What are you looking at?

Oh... you want to know? Oh, yes, of course. Well I'm Hollie Anderson and this is a collection of my work and ramblings. Thats it really, don't worry I won't be upset if you leave. I won't cry. Honest...

Well. Maybe a little.

Monday 14 December 2009

Yesterday I went into the fridge and found....

This on my shelf:


It would be fair to say that my housemates are a little strange, and apparantly come bearing polish gooseberry jelly.

In other news, this little lady is the subject of my attentions at the moment.




She is still in progress though so its not time for her grand unveiling yet!











Friday 11 December 2009

Artsite 3

Anyone in Hereford (or otherwise) would be wise to visit Artsite 3, a wonderful temporary christmas shop right next to the cathedral and information centre which showcases the work of local contemporary makers, and its SERIOUSLY good stuff! I'm doing a couple of days owrk down there and selling a few things (almost all of which have sold now). The last of my current dolls are there and hopefully soon I'll have a few knitted head phones too. Its open until the end of December and really worth a visit!











Monday 30 November 2009

A quick update...

A quick insight into my new project...




Mysterious, no?


Await but a few days and all will be revealed! But for now, let me introduce you to the other labour of love that the Scouser and I embarked on last night...

THE MINCE PIE BISCUIT MILKY PLATE OF DEATH
Oh yes... we spent an hour pulling change out of the sofa so that we could get in our pyjamas and eat cake...

That is a packet of mince pies, a packet of cookies and a tin of evaporated milk, all baked to perfection! Yum yum.

In our defence we are students. STUDENTS. And yes, he is still wearing the wolf suit.












Tuesday 17 November 2009

I am feeling a little disgruntled.

I had a tutorial/group crit yesterday. For the last few weeks I have been developing a ceramic figure and I was finally getting to a place I felt happy with when this bombshell was dropped on me "Is it craft? Because if it isn't craft then you're in the world of art and you have to stand up to artists, its not as easy as craft"

... well. I have lots to say about that, but I will spare both you and the keyboard the majority of my rant.

In essence, why oh why must we compartmentalise everything like this? Can a piece of work not just be what it is? Who decided that Tracy Emin's textile pieces were art, or that Grayson Perry's pots are craft? My work has a thought out idea and concept behind it, sure, but shouldn't everything have some cognitive function backing the design process, or are we going to class everything with a meaning as FINE ART now? ANd whilst I'm on that, whats wrong with using a craft medium to produce artwork, why not blur those boundaries more, maybe one day they won't be there any more and students like me won't feel pressured to chop the head off of their models, hollow them out and turn them into a novelty cookie jar just to fit into someone else's opinion of art vs craft.

I'm really quite annoyed about this.

Any opinions?

Tuesday 27 October 2009

Long time...

... no see, eh?

Well this past (internet free) month has been rather exciting, what with a total change in direction, various crafty events and not to mention the start of a new term. Georgia and Rosa have been sold, and there are a few more dolls on the way for a craft fair in Hereford coming up, details later, I'm not sure on them myself just yet, and then I will be stopping making them. Not because I don't enjoy it, but because I have a new love: LIFESIZE FIGURATIVE CERAMICS. Muhahaha.

Now, I have two questions 1: Does anyone know where I can get hold of some antlers and 2: How in the world am I going to attatch slip cast ceramic antlers to a 5 foot something clay woman? Well, really I think thats a question for the ceramics Technical Demonstrator. But seriously, I am in desperate need of antlers! Something I never thought I'd say.

So that is life as I know it for now, as soon as I have the first naked lady out of the kiln (if I can ever fit her in) then I shall post photographs, until then I'll be concentrating on the three projects, two essays and two presentations and one craft fair I have to do before christmas. Why can't student life just stay easy?

Wednesday 23 September 2009

Update!

Here are the dolls which I am displaying at the Small Gallery until the end of October, they are £65 each, and yes, I am open to commissions! So, here are the introductions:


Luke

Sadie, who can sit on the edge of a shelf or on a flat surface,

Georgia, based on the painting I did a little while ago,

and Rosa, who's body is made of feathers.

