2015 IAP Video Anthology and other things!!!

Hello Again!!
So over the Summer I was invited to participate in the 2015 IAP Video Anthology exhibition hosted by Incheon Art Platform here in Korea. It's always a joy to be involved in IAP's projects seeing as they were the reason I first ever came to Korea back in 2013 and hence my love affair with this magical country began!!
Throughout the summer IAP screened a series of videos produced by international artists who have previously been awarded residency within their program.  The work that I showcased was my collaboration with animator Will Adams who I worked with during production of my 'Tales from Blue Truck Island' project over on Baengnyeong-do Island. This was a project I loved working on as it was a pleasure to work with the super talented Will Adams as well as work on documenting my time and experiences on the island. Our video 'The Whistlestop Diaries' was presented as part of the Video Anthology onsite at IAP in the theater.
Also over the Summer I was super happy to invited by DBUK to give an artist talk about my work as part of their series of design seminars here in Seoul! Their projects are based around connecting British and Korean artists and designers and having previously attended their seminars and workshops I was really honored that that invited me to participate and speak about my artwork!
Ok, so until next time!!
Love and Sparkles,
Emma xxx


 

Last Chance to Catch the Show!!!

Hiya!!!
Just a quick one to let you know that the show I'm currently exhibiting at will close this weekend, so there are still a few days to check it out if you happen to be in town!!!
As I previously mentioned, in my last blog post, I'm showing some stuff that I produced during my projects with IAP alongside the fruits of labour from fellow residents artists~ So if you fancy checking it out then pop along to Incheon Art Platform before Sunday 23rd Feb 2014!
In accompaniment to the exhibition there is tonnes of awesome stuff to check out around the rest of the IAP complex including galleries, performance space, art studios, cafe ~ and if you branch out into the neighbourhood of the art centre you also have Chinatown and lovely Jayu Park! Yikessss.....I sound like a tourist board!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, so for you guys in Incheon or Seoul then go check it out at:
Incheon Art Platform, 218-3 Jemullyang-ro, Jung-gu, Incheon, 400-201, S.KOREA.
Wish I was closer so that I could pop in myself!!!
Talking of Korean stuff... I was missing my ULTIMATE favourite snack so much last night that I cracked out my glorious 'Bungeoppang' ( 붕어빵) pan and whipped up some red bean treats...as I've said before the pan was the best find of my LIFE...best piece of kitchen kit I could EVER dream of...worth the excess baggage in bringing this beauty back to England!!! 

Eeeeeeeeeeppp they were totally gourmet!!!
So...I have a box of neon wool and a crochet hook calling my name~looking forward to the crafty work ahead this afternoon!!!
Oooeee and as seen in my ridiculously decorated photo collages here....you can also follow the action on my Instagram: _emma_bell
Ciao for now!!!
Love and Sparkles,
Emma xx

New Exhibition at Incheon Art Platform!

Hiya/ 안녕하세요!!!!
Just a quick one to share some news about a new exhibition, featuring my work, that opened in S.Korea yesterday!!! The show, '2013 Platform Artists - Final Report by 2013 Resident Artists of Incheon Art Platform', will be running 16th January 2014~23rd February 2014 and showcases the projects carried out by all of the artists in residence that participated in IAP's international programmes throughout the past year.
The show presents the work of 42 artists/ 32 groups from 11 countries who participated in both the Incheon Art Platform Residency and the Baengnyeong-do Peace Arts Project during 2013 and the exhibition includes the fields of; performance, visual arts, interactive installation, digital media, literature & criticism, painting and photography. The overall concept of the residency programme, which is an initiative operated by IAP and the Incheon Foundation for Arts and Culture, is to support and facilitate both Korean and International contemporary artists in a creative exploration focused on a response to the City of Incheon and its characteristics. 
As I've spoken about before, my particular project was based around Korea's most Northwestern island, Baengnyeongdo, and I was the first overseas artist to participate in this programme when it  launched in March 2013~ which was a really exciting experience and allowed for a really inspiring chapter of work. The work that I am contributing to the current exhibition is from my series, 'Tales from Blue Truck Island' that I produced both during and post residency with IAP. 
The exhibition will be running in venues A. B & H at Incheon Art Platform until 23rd February so for those of you in Seoul/ Incheon feel free to pop along and check out the show~
It's open daily 10am-5pm (closed Mondays) and you can access IAP via public transport ( Incheon Station- Subway line 1 or Buses 15, 28, 720 to Jung-gu District Office).
*Incheon Art Platform, 218-3 Jemullyang-ro, Jung-gu, Incheon, 400-201, S.KOREA.
Hope you get the chance to check it out if you are in town!!!
Love and Sparkles,
Emma xx

