http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Continuing Conversations Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:47:20 +0000 a-n rss generator a-n The Artists Information Company and contributors edit@a-n.co.uk technical@a-n.co.uk http://www.a-n.co.uk/img/logo.gif http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 I've been considering starting this blog for quite a while now - technically it would probably have made more sense when I was working towards my recent solo show at Fold Gallery, or perhaps when I first started my MA course. However, I've been having a little difficulty with the concept of it - what 'project' am I doing? What would people be interested in reading about (assuming that this is one of the reasons I'm writing it)? How honest can you be in a piece of informal text when you don't know who's reading it?I've been having a few conversations with other artists recently, and have basically come to the conclusion that I'm interested in how they go about making work, where their ideas come from, how they develop, so I figured that other people would probably be intersted in this too. And so the blog has started. A note on the title: I find writing artists' statements incredibly difficult. How do you formalise a series of ideas which are connected, but not in a linear form? I write things down with arrows connecting all the various strands, often ending up writing upside down on the page, to get everything in. The only time I feel that I can really explain what it is I'm doing is in a conversation with someone. And usually that takes quite a while, and I often need my notes. I've tried writing a statement as a conversation, but the act of trying to write it made it self-concious and a bit false. So basically, I'm seeing this as a way of getting those conversations I'm having with myself out of my notebooks and into an arena where they might help other people have a clearer idea of what I'm doing. And my doing that, I'll be getting my thoughts more organised, and that will therefore help me.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 I've been spending a while trying to really get it straight in my head what is  at the core of my practice. There's loads of things I'm interested in (in fact I find it quite difficult to edit things down) but I'm trying to really gets to grips with how all these strands are connected, and why I'm interested in them. As I think I've already explained, I don't think thoughts tend to follow a linear narrative (mine certainly don't), so instead of trying to elaborate here on all these different aspects, I've photographed my most recent mapping of these ideas. I could read it when I just checked the image on my screen, so hopefully should be okay online. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 I've been feeling a bit numb recently. I think this is mostly due to reading lots of things I really ought to read (and many are really interesting - I've got books out on concepts behind collecting, interpreting objects, installation, aesthetics and The Poetics of Space) but then finding that it's quite difficult to actually make work. I've never gotten the balance right - I either read and think so much that I can't make work, or make work, so that when I look back on it later, feels rather concept-less. I'm trying to work out my reasons for using the materials I use, and working with the objects I'm working with. I've often worked in quite a process based way, but I don't feel satisfied with that anymore - I don't think that it's challenging me intellectually enough anymore. The trouble is, a lot of things, I think I just like them, because they’re attractive visually. The difficulty is that everything is so inter-reliant, that it's difficult to separate things, and then I find myself thinking about ways to go about thinking - I've decided that the way to try and solve this is to plan out what I need to make and what I need to read about. Otherwise I'll just not get anything done and I hate that.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Rather bizarre experience today – I received an email directly addressed to me from a-n about these blogs, only to find I was quoted in the first couple of lines. It’s mildly peculiar to read something addressed to you, that you’re speaking in – kind of like having a conversation with yourself. Apparently, I “dedicate my blog to a critical self-reflection” – and there I was concerned I was partaking in a large amount of self-indulgent rambling. However, it has got me writing again – my head’s been getting a bit full the last couple of weeks, but I have made quite a bit of progress on where I’m coming from. More on that later. For the moment, let me explain what I’ll be doing for the next week or two. I’m using a project space until the 5th Jan, so omitting time to visit family for Christmas, this gives around 10 days to work out some ideas, and try things out. Access to the internet on site isn’t yet possible, so although I’m writing this in the space, I’ll be posting it up later this evening, along with a few photos of Day One. The dress on the mannequin is the in-progress culmination of two months work. The idea is that a second hand dress is used to suggest a trace of a person - it is stiffened in such a way, that the fabric takes on the shape a body, whilst also being ephemeral and fragile. I’ve spent a long time trying to find a way of chemically ‘thinning’ the cotton fibres in the fabric, only to have nothing work in the manner I want so far. I’ve therefore gone for option two for the purposes of these two weeks – I’ve been through the time consuming process of pulling out individual threads from a thin fabric, hence making it even more fragile. I’m applying starch to stiffen it, so it should hopefully be strong enough by the end of the week to support itself and the shape which is has taken on from the mannequin. A note on the mannequin – I wanted it to be quite a realistic form, so instead of using a dress-maker’s dummy, I did a body cast of a friend, then created a resin and fibre-glass positive. This took a long time. A really long time. The other part of what I’ve been doing today is drawing lace and doily shapes onto the walls, which I will be ‘carving’ into said walls with a dremel tool in a few minutes.  The positioning of these in the space is important – they need to be stumbled across, not particularly obvious at first sight. I’m putting them in corners, creeping up the wall, hiding out of sight. They’re a bit lonely, a little lost. And that loneliness, that sense of loss, decay and fragility is what I think my practice is about. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Today, I've mostly been using a rotary tool to mechanically scratch paint off the base of a brick column. This has succeeded in giving me a sore back and knees, but as resolutely failed to do what I wanted it to. When I've done this previously, the layers of paint beneath the surface were a pale colour, and even if I scratched too deeply and went back to the plaster, this wouldn't matter particularly. However, there seems to be some black paint under there somewhere, which means that the entire design is looking too dark, too obvious. (And also a bit like pencil lead, which ironically I used to draw the design on the wall in the first place. The way it looks currently, I really needn't have bothered with this time consuming scratching process).    When you get close enough you can see the layers of colour, which is interesting enough, but overall it's not working. Might try painting over it tomorrow, so all that's left is a scaring on the brickwork, a trace of the shape.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 I’ve been thinking about how my moods are associated with my work, and how they go in waves quite a bit. I’ll feel like I’m on to something, I’ll have a rush of ideas which need to be written down very quickly, and I feel really energised. However, that pinnacle on this rollercoaster is inevitably followed by a very low dip, which brings me crashing back to questioning everything, and feeling numb and muddy in my head. I woke up the latter this morning. When I’m like this, I find it really hard to focus on what I’m making, and really feel like just giving up on the day, but at the same time I know if I do that, then the feeling will just continue – it’s basically finding a way of working myself out of it. I achieved this, this afternoon by making myself a list of each stage I needed to do in order to photograph the dress piece and the doily carving. I then made myself work through this list, and gradually the numbness faded, and I began to think clearly again. I realised I’d been thinking of the dress as a dress, rather than as a vehicle to suggest the absence of a person. So I’ve tightened the fabric over the mannequin, and I’ve coated the fabric with more starch and watered down PVA, so when it dries, it should be quite sturdy, and also really get the shape of the figure across. I’m not sure I like the way that the fabric finishes with the hem-line at the moment. It seems a bit sudden, like a line being drawn underneath something to divide what is below from what is above. I wonder if there’s a way of making it seem to fade away, like you can do with paint? I’ve also been thinking about this concept of blogging again. I’ve found myself narrating what I’m thinking in my head, mentally dictating sentences to write. Does this mean that the process of writing my thoughts for this blog is having an effect on my thinking process? ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Well, it's been a bit of a while since my last post - Christmas, New Year, and having a rush of applications to complete have taken over recently. I've also been spending an inordinate amount of time sitting in front of this computer either arguing with it about colour calibration or researching various ideas. I'm attaching a photograph of the dress piece I completed just after New Year and photographed in the project space I was working in. I've recently applied for some funding for training in alternative photographic processes (using liquid emulation and making tintypes, a late 19th century process), but for the moment, I'm trying to get the colour accurate for digital printing. Which is a mission in itself, as my computer resolutely refuses to stick to the correct calibration I've worked out for it. Anyway, until that is solved, I've attached an image to give an idea of how that last piece of work is looking. I thought it worked quite well in the space, until my partner told me the space made him think of some sort of underground torture chamber, which gave the dress rather different connotations. I was seeing the work set up there as a chance to work out how to photograph in those types of interiors, what sort of lighting etc, and for that it worked - I'm now looking for alternative locations to set up a shoot (which preferably avoid aforementioned implications).   I'm off to meet one of the Keepers at the Discovery Museum later today, to have a nose through the objects in their social history archives and collections. I'm looking for items which have some information about their previous owners, some sort of story attached, as I think this might be another direction to take this work - an actual history or story, rather than it all being anonymous. I was reading various theories about collecting over Christmas, and looking at some research about what sort of people ‘collect’, and what is collected. As I was reading, I was thinking about how after we’ve died, all that is physically left behind are the objects we’ve amassed during our lifetimes. So by collecting, (either consciously knowing it to be a collection, or not) is that an attempt to create a permanence, a physical grounding after we’ve gone?     ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Apparently, my blog was one of the most read last month. I’m rather flattered that people are reading it, although it also feels a little peculiar at the same time – by trying to discuss my work in quite an honest, day-by-day way, I’ve made a conscious decision to omit ‘art-speak’; but in doing so, it has all become more personal, which is a slightly un-nerving act in itself. The format of writing in a blog makes this easier though, I think. By putting my ideas in this context, it’s automatically less formal, and there’s less of a temptation to add some pretention into the mix. This is also about the only time I write anything for Other People to read without asking my partner (who has a degree in writing) to look over, re-arrange my sometimes rather erratic sentence structure, and generally smarten up. However, I’ve looked back over my posts so far, and I still feel happy with them – I wonder if there’s a way of taking extracts to include in that elusive Artist’s Statement? Looking around the archives at the Discovery Museum was great. They’ve got a fantastic collection of objects, which I could have nosed through for quite a while. What interested me more when I got there though, were not so much the objects which they know a reasonable amount about, but the ones that they don’t. There are quite a few objects which the museum owns from previous collections, when the cataloguing and record keeping wasn’t as detailed and accurate as it is now. I quite like the idea that a museum is effectively there as a place to house knowledge, but when the museum lacks this knowledge, it heightens / creates a sense of loss about that particular object. I’m going to be spending the rest of the afternoon reading some essays about collecting, and making a few notes. There was recently a call out for papers for a conference called ‘Museums and Biographies’. They want to ‘draw together analyses of representation, material culture and personality’ and they are ‘inviting papers that can cast a new light on the study of lives, objects and display’. My work seems to fit rather nicely into this, and they are asking for artists as well as historians and museologists, but as I’ve never done anything like this before, I’m not quite sure where to begin. Hence the reading.   ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 My computer decided to behave itself with regard to its colour calibration for a good hour the other day, which gave me chance to play around with colours and tones of some shots I took in the project space. I still need to get these printed to see how they work in reality, but these look quite good on my machine, so I thought I’d upload a couple of examples. I quite like the slightly painterly qualities these images have, and how they feel much less warm, after getting rid of the yellow cast from the spotlights. I’ve been thinking along the lines of photographs becoming works in their own right, so that they are more than straight documentation. In order to do this, it’s important that they become an object also – by this I mean that they the photograph would be more than the image: it would be the surface it’s printed on, the smell and the weight of it, in addition to the depiction of the space. If I’m successful in the funding I applied for recently, it would mean that I would be able to have some training in using alternative photographic processes. (By the word ‘alternative’, read nineteenth / early twentieth century ways of producing a photographic image). I’m particularly interested in tintype, which in layman’s terms, was basically like the equivalent of an early Polaroid, and using liquid emulsion, as I quite like the idea of being able to create photographic prints onto a range of different surfaces. I like the tangibility these processes entail, and also how using these methods would mean losing some control as to how they turn out - the prints would then be unique. On a completely unrelated matter, not being particularly familiar with the art of blogging, I’ve only just realised that people have been making comments on my posts. Apologies for that, I wasn’t ignoring you, I was just rather slow. I’ve just responded, but rather annoyingly, despite being allowed 400 words, the comments feature doesn't seem to be showing them all after I pasted them in. Which is a little irritating really.    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 February 12th continued I've tried to explain this work and where it's coming from three times in the last two days, due to giving a talk and having tutorials with both Minty and George. It's gotten to the stage that I find myself repeating particular phrases, so that now they feel like self-made clichés. I also found that during my talk, I had pretty much the same problem I have with writing a statement - a linear narrative doesn't work. I've got ideas which spin off from ideas, which then produce more. I've got reams of images, notes, essays and thoughts which influence what I'm making, and I know there are connections, but they seem vague and insubstantial. This annoys me because on one hand I like a level or organisation and exactness - I make lists so I know what needs to be done and then I can feel satisfied when I've ticked items of and have a sense of achievement. But the work itself is about the exact opposite - it's about things which aren't there, empty spaces, absence, fragility... all stuff it's hard to put your finger on, for want of a better phrase. I like making things, but I also use pre-existing objects. I'm interested in how these things are neglected, but I take care of them. I'm creating things, and yet I like emptiness. I like finding these objects, but I like that they're also lost. And so these layers of contradictions seem also to be an inherent part of my practice. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 February 12th continued I'm showing the dress piece I was working on over Christmas, together with another two that I've made since. The corridor is entirely empty apart from these dresses and four spotlights. I've got them set up at the end of the space, hanging from cotton threads with are sewn into the exposed seams. These in turn hang from a couple of wooden sticks, which is hanging from a single thread from the ceiling. This methods means that the structure of the dresses isn't squashed, but also means that they spin and move when people walk past. I've been thinking about different ways of lighting work since Still Lives in the summer. On this occasion, I've got two different lighting set ups depending on the time of day. When there's plenty of natural light, I've tried to highlight the dresses themselves, to emphasise the subtle colour differences in the fabric. During the evening, I'm lighting them from further away, so that there's a range of shadows. From the end of corridor during this set-up, the dresses themselves seem to disappear, or at least become less visually prominent - you see the shadows first. I'm not sure how successful this is. Whilst I've gotten quite a bit of positive feedback, there are a couple of things that keep reoccurring - the fact that they are female forms, and that people think they look ghost-like. I chose a female form primarily because I wanted to give an impression of more than just a torso, and with one item of clothing, as I wanted it to hang without a break, and so that it could fade away at the bottom. And at least in Western culture, a dress is the really the only item of clothing that is a total body covering by itself. As far as the ghost comment is concerned, whilst there are ‘ghosts' involved, echoes and traces from unknown people, I'd rather things were a little more subtle than a Boo. (Continues) ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Been rather busy this week, so much so that it's taken me a good hour and a half this morning with a couple of cups of tea to wake up enough to be able to string a series of coherent sentences together. I'm currently showing some of my work as part of a group exhibition called Re-appropriated Phrases, Sayings and Idioms. It's basically using various parts of the university over about three weeks, with different artists from the MFA course showing each week. So I was hanging that on Monday, sorting out the final things Tuesday morning, followed by a very long but productive meeting with Sarah Tullock, an artist who I'm organising some projects with. Tuesday afternoon I went to a talk by Minty Donald who's just completed a three year research project in Glasgow called Glimmers in Limbo about understanding urban environments and authoritative versions of the past (http://www.glimmersinlimbo.co.uk/). Really, really interesting stuff and rather creepily relevant to the ideas me and Sarah were discussing earlier. She gave quite a clear theoretical framework for her research, which I found really useful - I'm been trying to figure out something for my own work with not too much success so far, so it was useful to see how someone else was relating their practice / research to ideas within geography, anthropology and architecture. Wednesday started off with a talk by George Chakravarthi (http://www.georgechakravarthi.co.uk/index.html), followed by a bit more running around, then me and a couple of the other artists exhibiting in the current group exhibition gave talks about our work. The space I'm using is a bit odd - it's effectively a corridor with a window along one side, and an area at the far end with a very high ceiling. And a definite lack of electricity points. Add to this the fact that universities are pretty crazy about anything vaguely health and safety related and  you understand why I spent three hours on Monday morning learning about amps, fuses and appropriate cables so that I could extend the wires on my spot lights so as not to used a load of extension leads plugged into one another. (Continues) ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 12 March 2009 continued On a slightly different track, I picked up an old Brownie camera at a market a few weeks back, and I’ve been given some help about how to use it, what film to use etc. I also got a manual for it from the internet, so I’m a bit excited about trying that out at the weekend. A friend of mine has also very generously given me his medium format camera on a bit of a long-term loan, so I’m going to have a play with that too. All this is leading up to photographing the dresses in various locations, one of which is intending to be the interior of this empty library. I was then going to print these images as either tin-types of using liquid light onto various materials – unfortunately I wasn’t successful in my funding application for materials and training for the printing processes, so I’m going to have to come up with a cheaper / DIY version. It’s also becoming a bit tricky as regards coordinating getting into the library, having some help from a friend and borrowing some lighting equipment all for the same dates. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Been a bit of while since my last post – I’ve been up to my ears in various applications, including a residency, a commission, a collaborative community project (which I did get, usefully). I’ve also been trying to document my work (which unfortunately meant re-hanging the installation a showed a few weeks ago because the first round of photographs was useless – the second set of photos was much better though, see the images which accompany this post), negotiate access to a disused library near to my flat which I want to photograph the interior of, and plan a few workshops I’m supposed to be running. So the actual making of work has been a bit slack in the last few weeks. All this buzz of activity has got me thinking about the practice / planning / administration / application / everything else balance. I’ve never had a great deal of success with these nationally advertised residencies etc, mainly I’m assuming because so many people apply for them. I was given an application number of 116 one time. The other thing which was becoming more and more apparent as I was writing, is how incredibly difficult it is to explain your work / practice in a way which is suitable for an application process, but which doesn’t sound incredibly dry and boring. It feels as if an overly casual tone sounds a bit naff and rather forced, where as my natural formality for applications comes across as rather unexciting – it’s difficult to get the enthusiasm for a project or idea across. This is of course leading back to some of the reasons I started this blog in the first place. The other thing is, as been especially apparent over the last few weeks, giving all this time over to applications has meant that I just haven’t made much work. So what is better: (and it there a ‘better’?) applying to get work shown / for various advantageous opportunities, or thinking about and making work, with the idea that my work and ideas will improve as a result, thus improving the chances of success with applications? There is of course the other argument, that perhaps I’m just thinking about it all a bit too much, and that that time could be put to better use my thinking about the work itself. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 (16th April continued) What has been weird in the last week, is that I finished the community project being aware of how much I work I can make in a really short space of time, and planning to apply some of that urgency and sheer work ethic to my studio practice. But of course, that hasn't happened. I had to catch up with admin that I'd been putting on hold, get my head back into what it is I'm actually doing in my work, plan and deliver a workshop, go to a talk at the Baltic, visit family for Easter, read a pile of essays for some seminars next week.... so hence why at 7pm last night, I was still in the studio and have been since about 9.30am and my list only had the first couple of things ticked off. I know I'm better at working for deadlines, but this is ridiculous. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430  (16th April continued) Just before the project described above, I managed to negotiate entry into the empty library building I mentioned in my previous post. I spent a weekend hanging my dresses and photographing them and the rest of the interior with my Brownie and borrowed Lubitel, with the help of a friend. I'm pretty pleased with the results (see images attached to post) and also very glad that I gave up on using a digital camera in the first half hour of shooting. I've gotten so used to using a digital camera to document my work, taking loads of shots with varying exposures to get documentation right and checking them immediately, that it felt incredibly liberating not to have to do this. The two cameras I've got are much less accurate - the Brownie leaks quite a bit of light and you've got to work out the exposures (of anything from 2 seconds to five minutes) by referring to chart in the manual I downloaded. The Lubitel is more accurate, but a bit of guesswork is required to get the shot lined up as the viewfinder is through the second lens and it's completely manual, so I've been teaching myself all about handheld light meters and reflective and incident readings. But not knowing exactly what the shots were going to be like was great. They feel rougher, less precise and I like it where the exposures are out a bit or the shot isn't lined up that well. Everything feels less clinical, less ‘perfect' and I like that. I'm intending to print some of these photographs onto old paper bags, old carrier bags and patterns of the dresses, cut out of pattern paper. The idea is that the photograph becomes an object, and that the material qualities of the support of conceptually relevant to the photographs and the dresses themselves. That's why I'm interested in using quite low value objects, cheap everyday stuff, which has perhaps had another use.... I want to be able to explain or ‘justify' this further, but I'm aware that this could easily become an overly intellectual exercise, and that some of these answers will come about by my making / using the objects and materials. (continues....) ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 (16th April continued) I really liked the concepts behind the project, the use of stories and memories, plus the collection and use of second-hand materials, as these are all things I'm regularly using in my own work. However, it was a pretty intense project, because after the initial research time of talking to people and collecting stories, there were only three days allowed to make three shrines. It was also a little tricky, because although I (and several other artists) were employed partly as being ‘local', I'm not originally from the North East, so not particularly local. So, you've got that weird thing of making contact with community members so speak to them about their memories, but feeling like you're parachuting in, taking their stories to make ‘art', then swooping out again. There were a few groups of people who were really up for helping with the project, particularly members of the local history society. The theatre company too, have run loads of projects like this, and they seem to make some really interesting performances, so perhaps this occasional uncomfortable feeling came from me not being used to working like this. The major problem I really had was the level of pay. There are a couple of other blogs on a-n discussing this issue, and it's not what I set up this blog for, but nevertheless, £80 a day is pretty crap however you look at it, especially given the immense range of skills, both artistic and otherwise, required for the job. The reason I got involved despite this, is that I could see ways in which the research from this project could lead into my own work, otherwise I would have avoided it. (continues....) ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 This ‘it's been a bit of while since my last post', is getting to feel a little habitual now. This isn't done intentionally exactly, but I do feel that I ought to be writing something interesting if I'm going to write a post, rather than rambling on pointlessly. Also (as usual) I've been rather busy of late, so haven't had so much thinking time. I spent a couple of weeks working on (for want of a better phrase) a community art project. I normally cringe at the idea of these, picturing murals in primary colours, but the concept behind this was a bit more interesting, hence my getting involved. I was working on what was effectively a small part of a much larger site-specific theatre project. Basically, myself and several other visual artists and theatre practitioners were working in a couple of areas of Tyneside, speaking to residents about their memories of these areas. These collected stories were then used as concepts for the artists to make memory boxes or ‘shrines', which were then displayed in a local hall. These shrines will then be used as part of the outdoor theatre performance event in the summer. The theatre company work across the UK and parts of Europe on projects like this which involve using local communities and their stories and memories to form part of the event. Local shops, markets, car boot sales and charity shops provide the majority of the materials for making the shrines, as a way of giving back to the community from where the visuals come from.  (continues...) ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 (29th April continued...) I'm making a concerted effort not to effectively realise my ideas in my head, rather than allowing the making process to also inform the concept and content. I can easily talk my way out of making things, by seeing the idea in my mind, and then working it out on paper. This links back to the problems regarding really well-crafted work which is effectively concept-less, or not making anything at all, because it's been thought about so much. I want to make casts of objects because I like the idea of re-making something pre-existing but having it ‘shift' slightly ( I envision this idea like a something I've seen on a film, when an image is overlaid by a repeat of itself, but it's not quite aligned). The problem is that I've never cast an object before, I don't really understand the processes, and it's getting rather frustrating trying to find out the best way of making a mould so it can do what I want it to. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 I had a conversation with an artist about a week ago, who said that what I've been referring to as ‘dresses' aren't actually dresses at all, but are more accurately read as négligés. I spent quite a while trying to think of a way of create a dress which didn't have an obvious historical grounding, as I didn't want to limit the work to something in the past. The reason I went with this particular style is because I saw it as something that could have been worn in the past, but also as something that would be worn today. I chose thin, translucent fabric, as I saw this as a way of suggesting fragility; the lace had references to domestic environments, but also clothing. However, as was pointed out, other the obvious reading, (which had kind of skirted across my thoughts, but not really settled into my conscious), was that flimsy fabric, revealing a body (which in this case isn't actually there) has quite apparent sexual undertones. This wasn't what I was aiming for, and obviously brings into play a whole host of other issues (one of which, interestingly enough, is that négligé is the part participle of the French verb négliger, to neglect. The neglected bit I like, but not in direct association with a female body, which could be used to go down an abuse avenue). So I'm putting the ‘dresses' on hold for a bit, while I explore some other ideas I've been tossing about. Firstly is the idea of casting some domestic objects out of unsympathetic or materials which seem slightly wrong, so that the cosiness, safety and security associated with home is shifted. I'm thinking along the lines of concrete or porcelain. I've also been preparing a range of possible supports for printing photographs of the library onto - brown paper bags, plastic carrier bags, reclaimed letters and bills. The first time I tried this yesterday was a bit of a disaster, as they all pretty much fell apart as soon as they hit the developer, so I've invested in some waterproof PVA and a subbing and hardening solution. (Continues...) ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 (8th June continued) I had a tutorial with Louise Wilson when both she and Jane gave a talk through the visiting lecturers programme at uni recently. The main issue that came out from this, is to have a much clearer idea of where I'm positioning myself in a wider context, both within the visual arts arena, but also wider than that, to a larger cultural context. I've been reading some essays about Ann Hamilton and Mary Kelly at Louise's suggestion, and I've also ordered copies of The Everyday and Appropriation, part of the Whitechaple's Documents of Contemporary Art series. Stephen Johnstone's introductory essay in The Everyday is relevant to some of my thinking: quoting Rebecca J. DeRoo, he writes that ‘the everyday might be the common ground of experience that allows museum visitors to "understand the effects of history on the private lives of those who were usually overlooked"'. The photographs I've been accumulating have this personal, yet generic quality about them, yet due to their age, there is also this feeling of exoticism. So they have this contradiction of being something everyday from a particular period of time, yet because this time period is in the past, from a contemporary point of view they are special, something unique and different from our present-day notions of an everyday photographic image. More contradictions in my practice again. I'm attaching an image of a ‘dress'-trace to this post. I've taken apart this item of clothing, reconstructed it from an old net curtain I found in a charity shop, then sprayed car paint though it, so the image is left on floor. The car paint is the wrong material (suggests something quite industrial and manual, even though I am very particular about the shades of spray paint I use, so they have to all be mixed up specially for me at Halfords), but I quite like the effect on the floor. More pondering required though, I think. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Given the events last night's European elections, the admittance of two BNP candidates and the feeling of a general swing to the far right across Europe (at least in terms of those elected), today I've been thinking more about if there's a way of my politics having a more direct, or conscious influence on my work. Although I'm very politically minded and aware of current affairs, I've avoided a direct reference to specific issues in my practice, as I don't think that the way I make art is the best format for these types of discussions. However, I'm beginning to wonder if by thinking about these issues consciously, they could have an influence on my work, even if the results are still a visual layering of ideas, suggestions, my way of thinking...