SpaceUp UK Kings College London

SpaceUp UK
Friday 3rd June
Kings College London

I love the power of social media and the opportunities that can arise from it! After one of the organisers of SpaceUp UK Charlie Laing, had liked an image of mine on instagram I messaged him on the off chance he might be up for a chat about all things spacey to help inform my work better. From this Charlie invited me to talk and show some of my work at the event.

SpaceUP is an excellent opportunity to meet like-minded people and discuss topics related to human spaceflight, exploration, satellites, space tourism and more. The event is partly set up as an “unconference”, which means you also get to decide part of what gets talked about in dedicated sessions and most importantly, take an active part in joining in the debates.

It is like the best bits of a formal conference – the coffee break discussions, networking and excitement at new ideas.

You will get to hear from some incredible speakers on the day in-between breakouts, from cellular science and physiology, plantary science to astrophysics, art in science communication and supporting education in STEMM, to current issues encountered with human spaceflight and satellite constellations.

 

 

 

To say I was a little nervous to be speaking at such a prestigious venue as well as in front of some of the best minds the country has to offer would be an understatement. But to my surprise it went pretty well and people seemed to enjoy it. With feedback including "beautiful" and "that was bloody fantastic!" Here is the transcript of my talk.

Good afternoon everyone

Many thanks for coming along to hear a little bit about my work and practice. I hope you have enjoyed seeing the few pieces on display and being projected.

My names Loz Atkinson. I’ve been a full time practicing artist for over 8 years. I like to think of my work as provocative yet hopeful. Playing with perceptions of what is seen and not seen. I like to create detail, light and colour using layering techniques with paint to give visual, as well as evocative depth.

The start of this work came about a few years ago with notions of wanting to create something mixing nature, geometry, science, maths and psychology. I feel I approach my art practice in quite a scientific way, seeing a question or a problem and working out a way to show that best. Never really looking for an answer necessarily but more of an understanding? Facts, Information, history, nature, life, existentialism and the bondless curiosity of a child or a scientist have always fed my practice whether in a literal sense or in a not so pronounced way.

The sky, be it during the day or at night has always fascinated me, daydreaming watching clouds or being in my youth at least scared of the unfathomable vastness of the universe. That old adage of being fearful of something you don’t really understand. Nature has always been a considerable source of inspiration so I really wanted to create some work to do that inspiration justice. I’ve always enjoyed the strong link between nature and science, as most things are there waiting to be discovered, explained and utilized by great minds such as yourselves.

The cloud series of paintings is concerned with the human need to contemplate, measure, understand and conquer the existential mysteries of the universe, why are we here? What does it all mean? Which of course we are all intrinsically a part of, showing the folly yet importance of such endeavors.

John Lubbock in his book “the use of life” from 1894 said

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”

Adopting the psychological phenomena of Pareidolia - the experience of seeing pattern in random or meaningless data like seeing faces in wood grain, highlighting that indistinct stimuli represented by the clouds by overlaying them with the Golden Ratio expressed as a geometric grid can be forced to be perceived as significant. Commenting that maybe the things we focus on aren’t the significant things we think they are and are missing something bigger.

The golden ratio or fibanacci sequence has obviously been used throughout history in art and architecture and then of course is found in nature. In the swirls of seashells, seed patterns in sunflowers and the spiral of many galaxies… As well as clouds here on earth being an inspiration that grew the work to include these huge cosmic clouds

The Imagined Nebula series continues some of the themes demonstrating the inability to accurately describe the vastness of something, which is so difficult to even perceive never mind portray or understand, especially when we are such a fundamental part of those systems. As Carl Sagan would say "For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love."

Creating the objects within the paintings using different textures so they have no definitive edge that can be perfectly measured showing that however much we think we know or how ever close to those all important answers, we’re always just that invisible line away. Questioning if we can ever be fully objective to such a subjective thing?

To quote carl sagan again “Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return, and we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”

The work also touches on the Macro and Micro aspects of the universe that these huge clouds of gas and dust are made of the same elements that make up us and everything around us and even the geometric structures of these elements can be found in both huge unfathomable colossal bodies as well as the tiniest microscopic particles and forces that hold everything together. I like that geometry is a language. I love the thought that we are the universe experiencing itself and that the huge can also be the small.

Alan Watts once said “You are a function of what the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is a function of what the whole ocean is doing.” 