 

IPAP 3rd: 'SEA OF PEACE' Exhibition~Baengnyeong, S.Korea.

Ooooh Hiya!!!
So I'm currently showing my work as part of a new exhibition that opened over in South Korea last week.
The 'Sea of Peace' exhibition launched for it's third annual series featuring the work of 60 international contemporary artists and writers. The exhibition is part of Incheon Art Platform's 'Peace Arts Project' initiative and it is currently making it's debut on the island of Baengnyeongdo across several venues including the hospital, underground emergency shelters, Baekryeong cathedral and in the public space. The work I am showing is of course from my 'Tales from Blue Truck Island' series that was produced onsite during my time living on Baengnyeong island as part of the 'IAP Peace Art Residency 2013'. Really excited to be showing as part of the exhibition and it's really awesome that all of the works are shown on Baengnyeong itself. I shall update soon with more juice about the exhibition!
Love and Sparkles,
Emma xxx

Collaboration with Manchul Kim!!!

Hiya!!!
So thought I would unleash a peek into a recent collaboration that I did with the super talented photographer, Manchul Kim, during my time as artist in residence in South Korea. We worked together, alongside a wonderful team, on location in Suwon shortly before I left Korea. It was a really fun collaboration and awesome to join forces with a bunch of great, Korea based creatives as well as work against a really exciting backdrop! I wrote about the shoot on my blog a while back and about our time at the Korean Folk Village, which you can read about HERE!!!
The clothing pieces are from my latest collection of wearable art works that were developed during my most recent project as artist in residence with the 'IAP: Baengnyeong-do Peace Arts Residency' programmed by 'Incheon Art Platform'. The collection of garments are titled 'Tales from Blue Truck Island' and you can read more about those alongside the accompanying exhibition and animation collab HERE!
So here is a look at one of the images from our project together!!!!
Image Credits:
Photographer: Manchul Kim.  ( www.manchulkim.com )
Make-Up Artist: Dahae Kang.
Photo Assistant: Yangpa.
MUA Assistant: Changhyuk Yim.
Model: MiHee Yun.

Was so great to get to work with Manchul and his crew whilst I was over in magical Korea!!! I will be popping some more images from the shoot shortly so keep an eye out!!!
Love and Sparkles,
Emma xxx

'The Whistle-Stop Diaries' Screening in London TOMORROW!!!!

Ooohhh Hiya!!!
Just a quick one to spread the word on this tropicalllllyyy hot, summer evening that my latest collaboration with the super talented, animator of dreamzzzz Will Adams will be screening in the UK for the first time, tomorrow evening....
From Baengnyeong-do to Shoreditch, you can catch 'The Whistle-Stop Diaries' as part of 'Screen Social' 
hosted at 'The Book Club'... Check HERE to see a full run down of what's on the agenda!!! 
Doors open at 7pm/ July 10th 2013~
'The Book Club',
100 Leonard Steet. London, EC2A 4RH.

Laterzzz,
Love and Sparkles,
Emma
xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Heyri Art Village and Bye Byes!

Oooo hiya!!!
So a couple of weeks ago I waved farewell to magical Korea.... I was super sad to leave as I had such an awesome time there and working on this project has been both mega challenging and amazing... so although I didn't want it to come to an end, I'm glad that I left with a bunch of such special memories and got to experience so many incredible/scary/fun things!!!!

