This month I have two exciting dates for your dairy!
Firstly, I’m delighted to be exhibiting my beeswax botanical sculptures in Inspirit presented by Ruup & Form at the brand new Artefact contemporary craft fair, launching at Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, London from 22-29th June 2021.
Artefact is a new physical fair which brings together several galleries working closely within the realm of high end craft and applied art. You can find more information about the exhibiting galleries, talks programme, artisan demonstrations and bookings on the Design Centre website. All events are free to attend and it looks to be an incredible show.
Secondly, if you tune in to Countryfile on BBC1 this Sunday 20th June at 7pm, you’ll see presenter Ellie Harrison and I making wildflowers from beeswax in my garden studio. We also visit the museum and my local nature reserve and chat about my natural history artwork.
The film was originally aired back in 2019 but it is being reshown in a special Art in the Countryside episode, featuring a selection of artists from the Countryfile archive, who are inspired by the natural world.
It was a very special day and I’m looking forward to seeing the film again. I hope you enjoy it too.
If you missed the Collect 2021 series of talks, they are now all available to view online on the Crafts Council website. There are insightful conversations where makers discuss their creativity in depth, and panel conversations from experts in the field of craft and design.
I was honoured to have my wax wildflower sculpture ‘Life Support, May 2020: Dog violet, Viola riviniana‘ selected for discussion at the VIP Collect Selects: Textiles and New Materials, in association with the V&A and RCA along with five other makers. The event brought Dr Christine Checinska (Victoria and Albert Museum) together with Anne Toomey (Royal College of Art) to discuss their selection of stand-out objects at this year’s Collect Art fair. You can catch up with their discussion here:
I also took part in Ruup & Form’s Artist Tag Talks, a series of group conversations exploring the meditative creative process, as part of the Ruup & Form ‘Meditation in Material’ exhibition which was curated for Collect 2021. Click on the link below to view the 2nd conversation where Anne Butler (ceramics), Eva Fernández (interdisciplinary), Jessica Jue (silversmith), Melissa Aldrete and Luis Cárdenas (ceramics), Line Nilsen (textile) and I talk about our process and materials with director Varuna Kollanethu.
The Collect 2021 fair continues online via Artsy until 24th March and Meditation in Material will be on show at the Ruup & Form gallery until 30th April 2021.
I’m delighted to announce that I’m participating in a series of conversations exploring the meditative creative process of Ruup & Form’s artists, makers and designers; for the exhibition ‘Meditation in Material’ curated for Collect International Art Fair for Craft and Design 2021.
Long before the Covid-19 pandemic – artists, makers and designers were questioning their production methodologies in terms of their economic, environmental and social impact. With the uncertainty of the current health crisis, these matters have become more pressing within all creative industries. In these peer-to-peer group conversations, the Ruup & Form makers will discuss their process working closely with natural materials and experimenting with their techniques. With a special focus on the cultural shifts in the way society interacts and perceives materials.
The talks will take place in two separate sessions and will be moderated by Ruup & Form Director, Varuna Kollanethu. Both events are free entry but require prior registration. If you’re interested in joining us, you can register by clicking the link below each event.
Artist Tag Talk Vol. 01 – Meditation in Material | Sustainability Monday, March 1st [13:00 h GMT]
If you have any questions about the events, please submit them to: hello@ruupandform.com and for more details about the Ruup & Form makers visit: www.ruupandform.com MEDITATION IN MATERIAL Will be on view at Artsy from 26th of February until the 24th of March, 2021
From 26th February – 2nd March 2021, my new Life Support series of beeswax wildflower sculptures will be shown by Ruup & form in Meditation in Material at Crafts Council Collect 2021 Art Fair.
As the pandemic is currently preventing everyone from coming together, this year the CollectInternational Art Fair for Contemporary Craft and Design will take place online, with Artsy.net as the exclusive hosts. Each exhibiting gallery will have their own online ‘booth’ to display their artists’ work for sale, and there will be a week of accompanying talks and events alongside interviews and films.
