Festival time - film's big screen premiere

As the art scene continues to flourish in North Devon, Ilfracombe stages its inaugural film festival over three days later this month (April 22 - 24).

Among the packed programme of feature and short films, you'll have the chance to see the mini-documentary about my work as a taxidermy and assemblage artist on the big screen for the first time. It is showing at 2pm on Sunday April 24th on Screen 2 at the town's Embassy Cinema.

Ilfracombe Film Festival organiser Julia Knight said: "We're really looking forward to the diverse range of films on offer throughout the festival and pleased that Paul's film can be part of it. There are so many talented and creative people in North Devon, and this is a great opportunity to showcase them." Other films showing on the Sunday afternoon include 'Every Dive is an Adventure' and 'The Deep'.

ilfracombefilmfestival

The 3-minute film about my work was made by award-winning filmmaker Mikey Corker, another talented North Devon resident. We have more mini movies in the pipeline. For a full programme of festival films, please click here.

 

 

Get 'The Point'

I've written before about the amazing pool of talent here in North Devon where I live and work; Mark King is the editor and publisher of The Point magazine - an annual, limited-edition documentary photography publication now in its fourth edition.

I'm humbled to have 11 full pages dedicated to my taxidermy and assemblage art in the issue that's just hit the shops. Mark's eye for layout clearly comes from his skill as a photographer in his own right, with clever use of white space, minimal text and the photos close to full page.

Like me, Mark is a surfer with a passion for our environment; he often tackles issues such as marine litter and the protection of our oceans and beaches. He lives in Croyde with his partner Caroline and son Eli. Only 1,000 of each edition are printed, and they are hand numbered collectors items.

Do the right thing, and make sure you get 'The Point'!

You can read more about my recent media coverage here on my Blog.

 

 

Paul Broomfield in print

My taxidermy and assemblage art is in print again this week, with a two-page spread in the culture section of Devon Life magazine, written by top media man Pete Robinson. It is great to see comprehensive coverage of my work in this high quality county magazine, and good to know that they support new art being created in the region.

The magazine is on the shelves now, and don't forget if you're out and about over the Easter holidays you can drop in and see a selection of my work at Broomhill Art Hotel. With the stunning Spring weather we're having it's a great place to visit as you can wander round the sculpture gardens and grab a bite to eat.

You can now find the print version of Woolacombe & Mortehoe Voice magazine in local shops which also features my art, plus limited edition copies of my self-published book of work are available to buy at Broomhill - you'll receive a complimentary copy when you purchase my art.

Broomhill exhibition for artist Paul Broomfield

The acclaimed Broomhill Art Hotel, just outside Barnstaple in North Devon, now has 14 of my pieces on display as part of its rolling exhibition featuring a variety of artists' work.

It includes several of my new and unique taxidermy and assemblage boxes, and for the first time a group of my paintings from the series entitled 'Looking west from Croyde'.

I'm really honoured to have so much of my art in one place. Most of the pieces are in the main gallery, while you'll need to meander through the dining areas to see the others.

If you haven't checked it out yet, or perhaps not been for a while, Broomhill is home to the National Sculpture Prize, the stunning sculpture gardens and the award-winning restaurant Terra Madre. 

In another first for me, I will be giving a talk at Broomhill on the evening of Wednesday May 11th 2016 for the North Devon Arts group. I will be interviewed in-front of the audience by my friend & award-winning journalist Pete Robinson, about my work and my life. Exciting times!

Paul Broomfield artist - in the media

My taxidermy and assemblage art is featured a two-page spread in this month's Woolacombe & Mortehoe Voice magazine, the first edition of 2016.

It is great to have the support of local publications like this in my home area of North Devon. You can read it below, or pick up a print copy at outlets in the Woolacombe area. The piece is written by journalist & media man Peter Robinson.

Also coming up soon, a feature will be in the April edition of Devon Life magazine out later this month, and I'm delighted to say the short film about my art shot by Mikey Corker has been accepted in the inaugural Ilfracombe Film Festival which runs from April 22nd - 24th.

Parrot After Dürer - tribute to an icon

Albrecht Dürer was a painter, printmaker and theorist from Germany (1471 - 1528). While his watercolours mark him as one of the first European landscape artists, he became renowned for his woodcuts that had a darker edge and took art in a new direction.

Parrot - After Dürer is a hand-made wooden assemblage box (480w x 670h x 250d mm), featuring vintage taxidermy parrot wing and head, antique bottles, antiqued glass, gesso, paper, metal and stone.

This piece is inspired by Dürer's stunning 'Wing of a Roller' watercolour and gouache painting from 1512, which exhibits vibrant colour & detail of a European blue-bellied roller's wing. The original is held by the Albertina Museum, Vienna.


Textile talent - Emma Cocker

We're lucky to have a huge pool of talent among our friends here in North Devon - earlier this month we launched the short film about my work by fellow surfer and award-winning filmmaker Mikey Corker; now we've commissioned the textile artist Emma Cocker to create a bespoke piece for us.

Emma creates what she describes as; "quintessentially English characters, fabric sculptures and illustrations inspired by the coast and countryside here in North Devon."

