Feeney Fellows 2014

Melanie Tomlinson

Artist Melanie Tomlinson works with metal and illustration to produce sculptural works of art.

She says: “I am really pleased to have been awarded a Feeney Fellowship. The award will allow me to introduce the use of ceramics into my work – a new material for me, and one I have been interested in for a long time. I will be exploring porcelain under the guidance of ceramicists Jitka Palmer and Phillip Hardaker and researching ways to combine this new material with my established medium of printed steel. The flora and fauna found alongside the canals of Birmingham will serve as inspiration for my artistic journey and experimentation. I will be sharing my research with schools in Birmingham so pupils can learn about local canal wildlife through art workshops.”

>> Melanie's final report (PDF)
>> Melanie's Experiments with Ceramics blog
>> Melanie's website

Ruth Hopkins

Musician Ruth Hopkins is a performer, composer and arranger, who is seeking to develop a wider repertoire of Central European music for her group, K'antu Ensemble.

She says "The Feeney Fellowship is a great opportunity for me to access specialist tuition in Early and Central European musical styles and techniques in the UK, in preparation for a research trip to Hungary. During my time there, I will experience the repertoire in context and receive further tuition. Upon my return to the UK, I will use this knowledge to develop new arrangements for my early music ensemble K'antu who perform extensively across the West Midlands and beyond."

>> Ruth's final report (PDF)
>> Ruth Hopkins' website
>> Ruth's research trip to Hungary
>> K'antu Ensemble's website

Simon & Tom Bloor

Artists Simon & Tom Bloor work across a range of sculptural processes and contexts.  Recent public art projects in concrete have been produced for them by professional fabricators but they now wish to have a greater understanding of the processes and to be able to experiment further with concrete for the production of their sculptures.

"As artists whose work evolves from our experience of Birmingham’s urban history and landscape, concrete is a material that is close to our hearts. The Feeney Fellowship will allow us to spend some dedicated time experimenting and researching concrete’s possibilities as a sculptural material, going beyond basic casting and rendering into the realm of plasticisers, dyes and other additives. Exploring the material’s possibilities will give us a wealth of knowledge when creating artworks for exhibitions and for the public realm and we hope our insight can be shared with other artists to add to the city’s visual arts knowledge bank."

>> Simon and Tom's final report (PDF)
>> Simon and Tom Bloor's website

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