http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 free-not-free Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:42:59 +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/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 So what exactly will we do in this incubator space?  What is an incubator space? We are hatching ideas, seeing them grow, developing ourselves to where we can fly on. Or out. enough of the puns... time for some fun      ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Emma and I are talking about animating print and creating an animation together. I'm pretty clueless so far about animation in practise (I think I understand the theory) but it'll be good to learn new skills while pushing the print side. There are many talented and approachable animators in Exeter we can ask advice from. We intend to keep it simple, play it by ear, and see how it goes.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 The idea being that we create an animation. We are right at the start of the process, not really knowing where we're going. On Tuesday I have some time to cut some lino or wood and have a play with creating a second or two with Stop Motion. I think the next step is to create a storyboard, and then get some advice about what is possible.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 First storyboard drawn up and put up on the wall of the incubator. Feeling inspired and the start of momentum. We still need to make the incubator space ours. To find bits and pieces to equip and furnish. I will bring in my small press from home, where it hasn't been used for a year or so. To collect:  drawing pins, masking tapes, ink, rollers, glass (to roller ink onto), a couple of plastic chairs I saw outside a charity shop in Heavitree (if they're still there.)... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 I've borrowed some of my kids building blocks, to create a 'moving' woodcut print. The idea being to cut it and animate the blocks moving themselves into different images. On each side is a close up of a dove (ring-necked/ turtle dove). They'll shift and morph into each other through the animation. Doves enclosed. A symbol of waiting for peace/ for freedom. I started looking at this for an installation piece exhibited in Gallery 333 last August. http://www.exeterphoenix.org.uk/gallery_archive.php  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Today I've sorted a table top and trestles for the incubator and also a dustbin (piles of wood shavings, scrunched up masking tape. and paper cuttings).  The Incubator space in the basement of Exeter Phoenix. The desk faces a window that looks out onto car park spaces. Its a great place to see people walking past, all at a good foreshortened perspective too.   --- While I'm talking about general stuff, it makes sense to talk alittle about the process of blogging. I feel like I'm in a room with a bunch of people I haven't met before. They don't know me and I don't know them. There is the mumur of conversations around me. I feel self conscious and shy to talk much. These posts of mine are short, excluding much, rather than saying the wrong thing. Writing a blog (I don't like the word blog, what's a better name?) is much like making art. Putting your thoughts and ideas out there; making yourself open to critic; not wanting to be heard (seen) and wanting to be heard (seen) all at the same time. Time for more vulnerability; I'm off to the dentist.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 its been pointed out to me that the photo of the view through the 6-paned window of the incubator matches the wooden blocks of the bird woodcuts. Of course I meant that on purpose...... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 My current work is exploring the concept of refuge, and with it, personal peace. In this piece 'All the Houses in the Street' I aim to infer some of the complexities around refuge and in particular, the search for personal peace and the fine line between refuge as peaceful security and captive discord. Terraced housing: all the houses in the street may look the same, but the outside belies their individual characters. Are they places of refuge or containers of discontent to the inhabitants who live there? The woods are my own place where I am drawn to for refuge. They are a place to be hidden; clear sight deflected through trees and dappled light. In the woods you are surrounded by nature's cycle of new growth, living, dying and death. It is natural and unthreatening, raw and knowable. And, in the stream that runs through the forest, there is life's energy manifested, which balances with the dryness and earth of the forest. The moon: at nighttime the subconscious mind takes over  as we 'stream into the loving nowhere'. In our sleep and dreams we seek refuge from the day's 'conscious decisions and personal memories'. The typed verse at the base of the work is a poem by Rumi. Knowing that conscious decision and personal memory are much too small a place to live, every human being streams at night into the loving nowhere, or during the day, in some absorbing work.  (from Milk of Millennia). Repeated mantra-like it aims to underpin the atmosphere of the work. This piece of work is currently in the Open Print exhibition in RWA, Bristol. http://www.rwa.org.uk/currexh.htm For a review on this exhibition see: http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/art71083        ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Its been a week or more since I wrote last. Either I have been so involved in making that I haven't had the time, or I suddenly lost my tongue and got reticent.    