Tag: Simone Padmore

Fresh Stops: Simone Padmore’s ‘Protector’ kicks off 2015

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SAM_1577

Fresh Milk and Adopt A Stop continue the Fresh Stops collaborative project, beginning 2015 with a piece by Simone Padmore titled ‘Protector’. In an attempt to bring art into the public space, six artists were commissioned to produce original artwork for benches that will appear at varied locations around the island.

The other participating artists include Evan Avery, Matthew Clarke, Versia Harris, Mark  King and Ronald Williams. This project creates visibility for the work of emerging creatives, allowing the public to encounter and interact with their pieces in everyday life, generating interest and inviting dialogue  about their practices.

‘Protector’ by Simone Padmore has now been installed at Hunte’s Gardens, St. Joseph . Thank you to Adopt A Stop for partnering with us to produce this beautiful bench, and to Hunte’s Gardens for agreeing to host it!

‘Protector’ by Simone Padmore at Hunte’s Gardens.
‘Protector’ by Simone Padmore at Hunte’s Gardens.

Artist Statement for Protector:

I originally wanted to work along the theme of Organic versus Geometric. During the process I repeatedly listened to a song by the name of ‘Iulius‘ by Justin Nozuka. It inspired me to create a deity or nymph for the bench and its surroundings. The song’s trance caused my work to turn out dominantly organic.

About Simone Padmore:

Simone Padmore, also known as Simone Asia, is an illustrator who was born on May 2nd, 1990 in Bridgetown, Barbados. Since the age of four she has been very interested in art, particularly the drawing of human figures. From 2006-2011, Simone attended the Barbados Community College (BCC) where she received her Associate’s Degree in Visual Arts and her Bachelor’s of Fine Art. Attending BCC exposed Simone to many different art forms, techniques and experimentation. As the days went by, she developed a stronger sensibility for drawing and a love for pen and ink, which today is her desired media of choice.

After college, Simone continued her independent practice and has exhibited in art shows and fund-raising events. Simone won an incentive award at NIFCA in 2011. She also was featured in magazines such as ARC Magazine, FuriaMag and Caribbean Beat, along with a few online fanzines.

Simone has done three residencies so far – Fresh Milk (Barbados) in 2012 and Projects & Space (Barbados) and Alice Yard (Trinidad) in 2014, all of which have contributed to the further development of her work.

Fresh Stops

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Fresh Stops

Fresh Milk  is pleased to announce a collaborative partnership with the local initiative Adopt A Stop to bring art into the public space, commissioning six young Barbadian artists to produce original artwork for the benches which will pop up around the island from October 2014. The artists are Evan Avery, Matthew Clarke, Versia Harris, Mark King, Simone Padmore and Ronald Williams. This project is an opportunity to create visibility for the work these emerging creatives are doing, allowing the public to encounter and interact with their pieces in everyday life, generating interest and inviting dialogue about their practices. These six benches are the first edition of, hopefully, many more to come. Stay tuned for more information as these benches come to a stop near you!

About Adopt A Stop:

The Adopt A Stop project provides socially beneficial advertising.in the form of bus shelters, benches and outdoor fitness stations at prime sites around Barbados. They embrace solar lighting, local materials and tropical design in keeping with their goal of environmental sustainability.

About the Artists:

Evan Avery

Evan Avery
Image by Evan Avery

Evan Avery is a young, Barbadian artist; and a graduate of the Barbados Community College, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine arts. His primary medium is acrylic paint; working with flat, bright colours, he creates compositions with characters ‘the Miniis’ which he uses to represent himself or others, as well as events in his life. He is now in the process of creating a business around his work, transferring his characters and ideas onto clothing and other objects as a means to share the ‘Miniis’ with people all over the world. From September 2013 – March 2014, Evan’s work was exhibited at Casa Tomada, Sao Paulo, in their public art programme ‘A Casa Recebe’.

Matthew Clarke

Matthew Clarke
Image by Matthew Clarke

Matthew Clarke‘s passion for art started at a young age, and he began participating in the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) while attending St. Michael’s School. Through the Festival, he achieved bronze, silver, gold and incentive awards, and went on to be the recipient of the Prime Minster’s Scholarship for Visual Art in 2003. Clarke completed his Associate Degree in Visual Art at the Barbados Community College (BCC) which earned him a Barbados Exhibition for tertiary studies, and in 2009 he obtained a Bachelor Degree with honours in Graphic Design at the same institution. He has freelanced for various design agencies (Virgo, 809, RED Advertising, G and A Communication, RCA) and worked at the Nation Publishing Company on the Attitude Magazine, creating its logo and design. He has also worked at Banks Holdings Limited (BHL), where he was appointed Internal Web Designer in charge of the Banks Beer website.

