alun callender's blog

Ed Kluz is an artist, designer, illustrator and printmaker. His interests lie in the historical objects, buildings, landscapes and folklore of Britain. His collages, scraperboards and paintings reimagine the traces of the past through contemporary eyes and means. He has a particular interest in lost buildings and landscapes. At the core of his work lies a sense of English Romanticism.

We have worked on this short film to describe his work, inspirations, working practises and his collaboration with the St Jude’s Gallery.

The work he produces is stunning, in the great tradition of mid 20th century British art.

A Conversation with Ed Kluz from Alun Callender on Vimeo.

www.edkluz.co.uk

www.stjudesfabrics.co.uk/collections/ed-kluz

Day one of back to work in 2013, I found myself at home with renowned Couture designer Bruce Oldfield in his apartment in Knightsbridge.

A very lovely man, it’s so nice that the most successful often are.

In the Autumn I met up with Ptolemy Mann, textile artist and colour guru.

We first met in 2011 when I photographed her for Homes & Gardens magazine, and become a great fan of her work.

I was very happy to discover that she is now living in East Sussex, so a visit was arranged to make a portrait of her for my current personal project of Sussex artists.

Fabric was hung from trees and an outdoor studio was created.

As part of my East Sussex artists portrait project I entered the colourful world of Laura Oakes.

She creates digital ‘decoupage’, multi layered artworks from a wide selection of  surprising influences.

You’ll find her work online, for sale in her shop in Rye and tasteful establishments about the country.

 http://www.lauraoakes.co.uk

Chris McHugh is an influential artist who paints abstract, expressive landscapes, often painting directly onto reclaimed materials.

I meet him in his studio in Brighton while he was finalising his Wide Horizon Panoramas,  landscape paintings which were painted onto scaffold and floor boards.

It was a total pleasure to meet someone so knowledgeable and so happy to share his passion in the arts.

It was almost eight years now that I turned up early one morning at the Royal Ballet with my now retired Nikon FM2′s and a pro pack of Tri-x pan (the best black and white film ever) to take some images of Darcy Bussell to compliment an at home feature I had made the previous day for Red magazine.

It was a most exhilarating and inspiring hour and a real pleasure to photograph her as she flew about the studio with such beauty and grace.

Christian Funnell is an artist and sculptor based in Newhaven.

He is already famed in the area for his previous Cormorant sculpture that had stood in the river for the past 12 years.

This year he was commissioned by the local council to create a new one to replace it.

Now the impressive figure of a Cormorant sits proudly at the gateway to this industrial port and should hopefully watch over its long due regeneration.

www.christianfunnell.com

During the Summer Homes & Gardens magazine commissioned me to head West into the beautiful Pembrokeshire landscape for a return visit to Melin Tregwynt.

The Mill is now run by Eifion Griffiths the third generation of his family to run the mill, he is renowned for having re-invented the tradition of weaving Welsh double cloth and produces fabric with bold colourful designs.

It was a day well spent with people who are passionate about the mill and a product that is embedded in its locality and provenance but looks to compete on a national and international stage.

www.melintregwynt.co.uk

“If Peter Blake is the Paul McCartney of collage, then O’Neill is its Tom Waits, a pre-digital artist for a post-digital age.”

I met up with Martin O’Neill last month while he was getting ready to open his studio on the sea front for Hastings and St Leonard’s Coastal Currents arts festival.

The studio was full of fascinating collections of airfix models, toy ambulances and 1970′s magazines, which reflects in his work which is a fusion of nostalgia, kitsch and the surreal to create something that is at the cutting edge of art.

http://cutitout.co.uk

Christine Kowal-Post creates stunning, totemic sculptures from single pieces of wood.

Her work focuses on the female form and is an exploration of women’s lives, in which she expresses with a directness that can at times shock but always inspire.

I photographed her in her converted cow shed and now studio in the Cuckmere valley for my East Sussex Artists project, it was a fascinating couple of hours spent with her.

http://www.christinekowalpost.com