Life Support, May 2020: Dog violet, Viola riviniana. Image by Dewi Tannant Lloyd
The Life Support series of work, which will be seen for the first time at the fair, was created throughout 2020 in response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The series of beeswax wildflower sculptures tell a deeply personal story of this moment in history. Each one is displayed in its own protective hand-blown glass bubble and mounted on a custom CNC lathed stainless steel base. They encapsulate my thoughts and feelings and illustrate the importance of our access to nature through gardens, parklands and green city centre spaces at this time of crisis.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been collecting my research photographs and images of the making process, and organising them into a video sequence to illustrate how the project evolved over time. Here is a preview clip from the finished video showing the making of a primrose flower.
A short clip from the Life Support series video
The full version will be available to view in accompaniment to the artwork on display at the Collect 2021 fair. It looks to be a wonderful online event and I hope you will be able to join us there from the comfort and safety of your own homes.
Shortly after the Collect 2020 fair at Somerset House, COVID-19 lock-down restrictions were put in place across the UK and plans to deliver my ‘Treasure‘ Collect Open artwork to its new owner were put on hold. Finally, four months later, the time was right for us to make the journey safely and on Sunday 26th July we installed the work at the beautiful London residence of the Irish writer and art collector Polly Devlin OBE.
With Polly Devlin in her London home next to her newly installed ‘Treasure’ artwork.
Polly Devlin with my husband (and invaluable assistant) Richard.
Polly’s home is a wunderkammer of incredible objects that she has collected over many years, each with a story to tell and as we worked she regaled us with wonderful tales of some of her favourite pieces. After the delicate wax flowers were unpacked and arranged, we were treated to celebratory bubbles and lunch out at a local restaurant, the first we had set foot in since early March!
When it was time to leave Polly gave us a gift, a book she had written with her late husband Andy Garnett, about a Somerset wild flower meadow called Cannwood that they once owned and cared passionately about.
It was a special day that I shall never forget, spent with a warm and welcoming host. I know that we will stay in touch for many years to come.
Ahead of the event, I was asked a few questions which I’ve answered in a behind-the-scenes blog post, published on The Design Trust website. I talk about being a quiet child, scoliosis, vacuuming badgers and what the recent Collect Open 2020 exhibition meant to me. It’s available to read here.
Throughout the month of May the festival will showcase several inspiring women discussing the What, Why and How of their creative practices. It’s been a fabulous event so far and I hope that my interview will give an added boost of inspiration to fellow festival goers!
If you’re interested in purchasing a ticket for the ‘Make a Difference’ festival you can find more details here. All interviews will be recorded and available until the end of 2020.
With only a few days to go until the Crafts Council Collect 2020 International Art Fair for Modern Craft and Design at Somerset House, my Collect Open beeswax wildflower installation is now complete and I’m able to share a little more information about the project and the finished artwork.
My Collect Open project has been made using traditional wax modelling techniques from honey bee wax provided by Assistant Professor Scott McArt, at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, New York.
The wax that I’ve used for sculpting was collected by Scott from around 10 different honey bee colonies in central New York, some at the Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Studies and some from hobby beekeepers near the University. One sample was also taken from a commercial beekeeper who’s bees had just been used for commercial blueberry pollination in New Jersey. The beekeeper noticed that his bees were not doing well after pollinating the blueberries, so he sent wax, pollen, and dead honey bee pupae from his colonies to the lab for analysis.
The results of the analysis, conducted at the Cornell Chemical Ecology Core Facility, show an extensive list of pesticide residues in the wax samples. There is also a marked difference between the number of pesticides found in the wax samples taken from the hives used for commercial pollination services and those from hobby beekeepers.
As my wildflower sculptures contain physical traces of these pesticide residues, I will be listing them clearly as the artist’s materials used to create my installation. (It is interesting to note that if Scott had sent me different wax samples from honey bees used for commercial almond pollination in California, my list of artist’s materials would have doubled in size.)
