Mandy Bonnell
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Drawing is my primary means of enquiry and my work explores the cultural and artistic life within East Africa, focusing in particular on Lamu Island off the north Kenya coast. I work in Printmaking using traditional materials in etching and wood engraving. My ongoing aim is to look at my identity and personal response to this link, both historical and contemporary between the UK and Kenya. My printmaking is therefore influenced by the culture and natural history of the Island.
Pattern making is central to my imagery and I prefer to work on an intimate scale, small objects such as insects, shells, small plants and seedpods can be drawn life size. Drawing within the format of a pattern helps me to understand and recognise how important nature is as a key to creativity. I look and respond to pattern within the natural forms that I draw such as fractural pattern formation within nature as well as artists' textiles in Britain from 1945 such as Robin and Lucienne Day, Paolozzi, Sutherland and Moore and traditional and contemporary artists textile Kangas in Kenya. In African cultures verbal and visual arts often combine to reinforce and enrich one another. Proverbs and spoken narrative are used in unison with visual art forms providing complex systems of communication. Since 1993 I have collaborated with writer Gabriel Gbadamosi, whose poems draw on threads of moments as a response to my image making. I work in sets and series, to produce a narrative visual journey, combining figurative and abstracted elements. Each series is put together into a small edition concertina book format, with hand set typography, hand made covers and end papers. |
Selection of works
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Solo Exhibitions2015 - Eagle Gallery, London
2011 - Buckinghamshire County Museum UK 2009 - RaMoMA Museum of Modern Art, Nairobi, Kenya 2007 - Eagle Gallery, London. Book Launch. 2004 - RaMoMA Museum of Modern Art, Nairobi, Kenya 2002 - RaMoMA Museum of Modern Art, Nairobi, Kenya 2001 - Standpoint Gallery, London. ‘The Second Life of Shells’ 1998 - New Academy Gallery, London 1998 - One Off Contemporary Art, Nairobi, Kenya 1988 - Anderson O Day, London, UK 1997 - The Eagle Gallery, London. ‘The Coral Aquarium’. Book Launch 1996 - One Off Contemporary Art, Nairobi, Kenya 1995 - The Eagle Gallery, London 1995 - Lamu Printworks, Colchester UK 1993-1994 - British Council, Nairobi and tour, Kenya 1992 - British Council, Nairobi, Kenya Curating2005 - AFRICA 05, Exchange Exhibition: Contemporary Kenyan Printmaking, Bankside Gallery, London, UK
2008 - UK and Kenyan Printmakers, RaMoMA, Museum of Modern Art, Nairobi, Kenya Selected Publications- Of Green Leaf Bird and Flower, Elisabeth Fairman Yale University Press,
- Printmaking on a Budget, Joint author with Stephen Mumberson, Publisher A&C Black - Facing the Page, Sylvie Turner, Estamp - Printmaking for Beginners, Jane Stobart, A&C Black - Drawing Matters, Jane Stobart, A&C Black - Etching, by Alan Smith, Crowburg Press - Artist book yearbook 05, and 07, UWE Selected Workshops2013 - Minnesota Center for Book Arts, MN, USA
2013 - Xian Academy Fine Art, 3rd Int'l Printmaking Workshop, Xian China. 2011 - London Original Print Fair Eagle Gallery at Royal Academy, London, UK 2011 - Buckinghamshire County Museum, Bucks, UK 2008 - Set up open access printmaking facility at RaMoMA jointly with Peterson Kamwathi and Simon Muriithi 2007 - Printmaking Workshop RaMoMA, Museum of Modern Art, Nairobi, Kenya 2005 - Specialist Printmaking workshop, National Portrait Gallery, 2004 - Mezzotint workshop, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK 2004 - Outreach printmaking workshop, RaMoMA, Museum of Modern Art Nairobi, Kenya |
Training1980 -1983 Royal College of Art: MA (RCA) printmaking
1976 -1979 Gloucestershire College of Art and Design: BA (Hons.) Fine Art Awards2015 - International Printmaking Workshop and Symposium Aukland, New Zealand
2014 - Josef and Anni Albers Foundation USA 2013 - Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Artist in Residency, MN USA 2013 - Xian Academy of Fine Art, China 2011 - Muir Arts Trust at Buckingham Museum UK 2009-10 - Josef and Anni Albers Foundation; Artist in Residency, Connecticut USA 2006 - Ford Foundation Kenyan Artists Residency, 2006 - Bath Spa University, UK 2006 - LondonPrintstudio, UK 2004 - Visiting Arts, British Council, UK 2004 - Birgit Skiold Trust UK 1999 - Oppenheim John Downes Trust, UK1998 + 1999 Visiting printmaking Research Fellowship UWE, Bristol, UK 1992 - Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation, UK 1991 - Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation, UK CollectionsNew York Public Library, USA
Yale Center For British Art, USA University of Chicago USA Josef and Anni Albers Foundation USA Minnesota Center for Book Arts MN USA Frank Williams Collection USA The British Library, UK Victoria & Albert Museum, UK, The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. UK Buckinghamshire County Museum, UK The Wingate Foundation, UK Fitch and Co, UK National Grid. UK Wessex Regional Health.UK Harlech Int, UK Bath Spa University, UK Fidelity Art Foundation UK RaMOMA Museum of Modern Art Nairobi, Kenya The British High Commission, Nairobi Kenya Xian Academy of Fine Art China PressNdege News - 30-09-2013 - Right thinking or not?
EastAfrican - 14-09-2009 - Eye-Pods: Seeds of creation |
Mandy Bonnell is exclusively represented in East Africa by One Off