So in the whirlwind of installing the exhibition, wrapping up the projects, farewell parties, last minute shopping etc.... I never had a chance to share this weird and wonderful place that I visited during my final few days in Korea... 
I'd heard of this place before I'd even actually arrived in Korea and I had my heart set on going whilst I was over there and finally I found the chance to go, just in the nick of time, before I said 'Bye Bye' to kimchi land!!! This little gem is called 'Heyri Art Village' and lies on the cusp of the DMZ~  unusual location as you have this crazy little art village and cute cafes and then a few yards away you have armed border guards, views over North Korea and mile upon mile of barbed wire, so an interesting area to see~ but to be honest, after similar backdrops on the island for such a prolonged period, I was more into the Toy Museum, weird giant Daikon sculptures and strawberry cream cakes!!!

Heyri is about an hour north of Seoul so it was a fun little day trip and chance to see another part of Korea.... bit of countryside action in the mix and all that!!!! It's basically a compound of art studios and independent galleries dotted with parks, woodland sculptures, houses, bookstores, bakeries...It's home to over 400 artists and writers and acts as a place of inspiration in an isolated creative environment....the architecture is particularly exciting as each and every building is totally different and I loved how around every corner there was something really random...like a ramshackle, old red bus and a rogue mushroom house sitting atop a building?!?!? Really bizarre place....LOVED IT!!!

It was such a fun day...we spent hours trawling a few different museums and sampling several of the cafes....we seemed to be stopping for a snack every 5 minutes!!!! It was also in Heyri Art Village that I found the best 'Patbingsu' to date in Korea... Ok..so basically when it started getting warmer during my time in Korea my ever favourite 'Bungeoppang' red bean fish started becoming less frequent around the markets and ice sherbet aka Patpingsu/ 'Popping-Su' started taking it's place... I was quite excited about this as I always love an Asian shaved ice dessert and I guess this Korean version is kind of like a fancier variety of Japanese Kakigori... As those last few weeks were pretty warm and humid, I found many excuses to sneak in a patbingsu here and there and 9 times out of 10 the best combos were from the tiny back alley food joints as they threw ALLSORTS in there...anyway.... as I said...the best one I found was from a little kiosk in Heyri Art Village...it came with the standard: ice/condensed milk/red bean/mochi combo but was packed to the rafters with cocktail cherries, pistachio ice cream, fruit salad and CORNFLAKES!!!! eeeesh AMAZING!!!

Yeah, so all in all an interesting day out....the place is surrounded by greenery and mountains and then you have this strange mix between super kitschy and conceptual which is interesting.... super slick eco-structures sitting alongside a fibreglass Minnie Mouse and life~size Blues Brothers statues...weird and amazing.... one of my favourite little trips whilst I was in Korea!!!
So, then I guess that brought me to the end of an awesome 3 months living in Kimchi~Land!!! Yikes....now it's over it seems to have flown by but, it seemed like such a long stretch, especially when I was living it up rural style on the island.... it's probably been one of my favourite projects to date just because it was so varied in terms of the different aspects from the field research, making of the garments, the photography collaborations and the animation....not to forget teaching the textile workshops and working with the women from the school on the island! I guess it was also a special trip in that it gave me a chance to get a broad insight into Korean culture as a whole from spending time in the city in both Seoul and Incheon and then really getting back to basics in the isolated realms of Baengnyeong-do...Working on the island was tough in parts, mainly because of the gigantic, horrible spiders and of course because of what I was seeing on the news during that time, not to mention the fact I have zero experience of living somewhere so remote and cut off.... but, it was also awesome...had I not had the opportunity to do this residency I would have most likely, never ever, EVER in my lifetime had the chance to go to Baengnyeong-do so it was really amazing to get to see and totally experience such a place!
Yeah, Korea was super fun from start to finish and I got to meet some magical people...so I will miss it and hopefully will find myself back there sooner rather than later!
There are so many things that I am missing already.... sweet potato latte, awesome underground markets, constant K-Pop, cute cafes, glutinous rice donuts, street snacks, hanging around Hongdae and drinking bubble tea daily....too many things...but luckily I brought back a hefty supply of green tea with brown rice, endless sachets of matcha latte, my super special Bungeoppang pan, whopper stash of Korean facemasks and plenty of treats ranging from weird items of clothing to cute, new bento boxes and an outrageous amount of accessories and hairclips...so that should see me through!
Don't forget if you happen to be in Seoul or Incheon, there's still  chance to catch my exhibition, 'Tales from Blue Truck Island' at Incheon Art Platform until the 30th of June!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Laterzzz!
Emma xxx

