ARTISTS TALKING

# 135 [3 July 2008]

FOURTH DAY AT THE PHOENIX PROJECT SPACE

It took all morning with both of us working on covering the end wall with lining paper.  After a welcome sandwich I messed about with the paper drops on another wall trying to get the pattern and placing right.  I have decided.  Sunday will be the best day to make the wallpaper.

Bumped into Emilia Telese downstairs and met the AIR Advisory Group who were having a meeting at Phoenix.

Placed the polaroids on the school bench - keep trying to find a way to show these pictures found on the allotment. 

Received our first piece of outside from Philippa who cannot come to the Open Day.  She brought a couple of birch logs from her woodpile. 

# 134 [3 July 2008]

Roz & I have been talking about the sort of questions we are asking ourselves as we make work. Much of our discussion centers on how we see ourselves in the world - especially in relation to the natural world of which, after all, we are a part.

I am interested in the extremes of existence which I've observed, from the invasive, entwining Bindweed I have picked, pressed and drawn upon, to the delicate baby runner bean plants which I have  nurtured for my installation and which are now woven into a taught framework of twine and string.

Yesterday I noticed a patch of wall near the place where I was drawing, which had been hastily painted. An area of wall-paper faintly showed through the paint. I began to trace out the barely visible pattern in pencil,  extending the inter-twining stems, flowers and leaves across the wall.

# 133 [3 July 2008]

Over three days we have filled the Project Space with things from the outside. A transformation has taken place. We are experimenting and finding new things happening.

Yesterday I planted my runner beans indoors. Like Roz's furniture, they started life indoors, then went outside. Now they are back inside. 

# 132 [2 July 2008]

THIRD DAY

Arrived with lots of stuff to take upstairs again.  Had to have a cup of tea after.

Early meeting again to discuss ideas and postioning.

Made my stuffed crow and put all the birds on sticks.

Wallpaper worries:  what to use - the bunches of dried grass plus a flower, or intertwined, the rhythm/pattern - or the grasses - or the pieces of shrub and blossom.  Tomorrow we will stick up the lining paper and I will have to make a decision. 

To Brewers again for more lining paper.  Up to the allotment to gather more dried grass and some bath water (and pick raspberries, water the courgette and tomatoes, clip the grass, pick some marigolds and poppies.

# 131 [1 July 2008]

SECOND DAY

Collected the school bench, magazine rack, plant stand and deck chair with floral pattern from the allotment and brought back to the Project Space.  This furniture has been used inside, taken outside and is now inside again.

We had an early meeting to consider the space and realised how quickly we have to get things together for the Open Day on Monday and Discussion Platform on Tuesday.  We have had a lot of confirmations from invitees today and are excited about the Event.

Wallpaper ideas are taking shape.  Stuck up some lining paper to experiment.  Grasses look ok but I like the bunches of dead grass. 

We are all mixed up with nature, more so than I think is realised.  We are not so apart, we are surrounded with names from nature (stitches, roads, colours), metaphors (as bald as a coot, eats like a horse), stories and decorated fabrics.  Let's mix up even more.  We are entangled.

# 130 [30 June 2008]

FIRST DAY OF PHOENIX PROJECT SPACE

Spent the first day moving into the space and arranging materials.  Started a blackboard, a mind map and planted some china with Onward pea plants. 

Brought in my first daily offering: some grasses picked on the way.  Taped them to some wall lining paper - we discussed papering one wall of the room.                                            

Laid out some flowers and a small apple found on the road.  Sewed and stuffed one of the screenprinted thrushes. 

We discussed the work and material we had laid out.  New ideas spring from these meetings and we agreed a daily meet at 11 am.

Our new folded cards have arrived and I cannot wait to see them. 

# 129 [26 June 2008]

My Runner Bean diaries have been sadly neglected this week while I have been busy with other jobs and planning the next stage of Breaking Ground.

OUTSIDE IN - We will be working in the project space at Phoenix Arts from the 30th June until the 8th July. This seems quite a short time to work towards the Open Day and Discussion Event which are planned for the end of the residency.

Susan Diab will be leading our Discussion Platform on the 8th July, and we are excited about her ideas and her input as a new collaborative partner for this event.

# 128 [17 June 2008]

RUNNER BEAN DIARIES 16/6/2008

The beans are growing well outside despite the slightly chilly nights. I came to the studio to water them over the weekend.

Today I measured and photographed them. I numbered the canes so that I can identify the plants and have marked the height of each plant with a black marker on the canes.

No.11 is the tallest at 85cm and with 12 leaves.

No. 14 is the shortest at only 39cm and 8 leaves.

No insects today.

# 127 [12 June 2008]

RUNNER BEAN DIARIES

In the last two days I have potted up 76 runner bean plants.

In total, at 9.28am this morning, these plants had 286 leaves.

Last night it rained hard. I must drill some holes in the troughs which the pots are sitting in so that water can drain away.

Already some insects are living on my bean plants.

# 126 [9 June 2008]

THE TRIALS OF LIFE!

My studio has been a place of life and death drama today.

For a couple of weeks now I have been planting runner beans, hoping to have a good number of them ready for our first project space residency at Phoenix Arts in July. I am amazed at the speed with which they have grown &, having been away from the studio for most of last week, have had to do some emergency "potting-on" today.

The first lot of beans are quite established now, but the latest crop have grown long and leggy in their fight towards the light of the studio window. So I decided to put them outside in the yard where they can enjoy some natural sunlight & fresh air ... with disastrous consequences as they wilted rapidly in the baking afternoon sun! I brought them back in for some emergency water and a cool-off while I do some reading on how to grow successful beans and puzzle out how I'm going to make my beans grow the way I want them to for my installation.