About Martin Brewster - A Member of Group 7

Martyn Brewster

My paintings, drawings and prints are concerned with either landscape or abstract

themes, or in many cases a combination of these two elements.

The silkscreen prints in this exhibition are all abstract images where colour and composition

are developed to reach a point where I feel the image has a beauty and emotional

resonance that I am happy with.

Nearly all the prints are monoprints, where there is only one of each image, developed

individually as one would a painting.This I find a much more interesting way of working,

with the excitment of constantly discovering new images.

Martyn Brewster   October 2013

About Fran Donovan - A Member of Group 7

Fran Donovan

After starting her working life as a draughtswoman in the civil service, IBM and other large organisations, Fran Donovan studied at Southampton College in Fashion and Design for four years and later for the Fine Art Diploma covering painting, printmaking and sculpture.  Subsequently at Winchester School of Art Fran obtained a BA (Hons) in Fine Art and went on to complete a Masters degree in International Fine Art in Barcelona.

Now primarily a painter in oils, Fran has produced work in a variety of media and has exhibited widely in solo and group shows including:

Universitat de Barcelona;                                                      Tallers Obert, Barcelona;

Delfina Studio Gallery, London;                              Fresh Art, London;

WCA Gallery, Winchester;                                          The White Gallery, Brighton;

Lewes Contemporary Art, Lewes;                              Gallery One, Barnes;

Charleston House Gallery, Firle, Lewes;         Town Mill Gallery, Lyme Regis;

Maltby Contemporary Art, Winchester;                  Russell-Coates Gallery, Bournemouth;

Link Gallery, University of Winchester;                   Young Gallery, Salisbury;

Salisbury Arts Centre;                                                      Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton;

Pond Gallery, Clapham;                                                      Hilton Gallery, Bath

Salisbury Cathedral;                                                                 Kilnhanger Arts, Guildford;

Affordable Art Fairs, London & Cannes;

Open Exhibitions at Sherborne, Chichester and Arts Sway.

Her work is in private collections in Britain, Spain, Italy, America and Australia and the Public collections of Hampshire County Council and Salisbury Hospital as well as a recent completed commission of three large paintings for Mosborough Hall near Sheffield.

Whilst primarily a full time painter, Fran has undertaken art therapy at Southampton and Ashurst hospitals, teaching in Sussex, Hampshire and Dorset and most recently been an artist mentor working with servicemen in the “Other Worlds” project with Salisbury John Creasey Museum.

Awards include Bibliotec Award, Winchester School of Art and European Studies Award, Coopers and Lybrand

Whilst living and working in Brighton she was interviewed and filmed for video by BBC South Resources which was followed by a Radio Arts interview and also Sky TV in conjunction with The White Gallery, Brighton

Published material includes Brighton & Hove Life, University of Winchester Art Loan Collection, Fifty Wessex Artists - [Evolver] Books and Sherborne Open “Margins”.

Artist’s Statement

The more carefully I consider how to define my idea of the landscape the more clearly I am aware of the conflicts at work.  The enormity of what I see and the idea that the landscape stretches on forever has strong influences.  I keep returning to maintain the structure in my work which underlies the abstract surface.

www.frandonovan.co.uk

About Peter Symons - A Member of Group 7

Peter Symons

 I combine the use of landscape to express ideas about time and place with concepts of examining and using motif in the landscape to prompt memory or feelings of a place. 

I have started to take the motif out of its topographical landscape and combine it with colour, surface, texture and drawing, producing a personal account of place both real and imagined.  

This ambivalence and open-endedness invites the viewer to form their own personal associations. 

Ultimately, once the narrative has been confronted I want to be able to show the viewer paintings that are intended to be ‘beautiful’ with the subject matter always secondary in importance

Art historian, Dr. Pauline Rose, collaborated with  Peter on the publication 'Peter Symons Disonance', describes Peter's work as follows:

 "At first glance, Peter Symons' paintings may appear to sit unproblematically within a modern English landscape painting tradition, displaying familiar elements such as a lyrical handling of paint and colour.  However, the artist’s paintings are "prompted" by landscape rather than representative of specific locations."

www.petersymons.co.uk

About Ursula Leach - A Member of Group 7

Ursula Leach

I walk and draw in the landscape almost daily. I also take photographs with a digital camera which acts as a sketchbook.  Drawing seems to me the first step to really seeing and understanding the territory.

