http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 Wanderings Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:33:21 +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/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 TOWARDS TOMORROW After 6 years working from a shared workspace at Blue Monkey Studio in Eastbourne, I'm going back to school. Everything is changing. I'm giving up my workspace, stepping down from local commitments, and focusing on my personal practice for a whole year. These are busy weeks with my thoughts divided between several fronts. Accumulated clutter, equipment, materials all need to be transferred from Blue Monkey to a shed at the bottom of my garden. I must draw up a plan of action for my show at Quay Arts, which will happen slap bang in the middle of my MA. I'm beginning to get cold feet about the new project I've written for the MA, wishing I could focus more on the old mapping work which I want to show at Quay Arts. I've just come back from a week in the Isle of Wight where I began to get a feel for the nature of the island. Now I need to make decisions about how much new work I can make for the show, and what direction that should take.    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 NO MAN'S LAND I'm suffering from a very familiar unease which settles on me at times. It grows from the constant churning of ideas in my mind during periods when it's not possible to zoom in on any of them and start work. That's where I am at the moment - in the no-man's land of change between the end of something and the beginning of something.   While I was on the island, I was struck by the level of defences I came across - both marine and military. The Isle of Wight has always played a key role in plans for the defence of the Solent, while the island authorities wage a constant battle to defend their land from the sea.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 ISLANDS AND SANDCASTLES I like islands. My father's family were Shetlanders. When I was 11 I visited the Shetlands. I loved it there. Last year I visited the Orkneys.   I like castles and forts too.   I'd like to make some books for my show. Mostly pictures, but maybe some words. During my stay on the Isle of Wight I started listing words which seemed important.   Forts, castles, sandcastles.   None of this fits together yet. But bear with me...  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 PARALLEL BLOGS Earlier this year Sharon Haward and I (along with 10 other artists) made new work in response to the Redoubt Fortress, Eastbourne. It was a great location and I think we both loved working there. It made me smile today to read Sharon's latest blog post about forts, bunkers and blockhouses, with her photograph of a bunker near Cap Gris Nez. We both seem to have moved on with a new common interest in our practices, each picking up a trail to these half-forgotten defences. Perhaps we should get together and compare fort photos Sharon!... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 PARADISE OR PRISON I suppose there are similar things about both islands and forts. Good and bad things depending on what's happening to you. You can be self-contained, enclosed, remote, cut off from threats, safe. On the other hand and in other circumstances, the remoteness can become isolation; defence becomes a siege; self-containment becomes confinement. Island paradise? Or island prison? The world's: largest island - Greenland (assuming that Australia is classed as a continent) smallest island - apparently it's Bishop Rock off the south-west of the UK. Also apparently, according to www.didyouknow.org  "In 1861, the British government set out the parameters for classifying an island. It was decided that if it was inhabited, the size was immaterial. However, if it was uninhabited, it had to be "the summer's pasturage of at least one sheep" - which is about two acres."      ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 SKETCHBOOK WORK 09.45 Never mind the packing, the admin, the preparation, the research! I just NEED to do some work... something to get some of these thoughts out of my mind and into reality! Just for a couple of hours everything else can go on hold. 11.55 Ok, so it's going to take more than a couple of hours, but at least I've started. 12.20 Hmm... well there's the first step towards making my own little island... bit flat at the moment, but maybe I can build up some more contours... let's see what happens.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 PACKING My brief burst of work was a short lived interlude. Now it's back to packing. 6 years worth of accumulated STUFF. What to keep... what should go... another couple of days should get it done - at least that will be one job to be crossed off the list and one step nearer to a more settled working routine.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 SUNDAY 16 AUGUST 9.30am  - At the studio bright and early. HAVE to get this packing finished. Windows open, radio on, coffee made, let's get on with it! 10.50am - Blogging seems to play the same sort of role for me that smoking did (when I was a smoker). It provides the excuse for a break, a sort of reward for all that hard work, but ultimately a work avoidance technique. Time for a biscuit (or two). 11.54am - Nearly done I think... or maybe not... making progress anyway. 12.52pm - Enough. One more morning & one more trip to the dump should do it.