Dimensions

Andy W Clift | Ben Fletcher | Katie Jolin | Simeon Oliver | Martin Robinson | Katarina Sengstaken | Matt Walsh | Ben Westacott

Andy W. Clift is a writer, illustrator and animator whose passion in visual storytelling always comes from a colourful, positive direction. Andy draws a lot of influence from the “Silver Age” era of comics. His comic credits include: The Activity (Image), the Pride (Queer Comix), Samurai Slasher (MG Comics), and The Punisher (Marvel), as well as creator owned projects such as Bertie Bear and the Dagger of a Thousand Souls, SGT Steel Allied Avenger, the Adventures of Captain Cosmic, 32 Kills and the Award Winning; Red Rocket Comet. The two pieces shown are the covers to the first two issues of the Adventures of Captain Cosmic.

Ben Fletcher is a thing-maker. He splits his time and attention between his fine art practice, various crafts and hobbies and music making in order to assure a lack of success in all fields.

Katie Jolin’s practice revolves around a passion and fascination with the darkroom. Playing with different substances and techniques, documenting their effects on the photographic process.

Simeon Oliver’s work is primarily a celebration of human expression and positive energy. What motivates us.

He loves the creativity and effort that people put into their passions, be it fashion, custom cars, art, our private lives, dancing, body building, shoe design, architecture, food, music etc. He enjoys watching skilled people and their movements, refined and tuned over time. Learning is an exciting phase in itself and this phase one soon realises has no end. If he wants to achieve a project and need to learn new skills, then he does. He likes to support diversity and individuality wherever possible, hence his enjoyment working as a Technician. Each day he helps empower people to achieve their goals.

Martin Robinson produces two-dimensional works of engine forms. Illustration and abstract works based on these (engine/mechanical) forms. He is interested in traditional process and materials, with the use of new materials. For the works in this exhibition he has used water-mixable oil paint on panel. The use of these paints eliminated the need for him to use solvents.

Katarina Sengstaken is a digital media artist who works with immersive video installations. Her work concentrates on the celestial and the spirit working with both digital work and performance based installation. She creates abstract animations, uses time lapses and video elements to create her installations and VR video work. Her work has been screened in planetariums and in galleries from St. Petersburg to San Francisco, and she has received awards and recognition for her work in the field of full dome 180º projection. She has a MFA from the Bauhaus in Media art and Design and a BFA in Digital Art from Pratt Institute.  She currently works as a technical tutor for Digital Media and is the FE Pathway Leader for Lens Based Media.

Matt Walsh’s work show years of learning processes through Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and other mediums, such as screen prints and wood work. He has a background in Animation and Fine Art and has always found pleasure in doing illustrations. Some of these pieces have been brought back to life from old sketchbooks from when he started University in 2007. Most of his work is hand sketched prior to digitisation, scanned in and then the line work is vectorised in Illustrator afterwards. Many of the pieces are colourised in Photoshop, although some are done in Illustrator depending on the tone of the work.

The theme in his latest work is to create posters from pop culture, for example the Pennywise portrait and the Evil dead poster. He has also had the opportunity to use the laser cutters to etch his designs into wood. You will find his favourite piece in his collection where he used this technique, Tree Etch, in this exhibition.

Ben Westacott originally trained as a Stonemason and has always had a keen interest in the act of making both for the practical and the pleasurable, employing a range of both modern and traditional materials and techniques. The work shown is a mixture of 2d and 3d, some subtractive, some additive and some at times verging on the kinetic. Many of the pieces contain a large element of recycled and or repurposed materials that have been worked and/or shaped into their current form. These include plywood offcuts that have been laminated together to form a new mass, stone from a ruined chateaux in Normandy and pieces of scrap metal re imagined into a new form.

Image credit: Ben Fletcher