I feel I’m very much at the start of this journey of learning, discovery and rediscovery and am very exciting to see how this strain of work develops in the future. And who is to say these Imagined Nebula don’t exist somewhere in the infinite expanse of the universe.

Thanks you so much for listening and having me here at such a fantastic event. I’d just like to say that as important as STEM science, technology engineering and maths are in this world I’m very much in the mindset and in agreement with Dava Newman Deputy administrator of NASA, that this should be expanded to STEAM science technology engineering arts and maths. In the past they weren’t seen as so different and I think the bridging of that gap and the amount we have to offer each other in critical thinking, imagination and creativity to face the challenges we do in this world is as infinitely boundless as the universe itself. Thank you.

 

There were so many fantastic and fascinating speakers like Rochelle Velho and Matthieu Komorowski who spoke about how do you deal with medical issues and illness in space. Libby Jackson from the UK Space Agency talking about her amazing career and all the educational out reach of Tim Peake's mission. Thais Russomano talking about her journey from being a hopeful to become Brazils first astronaut to becoming the Space Doctor!

 

A huge thank you to Charlie Laing and Phil Carvil for having me and for putting on such a fantastic event! For more information please visit www.spaceupuk.org

Loz creates award for The Short Cinema

Loz creates award for The Short Cinema

The Short Cinema is an annual short film festival held at Phoenix, Leicester showcasing established and emerging talent from across the world with a strong focus on Midlands makers.

Offering an exciting mix of films irrespective of genre, style or budget, The Short Cinema provides local writers, producers and directors with the opportunity to exhibit their work on the big screen to a discerning audience of film-lovers.

The festival also provides filmmakers with an opportunity to meet and discuss their work with their peers, strengthening bonds with the Midlands filmmaking community.

Over the last nine years, The Short Cinema has grown from a small grassroots screening to a much bigger (still grass roots) festival. Its aim is to continue this growth, exploring and providing new opportunities for anyone involved in Midlands film to develop and exhibit their work, both in the region and around the world.

Loz was approached by festival director Alexzandra Jackson to be the first artist  to create the 'Best in Festival' award.  Alex said "we're extremely pleased and proud to have Loz create our award."

"The theme of this years festival was based around how cinema creates its own universes, so it just had to be my imagined nebula work!" Loz continues, "When Alexzandra got in touch i was really thrilled and jumped at the chance to create something really different and special for the festival."

The festival took place at Phoenix, Leicester’s centre for independent cinema, art and digital culture. Submissions from all over the globe were shown over the 2 day festival at the end of August 2015.

Taking the coveted "Best in Festival" award for 2015 was 'Stereotype' Directed by Jordan McGibney and Written and Produced by Luke McGibney.

Loz returns for the inaugural edition of The Other Art Fair in Bristol

Loz returns for the inaugural edition of The Other Art Fair in Bristol, launching on 5-7 June at the iconic Arnolfini.

Exhibiting and available to buy at the fair will be Loz's new Imagined Nebula work as well as her signature Cloud/line works

As the UK's leading artist fair, The Other Art Fair gives art lovers the unique opportunity to buy directly from 70 of the best emerging and undiscovered artists.

Celebrated for its unique visitor experience, The Other Art Fair’s first edition in Bristol will feature a fantastic talks programme, live art performance, anthropomorphic taxidermy classes, immersive theatre, a 'kids create' area with the magical House of Fairy Tales, live music and much more. 

“Overflowing with creative talent” Time Out

“It’s worth the hype” The Independent

For more information click here...

Website News Archive - Dolphin Auction Creates Huge Splash

Dolphin Auction Creates a Huge Splash For Charities

Aberdeen has gone Dolphin mad this summer with a colourful pod of wild dolphins gracing locations across the city. 50 life sized dolphin sculptures were transformed by the imaginations of leading artists, designers and creative’s. All the dolphins were sponsored by local/national businesses, with the whole city falling in love with each and every dolphin even creating a new social media craze the "dolphie" a dolphin selfie, which flooded twitter and instagram feeds all summer long.

The culmination of the event saw 18,000 visitors coming to bid farewell to the dolphins for one last weekend. The pod in the quad saw all 50 sculptures placed together at Marischal College, and gave the public one last chance to see see their favourites before being auctioned.