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 ISLAND TESTING GROUND Packing's done. Just waiting for new shed to arrive at home so I can move stuff out of Blue Monkey & make room for Liv who's taking my space. Spending a lot of time tidying up loose ends - finishing bits of work and doing my summer job. Have acquired an old bath which will become my island testing ground. I've set a couple of experiments in motion to see how they "weather". Hope to do some more "re-tracing", progress with my cardboard island and try out a couple of other ideas. SHOPPING LIST salt chalk sand plaster spade... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 STARTING TO PUT IT ALL TOGETHER AGAIN After what seems like weeks of pulling things apart, packing up & making a mess, today is a BIG DAY - hopefully the start of things coming together again. Here  it comes - my new home work space.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 FROM MICRO-MAPPING TO MINI-LANDSCAPES 1st day at work in the shed. Developing some ideas from old mini-landscape work to make some more mini-islands for my "weathering bath". I'm interested in the processes which "form" our landscapes and want to see if it's possible to exploit these processes in a speeded-up way to form my islands.    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 RE-TRACING THE 50 FOOT LINE I love drawing lines. I love tracing. I like maps. I love walking and exploring. I'm intrigued by what a line can describe. And what it can imply. This is my drawing of the 50 foot contour line on the Island.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 BEAGLE BLOG I've started following the progress of the Beagle. No not Darwin's Beagle, but a reconstruction of the voyage of that ship by the Dutch clipper 'Stad Amsterdam' & her crew. On board ship are a team of scientists and state of the art equipment including a TV studio from which a year long documentary series will be broadcast. "Last night we sheltered close by two small barren volcanic islands - the Selvagens. Just one guard lives there, in a tiny hut, to look after the lighthouse... Islands like these have suffered miserably at the hands of myriad sailors over the last few centuries. Being strategically positioned for both European and Muslim explorers... has led to the introduction of a number of invasive species, either as a source of fresh meat to restock a passing ship’s larder (rabbits) or inadvertently from within the ships stores (mice).The combined effect of these creatures has been all but to destroy these islands’ ecosystem. They especially enjoy feasting off the chicks and eggs of the islands' native birds." Christopher Lloyd: "Homo meddlesomosis" (Beagle blog)  Thursday, September 10, 2009 at 8:35am http://www.facebook.com/album.php?profile=1&id=436...  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 WALKING WITH WORDS So... variety, as they say, is the spice of life. Islands are on the back burner for a few days while I prepare for my "Walk With Words" at The Small Wonder Festival at Charleston Farmhouse next week. Yesterday I walked the route and collected materials and ideas. Now I've got a few days to finalise what I'm going to make. http://www.charleston.org.uk/smallwonder/outsider....  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 WEATHER(ING) A little while ago I put out a lump of clay in a tray of water without any specific purpose except to see what happened to it. The weather here has been very dry for weeks and sea level in my tray continually declined. My lump of clay grew hard and dry. Then we had a day of heavy rain. To accelerate the processes of nature, I put my lump of clay, in its nearly dry tray under the dripping, gutterless eaves of my shed. The tray was nearly filled in a day, but the impact on the clay was disappointingly minimal. Days have gone by. Dry weather has prevailed. But the processes of nature in my clay & water microcosm have continued. Gradually the clay has softened, cracked and slipped, forming cliffs and caves and crumbling headlands.    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 STICKS AND STONES Back to my "Walking With Words" preparation today. Some of it's going ok... some is not. But that's the way it goes. I'll persevere a little more with the idea which is not working out, but I'll have to keep an eye on time & if it doesn't work out, I'll just have to dump it. Time is short. I'm happy with my text pieces on windfall wood & I've started making a sign for the spot where I found a fossil (I think I've been reading too much Bob & Roberta Smith!) I'm going to have another trip out to Charleston tomorrow to try out a couple of things on-site.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 STEP ON A CRACK... What strange sayings. Tracing the cracks in the concrete road with these words at Charleston today made me really wonder about the words. How violent they are. Step on a crack, break your mother's back. Step on a line, break your mother's spine. Step on a nail, put your father in jail.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 RADICAL NATURE I managed to squeeze in a visit to Radical Nature at the Barbican last week before it closed. It was really informative and helpful, enabling me to look afresh at the work I'm developing & generating some new ideas. I was really interested in the work of Wolf Hilbertz, a German architect & marine scientist. Hilbertz harnessed the process of marine accretion, developing and patenting "Biorock" ®, a sort of extreme limescale it seems to me, which accumulates on a submarine metal framework through which an electric current is passed, to form a concrete-like structure. Work continues to develop artificial coral reefs using this process, but I was particularly interested in Hilbertz' plans to develop an artificial island in this way. Amongst others, I also enjoyed Hans Hacke's work, "Grass Grows". And a few words