ARTISTS TALKING

# 27 [15 June 2009]

Well this blog is often about not doing art at all, only thinking about it sometimes.

But me and Cosmo did actually create artwork yesterday. I know this may be debateable? We planted some wild flower seeds in the woods together.

A little more background info for you to explain this was part of the Wild Flowers Project in Margate seminar thing I went to. I was given a packet of indiginous wild flower seeds for Margate which I rather randomly spread over Margate in car parks, at the war memorial, randon peoples front gardens, planters, bus stops etc. Kind of geurilla gardening. And the other packet of seeds we were told to plant at home or wherever.

Me and Cosmo went up the woods and planted a circular ring of seeds around a lonley oak tree. It was in a cleared area of the woods. I scraped a furrow with the heel of my shoe and sprinkled the seeds in there. Then me and Cosmo sort of scuffed the soil back over the top. Cosmo is better at digging than scuffing soil back over the top.

I also planted a furrow of seeds on top of an earth bank, which formed the side of a medievil road which went straight through the woods to Canterbury. This road was called 'The Radfall'.

I will look forward to passing these places in the future to see if anything really grows there.

# 26 [11 June 2009]

Me and Cosmo been spending more time in the woods!

Why?

Because the fine weather, summer time and that means people have BBQ's on the beach. In Cosmo's world there is only one thing better that a dead fish on the beach and that is some hapless persons BBQ. Some people dont mind him steeling their sausages and laugh, others totally freek out. Its best to stay away.

Theres been alot of activity in the woods. I went on a 'guided walk' where people could see and have explained the changes going on there.

The areas of pine are being thinned and some areas totally cleared to create open meadow land, where indiginous plants will grow naturally. There will be no planting scheme and whats grows is because of natures way. Oak and silver birch trees have been left. The idea is to enable, mice, snakes, birds, berries, butterflies and plants to return, as the thick pine planting stopped foerest floor habbitats developing.

Here's the surprising bit! They are using great european forests as models to copy which have a kind of bison roaming around, and will instead introduce Highland Cattle and some kind of pony to munch the grass and maintain growth levels. If they munch loads then the animalised areas will increase in size so munching is managed. I wondered if plant goes in the animal and droppings come out, and this was a way of spreading seeds?

Now, I also had visions of stampedes caused by Cosmo, but chestnut trees are being cut down to provide fencing for these large cattle/pony areas.

# 25 [3 June 2009]

Walking along the cliffs we wander into a natural chine type feature. In this place we find a small cave!

It was enough to shelter in and dark. Did it go further back than I could see? I was just about to roll into it to see if there was anything in there other than a drinks can, but I thought Cosmo's good at investigating things. I'll sit and watch him.

He did not go in at all, he was too nervous to just brazenly go in come what may. He sniffed at he corners of the entrance. Then he ran off and sniffed all over the vacinity. I thought he's not interested, but he came back went 2 steps further into the cave, gathered another load of sniffs and then ran off exploring the surounding area again. Returning again and again each time he went a little further in and on the forth time he scouted the entire cave. 

The information he was getting (or not getting) either, smells outside matched or did'nt match. Connected or not conected was obviously enabling him to get deeper in with more confidence. Apart from the can the only other thing was a circular form natural or man made I was unable to tell. It was of no interest to Cosmo though.

# 24 [1 June 2009]

Thought for the day:

'The straight line leads to the downfall of our civilization. It is an uncreative line'. Hundertwasser.

# 23 [27 May 2009]

Its not often you take the dog out for a walk and end up with your name and address in a policemans note book!

Which is exactley what happened to me yesterday. 

I climbed down a cliff expecting Cosmo to follow me down! He did'nt too steep. When I got to the bottom I saw a guy kind of lurking in the clefts within the cliff face. He was surprised to see me and ran off along the beach. I climbed back up the cliff as Cosmo was not able to make it down, when I got to the top there were a very agitated couple looking at me. Said nothing, and I carried on walking with cosmo towards the car. I was nearly at the car and two coppers in bullet proof vests walked up to me and asked,  if I had seen a guy in a grey and white hoodey.

Yes I said, he ran along the beach with a bag on his back 10 minutes ago. They wrote my name and address down in a book.

I have no idea at all as to what was going on there I was a totally random intervention in some kind of robbery probably? who knows.

Oh, and by the way I was recently in the woods and I was acosted by the owner of an alleged 'Prize Wining Bantom' who called Cosmo a frienzied Chicken snatcher. He was joking I think, I laughed and said was everything Ok, because after years of carefull breading that must have been a shock. All is well and no harm done.

I have also just watched a film called Marley and Me and if you have a dog or a family you will enjoy it even though it may make you cry.

# 22 [23 May 2009]

Yesterdays walk with cosmo was in the woods. Funny because I had already spent the whole day in some woods.

And days like it are too few and far apart. I did not even want to do it, I was cajoled into it by stealth and perseverance.

It was a one day workshop on a creative partnership project and was really an introduction to a larger more wide reaching projcet.

But I have been making villages, dwellings, shelters and shared communal facilities with teenagers, from string and selotape in the woods. Teenagers playing like nursery school children making communities and working together like Robin Hood forest dwellers.

5 different groups in total, and half the 3rd group were unable to leave the perameters of learning as they knew it and ran away saying why, I dont get this. The rest played and even made head dresses to go with their new temporary life styles.

