Boat on beach wins Wales Artist of the Year prize
A video of a woman waiting in a boat for the tide to take her away has won the Welsh Artist of the Year prize for its creator.
Gemma Copp's 13-minute film, shot on Swansea beach, earned her the £2,000 prize for a work judges called "touching and poetic".
She said the video, Rising Tides, represented a desire to escape from a place but getting dragged back.
Ms Copp had previously won the video prize in the 2010 awards.
The 30-year-old fine art graduate, who studied at Swansea Metropolitan University, grew up in the city and said the sea was part of her daily life.
It is the first time she has set an artwork on the beach, and in order to get an uninterrupted shot had to get down to the beach very early in the morning, as well as wait for the right weather and tidal conditions.
The video shows Ms Copp sitting in a boat on the beach holding balloons. The boat is slowly nudged back to shore by the incoming tide.
First of all she needed to find the right boat, which she eventually bought on eBay, before beginning the filming process.
She said: "Everyone has a desire from time to time to escape their general lives.
"It took about three months to actually make it. It was quite a long process from the first thought to coming to make the work.
"I did it from the end of August last year until October. I'd set off early in the morning but I had to wait for the tide to be high and the weather. It could be a week before I could film again.
"I did have to wait for dry days - that's why it took three months probably!"
The unusual nature of the project attracted some attention from other beachgoers.
"I did have a couple of comments," Ms Copp said. "I saw the same people quite often and I was waving to them. People were intrigued. Somebody said it made them smile."
She eventually got about 10 takes with which to make the film.
The artist admitted to being a bit shocked on hearing she had won the prize.
"It was lovely. It's just great that your work is acknowledged," she said.
Ms Copp, who works part-time in a Swansea store, plans to put her prize money towards future work.
She has previously won the Artist of the Year video prize in 2010, was shortlisted in last year's awards and has exhibited her work in Wales, London and Athens and will take part in the Mannheim Film Festival in Germany in September.
The Welsh Artist of the Year exhibition is at St David's Hall in Cardiff until 6 August.
Fat bird in a boat
Fat bird in a boat
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Fat bird in a boat
and now; a fat bloke in a phone shop...
He should apply for an arts prize for his work!!
He should apply for an arts prize for his work!!
An unhappy customer smashed up a city centre mobile phone shop during an apparent row over a refund for a mobile phone contract.
Shocked shoppers filmed Jason Codner, 42, from Salford, on their phones as he methodically ripped out wall fixtures and set off fire extinguishers at the T-Mobile store in Manchester city centre.
The footage, which later appeared on YouTube, shows the middle-aged man destroying the shop displays as staff watch in disbelief.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said they were aware of Saturday's incident and that Jason Codner, from Salford, had been charged with criminal damage and public order offences.
He is due to appear at Salford and Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 30 July.
A police spokesman said: 'At 4.25pm on Saturday 30 June 2012, police were called to T Mobile store on Market Street in Manchester City Centre to reports of an aggressive customer.
'A 42-year-old man got into a verbal altercation with members of staff and started to damage items in the store.
'it appears he didn't get the response he wanted after a conversation about his mobile phone contract.'
One shopper said: 'The footage is unreal and we couldn’t believe how much damage had been caused.
'He must have been seriously angry about something to go on such a rampage. Normally disgruntled shoppers would have just an exchange of words with a member of a staff about a product but this guy took it to a whole new level.'
A T-Mobile spokesman said there were seven staff members and several other customers in the shop at the time of the incident but all managed to escape without injury.
They added: 'The incident which occurred at the Manchester Market Street store was of course very upsetting for our staff.
'During the incident, all customers and staff were taken outside of the store as quickly as possible and the police were called immediately to handle the incident.
'The customer’s dispute was in relation to a refund that we were not able to give - as it was clearly outside of the stated terms and conditions.
'We are currently assessing the damage, and will be re-opening the store as soon as possible
'We will of course continue to work to ensure the safety – of both our staff and our customers - is of paramount importance at all times.'
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Fat bird in a boat
In the US the digruntled customer would have opened fire with a fully automatic Kalishnakov.
WIMP!
WIMP!
Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.
yrs,
rubato
Re: Fat bird in a boat
I believe that was a misprint...Boat on beach wins Wales Artist of the Year prize
The headline was supposed to read:
Whale on beach wins Boat Artist of the Year prize
Re: Fat bird in a boat
ROTFLMCO!!
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”