from Hans Hacke which seem relevant to me: "...make something which experiences, reacts to its environment, changes, is non-stable... make something inderterminate, which always looks different, the shape of which cannot be predicted precisely...make something which reacts to light and temperature changes, is subject to air currents and depends, in its functioning, on the forces of gravity...articulate something Natural"    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 COUNTING DOWN With just over four months until my show opens at Quay Arts, I have got a timetable mapped out in my mind for getting the work ready. I need to be organised because my MA at Wimbledon is demanding and there is not much leeway for other things. The work I want to show at Quay Arts has been accumulating over four years or so, but some of it is still unfinished, or exists only as a set of preparatory pieces which need to be refined or completed. Meanwhile, my MA work has developed in a different direction, though I can see links forming which may mean that the two will meet - I'd like that. I had to submit a few words and an image for the Quay Arts brochure this week: "Wanderings (and other things)  - From the epic to the everyday Judith's work embarks on a voyage of discovery, exploring landscape, environment and location, using maps and markers, tracks and trails, drawing, photography, and sculpture. Through her work Judith tries to make sense of our place in the world and our complex relationship with it." How difficult it is to try to sum up 4 years work in 40 words!... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 I've been able to focus on making some new work for Quay Arts this week and with only 9 weeks before the show opens have been planning how best to use the limited time which I have available. Reading back over my blog posts from last summer I'm amazed to see how my ideas have remained constant. I want to make some more cast landscapes and have been re-photographing the ones which I made some time ago. I'm pleased with the results and am wondering how best to present the casts in the Isle of Wight. I'm going to show the photographs at Blue Monkey Studio's OUTPOST exhibition next week.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 ATTACK AND DEFEND I suppose it all began with Stephen Turner's Seafort project which I followed in 2006 (http://www.seafort.org/) and then my project last year at The Redoubt Fortress in Eastbourne. Whatever the beginning, I have developed a fascination with unused or abandoned military buildings - something about their function of defence and attack - keeping a force out, and yet keeping another force in. And the solitariness that that somehow involves, heightened of course by the subsequent abandonment of these fortifications.  I was interested then, on my visit to the Isle of Wight last year, to discover that the island is peppered with crumbling forts and batteries all around its coast, built as defences against possible invasion from the sea. Other defences are obvious too all around the island's coast. These ones are also crumbling in places, but continually repaired, replaced, upgraded and reinforced in order to defend the land in a war of attrition against  the ongoing attack by the sea itself, which constantly threatens to wear away and eat into the edges of the land.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 FRIDAY It feels like it's been a good couple of weeks. A productive day in the studio has ended with 4 pieces of work going out of the studio and into the house - to be lived with for a while so I can see how I feel about them. They might be finished. I can feel things starting to fall into place a bit - always a relief. Some more finishing off tomorrow, and then onto the next piece of work. I've got a huge amount of material which I've never resolved and I'm beginning to enjoy reviewing it. I've moved on since I first produced these ideas and seem to have much more idea now about what they could become. It's been quite a journey.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 SAND CASTS AND SKYBOATS I've been thinking about whether it might be possible to make some sort of sand structures linked to my ideas about defence, attack and erosion. I've been tryng (pretty unsuccessfully so far) to make some sand-cast sandcastles. I'll keep trying. Exciting though to see the details of the show on the Quay Arts website, and to receive the first proof of the promotional postcard. http://www.quayarts.org/event.aspx?id=2975... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 Had a bit of a hiccup this week when, having got 3 big prints done & ready to take to the framers, I managed to leave them on the train. Luckily they turned up in Hastings so I had to make a trip over there on the train the next day to pick them up! I've been working on some blackboard drawings for the show. They've come in out of the studio into the house now so that I can live with them a bit & decide whether or not they might be finished.