The last group were the most surprising? They ran through the forest like marauding vikings completely smashing the previous groups settlement down with sticks. They then pilaged it completely and built many small isolated camps over a very wide area using the materials they carried. Some even raided neighbours camps for extra string etc.

The title of this project was called changing spaces. I think we managed to do that. It has been one of the most amazing days I have ever had as an artist, playing in the woods with well over 100 teenagers. The deputy head made a visit and said if anyone was late for the next lesson it was all OK, there was an amnesty and she would take the wrath from the english teacher. I wish Cosmo could have been there, he would have ironically completed the 'Back to Basics' which I hear in the world of education.

again; I have to say I have the best job in the world.

# 21 [5 May 2009]

 Turnin' Injun.

This evenings dog walk was one of those parralell ones, cosmo in his world and me in mine. He with two legs and him with four exploring the sea front along side each other.

I was thinking about all this philosophy thats croped up on the comments to this blog. Its sociology  I think is where I want to look for information. Cosmo is constantly looking for information, investigation is everywhere nose driven. My investigation seems to be driven by other peoples behaviour.

My arts practice is exclusively in the public realm, I dont do these paintings we talk about. I work with people at the moment, not brushes. Our communities are often broken and artsits like me are sent in to wall paper over the cracks and repair them!

This is where the totemic interest comes in, because I'm looking for social systems that work better than our western capitalist insular, consumption pleasure liesure driven one.

Walking tonight I remembered my toy soldiers from when I was kid; cowboys and indians. I had a set of 7th Cavalry Union Soldiers in blue uniforms led by General George Armstrong Custer and a set of Indians. They had many battles and when the Indians won I was secretly pleased, because I liked them. They had nice bits of colour on their trousers, and the feathers, they were great. They looked so much better, this one with white diamonds on his shoes and that one had only the one feather. The cavalry were always just blue. So I was really pleased when the Indians won. This has stayed with me The Battle of Little Big Horn where the Indians actually did win and mashed up General Custer. Retribution came at Wounded Knee and the indians were masacred as usual.

This is where my interest in their culture must have first started. If I do ever find the time I know which painting I will be doing.

'The Battle of The Little Big Horn' or 'Greasy Grass' as the indians called it.

# 20 [25 April 2009]

I had to leave a note with my name and mobile phone no.

Do you remember Sid the Shnowser from an earlier post. It happened in their garden.

I was with my wife and ending our woodland dogwalk and we were passing the front garden of Sid's house and Cosmo gets all alert and perky as he becomes excited, because there are chickens in the front garden.

There is a stout new fence with well stapled wire to keep these chickens in and other animals out. So we are not bothered.

But Cosmo legs it through the wide open front gate  and into a cluster of about 8 chickens. He chases them round the garden under bushes and over a low fence. I rushed in shouting and it was pandamonium. Chicken feathers started blowing in wind and Cosmo has got one in his mouth!

As it turned out this chicken managed to run under some decking when Cosmo droped it. and I was able to put him on the lead.

My wife put him in the car and I knocked on the door and explained we had a bit of a to-do with chickens and the one under the decking here looks traumered at best.

The guy was not the owner of the property or the chickens, they were out at the moment and he said 'Its only a chicken' and was completely unimpressed. I left a note with my contact details if the owners wonder what's up with their chicken they can contact me.

We laughed all the way home in the car as we said that every time Cosmo goes past Sids house in the future he will say to himself 'you didnt show up when I had your chickens did you' and piss loudley on the gate post.

Its a shocker though enit!

# 19 [20 April 2009]

The reason I like walking in the woods with Cosmo is the fact that I am in a world with aboslutley no human contact. The woods live as do the animals in it without human help. Things are controlled by nature and human needs and desires are absent. I am in some other realm non human. Cosmo's world. He totally involved in it, all his senses are alive and he is busy doing dog stuff.

Me, I wander and meander around with a  way about me that is the exactly the same as when you walk around a catherdral and dont quite get or understand what your looking at but it envelops you totally.

There is green, it is like the air is green. Last week there was a white carpet of flowers, this weeks it is blue. Walking through carpets of blue bells that like walking though water. The water you get in the land of adverts and fairytales.

Then you get to the area where the plant machinery is left ready for Mondays work, and the signs start jumpimg out telling you what to do and the humans are back.

I can feel a map/diagram thing coming on.

# 18 [17 April 2009]

This evening Cosmo found a dead fish on the beach......he enjoys a dead fish, but today he did actually 'Leave it'. Most times he runs off and scoffes it. This used to anoy both me and my wife, but dogs are scavengers and that is kind of their reason given to them by nature.

This is something I can not change without training the dog so much that it is unatural. I am not prepared to do this as Cosmo is a constant link and reminder of the natural world to me.

I came across the term 'Muted Totemic Memory' on tinternet today, turns out somone at Yale University wrote a whole 27 page paper about! I could not read all of it, but what a great thing to have identified. I love aboriginal and native american cultures they seem so much more sound than ours. They are both Totemic societies. Western society this paper says is unable to include human activity and culture as natural. We have lost the ability to reference ourselves as part of the rest of the natural world, unable to see ourselves as natural creatures at all, that also live in a world with other animals and species. The result of this is the environmental mix up we find ourselves trying to understand and can not deal with.

Bang On Annabelle Sabloff (she is the author of this paper).