Tonight I embark on 'having a go' at making an animation. The method looks quite straightforward, but I'm not sure I have started out on the right foot as the wooden blocks with the cut birds that I plan to use as the centerpiece are inky and stained from printing. No beautiful clear cuts to be seen. I've been cleaning them with white spirit but the wood has sucked in all the ink. Ok, first lesson learnt. There's no noise of the local football at St James Park tonight, just sea gulls, and the next door neighbours' children bouncing. Mine are long sleeping since they were up in the night and up early in the morning. I did some intense printing this afternoon, its tiring you know. All that rolling, wiping, thinking, concentrating, checking for inky fingers, wiping, cleaning, and cleaning again. I have created a building shaped wood cut filled with a backdrop of trees (from Haldon Forest, nr Exeter) and four windows. The windows are for the birds.    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 worked out eventually that if I am thinking about making a 3D artwrok it kind of needs to be thought of that way from the beginning.. not try too hard to turn a 2D idea into 3D. That's why, I think, in this case it didn't work this time. Here's the 2D version. Birds Waiting.    did a 2 day website course, which was well run - Tony Walker was the tutor. I got kind of preoccupied with creating the home page, so haven't got too far just yet. Enjoying the playing on photoshop though.   otherwise trying to take a bit of a break. I was working in the day and every evening and everything got a bit too intense. after a week I'm feeling better already and ready to get going again. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Emma and I met up last week and went drawing in the woods. Brilliant. Just to sit still and actually look. And feel. To look at the smallest seedlings, shoots of ivy, and great big fat tree trunks aside willowly silver birch. I marker penned tree trunks and seedlings onto a bit of ply. It may be cut. I don't know if my tools are big enough. This week's meet up got sucked away by meetings and work. Work really competes for space. Its a constant challenge of finding and making time. Luckily most tv is pretty c.r.a.p. and I get quite a lot done in the evenings after the kids are in bed. I have been distracted by a couple of commissions recently. One small drypoint went by quite pleasantly. However, I agreed to a street scene lino cut thinking that if I agreed to do it small size it wouldn't detract me too long from my stuff I want to do. But it's not enjoyable on a small scale, so I will submit and get a larger piece of lino.  I'm not sure where I'm at the moment. Not a bad thing, as when I'm in the momentum of creating new work I can hardly think of anything else. Its emotionally exhausting. Plus there's quite a lot else wot needs head space (job, kids, husband, friends, family and most definitely sleep). Really though, I need to bite the bullet and get on with experimenting with the animations I keep thinking about.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Peace waiting.   Today Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, in response to UN calls for Israeli and Hamas civilians to be tried for possible war crimes committed during the 22 day war at the begining of the year: "I want to make it clear -- Israel will not take any chances for peace if it can't defend itself" he said.(From Yahoo News) So I am trying to work out this statement. Surely this is a paradox; to be defensive while searching for peace. It doesn't make sense. The nature of peace is that it can only come through openness. If you are on the defense you are confined, closed off. Is this then the crux of what makes peacemaking so challenging? That both protagonists are on the defensive and it is necessary for either or both either to open up, to become a little bit vulnerable to start the process off.   ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Trains - I am right into taking photos out of train windows. It seems to me you can't get the same views from anywhere else. All those fields of waving grass, cows and sheep, industrial warehouses, terraced housing, back gardens, the M5. There's a great view of the M5 around Taunton and Tiverton. The train races the cars. Its real close. Its a challenge to get a decent photo. If a decent photo constitutes blurred greens and flashes of what not, could be something,.. then I am a genius. Otherwise out of approximately 4,668 photos taken I'd say I've kept about ...maybe 15.  Flashing scenery and shifting rhythm. clean windows and no company. that's what I like. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 we, that's Emma and I, went up to North Devon to Coombe Martin to visit the wolf packs who are tenants at the zoo/dinosaur park there. The rain drenched us, but it meant that there was noone else there and we had the wolves to ourselves. We also met three young male lions who sat and languidly prowled around their vivid orange cage. If the lions went on their tippy toes they could have seen the sea down at Ilfracombe, otherwise they are stuck with a flaky mural painting of galloping zebras across the end of their enclosure. A gabon (in another area next to the otters) whooped high pitched and loudly, setting off the wolves howling across the green fields, heard I'm sure by the farmer on his tractor. Erie and amazing. The lions were curious too, so this musical chorus can't happen too often. The rain came down too heavily to do any drawing, but I got plenty of photographs and footage of wolves walking. Emma was studying how the wolves are walking for the animation she is creating.