Jaume Plensa

Visiting the Jaume Plensa exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park I found myself immersed in a moving sensory world of meaning. I enjoyed the way the work provoked multiple senses, tracing the letters with my fingers and listening to the deeply resonant sound of the brass gongs.

I was most deeply moved by the room filled with massive alabaster heads and it hit a note of deep spirituality in me. The notes in my journal were my thoughts there and then...

alabaster heads

tomb-like   asleep or dead?

memorial, meditative

calm but not sleeping?

subtle shading and smooth texture like a black and white photo.

Listening to deep resonance of a gong

soft light of tinkling metal letters

sublime, spiritual, moving

deeply affecting

Oh Happy Day!

Such a sweet day

Joyful praise

Kingfisher in flight

Delicate fragility of a broken bird's egg

Sunshine on sleepy body

Spiritually uplifted

The elusive nature of the poetic

I was watching the Narrative Threads DVD's of an interview with Polly Binns yesterday. While it is rather lengthy, the interview provides a very interesting insight into a well regarded artist's practice and methodology. The thing I found most helpful were her last sentiments that seeking the poetic is as elusive to her as it has ever been. After hearing so much in-depth analysis it was comforting to hear that someone with such a highly regarded practice still does not feel she has resolved the thing she sets out to do.

It makes me aware that we are all searching and should embrace the quest. Although perhaps we get closest when we are not trying so hard...

Like when I try to find the dream/daydream I have had all my life. You can only see it out of the corner of your eye. I think I read somewhere this is a recognised idea within Buddhism - anyone care to expand?

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. 

Looking Up

A visit to York and York Minster. Thinking about the gothic architecture of churches and cathedrals and the relationship to woodland 'architecture'. Up lifting, inspiring, hushed; it feels rather like a grove of trees.

I had a lot more to say, but I'm feeling a little tired. Thanks for the photo John x

Spring greens

It is taking me a while to get going with the work I need to do. Home distractions and getting nowhere with leads and contacts has meant I have been reluctant to get started with anything new, but I hope today will break this.

I decided not to try anything adventurous today but stick to my usual haunt and see what was new. There is always something interesting to see or experience. At the moment the new green leaves spearing through the leaf mold are the main attraction. I am particularly fond of ramsons (wild garlic), which is very tasty and grows prolifically around here. I made a fabric bundle from young green leaves and another from wood shavings from a recently sawn tree stump.

I spent a lot of time next to the river today. In the shelter of the riverbank it was sunny and warm; collecting shards of glass and patterned pottery, making another bundle with lichen that had fallen off overhanging trees.

In the 'tree cathedral' area of Hirst Wood, where the nests are, I noticed some new things - clumps of green synthetic glitter lying on the ground and tulips sprouting next to mature trees, forming a large broken circle. It would seem that the nests were built in an area that was significant for another group of people. I think this might be some kind of sacred grove for pagan worshipers? While this isn't something that I know about, I am interested in the idea that lots of different people could be drawn towards certain sites without realising why. Some landscape theories suggest that we are attracted on an instinctive level towards particular kinds of environments. While there is a lot of debate about this I can't help but think that we give these feelings different names or reasons but that lots of people share an uplifting sensation in open wooded spaces like this. It is interesting that Simon Schama mentions in Landscape & Memory that many early churches in England were deliberately established on the site of sacred groves. The Christian church aimed to become more acceptable through grafting the new faith onto aspects of the existing worshipers spiritual lives.

Anyhow that's a bit deep, but I think it's an interesting area of ideas. Below is an image of all my treasure from today, although I suspect the real treasure is the stuff you can't see - once again people have different words for this kind of thing, I'll leave it to your imagination...