To start with I just respond to the subject but as the work progresses in the studio the ideas and meaning develop.  The work is, to some extent, about current agricultural practices, but primarily is about the formal issues of image making. Pictorial structure and the edge of the image offer exciting scope to explore the

space and scale in a landscape of huge fields.  Colour is used in a way that is not realistic but the sum of colours used is intended to evoke a parallel to the atmosphere of the subject. 

However different those colours are from reality.  Placing one colour against another I hope to produce the feeling I need to recreate the intensity of a visual experience. The construction and space within the image is manipulated away from literality to imply distance, height and mass.  

Areas are made huge as a corollary to industrial farming. 

Things placed on the edge of the image indicate possible side-lining, disappearance, fragmentation.  Large areas of one colour imply bareness, aridity, erosion.

The paintings lead to carborundum prints which may in turn develop into other ideas for paintings.

I am also interested in buildings on the land, structures whose uses are sometimes obscure.  In places they seem to grow out of the land and in others they sit on top of it.

A Crazed Window Washer! Yes I Am! Who's Asking?

Meet My New best Friends

I have been looking back at some of my first ever blogs. What I like about them are the pictures. There are some real gems. If you hadn't seen the gallery in its former life it was a dark, greasy tunnel. I kid you not. I have been wondering for a while about the prospect of putting all my blogs and pictures together to create a light hearted look at the whole business of starting an art gallery.

There really are so many pitfalls that could so easily be avoided that I virtually threw myself at. Would this information be useful to anybody? I have got a feeling it might be. If you are interested you can access the blog archive I have written nearly 700  now. I am positive there is more than enough substance in there for a book.

My working title could be 'The Revenge of The Window Smudgers'. If you are a long time reader of my blog you will know what that means.

I have to tell you about the thing that is plaguing my existence at the gallery. I thought the window smudgers were bad enough. That was until the 'loose paving slab muddy puddle making 5ft high mud squirts' entered my life. Oh I have now taken to having to clean the windows in the rain. The windows are being obscured by muddy splashes on a daily basis sometimes three times a day. It is beyond painful.
If you add to that the ever useful comments about 'you can come and do mine when you finished', 'you've missed a bit' from well meaning passers by.
People often say to me when they hear that I own an art gallery 'How glamorous!'. If they could see me in the rain scrubbing my mud splashed windows I'm not sure that glamorous is the word that would spring to mind.

I hope that you have been enjoying finding out about the artists involved in the Group 7 Exhibition. I think it is nice to get a feel for the artists as well as their work. It is a great show and you should definitely come and see it.

Remembering Sir Anthony Caro, Call Me Tony.

I have been very fortunate since opening the gallery, I have met people who have enriched my life and also supported me and my endeavours at the gallery. I have a lot to be grateful for, even if I bemoan the trivial annoyances I face in my blog.

It has been a sad time of late, I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Sir Anthony Caro. He was such a gentleman, and a real artist of the people. He never treated people like they were beneath him. He believed in art and did his utmost to support it.

He and Sheila often popped in to the gallery when they were in Swanage. I was particularly pleased when he visited my exhibition in March this year. He said lots of very complimentary things about my work. A memory I'll treasure.

But the one memory that stands out was our first ever meeting.  I was mid hanging a new exhibition and up to my eyeballs with stuff everywhere. When a couple came to the door and started to come in. I apologised and explained that the gallery was closed.
Tony said ' I know but I'm Tony and this is Sheila and we've come to meet you and look at the gallery'.
I wish I had picture of my face as he then noting my blank expression he said 'I'm Anthony Caro and this is my wife Sheila Girling'. Seriously, you could have scraped me off the floor. Thankfully, they didn't hold my ignorance against me and I went on to show Sheila's work at the gallery.

They continued to support me and both submitted works for my Drawing Exhibition in April this year.

I feel honoured to have known him and I know his legacy will live on with his work. Not to mention his incredibly talented family.

Group 7 Exhibition Review By Artist Rod Hague

L’Artishe Gallery run by Sharon James, an experienced knowledgeable artist herself, is a well run professional gallery  showing a regular programme of high quality exhibitions.