(continues) ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 (continued) I made the plaster pillow by literally filling a pillow case with casting plaster, then resting my head on it which it hardened. (I also tried mixing some of my hair into the plaster, but I need to work on the technique here - my friend Jennie who was helping me just ending up with plastery-hairy hands). It seemed to have the potential to be such a personal and potentially private experience, that something was maybe missing by doing this act in the studio space. So I'm intending to make another one, but doing it at home, by myself, in my bed. The plaster would then take up the shape of the mattress, as well as my head - it also seems to make sense to do this whilst wearing one of the négligé-dresses. It would effectively be a private performance, but I don't think I want to record it - that would make it a performance for the camera, rather than for how wearing that clothing, in that environment would affect the end result. I haven't had time to read much recently, as I'm been making a concerted effort to think-make rather than read-think which is what I can so easily get caught up in. We did just have a short break in the Lake District, during which I got to finish W. G. Sebald's Austerlitz. It's written without any paragraphs or speech-marks to indicate which character is speaking, the result being that you sort of flow along this continuous narrative, one section blending seamlessly into the next... I'd like this installation I'm working on to flow like that.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 I'm really not sure where to begin with this post. There's so much going through my head at the moment that I'm finding it even more difficult than usual to keep track of everything. The main thing is that I'll be showing during the MFA exhibition at the end of August, so working towards this is occupying my thoughts through all of my waking hours, and if last night's dreams were anything to go by, into my sleeping hours too. What I'm doing is making sense at the moment, and I really love intense, crazy work - but I'm also looking forward to the reflective bit once the exhibition is up, so I can clearly see where to go next, rather purely planning the most appropriate order in which to 'finish' the work I need to. See www.newcastlemfashow.co.uk for more details about the exhibition (preview August 21st, runs for two weeks after that). The weekend has been spent making mould parts for a cast of a cut-glass jar and lid that I'm intending to make from slip-cast porcelain, whilst also working out a way to use cheap art-school temporary walls in a way that doesn't disguise what they are (as that could be a bit fake and theatrical) but at the same time pushes them beyond this base. At the moment, the idea is lining paper, so I can reference a domestic interior, without being overt about, but paint the paper brilliant white, so I've still got a gallery reference. I'm splitting the space up into an entrance or 'ante' space, which feels pristine and clean. Maybe like a porch. This leads into a space which suggests a wider, more spacious space, but still something to travel through. I'm planning on printing the photograph of the library window onto a personal and handwritten letter from the market, which appears to be in the wall. (I need to learn how to plaster quite quickly). The porcelain jar will probably be here somewhere. The next space will imply a living area, which is where I'll put the drawer and the tin with its dirt (see the attached photos). I'm going to add some sliver-leaf to the dirt as a reference to the found photographs which I'll no longer be using. I think the absence of them is stronger than them being there is reference absence. Around the corner (an incomplete wall which suggests that it may have been longer at one point) will be the plaster pillow. The pristine-ness of the space won't quite be there by this point - it won't be obvious, but it won't quite be as clean, as sharp, there'll be something different. So that's the plan. Or at least the idea as it is at the moment. I'm still trying not to over-plan, but work through each making process. (continues)... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 I worked out the other morning, that if I just paint the lining paper back to the art-school-come-gallery brilliant white it's not going to be enough of a shift. So, I'm going with shades of white, taken from some of the paper-based items I've collected. I also don't think it's going to work if it's all just lining paper, it could all just be too little - not so much subtle, as nothing. I think that a touch of pattern might be required, so I'll see next week if it's possible to paper Anaglypta the wrong way round, so that the pattern appears like it's going into the wall. The mould of the jar is finished - just need to wait for it to dry out completely before pouring the slip. I want to get to terms with the photograph next week, before finishing off the walls and wallpapering at the weekend.    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 So, should the floor be painted another colour or not? It's the standard art-school-grey at the moment, but is to paint it a completely different colour going to be taking the entire installation down the theatrical route? If the colour is referencing a floor colour which could / has been used in a domestic environment going to be not so much shifting the space, as attempting to make it into something else? So a different shade of grey? I'm a little concerned that the shades of white that I'm using might be so, well, white, that there won't be much of a distinguishable difference between them. And it's also been brought to my attention that the photograph printed on the reclaimed letter is a little too black and white, where perhaps a bit more subtlety involving grey might have been preferable. It's also going to be a bit tricky trying to make this appear as if it's in the wall in a gentle way - I've had to bench the plaster idea, as I realised that I really wouldn't have time to learn how to plaster properly, and the finished result would most likely look like I hadn't had much time to learn how to plaster properly. So the photograph is behind the lining paper, and idea is to rub / sand the paper away, and perhaps involve a little silver-leaf somewhere along the lines. I've also realised that I'm thinking of these ideas in terms of something 'finished' again - an easy trap to fall into I think, when preparing for a public exhibition. However, part of my original philosophy in approaching this particular exhibition was to try and think of the work / works in terms of ideas in progress, thoughts and suggestions. Perhaps I need to be thinking in terms of this again.... I'm going to find out about different shades of grey paint tomorrow.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 So here are some initial installation shots from my interim exhibition. I hadn't though in terms of a title for it before now, but retrospectively it makes sense to call it Shift. It's pretty difficult to document due to the shape and size of the space, but also due to the subtly of colour and the manner in which is changes depending on the time of day and the amount of sun shining through the glass panels in the ceiling. The colour for the floor became a bit of a mission in the end. I went with grey-shift idea, but the colour I chose turned out to have a lot more pink in than I was expecting. That, combined with the different shades of white on the walls gave quite a head-f**k in early morning light. Okay, so this was interesting, but it was taking the installation somewhere else, which I wasn't sure about. It also seemed to make the floor-based work less substantial, less there somehow. It was only after a day of debating this, and also trying out a much more grey-grey, that I saw how it worked in evening light. The pinkness became a more subtle grey-brownness which shifted the space in a softer way, and worked with the floor pieces. I think the photograph piece needs some more work. It feels a little unrefined now, in comparison with the other pieces. The wallpaper covering rips away a bit too easily, so it reveals the image too easily and too much of it. I'm also wondering if a letter is the best support - it's beginning to feel a bit too literal; not just in the sense that there's writing involved (it's a personal letter written in the 1930's I picked up at a market) but perhaps there might be softer ways to make the references? I went on a tour of Tyne and Wear Museum's archives a few months back, and got rather fascinated with how the conservators repair velum manuscripts with sausage skin and a starch glue, so I've been thinking about how this might work with a photograph printed on it. I'm also beginning to do some research about making my own photographic emulation, or at least using a silver based powder or solution to take some more control over this process. Or perhaps I could print onto silver leaf, or imbed the support with it somehow, so the image doesn't appear too fixed, so static?... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 I spent Friday and Saturday at the NOTES on a Return symposium at the Laing Gallery. This two-day event rounded off a series of artist talks and new commissions in relation a number of artist performances which took place at the Laing during the mid-eighties. Whilst I've not worked with performance, what interested me about this event was the discussion surrounding documentation, memory and the archive in this case related to performance-based practice. The conversations and presentations were pretty wide ranging, but what struck me most was how a lot of the issues raised could be applied beyond live art - the most relevant area to my work being issues surrounding the affective documentation of a work which relies heavily on the moment and the atmosphere of that particular time and space. This conversation can easily be applied to installation work, and some of the problems I'm encountering at the moment. Several of us clubbed together to get professional photography of our work, but I'm not sure that in my case it'll be enough. In order to view my work, you need to physically move into, then through and around the space. There's no one place that you can view all the pieces, or indeed see the entirety of the space. So is a series of photographs the best way to explain the piece? All documentation risks become something in its own right - a really good photograph can make something look more interesting than it actually is in reality - but is there a way of enriching / adding to this type of documentation to create a more rounding understanding of an installation?   I thought about videoing the space, but it seemed a little odd to use a time-based medium to record static works. One of the speakers at the symposium mentioned something quite interesting though - they'd had access to three different accounts of the same performance. Obviously the accounts themselves differed quite considerably in their descriptions and experiences of the event, but they nevertheless added a further depth to the documentation. Owing to a lack of time (the exhibition has closed now, and I need to de-install in the next couple of days) I'm not going to be able to get three people to write accounts for me, but I thought it would still be something useful that I could do myself. I want to write something using language / in a style that reflects the feeling and content of the work - I'll have a go and post here as regards the success or otherwise.