Plymouth College of Art Degree Show - 'Burden of Dreams'

Steve Maynard, 32, Bodmin

A country boy at heart, Steve Maynard’s work includes flora, fauna and chicken noises he hopes will make people laugh.

Incorporating a film of his epic adventure dragging his beloved Grandmother’s piano across Bodmin Moor, Steve’s early work was inspired by the film Fitzcarroldo by Werne Herzog where he recreates a scene from the film.

His installation ‘Burden of Dreams’, will house an old childhood desk with a story etched onto it about a dead fly. Looking on, is a fox’s head amongst other objects.

“The clock in my piece symbolizes this time we are in now, and the pressures of time; completing our studies and this feeling that we are on the cusp of something.

“It’s about the relationships between the objects in the space”, he says “I hope things such as the wooden pig and the desk will encourage people to interact and be surprised by its contents”.

At 32, before he started the BA in Fine Art at Plymouth College of Art, Steve worked in Germany as a landscape gardener. “I always wanted to go to art college”, he says, “then thankfully my circumstances pushed me into it”.

“Finally, having a studio space to work in meant that my art was something I no longer had to hide away. It was something I had always done, but now studying art has legitimised me and what I do.
“The course has been challenging and it has pushed me in many, sometimes contradictory directions, which is good.

“When I graduate I have already got a barn and a caravan to live in where I plan to work for a year. Then I will be applying to study at Chelsea in London and some other Art Schools. I will definitely be continuing to study a Masters.”

See Steve’s work at the Plymouth College of Art Degree Show in Studio 11, on Regent Street. The annual end of year exhibition will showcase Degree students work throughout the College.

The Degree Show runs from Friday 25 June to 2 July. Entrance is free and the College is open from 9am until 8.30pm Monday to Friday, and 9.30am – 4.30pm on Saturday during the show.

For more information visit www.plymouthart.ac.uk or telephone 01752 203434.

For more information visit http://www.plymouthart.ac.uk/