On 10th September at Aberdeen Music Hall all 50 Dolphins were put up for auction and the results were beyond anyones wildest dreams. The sold out auction saw a full house eager bidders as well as an extensive following all the action live online. With the money raised going to WDC (Whale and Dolphin Conservation) and the ARCHIE Foundation, the charity which supports sick children at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital.

Loz Atkinson who created an un quenched defiance to the stars said "I couldn't make the live auction but was excitedly watching live online and as the evening went on i have to say i was blown away by the ammounts being bid, and when my doll came up to say i was elated is an understatement! I even shead a tear of joy knowing she'd be going to a very loving home and that all the dolphins had done an amazing job for the charities."

Loz's Dolphin sold for an astronomic £22,000 the second highest selling dolphin of the night. The biggest sale of the night was "Golfin Dolphin", which featured the signatures of many of the world's top players, including Phil Mickelson, Paul McGinley, and Paul Lawrie all playing in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open which sold for £55,000.

In total the auction raised an incredible £531,000 to be split between the two charities.

David Cunningham, chief executive of The ARCHIE Foundation, said: "It was staggering and amazing. We are so humbled by the generosity of the people of Aberdeen.

Website News Archive - All Aboard the Clouded Bus

All Aboard the Clouded Bus

Artist Loz Atkinson’s CumulonimBUS joins 60 strong convoy to celebrate London’s Year of the Bus

2014 has been dubbed The Year of the Bus with Transport for London marking a number of significant milestones and anniversaries. It's been 60 years since the creation of the iconic Routemaster, 75 years since the launch of the RT-Type bus and 100 years since the world's first mass-produced motor bus, the B-Type 'Battle Bus' that carried soldiers to the frontline during the First World War.

As part of the Year of the Bus celebrations, painted and adorned bus sculptures will be displayed in free and accessible locations across London’s streets, parks and public spaces from 22 September for seven weeks. Following the display, the artworks will be auctioned to raise invaluable funds for three charities: Kids Company, Transaid and London Transport Museum.

60 sculptures of the new Routemaster bus will be transformed by the imaginations of leading artists, designers and creative’s. Each bus will be sponsored by local/national businesses. The Year of the Bus sculpture trail will culminate in an auction, with the money raised going to:

Kids Company who provide practical, emotional and educational support to inner-city children, young people and vulnerable families

Transaid who identify, champion, implement and share local transport solutions to improve access to basic services and economic opportunity for people in Africa and in developing countries.

London Transport Museum who highlights the vital role transport has played in the life of the capital.  Also delivering essential travel safety education to keep our children safe, and running programmes to help young people into employment.

Including her talents is artist Loz Atkinson, 29, who lives and works in Leicester. Her Bus is titled "CumulonimBUS” has been hand painted with realistic representations of cumulonimbus cloud formations.

Loz, explains, "Clouds have always fascinated me with the way they capture our imaginations and day dreams. With the trail helping to raise vital funds for many charities who help children I hope the clouds will capture the imagination of visitors and encourage a playful childlike enjoyment of the art trail.”

Loz has been involved in many large scale public art events in the past, painting sculptures for Elephant Parade London in 2010 then Hornbills, eggs and phone boxes. Her egg sculpture, for The Big Egg Hunt 2012 sponsored by Faberge had a mini tour of Leicester cultural venues including Embrace Arts, before being displayed on the streets of London. Through the sale of these works, Loz has helped to raise nearly £15,000 going towards many different animal conservation and children’s charities.

Loz continues “Being able to paint the bus at Embrace Arts has been a huge pleasure with them being absolutely amazing hosts and looking after us very well. Having had the egg on display here a couple of years ago it was definitely a treat to come back and work in such a great environment”

Michaela Butter, Director of Embrace Arts, said: “We were delighted to support artist Loz Atkinson by providing her with a venue to create this new work. At Embrace Arts, we are always keen to offer artists opportunities to build their careers and to share pioneering work. It was great to have Loz in residence to develop CumulonimBUS, providing a platform to raise Leicester’s artistic profile within the UK.”

Loz’s Bus as well as 60 others will be on display from 22nd September in key locations across the Capital.

For more information on The Year of the Bus Art Trail please visit http://www.tfl.gov.uk/campaign/year-of-the-bus?cid=fs114

Review of the Year 2014

What a crazy year 2014 has been. The rides gone up and down, around and around, it had thrills and chills, and was very brightly coloured and after choosing love over fear here we are on the flip side in 2015 ready for another to begin. We've all loved and lost, won and learned and here in no particular order is how it all went down...