In addition to working on independent projects, he has been working as a graphic designer at RED Advertising and PR Agency as of 2011, where he is currently Deputy Creative Director. He is the co-owner and principle of a Caribbean comic company called Beyond Publishing, which has published over 22 books sold digitally and in print, both locally and internationally.

Versia Harris

Photograph by Omar Kuwas
Image by Versia Harris

Versia Harris is a Barbadian artist living and working in Weston, St. James. She graduated from the Barbados Community College with a BFA in the Studio Art programme in 2012, with an award from The Lesley’s Legacy Foundation. She has since participated in four residencies, regionally and internationally. In 2014, she was one of 83 artists selected to show in IV Moscow International Young Art Biennial. Versia tackles perceptions of fantasy in contrast to the reality of her original character. She uses Adobe Photoshop to manipulate her pen drawings to create the animations.

Mark King

Mark King
Image by Mark King

Mark King is a multidisciplinary Barbadian artist who explores archetypes and social norms. Interested in notions of topography and megalography, Mark makes coded, often satirical work that highlights social phenomena. The son of a former diplomat, mark has called several places home. Growing up in the Bahamas, Belgium and the United Sates has left Mark with a unique perspective that directly influences his artistic practice.

Mark holds a Masters of Fine Arts degree in Photography from the Academy of Art University is San Francisco, California. In 2011 the Lucie Foundation handpicked Mark for their apprenticeship programme. During the same year he participated in a screen-printing residency at Alice Yard in Port of Spain, Trinidad. In  2013, he participated in two residencies – Fresh Milk in Saint George, Barbados and Ateliers 89’ in Aruba for the Mondriaan Foundation’s Caribbean Linked II. Last year he released his first monograph, ‘Plastic’ through MOSSLESS publishing at The Newsstand in New York. Plastic has gone on to The 2013 New York Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1, The 8Ball Zine Fair, the 2013 I Never Read Art Book Fair in Basel, Switzerland, and The 2014 LA Art Book Fair in the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. In July – August of 2014, Mark’s work was on display as part of the International Artist Initiated project (IAI) hosted by the David Dale Gallery & Studios as part of The Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme, which took place alongside this year’s Commonwealth Games.

Simone Padmore

Simone Padmore
Image by Simone Padmore

Simone Padmore, also known as Simone Asia, is an Illustrator who was born on May 2nd, 1990 in Bridgetown, Barbados. Since the age of four she has been very interested in art, particularly the drawing of human figures. By the time she completed secondary school, Simone had decided that Visual Arts was the career path she would choose. From 2006-2011, Simone attended the Barbados Community College where she received her Associate’s Degree in Visual Arts and her Bachelor’s of Fine Art in Studio Art. Attending the Barbados Community College exposed Simone to many different art forms, techniques and experimentation. As the days went by she grew a stronger sensibility for drawing and developed a love for pen and ink which today is her desired choice of media. After college, Simone continued her independent practice. She has shown in art shows and fund-raising events. Simone won the incentive award at NIFCA in 2011. She also was featured in magazines such as the Arc Magazine, FuriaMag magazine and Caribbean Beat Magazine along with a few online fanzines. Simone has done two residencies so far – Fresh Milk in 2012 and Projects and Space in 2014. Simone is currently developing her personal work and is due to attend another residency in Trinidad with Alice Yard in August.

 Ronald Williams

Ronald Williams
Image by Ronald Williams

Ronald Williams is a multimedia artist and graduate of the Barbados Community College Fine Arts program. His work currently focuses on race and sociology, most recently investigating the role that sports and the black athlete play in society. He manipulates popular based imagery to compose computer-generated images that explore sports, perceptions, stereotypes and fantasies about the black athlete or figure. This collage series was shown in Scotland at the International Artist Initiated (IAI) project, presented by the David Dale Gallery & Studios as part of The Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme which took place alongside this year’s Commonwealth Games.

Residency Testimonials from Katherine Kennedy and Simone Padmore

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KATHERINE KENNEDY:

From the first time I learnt about artist residencies, I became keen to participate in them one day. This desire increased the more I heard other artists share their experiences, and talk about how inspirational and unique each one was, causing their practices to grow and adapt to different surroundings.  A visiting artist who came to speak to my class at Lancaster University said that after your first residency, you can’t wait to do another, and my involvement in Fresh Milk’s inaugural residency has definitely confirmed that for me.

