Some might call them weeds

I have been working on some little cyanotype prints that will be on sale at the Bowery during the exhibition. They are all printed using plants I find growing in the cracks of the pavement or by the side of the road, I suppose you might call them wayside plants or some folks might call them weeds. To me they are exquisite and worthy of more detailed inspection.

I will also be developing a special series of prints to exhibit in my studio as part of Saltaire Arts Trail ... more on that another day.

Frozen fabric

Marks in the Sand

Woolacombe Bay 8th July - all art materials supplied on site

Greening the urban landscape

Or perhaps this posting could be titled 'things to do in Tesco car park'? Looking at nature's reclamation of urban surfaces; first on the ground with these mossy 'carpets' ...

 ... and then on magical stickers/patches that grow algae on lampposts.

Sticker Project

It's was a relief this afternoon to submit the work I have done for the sticker project at Bradford College, having beavered away all this week. I have been making a series of six handmade textile and paper 'stickers' titled 'Enter the Woods' based on a found verse (I think from an old hymn). If anyone knows who wrote this please let me know.

I think God gave the woods to us,

That we might steal away,

Alone to those green solitudes,

From all the noise of day,

I think God gave the woods to us,

To teach our souls to pray.

Each sticker includes a line from the verse enclosed within a folded piece of plant dyed cloth. I have used fine silk and metallic fabrics in subtle colours that seemed to mimic the colours of weathered concrete, wood and metal. This work aims to entice the viewer to explore green spaces, escaping the noise and bustle of city life. I imagine the stickers positioned around the urban environment, to be found in an intimate encounter with an unexpected artwork.

Below are some photos I took to see how the stickers might look in situ.

The stickers will join a large number of self-adhesive mini artworks by fellow Bradford staff and students, in locations in Spain and England to coincide with the Bilbao Art Fair. Rather than exhibit work in a gallery or art fair the project seeks to explore alternative, temporary locations for art by placing stickers outside the gallery, in urban spaces, on walls, pavements and unexpected public places. If anyone manages to see one let me know!

You can look at more fabulous sticker inspiration here.

Phenomenological Perspecitives

In preparing a proposal for an art festival I have been referring back to the wealth of material I collected for my MA research. I hadn't appreciated what a valuable resource this is and just how much I had accumulated. One of the things which really resonated with my current ideas and projects was Sandy Gellis' 'New York Rainfall: 1987', which I first read about in 'Earth Mapping: Artists Reshaping Landscape  by Edward S. Casey. In this work Sandy Gellis responded to a specific site (just outside her window) where she placed an etching plate, coated with a water sensitive medium, each day for a year. Each square plate was marked by the amount of rainfall that occurred on that day. The entire work was created as etchings and also as an installation of the plates themselves - both beautiful and eloquent. I am interested in how these works respond to and record the essence of a space and time. I think I could learn a great deal from the simplicity and directness of this vision.

Although Sandy's website is rather light on text, if you want to read more take a look at Jonathan Novak gallery website.

Navigating Landscapes

I just read a great short article from the Sensory Trust about the use of Sat Nav creating a barrier to experiencing environments. I thought you might be interested to read it so here is a link to Sat Nav- the end of hope?

The penny drops!

I am having a good few days, feeling closer to understanding what I am trying to do.

I noticed Abigail Doan's posting about an exhibition called Propagating Eden: Techniques of Nature Printing in Botany and Art. The exhibition looks fabulous, I wish I could go, but Wave Hill gallery have kindly made the exhibition catalogue available online.

Michele Oka Doner

The images are exquisite, including historical and contemporary examples, and I was busy appreciating the wonders of the natural world when I suddenly wondered why Richard Long's 'Mud Hand Prints' were included? They seemed out of place amongst the mainly botanical images.... AND THEN THE PENNY DROPPED... the artist IS nature!

I found two other artists in the catalogue exploring themes of self within nature or self as nature and they also had in common a very primal response to nature. My favourite are the works by Valerie Hammond (below), which have an instant attraction along with a spiritual richness.

This all starts to give me ideas about how nature, self awareness, place and process might all come together. 

Making Spaces

An afternoon spent by the river. Thinking about making space. Sitting for a couple of hours, noticing the details, different speeds of river, insects, my breathing, a dog...