Beeswax has traditionally been used in the creation of scientific models for education and botanical sculpture became particularly popular during the advent of the public museum in the 19th century. Artists were able to use the life like quality and translucency of the medium to create realistic and beautiful representations of plants for gallery displays, in order to engage visitors with scientific discovery.
Here are just a few of the historic beeswax plant sculptures from the scientific collections at National Museum Wales.
My work for Collect Open 2020 continues this tradition, aiming to raise awareness of the widespread use of agricultural chemicals and the transfer of these chemicals from agricultural crops to wildflowers and pollinators, promoting discussion on the man-made issues which have contributed to the global decline of pollinating insects.
My installation of beeswax wildflower sculptures will be presented in a custom made jewellery box with the title Treasure. This can be interpreted in several different ways; as a noun meaning a collection of very valuable things, or a verb meaning to take great care of something because you love it or consider it very valuable. It also refers to a wealth which is hidden or buried, giving the viewer a hint to the value of the scientific information hidden in the beeswax samples.
Treasure poses the questions, what should we collect, protect and keep safe? What precious things will be of the greatest importance and value as we begin to understand the scale of change in this era of the Anthropocene?
Treasure. 2020. (Details) Dr Sott McArt and his bees
For questions about the pesticide residue analysis on the honey bee wax samples or the research and extension activities at the McArt lab, you can contact Dr. Scott McArt directly by email shm33@cornell.edu or via Twitter @MaArtLab.
I’m delighted to have my work featured in the March 2020 issue of Elle Decoration UK!
As Collect moves to it’s new home at London’s Somerset House, Elle Decoration UK have picked out the British-based talents to seek out now in ‘The Names To Invest In Now’ feature.
I’ve spent the last few months working solidly on my beeswax wildflower installation for Collect Open and the piece is really taking shape, so with one month to go until the fair, I thought it was a good time to share a little more of the making process.
For the installation I’ll be arranging my sculptures in compartments and drawers within a transparent jewellery box. The first stage was to design and make a cardboard mock-up of the box to see how the sculptures might fit in each space.
Cardboard mock-up of jewellery box
When I was happy with the design, it was drawn up in a 3D sketch and then manufactured in clear acrylic.
3D drawing of jewellery box
I knew that it would be a challenge to make the sculptures over the winter months when very few plants were in flower. Therefore, I began collecting, documenting and pressing flowers in late summer and autumn to give myself as much reference material as possible for the duration of my project.
Over the winter when I couldn’t access fresh material, I was able to visit and photograph the pressed plants in the herbarium at National Museum Wales and I also used my ever growing collection of botanical books for reference.
Pressed bluebell specimens from the herbarium at National Museum Wales
A first book of wildflowers, M.M.Rankin
The wildflower sculptures in my Collect Open installation are made from beeswax supplied by Assistant Professor Dr Scott McArt at Cornell University, New York. Samples were collected by Scott from the bee hives at the Dyce Lab for Honey Bee Research and then analysed by David Sossa (technician) and Nico Baert (lead chemist) in the chemistry facility.
Dr Scott McArt and his students
Beeswax analysis at the chemistry facility
The beeswax was then shipped to my studio in Wales, where I melted it down ready for sculpting.
Beeswax sent from the lab at Cornell University
Once I had prepared the wax, I began the delicate work of sculpting the wildflowers, using traditional techniques to make stems, petals, sepals and leaves from waxed wire, silk and paper.
Here are just a few of the finished beeswax wildflower sculptures which will be displayed together in the acrylic jewellery box.
I’ll be posting a sneak preview of the finished piece in a few weeks time but if you’d like to see my Collect Open installation in person, it will be on display from 27th February – 1st March in the East Wing of Somerset House on stand E6. If you’re visiting the fair please do drop by and say hello! Tickets are available to purchase from the Crafts Council website.