            After graduating and returning to Barbados, I confess that my art practice came to more of a standstill than I would have liked. Although I was happy to be home, I was caught up in wondering what my next step should be, and the uncertainty led to a mental block where my creativity was concerned. I was struggling to familiarize myself with the art scene locally and regionally, while coming to terms with how to move forward without the studio environment that had become such a huge part of my life while studying. When I learned about Fresh Milk, and that it was offering a residency, it sparked my interest and in a way reawakened my drive to make art again, giving me a platform for the ideas that had been playing in the back of my mind to manifest.

            One of my favourite aspects was the ambiance, inside the studio and out. Although it was local, the countryside setting was still so different from where I live, and I found the scenic, peaceful atmosphere to be very stimulating. The studio was spacious and set out with lots of adequate work surfaces, as well as access to resources such as tools, materials, and a small but comprehensive library of art books, journals, biographies, magazines etc. for our perusal. Having this access and a place to call a work environment was instrumental in getting myself back into gear.

            It was also great to not only have the studio setting again, but to share it with someone as talented and fun as Simone. We did not know each other prior to the residency, which I think worked to our benefit because it added another level of freshness to the experience as we got to discover each other’s aims and styles, and gain new perspectives on our work. I loved having that back and forth of ideas and information from another artist again, and I feel that our coexisting in the same space improved our work ethic and motivated us to be more productive than either of us thought possible at the beginning of the week. The thought of creating resolved pieces in just five days intimidated both of us, but we surprised ourselves, Simone finishing not one, but two full pieces, and the scale of my work became much larger than I had anticipated. I think we found a balance of enjoying ourselves and getting along really well, while still maintaining our focus, and it was a pleasure to work alongside her; I hope to do so again in the future.

            Overall, I could not be happier with my introduction to artist residencies, and I would like to thank Annalee for everything she has done and the support she has given. She was more than accommodating, and willing to provide us with or help us source anything we needed – art related or otherwise. She gave us helpful advice, including telling me about the value of promoting work through exhibiting as well as in a virtual realm in this technological age, which she also did for us by working hard to give our work exposure in many ways, and hosting our exhibition at the end of the week. I feel a renewed sense of purpose, spurred on to keep this momentum going, and I am extremely grateful for being given this opportunity to reconnect with my artistic side. 

 

 

 

 

SIMONE PADMORE:

The Fresh Milk Platform hosted a five day residency called ‘Five days of Playing’, which was held from the 5th to the 9th of March, 2012. Along with myself-Simone Padmore, another young artist- Katherine Kennedy, a sculptor, participated in the residency. During those five days we had to produce work to be showcased on the 10th, March, 2012.

The experience was great and I found it so exciting that I was oblivious with whom I was participating.  Katherine expresses her work in sculpture and installation, while I express mine by drawing. The studio at Fresh Milk was spacious, the necessary facilities were provided – such as a library with a lot of artistic material to choose from and access to the internet from where we could gather inspiration.

Katherine and I gelled well. Our media contrasted well and together with Annalee Davis we had great artistic conversations.  The energy between us was very productive; we inspired each other and respected each other’s space and practice.

The residency was beneficial because it helped me break the habit of solely working at night. I refer to myself as a ‘nocturnal artist’ and I usually have a lot if difficulty producing art during the daytime.  I also noted that my production speed increased and the direction of my work shifted in a great way and made me realized I can apply this variation to my current work.

I think the Fresh Milk platform is providing great opportunities for young artists in Barbados.  I say this because after leaving school, we have difficulty continuing to produce our personal work. There is a lack of motivation to produce work because we are outside of the school studio and we no longer experience the same creative flow or energy generated amongst our colleagues.  The sense of loneliness also plays in connection to this, because having someone who is in the same field to accompany you makes it easier to produce. Space is another factor because some or most of us do not have the adequate space for our art. In Barbados, there is a stigma that revolves around art, where art is not taken as a serious practice. The country focuses more on the commercial art, which results in the lack of exhibition spaces for contemporary or non commercial art. That creates the lack of motivation because if we do not have somewhere to look forward to showcasing our work, we may not feel the need to do work.

The experience at Fresh Milk provides all of these things to help young artists to continue their practices.  It is a space we can be involved in and gives us a sense of hope. I think the platform should continue providing opportunities like the five day residency because it is a positive step to help upcoming artists and recent graduates to continue or get back in to the groove of producing work.

FRESH MILK IV

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FRESH MILK IV

Join us on March 10th for the fourth Fresh Milk platform! This event is split into two parts: It is the host space in Barbados for the screening of Ebony G. Patterson’s ‘Cheap and Clean’ project looking at masculinity in Jamaica and how it relates to Dancehall culture. The second part is a platform showcasing the work of the two local residency participants Simone Padmore and Katherine Kennedy. See you all there!