Work on display at Triodos bank's UK headquarters and in 'Cornucopia' at the Grant Bradley Gallery

Last week I was invited to a couple of openings to do with art events that I've been involved in.

On Thursday, I visited Triodos bank's headquarters in Bristol, to see the completion of the 'Cornerstone' project that I've contributed to. We were shown around part of the building, which uses a lot of recycled materials and has a nice atmosphere to it - it's an interesting and well designed space. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming too. Triodos specialise in ethically sound banking, so don't invest in ethically questionable companies. You can see more about the project here;
http://carvingswithstories.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/triodos-banks-cornerstone-project.html

...and here:

http://carvingswithstories.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/triodos-bank-cornerstone-project.html

Then on Friday, it was the busy private view for the 'Cornucopia' exhibition at the Grant Bradley gallery in Bristol.

I was really impressed by a lot of the other work on show- most of it was of a very high standard. There are thirty people exhibiting and all go to one or other of the life drawing groups organised by Will Stevens in Bristol. Quite a few are professional artists or are closely involved in the art world in Bristol in some way.

There's more info on the show in this post;
http://carvingswithstories.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/cornucopia-at-grant-bradley-gallery-in.html

and you can see more about the self portrait which is one of the exhibited pieces in this post;
http://carvingswithstories.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/carving-self-portrait-in-wood-for.html

Triodos Bank's 'Cornerstone' project- YouTube video

Here are a couple of videos that are on YouTube as part of Triodos Bank's 'Cornerstone' project, with a me talking about why I carved what I did on the stone. Thanks to Faye for inviting me!

You can find out more about the project here:
http://www.triodos.co.uk/en/about-triodos/news-and-media/colour-of-money/cornerstone_art_project/

For the more health and safety conscious, I know that I'm not wearing goggles and there's no extraction etc. The position of the stone was adjusted and extraction put on just after this film was shot when the serious carving began, honest!!

Triodos bank 'Cornerstone' project

I've been invited to contribute to an arts project being run by Triodos bank, who specialise in ethical banking. Several local artists and other people (e.g. the local MP and arts organisations such as The Children's Scrapstore) have made their mark on the stone, which is a piece of reclaimed material from a local reclamations yard.
The stone is a slightly coarse-textured limestone with a fair bit of sand in it too- not the easiest stuff to work with. It's full of crystals which tended to break taking bits of detail with them! Nice to be doing a bit of stone carving again though, it's been a little while.

I carved this eye to show how banks are being watched (even more critically than previously) by many people now. Other major banks, less keen on ethical banking, have been up to some pretty shady stuff recently and it hasn't looked good. 

The other carving shows the stone being forced down by the weight of a single penny. A lot of folks in Britain are finding it tough financially at the moment and I hope that banks don't forget that-ethical banking practice seems particularly important now.
However, after several parliamentary ministers got caught out for fraud recently, banks certainly aren't the only ones who need to remember ethical practice and how hard a lot of people are finding getting by financially these days...

You can find out more about the project and the other contributors by following this link: http://www.triodos.co.uk/en/about-triodos/news-and-media/colour-of-money/cornerstone_art_project/