Human traces

In addition to her repertoire of carved spoons and Gumati brushes, Sophie Sellu of Grain & Knot has introduced a unique collection of vases, hand-hewn into an array of fondlesome shapes. She invites us into her garden workshop…

Images supplied by Grain & Knot

Sophie, your pieces usually have a utilitarian or culinary element to them – what inspired you to start making vases?

I have a huge amount of off-cuts from my work in my shed. They’re often tiny and seemingly useless. I wanted to show the full potential of the pieces, while making something useful and functional at the same time.

What inspires the unusual shapes? Do you usually have a shape in mind before you start?

I have a few shapes in mind beforehand - I usually start by drawing shapes on paper, then adapt them to the off-cuts I’m working with, guided by the patterns and grain of the timber. I also like to pair the vases together, so it’s fun working out which shapes sit well with others.

Your work has a very human element to it – you can see each piece has been hand-hewn. Is this a conscious decision in your work?

It’s always been a conscious decision to show the knife marks – I think it’s important to see the marks of production. It also gives each piece a faceted surface and a very tactile feel.

What would you put in these vases? Any particular favourite florals?

The vases are only suitable for dried blooms, as they can’t hold water. I often put in things found on my walks. The changing colour of leaves in autumn provides a wider variety of items to collect. It's quite a mindful process to slow down and notice the beauty in nature. Recently, I collaborated with Emily of @designbynatureflowers. We used the waste materials from my studio to make the vases, and the waste material from her studio to fill them.

Do you have a favourite wood to work with?

I love spalted timbers (spalting is the beautiful black lines that run through the wood), which can be tricky to work as spalting can cause the timber to degrade if left out in the elements for too long. It’s difficult to find but has striking patterns.

Your favourite tool?

My Mora 106 knife. I use it on every single item I make. A good all-round carving knife.

Tell us about your work space.

I have a dusty workshop in my garden that stores my wood, bandsaw and sanding equipment. I also have a small space inside my home that was supposed to be my office but doubles up as another workshop space. I have lots of utensils and older works on the walls, a long workbench and lots of dried flowers hanging from the ceiling. It’s a really tiny space but I’ve made the most of it! It gets really good light too, so this is where I photograph my work, using only natural light.

See more of Sophie's work at grainandknot.com

Exposure: Lives At Sea

We rely on our oceans for food, ecosystem services, energy and transportation, yet it is a world rarely seen….

Dark Sea by Corey Arnold

In a new socially distanced, visually-led exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, the experience of work and play at sea will be displayed through the lens of six seafarers and researchers - from the large-scale panoramic to the intensely intimate - bringing together photography taken around the world, from the reefs of Mexico to the isolation of Antarctica, to document the myriad ways life can be spent at sea.

Perceptions of the sea often recall historical rather than contemporary realities. Through photographs taken by people employed in the maritime world, Exposure: Lives at Sea offers a snapshot into life at sea today, seen through the seafarers’ lens. It will cover isolation and camaraderie, science and survival, climate change and conservation – the lived experience of men and women at sea.

This exhibition is the first to be curated by Laura Boon, the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Public Curator: Contemporary Maritime at Royal Museums Greenwich, and was brought together during the UK’s COVID-19 lockdown. She says, “The importance of seafarers has been brought into sharp focus during the covid pandemic, seafarers are key workers and helped keep our supermarkets stocked, and yet hundreds of thousands of them have been stranded at sea. This exhibition will hopefully help bring recognition to the important role seafarer’s play.”

Meet the photographers:

• Cezar Gabriel - chief engineer

• Corey Arnold - commercial fisherman in Alaska, USA

• Dr Jennifer Adler - conservation photographer

• Michał Krzysztofowicz - data manager with the British Antarctic Survey

• Peter Iain Campbell - drilling rig worker

• Dr Octavio Aburto - marine ecologist

Exposure: Lives At Sea; National Maritime Museum, Greenwich; free admission; daily 10.30am-4pm (10am-5pm weekends); museum reopens 2 December in line with government guidelines; rmg.co.uk/exposure

View fullsize

Images top to bottom: Blowing Off Steam by Cezar Gabriel, Christian by Corey Arnold, Force 12 by Cezar Gabriel, Handstand by Corey Arnold, Immersed by Jennifer Arnold, Playground by Octavio Aburto, Solomon, 2nd Mate onboard the Havila Commander PSV by Peter Iain Campbell, We Drift Like Worried Fire, by Peter Iain Campbell

Raptor persecution

How you can support the fight against wildlife crime

Illustration by Dick Vincent

At the height of the first national lockdown, while all the hillwalkers were stuck inside throwing lunges in front of Joe Wicks and plodding up and down the stairs to simulate the ascent of Kilimanjaro, something sinister was going on in our deserted countryside. The RSPB reported an unprecedented surge in “orchestrated” illegal bird of prey killings, as perpetrators took advantage of a temporary lack of witnesses.

Raptor persecution is nothing new. Birds like hen harriers, buzzards and goshawks are trapped, shot or poisoned, usually to stop them preying on more lucrative game birds. The RSPB says it’s often focused around grouse moors, and while the shooting lobby denies that this is the case, nearly 70% of those convicted of raptor persecution offences since 1990 have been gamekeepers.

Outdoor Provisions, who make natural energy bars in flavours themed around national parks, are committed to protecting our beautiful birds of prey. A proportion of their profits goes towards helping the RSPB investigate and prosecute raptor persecution – so as you head out into the Peak District with a cherry bakewell bar or bite down on a treacly parkin snack in the Yorkshire Dales, you’ll be supporting some of the area’s most embattled residents.

