South Wirral Art Society
Demonstration of Digital Art by Carl Bridge
30th March 2010
With Carl the Society promised the members something out of the ordinary and what we actually got was something ‘extra – ordinary’! I don’t think that anyone that attended his demonstration couldn’t have failed to be moved by the story that unfolded. Carl didn’t just give us a demonstration, he gave a little bit of himself, and this trait in him is reflected in his work. Carl originally trained in textiles but has travelled, worked, and soaked up the technology in many different parts of the world, and this has allowed him to build up a reservoir of experiences that he draws on for his art.
His experiences give him the basis of his art, but other things inspire and drive it. A personal family tragedy, the resultant poems he composed and his feelings combine to provide the basis for his family portraits he showed us on the night. The process was very important to Carl – starting with the words Carl works up a ‘proposal’ to himself and this is followed by copious amounts of thinking and experimentation on the subject, all captured in his sketch books. From this point he would produce hand worked compositional pieces. They may include printed material, paint, dye, drawing, collage and even recycled/found items. Carl seems to build into his pieces a degree of decay or erosion, both with recycled and new materials, using additives to aid the process. In this way not just the image reflects the subject but also the fabric of the picture – taking on a life of its own and changing over time just as the people in the portraits change. The words and numbers will appear in the pictures – they have significance and add to the symbolism he uses. An example of this appears in his own portrait (included on the web site) with his eyes covered, a metaphor for our inability to see clearly what is around us at times; also in his double image of the womb where a close examination reveals numbers which are significant birth dates for Carl.
From this point he moves onto something which for some of us is a bit scary – the computer! He uses the standard ‘Paint’ programme on Microsoft and using his mouse, like others would use a pencil, draws from his sketch books and compositional work. Carl finds great freedom with the computer which allows him to rework his art over and over until he gets the desired effect. Glenys overcame her fears and guided by Carl had a go for herself. In the 5 minutes she had a recognisable image emerged – well done. Indeed I did hear around the room members commenting that it encouraged them to have a go when they get home. We might see some member produced digital images at our next exhibition.
Once Carl has the right image it goes off to be printed. At this point as the image is launched into life, Carl seems lets go and his mind moves onto the next project. This for me demonstrates how the process of creation seems more important for Carl than the creation itself. What is the next project for Carl? Well it seems to be six portraits and if we maintain contact it will be good to see how they turn out.
The finale was a massive print of one of the works from earlier in the evening – the sort of thing that hangs on the side of a building rather than in a gallery.
Thank you to Carl, a most interesting and enjoyable evening. It was something a bit different to get the members thinking. Even if they don’t try the digital route there was still plenty to learn from the process, the expression of feelings and the use of imagination – things that would benefit anyone’s art.
A final little footnote - members may be interested to know Carl waived his fee preferring us to pay it to the Village by Village Charity which provides clean water supplies to African villages. So, two groups benefited from the demonstration that night.
Peter Appleton, Secretary.