Recent sculpture graduates from the West Wales School of the Arts

Oriel Fach

Drawings by Lee Phillips

For more images, please click here.

 

Stairs

Photographs by Simon Hitches

For more images and details,
please click here.

 

Main Gallery

6 August to 4 September

 

This show displays the work of five of last year's graduates: Rebecca Croxford, Patrice McKevitt, Masazumi Yamazaki, Caroline Hartnett, Nicky Bayley. Also included: a sculpture each from Natalia Dias and Lisa Krigel.   This picture was taken at the opening of the exhibition. From the left: Simon, the photographer on the stairs; Masazumi; Patrice; Lee, the illustrator in Oriel Fach; Caroline. They are being introduced by Lynne Crompton, the Gallery Manager. Nicky and Rebecca were unable to be present.

Rebecca Croxford

The work on show relates to Charles Baudelaire’s essay on the philosophy of toys.
He thought that when a child breaks the toy, it is searching for its soul. When the child finds it empty, that is the start of melancholy and gloom.

The toys used here have all been examined and only stuffing and empty shells were found.
The ones on the floor were cast in slipware.

 

Patrice McKevitt
Patrice graduated this year with a First Class BA (Hons) in Fine Art Sculpture. She was an active student whilst in college, participating in a student exchange programme with Kansas State University in 2008, Zoo Artfair in 2009, and, most recently, assisting in the International Conference of Contemporary Cast Iron Art at the Industrial Museum in Kidwelly. Patrice has now returned to Ireland and is planning on bringing her skills and enthusiasm to the community by starting workshops in alternative 3D art.
This piece, Swarm, is an organic repetitious form for the viewer to interpret as they see fit. Like most of her art it has been inspired by nature.
Her art is inspired either by interpreting forms or using natural materials, transforming the materials into something to be admired, that has been raised from the banal and can be appreciated anew. In her metal casting work, she takes an object from nature and transforms it using the casting process into a lasting form, so that it will not decay.

Swarm 2009, porcelain

Masazumi Yamazaki

Masazumi's ceramic work is extremely varied, inspired by his own drawings and illustrations of human and animal forms. His sculptures explore the possible ways of interpreting these forms, resulting in distinctive designs which express his personal interpretation of the subject. He is also keen to preserve elements of simplicity and unpredictability in his work.

All of Masazumi's work is made by handbuilding. The clay he uses for a particular piece depends on the subject and the effect he wants to create. Therefore he employs a wide range of clays, including brick clay, earthenware, stoneware and porcelain to suit the diversity of forms and surfaces he produces.

Caroline Hartnett

'Preserving oneself whole, keeping a trace of all the moments of our lives, all the objects that have surrounded us, everything we've said and what's been said around us, that's my goal.'

Christian Boltanski 1997

Why do we preserve certain objects from our past? My concept is based on memory and how objects retain a memory for us. My body of work represents the importance of remembering where we have come from, and the naivety of childhood memories. What is it about our pasts that has made us who we are, who has been an influence on our lives? I have growing concerns with the lack of commitment we show to providing evidence of our existence. It is fundamental that we remember our heritage and traditions in a repidly changing society. Memory is a necessity, in the way in which it represents us as people and our past. I intend to display these objects as symbols of memory, highlighting their fragility and fluidity.

Nicky Bayley

I use ceramic, glass and wire mesh to create collages.

Natalia DiasNatalia Dias | Lisa KrigelNatalia Dias |Lisa Krigel