Last week was my first site visit to Somerset House, where I and the other Collect Open artists were accompanied by the Crafts Council team on a tour of the East and West Wings of the building, to see the exact location of our allocated display spaces. In 2020 the Collect Open artists’ work will be presented in a different format to that of the previous years, with the carefully curated installations interspersed amongst the exhibiting Craft Galleries at the Collect fair. I was delighted to find out that I will be sharing a stunning space on the ground floor of the East wing along with another artist who’s thoughtful and sensitive work will resonate with mine.. (more details to come later!)
Somerset House -The Courtyard
Somerset House – View of the East Wing from the Courtyard
I’m thrilled to announce that I have been selected as a Collect Open artist and will be exhibiting at Collect 2020, the International Art Fair for Modern Craft and Design. Organised by the Crafts Council, Collect is the only gallery-presented art fair dedicated to modern craft and design and will take place at Somerset House, from 27 February – 1 March 2020. As a Collect Open artist, I will be creating one of the ambitious craft-lead installations, a display of handmade wildflower sculptures using traditional beeswax flower making techniques. I’m delighted to be working again in collaboration on this new project with Dr. Scott McArt, Assistant Professor of Entomology at Cornell University, New York, and I’ll be posting regular updates to show the making process and development of the piece as it progresses.
You can find further information about Collect 2020 and the full list of participating Collect Open artists in the Crafts Council press release.
If you missed the South Wales episode of Countryfile, featuring my botanical wax sculptures and the scientific collections which inspire my work, you can now catch up on the BBC iPlayer. You can see me chatting to Ellie Harrison at 43.28 and the programme is available until 2nd July. I hope you enjoy it!
My Forget-me-not wax sculpture which was featured on the South Wales episode of Countryfile, next to some real Forget-me-not specimens
Last Thursday I spent a lovely day filming with Ellie Harrison and the BBC One Countryfile team. We looked at the inspiration behind my natural history artwork, visiting the wildflowers at Howardian Nature Reserve and the scientific collections behind the scenes at the National Museum Cardiff. Then we went back to my garden studio where Ellie and I had a go at making a celandine flower from beeswax. It was so interesting to meet such a professional team and see all the work that goes into the creation of a television programme. Tune in to see the whole Countryfile feature on BBC One, Sunday 2nd June at 7pm.
In November 2017 I attended the Cross-pollination, Revaluing Pollinators through Arts and Science Collaboration conference at Swansea College of Art. The conference marked the end of a successful and pioneering project funded by both the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Arts Council of Wales, combining Art with Science to explore new insight into perceptions of the value of honeybees and wild pollinators.
As an artist I’ve spent most of my career working alongside scientists on science communication projects and my current work focuses on the protection of nature and features pollinating insects, so the project was of great interest to me.
At the conference I heard many fascinating lectures and discussions but it was my chance conversation with Assistant Professor Scott McArt, from the Entomology Department at Cornell University, that sparked a creative idea which has developed into a collaborative piece of artwork, soon to be exhibited in the new PolliNation exhibition at the Mann Gallery in Cornell.
Scott’s NYS Beekeeper Tech Team at Cornell had been conducting research to promote best management practices to improve honey bee health and reduce colony losses. The team had been examining pesticide levels in wax from honey bee colonies in New York State and had collected many wax samples which were analysed and shown to contain pesticide residues. The honey bees had been visiting wildflowers which were contaminated with agrochemicals and transferring those chemicals to their wax. I specialise in creating botanical sculptures with wax, a skill that I learnt whilst caring for a unique collection of over 1000 wax models in the Amgueddfa Cymru scientific collections. The idea for the artwork was to use the beeswax containing pesticide residues as an artist’s material to create sculptures of the contaminated wildflowers. The pesticides residues would be listed clearly as the materials used to create the work, thus communicating Scott’s research in a subtle and powerful way.