Her work is crafted in knit & stitch, combining antique, vintage and reclaimed textiles with British wool. From ethical textile taxidermy in the form of stags' horns and a dapper fox dressed in his best hunting suit, to a crew of salty seadogs - Emma likes to create pieces that surprise and question.

Emma is creating a portrait box of our four dogs that we're looking forward to having in pride of place in our home - Black Labradors Pablo, Lola and Modigliani (named after artist Amedeo Modigliani), and our Jack Russell girl Winnie.

Emma works mainly on commissions, so if you're inspired please get in touch - you can find a selection of pieces for sale on her etsy shop and at a small number of UK stockists, plus key exhibitions around the country.


New film documents work of Paul Broomfield taxidermy & assemblage artist

I'm delighted to release today the first short film by award-winning documentary maker Mikey Corker that follows my work as a taxidermy and assemblage artist.

The film is available to watch and share on both Vimeo and YouTube, and it examines where I find inspiration for my work, and why I started out on this creative journey. The featured piece towards the end of the film is a new work 'Conscious while the world sleeps', which was created as a tribute to one of my favourite paintings by Mary Krishna.

North Devon based filmmaker Mikey Corker has won awards for his work at the prestigious Waimea Ocean Film Festival in Hawaii for a documentary about the British big wave surfer Andrew Cotton, and from the National Trust at the annual London Surf Film Festival.

Bury my heart at wounded knee (II)

This is the final piece in my trilogy of tributes to Native Americans & their fight to preserve their lands and culture.

'Bury my heart at wounded knee (II)' is a bespoke assemblage box containing one of my original sketches, behind verre églomisé treated glass to give a distressed look, brass gun shell cases, parrot tail feathers, with antique glasses, shelf and mirror behind (535mm wide, 790mm high, 245mm deep).

It is titled after the 1970 book of the same name by author & historian Dee Brown that covers the history of Native Americans from their perspective. It describes a series of betrayals and injustices by the US government, who are depicted as destroying indigenous culture.

Wounded Knee is where the last major confrontation took place between the US Army and Native Americans. It is where Crazy Horse's parents buried his heart and some of his bones after his death in 1877.

You can read about the other two pieces in this trilogy by following these links:

http://www.paulbroomfield.co.uk/blog/burymyheartatwoundedknee

http://www.paulbroomfield.co.uk/blog/2016/1/18/crazy-horse


Bury my heart at wounded knee

This week's featured piece of assemblage art is the first of two entitled 'Bury my heart at wounded knee' - after the 1970 book of the same name by author & historian Dee Brown that covers the history of Native Americans from their perspective.

My work follows the theme of the book, which describes a series of betrayals and injustices by the US government, who are portrayed as destroying Native American culture through warfare, forced relocations and persecution.

'Bury my heart at wounded knee (1)' is a 470mm x 610mm x 190mm assemblage box featuring one of my original pencil drawings, antiqued mirror glass, bird skull & vertebrae with vintage frame and antique bullet, billiard ball and brass plaque.

Wounded Knee was the location of the last major confrontation between the US Army and Native Americans. It is also the place where Crazy Horse's parents buried his heart and some of his bones after his death in 1877.


Crazy Horse - a native American inspiration

This recent piece of assemblage art is inspired by the memory of the legendary warrior Crazy Horse. He was leader of the Lakota Sioux, celebrated for his battle skills as well as his efforts to preserve Native American traditions and way of life.

It features a horse skull and antique taxidermy Kingfisher, a symbol of giving a horse speed into battle; a 19th Century ink pot and blue parrot feather represent the hollow words of the treaty with the Americans.

Crazy Horse resisted efforts to force the Sioux on to reservations, and fought alongside Sitting Bull and others in the American-Indian wars, and was instrumental in the defeat of George Armstrong Custer’s forces at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. After surrendering to federal troops in 1877, he was killed amid rumours of a planned escape.


Outsider art - Ian Sherman

One of my good friends and fellow artist is Ian Sherman - he gave a ground-breaking talk at the Royal Academy of Arts on 'outsider art', the first time this revered body has looked at this area of the art world. The panel in London was chaired by the Editor of Raw Vision magazine John Maizels, and featured Thomas Roeske, Director of the Prinzhorn Collection; Marc Steene, Director of Pallant House Gallery and Founder of Outside In; Jane England, Director of England & Co Gallery and Ian Sherman, an artist associated with the 'Outside In' project. The point of bringing them together was to consider the inclusion of Outsider Art in the commercial art market and the impact this has on artists, collectors and collections.

As a taxidermy & assemblage artist and painter, I consider myself to be an outsider artist because other than my apprenticeships & mentoring, I didn't have any formal training after I left school. Ian himself prefers to call himself an 'idiosyncratic' artist because his work is often split between two or more styles. I'm proud to have a few of Ian's assemblage pieces in my own art collection (see the gallery below).

He lives and breaths his work, and is massively prolific - with stunning oil on board pieces sitting alongside his quirky and intricate assemblage and sculptural work (like me often using found objects). His creations have been widely documented and exhibited by Pallant House gallery in Chichester.