The beginning of the year seem to start out with a lot of news and firsts. Mainly the new website was launched having had a whole redesign with new pages and lots of new or never before seen work up available to view. Visit www.lozatkinson.co.uk for all the latest.

New digital 'Hellscapes' were created adding to the ongoing 'see you there' series inspired by Dante's Inferno. A project I've been working on since 2007, it was great to revisit the work after quite a long hiatus from working digitally, with hopefully more being created and hopefully shown this year.  

When hell freezes over

 Taking part in 'The Image is the Servant' where i created artwork live in response to a collaberative music performance. With over 40 creatives taking part in an intriguing live performance where the collective, creative efforts of specifically curated, artists, poets and musicians battle for domination, with live generated photographic images. Can the image outshine reality and no longer be “the servant” as Beaudelaire said, but become the main constituent? 

Hit And Run from Honest Dave on Vimeo.

A strangely wonderful evening with the creative rawness palpable to anyone lucky enough to be there to experience it. Thousands more claim to have been at Reading when nirvana played that historic set in 1992 than were actually there and the same will be said of 'the image is the servant".

An unquenched defiance to the stars

Designing and creating "an unquenched defiance to the stars" for Wild Dolphins which took place in the summer in Aberdeen. Wild in Art created more than 50 dolphin sculptures to be transformed by the imaginations of leading artists, designers and creative’s. Wild Dolphins culminated in a live auction raising over £500,000 with an unquenched defiance selling for an astronomical £22,000. The money raised went to WDC (Whale and Dolphin Conservation) and the ARCHIE Foundation, the charity which supports sick children at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital.

Mark Shand and I at the Elephant Parade London artist party (2010)

The tragic passing of Elephant Family's head and founder Mark Shand in April was a huge shock and although having met but a handful of times, he impacted my life greatly and will be sadly missed. A warm and generous man that without his and the whole of the elephant family teams support, I certainly wouldn't be where I am today. He has left a truly great and lasting impression on my life, which i shall always hold dear and like his friends the elephants shall never forget him. His life's work was saving Asia's forgotten Elephants and you can help keep his dream of saving them from extinction alive here.

Prince's Trust wall of inspiration

I was honoured to be asked to create a piece of work for the Prince's Trust inspiring art event. Way back in 2009/2010 the Prince's Trust helped me with mentoring and a small loan to get me started on my self employed path and to be able to help give something back by doing what i love to help those who helped me was absolutely fantastic.

painting the cumulonimBUS

Being part of another Wild in Art event this time buses to celebrate TFL's Year of the Bus which saw the anniversary of many milestones within their history including 60 years since the creation of the iconic routemaster and 100 years since the B-type 'battle bus' helped transport troops to the western front in the First World War. Having set up a mini bus painting station at the amazing Embrace Arts as the bus was just that little too big for my studio, the cloud covered CumulonimBUS was born and has been placed in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park before being auctioned off at the end of January 2015 with the money raised going to Kids Company, Transaid and the London Transport Museum.

Trafalgar Square for the Year of the Bus launch

For more information here's a link to a BBC report where you may even see a familiar face http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-29660835

UK Young Artists showcase the best of the UK's young and innovative creative talent at regular national and international events. After being in Derby and Nottingham the festival came to Leicester and I was lucky enough to be selected as one of the 70 artists from across the UK to take part in a rich a varied programme of events as well as showcase some of my own work. A real breeding ground for new friendships and future collaborations made for a really exciting and dynamic festival with many future possibilities to leave a lasting legacy.

alsongside my work at UKYA festival

The major news of the year was being selected to exhibit at The Other Art Fair in the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, London.

Opening night of The Other Art Fair

The insanely hot October edition saw over 13,000 visitors peruse buy and admire 130 artists stands including stand 131 with Zoe Childerley and I exhibiting together for the first time showing brand new work. Although created independently the work shared a common interest in the human need to measure, comprehend, conquer and solve the existential mysteries of the universe, which we are intrinsically a part.

The Other Art Fair - Opening night

Using psychological theory, field of view studies and mathematics in the work to highlight the folly yet importance of such endeavors. The work although fundamentally different in medium and technique created a really interesting and dynamic stand generating a lot of positive comments, contacts and sales! With both our work featuring in online reviews and highlights of the fair.