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 right now I should be cutting. cutting lino. but this online world is distracting me. right-now i-shall-go- -  - - - - - -   (takes some discipline this art work)... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 This weekend I discovered that if I didn't have my camera I would do drawing. As much as I love taking photos, there was nothing like drawing. Drawing very fast as the train passed through the countryside at 120mph. I have to say the drawings done as the train was stopped do make more sense. I like black squiggles. which is lucky because there are quite a few of them, and there will be lots more now I've re-started in the drawing genre. By drawing what I saw out the train window it means I have held those images in my head. The flash of tall chimneys, the position of sheep and cows grazing, the shape of 'new' architecture at Reading Station, the line of fields disappearing over the hill.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 From watching the wolves move at Combe Martin in North Devon Emma has created a silhouetted wolf with all moving limbs and parts. I borrowed this, played on the photocopier with it, and used to inspire this wood cut I'm currently making. Emma is working towards animating the wolf, and so this work is like 1/8 of a second, four frames of a stop motion animation. This wolf paced back and forth, back and forth continually, to mark his scent along the fencing. To reclaim his territory from the thousands of scents left by the summer visitors; to rid his territory of the parfum in our shower gels, deodorants, washing powder and perfumes.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 The large wood cut of the wolves - see image in the last posting - is mostly finished. Its the biggest piece I have attempted and printing  on Monday was interesting. I don't have the right paper yet (I am waiting on a roll of Japanese Kozo paper) so I experimented with printing parts of it on the etching press using heavier dampened paper. I used Hannemule and Somerset. Possibly it looks like slightly boring though beautifully textured wall paper. It may be the images are very familiar to me. I am leaving for a couple of days and then I will take another look. The key though is that it was envisioned as a whole so I won't make any decisions until it is printed as such. I can't help thinking that it needs something else. It is extremely difficult to know when a piece is finished or not. my camera is playing up so I'll post an image shortly.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 here is the first print of the large woodcut (which is the size of a door) this is part of it - as much as could fit on the etching press. what do you think we watched one particular wolf pace back and forth back and forth. not to intimidate, but to rub his scent along the fencing of his enclose. to out smell all the visitors with their multitude of 'territorials' aromas.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Inking up the plate is one of the most exciting parts for me about using printmaking to make work. on a relief plate, as the roller moves across it reveals dramatically the cuts and articulates the intended shapes for the first time. During the cutting process you can slant the plate this way and that, under light to highlight what's there, but its like looking through a mirror to a subject reflected in a mirror beyond. Taking the first proof in constrast can be a slight anti climax as you realise where more cutting is needed, too much cutting went on, and an inconsistency of ink over parts...... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 A train is coming under the bridge by St James Park in Exeter. St James Park is the home of Exeter City Football Club. I haven't been but I like the noise, and other people's excitement. And trying to read the match from the intermitent cheers and carry on. Obtensibly this lino cut is a pretty picture. a picturesque view. it is a photo I took as my camera poked above the parapet of the bridge at the end of my road. I like the photo and I hope the image will come out well. Its a good challenge. This photo shows my photo and the lino I am cutting.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 my boys run a lot. and often far from me. in fields and woods (away from cars) this is great. I like to see them in open space. the photos show the wood cut I am doing of the movement of boy running. its a joy to study closely their different body formations.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 for a little while I have be looking for animations made by printmakers - and sure enough I have found some! This guy Mark Andrew Webber has created what he calls his linomation. In a straight 18 full days he cut 300 plates to make this piece. This is inspiring for me. Go to.. http://www.markandrewwebber.com/index.php?