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Reading back through my text documentation, it still seems to be making sense. Only thing is, I'm not quite sure how to share it - I think the best thing will be to post it up here once I've got the professional photographs back, so that the images put the text in context and vice versa. The other thing I've been thinking about over the last few days is social networking / blogging and the arts (or more accurately, my practice as an artist and how social networks can show my work to more people). This basically came about from opening a Twitter account a couple of days ago, as it seemed a good idea at the time. Interestingly enough, I then came across some musing along related lines on Fabrica Gallery's blog: http://www.thetangledhedgerow.blogspot.com/ (see the September 8th and August 19th posts), which I got to via Twitter. What he says about the 'behind the scenes' bit seems to make sense, I think that's pretty much how most people view their blogs - a more casual, social approach to discussing their practice. What I have found quite tricky is transferring this more laid-back manner to my website - some things make sense to be formal (statement, cv etc) but I'm attempting to make the commentary about the works a little more informal, as I think it can be more interesting to read then. Just updated it today, so have a look if you fancy it: www.laurenhealey.co.uk... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 I've been taking an inadvertent break from blogging over the last couple of months. I've been doing a lot of reading and writing (I'm in the middle of writing my MA dissertation) and it felt like my head's been full of so many things, that to try and surmise them for this blog wouldn't work. The writing itself is becoming a piece in its own right, beyond the remit of an academic text. It's about trace and absence with the home and it rather apt, as we've just moved house - I'm therefore using our house as a basis to discuss these ideas.   The move was pretty hectic (to put it mildly) and as a result of not having a kitchen for about 6 weeks, we've been living with my in-laws. The previous owners of our new house were rather attached to their plants - so much so, that a massive ivy was growing up the front and partially covering the bedroom window. It was really sunny on our first morning there, so I photographed the resulting shadows on the curtain from our bed. I think it was the shadows which made me think of Anthony Boswell's work (he's got a couple of blogs on this site). I've been flicking though The Comfort of Things by Daniel Miller recently (Amazon's 'other people who bought this book also bought these' proving very useful these days). It's basically an anthropological look the interior of people's homes, specifically the objects and things they surround themselves with. The first 'portrait' is about a pensioner called George whose flat is empty - he doesn't have any things. Miller describes that 'there is a violence to such emptiness'. It's really sad because the empty flat effectively reflects the person who occupies it - 'this was a man... waiting for his time on earth to be over, but who at the age of seventy-six had never yet seen his life actually begin. And, worse still, he knew it'.    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 I finished a commission for Enchanted Parks in Gateshead a couple of weeks ago, which went well I think - a local photographic group very kindly sent me links to images they'd taken (see accompanying photographs). It turned out to be a bit of departure from the muted, quiet and contemplative sort of work I normally make, but I think it was really good thing to work in different way, and produce pieces for an exterior location, something I haven't done before. Just arrived down in Herefordshire to spend Christmas with my family. We inadvertently benefited from other trains being delayed after ours was cancelled, but it's still a 6 hour journey from Newcastle. Still, the county seems to be catching up with the rest of the country thanks to the copious amounts of snow currently falling. Looking out of the window just now where the snow was falling under a streetlight, the flakes were so big that they made spinning shadows on the white blanket underneath. I love the smell too - really fresh and clean, gorgeous.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Cold and misty yesterday. My parents live in the middle of nowhere, which whilst very isolated, can be quite beautiful. I took these photographs when we were walked their dog in the Malverns - the mist reminded me of Dylan Trigg's photographs on his blog: http://side-effects.blogspot.com/ It's a little like the snow, everything is detached, separated from what's usually seen around it. Re: work - just thinking about ways to combine a more delicate approach to the casts I've been making. The dresses were fragile, ephemeral; can this be furthered in relation to domestic objects, parts of homes?    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Just realised this'll be the first post of the New Year. I've spent most of it so far wrapped up in blankets and a shawl, admiring the beauty of the snow, before turning back to my computer to continue writing my MA dissertation. As I've mentioned before, this is about trace and absence in relation to the domestic environment, in particular to the house myself and my partner have just purchased. The idea is that there are effectively two sections to the text, having a symbiotic relationship with each other. The more formal, academic side is the critique of ideas and artwork in this area, whist the opposing side is a personal account of how the various ideas / points are related to the experience of creating a home in our new house. So, while yesterday was the bodily traces in art objects day (think hair, dust, blood etc), today has been about Boltanski's Missing House from 1990. (If you don't know it, see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/niah84/2842382429/). There seems to be a bit of contradiction going on as to whether Boltanski saw this piece in the same vein as his post-memory Holocaust work - one critic quotes him as saying that the installation is about "'the finger of God'; that is, the absurd and arbitrary contingency that determined that the residents on one stairway would be blown to bits, whilst those on the other might escape unscathed", where as another writes: "He ... discovered the names of the previous Jewish inhabitants, which he then used as the basis for the memorial content of the work". I've always liked Boltanski's work, the tricky bit is referring to artists who are so well written about in this field - it's really easy to go off on perhaps a really interesting tangent, but a tangent nonetheless. The snow's pretty much all melted here now. Give the metro's headline of 'Briton's heaving a sigh of relief' as the forecast heavy snow failed to materialise, it seems I'm one of the few people in the country who would prefer that it had stayed. Okay, so the trains were crowed, the death-ice wasn't much fun and I really didn't like it when my boots leaked, but my god, wasn't it beautiful?  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 My shortest post ever: Writing this dissertation is beginning to feel pretty much like curating an exhibition - I know there's a way that all the ideas will work together on the page, but it's taking a ludicrous amount to time to figure out exactly which way that is.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Finally back in studio to actually make stuff, rather than rushing in to print off a couple of things, grab some books and get back home to continue writing. The MA dissertation is finally finished, and although it's nearly killed me to get it in, I'm actually pretty proud of myself. I have posted previously about what I was aiming to do with the text, but I thought it might make a little more sense if I quote from the writing directly: "The critical essay positioned on the left side of the page, draws upon anthropological, geographical and aesthetical sources to place the ideas of trace and absence in a domestic environment into a visual arts context. The accompanying text and images on the right side of the page are a series of reflective writings and photographs related to my personal experience of the issues raised in the main essay. The symbiotic relationship between the two sections contextualises the main essay, whilst creating a piece of work which can be understood as a manifestation of my artistic practice. The sections of each chapter have been ordered to create a sense of overarching narrative, while the language used has been chosen to imbue a sense of these works and ideas in the reader's mind." I'm seeing this writing as a piece of work itself - the design, paper stock, typesetting etc were all carefully considered, and were in fact integral to the understanding of the piece. I'm intending to put a low-res version of it up on my website for download, just as soon as I've had chance to make it web-ready. I've also been buzzing with ideas about new work today - I want to incorporate the more conceptual ideas I've had as a result of the writing into the sculptures / installations I make. Firstly, this is going to involve thinking of the traces left in our house in terms of layers of semi-factitious narrative. There are various indents in the carpet from both our furniture and the previous occupier's furniture - whilst I know the narrative, the stories associated with our own furniture, I only have vague memories of the previous furniture. These memories are intangible, fragile things, subject to erosion by time. So, any traces I associate memories to in relation to this pre-existing furniture, while based on fact, gradually loose this 'factual' content, become embroiled with imagined ideas, and hence the coined word 'factitious'. Buildings don't exist is a set time periods of 'then' and 'now' (see http://www.glimmersinlimbo.co.uk/) - there is a fluidity in how they would have existed at different points. So the other area I want to incorporate in this new work is a way of suggesting the gradual build-up and erasure of these traces over a period of time. What I'm intending to start with is a cast of the carpet in our living room - the carpet is cut to the walls, so the size and shape of the room, plus an idea of the type of building is implicit in the work. The cast will include indents from various items of furniture - ours, theirs, other furniture which isn't theirs, but is similar to what I remember it being like.   So it looks like I'll be making something pretty big. Yeay!... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 I've been having one of those weeks / most of the month when my brain just feels like cotton wool. Trying to pin down a cohesive thought has been nigh on impossible. So instead of rushing off to the studio this morning to faff about and not achieve a massive amount, I'm sitting under a couple of blankets on our bed (very cosy) sorting though emails of various upcoming things (AV festival kicks off next week) and writing lists. We've got the carpet all rolled up, and I've managed to locate a space I can roll it out to see it in a different context over the weekend. Not an easy feat, as it's about 6m long by 4m wide. I've had a chat with a few people about ideas for the carpet piece, but I don't think I can make any decisions until I've been able to view as an object as opposed to the floor of a room. The trouble with making a cast is primarily the enormous cost, plus if it were being made out of a stiff material (such as concrete of plaster) it would need to be assembled in sections, something which would affect the work visually. I then wondered about treating the carpet in some way, perhaps with wax and graphite power, so if people walk on in during the exhibition, the marks of their feet would be left as traces along with the indents already in there. Trouble with this is that the indents have been made over quite a long time period, where as the foot marks would be created in a period of days - the work could easily end up being about the time of the exhibition, as opposed to the much longer history the carpet has. There's also the problem of using quite 'arty' material such as wax and graphite. I tried to shift away from the materials a bit by burning some of the flea market photos I have, effectively creating my own carbon. But then, it this trying to bring too many things into one piece? I've gotten hold of several pairs of 1920s creamy coloured elbow-length leather gloves from another flea market. I thought these were pretty fascinating because of them being made of a skin to cover a skin; they're a little stained, some are really crisp, others are very soft. I wasn't sure what to do with them, so I started unpicking the seams, seeing what happened when I opened them up. I was also thinking about using them as a support for printing photographs onto. But as was pointed out to me (quite rightly, I might add) is that the glove would basically be acting as a canvas for an image - it wouldn't really be about the skin, but the glove. And why a glove? And is this trying to put too much into one piece again? I realised that even though I haven't worked with print or drawing for several years, let alone paint, there's a way of working that is easy to fall back on. It's something quite habitual, even though I've been working with objects, I still see things very much as images. Also, it's very easy to want to 'make' something. Perhaps just moving the carpet out of its current context will be enough. Maybe the glove says enough just by being unpicked.