After being spotted at The Other Art Fair a selection of both mine and Zoe's work is currently on display as part of 'Contemporary Boom' at Artvera's Gallery in Geneva, Switzerland.

Contemporary Boom - Opening night

Contemporary Boom - Exhibition view

On until the 24th January 2015 the exhibition highlights the works of nineteen contemporary artists, originating from the UK, South Korea, France and Switzerland. Pictures, paintings, collages, sculptures and ceramics mix references to street art, eroticism and pop art. They offer above all an explosion of colours.

Contemporary Boom - Exhibition view

This on going series of cloud paintings adopting the psychological phenomena of Pareidolia and Apophenia, the experience of seeing pattern in random or meaningless data. Mixing this with the Mathematical Golden Ratio expressed as a geometric grid highlights that indistinct stimuli represented by the clouds can be forced to be perceived as significant. I'm really taken by this subject matter with the work developing quite significantly over the year, continuing this in to 2015.

One of the last things to happen in 2014 was the launch of my new online shop. Especially designed for this range of useful art works for all, Using my signature style of graphic depictions of mouths I've taken Phoneme mouth shapes of certain words to create these striking pieces.

'Useful' art for all

With many pieces selling already here's hoping with much more to be added soon including original works and fine art prints that the shop will be a huge hit in 2015.

So keep dropping by the website or find me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram for all the very latest. 

2015 promises to be just as crazy, busy and hectic if not more so than the last. So once more unto the breach dear friends once more and don't forget to enjoy the ride...

  

For Eileen yesterday, today, forever xx

Website News Archive - Loz Joins the Pod

Loz Is Making Waves In Aberdeen with stellar dolphin.

Artist Loz Atkinson’s Dolphin creation is making big waves as part of a new public charity art exhibition set to take over Aberdeen this summer.

Aberdeen, Scotland is to become the latest place to host a new citywide trail of uniquely painted sculptures. Life-size dolphins will grace locations across the city from Monday 23rd June until Friday 29th August.

More than 50 dolphin sculptures will be transformed by the imaginations of leading artists, designers and creative’s. Each dolphin will be sponsored by local/national businesses. Wild Dolphins will culminate in a live auction, with the money raised going to WDC (Whale and Dolphin Conservation) and the ARCHIE Foundation, the charity which supports sick children at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital.

Including her talents is artist Loz Atkinson. Her Dolphin is titled "an unquenched defiance to the stars” symbolising the fantastic work done by the two charities in the face of such adversity in each of their causes. Loz who was born in Inverness and spent many years of her childhood growing up in the North-east of Scotland said “I have many fond memories sitting on the beach at Lossiemouth looking out watching the Dolphins jumping, so when I was asked to join Wild Dolphins, how could I say no!”

Loz, explains, "My design takes inspiration from the constellation delphinus. The dramatic design, which will be hand painted, shows a nebula laden sky and will be littered with sparkling stars over which the constellation of the dolphin is made apparent. The dolphin will literally sparkle as a fine glitter spray will be used to make the sculpture really stand out and connect the stars with the shimmering of the actual animal in the ocean.”

Loz has been involved in many large scale public art events in the past, painting sculptures for Elephant Parade London in 2010 then Hornbills, eggs and phone boxes. Her egg sculpture, for The Big Egg Hunt 2012 sponsored by Faberge had a mini tour of Leicester cultural venues before being displayed on the streets of London. Through the sale of these works, Loz has helped to raise nearly £15,000 going towards many different animal conservation and children’s charities.

Loz continues “The work has a hopeful feel, containing stars. I imagine kids and grown ups alike looking up at those stars in the delphinus constelation and making wishes and felt these hopes, dreams and wishes for a better world reflected the work of the amazing charities wild dolphins will benefit.”

Other artists involed include Mandii Pope, Mary Butterworth, Mel Shand, Kirsty Anderson, Howard Butterwort and Sophie Green.

WDC’s fundraising manager, Stine Bang commented: “These graceful, intelligent and social creatures hold a special place in our hearts yet they face many threats. The Wild Dolphins event will not only raise awareness and vital funds for our work, but will also bring a smile to the faces of local people and tourists alike when they see these big sculptures on the streets of Aberdeen.”

Loz’s Dolphin which has been sponsored by The Chester Hotel, Aberdeen, will be on display on Queen's Road from Monday 23rd June.