We are delighted to appoint Jess Egan, Katherine Perrins, Milly Rowland and Natasha Rand to receive Creative Pathways Bursary this year.
We selected Jess, Milly, Katherine and Natahs through the online interviews during the lockdown in March. Since we have worked with each of them to develop plans and actions forward in regarding their development needs and the change circumstances of the Open Studios event. Despite the challenges that we are all facing at the moment, we are excited to see artists continue to develop their work and to find opportunities to bring their work to new audiences in the coming months, through digital platforms in this year and our Open Studios event in 2021.
Milly Rowland
Milly’s work is primarily concerned with exploring non-human forms of life, botanical and marine in particular and in making work that explores the strange wonder of other forms of life, in my work they are twisted and linked together to form strange chimera. She graduated from MA Fine Art at Birmingham City University.
She planned to have her open studio event at the plant nursery that she grew up on in the middle of the Somerset countryside, being surrounded by so many wonderful plants has undoubtedly had a great impact on my arts practice she also thinks its key to realise how important collaboration between seemingly disparate worlds is especially in these difficult times. She would like to create a piece directly inspired by being in this surrounding that grows over the course of the show reflecting the growth of the surrounding plants. Alongside sketchbooks prints, and preparatory work. She will also hope to create, print and self publish a book where she brings together writing and the visual narrative based on the nursery’s plants.
‘I would like through this bursary to make connections with other local artists, to gain practical experience running an arts event, to learn skills in marketing, to receive invaluable mentoring as well as being able to challenge myself in terms of being able to create a time specific piece over the course of the event.’
Katherine Perrins
The domestic spaces we inhabit and the everyday rituals that occur within them are the focus of Katherine Perrins’ paintings. Produced in series, her still life works provide an investigation of domestic interiority. Her current project explores the experience of maternity leave after the birth of her first child. A soft, muted, palette creates images that are deeply still and quiet; paint is a tool to examine the overlooked. Here are areas where things have come undone or been abandoned; half drunk coffee cups, dust under the table, scattered children’s toys. She planned to show her working process at the residency studio space at Close Ltd. in Taunton.
Central to Perrins’ practice is an interest in the still life. Following Norman’s Bryson’s influential essay, “Still life and ‘feminine Space”, her work questions the historical legacy of the banality of the still life genre, arguing these quotidian items and spaces, still so often ‘owned’ by women and mothers, deserve more of our attention. Katherine graduated with MA Fine Art from City and Guilds of London Art School.
Jess Egan
Jess’s work is inspired by landscape. She would like to explore the creative process where she receive such peace of mind from the countryside around us and how she extend that therapeutic response into her art practice; which in itself is immensely important to her mental health. During the bursary programme, She will be creating a series of pieces created from various landmarks that are points of wellbeing for her. She planned to create her Open Studios event at Yeovil Art Space where she will be engaging with audiences a conversation about a love of gathering and drawing, and mindfulness and wellbeing in our creativity.
I am so delighted to receive this bursary; it’s a wonderful chance to push myself and my art practice in new and challenging ways. I want to use the opportunity to make new connections, explore materials and mixed media processes that I perhaps haven’t yet used, to improve my practice and create a better understanding of my art.
Natasha Rand
As a community artist Natasha guides others, of all ages, to explore the narrative of visual language. Natasha’s foundation of the exploration of the narrative in her work has often developed through layering and a process of print, ink and paint; whilst using text and landscape to represent the importance of place and time in the moments of people’s lives. Through the period of isolation due to Covid 19, Natasha sent out weekly creative challenges into her online community “Creation Generation” and asked for responses. From these community replies Natasha hopes to create a body of work that captures this extraordinary time. A series of family workshops will be run in conjunction with this collaborative community exhibition, whilst support studies can be observed in her small studio. Studio, workshops and exhibition space will be held in Misterton, nr. Crewkerne.
‘I have recently left full time teaching to focus on my own creative practise and role as a community artist. This bursary offers me a chance to develop my own creative space, explore and develop deeper skills in new techniques. I will enjoy the creative mentoring offered from SAW and other professionals, and look forward to linking with other Somerset artists.’
Click the link below to find out more from artists’ blog post:
https://sawartistdevelopment.wordpress.com/category/creative-pathways-bursary/
Creative Pathways is part of our Artist Development Programme, funded by Arts Council England.
‘We have some exceptionally talented artists in Somerset, we are committed to supporting the artists to bring their work to a wider audiences.’
– Zoe Li, Programme Associate, Somerset Art Works
Artist Development Blog 