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 (5th April 2010 continued)   15/03/10 Is there a way of incorporating sounds related to specific parts of / marks on carpet? Some documented sounds (movement within the room the carpet has come from, sounds of the house) mixed up with layers of 'faked' sounds?   17/03/10 Documentation as trace Different ways of documenting the space - the carpet itself, photographing, videoing. The carpet contains marks and echoes of a previous existence in this everyday context; I'm intending to use alternative photographic processes to record stills of the space - the images become about the process itself as well as the space I'm photographing; using video to record different parts of the space gradually fading into other parts, introducing a time-based element to the recording / documenting process. But all documentations are traces - they're reliant on a different media, they're a shift away from the thing they're documenting. So perhaps a way forward is to use the media to explore the space, using the way that the media shifts the understanding of that space as part of the idea of these traces I'm looking at.   19/03/10 How would a series of video sequences work? Each looks at a small section of the space, explores it in a way that's sympathetic to that area. Sometimes the separate sequences overlap, not quite together, sometimes seamless other times jarring. Re-visit various sections of shots, so there's suggestions of repeating, layering ... They're then projected together, some on the floor, perhaps others on the walls or on screens. But again, maybe this is overcomplicating it.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Notes from my sketchbook: Trying to 'write-up' a month's worth of ideas and experiments seems like a rather trite and pointless task (I still haven't gotten the balance between spontaneous blogging and my need to have anything I write planned and carefully considered beforehand) so I'm attempting a different approach - what follows are a series of expanded notes from my sketchbook where I work out concepts and comment on ideas as I try them out.   04/03/10 I've had several ideas about various objects and materials I've gotten hold of, but I'm not sure how they relate to each other (if indeed they do) and how these ideas relate to where I think my practice is heading. Several of the leather gloves, seams unpicked, lying on the floor. Tried this out, but not sure they should be on the floor - what's the reason? Seductive quality of gloves, most apparent with soft, supple ones; prised open, the interiors exposed to the air. Impressed into plaster walls? Photographic prints on sausage skin- interest in using this material comes from it's use to repair old vellum books, vellum having a 'memory' (after damp has penetrated it, then it's dried to another shape, it keeps going back to that shape, despite later attempts to restore it). Which is interesting, but perhaps more down the archive route that my work is currently going in. Also, by using the skin as a support for a photograph, isn't this just making the skin into a canvas? Photographing / filming our house - particularly in the empty living room; 'living' being part of the point, it's not currently being lived in. It's an empty ignored room. Can the act of photographing / filming be an act in itself? What if I wear long leather gloves and a negligee whilst doing this? Photographs of empty living room with leather gloves in shot - a set up, a staging? Is there a way of incorporating sound and smell into the work?   14/03/10 I've placed the old carpet from our living room on a wall. The carpet is the size (4 x 4.7m) and shape of the living room - you can see where the carpet lay under the door, where the bay window was, where the fireplace and chimney breast projected into the room. Carpet on the wall - references to a canvas, paintings placed on the wall. But it's the size and shape of a room, removed from its original context, opened up for examination. Is placing it on the wall trying to change the fact it's a carpet? Elevating the status of it? Is it becoming a surface as opposed to an object? Everydayness of carpet - is this negated by placing it on a wall? Or has it just shifted its inherent everydayness somewhere else? How to light it? Layers of different indents and traces highlighted by setting up a lighting programme, which gradually changes over time. So a time element also becomes part of the piece. Would it need sound too? Traces as sounds and smell (the carpet certainly does smell). But again, perhaps this is trying to add too much to a single piece. I'm trying to think of ways of not making something, ways of manipulating the objects in other manners. (continues)... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 After trying out the various sequences idea in my previous post, for the moment I've settled on concentrating on a dirty shelf in our living room. The various bits of paraphernalia that sat there for months have been removed, leaving a behind what appear like a dark shadows in the silvery dust. I'm videoing this tiny incidents on a macro setting, so the details are crisp and enlarged in the centre of the frame, but slip out of focus as the camera pans. I've been editing this over the last couple of weeks, but I shot some further footage this evening. Stills of shots are attached to this post.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 I can't remember where this is quoted from, but it is apt for the stage my video sequences are at the moment: "Beauty is rearing its ugly head". Indeed, the reason I was intrigued with these macro shots to begin with, is that the camera transformed mundane grey dirt and plaster dust into something quite magical, with a hazy dream-like quality. But that's just the problem - they everyday has been usurped by the fantastical, and by being so, the breadth of the piece's concepts has been limited. Basically, I need to rough it up again. In the latest shooting, I've tried to avoid framing the shadows of the screws and nail, instead focusing on ripples in the dirt, a tiny hair, a delicate smudge. I've also been playing with the focusing, letting it slowly slide out, watching the line of focus slip up the screen. I'm quite pleased with some of the shots, the difficulty I'm having is editing them together. I spent the majority of today at the wonderful 25 Stratford Grove (http://25stratfordgrove.wordpress.com/). Brian Degger has just finished an art/science project there, which involved the creation of bio-plastics and culturing phosphorescent bacteria - really interesting cross-over between science and art. What intrigued me the most was the story of how a cancer tumour was taken from the body of a woman many years ago. It was deemed to be so interesting, that's been grown in laboratories ever since. The lady it originally came from has since died, but in effect a part of her is still living. Or at least, something long ago was a part of her - it has since developed to become something in its own right. I think the reason this interested me is because it made me think of how I've been considering traces and documentations to be something external to what they reference. Certainly there is an indexical relationship, but the document, the trace, is wholly dependent upon its medium - be this a photograph, the written word or moving image - and its relationship to the memory of the event or object.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 (Cont.) So the pieces I'm working on: Carpet - might be on a wall, might not be, might have something done to it - possibly a projection of a shadow from where the bay window would have been. It would be a shadow from somewhere else, not related to the carpet itself, or where it's from - basically a recording of another trace, layered on top of this one, so two different documents are intermingling, but as a viewer you're not sure about the relationship between them. Video - hour long recording on the light from a window moving over the floor. A sound track from the same space is recorded from at a different time, so as you watch the visuals, you're aware of something else happening which you can't see, but is taking place in the same room. Photographs - very excited about my new medium format camera. It's about 40yrs old, is solid as a brick, has interchangeable lenses and bellow. Yes. Bellows. I've been playing around with bulb exposures and slide film, photographing small details of domestic spaces, traces of light on walls, through curtains... If I can get hold of a 6x6 projector, then perhaps I just project one image. Or maybe just one print. I know that I don't want any framed prints, as then it's about an image, where as I would prefer to see any printed photographs as objects. So paper and printing processes need to be carefully considered here. I was thinking at one point, of having these as a looped DVD, where one still image melts into another, into another... but I think now this is going to be a proposal for something else. Fireplace - I've got the plaster fire surround from our house, and the idea is to turn it the wrong way round so you can see the interior of it, then put it in a fake wall. So when you look at it, there's this feeling of perhaps being in the wall. Overall sound piece - I've been recording ambient sounds from the house, with the idea of making a soundscape which subtly suggests the domestic space within the gallery location. Again, time issues here. So there we are. Also, just posted a review of the National Glass Centre's current exhibition The Glass Delusion up on Interface. I've haven't written many reviews before, despite having opinions about just about everything, so thought I should rectify this. Here's the link: http://bit.ly/dkK7kK  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Yeah. So editing, right? It's gotten to the stage that this is an increasing priority. After deliberately trying to stay open-ended about processes and ideas, my MA exhibition opens in just over two months and there is a limit to how many pieces will work together in the space I've got, and how many I can realistically make. I'm showing in the Hatton Gallery, which as far as exposure is concerned is a bonus, as this tends to get the most foot-fall. However, the distinct drawback is having five days to install, and only 9-5 at that. Now bearing in mind it took over a month to install my interim show, and that was generally working 9-10 most days, you can see why that might be causing me a few anxieties. And that's not to mention Schwitters. The Hatton Gallery has a permanent installation of Schwitter's Merzbarn, which adjoins the space I'll be using. This causes difficulties whatever exhibition is installed in this space, as Tyne and Wear Museums dictate that it cannot be covered in anyway, and that the large green information panels remain in place. So you've got the choice of ignoring it (pretty difficult) acknowledging it, or in my case, using it as an instrumental part of the installation I'll be making. The reason I'm going down this route is for several reasons - as a use of the space it suits the way I like to work, but more importantly, there are echoes of the Merz in work I'm making. I've taken a carpet from one environment (in this case a domestic one - the first Merz was created in a domestic space), and am re-locating it to another. Schwitters also made incorporated lots of pre-existing objects into his work, again, similarities here. Continues...... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Decision time. And mass editing time. Despite having about 80gb worth of video footage, I'll not being showing any of it (add harsh editing decisions to that). Carpet is staying but is having nothing done to it, no projections, nada. It works very nicely as it is thank you very much - see images attached to this post. Managed to locate a medium format projector (and a rather fancy one at that) so I'll be showing one of my photographs as a projection and another as a c-type print on aluminium. And finally, there'll be an as-yet-to-be-made sound piece. I'll be setting up 4 mics in the house - one in the bedroom, one on the landing, one in the hall, and finally one between the back room and the kitchen. I'll then recording me and Andy moving about, possibly getting ready to go out - as we move about the house, the sounds will be picked up by the different mics, the idea being that when it's played back via four speakers in the gallery, you'll get the sense of us moving about the space. Not sure about the fire surround as yet - it seems to be becoming something else, something more sculptural and less about documentation. I've finished Stage 1 - making boxes to hold the separate sections in the right place, and which also enables the piece to be broken down into sections for storage and transportation - this thing is bloody heavy. Stage 2 will involve filling said boxes with expanding foam with plasterboard on top, and finally Stage 3 will involve a plaster render. Not sure if it's going to be going into a fake wall anymore, or whether it would be more interesting seeing the packing crates. Hmmmmm. One of the later video ideas I had involved using various different photographs, and plans of the house and making a piece in which these different sources seemed to melt into each other. This was an earlier edited plan, but I've put version of this forward to the lovely folks at Rednile (www.rednile.org) as a proposal for one of their Factory Night commissions at the Oceana in Wallsend (where coincidently, the work I made as part of the Wildworks project I was involved in last year was shown). Will know the outcome of that in a few weeks time (fingers crossed). My night time reading consists of a couple of music tech text books (Spatial Audio and Shaping Sound), I'm catching up with some reading about cultural concepts of documents and documentation and I'm on the hunt for writing about how the Victorian's believed recorded sound to be akin to cheating death. Relevant? I think so.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 So, this time next week I think it's pretty safe to say, I will be feeling more than a little worse for wear following copious amounts of wine at the preview for my MFA grad show. This delightful thought (and having a couple of days off afterwards) is keeping me going as we enter The Final Week.I've (hopefully) finished the audio work and laid my hands on some fancy speakers for the show. I say hopefully, as unfortunately I couldn't hear a massive amount of it when I was adding an additional recording to it this morning, due to the pneumatic drill be used outside the edit suite. Will have another listen tomorrow (fingers crossed) after I've finished making the panels to construct a dividing wall in the gallery.After a couple of conversations, I realised I was being a bit slow with my idea for the audio work - instead of recording movement, it made much more sense to record the sounds of an empty house. The work is therefore very subtle - there are sounds of passing traffic on the street outside, the sound of the refrigerator and a toilet dripping. All very slight. I don't want it to feel like there's a lot of sound going on, just small moments that give the feeling of domestic indoors-ness, transplanted into this gallery location. Originally I was going to put the speakers up on the mezzanine floor around my exhibition space, but decided against this for three reasons: firstly, as the piece is so quiet, there should be an indicator for the audience that there is an audio piece there; secondly, as I'm being so blatant with the carpet, it seemed kind of daft to then disguise the speakers; and thirdly, surprisingly enough, speakers work best at ear level. It was recommended that I read David Toop's Haunted Weather - a really interesting book about sound, space and memory. I love it when you read stuff with litters the text with references you've already come across, or ideas that you've been thinking around, perhaps in different contexts - Austerlitz is mentioned a few times, and he also describes how "sounds are woven with memory". Lovely stuff.On a different, but irritatingly hilarious note, I managed to completely trash the transparency I was going to project, and have been spending the last week hoping that we'll get some sunshine at around 10am so that I can re-take the photograph. I've had a wee bit of success, but the camera is still set up as in theory there should still be enough time to get another film developed if necessary.I'm not quite panicing yet.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 The post-MA world is a bit of a weird one. You always know after working so stupidly hard on a project, that there’s this odd flatness when it’s finished. Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite pleased to be done – but having spending all week working in front of a computer at home so far is a wee bit of a change to being pleased to leave uni by 9pm at night. So, the exhibition. I showed 3 pieces – the carpet piece, now entitled ‘Document’, and sound work ‘Empty House’. These were shown together in the Hatton Gallery, whilst my medium format projection ‘Untitled (Projection)’ was shown in a separately, in a space just outside the Hatton. Various reasons for this - although I wanted to have this build up documents in one space, visually it wasn’t working in the slightest. The projector would have ended up bang-slap in the middle of the gallery, disrupting the view of the carpet. I tried putting it next to the Mertzbarn, (which I’d built a wall in front of to give the carpet some space) but again, there was a massive over-crowding problem. In one of those lovely accidental things that actually work quite well, the light from the projector ended up really lighting up the space – as the transparency was an overexposed shot of light coming through a window, this seemed to work pretty nicely. Images attached to this post show ‘Document’ and ‘Untitled’, follow this link for ‘Empty House”: http://soundcloud.com/lauren-healey/empty-house As a result of the MFA, I was awarded the Hole Editions Publishing Award (http://www.holeeditions.co.uk). I’ll be working with Lee Turner to produce a litho edition, which I’m really excited about. Instead of working directly from some of my photographs, our first idea is to see how litho plates work in a pin hole camera, the idea being that there’ll be a directness about the images being made. Neither of us have any idea how this will work, but I really like the openness to experimentation. I’ve also got a studio sorted at the fantastic New Bridge Project http://thenewbridgeproject.blogspot.com , so will be able to get on with continuing the fire surround piece. I wasn’t convinced about using this for the exhibition, but after loosing a week due to some insane skin outbreak all over my face at the beginning of August, there was pretty much no choice but to put it on hold. Other pieces / ideas I’ll be working on in the coming months include: combining new recordings with found and archive sound, to create a situation where a linear understanding of time is disputed by over-layering recordings from different periods; and making a text piece which discusses the limitations of the document, whilst being written in such a way as to embody these limitations through the use of language, description and presentation. (And yes, I did pull those descriptions directly from an application I’ve just done). And if the funding comes though, I’ll be doing some writing for an exhibition catalogue for a gallery showing at the London Art Fair too. Which is all good, ‘cos I really don’t know what to do if I’ve got 5 minutes space.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Let's face it - writing proposals and applications isn't interesting. And neither is writing about writing proposals and applications. And seeing as that's primarily what I've been doing pretty much non-stop for the last months, you'll be understanding the reasons for lack of blog updates. Despite feeling as if I'm forever in front of a computer, I have started work with Lee Turner at Hole Editions on the litho edition. The pin-hole idea didn't work at all - the plates are nowhere near as sensitive as photographic paper, and despite leaving a plate in a camera for a week in which there was plenty of bright sunshine, it seems that the sunlight has to fall directly onto the plate for it to affect the emulsion at all. So mark 2 involved taping a few plates up on the wall when there were lots of shadows being cast in the room and seeing what happened. I really wasn't expecting much with this, so we were both pleasantly surprised when we got some quite interesting results. (See the images top images accompanying this post). I quite like the simplicity of these - there's still a very much a Barthes-esq 'having been there-ness', along with a grainy feel to them - more photographic references perhaps. The weather over the last few days has been accidently perfect, as I'd been waiting for it to snow. I was thinking of the snow in terms of erasure and absence, quite a weighty sadness to it. I went to a funeral at the end of last week - it snowed quite heavily on the journey to the crematorium behind the hearse, and with everyone dressed in black, the visuals felt quite Dickensian, appropriate for that type of occasion. The journey took us via the coast, but the sea wasn't visible because of a slight rise in the land. From my perspective the snow was positioned directly next to the flat grey sky. Both were empty and blank - quite incredible. I went back a couple of days later to photograph this, I should get the transparencies back tomorrow. I also realised that I'm being very precious about these photographs I've been taking, perhaps a bit too pristine. So I've been experimenting with my pinhole camera (a large biscuit tin + black spray paint, hurrah!), as the long exposures give a sort of echoey quality to the images. I've got a lot of transparencies from over the summer, which for one reason or other weren't right for photographs or projections. I've put these on the floor back where the exposures were taken from, so that they get scuffed and scratched - physical marks from that space. A couple of images after a few days of this are attached to this post.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 I’ve been finding writing this blog a struggle of late. It’s quite difficult to write about work in a chatty, conversational way, when it’s been a bit of a low patch, work-wise. However, I generally feel better if I’m active and doing something, so as far as this blog is concerned, I’m going to try something new. Namely, I’m going to try an experiment in writing little and often, pushing through the down times, rather than writing long essays when I’m on the upwards run of the rollercoaster. Starting now. So, attached to this post are a couple images from a sunny day last week. (Yes, there was one. Promise). Lee’s given me some larger litho plates which I was therefore able to expose. I got a bit excited about these – the sun was bright, that when it reflected off a tin and a CD case, it seemed to make a sort of 3D impression on the wall. I’ve no idea how this will work on the plate, but that’s kind of what I like about this work – neither of us know how it’ll work out, and it’s all a bit of guess work. I want to work with some colour when it comes to making the actual prints, rather than keeping them monotone (as the tester prints from my previous post are) When the sun shines through the curtains in our bedroom, they glow this sort of Technicolor yellow, like the kind of saturated richness associated with early colour film. I want to get some of this richness and depth into these prints, continuing the filmic, camera references.