Ian is a great inspiration to me, and I urge you to check out his work and support those of us who are creating art on the outside of an inside world. A belated happy new year to everyone on my team, family, friends and supporters.

Conscious while the world sleeps - taxidermy art after Mary Krishna

There is a shamanic, mythical theme to my newest piece of taxidermy art - 'Conscious while the world sleeps'. It features a painted barn owl standing on a gilt-wood George III Corinthian column base, surrounded by koi carp, goldfish, vintage hessian sacking and with one clawed foot clasping an antique snooker ball.

It is inspired by one of my favourite paintings that I acquired about 15 years ago. The Owl is an oil on canvas piece by noted British artist Mary Krishna (1909 - 1968). You can see it in the gallery below. For me it invokes thoughts of dreams and lost time.

You may have an animal totem at your birth, and it's said some of the pure of heart can see their totem - children in particular. They can be a strong symbol for change in life.

Owls are steeped in myths, many of them very dark; Greeks and Romans believed witches could turn themselves into owls, although in other cultures it's believed an owl would hoot to warn of the approach of a witch. For a time in England it was believed you could improve your eyesight by cooking owl eggs to an ash which would be added to a potion to drink.


A book of work

I have published a book to showcase my taxidermy art to galleries and collectors. It features 38 unique pieces of artwork, with descriptions and close-ups of many of the key details.

Inside the front and back covers I have delved into art's ancient past and used paper marbling, a technique of decoration that dates back thousands of years and was first used in the Far East.

When you buy one of my taxidermy art pieces you will receive a complimentary copy of my book. They are also being sent out to key galleries in the UK and abroad in 2016, and a limited number will soon be available to buy.

I am indebted to graphic designer Andy Wright from Coast Creative in Braunton for helping me bring this project to life, and to my partner Charlotte Hunter for her work on the text. There is a small team of dedicated and talented friends who support me behind the scenes in many different ways - thank you to you all.



Recording the process of taxidermy art

There is a huge amount of talent here in North Devon, and I have been honoured to have award-winning filmmaker Mikey Corker following my work this week.

Mikey is a fellow surfer, and has built a global reputation through documenting another local man Andrew Cotton in his quest to surf the biggest waves on the planet! I'm keen to record the process behind my taxidermy art, and the techniques that are used in the modern era in this ancient practice.

In the photos you can see me working on a carp that died from natural causes at a local lake. While I love re-using antique taxidermy pieces, I have learned how to carry out taxidermy myself so that I can achieve exactly the effect I want when I assemble my new works of art. Mikey is not only filming me in the studio, he's going diving in the lake to show the habitat where the fish live - now that's real dedication in a British winter!

We plan to release the first completed short film by Mikey Corker in the New Year, watch this space.

The Goodman Fish

I recently sold two pieces of my taxidermy art to prominent collectors from my ongoing exhibition at the Broomhill Art Hotel in North Devon; one is a work with a lot of personal importance, the 'Goodman Fish'.

David Goodman was a renowned artist and conservator who trained at the Royal Academy of Art in London. I had the privilege to serve a five year apprenticeship with him learning the skills of gilding, carving, painting and conservation. He has been one of the most influential figures in my career as an artist. David died in 2013 aged 95.

One of his key mantras was the use of vertical stripes in art. I followed this in the 'Goodman Fish' - two gilded perch with stripes behind that mirror the natural beauty of these wonderful creatures.

All the animals used in my taxidermy art come from either antique collections, or as in this case, have died of natural causes and have been ethically sourced. The second work sold is a commission, using silver gilded koi carp.

Taxidermy art in the media

It's good to see the contemporary taxidermy art movement getting coverage in the media in the last few days. The Financial Times included a feature on Harriet Horton in the 'how to spend it' section of their website - describing how "neon lighting and pop colours enliven the macabre".

http://howtospendit.ft.com/personal-luxuries/94701-harriet-horton-a-playful-take-on-taxidermy

Dirge Magazine looked at the book published at the end of last year by Robert Marbury, 'Taxidermy Art' which aims to dispel misconceptions about this ancient form of work, saying it is "fusing unlikely elements together to create whimsical, grotesque, or elegant works of art".

The ancient art of gilding

The technique of gilding dates back thousands of years to ancient Egypt & is mentioned in Homer's Odyssey. I use 24 Carat gold leaf in my taxidermy art to gild creatures of all shapes & sizes to mount in my assemblage boxes. I'm currently working on some insects, which is incredibly tricky as they are so fragile.

I've mentioned in my Blog before about how I am passionate about wildlife & our environment; I would never harm an animal. I only use things in my work that have died of natural causes & been found, or vintage taxidermy.

For the piece 'Grace' shown here, I water-gilded a Hornet that I found dead at my home when I was living in France a decade ago. It is mounted in an old sherry glass, and sits beneath a part gilded Great Tit taken from an antique case of taxidermy. Gilding is a painstaking technique which requires a lot of preparation & care by me & the small team of artisans I am training to work for me. Imagine being the first person to come up with this idea, thousands of years ago.