A Fresh Start and Wolverhampton Art Gallery
- Amy Animates
- Apr 18
- 3 min read
I’m on a short break from work to go back to basics and connect with myself again, because I need a little break from routine to do things that make me genuinely happy. So far, this has pretty much just been hanging out with Dan and playing Stardew Valley. But anyway, in this break, I’ve decided two things.
To start a thing that I like to call Side Quest Sundays! And it’s exactly how it sounds, I make a point to do something for fun every Sunday, ideally a creative project that I can continue the next week.
I get a fresh (ish) start on this blog. Let’s be real, I haven’t been consistent at all, so I think I need to work on it a little differently. This time, I’m setting myself real goals and (fingers crossed) not leaving anything permanently in the drafts like my abandoned Christmas crafts post.
So let’s talk about Side Quest Sundays. Last Sunday I began making a big ol’ cork board from corks Dan and Lauren have saved for me over the last year or so. I’ve made a smaller cork board from them before, but I’m taking a different approach this time. They're not all uniform like the ones I used for my old cork board, so instead, I've been cutting them up into varying thicknesses and sticking them together with some wood glue. And it takes forever, so do not expect any updates on that!
I'm yet to start my newest animation project, but I've got the ideas down and I'm excited to get back into that... so this post is actually about my trip to Wolverhampton Art Gallery with my best friend on Thursday. I don't get to see her often because adulthood really sucks :( but we finally made the effort to find a day that works!
And the gallery had a really wonderful exhibition on by Joy Labinjo called A Place of Our Own that I think you should absolutely go see before the 4th May if you get the chance. There are a lot of reasons to love this particular project of hers, including the themes, but I love the use of colour the most. I'm not usually a huge fan of big block colours, but she managed to create a sense of depth and light on the figures, which contrasts really well with the spaces they're inhabiting and pulls them out from the background. This works really well for representing her themes and reflects the title. These pieces really feel like they aren't about the place, but about belonging and creating a space of your own. The flatness of the backgrounds refuses to draw your attention away from the women, who are often depicted in paintings as if they were purely decorative or sexual objects. As a woman in art, friends with women in art, with a twin that's a woman in art, I'll always love to see work that celebrates women exactly as they are, which is absolutely what these paintings do.
My favourite probably has to be this one, depicting a woman in her denim boots. I love the patchwork, the vibrancy of the red, and somehow it doesn't overpower from the woman at all.
There was also a bunch of other great pieces, including in the Pop Art gallery. And, although I've never been into Pop Art or Andy Warhol, it was pretty cool to see two of his works in person! They also had one of my favourite Hockney pieces on display, which was fantastic because he's probably one of my favourite artists of all time. I know, I'm full of surprises.
We also saw Coat Hanger Man (not his official name,) and a bunch of other great artworks, and I foolishly didn't note their names or the artists that made them. But pictured here are my favourites, that look much better in person since gallery lighting always ruins photos. Then to end a great day, we went to a bunch of charity shops, where I exclusively looked through green stuff and teddies.
Anyway, I genuinely recommend going to Wolverhampton art Gallery because they've got some awesome artworks on display right now. And they haven't even asked me to say that, so you know it's true. Eve can vouch for me.
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