Visual arts news 2011

This page is part of the Visual arts and photography section

News about the digital arts in Leicester

For digital arts exhibitions and events, see our general events listing.

This page covers work by digital artists and exhibitions of digital art

3rd November

Joe'd in the mode

Joe'd Mode is a passionate UK based artist, specialising in quirky, innovative, fresh art that combines her photography, pen and ink illustrations, vector and digital skills to produce an intriguing mix of styles.

Joe'd's work is strongly influenced by her graphic design background and she still takes on interesting freelance graphic design projects to date. "I like to keep an eye on current and future trends in fashion, music, design, interiors, art" she told us. "Anything really that people are soaking up and then give it a whole new dimension. I like to mix old and new to challenge people's preconceptions as to what art is and sometimes create pieces that trick the viewer and, or challenge their own thoughts ... all in a playful way." Joe'd added.

"To be able to create thought-provoking work that becomes very personal to somebody is hugely satisfying. I can articulate what I want to say in my artwork more than I ever could in words and it's awesome that people can relate to it and enjoy it.

"I do have a soft spot for street art and I think my work is evolving to that particular style at present, but in the future who knows . . . mixing things up is what I love to do" Joe'd said.

For more of her work, check out

Joe'd's web site on zenjelly

Etsy.com web site

Joe'd Mode on Facebook

15th July

Art becomes Interactive.

We look at the work of Sean Clark in our weekend Supplement.

9th May 2011

Constructed Cities - The work of Helen Saunders

An exhibition by Leicester artist Helen Saunders opened tonight at the Phoenix. Constructed Cities and Constructed Landscapes shows the work of prize winning fine art photographer and Artsin was there to find out more.

Constructed Landscape 1 © Helen Saunders

Helen Saunders was the winner of the Phoenix Square prize at the City Gallery Open 22 exhibition in 2010, which was hosted by New Walk Museum & Art Gallery. Tonight her exhibition in The Cube at the Phoenix showed nine works, all part of her theme of Constructed Landscapes. Originally from Derby, she graduated in Fine Art at Loughborough School of Art and Design and now lives in Leicester.

Helen Saunders

Opening the Exhibition, Kathy Fawcett, Exhibitions Manager from the City Gallery said: "The City Gallery and Leicester City Council value the support of Open 22, one of the sponsors of this exhibition."

"This exhibition gives new artists an opportunity to display their work and acts as springboard that enables professional and new artists to build confidence and progress their careers", Kathy said.

She referred to Leicester as being the second most creative city in the UK. "Projects like this promote local artists and encourage new artists to stay in the city", she said. Many new art students emerge from our local Universities and having The Phoenix and other galleries that allows them to exhibit their work encourages them to stay in the city and add to is cultural and artistic richness.

Constructed Landscape 5 © Helen Saunders

Helen Saunders's striking photos feature images taken from the peripheries of urban life, often around old transport networks, such as canals and railways. Using digital photo-collage techniques she is able to re-construct landscapes to explore history and shifts in the environment. She uses photography and digital imaging to transform everyday surroundings, often using in-between spaces such as building yards and wasteland. It is here where the process of change and development can be explored. Often these are the starting blocks of urban regeneration. This reveals the industrial history of the city.

Constructed Landscape 4 © Helen Saunders

Readers might like to see our section on the Built Environment of Leicester.

Her interest in transport systems came from her work on textures in the environment, creating a narrative about railways and canals. Some of her work includes images of Leicester.

"This series of photographic collages tells the story of places on the outskirts of towns which are undergoing man-made transitions", Helen told us. "I re-compose these places, taking inspiration from historic painted landscapes as well as the CGI landscapes of today to create a dialogue between past and present", she said.

Helen has focused on the changing environment which reveals the constant flux between man and nature. Her digital methods reflect the act of painting a landscape and are framed by references to the Romantic Movement of the nineteenth century.

Birmiingham 3 © Helen Saunders

The Exhibition at the Phoenix runs from 9th May to 31st May, in DMU's CUBE at the Phoenix Digital Media Centre. Details are on the Phoenix web site. | The Open 22 Prize winners | Helen Saunders website.

See our news item on the work of DMU Fine Art students.

Introducing CPulse

CPulse East Midlands is a major exponent of digital arts. You can find out more about this organisation from their web site: CPulse East Midlands.

They organise events to feature the work of digital artists and bring people together; one of these events was held at the Phoenix Digital media Centre on Friday 10th December and Artsin went along to sample the evening.

Live music was delivered by the group Harper Bourne.

Their songs had a distinctly Spanish flavour; in a set played with vitality and artistry, the vocalist was accompanied by a guitarist and a box drummer.

During their set, digital imagery by Jim Tetlow was projected on to wall behind them.

A fair sized crows had assembled in the Screen Lounge of the Phoenix, for the evening, which also featured live music by PlutonicPleasure (a.k.a. Dean Sharman) and Zoe Tebbutt.

Jim Tetlow's audio visual screening was accompanied by one by Andrew Hill and Adam Sooparayachetty had created an interactive sound and visual installation in which members of the audience could write statements on pieces of paper and the sound of their writing mixed into the system.

The audience included artists, promoters, photographers, musicians and writers. Hot mulled wine and mince pies were served and the event was filmed and photographed to provide material for future events.

I met up with Carol Leeming who told me about her work with the Cultural Olympiad. Carol works with Mainstream Arts and is producing an event in associated with Embrace Arts. Called Upstream, the event will provide an opportunity for artists to take their talents further. Essentially, an evening of training, networking and a showcase for creatives, the evening takes place on Wednesday 15th December 2010, at the Embrace Arts Centre, between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

It's aimed at cultural artists and creative entrepreneurs who want to learn about social media tools, how to build a portfolio and sharpen up their presentation skills.

A series of performances will be featured, including the Afro Kubanza Drummers, 2 Funky Arts, Foot in Hand dance Company and poetry by Bobba Cass and Abeda Sakha.

The event is aimed at diverse and black minority people but, I am told, everyone is welcome. And it is all free.

You can register to attend the event by visiting the Mainstream web site.

You can find out more about digital artist Jim Tetlow from his web sites, including his digital images on the ImageKind site, the Flickr site, electroacoustic songs on Myspace and a video on YouTube.

If you work in digital arts, send us some information about yourself

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If you are an artist, ask us feature your work on this page.