ABOUT EILEEN BLACKMORE
Eileen Blackmore is a multidisciplinary artist, curator and artistic producer. Imagination, connection and invention are subjects that are always reflected in her work. Not only does this apply to her paintings, drawings and photos, but also to the multimedia and ICT assignments and sustainable design projects in which she is leading as an artistic producer.
Eileen combines different disciplines to create exciting situations that entail creative challenges. The connecting thread of different elements is always the red line.
She is bilingual and grew up in two cultures. Her mother is Dutch and has her roots in Friesland, her father is British and comes from Devon (and Wales). Her background has ensured that she moves easily in different worlds and can switch well in different fields.
DESIGN AND ART
With House of Design, Eileen initiates and participates in (European) projects in which product designers are challenged to use 3D thinking, inventiveness and curiosity in partnerships with parties from other disciplines. From these – often not obvious – collaborations often not obvious ideas arise for applications that contribute to a sustainable future.
Design is a discipline in which a vision of us as a society and our collective future plays an important role. Design exposes social themes, contributes solutions, reflects identities, and lets us reflect on our culture and our daily lives. Design is a creative and comprehensive field in which new technologies are a constant source of experimentation.
“Design, or art, or something in between; House of Design focuses on an open approach to design. The projects increasingly become social positions in which aesthetics, technology and sustainability come together.”
PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS AND PHOTOS
In her images, Eileen takes the perceived reality as a starting point and abstracts what she sees. The abstract image is created by initially looking carefully and then omitting parts, zooming in on a detail, changing colours or playing with compositions. The image shows the beauty of what she has observed.
She finds inspiration for her work in the Lauwersmeer area (an area on the border of the provinces of Groningen and Friesland) and in subjects such as movement, friendship, dance, landscape and fishing. Friendship is represented by horses, movement by dancers and the landscapes form glimpses of the world she imagines.
MULTIMEDIA AND ICT
From 1995 to 2016, Eileen developed tailor-made multimedia products and IT applications (Information and Communication Technology) for Internet and intranet systems. She did this – together with a team of freelancers – under the name Blackmore Media. She was involved in the functional design (this describes how an application will look and how it works) and designed the basis of database systems. In the development of web tools, she took the website visitor as a starting point and developed innovative navigation systems for this. She did this for various large organisations, including Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences and Omrin.
Due to her knowledge of programming and the operation of databases, Eileen has a great deal of insight into the possibilities of web technology. She often knew that what seemed impossible could still be realised. After 2016, Eileen started to focus more on her work as an artist, curator and artistic producer. Technology continues to inspire her and still has a place in her work, such as applications of 3D printing and the Internet of Things (in public spaces).
THE CONNECTION
Eileen has a great eye for the world around her; the connection and diversity between people, nature, society and ongoing developments. This involvement and broad interest are expressed in very different ways in her work. Knowledge and experience in very different fields and a large network are the result of this.
“The painting captures a quiet moment of life, the web connects people with different cultural and social backgrounds and a multitude of questions. The projects in which I am involved respond to social issues and initiate new movements to make the world a little more sustainable and enjoyable.”
Education:
1990 – 1993 Academie voor Beeldende Kunst en Vormgeving, Minerva in Groningen. Disciplines: schilderen, tekenen en ruimtelijke vormgeving.
1993 – 1995 Academie voor Beeldende Kunst en Vormgeving, Minerva in Groningen. Disciplines: multidisciplinair kunstenaar, creatief producent van projecten en communities
1994 – 1995 Rijks Universiteit Groningen: kunst en kunstbeleid
1995 – 1996 Scan instituut: ICT ontwikkelaar
Disciplines:
1995 – 2015 – ICT developer and director Blackmore Media
1997 – > – multidisciplinary artist
1996 -> – founder and director of House of Design – www.houseofdesign.nl
2016 – > – art-director It Erfskip – www.iterfskip.frl
See also for photography: www.flickr.com/photos/eblackmore
Projects (selection):
(see www.houseofdesign.nl/projecten/ for more info)
Design of concept and / or artistic production of the projects below.
2020-2021 – N361 from Wad till Groningen: creative producer for the design along the road N361 from Wad till Groningen. A complete design with connection to (culture) historic elements from Hogeland andWad.
2020-2021 – round about Leens: design artwork (more information later)
2017-2018 art director Erarsmus + project 3D Education in which designers, artists and teachers work together to add 3D thinking and 3D printing to the curriculum
2016 – 2017 We are going to make it: setting up a local sustainable production chain in which designers are invited to use the landscape as a context and basis for material for developing Groningen design
2014 solar boats and 3D at the festival Into the Great Wide Open
2013 Groningen design: various activities to put Groninger designers on the map, including at the DMY in Berlin
2013 – DesignXPO, design festival. Theme: biobased design
2012-2014 art-director for InterregIVC RegioCraft how to preserve crafts in Europe by connecting with contemporary designers and 21st century tools
2012 – Design Pressure Cooker in Hamburg, designers and entrepreneurs work on a design question for a day
2012 – exhibition Ontmoet Design at the housing fair Wonen & co in Groningen.
2012 – 3D UROs: workshop at the festival Into the Great Wide Open, working with biomaterials and 3D printers on unidentified rolling objects.
2011 – DesignXPO, design festival in collaboration with Minerva Academy, Groninger Museum, Syntens, Vos Interieur. Theme: tension between creativity and commission.
2010 – DesignXPO, design festival in collaboration with Syntens, Vos Interieur. Theme: sustainability
2009 – Design in Groningen, design festival route along designers’ studios
2008 – Design in Groningen, design festival route along designers’ studios
2007 – Design and Architecture Route Groningen
2002 – development of an online tool for testing blood filters for Sanquin Netherlands
1997-2000 – Craftdesign: exhibition with graduation work in the field of product design from academies from Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands.
1996 – House of Design: online community with work by product designers all over the world
1995: City and Countryside
Graduation art project. Art direction and curating.
Students and artists were invited to create a piece of work on a large square, in which they made a choice between natural and synthetic materials. The synthetically tinted artworks were placed in the middle as a core surrounded by the natural materials that represented the countryside. Her own work were large mirrors, placed in the adjacent building that caught the sun and, after time passed, literally lit work by work.
1994: Der Weser, Bremen
artdirection of an art week in Bremen in collaboration with the Kunst Hochschule Bremen. Theme der Weser, the river that flows through Bremen.
1993: Secret Recipe
art direction of an exhibition with sketchbooks from various departments of 50 students, presented on a large layered cake.