Day 242: Barbara Hepworth

In the year 1965, Barbara Hepworth, the artist who made all these amazing sculptures, died in a fire at her studios in St Ives, Cornwall. Since then, her studio has been restored and opened up to the public.

In January, 2010 I had the pleasure of visiting this studio. It was a cold, blustery day, so my boyfriend and I had the place to ourselves. The garden is filled with her sculptures which we spent ages looking at, sharing our opinions.

Perhaps the strangest thing is her workshop, which stands still in history, unchanged from the day she left it. The calender reads May '65. The tools lay on the bench next to the unfinished sculpture, waiting to be picked up again.

Hepworth was 72 when she died and had a lot of help making her sculptors by that time. But her memory is held in that place, held in her sculptors, both complete and incomplete.

If you get a chance, take a trip down there. St Ives is a beautiful place with art, the sea and a cream tea waiting for you!

If St Ives isn't your thing, try the new Gallery, The Hepworth Wakefield in Yorkshire. It opens in May 2011 and will be home to rarely seen works by Hepworth as well as pieces by Turner and Henry Moore. If it's British art you're after, look no further.

Day 111: The boy who bit Picasso

No, you didn't read it wrong, today I am talking about the boy who bit Picasso aka, Anthony Penrose. I was lucky enough to sit in on this man's talk today, which was part of the Bath Kids Lit Fest.

He's written a book that is all about how he knows the legendary artist, Picasso. It turns out Picasso came to stay at his house a lot when he was a little boy. Anthony Penrose's dad was also an artist and his mum was a photographer, Lee Miller. Look at any photo of Picasso and the chances are, she took it. Plus he painted her too:

The talk was truly inspirational. It was so interesting to hear about Picasso as a real man who played games, laughed a lot and even got bitten by a little boy. Anthony Penrose was amazing too. He was so enthusiastic about it all that it made the audience feel exactly the same and want to know more. I could have listened to his stories all day! I wonder if there are any stories from your childhood that would make a good story...?

Event like these are great to go to 'casue you can learn so much. But if not, then check out sights like Tateshots or just google your favourite artists/writers/choreographers and see what interviews/videos you can find.

Learn from the people you love and be inspired to do your own thing.

Lee Millar by Picasso, 1937

Day 109: Exposed at the Tate

There is only two weekends left until the Tate's latest photography exhibition closes (boo), so I encourage all of you to jump on the train and take a look at Exposed. It's a collection of images taken without the knowledge of those in it. some famous, some not so, all displayed together to make us think. You know how I like to think...

The UK is the most surveyed country in the world now and the exhibition is just pointing it out, I suppose. Why do we have such a need to watch, observe, spy? You only have to look at the success of things like Big Brother to see how obsessed we are. Interesting, huh?

Creativity gives people the opportunity to talk and show these kind of oddities within our society which is great! What a thing to do with your work, make people think!

Look at the photo of Maralin Monroe here (by Weegee). There are millions of pictures of her on a fan like this, but in this one, she doesn't know it's being taken, she's not playing for the camera. It's like we're watching her through a peep hole and it kinda feels like we shouldn't be looking, doesn't it?

If you can, get down to the Tate Modern and have a look around. Be inspired...What could you say with your art?

Day 88: The Arts Council

Today I thought it right to bring your attention to The Arts Council. Basically, every tax payer in the country pays 17p a day to The Arts Council and they give the money to companies and charities all over the country who give the money back to society through the arts. Things like the Tate Galleries get money through The Arts Council, but small local things do too.

It could be anything creative; art, drama, dance, music...Take a look at their website to see what inspiring things they are involved with at the moment. A lot of what they support is up and coming stuff. It may look small at he moment, but it is doing big things for the community. Pretty exciting!

Be inspired by what your money is doing for the country! What a great way to spend tax, eh!

What could you ask for sponsorship for from The Arts Council...?

Day 1:Inspiration!

Ok, today is the start of the challenge. I am going to blog for 365 days. Yes, a whole year! I want to inspire young poeple to be creative in whatever way they want.

From fashion to fiction, you name it, you can do it. So get out there! I'm going to focus on writing and art 'cause that's what I do, but use my tips for whatever it is that you do to be creative.

So, here goes...

Day 1: What inspires you to be creative? I'm a writer and a visual artist (ie, painter) so pictures and images give me ideas and gets my brain moving! If you're like me, check out the Tate Modern or, if it's old-school art you're into, check out Tate Britain, http://www.tate.org.uk/. What could you do with it...?