FAROPEN
  • HOME
  • ARTISTS/MAKERS
  • About
  • How to join
  • 2021 Trail Map + Brochure
  • Contact
  • ARTISTS/MAKERS LIST
    • &bookishbooks
    • Alison Edgson
    • Alison O'Doherty
    • Anita Louise Davies
    • Anna Fine Jewellery
    • Anne Bulley
    • Annie's Haul
    • Antony Dufort
    • Art by Maryanne Hawes
    • Art by Monique Oliver
    • Art@Oaktree
    • Art by Philip Stockley
    • Bews Gorvin - Sculpture for Public Sites
    • Birgitta Engel
    • Black Cat Glass Designs
    • Bruce Allan
    • Carmen & Stuart Rooksby
    • Carolyn Black
    • Casey Art
    • Cat's Eye Carving
    • Caz Holbrook Photography
    • Charlotte Keating Fine Artist
    • Christina MacDonald
    • Christine Waygood Contemporary Textiles
    • Claire McKnight - OnTharHill
    • David Broadbent
    • Deborah Harrison Sculpture
    • DelARTful Designs by Sarah Delahoy
    • Dirk Van Der Meyden
    • Dorota Rapacz
    • Doug Eaton
    • Eleanor Kercher
    • Elizabeth Heather Engel
    • Fellows Framing
    • Fluffy Stuff - Chris Champness
    • Frances Warren
    • Furzie
    • Garden Shed Textiles
    • Graham Wilde
    • Grange Village Pottery
    • Impsandthings
    • Issi Lammas
    • Jack Waygood
    • Jane Brooks
    • Jane Foot
    • Jane Spray
    • Jeanette Hannaby Enamel Artist
    • JPJewellery - Jackie Poulter
    • John Hickman
    • Katie Sanderson, Enamel Artist
    • Laura Liddell
    • Leah Robinson Art and Soul Evolution
    • Leigh Sladen Glass
    • Lindsay Reid Art
    • Lisa Dear Artworks
    • Little Orchard Studios
    • Liz Duff
    • Lorna Olivia Neilson
    • Louise Pilditch​
    • Made in Ross
    • Mariette Voke
    • Marie-Clare Mawle
    • Mary Edwards
    • Michael Donnelly
    • Michael Lawrence
    • MissFire
    • Mollie Meager
    • Myra Fricker
    • Nicole Iredale Designs
    • Nigel J Street - Just Watercolour
    • Novvy
    • Olivia Rose Vintage & Craft - Alison Ireland
    • Patricia Homewood
    • Patsy Hodgkinson
    • Paula Brady
    • Pigsty Studio
    • Priddis Pottery + Fine Art
    • Rachel Lewis
    • RebeccaWeissbort.Art
    • Rosie Callinan Mosaics and Garden Art
    • Sara Rickard
    • Sara Ulyatt
    • Sarah Trenchard
    • Sharon Foley
    • Sew Forest of Dean
    • Susan White SilkArt
    • The Little Gallery in the Forest
    • The Yard Print Studio - Nichola Goff
    • Thingamajigs - Jan Matthews
    • Uschi Arens Price
    • Watercolour Puddles
    • William Robson Glass Artist
    • Wobage Farm Craft Workshops
    • Yat Pottery Studios - Adam Campbell
Picture

Artist Spotlight - ImpsAndThings

22/5/2019

0 Comments

 
Driving along the A48 towards Newnham, the signpost marked ‘Bullo Pill’ has always rather intrigued me. So last week I set off there to visit Pete Simpson’s studio. He is an art teacher, phot­­­ographer and sculptor of ….imps and things.

I park under some old railway arches and Pete greets me, leading me through to his lovely garden studio.
​
The shelves are crammed with all kinds of goblins, imps, trolls and elves. Pete tells me that his interest in creating  fantasy sculpture started over 30 years ago when he first saw the work of Brian Froud in the animated fantasy adventure film, ‘The Dark Crystal’.

I am fascinated by the level of detail in these polymer clay creatures : their warty faces, clothing, dirty looking toenails and tiny accoutrements. The fabrics are found materials – old dyed dishcloths, scraps of leather, hessian and muslin.
Picture
Picture
Although the characters are mainly male, I’m told that their collectors are frequently female. I enquire whether Pete has vivid dreams.

‘Not really’.

I think about sculptor Anthony Gormley’s ‘moments of lived time’ (see my February blog), and how these 30cm high beings might reflect aspects of existence. With my therapist’s wondering, I ponder the Froud/Freud connection. Pete also mentions the influence of  H. P. Lovecraft (I thought they were a 70s band ?).

​​He also works to commission and is currently making a giant tooth which will be covered with special cleaning imps for a dentist’s surgery in Canada.
​

Think less cute tooth fairies?
Picture
Picture
Pete attends various fantasy markets and gatherings for example, the Faerie Festival in Glastonbury, a Fantasy Forest event  in July at Sudeley Castle. 
​
And of course, he will be opening his studio as part of farOpen 2019, Venue 24.
​
As I took my leave, Pete said that I hadn’t asked him the two questions that he’d most expected:

‘How long do they take to make?’
‘Had you thought of creating a film?’

