“UNESCO and MEADOWS artists against COVID-19”. An Online Exhibition, May 29th 2020

To give an idea about this exhibition I'm sharing a quote from the UNESCO website:

UNESCO Beirut Office partnered with MEADOWS (Mediterranean Endeavors Advancing Development Of Widespread Sustainability) NGO to reach out to artists worldwide and invite them to take the challenge to use visual arts as a powerful tool effecting relevant global issues through the intercultural dialogue. The concept created by Lena Kelekian, MEADOWS’  President and Founder, led to initiating the MASK ART creativity under lockdown with the patronage of UNESCO Beirut Office, under the topic of “UNESCO and MEADOWS artists against COVID-19”. 

250 Artists from 120 countries placed their artwork on a mask template and the result on the website is a stunning and diverse array of beautiful masks. It creates a positive image of mask wearing and I feel it represents taking some control over what is a really hard and tragic time in our existence. Here are some more masks...

Here is another description of the project taken from the UNESCO website which describes it better than I could:

'In these stricken times, while mitigating technical and slow internet problems, difficulties of social distancing and lockdown, communication was established with all the regional & national representatives, mobilizing every volunteer resource to transform the medical masks that instilled fear, such as stark reminders of the imminent danger of infection, into canvasses displaying strong creations of artists and their personal reaction to this pandemic crisis. The responses were highly creative. In some cases, we can find gloomy and morbid expressions of fear of the unknown but mostly they are expressions of hope and desire of a better and different tomorrow. Inside the short three weeks deadline – instead of the needed three months -, UNESCO Beirut and MEADOWS went through the process of selection albeit the language barriers and cultural differences, finding the common denominators of resilience between artists from all over continents.'

And the link - scroll down to see the many artworks:

https://en.unesco.org/news/mask-art-creativity-under-lockdown-unesco-beirut-meadows-artists-against-covid-19?fbclid=IwAR2DUGYLmvJURi5IrAQW2bIOsi_LMKDQykvkqviupEI00c5sKbCQS86f0gA

ART SAVES HUMANITY: My Work Is In Top 100 Artworks Of This International Virtual Exhibition

'Walking Towards a Shared Future,' acrylic and oil on canvas, 120 x 160 cm 2018

I submitted 2 paintings to this global online exhibition organised by the SeeMe team, as it says below:

'We asked artists to share their perspective on the human condition...

Art Saves Humanity will be a global virtual exhibition bringing together the SeeMe community, Sotheby's Institute and its global network, Community Access to the Arts, the 1KNetwork.org and artists from all over the world with other corporate sponsors.'

(quoted from their website)

The judges were Brendan Clecko, Christine Kuan, Marine Tanguy, Poppy Simpson, Ariel Adkins, Jerry Saltz and the Sotheby's team.

The theme was to be about hope and reflection during the pandemic.

While I did receive 2 emails informing me of the results of my 2 submissions, I had not during an exceptionally busy week opened them! So when the exhibition opened online on May 21st I went to see which paintings were in the Top 100 selected artists and as I scrolled along I came across my painting (above)! To have made the Top 100 was amazing! There was also a link to my website.

So then I opened the 2 emails. I found that both my paintings had been put in the top 100 but only one is shown. This is the other one.

'A Global Connection,' oil on canvas, 100 x 140 cm

The other wonderful thing to find out was that I'd won a signed copy of the new book by Jerry Saltz called How to be an Artist.  He was one of the judges. I'm really pleased about this!

Most of the time as an artist you work alone and there's very little to guide you through a vast terrain of bumps and unlit territory so it's nice to get some positive feedback.

This is the link to the website:

https://www.artsaveshumanity.com/artist-selection

(Scrolling along to the right or left brings up my art.)

Fiona Stanbury's Interview Featured in Art Habens Magazine, April 2020

'Night Gathering,' (3) acrylic on canvas, 20 x 25 cm

Recently I completed an interview for the international online art magazine, Art Habens. The questions they sent me were really insightful and interesting to answer and caused me much reflection. I ended up with 35 pages of text and images, one of the longest interviews published! I'm planning to print it up as a small catalogue.

This is the Link:

https://issuu.com/arthabens/docs/biennial.ed.xvii/190

And an image from the opening page of the magazine....

In the last few weeks I've been more busy than ever. Firstly, finishing 2 paintings for an exhibition in China later this year which I was invited to submit work to as a participant of the 8th Beijing International Art Biennale in August 2019. At that time 30 artists were taken into the landscape around Beijing and we made sketches which have been the inspiration for the artwork.

This is one of the paintings I made.

'Waterfalls of Colour,' acrylic on canvas, 85 x 65 cm

Since I last wrote I've been continuing with my Lockdown series which began during the 30 Works 30 Days global art project in April, mentioned previously. This forced me to use new materials as due to the pandemic my delivery of materials was delayed and has generated an ongoing series of mixed media works along with works on canvas. One of the new themes is based on night gatherings or what I have viewed sadly as a lack of night gatherings. The only time I feel a sense of community on the street where I live is when we all go out at 8pm on a Thursday evening to clap the NHS and carers and keyworkers. So the painting I'm posting today is one of my series remembering the life I used to see on the streets at night and the buzz of social interactions. This is one of an ongoing series.

30 Works 30 Days: End of an Artist Project Followed During Lockdown

'Where My Thoughts Wander,' acrylic, ink, pen, papers and gesso on card, 30 x 20 cm

This global project which had over 1000 artists from 42 countries ended on April 30th. You had to submit an artwork each day during April, and 5 or 6 artists were selected each day to have their works shown on the 12ocollective Instagram pages. The 12ocollective website ended up with over 18,000 artworks and I believe everyone completed this challenge for lockdown.

I had the following painting, made on DAY 21, displayed on the 12ocollective Instagram post for that day. I was really pleased to be chosen in amongst so many entries each day! This little painting was painted as a longing for street gatherings at night. My neighbourhood seems so quiet these days and the only time I become aware of any kind of community is when everyone comes out on a Thursday evening at 8pm to clap for the NHS, carers and keyworkers.

'Night Gathering,' acrylic and ink on card, 30 x 20 cm

As I mentioned in a previous post, my art materials were delayed in arriving and I was forced to use cardboard and card to make my paintings and collages. It turned out to be a positive restriction because it opened up a different way of working and seeing painting elements. I made a very large series of collages, in fact the mixed media works took over towards the end of the challenge. For this short post I'm including a few of the collages. I found working with mixed materials beneficial because limitations always force you to find new ways to assemble an image, and in particular I was thinking about edges, transitions between colours, brush strokes and patterns. This will now feed back into the large paintings on canvas.

'Mountain Route,' (3) acrylic, ink, gesso, papers on card, 30 x 20 cm

'Entering a New Land,' acrylic, rice paper, ink and gesso on card, 30 x 20 cm

''Wishing to Travel Far,' acrylic, rice paper, ink and gesso on card, 30 x 20 cm

More works will follow later this week or they can be seen on my artist website, the link is at the top right side of the blog page.