My Website

My website is now up and running, please take a look:

www.pippaholman.com
www.pippaholman.co.uk

There are still improvements to be made and work to be added, but it is a start!

Recorders

Recorders was an exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery. Although a small exhibit, it is one of the best I have been to.

It was a solo exhibition by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, who created a set of electronic interactive artworks. The pieces had to receive human interaction in order for them to work. There was a set of microphones that when shouted into, would play back a previous recording of someone else. The imprint of personal items could be printed onto a conveyor belt. A large set of small devices asked question after question on a small digital screen, never repeating themselves: there was a keyboard where a question could be inputed, which was then displayed only once and then new questions were formed from the words; you never knew what questions were made by human or computer. The final room had a display of light bulbs hanging from the ceiling which pulsed light in different speeds, displaying the heart rates of guests.

I find interactive exhibitions like these, that get you involved and make you a part of it, really exciting. I found it very engaging: it was amazing how many memories could be recorded; and it made me really admire the skill of the artist and the amazing technology. It was fun and playful, like almost playing a game. It felt like it was as much about you as about the artist, rather than perhaps a contemporary fine art exhibition that features a bag of rubbish, that purely says: look at the crap I can get away with. Anyway... thats a rant for another occasion.

GREAT exhibition.

Leon and the Place Between

A gift from my brother: a gorgeous 'children's' book written by Angela McAllister, illustrated by Grahame Baker-Smith and designed by Mike Jolley.

I have put 'children's' in quotation marks as I really think this book can be enjoyed by everyone, children and adults alike. I think it is a beautiful, magical piece of art. It has a lovely story: Leon and his friends admiring a magic show, until Leon becomes part of the magic when he enters the magical box on stage and is taken to The Place Between. This place is where magic takes you: where the things that disappear in magic tricks end up, and it is a world full of mystery and enchantment and beauty.

The story is lovely, but the illustrations are stunning. Rich colours and lots of dazzling delights; wonderful friendly characters and a sense of endless space and action.

Along with these illustrations, the type that accompanies them is equally as fascinating. Almost retro, I think of old hand drawn signs for magic shows and circus's.

It is a book full of excitement, and it will be one I will treasure. It invigorates my imagination and takes me back to my childhood, and I just hope it is a true story... I will soon visit The Place Between...

I love magic and I will always like to have a little magic in my work.