This doll was made for my good friend Rhiannon's birthday and is based on her,


A roundup of all the girls (and boy) so far!
Also, I had to include this as it is adorable (well, it would be without the tobacco anyway), I finally finished Gaz's fleecey wolf onesie, it even has a tail! ... Shame that the chest hair makes it look like a prop for a 70's erotica reproduction of Little Red Riding Hood.

Thursday 20 August 2009

Just a Quick Post

I'll elaborate on this further when I have more money to spend at the internet cafe, but anyone wanting to catch a doll or two would do well to go to the Artisan Yarn Gallery in Capuchin Yard in Hereford from the 9th of September, and for the duration of H.Art week as I am having a little teeny exhibition. Photos to come!

Tuesday 18 August 2009

On Hiatus

Hello all, this will be my last post for a while as my beloved computer, Malachai, has a-sploded and due to my housemate leaving I will have no internet in the home for the forseeable future, so this may be the last post for a little while!

In other news, I am making a doll which I am SO SO SO proud of. But, alas, I cannot post any photos just yet as she is a birthday present for my chum, Rhiannon. Suffice to say she is smooth and sleek and turning a little '20s, which was a total accident but if that's what she wants then that's what she gets (I'm talking about the doll here, not Rhiannon).

So, Jareth and I will be travelling back to Hereford tonight, along with all of my work, paintings, dolls ect. and the £30 worth of Lush products which I couldn't resist. Hopefully the river will be nice and warm when I get there and I can go for a late night dip before bed, ahh, Hereford, how I love thee.

Saturday 8 August 2009

FREAKOUTARGHHH

I am SO CONCERNED abou this next year of college. Everything hinges on it. I just. I can't even put into words the stress I am feeling right now. Its amazing, I've never got like this before. I actually quite like it, its a comfortable weight. You knwo how there's stress that feels sickly and depressing and drags you down and weight that bolsters you and gives you somthing to hold onto? This is the latter, but still...

I need to get some stuff together for next term. Books and such. And fabric. And yarn. And supplies. And canvases. Lots of stuff.

Also I recieved a lovely thankyou card from Celia for the chicken, apparently she liked it. Its so nice to be appreciated.

On a sad note, the Smithing Scouser has gone back up north and I cannot afford to see him for a month. It'll give me something more to look forward to than finding out who is living in my house next year though, another thing I am slightly nervous about.

Thursday 6 August 2009

Antler Girl

Here is the product of my last four hours alive:



I haven't painted in almost a year, and then it was with acrylics. I haven't touched oils since my 18th birthday, which was a while ago now. So I was quite pleased with myself for this. Again, camera quality photos are not great, but it will do.

I've had an idea for a show, if I ever get the chance to do one. I want portraits of all of the dolls all over the walls, some huge ones and some tiny ones, just covering the walls in frames and then the dolls themselves everywhere, with fake hills and upside down lamps and crazy crap all over the place, so that they inhabit their own little imaginary world in a sort of dreamilke way. I know what my dolls are about now, too. They are portraits of an aspect of a person, they are all based on people I know, and something about them, like when you see someone and think "wow, look how fragile they are" or something like that, the way you can see an adjective just as well as you can see their face, and in our mids we all have little images of the people we know, and we move them around in our minds when we think about them and imagine what they would say in certain situations, we play with them like dolls. And thats what these are, they are the physical image of the mental dolls of people. Does that make sense? Maybe not. Anyway, I'm going to make the doll of her soon. Shes a startled, alert, kind of a person. Shes pretty strong and tall but extremely timid. The kind of person who could snap your spine with one push but hides behind trees at loud noises. I like her a lot.

Monday 20 July 2009

... sometimes you make something and look at it and just say "Why?"

It was my ex-boyfriend's Mum's 50th birthday party the other day. Quite a gift conundrum I'm sure you'll agree. So I thought, hell, I'll make her something, I love Celia, she's really a great person and a proper Mum and family person, you know? She also LOVES her kitchen. So I thought, hey, she likes the same sort of style as I do, I'll make her soemthing small and pointless to clutter her house (why i thought this was a great idea I do not know) so I thought I'd make a lavender bag... in the shape of a bird... yeah... I don't know, I really don't know what I was thinking. Anyway, she seemed to like it, and it was the first thing like that I've made with any real success, and without a pattern, too! So, here it is, Captain Useless the Feathered:

He is full of rice and lavender from the garden, made of offcuts, silk and buttons.