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Second site visit to the Oceana today. This is one of the locations that Rednile had a Factory Night event a while back, and I put in a proposal for a project to take place there as a result of that. It’s essentially a business park on a site which was previously a marine research facility from around 1945 – 1985. There’s a mixture of buildings, some renovated and let as offices, others which still have wallpaper from the 80s covering up some rather beautiful 50s architecture. All this is intertwined with the rise and decline of shipbuilding in the UK and the North East, which has some pertinence given the current economic situation. My original proposal involved making a video from archival visual documentation of the site, and interweaving this with contemporary images of the site. I was also being rather hopeful in that somewhere there’d be some old audio footage which I could intersperse with new recordings. It was therefore very useful to go back again, not least because as a result I’ve got a much clearer idea of what archival material – or indeed lack of it – is available to use. At first I was thinking this might be a real problem, but it could actually be quite interesting – our understanding of the past is informed by what documentation we have access to, so by there being a considerable gap, the whole subjectivity of what’s left is brought into question. This is one of about three projects that are in this slight limbo stage – preliminary research and fundraising before anything concrete can be said to be happening. The other thing that all these projects-in-limbo currently have is my desire to collaborate with other people on them. Again, this wasn’t in the original proposal, but certainly looking around the site today, there’s so much to use, so many possibilities, that I think working with another artist, discussing ideas and approaches to create a work would be a really exciting way of tackling it.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Feeling a bit pleased - just found out that I've gotten one of PVA Media Lab's SALT residencies, running from the end of Feb - begining of March. I'm a bit chuffed about this, as it'll mean making an audio work that I've been mulling around in my head for a bit, but with the distinct added advantage of technical support to help me realise it. This is an extract from the proposal I submitted: "For this residency, I want to treat recorded audio as if it were a collage or palimpsest. What I like about these formats, is that although the top layer of paper or writing covers up what's below, you're always aware that there is something below, even though it may not be entirely clear what that something is. In terms of the document, Norman M Klein describes this quite nicely - he states that "the historian's writing should include an open-ended diagram of what information cannot be found: the document that was tossed away; the cracks in the sidewalk where the roots of trees, now gone, lifted the street". In relation to my practice, I'm interesting leaving a visual or audible reference of this residue, something that indicates that what's on the surface, isn't all that's there. I'm intending to make a number of recordings at different times of day and night from an exterior location in Bridport (a location chosen at the beginning of the residency). The kind of location I'll be looking for will be quite noisy at times, and quiet at others, perhaps a side street in the town. I'll then use the studio time to construct these recordings into a soundscape in which some sounds are clear and up-close, whereas others have a feeling of audio remnants, form further away. I want the work to feel a bit rough, a bit raw and home-made, so with the help of PVA I want to play with different recording devices, and ways of manipulating the recordings in post-productions to achieve this".  Actually, in terms of writing, this was a bit of a departure for me - normally proposals I submitt are really formal, but recently I was wondering if that was part of the problem, they've just been a bit dry. So I made a concerted effort to keep it lighter and chattier, to make it more how I would describe the idea if it were a conversation. Or like in this blog, thinking about it. The image I've attached to this post is one of the latest test prints I've done with Lee. I've got one more plate to use, which I'm going to try attaching directly to the curtains on a really bright sunny morning, and see what happens.    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Image just in from Lee - all the plates he's done so far. I like the one on the far right particularly. (I'm also like this plan of me giving him an exposure, and then him does the rest. Could definately get used to this).... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Back from residency and in a world of playing catch-up. So much so, that the 11-13 hr days I was working at the studio last week are beginning to feel a bit like a holiday. The time down in Dorset was really good - very intense working, but I like it when project run a bit on adrenalin. The project I did at PVA ran pretty much to what I proposed, with the main exception being that I sourced recordings from all over the town, rather than just one particular side street. It actually worked out quite nicely, following the microphone around, and recording those little incidental sounds that drift past almost un-noticed sometimes. I also found myself getting really excited about recording snatches of overheard music - someone practicing piano, a band rehearsing, something like Xylophone from someone's open window. I've got to do a bit more editing (mainly because the stereo goes 100% in either direction which could be a bit of a head screw if listened to on headphones), but The Plan is to get it up onto Soundcloud this week. I'll post a link up here when that's done. Had another visit to the Oceana yesterday with Taryn Edmonds (http://www.aa2a.org/artists/taryn_edmonds) who I'll hopefully be collaborating with on a project there. This will require some funding being sourced (next week's job and then some), but as there's some distinct crossovers in our work, I think something pretty interesting could be achieved.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 26th March protest march yesterday. The reason I got up at the ungodly hour of 4am to take a 6 hr coach ride to the capital is that I fundamentally believe that the public sector cuts the government are imposing are driven out of ideology rather than necessity; that they disproportionally hit the weakest in our society the hardest; and I'm really fed up with being incredibly angry about it and feeling powerless to actually do anything. What struck me the most was despite the small amount of violence which unsurprisingly got most of the mainstream media attention, the atmosphere for the four hours I was walking was kind of akin to a giant walking street party. There was several bands playing, people with others in costume (Robin Hood and Fat Cats being my favourites), parents with children in pushchairs, nurses dancing to the music provided portable PA systems set up on tricycles in Trafalgar Square. What was also really lovely were the people representing others who couldn't physically be there, such as pensioners and the disabled. It was exhausting, but with that sense of camaraderie you get at big events when everyone is there for the same reason. With a crowd this large, (400,000 - 500,000 most estimates agree) I had to give up trying to meeting up with the AIR group within about 10 minutes of arriving (they were about 2 hrs further along the designated route), but instead got to do the walk with a couple of other people coming down from Newcastle on the coach. This was great, because one of my favourite things is meeting interesting strangers and having intriguing conversations with them. With everyone taking photographs, videoing and tweeting, I thought it would be interesting to record the demonstration another way - having just gotten back from the PVA residency, and just doing the final touches to the piece I made there, recording the sound seemed an obvious way to do it. I've tried to get different levels and details in what I was recording, from talking of the person next to me, the chants of groups of people, the waves of whistle and vuvuzelas being blown, to the brass band playing. My inability to walk very far today means I'll be listening to these tomorrow in-between meetings and proposal writing, so I'll be thinking of ways to use this audio then. If nothing else, I think it's an important document to add to all the visual and written accounts of the event.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Finally gotten an edited version of the piece I made down at PVA up online. Bit of a bugger to to this, as surprisingly enough, listening to it via the web is always going to be a much lesser experience than via a 5.1 set up. It's really difficult to get across the richness and detail on the quiet bits whilst not getting to the stage that people's ears are bleeding during the loud bits. So what's up there feels more like a work in progress at the moment - it doesn't quite sound how I really want it to via the web, but I really want to get something out there. Here's the link:http://soundcloud.com/lauren-healey/audio-collage. If you're listening via headphones - great - if not, I would suggest turning up the volume. To 11 :)  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Up to Northumberland next weekend, for an exchange project with VARC. Myself and another four artists from the NewBridge Project are involved in a project called Response: A Rural / Urban Conversation. (http://www.varc.org.uk/news/2011/05/28/response-a-...) Bascially, this involves camping there for three days (yes, I know, I'm a bit stunned that I'm going to be doing this too) and making work on-site to show on the Sunday evening. I'll be making a series of pin-hole photographs of the surrounding landscape, which is really gorgeous - wild, sparce and open - which will then be projected in one of the old outhouses there. The walls in the outhouses are pretty rough and crumbly, which the photogrpahs will be projected directly against, kind of so the exterior landscape is becoming part of the interior space. This will be following on from the pin-hole work I was doing in the snow back in December. Looking forward to this, as I get to run around with a load of customised sweet times, and set up a darkroom in a old coal shed. In September, Jenny Purrett, the current VARC artist-in-residence will be coming to work at the NewBridge studios with us for part two of the exchange. The work from High Bridge will be re-thought / re-worked in relation to the urban location before we show it again.   ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430 Project up at VARC was great - I love really intense working sessions, partly I think, because you can really feel a sense of achievement by getting a lot of work done, something which often seems remote possibilty most of the time. I set up a dark room in an old coal shed, which I used to process a series of pin-hole photographs of architectural details which seemed embedded in their surroundings. Sometimes this was because the buildings were old and weathered, in other cases this was due to the growth of moss, lichen and weeds growing on window frames and around door ways. The piece was presented as a looped DVD, projected against the old stone wall in the interior of the coal shed I used as my dark room. The video is at the bottom of this post, so just keep scrolling down to see it... ...   ...   ...     ...     ...     ...       ....       ....       .... here it is.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/486430