Bringing out their voices
We introduce a new column which will feature artists w and this week we speak to Diana Beltran Herrera on h
Diana Beltran Herrera’s Flickr stream is filled with pictures of birds. They’re gorgeously coloured; each boasting their own distinct markings, their own exquisitely detailed feathers. Some are from Colombia (where the artist used to live), others from America (where she was invited to exhibit) and still others from England (where she is studying now). Some are perched on branches, others are caught mid-flight. They look back at you, beady eyes unwavering or go about their business, unconcerned by your attention. However, whatever they’re doing, wherever they are, Diana’s birds all have one thing in common. They’re made of paper. Diana first started making her lifesized, ‘hyper-realistic’ sculptures in Bogotá, Colombia’s crowded capital city. “In my city there are lots of birds trying to survive in the chaos, you hardly hear them because the traffic doesn’t let you, you hardly see them because there is too much distraction in daily life,” Diana says. When she really started looking around her, Diana began to notice more and more the way the natural world found its way into urban
spaces.
Colombia incredibly diverse animal population migration destination. Come Septem birds will congregate there. For Dian looks for her subject’s in the wild an from images. To create her sculpture on paper because it was widely ava she didn’t need to rely on an industri require expensive tools. She drew o experiences as a designer to work w modularity. She began by sticking th skeleton. The detail in these remains nary – ranging as they do from the th feathers to the delicate wisps and st ends that make up the coat of your a colour palette is so wonderfully accu tions so convincing, that they could en for the real thing.
Still some birds are more challeng than others – woodpeckers for insta patterns that can take days to replica Size also counts - a cardinal could ta paper and five days of labour but the eagle or crane could take 10 to 15 sh and up to two weeks of time. Luckily to go the distance. She works closel and groups of bird watchers to ensu are as accurate as they are lovely.
Now in Bristol, Diana is far from h covering the birds here are on the sh have been the pigeons and robins, s ons. They’re not as colourful as their counterparts, but are still surprising her. The bird that Diana is really keep for though is a kingfisher, which hav to be difficult to spot in the wild. Still
For Sajith and Jeewana Fernando karaoke will always be something that’s close to their hearts. This is why they opened the Voice Lounge together with Dinuk Hettiarachchi last year. The lounge that prides itself on being ‘family friendly’, and is already pretty popular amongst crowds. Catering to popular demand they decided to launch ‘Dell Voice Idol’, a karaoke singing competition for their patrons and friends.
The competition is already at the semi- final stage and according to the creators the response has been phenomenal. The only rule of the competition is that participants are over 18, and according to organisers it seems that the contestants have really taken this to heart with one of the most popular semi-finalists pushing 60 and enjoying the competition. “When we first had entries from relatively older people we were very surprised,”” laughs Sajith. “But they told us, ‘I will surprise you’ and that they’ve done!”
The competition is designed for the amateur singer looking for some exposure. The format for Voice Idol is quite simple-participants apply, take part in a round of preliminaries and if lucky semi-finals because a w with the cro the quarter semis (whi Next Sunda where one will take ho along with a of other goo
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