I crocheted this huge chrysanthemum for it too... cause birds have flowers, yo. God... I really... *hangs head*. Look at me trying to hide in those photos, heh heh.

In other news, new quilt on the make, this fabric is DELICIOUS, I mean, really!
So its that cotton top and then a thick woven cotton bottom, its like really soft sacking material. Still needs edging and I think lots of cream crochet work for this one. Well, thats all for now :D

Friday 10 July 2009

This is more a reminder to myself than a proper post but I'm havign my tattoo filled in on the 10th of september. Hopefully I will have the warp/weft ambigram ready for the other arm aswell! I don't think I ever posted my tattoo when I got it done, but its basicly a souped up version of the knit/purl ambigram that is already on google and such, but I had to steal it, I just had to. Its going to have its partner on the other arm and probably eventually have more swirls and crap coming off it, so then I won't feel so bad about having nicked it, even though I did change it... a bit... look at me trying to justify myself. Amyway, here it is. My homage to knitting.

So my burlesque lady has been put on hold for now, not least because its the end of term and I'm franticaly trying to get my Hereford home in order before I go and house sit in Bristol for lord knows how long, and then go to Sonisphere festival with my good friends and Scouser. But aside from that, a new craft challenge has arisen: OPERATION NICOLE'S WEDDING.

Nicole was going to go to Vegas and have some kind of rocabilly/shotgun/expensive thing which reminded me of our father in many and varied worrying ways, but she has changed her mind and wants more people to be there (I could not afford Vegas on my student loan) so instead shes having it in England and having a huge picnic. However, this means that she needs picnic quilts and cusions for 80 people. And some bunting, because why the hell not. She wants a country garden/Laura Ashley/Attic mess style load of mismatched textiles (aka:my style, which is fortunate).

So, here are my prototypes. I'm trying to do this on a budget of £200. Can you hear my teeth chattering? No? Well that would be because I ground them all down in my sleep last night whilst I was dreaming about Fabric Land. Anyway, here goes:

This is the quilt prototype, its 1mx1m and made from heavy pinstriped cotton on both sides (I'm going to substiute the bottom for calico for cost and waterproof issues), with rather thick acrylic wadding in the middle. The corners are gold silk and it had embelishment in the corner. The edging needs doing still, and I'm probably going to use a nice thick ivory ribbon fot that, and some buttons for the middle, stitched on with thin ribbon tied in a bow.

Close up of the corner. The roses are made of gold silk and taupe cotton, there are some tiny silver forks sewn in there, then some knitted stuff (because I had to use SOME knitting, yo) and the back is some gauze which I used a needle to pull up strands of warp and weft to ruch and then tied in knots.

The back of the cusions. Half gold silk and half taupe cotton. I'm going to stitch these shut once the pillows are inside, or maybe button, I'm not sure yet.

The fabric for the front of the cushions, one is teal and gold polkadot silk and the other is this gorgeous floral stuff which I adore.

So thats it so far. Nic has managed to find me 20m of wadding for £19.80, which is FAR cheaper than the £8 per metre I was paying before. The calico for the underneath of the quilts is going to be £20 aswell for all of it, so now we just need 80m of 2inch ivory ribbon and 20 1m square scraps of random material, plus scraps for embelishment and then the cushions are going to be a bugger, because that silk is £2.50 for a cushion sized piece. So I might just make a couple like that and the rest knitted/crocheted or out of more scrap. Is this going to be possible? God I hope so, because it will be AWESOME if it is. I'll have student loans at some point too, so that plus my 200 odd hours work can be Nicole and Geoffs present, hahaha.

I'm going to look like a builder on one side after all this Singer action.

Monday 29 June 2009

Something New

One of my housemates moved out a week ago and left behind a HUGE roll of modrock. I love modrock, but have never really modeled with it from scratch, always on to of papier mache. So I though I'd have a go, this time I'm making something a little different, in that the doll isn't a doll per se but a figurine (I have NO idea how to make articulated joints with something as fragile and powdery as plaster, without some kind of glaze and I haven't the heart to play with that right now), for my sister Nicole, who is a very clever sod and just got a first in her english literature hounours degree *round of applause*. Nic loves burlesque, so I figured I would make her something appropriate. Maybe I'll throw some day of the dead in there for her too. Heh! Day of the dead nipple pastie skulls... yeah! Anyway, poor quality pics because I am currently on my kitchen floor with my computer (winamp time) and I'm using my webcam so that I don't get plastery hands all over Gaz's camera.

