Destination Doctorate

I have now completed (and passed) my Masters in Fine Art.  I now go on to to study for a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy).  I have been awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) studentship which will support me over the course of three years study at Birmingham City University (BCU).  The research is collaborative and I will be working closely with the Wye Valley AONB.  I will be considering the pre-existing iconography found in the area and exploring its relevance to todays visitors.  My previous research in practice will inform my approach to these enquiries; I aim to immerse myself in the geological locality, explore my/our emotional responses to this unique place and seek a better understanding of the creative responses of William Gilpin, JMW Turner and William Wordsworth.

PhD Descriptions

The value of protected landscapes to contemporary society - readings, responses, associated meanings and the iconography of the Wye Valley area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB)

Feeling for Space – a personal and empirical investigation in to the historical materiality and geo-emotional personality of the Wye Valley area of outstanding natural beauty.

MA Final Show Works 2013

For those who couldn't make it to the show:

Final Show  - Artist Statement

“Art, both as practice and as an experience, belongs, as it were, to the hardware of human nature”

Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin

I am concerned with material thresholds and the extent to which physical margins can be stretched without breaking; particularly when they are exposed to situations of tension or stress.  More recently (and as a direct result of studying on the MA Fine Art) I have found the courage to seek and explore less clearly demarcated borders. I have now become interested in how initially segregative boundaries can appear to break down, become porous, osmotic, creating liminality and forming unique states of being. The traces that these conditions leave behind fascinate me, they attest to movement, the melee and the memory of meaningful moments. 

My research in practice has led me to consider the corporeal body as being empirically essential to our life experience and a tangible vehicle for my conceptual concerns. The human body, with its somatosensorial interface with the world, can be understood as a synergetic state of continuously interwoven interior and exterior planes. Our bodily relationship with the landscape is seamless; we therefore, embody the world and are co-immersed in unifying atmospheric densities. We are immeasurably connected, fused to the world and to one another.

Gregory Dunn September 2013

'Muscle Memory'
Flint Gravel, Galvanized Steel 'Gabion'
Cast Concrete

'Force Field'
Cotton Stockinette, Epoxy Resin, Stainless Steel Wire

Total Final Show Submission

Onto New Horizons...

More news soon...

More Sneak Previews

As promised, here are some more photos of the making of my MA Final Show pieces. They will hopefully intrigue you enough to want to see the thing in the 'flesh' on Friday 6th Sept from 6:00.

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MA FINAL SHOW PREPARATIONS

My final show preparations are going slowly going to plan.  There is a lot of excitement appearing though (and stress too) but its all part of the fun. 

The space is icy white and is waiting for me to hang the first of the objects - I begin tomorrow.  The little beauties you see in the picture below are the elements of one piece, cast in concrete - they look quite sinister here, really 'slug' like.  Watch this space for more 'leaks'.

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New Art West Midlands - Selected!

Well, it's been a while, sorry.  Working towards my final show and waiting for the stress to kick in! Some good news.  I've been selected for the New Art West Midlands 2014 exhibition.  It means a great deal to me because it acknowledges my commitment creating and being involved in art in the West Midlands and re-enforces my decision to leave my job and study at BIAD.  I visited the exhibition earlier this year and was really impressed with the high standard of work on show.  I think what most impressed me though was the placing of contemporary art in the Museum and Art Gallery alongside the permanent exhibits.  I spent a lot of my misplaced youth in this place staring at the 19th Century paintings on show in the Pre-Raphaelite Gallery when I should have been at Art College - I guess my time there paid off and I'll hopefully be placed near to some of my teenage 'heroes'.  Anyway, onwards and upwards.  More news soon....
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Chris Bourke Hearts

The hardest working artist I know, Chris Bourke, is having a special event this Sunday.  He's selling off 50 beautiful sacred heart hand painted lino prints.  Get yours, only at 7pm!  There's a nice video featuring all of the prints which can be seen at http://chrisbourkeart.com

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