/linomat...    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 At Exeter Phoenix the current exhibition is 'Mind over Matter', a series of kinetic work. Machines that move in mysterious ways. This work by Tim Lewis is much liked by many of the visitors, we had school groups in this morning and afternoon and I overheard many enthusiastic comments. The 'moving' men spin round and are flashed at by tiny strobes which together trick the eye into believing in these walking men. They walk, quite fast, behind each other in a circle, disciplined like soldiers (but never moving on). People love to wait for it to stop (to stay out of the way of the movement sensor that makes it spin) to stare at the men all in their slightly different positions. This, I learnt today, is 'persistence of vision' - the delayed reception of information by your brain which means it then blurs together the images and so makes it look like the men are moving. This is what makes animation, animation.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 I have a little boy waiting quietly by my side, sucking his thumb. He should be in bed. I don't much talk of my family here, but the two small boys who occupy a lot of my life are inspiring much of my current work. I am fascinated by their movements; their running fast and free; their small bodies in open expanses, so vulnerable and invincible at the same time. I'll put some images of a woodcut on this theme soon - just waiting on an order of ink. a small finger is touching my elbow and he is standing very very close, I can ignore him no longer!... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 here's a couple of prints I've been playing with this evening. Its one movement of my youngest boy. I wanted orange and yellow to suggest the heat and vibrancy of their lives. Unexpectedly  the image looks like a boy soldier in the desert. He looks like he's holding a gun in this image because in the original photo he is holding a long stick (for bashing the ground as he walks along). This is part of what is interesting me - putting the small boy figures into spaces and finding out what different manifestations they take on. So to bring out the politics of childhood - I mean, for example; in this country: children out on their own and what this means depending on how they are perceived, neglected/independent/vulnerable; and for example, as these prints suggest, in another country, children forced into combat. it'd be great to have comments on this; on what I'm saying or the prints themsevles.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 its been a while march was always going to be a busy month, and then in april I escaped I'm exicited by printing the large woodcut outside onto fabric using an old lawn roller. My kids were enthralled so that's the best compliment I could get; they sat totally still through the inking up and rolling. The eldest (5 years) said 'very good mummy' before racing off down the garden. I was very pleased with that. Normally he just looks kind of quizzcally at what I'm doing, or says I don't like it, or says nothing at all and walks off disinterested. so now I managed to do that, the wood pannelled side of my parent's garage which caught my eye a year ago, looks very promising as the next case for the lawn roller. roll up roll up!  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 here's sight of work in progress  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 I have a commission opportunity with Nicci Wonnacott (check out international womens art facebook group) Its run by Double Elephant Print Workshop (www.doubleelephant.org.uk) and Devon Records Office. Nicci is a performance artist, I'm primarily a printmaker. With her I did my first art action yesterday, Sunday 23rd May, at Clovelly, a small fishing village on the North Devon coast. Ours was a homage to the Three Suffragettes, who 101 years ago in 1909 on Whitsun (which this year fell on May 23rd), travelled from London to Clovelly, one of their many actions in their fight for 'Votes for Women'. At Clovelly Prime Minister Asquith was entertaining friends at Clovelly Court. That Sunday morning they went to All Saints Church, dressed in the colours of the movement, green, white and purple (still the colours, see International Women's Day). They sat in the church, waiting for their moment. Asquith's wife saw them, and guessed them to be sufragettes, passing her husband a notes to tell him of the danger lurking. He looked as if to say; get me away safely! and at the end of the service he was whisked away out a side door of the church. The ladies, bundled out of the village, returned by foot that night (from some 10 miles away), entered the gardens at Clovelly Court and left 'Votes for Women' banners strewn across the flowering bushes in the gardens.  Nicci and I, and her daughter paid homage to these brave young women. Early sunday morning we filmed our action, bemused the fishmen, declined offers to go on their boat. Seriously though, it was very poignant, and moving. People were curious and one or two locals remembered the story of the three suffragettes. We worked with filmaker Emily Keene, and we'll edit the footage to a 4 minute film. I plan to create printed documentation too. Our slogan was 'What about the Women. Watch the winds of change'. What about the Women is taken from the Fawcett Society's campaign during the General Election. We borrowed a dedication from a 'Votes for Women' journal, out in May 1909. I gifted typed written dedications, and hand painted stones. The project is 'Politics in Print' and the exhibition will be 4-6 September at X-centre, Exeter.