New Photogram series: On show at the Halton Open from 12 April 2013

Following her residency to Shanghai in November 2012, Claire has been developing work using the arrows that she photographed there.  Using the camerless technique of producing a photogram, Claire has produced a series of works which see the arrows move across the page, leaving traces of where they have been behind them.

One of these works, 'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? (Down)' is on show at the Halton Open, at The Brindley Arts Centre, Runcorn from 13 April 2013, and has been awarded a Highly Commended prize.

The works are made using photosensitive paper in a darkroom, placing cut-out outlines of the Shanghai arrows onto the paper surface, exposing them to light, then moving the cut outs to a new position, exposing them to light, moving them again, and so on for a number of repetitions.

The works are for sale at a cost of £100 each (framed), contact the artist on info@claireweetman.co.uk

Coming soon.... 'Through'

 

18th April - 2nd June.

Neo:gallery22, The Market Place, Bolton, BL1 2AL

a-n awards over £20,000 in artists' bursaries

Twenty-five artists are to gain professional development support through a-n’s artists’ Re:view bursaries. Awarded in March, the bursaries range in value from £310-£1000, from a total fund of £21,700. They are specifically designed to support artists’ self-determined critical and artistic development.

Claire Weetman has been awarded one of these bursaries to enable her to develop her skills to produce digital interactive works that she developed proposals for during her 2012 residency to Shanghai.  She will work with Salford University and internationally recognised artists to develop her work both technically and with critical support.

Writing last year about the Arts Council England cuts to small-scale, practice-centred organisations, Dany Louise said: ‘Disinvestment will impact considerably on the scope of opportunity for artists, impacting adversely on their career development and livelihoods and increasing competition for the professional development opportunities that remain.”

a-n’s research has revealed that artists’ practices and livelihoods have indeed been badly affected, including through reductions in levels of paid work on offer and increased charges and costs being passed onto artists.

Set within a professional development programme that also includes seminars, Go and see bursaries, AIRTIME networking events and online resources, the Re:view bursaries are exclusive to a-n’s Artist + AIR membership. It is hoped they will play their part in providing artists with much-needed finance for self-directed critique and advice, assisting more artists to move their practice forward.

All artists with a-n Artist+AIR membership were eligible to apply for a share of the £21,700 fund, and from 56 applications received, the following were successful: Judith Alder (Sussex), Sovay Berriman (London), Charlie Carter (Hampshire), Amelia Crouch (Leeds), Sophie Cullinan (East Midlands), Susan Diab (Brighton), Susan Francis (Salisbury), FrenchMottershead-(London), Penny Hallas (Powys), Anton Hecht (Newcastle), Matthew Krishanu (London), Sally Lemsford (East Midlands), Jean McEwan (Keighley), Steve Messam (Cumbria, Elizabeth Murton (London), Julia O'Connell (Coventry), Kate Paxman (Torbay), Chantal Powell (London) Phiona Richards (Northampton), Alexis Zelda Stevens (London), Joe Stevens (Bridport), Clare Thornton (Bristol), Alana Tyson (Wales) and Claire Weetman (St Helens).

The practices of the successful artists range from painting, print and photography to digital art, dance, design and sound, many with collaborative working integral.

Anonymous Drawings / Anonyme Zeichner

I've got a drawing being exhibited in this exhibition in Berlin, Germany, but as it's all anonymous I can't tell you which one is mine, so I thought I'd share the ideas behind the exhibition along with some of the works from the online gallery that caught my eye.

Image 130 

 
Image 268

 Image 415

Image 519

Image 584

Here's the link to the online gallery where you can browse and buy drawings for a set price of €150.  http://www.anonyme-zeichner.de/1/online-gallery-shop/

Or if you're in Berlin, then the show is on until 20 April at Kunstverein Tiergarten | Galerie Nord
 

Turmstrasse 75, 10551 Berlin, Germany
opening hours: Sunday March 24, noon - 6 pm
afterwards: Tueday-Saturday 1 pm - 7 pm

Background information 

Anonymous Drawings was founded 2006 by the artist Anke Becker in Berlin, Germany. Since then, more than 5000 artists from all over the world have taken part in the project. More than 10 shows of Anonymous Drawings took place in Berlin and abroad up until today.

The concept

800 selected drawings of international artists will be presented  anonymously in an exhibition. Every exhibition is preceded by an international call for participation on the internet. Everybody can take part: old and young, professional artists or laymen. There are no submission fees and there is no complicated application-procedure. There are no specifications regarding the content of the drawings. The only formal rule: the maximum size of the exhibited drawings is 29,70 - 42,00 cm (A3). 800 works will be selected for the exhibition. The age, biography or gender of the participants will not be requested and do not play any role in the selection: the selection will be made without looking at the names. What counts is the art itself and not the biography.

 
All the drawings are available for a symbolic unit sales-price of 150 Euros each – no matter if they come from established artists or from unknown laymen. For each drawing sold, the artists receive 100 Euros – the rest will be used for the partial financing of the project. Unsold drawings will be archived or returned to the artists. The given unit sales-price should not be seen as a real market price, but as a conceptual place-holder for any conceivable amount of money. The artist's anonymity can only be revealed by a sale: the buyer can then take his or her drawing right off the wall and the empty space left behind will be marked with the artist‘s full name and point of origin.

The idea behind

What is the line between what is and is not art? What is a good drawing? How can one develop a personal definition of value if the sales-prices are all identical? How does one’s own assessment change if there is no information at all about the artist? It is all about the art and not current market-value. With Anonymous Drawings the common rules of the art-market are reversed in an experimental way turned upside down. In this way new space for unprejudiced viewing, judging and purchasing of the exhibited art emerges. Many single pieces of art become one total work of art. Each and every anonymous artist becomes part of a huge community where hierarchies do not exist. Anonymous Drawings is an action against separation, competition and monoculture within the art-market and a tribute to the inexhaustible medium of drawing.