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 PROGRESS Everything is moving on and making progress. Two more paintings are ready for collection from the framer. I call them paintings in the loosest sense of the word. They are actually Letraset "drawings" on painted board. As with the blackboards I'm working on at the moment, the boards all have an integral history. They started off life as ten 4 feet square workboards which I used during the Watch This Space  residency at Phoenix Arts in Brighton 5 years ago - at the very beginning of my Wanderings work. I used them to form a huge 3 dimensional mindmap in the gallery space where I worked for 6 weeks. All of my research and development work was posted on the boards and linked together with tracks and trails of stickers, dots and lines of sticky tape. You can still see them here - http://bluemonkeystudio.co.uk/judith/watchthisspac... At the end of the residency, the boards returned to my studio with me and over the years have gradually evolved. They've been cut down, painted over, and have eventually become works in their own right. The layers of paint have built up. Markers from the residency have been covered over, scraped off or built upon, forming a sort of historic landscape which has become the basis for my current drawings.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 PARALLEL WORLD I've been getting some more prints ready for framing today. At the same time, and for a different purpose, I've been reading with interest the publication The Urpflanze which is accompanying the exhibition of the same name at The Drawing Room in London at the moment. The publication is by Melanie Jackson and Esther Leslie and I must say I have found it really interesting and informative.  The particular passage which had a resonance for me, linking in some ways with some of the work I've been making, talks about photographs, "bits of the world seen through glass", as suggesting a parallel world to ours.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 TWO WEEKS AND COUNTING Just two weeks left until I leave for the Isle of Wight where I'll have four days in which to install my show. I'm still finishing off new work - in fact I'm only just starting some of it. Today I started making one of the three simple concertina books which I want to make. However, hopes of making a new sculptural sand piece are fading fast - I think I'm just going to run out of time. I'm not too worried though, I'm sure I have plenty of work, and in the four days that I'm there I'm hoping to make a new site-specific piece too. The concertina books are going to be based on some of the many photographs I've taken on my various trips to the island and will reflect my interest in the constant and ongoing battle to defend the island from attack from or by the sea.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 BOOKS This week I've set aside a few days to make some small zig-zag books using images which I 've accumulated over the course of the 5 years or so that I've been working around the theme of Wanderings. Some of the earliest images taken in 2006 still have a strong resonance for me and it would be great to actually put them together in a way which can be shown to some effect. The trouble is that amongst the accumulated mass of photographs spread across 2 pcs, 1 external hard drive, numerous "backup" cds and 2 laptops I can't find the originals! All I have are these photgraphs of some mock up books I made from them. They must be here somewhere. This is my quest for the day - find the missing pics! (Note to self: another job to add to the list of "Things to do when everything else is done" (haha) - "Re-organise digital filing system."... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 CAR, FERRY, CAR I'm off. Stocked up with pills to leave for the cat, food for the family; the work's (mostly) finished (there will be time for some in situ finalising when I get there); ferry's booked - 12 o'clock; car's loaded and I'm off. Hopefully there will be more time to catch up with some blogging when I'm installed in my B&B with time and space to focus ONLY on the show. Sounds great.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 BUBBLE WRAP, BOXES AND B&B Oh the joys of B&B! I could happily live this life for a bit longer. Friendly little B&B, no-one to think about except me. TV, internet, books, bed and a cooked breakfast. Will start hanging the work today. Got everything unpacked yesterday & found that my careful studying of the gallery plan seems to have paid off. I've got just about the right amount of work & may even choose to leave some of it out of the show if it's better without - "less is more" as my studio-mate often reminds me. I've still got some finishing off to do on my books though, so no time to be complacent. Better get started then.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 TRYING THINGS OUT Made great progress yesterday. All the wall-hung work is up so now plenty of time to try things out and titivate. Still got my fold-out books to finish. They're printed and folded but I need to finish off the covers and put them all together. There was a bit of time to do some of this late in the afternoon and when the cafe closed at the end of the day the sun terrace was the perfect place to work.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 PICKING UP THE THREADS Looking back at my last post I realise I left off rather abruptly, so perhaps the best thing to do is to sum up by saying that the show went up, seemed to be well received, and a good time was had by all. I then rushed back to my MA to throw myself whole-heartedly into my last few weeks and focus on my final show at Wimbledon. Months have gone by and I've settled down into my post-Quay Arts, post-MA routine, working at home in my studio, on new projects which are exciting and unsettling (nothing new there then). The desire to re-start my blog has come about for a variety of very different reasons. I find it's a great way to reflect on my work - selecting photographs to show, writing about the work, making contextual links, and, at times, getting very welcome responses to the posts. But also, I've recently started a blog about the new artists' network I'm setting up in partnership with Towner with the support of a NAN Futurific! bursary and