Hanging work

For final year students up and down the country now is a stressful time as they hang their work for degree shows. For lecturers it is easy to become complacent when this becomes an annual round of white paint and plinths. This year because I have been busy making and hanging work this has given me a healthy perspective.

'Putting on a show twice a year is like going for a thorough check-up at the doctor's. I think it does me a lot of good... Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't, and in that case you have to tear everything down and begin again. But in any case we have to carry on moving forward, continuing our research, doing new experiments. That's how innovation happens, with us confronting real life...' Issey Miyake: Making Things by Kazuko Sato and Herve Chandes (1999) 

So I try to keep in mind that hanging an exhibition, however big or small is not the end of something, it is merely a place to pause, step back and reflect on the journey ahead. So be brave, put the work on the wall (window, floor...) admire your achievements and invite criticism.

... and good luck to my lovely third year students; you're nearly there!

Making progress

Busy stitching printing and patching in the studio.
Re-discovered a box of crochet cottons, which are lovely to stitch with, especially for novices.
Preparing works for the drop in workshop at my Open Studio.

In search of the sun

Not much sun but still making sun prints.

Some beautiful weeds discovered on the streets of Saltaire.

So much to do...

... and so little time.

A stack of 100 little cyanotype postcards to print, a giant textile 'map' to prepare (come and join me for stitching fun!) while juggling a heap of assessment, and did I mention I had a little research project to write up?

If I am still conscious you'll find me here:

Open Studio during Saltaire Arts Trail; 25th to 27th May 2013 at The Butterfly Rooms. Please come and make it all worth while.

Mind collage

The frustration of struggling to visualise complex organisations of ideas and things has caused me many struggles through the years but it is only very recently I have realised the connections between these various challenges and how I choose to overcome them.

As a child writing never came naturally and at secondary school the struggle was so frustrating I sometimes resorted to cutting up my essays and joining them back together with sticky tape to help me organise my ideas. I was reminded of this during the week as I wrestled with the writing up of the Prince's Shirt Project. The result was a kitchen wall covered in print outs, post its and washi tape, the only way I could move the ideas around where I wanted them.

As a keen gardener I only took on my first garden two and half years ago but have found it surprisingly difficult to design with plants. I struggle to visualise the effect I will get without putting them in and then moving the poor things about at a later date.

So perhaps it is unsurprising that in the studio I find it hard to plan out and execute a piece from scratch. Instead inevitably something is started, cut up, moved around, placed and replaced until the componants seem to fit.

I wonder do I have to always struggle, can collage be a way of life?

Postcards from Saltaire

These are some of the little postcard prints I have been making ready for Saltaire Arts Trail, which is just a couple of weeks away now. I am hoping to create one hundred prints, but we shall see...

These little cyanotype prints are all made using 'weeds' from around the World Heritage Site of Saltaire village and will create both individual snapshots of place and time, and as a group, a kind of map of Saltaire flora.

Come along and see how many I manage to make during my special open studio event, 25th-27th May.

In search of green at the Bowery

Last night we had a lovely opening for 'In Search of Green', my installation for the Bowery and for Alice's 'Texture's of Spurn'. Thanks to everyone who came along and also those who offered their support in other ways. I received some lovely comments and it was fascinating to hear how people added their own stories to the work. For those of you unable to visit in person here are a few little pictures of the work in situ.

Preparations