The current exhibition by Group 7 running until November 9^th brings together extremely interesting work by this group of well established artists, all with their intrinsic merits. In my opinion of particular note is two monoprints   by  Martyn Brewster ,  ‘Heartsong’ No. 550 and  ‘Heartsong’No. 551,  with their use of vibrant colour giving a sense of grand space on a small scale. ‘Red Barn’ by Ursula Leach, an oil on canvas, utilises red, yellow and green to their full potential and Fran Donovan’s ‘Freezing Hill 1’ ,oil on canvas, is a fine example of her lively approach to abstract painting. ‘Red Tree’, a mixed media picture with its centralised image by Peter Symons is I feel successful due to the unity of colour. All the artists involved, ‘the magnificent seven’, have put together an exciting exhibition which should be viewed and enjoyed.

Rod Hague                   

About Bonnie Brown - A Member of Group 7

Bonnie Brown

With a definition of poetry as “emotion recollected in tranquillity”, then the paintings are the written poem turned into a visual form. The motifs, colours, textures, sense and manipulation of space taking the form of the words, pulled together into a carefully considered composition where rhythms and balances are constantly reviewed until nothing more can be added or removed to achieve the desired transformation and translation of ideas.

“My intention is to create a luminous composition made up of the consonance of several colours to form a possible space for the spirit. The paintings are lyrical evocations of time and place, combining inner and outer worlds in a rich fabric of colour and spatial manipulations.”

The ideas are triggered by something seen, felt, touched, observed, a memory often on the edge of recognition. All familiar and individual, these often unrelated images are formed together into a new visual relationship on the canvas.

The paintings are mixed media and oils on canvas or paper. Working from sketchbooks and drawings the paintings are developed through a series of layered images in paint, colour, texture, frottage and monoprint. They are often explored through small series of varying scales following a particular concept or idea which may have originated from observational research, and take many months to resolve allowing for the continual reassessment of the surfaces and the source of the idea.

E bonniebrown68@hotmail.com

W www.bonniebrown.co.uk

About Brian Bishop - A Member of Group 7

Brian Bishop

“Art is that thing having to do only with itself”

My work is an attempt to explore images by removing the pictorial narrative and moving wholly into pictorial space, an area visited by, not only the painter but also the architect, sculptor, composer and dance choreographer.

These images are works that demonstrate the breadth of engagement with colour and structure that has occupied me for many years.

They are works of a non-figurative nature, they do not inform with text or images drawn from the world about us, so allow your imagination to explore and make a fresh interpretation in order to discover a world of colour and structure in the same way that you would listen to a piece of music.

Leaving any preconceptions behind, endeavour to approach these works with an open mind.

Brian Bishop A.R.C.A.

“Colours must have a mystical capacity for spiritual expression, without being tied to objects” – Johannes Itten.

E brianbishop68@hotmail.com

W www.brianbishop.info

In Memory of Stan Davis

Stan Davis

I know that I have been giving over the image part of the blog over to group 7 in recent days to help promote their exhibition. Today the honour goes to Stan Davis, sadly Stan passed away this week. He was a really great guy who was also one of my biggest fans. (I mean the gallery really). He was a regular to every exhibition I put on and we would often wax lyrical about art and other art related topics.

He was so modest about his own work but he truly was a gifted painter. I was fortunate enough to have him show a piece in my 'Abstract Open' a few years ago.
If you are unfamiliar with his work then please do take a look at his website, I have included the link to make it easier.

http://www.standavis.info/gallery.htm

It was a pleasure to have known him and I will miss our discussions.

My thoughts are with his family and friends.

Group 7 Exhibition Starts On Saturday!

Brian Bishop

I spent a few hours at the gallery assessing my handiwork and overall I was happy with what I had done. A few little tweaks and it is now done. I hope that you get the chance to see it.
I was supposed to get a few days of this week and as it has turned out I have been at work even more than normal.

I mentioned yesterday that I would be stocking artist books at the gallery. That's just one of the new additions for 2014. I will also a have a selection of Stephen Bishops new works on permanent display at the gallery. They will be in the studio, and will be changed quarterly as and when Stephen produces some new works.