Making as a way of slowing down and observing; taking part in the landscape.

... and thanks for all those who take a look at my blog. I have just noticed I have 50 followers, so thanks for coming along on the journey.

Slow Textiles Conference - Stroud International Textiles Festival

I have been using today as a rest and catch-up after a busy week. Last weekend I went to Stroud International Textiles Festival specially for the two- day Slow Textiles Conference. The event included several speakers that I have been interested in for some time; Becky Early, Clara Vuletich and the chair Helen Carnac. It was a brilliant opportunity to hear from people at the forefront of environmental awareness in textiles and the slow movement.

I found the lecture by Emma Neuberg especially thought provoking as it delved deeper into global, social and personal contexts for 'fast' and 'slow'. I was surprised to find myself quite emotional about this. I shouldn't have been surprised as the subject runs so deep in our capitalist consumer culture and affects us as all. Patterns of behaviour and social norms are so ingrained that we stop noticing.

A few words from the conference on slow:

wellbeing

participation

collaboration

reveal

biodiversity

cultural distinctiveness

practice

people

care

sharing

discussion

durability

taking responsibility

artisanship

passing on

making

eco systems

time for reflection

trust

connectedness

generosity

process

When I think about all of this I realise it brings me back to where I started at the beginning of my MA (in a good way). A brief recap will draw some connections with my research over the past year and half, and the fast / slow subject:

• I started out with a whole muddle of different ideas that seemed connected but struggled to work out  how...
• then from this developed two distinct themes: busyness and quietude
• these themes of quietude and busyness represented my personal response to environment - speed of living; proliferation of image and object; over-stimulation; becoming de-sensitised; longing for space and time for reflection; looking for deeper engagement with the world
• I can now see these themes as closely aligned to ideas of 'fast' and 'slow'
• I have also been looking at particularity of place and feelings of home, belonging and displacement
• Some of this needs to be re-instated in my work - meaning, depth of engagement, sharing, personal wellbeing, connectedness, etc.
• My recent exploration of Hirst Wood as a specific focus for my work has given me the time and space I needed to reflect and 'open out'.  Perhaps I have forgotten this and become too wrapped up in the process of making?
• The use of hand processes and materials found in situ has helped me feel more connected to my surroundings and given me a place to belong

There is a lot to draw out from this and I am only just beginning to realise the significance all this has for me. I have a lot more to do in understanding how to put this into practice.

Mould marks - environment makes it mark

I came across a posting by Spirit Cloth about mould marks on an old sheet that had been left out in the elements for several months. It has a beautiful patina from the weathering and mildew marks and the edges are eaten away.

It makes me think that just being in a place for a long period of time, the environment may start to make it's mark on us, rather than the other way around.

Found the plot

I finally think I know what I want to achieve with my work and so I am trying to think of ways to express my ideas.

I want to create work that draws attention to phenomenal qualities of the natural world; to our position as a tiny part of vast incomprehensible systems of the universe. But I absolutely do not want to make work that is whymsical, sentimental or 'hokey'.

I feel I would like to work in the woodland I have been using as a site to work in.

After a group crit on Thursday there were several ideas put forward for how to develop investigations or experiments for this subject. But I don't think I have found something that is quite right yet. Esther kindly suggested I look at Hans Haacke's 'Condensation Cube' for inspiration, although it is a very 'arty' piece it is very relevant to what I want to achieve.

Hans Haacke, 'Condensation Cube' 1963

The work is a sealed perspex box with some water in. As the temperature warms up the water evaporates, condenses and then runs down the walls, returning to the bottom to create a complete cycle. The work demonstrates a biological process that happens all the time around us but by containing it and presenting it to the gallery audience, we become aware of it. It is also entirely dependant on the environment it is placed in, making the viewer aware of the passing of time and the environmental conditions we find ourselves in.

Christo & Jeanne-Claude

Following on from my plant survey experiment I have now realised that art, or the making of art, can be a process of changing our perceptions by slowing us down or forcing us to look at things differently. Art can have a very important role in communicating ideas by just drawing our attention to something, changing our viewpoint, etc.