You’ll have to visit Bullo Pill yourself to get the answers. It’s almost under a bridge, and you’ll certainly encounter a few trolls.

Later, as I was looking up H.P. Lovecraft, I came across the following quote:

“Pleasure to me is wonder—the unexplored, the unexpected, the thing that is hidden and the changeless thing that lurks behind superficial mutability. To trace the remote in the immediate; the eternal in the ephemeral; the past in the present; the infinite in the finite; these are to me the springs of delight and beauty.” 
― H.P. Lovecraft

A.T. April 2019 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Charlotte Keating 
    ​farOpen Marketing Lead

    Archives

    February 2020
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019

    Categories

    All
    Art Event
    Art Exhibit
    Artists Walk
    Art Workshop
    Classes
    Collages
    @DeanWye
    Embroidery
    Encaustic Painting
    Faropen
    Faropenartists
    FarOpen Art Trail
    Felt
    Forest Of Dean
    Fused Glass
    Glass
    Gloucestershire
    Hand Cut Paper
    Herefordshire
    Herfordshire
    Illusions
    Jewellery
    Journaling
    Masterclass
    Monmouthshire
    Open Day
    Open Studios
    Painting
    Paint Pouring
    Prints
    Reduction Lino
    Severn
    Stone Carving
    Travelling Jewellery Bench
    Troll
    Walks
    Wedding Rings
    What's On
    What's On In Art
    Workshops
    Wye Valley

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture
Picture
Copyright 2019. All Rights Reserved.
​NO IMAGES OR TEXT TO BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION.
​Website Design by Monique Oliver Art and Design - Contents Manager ​Uschi Arens Price
  • HOME
  • ARTISTS/MAKERS
  • About
  • How to join
  • 2021 Trail Map + Brochure
  • Contact
  • ARTISTS/MAKERS LIST
    • &bookishbooks
    • Alison Edgson
    • Alison O'Doherty
    • Anita Louise Davies
    • Anna Fine Jewellery
    • Anne Bulley
    • Annie's Haul
    • Antony Dufort
    • Art by Maryanne Hawes
    • Art by Monique Oliver
    • Art@Oaktree
    • Art by Philip Stockley
    • Bews Gorvin - Sculpture for Public Sites
    • Birgitta Engel
    • Black Cat Glass Designs
    • Bruce Allan
    • Carmen & Stuart Rooksby
    • Carolyn Black
    • Casey Art
    • Cat's Eye Carving
    • Caz Holbrook Photography
    • Charlotte Keating Fine Artist
    • Christina MacDonald
    • Christine Waygood Contemporary Textiles
    • Claire McKnight - OnTharHill
    • David Broadbent
    • Deborah Harrison Sculpture
    • DelARTful Designs by Sarah Delahoy
    • Dirk Van Der Meyden
    • Dorota Rapacz
    • Doug Eaton
    • Eleanor Kercher
    • Elizabeth Heather Engel
    • Fellows Framing
    • Fluffy Stuff - Chris Champness
    • Frances Warren
    • Furzie
    • Garden Shed Textiles
    • Graham Wilde
    • Grange Village Pottery
    • Impsandthings
    • Issi Lammas
    • Jack Waygood
    • Jane Brooks
    • Jane Foot
    • Jane Spray
    • Jeanette Hannaby Enamel Artist
    • JPJewellery - Jackie Poulter
    • John Hickman
    • Katie Sanderson, Enamel Artist
    • Laura Liddell
    • Leah Robinson Art and Soul Evolution
    • Leigh Sladen Glass
    • Lindsay Reid Art
    • Lisa Dear Artworks
    • Little Orchard Studios
    • Liz Duff
    • Lorna Olivia Neilson
    • Louise Pilditch​
    • Made in Ross
    • Mariette Voke
    • Marie-Clare Mawle
    • Mary Edwards
    • Michael Donnelly
    • Michael Lawrence
    • MissFire
    • Mollie Meager
    • Myra Fricker
    • Nicole Iredale Designs
    • Nigel J Street - Just Watercolour
    • Novvy
    • Olivia Rose Vintage & Craft - Alison Ireland
    • Patricia Homewood
    • Patsy Hodgkinson
    • Paula Brady
    • Pigsty Studio
    • Priddis Pottery + Fine Art
    • Rachel Lewis
    • RebeccaWeissbort.Art
    • Rosie Callinan Mosaics and Garden Art
    • Sara Rickard
    • Sara Ulyatt
    • Sarah Trenchard
    • Sharon Foley
    • Sew Forest of Dean
    • Susan White SilkArt
    • The Little Gallery in the Forest
    • The Yard Print Studio - Nichola Goff
    • Thingamajigs - Jan Matthews
    • Uschi Arens Price
    • Watercolour Puddles
    • William Robson Glass Artist
    • Wobage Farm Craft Workshops
    • Yat Pottery Studios - Adam Campbell