There will also be a new purpose built browser in the gallery space which will stock a selection of original works by some well known artists and printmakers, myself included. I am hoping to do this in a clever sculptural way that will not encroach on the gallery space at all. It will add another feature along the lines of the glass stand.

I have an important meeting in the morning to look at the Charity Exhibition that I will be holding in February in aid of the John Flowers Bursary. I am hoping that we can get lots more young people on board and help them to achieve their creative goals.

A Whole Lot of Hanging Going On!

Martyn Brewster

I knew it was going to be a challenge and it was. I am hoping that Group 7 agree with my decisions. I am always keen to get it right and my plan is to sleep on it. I can visualise perfectly what I did in my head. It is very reassuring to be able to call to mind the gallery space in my head. I also think that if I had to I could probably tell you whose work is where.

I don't have a photographic memory I am just good at remembering. It is really helpful that I can do that   as I can go to sleep thinking of it and make a decision to change anything if necessary.

I am still thinking about what I can do next year to bring another angle to the gallery. I have decided that I am going to stock books that have been published by artists. They seem to be popular and it would seem that more artists are getting them produced. The other point to note is that no one in Swanage is doing it.

You know how I hate to have dirty windows well, as people like to drive on the pavement outside the gallery it has now become a regular occurrence. I arrived at the gallery today to find it liberally splashed with lovely muddy puddle water. The fact that I spent an absolute age getting them clean yesterday was a total waste of time. Oh well, you also know that I quite enjoy cleaning. Is it worth a strongly worded letter to the council or a general moan in the local rag?

Tomorrow I just have the price list and the numbering to get done and then I can make a start on the million and one other things that also need my attention. It's funny I envisaged a few days off this week and the truth is that I won't have any. Including my normal day off. Being your own boss has it's rewards but the downsides are also a bit annoying.

Group 7 Have Landed!

I have been doing an Autumn Clean, this is the longest time between shows that I have had since June. I have been living with the most awful stained carpet and none to special everywhere else. Not anymore it is very clean and fresh.

Just in time for the delivery of Group 7's work. It is going to be a challenging hang as it means really thinking about the contrasting and complimentary styles. Just as well I have a few days to consider what I am doing?

If you like a nice diverse mix of art styles then you know that you should definitely make it along to this exhibition.
I will be posting all kinds of interesting things about this group via the blog so keep checking back.

There isn't much gallery news as I have been focussed on doing the chores. But as I have an ear to the ground via gallery friends. You should check out this Grayson Perry Lecture. Here's the details.

In the first of four lectures, recorded in front of an audience at Tate Modern in London, the artist Grayson Perry reflects on the idea of quality and examines who and what defines what we see and value as art. He argues that there is no empirical way to judge quality in art. Instead the validation of quality rests in the hands of a tightknit group of people at the heart of the art world including curators, dealers, collectors and critics who decide in the end what ends up in galleries and museums. Often the last to have a say are the public. Perry examines the words and language that have developed around art critique, including what he sees as the growing tendency to over-intellectualise the response to art. He analyses the art market and quotes - with some irony - an insider who says that certain colours sell better than others. He queries whether familiarity makes us like certain artworks more, and encourages the public to learn to appreciate different forms of art through exploration and open-mindedness. Perry was awarded the Turner Prize in 2003, and is known for his ceramic works, printmaking, drawing, sculpture and tapestry as well as for his cross-dressing and alter-ego, Claire. The Reith lectures are presented and chaired by Sue Lawley. Producer: Jim Frank.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b03969vt/

Have a listen and let me know what you think. Right I've got work to do. Until tomorrow.

Be Brave, Be Bold, Be Creative!

It's not every day that I am called brave and innovative. So I'll take that as compliment. It was regarding me battling through the recession with a smile on my face. I won't lie to you that these are hard times with art being fairly down the list of 'must have' priorities. But I believe in what I am doing and I will keep on pushing to bring new art into the South West from as wide a spectrum of artists that I can lay may hands on.

The shame of it is, is that there is a wealth of opportunities that are not being tapped into by the wider world. But you can lead a horse to water but you cant make it drink. I haven't given up all together I keep having conversations that I hope will eventually fall on the right ears. As opposed to the deaf ones that I keep talking to.

