Vicky Baker

#studio21 Vicky Baker
Vicky worked in the field of Theatre, Film and Dance, as a costume maker and latterly designer/maker, for over 14 years where she worked with a wide variety of designers and directors. She has made costumes for such film actors as Glen Close, Julia Roberts, and John Malkovitch. Her film work has included Angela’s Ashes, Love and Rage, Serpent’s Kiss, Moll Flanders, Mary Riley Roan Inish, Playboys.
Her Dance work has included work for: Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Royal Ballet Company, Scottish Ballet, Motionhouse, Women’s Playhouse Trust, Shobana Jeyasingh, Yolanda Snaith, Sankalpam and also for Television Dance on Four. From 1997 until 2002 she designed and made for Indian classical dance.
Theatre work has included productions for The National Theatre, The Barbrican Theatre, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Tara Arts, Red Shift Theatre, The Young Vic, and several West End productions, in Sweden and in Holland, where she made work for Sir Elton John’s Aida, designed by Joop Van Den Ende.
Since 2002 she has moved away from Theatre work and has continued working mainly in Textiles, as a designer and maker. Some of her extensive knowledge of garment construction led to visual ideas on form and texture which Victoria has absorbed into her recent designs for bags, which have a line which is reminiscent of the bodice and the curve of the waist. “Shape has always played an important part in theatrical costumes and when making a costume, I have always used a layering technique which makes it strong and durable and this has influenced the technique which I apply to my handbag making”.

John Blythe

John Blythe.

After completing studies at City of Westminster college in 1994 John has been a commercial advertising photographer for over 16 years. While commercial photography has been his primary focus, John continued to develop his personal creative work and more recently has started to create work for exhibition. John's work has previously been exhibited in two group shows at the Association of Photographers gallery in London and at Rosendale School, Dulwich, as part of an artist residency. John continues to work commercially as well as teaching photography at Queen Anne's School and on the Art Foundation course at Bellerbys College, Oxford.

I will be exhibiting images from 2 strands of current work.

The first is a documentary project motivated by my interested in how seasonal light and conditions have a transformative effect on our very familiar and immediate environment. All the images in this collection are taken using a mobile phone camera and are all taken at the moment of experience, not planned or revisited. The images are of places close to home that I pass through all the time, often several times a day, yet my experience of them can be very different from one occasion to another. The images are evocative and contrived in their presentation, designed to representing the peak or extremes of a season, such that the viewer can immediately identify with them. This is an ongoing project started in late 2010 and is the first time these images have been exhibited in print.

The second is very much a fine art project exploring form, composition and process. The project combines up to date digital capture and manipulation with classical form and traditional printing processes to create more traditional fine art prints. Image subjects range from figurative to abstract and this series are all created using the cyanotype printing process on watercolour paper. The project combines a process that was developed at the birth of photography in the mid 1800's with images captured using technology that represents the birth of the new age of digital photography.

Sue Diffey

Sue Diffey: BA 2011
Medium: Oils, printmaking, drawing, mixed media.

Enquiry summary:
My interest lies in exploring spacial sequences using humble and sometimes repetitive forms.
Enquiry Statement:
“In Quantum Physics even a stationary form or object contains energy which is locked within its atoms. This contained, pure energy is not fixed or determined but in a continual state of flux between matter and anti-matter; perfectly counter-balanced and identical as a mirror image”. This principle is also embraced through Buddhism in the teachings of The Heart Sutra, “Emptiness is Form, Form is Emptiness” My work hopes to celebrate this wonderful juxtaposition of contradictions: stillness and energy.
Sue Diffey was tutored by the late Cecil Collins at Central St.Martins in the 1970s.

Juliet Hookey

Juliet Hookey

For the last year I have been working on a body of work that explores the themes of water concealment. This has mainly been through experimentation with photographing different water scenes. I have been photographing Landscapes for over 10 years, starting with my local river to places all over the world, looking back at this work recently it shows a very high majority of these images were based on water scenes. From the local River Thames to the Cornish Coastline to Iguazu Falls in Brazil to Lake Titicaca in Peru, water has always been a strong occurring theme. This has developed from spending a lot of time on the river and being greatly influenced by Impressionist Artists from studying them at school. Their paintings of beautiful, vibrant landscapes and atmospheric scenes have always been of interest. The effects of light on water were captured in many of the Impressionists work.
Water conceals a lot from our sight, a combination of elements work perfectly to aid this concealment, light reflection, line of sight, environment all play a part to mask what’s beneath. In my photographs I have looked at ways in which to capture these elements, taking photographs at dawn and dust, on bright sunny days where a lot of reflection is produced and playing with different angles for added effects.

Michael Norcross



M.Norcross© 2011

Michael Norcross:

ARTISTS AT QUEEN ANNE'S

''Very impressive work around, some exciting ideas and quality techniques utilised.''

''Lots of well executed ideas. Worthwhile event. I shall encourage friends to come.''

These were just two of the overwhelmingly positive comments from visitors to our Open Studios 2010 exhibition. This year will be no exception and promises to be even more interesting as we have some changes to the artists showing with us in our exhibition: ‘Artists at Queen Anne’s’ which is number 83 in the catalogue this year. The exhibition is by artists who have been invited to exhibit with the Art & Design Department at Queen Anne’s School. On show will be a vibrant selection of work which includes paintings in a variety of media on canvas, there will also be work on paper, printmaking, photographs, jewellery, as well as textiles and leather handbags. In addition there will be a considerable amount of work by students of Queen Anne’s Art Department from all age groups. In the studios there will be work in progress from AS and A level students. Also on display will be a selection of work by past exhibitors at the School’s annual exhibition at the SW1 Gallery, London. The Elliot Art & Design Building is just a short walk from Caversham centre at Queen Anne's School just off the Henley Road. There is free parking and free entry but visitors are requested to sign in and out of the building. Parking is the right on entry at the main gates, on Henley Road. Walk across the front of the main building to the Elliot Art and Design Centre, following the arrows and just ring the bell on:
Saturday 28th, Sunday 29th and Monday 30th May. 11am-5pm Daily.
List of Artists:
Vicky Baker
John Blythe
Sue Diffey
Juliet Hookey
Michael Norcross