Mike Hartley Somerset, United Kingdom

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I am a mixed media artist and Designer/ Maker I have always been interested in interdisciplinary or mixed-media arts exploring different mediums, i trained in the North East of England at university of Northumbria in Newcastle. recently designing and building structures for festival installation. Studio work at present is creating automata and kinetic structures.

I am a mixed media artist and have always been interested in exploring different mediums I view myself as a designer and constructor as well as the general term of artist I enjoy exploring many different avenues of creativity from land art and nature based sculpture to the design and build of theatre sets and structures for festivals . Most recently creating automata and kinetic structures for exhibition sound art performance and installation spaces. I focused on 3D work and sculpture allways with themes that explore environmental issues or refer to our relationship with technology and nature. initially creating skeletal figurative animal sculpture using natural materials deliberately choosing material that is seemingly of little value and free to access to anyone and yet can be used to create sculptures of high quality, playing with and questioning the idea of what we give value to, exploring our value system and what we judge with regard to -artworks, ourselves our achievements and what we place importance upon . my most recent work is creating kinetic sound sculptures and automata from recycling materials. creating interactive structures for exhibition and festival performances. From my Background in community arts I have developed as a designer and creator of decor and installation arts at outside arts and festivals, I feel they are a valuable context for art to be connected with and seen by people from all social backgrounds. My practice in all media has involved collaborations exploring pushing the boundries of where and what form or context art can find to express itself and always involved a connection to nature and ecology. I am interested in exploring and applying principles of limitations as the thing that pushes the imaginative response, as I found an approach where limitation or treating a problem as the positive not a negative is infact helping the creativity, (akin to adaptations in nature)