Well it is the penultimate day of Stephen's exhibition and it has been well attended. I hope that you have managed to see it. Stephen is giving one of his paintings to a charity details below.

Please support the Gully's Place Trust Fund.
Artist Stephen Bishop has donated Sunrise - Swanage to this worthwhile cause which the Trust will either auction or use in the suite.

To contribute see 

https://www.poole.nhs.uk/support-us/poole-hospital-charity/gullys-place-trust-fund.aspx

I like to see that artists can support good causes by doing what they do best. 

I hope that you have something great planned for this weekend, I am quite excited about the fact that we are back into the 'roast dinner' weather. I have enjoyed salads but nothing beats a good roast dinner after a brisk walk.

I Am Amazing, Brilliant and Superior! Thanks for Asking!

It is difficult motivate myself sometimes. I think this is the downside of being on your own a lot of the time. I have made myself do things today but the thing I happiest about is that I have added to my installation piece 'Bird Box'. A job that I have been meaning to do for months. 

Martyn Brewster

 

                                     Stephen Bishop

I am also writing a new blurb to go on some flyers that I am about to get printed. Of course this involves a lot more research on my part as there are words that you should use and those you should avoid. 

I am going to run it past my assistant Shirley. She's really good at making sure I big myself up. By me I mean the gallery obviously. The thing about marketing, is it seems like one big ego trip, saying exactly why you are great, better than the rest. 

It is not sufficient to say 'because I am'. There is more required from you than that. It is amazing how much advice there is available for free on line. It just takes time to trawl through it all.

I have to say that the Americans are really paving the way for all the free content on line. Which is a shame because I am sure that there are lots of small businesses in Britain who have valuable input to give small businesses.

There are two more days of Stephen Bishops exhibition I hope that you will get to see it before it goes at end of business on Saturday.

It has been a really good show, but what puzzles me is that people have been loathe to write in the visitors book. I'm wondering if it is because I moved it from its former dwelling place. It will be going back but seriously what a difference 1ft makes.

Nearly, the weekend and the forecasters are full of gloom and that means that we should be full of optimism and brightness. It's a challenge, I dare you. Yes you.

Buy or Not Buy There Is No Try!

Fran Donovan

My blog won't let people post comments. I am annoyed at that as I love it when people do. The weekend was a busy one buy alas no sales.

I have to tell you about a strange phenomena
 that seems to plaguing my existence as a gallery owner. I know I have spoken before about people who enjoy the squirming and wriggling that galleries do to get a sale. It seems that there could be a new breed of people who enjoy making the gallery owners do 'the sales pitch'. Who have no actual intention of buying anything. Why do they lead you into this horrible situation?

If you don't want to buy it, you really don't have to. It won't be held against you as long as you don't spend excessive amounts of time wanting to discuss your indecision between one thing or another. Then leaving empty handed. Do not misunderstand me, part of my role is to discuss the work on show with any interested parties. I am more than happy to do that.

Please don't tell me you are definitely going to buy something and it is simply a matter of choosing which one. If that isn't true. It seems to be happening a lot recently. I understand times are tough and spending any sum of money should be carefully considered.

It is difficult being a business owner sometimes because you have to be strict about things and like most people I like to back down and roll over fairly easily. Fear of confrontation they call that.

There are some good things going on that you can get involved with should you be so inclined.

The Last 3 Exhibitions of The Year Are................

Stephen Bishop

I am disappointed that Google/Blogger have made it so difficult for people to leave comments on blogs. If only you could just press comment and a blank white box appeared that you could fill with your comment without having to join anything and generate your 100th password for the internet.

I am looking into different blogs that will let you do just that. From next year my blog will be fully integrated into my website anyway and it should not be a problem.

I am however intrigued by the article that I posted yesterday and I am yet to have a discussion about it. Will somebody either come in and talk to me about it or at least comment on the gallery Facebook page.

I have put my foot down today and does it feel good? Yes, but only because it was up in the air before I put it down. Just kidding! I am unleashing my inner professional business woman. I don't like her much as she says no more often than she says yes. But she does have my best interests at heart (I think!). It is so difficult to say no because the generous part of me wants to say yes. My business head and my bank manager are both saying 'But are you going to get paid for doing it?' If the answer is no then I am not doing it.

