The Freebirds are the Empty Shop HQ studio group. made up of a range of artists of varying ages and disciplines, they all share and embrace the Empty Shop ethos. They are so called because one of the benefits of taking a studio Space with Empty Shop is that we use ‘The Fabulous Freebird Rule’.
Current FreeBirds are:
Abigail Barlow
Abi is an artist who works mostly as a figurative painter using oils and a whole bunch of turps. Abi is a qualified teacher working with adults with autism and leading life drawing classes at Empty Shop. Outside of the world of art Abi’s interests including cooking and dogs though never at the same time.
Carlo Viglianisi
Carlo is an artist, designer and photographer. His work is multi disciplined using a variety of mediums and taking various directions, often under pseudonyms. He is currently taking advantage of being in a creative community and trying to re-establish out his core practise whilst writing paragraphs about himself in the 3rd person.
Personal site: www.ratpasty.com/blog
James Adair
James’s practice deals with a variety of themes ranging from history, ecological and social issues – to his personal and shared experiences of growing up in the socio-political situation of Northern Ireland. James also has a continued interest in the events of the Chernobyl incident and how the natural environment has responded to the event. His current main method of working is predominately via large scale wall paintings and installations, where vibrant and bold use of colour has become a key component in his work.
Personal site: http://jamesyinwonderland.blogspot.com
Meinir Wyn Jones
Meinir Wyn Jones is an artist, designer and maker. Working primarily in ceramics and mixed media, Meinir creates work that explores issues of intimacy and eroticism. Her work has been exhibited in Europe and the US and has been featured in numerous publications.
Personal site: www.meinirwynjones.com
Nick malyan
Nick Malyan is a sociologist who was once described as a cultural intermediary. He has also been described variously as a good communicator, someone who pays attention and a wordy c*nt. He has worked in music, cinema, theatre, events and art. His primary substantive interests are space, architecture, regeneration and democracy. More broadly Nick is interested in interpretation, i.e. the use of language and words to read objects and concepts as a text.
Essentially this means that whilst Nick is not someone who produces creative work of his own he is someone who’s skill base can help you realise a vision, largely through a use of language and enthusiasm.
Paul Gibbs
Paul is a freelance illustrator mainly focusing on English Language teaching books for the children’s education market. He works professionally via computer and the internet as his clients are mostly located in the main publishing centres in the South East or North America. Paul says ” I am keen to re establish my gratification and self worth through traditional fine art mediums. Hopefully this will lead to a more involved and rewarding function in those areas.”
Paul Raymond
Paul Raymond produces artwork in a variety of media ranging from kinetic sculpture and site-specific installation, to painting, drawing, collage, video and performance. His work often focuses on his own obsessions, impulsive desires and fantasies. These subjects provide Paul with the inspiration to create all manner of fetishised objects, obsessively produced images and large scale fantasy environments. Paul is interested in themes of authority and control within society and uses his artwork to question imposed roles and boundaries.
Toby Lloyd
Toby Lloyd uses photography, video and performance to examine the self and it’s relationship with it’s surrounding environment.
He is interested in how we negotiate the landscape of advertising and corporate branding where everything has a logo on it and we are all the target audience.
His work has been described as “banal in the best possible sense” and “masochistic” as he takes the everyday object or action and pushes it into the absurd.
Originally from Cambridge Toby now lives in Newcastle
Peronsal site: www.toby-lloyd.co.uk
Tricia Green
Info coming soon
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If you would like to contact any of the FreeBirds, feel free to drop us an email and we’ll pass it on thefolks@emptyshop.org
Past FreeBirds
These are the ones that have grown up and flown the nest:
Steven Walker
Ged Robinson
Sophie Cole