She will (hopefully) stand in the end. Making sexy legs is fun, haha! On the note of sexy... has anyone seen Inkheart? Oh my good god. It had all my favourite things in one scene - Topless, skinny-ish, gangly-yet-muscly, long haired scruffy vagrant + fire in many differing states + baggy black jumpers + sweaty, grubby Paul Bettany = much, much replaying of the scene. In. Slow. Motion.

Anyway enough of that. On with the nakie lady.

Wednesday 24 June 2009

Tuesday 23 June 2009

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

My jellyfish is done :D I got recognised too, and hit on by a crazy pagan. Good times.

SOrry for the picture quality, it is nighttime afterall.






Muhaha, that was fun.

Monday 22 June 2009

What Next?

The first day of my summer holiday has arrived and its... well... dull.

So far I have knitted a little, chatted to Jareth (my cockatiel), trawled through some websites and now I am here. I have until October with nothing to do. Except two weeks of house sitting for my parents and a week of festival goodness with some old friends.

For the longest time I have wanted to try out wild living, just to get up and go and live on the move with nothing but my tent and a whole host of weaponry (I'm a paranoid kind of person).

So maybe, just maybe, I'll set aside a month for this, and take my sketchbook and my sleeping bag and trail the Wye Valley, drawing as I go. I really think its something I have to try at least once, and what better time to give it a go? I have no responsibilities, no one asking me not to, no job to hold down. The only thing I have to worry about is finding a babysitter for Jareth, but I'm sure Alex would feed him for a few weeks whilst I was away.

Hmm, yes, the more I think about it the more Hollie's Art Trail Camping Extravaganza seems like a great idea.

Yes I had to name it. Obviously. :D.

Thursday 18 June 2009

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude, I got a C10, not that great but one mark off of a B and still a good 2:2.

Also on the way home I was comissioned by the yarn shop lady in Hereford to do a knitted drainpipe again for them. I'm going to take Gaz down to look at the blacksmithing in the courtyard as he might be able to give me some ideas and insight that I hadn't thought of, then I'm going to sketch sketch sketch and knit and crochet until my hands fall off! I'm so excited!

Plus the yarn Lady is giving me some yarn to make the selkie's seaweed outfit which is spun with seaweed! How good is that?

Good day, folks, good day.

Shoop Da Whoop!

My piece got selected for Berrington Hall! Oh yeaahhhhh.

As did the work of the lovely Amy Wallace, Daisy Davies, Lucy Baxendale, Charlie Lindup, Nell Neilson and Sara Rhys, plus a few more wonderful craftspeople. I'm so happy, and really pleased for my friends too, I adore their work and will post photos of it all at a later date, because it really is fantastic.

So Now I just have to get my results... I'm not hoping for much, due to paperwork I didn't do because it is STUPID. And I was too lazy and STUPID myself.

A C would be nice.

Fingers crossed!

Thursday 11 June 2009

Finished!

Oh yeah boy! Here it is, my final piece for the year, I am soooo happy with it. I added my own hair for that pretty but gross aesthtic. Its a comment on the grandeur of the time, and the horrible circumstances that the beautiful craftsmanship was made in. The same as beautiful things made from hair, you want to touch it and own it, until you understand what it is.








Friday 5 June 2009

Oh... bougre.

Hmm, body:win! Legs and arms:fail! D:


I personally really like the body, I'm pretty happy with this and the brown spots on the hips came out pretty well,


Although the legs, however, came out really funny and cracked and then I ran out of white paint so the legs were too pink. *Sigh* it seems that the legs are never going to come out right the first time.

Here you can kind of see the difference in the shade of the paint. Grah!

Another shot of the body, and of course my beloved scouser in the background who is watching all of this crafty activity with a kind of bemused interest (not there though, there he's eating a sausage). I think he's just trying to figure out the easiest way to forge iron joints for tiny people so that he can do it better :D

Back to the drawing board with the legs then.