If anyone is any doubt about the logic of this then just ask yourself this simple question, 'would you work for nothing?'. Need I say more.

As usual it is time to shamelessly plug the current exhibition and the next two that are lined up. Stephen Bishop is now entering his final week. If you haven't seen it then you should come along and take a look.

Next up I have Group 7 who have such a daunting wealth of artistic experience between them that are like local art royalty. They pack a huge art punch with an eclectic mix of styles and approaches. That starts on Saturday 19th October.

Then straight after Group 7 I have Piers Rawson who I mentioned earlier in the week. This stunning photographer who captures those beautiful images I posted will be starting his exhibition on Saturday 16th November.

The final exhibition of the year is for the artist contributors to the PURBECK magazine over the last few years. that will be a massively diverse mix of people and works. Do make sure you get to that exhibition. There will be plenty of unique work to buy for Christmas presents. I'll post some pictures when I have some.

An Absolute MUST READ For ALL Creative People. Then We Will Discuss It!

1. Creative people are more dishonest

Creativity researchers Paul Silvia, James Kaufman, Roni Reiter-Palmon, and Benjamin Wigert put together a recent study that indicates a correlation between creative thinkers and dishonesty. The participants in the study with reportedly lower levels of honesty and humility were able to boast more creative accomplishments. Furthermore, a study constructed by Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely tested whether or not creativity directly causes an increase in dishonesty, by creating a trial that prompts creative test takers to lie about their responses in order to make more money. The participants being evaluated were told that by selecting a certain response, they would make more money, even though that response was clearly incorrect. As expected, the test-takers made the less ethical decision, causing Gino and Ariely to attest that creativity was a better predictor of dishonesty than intelligence.

2. Creative people have fewer leadership skills

University of Pennsylvania Assistant Professor Jennifer Mueller wrote an academic paper entitled “Recognizing creative leadership: Can creative idea expression negatively relate to perceptions of leadership potential?” The paper outlines that creative people are viewed by others as having less leadership potential than their non-creative counterparts, unless they have the added value of engaging charisma. Mueller explains the findings by reasoning that, while people see creative types as visionary, they also see them as wildcards, less likely to adopt conformity. People associate rigid thinking and conformity with accomplishing goals, which is a necessary strength of a leader. While the study does not address whether or not creative people actually lack leadership potential, it makes explicit that their peers may think of them as weaker candidates for such a position.

3. Creativity can indicate promiscuity

In a study published to the academic journal The Proceedings of the Royal Society, The University of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Open University in the U.K. indicated a link between creativity and sexual promiscuity. In the study, 425 creative types such as working artists and poets reported having twice as many sexual partners than their unimaginative peers. The participants in the study were given a questionnaire that not only addressed the participant’s inclination towards creative activities, but also a section that inquired as to their sexual history. They were also asked a series of questions helping to identify a presence of schizophrenia, as mental illness and promiscuity are also thought to be linked. The study not only reflected that creative types had more sexual partners in all, but that their sexual activity with multiple partners was most prominent during times of creative fertility.

4. Left-handed people are more creative

St. Lawrence University’s Dr. Alan Searleman presented a study to the American Psychological Association’s annual conference showing that left-handed people have a better vocabulary and are more intelligent, leading them to pursue more creative occupations. The study’s findings only displayed such results for “true” left-handers, or people who use the left side of their body for all things, unlike some left-handed people who talk on the phone on the right side of their ear or cut with their right hand. The study commanded 1,200 people to answer a series of questions concerning activities that they engaged in with their left hands, followed by a series of problem-solving questions and vocabulary tests. The true left-handers scored one-third more highly on vocabulary tests and twice as high on problem-solving tasks than others involved in the study. Searleman reasons that this may account for the large amount of the left-handed population that partakes in music, art, and writing.

