dinahvagina is a multi media artist living and working in Wales. Her work in this new #NoExcuse exhibition is about the horrifying death of Cuban American artist Ana Mendieta. She was pushed from / fell from/ jumped from the 34th floor of her apartment block. Her husband was charged with her murder but was eventually acquitted due to the suppression of witness statements and a non-jury trial.
This mixed media piece, “Missing Women” is by The RAD Collective, a newly formed group of working-class creatives in South Wales that includes visual artists and writers who choose to work anonymously, “The first rule of the RAD Collective is you do not talk about the RAD Collective!”. Members of the Collective share ideas, resources, materials and concepts. Please click here to find out more about this work.
#NOEXCUSE is a creative response to the topic of misogyny and the United Nations campaign against violence towards women and girls. It features works of mixed media, painting and collage by Welsh artists dinahvagina, me – Rosie Scribblah and The RAD Collective. But it’s not just an exhibition of artworks.
Over the coming weeks, we artists will be building interest and engagement on social media and using videos and QR codes to take the artworks beyond a gallery setting and ending with a “Closing Event” at the venue early in the New Year.
The United Nations campaign is called “The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence” and it’s an annual international event that starts on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and runs until 10 December, which is Human Rights Day.
My series of acrylic paintings on paper in a bright Pop Art style, called SISTERS, are loosely based on the concept of the ancient Celtic Trinity of Goddesses, sometimes called The Morrigan.
There is a tradition of sisterhood in the UK, of women coming together to achieve progress, from the Suffragettes campaigning for the vote, to the grass roots creation of women’s domestic violence refuges, taking collective action. It reminds me of this ancient Celtic motif of multiple goddesses pulling together.
To see more about my work and the other artists, dinahvagina and The RAD Collective, click here and the United Nation’s #NoExcuse campaign.
I taught an adult education class this afternoon with the 9-to-90 Creative Community at the excellent GS Artists on Swansea’s High Street. The theme was to paint a portrait of the Divine Diva, Dame Shirley Bassey. In TWO hours! A bit challenging 😀 But we did it. The results will be in the venue’s next exhibition that opens 5pm on Friday 1st December.
Here are the stages of my practice painting, which was done in Liquitex acrylic paints onto a stretched and recycled canvas and came in at 1 hour 50 minutes. I might do some more work on it before entering it for the exhibition though, bling it up a bit, make the skin tones more subtle and equalise the eyelashes.
Sometimes you see a face and you’ve just got to sketch it. This guy was at The Jexit gig at The White Lion in Aberdare last week, grooving to the band. A face full of character.
I finished cutting my latest Mari Lwyd lino block, I’ve been doing one each winter for a few years now. I did the proof print a few days ago and I did a little bit more cutting, not much, and now I’m happy with the block so I’ve done the first few prints off it, most of them with chine collé.
I used lightweight tissues and metal foil (from sweets / candies) and a Pritt glue stick to apply the chine collé. I took the prints with a traditional Japanese baren using Cranfield Safe-Wash Relief ink in black onto Japanese HoSho paper.
Here’s another sketch from Aberdare last Friday on a cold Welsh Winter night with torrential rain. I’d gone to see a Japanese Jam cover band, The Jexit, perform at The White Lion, with my mate. It was a fantastic gig. The lead singer Yoshi Tokio had flown in from Japan a few days before but the rest of the band are based in the UK.
A quick warm up sketch.
I couldn’t see the most excellent drummer, Simon Wagstaff, from where I was sitting but I had a good view of Rob Fellows, the really cool bassist and vocalist.
My final sketch of 3 of the lead singer, getting into my stride.
My pal and I went up to Aberdare, proper up the Valleys, on a cold Friday night in torrential rain (luckily she was driving, not me) to see a Japanese Jam cover band, The Jexit, perform at the small but perfectly formed local pub The White Lion. Of course, I had to have a scribble. I started a new sketchbook too, a very tasty black clothbound A5 number with some embossing in gold on the front.
On the left, my first warm-up, sketch and my second scribble on the right.
I’m not a huge fan of The Jam, to be honest, but this band ROCKED the place – absolutely outstanding. These sketches are of the lead singer Yoshi Tokio, who was fantastic. They were all fantastic.
I printed up a first proof from my latest Mari Lwyd lino block and then did a second proof with chine collé, using fine coloured tissue papers. I cut and ripped some tissue paper shapes than placed them on the un-inked block, just to see if they were what I wanted and where I was going to put them. Then I inked the block (Cranfield Safe Wash relief ink).
Next, working VERY quickly, I covered the BACK of the tissue pieces with glue from a solid stick (Pritt) and placed them STICKY SIDE UP onto the inked block – this bit is tricky because everything is sticky – the tissue, the ink and my fingers! Then I put my printing paper onto it and took a print using a traditional bamboo Japanese baren.
The Mari Lwyd, which is a life-size puppet made with a horse’s skull, is traditionally decorated with flowers, ribbons and bells.
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