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 been in the studio today, and created a small drypoint and a small photoetching inspired by my small running boys I'm enjoying this theme very much. I like exploring the movement, the shapes of the figures, their placement in the space.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 in a couple of weeks, we'll be having an open day at the incubator spaces 16th June 11-6pm Exeter Phoenix a week or so after that it'll be the end of the time in that space, and new beginnings elsewhere!... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 As part of the Politics in Print commission I am continuing research into women as activists. A prelimerary search on google throws up so much to explore. My hope is that the print work I produce allows me to learn about different human rights issues around the world and make me less ignorant, plus hopefully pass on some messages to others who look at the work or are the recipient of me talking to them.. I'm showing here a couple of monotype drawings taken from images in a recent Amnesty International magazine. The article is about women demonstrating in the Congo for a greater part (or at the very least any part at all) in the peace negiotations going on there. Women are excluded from this, yet are the majority victim of any war, especially as sexual violence and rape used as a weapon. These women specifically are demonstrating about the violence and assaults on women from local military stationed near their villages.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 I'm continuing research into women as activists. Here's a monotype drawing, and a couple of photographs of the monotype negative left on the glass surface (now cleaned away, so just the photo remains). It shows the home of Aung San Sui Kyi. Her home and prison for more than 11 years out of the last 20 years (though this statistic does seem to change between 11 and 16 years). I'm in awe of the mental freedom she must need to maintain while in captivity. It highlights how the only freedom we need can be found with us already. Aung San Sui Kyi is one of thousands around the world imprisoned for their belief in human rights. Her are some web links I've seen for ASSK, but I'm sure you can find masses more. http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/index.php/burma/ab... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1950...... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 The Littlest Print Exchange This is the smallest print I've made - and the largest edition. It was a good discipline for me to get 50 small prints close to the same. Satisfying though. A fellow printmaker thought they looked like biscuits baking. I'll get 50, or its is 49? prints in return. It'll be like all my christmases together! This work 'Fire under the Ashes' is inspired by a blog posting on the Tehran bureau website. It was a captivating piece, made all the more so by the responses and comments from other readers. This is my response. Fire under the Ashes is a Persian saying. I felt its a pertinent way to describe.. rebirth to change tension of peace waiting the tension between freedom and containment which is what my practise overall explores.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 tell me I'm not going crazy Like the internet can do so well, I've been journeying tonight. Generally I avoid TV but tonight among The Antique's Roadshow and Mastermind I watched 'Unreported World' on C4. Here goes the route that I took online once I turned off the TV: 1. unreported world website 2. 2009 programme on burning coalfields in Bihar (India). Tells us how coal fields 360 km sq burn uncontrollably and that two years ago this area was forest and farmland. Now villagers live among the mines, children and adults work in the mines, and the government run coal mining organisation is planning a removal of 500,000 people from the area so they can get on with the businness of enriching India's economy. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-worl... http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-worl... 3. comments on related blog ask for ways to help/ charities that may operate in this area 4. searching for this brings me to 'Guernica' online politics and art magazine. http://www.guernicamag.com/art/1035/wasteland/ and a film made by Bombay Flying Club 'Their recently-launched Wasteland project is a series of web documentaries about industrial pollution, and the story from Jharia is the first chapter of this ongoing project.' 