5. Creativity is linked to mental illness

In a study published to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers showed that creative types are more likely to possess low levels of latent inhibition, which is a person or animal’s unconscious ability to filter out stimuli that experience has shown are irrelevant to its needs. While some scientists have associated this phenomenon with psychosis, others have argued that low latent inhibition may be good when combined with high intelligence and the ability to multitask. It has been shown that latent inhibition is lost entirely in the early stages of schizophrenia, so some consider creative types to be more disposed to madness. Indeed, more than 20 studies have indicated the prominence of depression and other mood disorders in creative types, according to Johns Hopkins University professor of psychiatry Kay Redfield Jamison. Ruminating, reflective people may become more creative, depressed, or both.

6. Creative people remember more dreams

A study published in Personality and Individual Differences attempted to bring light to the fact that some people recall virtually none of their dreams, while others recall them often and in vivid detail. When testing 193 college students over both personality traits and dream recall over the span of 14 weeks, the students with personality traits more commonly associated with creativity remembered more of their dreams and in better detail. Some of these traits include daydreaming and imagination. The researchers reason that these creatives, which define their world by imaginative means during the day, will be just as imaginative while sleeping. Such people may have less of a distinction between waking hours and dreaming, experiencing both realms with an aptitude towards the vivid and unusual. Interestingly, factors such as sleep quality and length of sleep did not appear to have much resonance on the ability to recall dreams.

7. Clutter increases creative thinking

According to the Daily Mail, German researchers have found in a study that a messy desk increases the propensity toward creative problem solving. In fact, whether the chaos emerges in the form of a messy desk or messy storefront, the studies indicated that people were able to think more clearly amidst disarray. The untidy environment prompted them to want to simplify the tasks at hand, boosting employees’ ability to solve problems in a creative, efficient way. The study also showed that conservatives were most affected by the study, given that they are less comfortable with disorganization than liberals. As a result of their uneasiness with the chaotic situation, they will attempt to simplify other aspects of the working environment in order to maintain a sense of structure.

8. Children are becoming less creative

Educational psychologist Kyung Hee Kim participated in a question and answer session for Britannicaaddressing the widespread, creative decline in America. Kim attributes the downfall of creative whims to the large populous of children in America who have abandoned creatively engaging activities for sterile technology and hours of mind-numbing television. She argues that while video games may take place in fantasy environments, they do not foster actual creativity because there are a set number of solutions within the game, and children are playing them at a prime time for creative development. Stern parenting may also contribute to the problem, by depriving children of the opportunity for self-discovery when parents overbook their schedules or forbid them to partake in certain activities. Likewise, by over-diagnosis of ADHD, modern children are being prescribed drugs like Adderall that hinder creativity and repress daydreaming in exchange for superior focus

Are You In The Market For Some Marketing Advice?

Piers Rawson

I have been researching 'Marketing Strategies' as I told you I would and I am a woman of my word. Well there is a lot to take on board, I have actioned at least three of them today. This is actually the third, they reckon that you can push traffic your way by writing several blogs a day. That is never going to happen. I would lose the will to live and actually I have got other jobs that need doing.

Apparently an eBay shop is another great way to drive people to your website. I am having a little think about how I can do this. It's not like I don't have stuff to sell, by stuff I do mean art work of course. But it has to be in keeping with my gallery 'brand'. Oh yeah, that's marketing lingo baby!

The other thing they suggest is making podcasts and youtube videos. That is definitely going to take a lot more thought. I'm thinking maybe some 'How To' podcasts. We'll see, I think there is some mileage in it it is just ensuring that my energies are focussed in a way that reaps financial rewards.

I am also thinking about Art Appreciation classes and blog. I want to call it 'I want a Blue painting!'. What's wrong with wanting a blue painting? Absolutely nothing but with the right tips you could buy a blue painting really worth owning. An investment for the future, not to mention matching the carpet and the curtains. (I am being deliberately provocative before anyone asks).

I could easily sleep my way through the rest of the day as it has been quiet. Where is everyone? It is mild enough out for mooching, so where are the moochers? Maybe the moochers are smooching? I just like those two words.

Piers Rawson

I have featured Stephen Bishop and Group 7 for the past couple of weeks so now I am moving on to my next exhibitor. Don't worry I will revisit the others in due course.
In November I have the photographer Piers Rawson exhibiting at the gallery. I really do find his work enchanting. I should also make it know that I am not a huge fan of photography but there are always exceptions. Piers is one of them, check out some of his pictures. I hope that you like them as much as I do.