“Birds are really key to our experiences of the outdoors,” says Christian from Outdoor Provisions. “It links in with ideas of land access and land ownership.” And he’s keen to stress how urgently we need to act – some species like hen harriers are already teetering on the brink of extinction.

In practical terms, we can all do our bit to protect birds of prey while we’re out hiking or biking in the countryside. Keep an eye out for traps or dead raptors, especially if there’s a half-finished meal nearby which could indicate poisoned bait. If you do find anything suspicious, get photos and a GPS location if you can, report it to the police non-emergency number immediately and inform the RSPB’s investigations team.

You can also show your support for the campaign by ordering a £6 raptor pin badge from Outdoor Provisions, of which 100% of the profits will go to supporting the RSPB’s investigations into illegal wildlife crime.

Words: Joly Braime

Find more about Outdoor Provisions campaign at outdoorprovisions.co.uk/ramblings/the-majesty-of-raptors

This is a sponsored blog post, created in collaboration with Outdoor Provisions. For more information on partnerships please email advertise@ernestjournal.co.uk.

A new exhibition celebrating Ray Harryhausen: titan of cinema

Film special effects master Ray Harryhausen elevated stop motion animation to an art form during the 1950s to 1980s. For the first time, highlights from Ray’s collection will be showcased as part of the largest and widest-ranging exhibition of his work ever seen, with newly restored and previously unseen material from his incredible archive

Skeleton models from Jason and the Argonauts (1963); photo by Sam Drake, courtesy of the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation

An immersive exhibition on the pioneering and unparalleled work of Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013), the cinematic titan whose movies shaped the face of modern cinema, will be coming to the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) this Autumn, as part of the late filmmaker’s centenary celebrations.

Titan of Cinema will be the largest and most comprehensive exhibition ever of the art of the legendary trailblazer Harryhausen, who elevated stop-motion animation to an art form between the 1950s-1980s, and whose exhilarating movies inspired a generation of the world’s greatest living filmmakers, among them Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Sir Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro.

The exhibition, originally scheduled for May 2020 but rescheduled due to current events, is now open with an extended run until September 2021. Visitors can secure their tickets via a new online booking system up to three months in advance. 

Titan of Cinema will showcase the original models that were miraculously brought to life on screen by Harryhausen’s mastery of stop-frame animation, such as the iconic skeletons from Jason and the Argonauts (1963), the Cyclops from his highly-influential Sinbad series, and his trademark UFOs from 1956’s Earth vs the Flying Saucers. The models shown will include those which would later inspire movies such as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Pan’s Labyrinth and Mars Attacks!

Also on display will be the young Harryhausen’s very first models, including a marionette inspired by the gorilla from King Kong, conceived by the film’s special effects supervisor Willis O’Brien, and artwork from Mighty Joe Young, the first film that Harryhausen and O’Brien worked on together, and the movie which effectively launched Harryhausen’s career.

Californian-born Harryhausen was massively inspired by the work of Willis O’Brien after seeing King Kong at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood in 1933. As a teenage boy, he went to see the film 33 times. Soon after, he was experimenting with models and stop-motion animation in his backyard, and was later mentored by O’Brien.

Titan of Cinema tells the story of how this young boy became so enraptured by O’Brien’s special effects , he devoted his entire life to filmmaking, invented ingenious techniques, created unforgettable cinematic moments, became what Aardman Animations’ Peter Lord described as a, “one-man industry” and inspired many of the world’s greatest movie-makers.

Ray Harryhausen: Titan of Cinema | 24 October 2020 — 5 September 2021 | 73 Belford Road, Edinburgh, EH4 3DS | Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two)
| 0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org | Tickets: £12-14 (concessions available)

Above images by Sam Drake, courtesy of the Ray and Diana Harryhausen Foundation

Meet the maker: Sam Brewster

For issue 10, Sam Brewster created an atmospheric, nostalgic night scene to accompany Dan Richards' article about the renaissance of sleeper trains. Sam invites us into his studio to chat about the perils of the internet, lockdown limitations and the acoustic benefits of having a door for a desk.

Sam, you created this stunning illustration for Dan Richards' sleeper trains feature in issue 10. Take us through how you created the work .

I wanted to make something that captured the dreamlike feeling of being on a night train; the meditative constant sounds of it cutting through the landscape, and the transitory peace you find in those places. In the dark you can’t see much detail, so I wanted to evoke the impressionistic experience of seeing bushes, trees and fields as shadowy shapes flitting by.

How would you describe yourself as an artist?

As I work mostly as a commercial illustrator, I’d say prudent. I’m trying to do more personal work in painting and film, but it’s hard to find clarity of mind.

Where do you turn for inspiration?

Away from the internet as much as I can. It’s a constant battle to escape the Ouroboros and I feel like I’m usually losing.

Are there any other exciting projects you're working on at the moment?

I’m actually working on an illustrated book about trains right now – although I can’t share any specific details yet, I can say that it’s really fun to work on.

What have you taken away from the lockdown experience?

Professionally, I miss being in a shared studio where I can air ideas with other people and watch them grow. Right now I feel like a dormant seed bank.

Tell us about your work space – how does it reflect you?

I’ve got a big door that I use as a desk. I like that it’s wooden, feels warm and only makes a dull clunk when you drop pens and pencils, rather than loud, high-pitched clacks you get on those hard Ikea tabletops.

What's on your bedside table?

Not a lot. A lamp, water, empty teacup, remote for my radio alarm. I prefer to have some space there so it’s quite empty.

You can read about the renaissance of sleeper trains in issue 10 of Ernest Journal, on sale now. Discover more of Sam’s work at sambrewster.com