Behind-the-scenes BV Studios

In the heart of Bedminster is BV Studios; the building was originally Wiltshire Printing Works where the magazines Viz, 2000AD and the Big Issue were first printed but is now home to a thriving community of artists.

Penny Jones Founder of BV Studios

I found this place in 2007 and gradually we developed it into what you see now. We’ve got 38 units which are then sub-divided and we’ve got about 125 artists in the building now.

If you’re an artist working at home, you don’t see anybody else. But here, they’re everywhere. You pass people in the corridor, if you leave your door open people wander in and have a chat. So it means communication and it’s not necessarily exchanging highfalutin ideas, it’s just making friends and knowing you’re all on the same page and you all want the same thing.

We have a waiting list, we accept applications from artists and every application goes before the selection panel; they are artists that I pick at random and they look at each application and discuss it and decide whether that person is worthy of being accepted into the community.

When I was sixteen, in the early 60s, I hitch hiked to Greece ended up in Corfu. I just fell in love with the place and I wrote it down in my diary that I want to create a community of artists in Corfu. I never thought it would be like this [in Bedminster]…but this is professional and amazing. 

Beth Ableson

I’ve been here five years now, so a long time. I found out about it through some people I did my BA with, I came up to visit on open studios and I just loved it.

My work is very conceptional… it’s mainly sculptural based and it’s good to have a studio and be amongst like-minded people that take art seriously.

We can definitely bounce ideas off of each other but my work is very autobiographical, it’s inspired by things that happen to me and experiences and stuff like that.

www.bethableson.com 

Angela Baum, abstract painter 

I always wanted to be a painter, I was living in Oxford and I was doing some drawing classes…that was in the late 80s. I went to art school in Oxford and and I did a masters in Cardiff, and now I’m an artist.

I came into BV Studios and made a snap decision – it was just so peaceful and lovely.

I’m an abstract painter and I’m very intuitive. I use found materials and lots of collage; sometimes I paint from collage or I start off with a sort of light glaze of pink – I like bright pink.

I just start and things follow, I do quick sketches and then I sometimes use those to do something else, to make them bigger. 

www.angela-baum.co.uk 

Ros Ford, painter and print maker inspired by ‘hidden industrial landscapes’

This is a very traditional technique called etching; nearly all of us in here have etching as one of our key parts of our practice. It is partly why I’m at BV as I do big plates so I need big piece of equipment.

I’ve been to a lot of studios in my time and I’ve moved every six months. You can’t really move the equipment easily so I was looking for somewhere light and somewhere where I could have this wonderful piece of equipment.

I get inspiration from the less known areas of the city. I live in Totterdown and I go to St Phillips Marsh at lot; I do a lot of work with that semi-industrial side of the city, not the famous landmarks. 

www.ros-ford.co.uk

Stewart Geddes, painter and art teacher

BV is a sort of critical community that I can draw upon to make comment on what I do, to give advice – be it skills-based, be it conceptual-orientation. Basically, it is community which worries about similar things to me.

Things I experience in Bristol trigger certain kinds of works. I might begin with an idea but they’re not copies of any specific places, there’s a point where the painting itself takes over.

At the moment I’m teaching at the Arts University in Bournemouth. I’ve always liked teaching…the youngsters are fearless. 

www.stewartgeddes.weebly.com

Anne Deeming

I’m really interested in materials so a lot of the starting points for the things I make will either be things that I’ve found or materials that I’ve salvaged. I take a lot of pictures of things I find on the street so, again, that will inspire a new piece of work.

It’s a great space here. I’ve had lots of different studios and this is just one that feels really secure; it’s really nice and light and it’s a really good community of people.

Being an artist can be quite lonely sometimes, so it’s nice to have fellow practitioners around and there’s quite a nice network of people skill sharing and things and that’s quite a good thing.

www.annedeeming.com

Diana Beltram Herrera, Columbian designer and artist working with wire, cardboard, plastic and paper

I did a degree in design but when I finished I realised I didn’t want to just go into that career of producing objects and selling them in the market. I wanted to be an artist because it’s more about researching, thinking a lot about what we experience and relate with every day. 

I’m currently working on a commission for a hospital in America – it’s a work that’s going to be hung in a children’s hospital.

BV is like a really engaging community and lots of people are here who can give you help with your work and you can grow with them. So that’s why I wanted to be here. 

www.dianabeltranherrera.com

Read more: Behind the scenes at ss Great Britain