 

'The Whistle-Stop Diaires'

Hiyaaa!!!
Thought it was about time that I showed you my magical collaboration with the super talented, animator, Will Adams!!! This was a project that began around 3 months ago at the start of my artist residency with Incheon Art Platform.
The idea was to work together in creating a visual diary based upon experiences on Baengnyeong-do... you can read the full speile below but, firstly you can have a little watch of the animation in all of it's rainbow coloured glory!!!....

''The Whistle-Stop Diaries' is a collaboration between Emma Bell and animator, Will Adams based on observations and experiences on South Korea's remote and most Northwestern island, Baengnyeong-do.
The concept was to mirror the practice of storytelling with reference to the idea of folktales as a method of communicating values and interpretations through sharing and 'passing on'. The process was to relay stories, interactions and personal impressions of Baengnyeong-do between Emma as the 'teller' and Will as the 'listener' and translate these ideas into a visual journal, presented as an animation.
'The Whistle-Stop Diaries' is a reflection of first hand encounters with the island's communities, landscape features and environmental characteristics with a focus on dialogue and exchange with the people of Baengyneong-do.
The animation was showcased as part of Emma's project titled, 'Tales from Blue Truck Island', developed during the 'IAP:Baengnyeong-do Peace Arts Residency 2013' and exhibited at Incheon Art Platform, South Korea May-June 2013."

Animator: Will Adams.
www.willdotadams.com

Original soundtrack by:
Sandy Martin & Matt Bradley.
Soundbook Studios.
www.soundbookstudios.com

This was such an awesome project to work on...and of course it also shows many of the special memories I have from Baengnyeong-do alongside some of the special people that I met there....from the woman snacking on the mountain herbs in the garden to the nun in her little, yellow bus and my mate with his sparkling golden Marines ring!!!
You can see more of Will's work on his website: www.willdotadams.co.uk
Don't forget if you are around Seoul or Incheon you can also go and watch the animation screening in Hall H at Incheon Art Platform until the 30th June 2013!!! 
Hope you enjoy!!!
Love and Sparkles,
Emma
xxx

'Tales from Blue Truck Island'

Oohhh Hiya!!!

Thought I would share the results of my latest collection produced during my residency with Incheon Art Platform, here in South Korea! As I've mentioned (about a million times!), I have been based here for the past 3 months working between Baengnyeong-do, Incheon and Seoul working on my new series of wearable art works and developing a whole load of field research which has included teaching textile workshops, collaborating on an animation and working with creatives based here on various photoshoots!

My new work is titled 'Tales from Blue Truck Island' and is based upon the themes of cultural identity and community interaction with the residents and visual aesthetics of Baengnyeong Island.... You can find the full information and details about the project and it's influences on my website by clicking HERE!!!

I've loved working on this project, it gave me a whole load of new inspiration from places that had I not been working on this artist residency, I probably would never have got to experience, IN MY LIFE! The final results of the 'Tales from Blue Truck Island' include the series of wearable art works, a photography collaboration and an animation.... the animation is coming soon so keep your eyes peeled!!! And tomorrow my exhibition here in Korea opens...so I will be also updating on that!!!

So the images were produced in collaboration with the super talented, Seoul based photographer, Jessica Berggrun and a wonderful team of magical people!

I will leave you with a select few images from the project and you can see the full series of photography and read all about the project HERE!!!!!! 

Image Credits:

Photographer:Jessica Berggrun.

Make Up Artist: Natalia Che.