I decided to start by creating some test pieces to see how feasible it would be to work with the Cornell wax. Scott was able to post me some wax samples from his lab, which I melted down to remove any traces of honey, then coloured and sculpted into flower forms. The wax was very flexible and easy to work with in comparison to the refined white beeswax that I normally use.
Time lapse video showing the beeswax honeycomb which was supplied by Scott’s lab at Cornell University, melting in my wax melting pot. Creating a celandine test piece using honey beeswax from Scott’s lab at Cornell University. The finished Celandine test piece made from beeswax on the left and the real Celandine flower specimen on the right.
The next stage of the project was to choose which wild flowers to represent in the final piece of artwork. I was able to look at reports from the NYS Beekeeper Tech Team on pesticide residues and data from Scott’s lab on pesticides in wildflowers that are adjacent to apple orchards New York. One of the wildflowers listed was Fragaria vesca, Wild strawberry, which contained one of the highest levels of total pesticides recorded in parts per billion. I decided to focus on this plant not only because it was loaded with pesticides, but also because it was a common wildflower in both the Ithaca region of New York State and here in South Wales. Luckily I had some wild strawberry plants growing in my front garden which I was able to use as fresh reference material, even if it was winter and there were no fruits or flowers to be seen!
Wild strawberry plant specimen collected from the front garden of my home in Cardiff.
Fragaria vesca, Wild strawberry – pressed, dried and mounted herbarium specimens from National Herbarium of Wales at Amgueddfa Cymru, National Museum Cardiff.
The final sculpture took several weeks to complete. I created moulds from the fresh plant leaves in my garden with silicone and plaster, which I then cast in coloured molten wax. I made stems and plant runners from waxed tinned copper wire, and petals, sepals and stamens from waxed silk fabric and threads. The strawberry fruits were made from wax coated dressmaking beads and I attached tiny plant hairs made from silk to the stems and leaves. The sculpture was finished with acrylic paints and varnishes and displayed in Pyrex glass measuring beakers in reference to the scientific nature of the work.
Making the flowers from waxed sheets of silk.Strawberry fruits made from dressmaking beads coated in molten wax and attached to waxed wire stems. Leaves made from wax brushed into plaster and silicone moulds. Plant runners made from waxed wires.
Time lapse video of me making moulds of the wild strawberry leaves from my garden with Plaster of Paris and silicone rubber.
This is the finished piece and the accompanying title which describes all the materials that I used to create the work.
*These pesticide residues were also found on nearby
strawberry flowers.
The finished sculpture.
Finally the sculpture had to be packed very carefully for its journey to Cornell University. I placed it in a strong cardboard box and secured it with dressmaking pins and Plastazote supports to prevent any movement. It is due to be taken in hand luggage on a flight to America next week by one of the project artists, so it’s certainly getting some special treatment and will hopefully arrive in good condition ready to be set up in the display.
The PolliNation exhibition at the Mann Gallery runs from April 15th until 30th September 2019.
Many thanks to the artists, Linda Norris for inviting me to the Cross-Pollination conference and Sarah Tombs and the Swansea College of Art, Art/Science group for kindly including my work in the Cornell Mann Gallery display. Thanks also to the scientists, Assistant Professor Scott McArt for giving me the opportunity to create a piece of artwork from his research and to the National Museum Wales botany curator Sally Whyman for sharing her expert knowledge of the collections.
Today I had the pleasure of meeting Pauline Griffiths, owner of The Art Shop and Chapel in the market town of Abergavenny. I’m thrilled to announce that she’ll be showing my work at her gallery, in the lovingly restored 16th Century Town House on Cross Street, as part of the 2019 Abergavenny Art’s festival in June. It is such a special venue, with artworks thoughtfully displayed amongst household objects in a domestic interior setting. Many thanks to the event organisers for putting me in touch with Pauline, I’m delighted to have the opportunity to create a collection of pieces especially for this beautiful gallery.
Annette Marie Townsend 