I'm (rather oddly) feeling the need to reinforce my identity as artist first and foremost and arts organiser second. www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/1102904  www.judithalder-live.co.uk/wanderings_exhib.html  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 RE-VISIT, RE-VIEW. PART ONE Over the years I've made a huge amount of work which I've not resolved. I always thought I had a high failure rate, but actually, as time goes by, I realise there are lots of pieces which still feel relevant and right - they're just not finished. I think, like many artists, I have always been guilty of rushing on too fast to the next new, exciting idea, without really interrogating the last one. One of my post-MA resolutions was to go slower; take more time, invest more thought, and to re-view some of that work which is not yet anything, which I've never shown, but which could and should become something. With this in mind I proposed two pieces of work for the East Sussex Open at Towner which were conceived 2 years ago in a project at the Redoubt Fortress in Eastbourne, one of whihc had been shown once, the other is new. The new piece, a wall drawing, Spread, has developed slowly, little by little, since I took the original photographs of invading roots in a semi-subterranean room in the Napoleonic fort. I made the drawing in a corner in a liminal space adjacent to the gallery. Although I was reasonably satisfied with it, I can see now that I'd like this work to develop further; I'd somehow like to remove it a step or two away from the realistic representation which it exists as at the moment. So this work must be revisited and re-viewed some more. I'm coming to realise that as part of a natural evolution, each piece of work can become the next.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 RE-VISIT, RE-VIEW. PART TWO Like Spread, the second piece of work re-visited and re-viewed for the East Sussex Open also had its origins at the Redoubt Fortress where I'd worked on a project during 2009. The piece, Just Looking For A Place (Refuge), is a short video, shown only once before, at the Redoubt, as part of a bigger body of work called Home is Where... It is one of a series of works which explore undefined spaces which all show signs of occupation by unknown inhabitants. I was asked to say a few words about the work on opening night at Towner, and talked a little about its origin at the Redoubt and about my interest in our uneasy relationship with the natural world. But afterwards I felt dissatisfied with what I'd said. I felt I'd let the work down by not explaining its context properly, making it appear rather shallow and insignificant. I realize now how important it is that this piece should retain its links with other work from that project in order to form part of a bigger picture. So, how to do this? Since Napoleonic times, the Redoubt Fortress has been home to scores of soldiers. Since the second world war however, it has had a varied history, housing a model village, an aquarium, and currently a military museum. Although open to the public, it is a constant battle to keep it in reasonable order, a battle not helped by a modern day invasion and occupation by a colony of urban pigeons. I spent a lot of time in the museum, exploring artifacts which included letters and personal memorabilia from POWs and soldiers at the front. I became very conscious of the importance of "home" as something yearned for, treasured, missed - a place worth fighting for. At the same time, I was constantly reminded of the horror of destruction and violation of the home which I recalled as a feature of the Bosnian war, and the distress and misery of people displaced by war all over the world. This became the central theme for all of the work I made at the Redoubt. In one of the display cases in the museum there was a miniature scroll of paper and a tiny cylinder into which the paper fitted, to be attached to the leg of a carrier pigeon. I was interested in the part played in war time by the very birds who are now considered "the enemy" at the Redoubt. A little research about carrier pigeons led me to the PDSA's Dickin Medal, "awarded to animals displaying conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty" and awarded to 32 World War 2 pigeons who between them saved hundreds of lives. How ironic that these "brave" pigeons (possibly ancestors of the unwelcome squatters at the Redoubt), while carrying out their "duty", were in fact simply following their natural instincts to fly home at any cost. The presence of the pigeons at the Redoubt quickly became the thread that joined my thoughts together and gave the work a form. The piece at Towner this month, Just Looking For A Place (Refuge), explores the spaces occupied by the mostly unseen, but clearly heard pigeon families, indignant and fearful at my intrusion into "their" spaces. So, how to resolve the problem of showing this work in a different setting without loss of relevance? How to refer to the context of the work so that it doesn't appear as just a single, unremarkable video? Perhaps the next re-viewing of the work should see two (or three) pieces of work become one? There were three important pieces which formed the core  work at the Redoubt, Homing, a set of 32 certificates for the Dickin Medal pigeons, There's No Place Like..., a digital animation, and Just Looking For A Place (Refuge). Perhaps the key is to show them only together, as one piece. Watch the videos below: Just Looking For A Place (Refuge) and There's No Place Like...     ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 RE-VISIT, RE-VIEW PART 3 The next project I'm working on is a one weekend only show in an empty shop space (with a difference), entitled Display Only, on the 14tth and 15th May as part of Eastbourne Festival. I say empty shop "with a difference" because the shop is the front section of what was originally a music hall come cinema come bingo hall and the space where I'm to make my work is a now truncated "Upper Circle". The focus of the re-visiting and re-viewing this time is the work which I made for my MA show last year. That work, an installation called The Golden Seed, evolved rapidly during the final intense four weeks of the course and was built for the space in which I was working at that time. At the end of the show I felt disconcerted that I was left with no "work" as such - just a pile of timber, 20 square metres of mylar reflective foil, 4 fans, a HID grow light, a tree, a text and five golden seeds. This seemed to me a slightly unsatisfactory outcome after a year's work invested with such intense thought and research, and since then I have been thinking about how The Golden Seed might exist again in other spaces and perhaps in other forms. So, Display Only offers me the opportunity of a quirky space in which to pick up the work where I left off 7 months ago and see what it might become this time. http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147598758642... http://judithalder-live.co.uk/goldenseed_writing.h...  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 TRIALS AND TECHINICAL TRIBULATIONS! What a strange and frustrating week it's been. Annoyingly random hours for Census Collecting (but nearly all finished now!); an imminent weekend house swap in order to dog/granny/house-sit; a couple of days on-and-off spent wondering what was wrong with my suddenly dead internet connection, messing about trying to diagnose the problem, and eventually managing to restore it; and, most annoyingly three attempts to make a voice recording of the text for my forthcoming installation at Display Only next week using my new little sound recorder with what I now know to be a faulty memory card. Ho hum. I suppose if those are my worst problems it's not all that bad! It's just been a bit trying. Anyway, I have made some progress. The new supplies I need for the installation are on order & should be here tomorrow. I think I've got the sound recording almost sorted - we'll see. Then when I get back from the house-swap, hopefully I've got a reasonably uninterrupted week to install next week. The van is arranged for Monday to transport timber, materials and equipment. It'll be good to get started. Picked up my work from the East Sussex Open today - at least the video piece, Just Looking For A Place (Refuge) - the wall drawing will soon be painted out by the technical staff at Towner! And I actually remembered to set it up in my studio to photograph it properly before it's all packed away. Hope I get the chance to show it again - it's such a nice box!... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 DISPLAY ONLY Started installing today at the Big Blue Building temporary space where I'm re-trying my Golden Seed installation. Everyone else is installing at the weekend, so I'm in a position of some luxury, having the whole place to myself to spread out and construct my timber framed structure which forms the central part of my installation. The downside of this luxurious solitude is that there's no-one to help with the tricky bits! The loading and unloading from van and car; the lifting and moving and propping up. Over the years I have learned how to to do a lot of things single-handedly, but I have to admit, it doesn't get any easier! It took all day, but I did manage to finish constructing the three frameworks which form the three sides of my growing chamber. Tomorrow I'll stretch the silver mylar film over them with the help of a very welcome volunteer helper (thanks Erin!) so that hopefully by Wednesday I'll be ready to erect the whole structure with the help of another welcome helper (thanks Clare!) I think I'm on target, but still a lot to do.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584 WAITING FOR THE HARVEST The Display Only exhibition in the Big Blue Building was good! Over 100 people visited in the 6 hours it was open, which isn't bad going for a slightly sleepy Eastbourne Sunday. My policy of re-viewing and re-visiting continues to be worthwhile. I showed The Golden Seed installation which I have showed only once before as my MA show last September. I had to slightly re-write the story which accompanies the installation to take account of the different stage of the tree's cycle (last time I showed it it was laden with fruit). The sound recording I'd made of the story was, I felt, an interesting step forward, though sitting through it for 4 hours of invigilation helped me identify the areas in which it could be pruned from its current 16 minutes, to a more listenable 10 minutes. (That's another job on my To Do list.) It was interesting though, that several people who'd seen the installation last time, missed having a printed version of the story, so perhaps there is room for both sound and text. The notion of "waiting for the harvest" which was suggested in the re-write of the story was re-inforced with the introduction of an armchair, coffee table and books, which I liked - it introduced the idea of a human presence behind the scenes and the domesticity of these additions worked well. The most important thing however, is that I felt it all still worked, and most importantly, that it is worth showing again - even with all the time and effort (and slightly inevitable stress) which that involves.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/552584