5. another search brings me to "Snowdon Group" a consultancy to mining and exploration services, and their 2010 photography competition including photographs of the ill/poverty stricken miners of the burning coalfields in Bihar (Jharia region). Am I really reading that this competition is "Celebrating the Mining Industry"? How exactly can the poor working practices that abuse the most basic of human rights depicted here be part of a celebration of mining?? They really need to think about their wording. http://www.snowdengroup.com/SnowdenContent.asp?CID... Tonight I've also been consumed by the truely celebratory stories in Chile. mining... freedom from containment - the fascination for us public is how the 33 men kept their sanity (freedom of mind) through their imprisonment mining... fire and ashes - free burning coal fields mining... containment in poverty - villagers unable to move away from collasping land and scavenging for coal pieces        ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Train journeys are ideal for playing. With i-stop motion, with digital photos in photoshop. I had a happy 3 hours this afternoon from Paddington to Exeter. I was excited the find the 'print as flip book' option in i-stop motion. Now that gives me ideas. Back to the point of this post. I'm working through ideas for a book arts project I'm involved in. Artists are being called on to create 3 books in response to the bombing of Al Mutanabbi street in Bagdad March 2007. Al Mutanabbi street is the cultural and literary hub of Baghdad, and of Iraq and has been so since the 9th C or so. A San Francisco bookstore owner Beau Beausoleil started the Al-Mutanabbi Street Coalition, a growing group of local writers, artists, poets, and printers, who create awareness about the bombing of Al-Mutanabbi Street through print. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=85909663901#!/group.php?gid=85909663901&v=wall These are digitally created using photographs I took originally to create an animation called 'The house that Jack built' that I haven't the patience for right now. Using cut offs of lino I was interested to use them in printmaking also. Possibly I'll now use these images in traditional print, possibly photoetch. Possibly I'll leave them as they are.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Today, 13th November 2010, Aung San Sui Kyi is released from house arrest. She is a beacon of hope for the people living in Burma, and a beacon of moral strength shining around the world. I'm sure its why I've been in a good mood all day. In London yesterday, by the Royal Festival Hall, I was captivated by the large portrait statue of Nelson Mandela. Imprisoned for 27 years his mental strength continues to reverberate across our peoples. Now 92 (or thereabouts) his close friends have called for people to lay off him (I think I could word that better) as he has 4000 approaches every day (for signature, blessing, attendance). Did I read that right? Possibly it was 4000 a week. Anyway I'm digressing. What's fascinating is the power of individuals such as Nelson Mandela and Aung San Sui Kyi to reverberate postivity across the borders and inspire so much hope to so many. So I've been looking at the press photos of Aung San Sui Kyi's release today. I'm looking to see if I can actually see 'freedom'. Perhaps that's a silly thing to do, but I think I know why I'm doing it. How can we visualise freedom? The images are from http://www.kansascity.com/2010/11/13/2427846/myanm...    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Standing with the Mandela statue outside the Royal Festival Hall, London, plenty of people rushed passed and through and in front. I wouldn't blame them, the wind was howling and it was winter-dark. Mandela meanwhile stood monumental. Definitely at one in this space, letting the world carry on around him. Its such a great statue of one our world's most inspirising public figures. Here are my two tributes to him.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Bouazizi A frustrated young man in Tunisia is driven to self immolation and the protests at his death spark a revolution. His brother Salem Bouazizi was quoted as saying: "Freedom is expensive and my brother paid the price of freedom" I've done a drawing (monotype print). It helps me to think about him. His impotence in the face of oppression - echoed for millions of people around the world. What use is my drawing for others? I can hope it draws attention to these happenings. I'm not sure what else. For me, it draws the issues deeper inside myself. Is the drawing a celebration of freedom? A bitter sweet celebration of death and flames precluding release. Its very sad. But I am hearing so many Tunisians proclaim their freedom from fear, their finding of their voice. So many individuals sparked into a state of hope. Looking at the Wikipedia entry, there is a table showing 'copycat' self immolations since the death of Bouazizi. I'm seeing ten cases of self immolation! In Algeria, Mauritania, and Egypt. (I know that Wikipedia cannot always be verified, and it can be very loose, but still some of this picture must be true)... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 I'm not sure if this blog is getting a bit stale as its a once-monthly update, and not focused on a particular theme. But I do find it useful for my own records, to look back and get an overview. To sit along side my sketchbook. There, I've answered my own query.   