By creating interuptions in our 'normal' landscape or cityscape Christo & Jeanne-Claude make people view the world differently - making the viewer aware of something that has always been there that we have ceased to notice, by covering it with cloth.

Christo & Jeanne-Claude (image from Contemporary Textiles - the fabric of fine art)

Toads in the wood and the immensity of the universe

Yesterday I went for a walk in the woods. My intention was to experiment with new ways of working in the landscape but I didn't get much work done because it took me ages to get along the path because it was crawling with tiny toads. They were very beautiful but it was tricky to avoid stepping on them because they were beautifully camouflaged.

This made me aware of the issue of scale - the tiny toad sitting on my hand, me as the giant but that toad is a part of something much bigger, the movement of hundreds of toads from the water, up the hill through the woods; one big movement made up of hundreds of small organisms - perhaps that makes me feel rather small.

SCALE - the relative size or extent of something : no one foresaw the scale of the disaster | everything in the house is on a grand scale. [often as adj. ] a ratio of size in a map, model, drawing, or plan : a one-fifth scale model of a seven-story building | an Ordnance Survey map on a scale of 1:2500.

It also reminds me of Richard Long's work again. In several of his text works he makes reference to the relative scales of different natural phenomena or to their relative lifespans. He is also interested in the relationship between his own human scale and lifetime in relation to his surrounding landscape. If we are to consider humanity as a part of nature (which I believe we should) it is important to view the world through different timescales and from the perspective of other species. The problem is I get a bit overwhelmed when I think of the world in these terms, I suppose that is why we normally don't.

Years ago I painted an accurate scale depiction of the earth and the moon. Until I calculated it I hadn't realised what the relative scales of the moon and Earth wood look like, and I absolutely could not visualise the distance. By making that painting it all became really clear to me. But then when I looked up at the moon one clear night it was mind blowing; I could finally visualise the scale and the distance and it was difficult to deal with from my tiny human perspective.

That wasn't what I was going to write about but it is probably more important than me threading a few seed pods on a string.

Richard Long: Heaven & Earth at Tate Britain

I went to see the Richard Long exhibition 'Heaven & Earth' at Tate Britain on Wednesday. I was really glad I went as I found it really interesting to see his work 'in the flesh' having read about it in books for so long. I especially enjoyed the 'mud works' because of the primitive, hands-on approach to making a mark. I think there is something really interesting about this personal relationship between material and making and this was so evident in these works.

I am fascinated by Long's use of walking as sculpture, and I feel quite in tune with this methodology.  However I was less excited by the photographs that document the works created during the walks. Somehow they seemed less personal, even a little bit cold.  I enjoyed the text works and also Long's own word used as commentary throughout the exhibition. It was fascinating to gain a more thorough insight into his working process and ideas. I feel that understanding the artist is a really important part of art.

I also went to see the Rothko room for the first time. I have no idea why I have never been to look at these works before but I was prompted to seek them out by reading an article about experiencing art. I was quite overwhelmed by the emotional and physical response I had to the work, in fact I nearly fell over at one point. This has made me realise that art really does have the power to influence peoples feelings in a very real way. I really want to engage my emotions more fully in my own work and find ways to create work that is an experience rather than just an object.

Confused and inspired

Yesterday I went to a seminar at MMU called "The Future Starts Here', as part of the Testing Time experience. It was a shame only a few people went to it, but in a way this meant it was a bit more intimate and discussion based. The seminar really got me thinking about how my practice fits into the world in the future; how can I respond to some of the changes and challenges we will face globally with climate change and other connected world events? The environment is something I am really passionate about but I have never managed to include it successfully in my work. It was something I really wanted to focus on during this stage of the MA course but somehow this has become sidelined.

Although I am really interested in the process-led work I am starting to develop I wonder if there is enough depth to really sustain my interest. Also does it really say anything important and is it valid to be doing something so inward looking? I feel that perhaps I should be focusing more on connections and upon what I can do to influence social change.

This is all a bit heavy and it is worrying to be doubting myself this much, but I'm sure it is good to be asking these questions rather than ignoring the nagging doubts. I suppose at the root of things I would like to make a difference, even if only in a small way. How can I make a difference? Can I use my work to highlight an idea, emotionally transform or generate discussion?

Or perhaps I should stop thinking and start doing something.