Models: Sera Haith & Correen Bo.

Assistant: Sarah Kim.

Catch you laterzzzz!!!

Love & Sparkles,

Emma xxx

Children's Workshops in the Studio!!!!

Hiya!!! 
So today saw the start of  some workshops at the studio that I'm doing with children from a local kindergarten! I'm actually doing several workshops alongside my main project and new collection in partnership with my residency here in South Korea
and this was the first in a series that I will be doing during the community based aspects of my projects here. It was really fun and today saw a bunch of 5 year olds getting crafty with the fabric~plenty of bright colours and sequins flying around the room!
Over the upcoming weeks I will be working with a few different groups in which everyone will be making their own square to contribute to a final patchwork!
It was really lovely to have them in the studio and really great for me to get to meet some of the local kids and work alongside Sophia, the teacher from the school!
The school have been hugely supportive during my rural adventures so it's really amazing to be able to work with them and I'm looking forward to the next workshop! The school itself is really great to visit, it's super colourful with Hello Kitty EVERYWHERE~and the kids and staff are incredibly friendly! There's always coffee, bananas and toast in the mix whenever I pop in to visit!
As I mentioned, people and the community are a core theme of my creative projects here, so it's great to experience more insight into this through hosting the workshops and actually interacting with the residents and local institutions.

Alright, so I'm off to tidy up all of the sparkles from the floor then crack on with my own sewing!!!! So I will leave you with a couple more photographs!!!
Love,
Emma xxxx

Sewing in Dreamland...

 Hellooo!!!
It's a lovely blue sky, sunshine filled day here in South Korea....yet it is FREEEEZING outside and mega windy...I skipped out totally dressed for a Spring time occasion...and I almost came home with frostbite...Ok, well slight exaggeration....but it's SUPER chilly out there today!

So I don't have too much juicy gossip I'm afraid, sorry but no excitement of magical palaces or Hello Kitty cafes today! This past few days or so I have mainly been at one with my desk, working away on my project and trying to process all of my research and the million new ideas that I have! I really love it here and it's such an amazingly intense new environment for me so it feels like every day I see something or someone that gives me new ideas and themes that I want to explore....
It's been really nice to just sit here working quietly....well not so quietly as of course the 'Party Mix' has been playing on repeat....but to just spend some time totally dedicated to my project without any distractions. It is also a good time to slowly work my way through every instant drink in a sachet that is available as I am OBSESSED with all of these special flavours! To date the best ones have included Sweet Potato Latte, Pumpkin & Yam and my current favourite is Walnut and Job's Tears tea... of course nothing is quite as supreme as a nice Matcha latte....that will ALWAYS take some beating!

When I've not been doing studio work I've been continuing to document the area around IAP and Incheon in general...so there have been some nice, super early mornings (as I'm STILL unable to sleep!) spent with the sketchbook in nearby Jayu Park which is really lovely...although it requires me to whip out the fingerless gloves and take hot coffee with me as its gets pretty cold up on that hill at that hour! I really love the surrounding residential areas around the park as there are plenty of winding streets and some great views across the colourful rooftops of the city....I love this photo above as there was a little dog keeping watch on my movements in case I tried to sneak into those ceramic pots there! As part of my research I've been looking into Korean quilting so all of these great, patchwork type, rooftop views offer plenty of food for thought!

This week I've also been focusing on setting the ball rolling with some collaborations that I have planned as part of the latter parts of my projects here, so I'm massively excited to get teaming up with new creatives around Seoul and Incheon as well as get cracking with a couple of other exciting bits and pieces that I've got planned!!! I'm always on the lookout for new photographers, MUAs, potential collaborators etc, so anyone who is interested and based in the area, feel free to drop me a line via my website!
Today I'm working on some sampling for my textile work so this evening I will be continuing to do a spot of applique and crochet and also going to be getting to grips with the finer points of how fishing nets are constructed...hardcore.....
Ok, so back to the grind...I think that's all the updates for now!!!
Catch you laterzzzz!!!
Love,
Emma xxxxx