Today I read "Laughter is not a simple overt act, as the single word suggests, it is the spectacular end of a complex process. As speech is the culmination of a mental activity, laughter is a culmination of feeling - the crest of a wave of felt vitality... Laughter is a song of triumph" Suzanne K Langer Feeling and Form (1953) pp 339-40 Its easy to feel the heavy weight of other's oppression and suffering, to be dragged down, and although I want to bring notice to human rights issues through my work, I am keen to find ways to do this effectively that catches a positive 'can do' effect, rather than adding another layer on the layers of emotional guilt. I'm not a comedian and I'm not great at irony or sarcasm. But I do like laughing, so there's a way there somewhere. The quote above by Suzanne Langer gives me more understanding, more articulation to these thoughts. Toronto-based performance artist Tanya Mars suggests, 'the ability to laugh at something allows you to finally demonstrate your control over it'. She also says that graphic and disturbing images of violence, tragedy and oppression reinforce a 'culture of victimisation'. (from Vol 23, n.paradoxa - journal for international feminist art)  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Time for a post, to post something, some words. Its been a busy month of March. March 8th - International Womens Day. Myself and fellow artist Nicci Wonnacott led some art actions at Exeter Phoenix. Mine was 'print a protest postcard', to raise awareness of the massive cut to funding families, women and men affected by domestic violence. Their funding from Devon County Council was to be 100%. Its incrediable isn't it. Picture them sitting round a table with their budget sheets and imagining that their funding (some million odd) could be completely wiped away. Also in light of the fact that DCC's own funding cut is 23%. So there was great campaigning from a core group and the cut is down to 42%. But it is still so bitterly disappointing for the groups involved who know so acutely the impact to individual lives these cuts will have. It was a small action. We printed 'Not so SAFE anymore' onto tens of postcards. But it provided a place to talk about. And it provided me with a place to consider how action can be made. I am new to this.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 When I talk about my practice, I say I am exploring the concept of freedom and what that means, how we can visualise it. I think what I am really saying is that a searching for freedom is a searching for yourself. Because only when you have accepted yourself completely, have full self-belief, can you be free from the searching for this and that, and 'should I' 'when' and 'how'. What interests me about people imprisoned unjustly, for 'freedom fighting', for their beliefs, is how they hold onto these beliefs, i.e. their self belief, when their physical freedom is gone, when they are separated from family and friends who give us love and reflect onto us our self-belief, when they have only themselves, no distractions, and just their mind. Because in our daily lives we distract ourselves all.. the .. time. It is so useful! and I can like it a lot. But it is so much more useful, when you allow yourself to be, to hear what you are when you are 'being', settle the outside world and let the emotions, senses, inner thoughts bob to the surface and breathe.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Today I am in the print workshop (Double Elephant, Exeter) working on monotype drawing prints. Its going ok. I started with four. I think 2 or possibly 3 may work out. I am overlaying images of boys running, their silhouettes, with urban/country scapes. Some of these images are from photos sent to me by a good friend in LA (who regularly sends me pics, thanks Kim!), some are my own... Avon Dam (Dartmoor, Devon) Cowley Road (Oxford) Treehouse in forest (somewhere near Lyon, France). Through this I am exploring their place (by 'their' I mean, my boys and by extension, children generally) in our environments. It is significant they are without adult company or supervision.   ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Aung San Sui Kyi, this quote is from her in Saturday's Guardian '"This word 'free'," she says of herself and the other prisoners, "we all think that we are freer than the people outside because we don't have to compromise with our conscience. We are doing what we believe in. We are not locked in by the bars of guilt. So I think this is what made us choose imprisonment rather than to stay – in quotes – 'free'. For us, that is how our lives are." Those wise words encapsulate something of what I was thinking about in creating these works. The print monotype of her home, particulary, and the 'house arrest' piece.   http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/16/interv...... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 These are the prints I was making on Friday, when I posted I was in the studio. any feedback, critical or otherwise, is welcome!... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 l looked at the European Union of Human Rights website today. Informative but soo unimaginative. Vital, integral human messages, told as blandly as they possibly could. I want to do an art/education project looking at articles 1-30. I want to see how they can be approached in as creative way as possible. With children 6 yrs +. Any ideas where to look for funding? I'll keep an eye out. I'm not ready just yet anyway. I need to keep on with the learning and research. I've been looking into artists working with social motivation/protest/activism. And looking into the law system, and how change happens.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293 Here are a couple of monoprints I made recently. Beginning to explore the flow of light and shadows in and out of doorwarys and window panes, as a metaphor for the freedom/containment theme I have been exploring.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/544293