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Both pieces made by Jude Willerton are mounted on black. She says in her accompanying note “The first attempt was very random & spontaneous with no real plan… The second (The crow) came together easily & spontaneously.”

Whenever I see the crow appear it is, for me, part of a story. …. He/she may be coming, going, comic, opportunist, onlooker, harbinger of doom, admired, feared, loved or despised. What next I don’t yet know but crow has entered my own work and is waiting for the idea to take shape.

Now all the pictures from the first round are uploaded it suggests a time to reflect on how the art allotments are developing. It is really interesting to see how others interpret the same material in such individual ways.

If I consider what influence this project has upon my own work so far it is to make me to open my eyes wider & wider to the possibilities of collage techniques in both the visual & non-visual world.

I am determined to welcome images that appear. If things go wrong with what I am working on – I cut it up, rearrange & look again as many times as it takes. Cutting & pasting is a much more satisfying way of changing & making corrections. Reflection comes later…at least 24 hours. This process of taking a number of given materials and quickly choosing & combining a selected few in a playful manner continues to be inspirational.


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Sue Campbell’s collage was full to bursting with pieces falling out of the envelope as I opened it & the glue still tacky.

In contrast Jacs Collins’ work was economical, unmounted and held together with delicate stitching. I photographed back as well as front as that struck me as an important aspect.


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Artist Bev Horsley approached the materials completely differently using paint in the work. Her accompanying note described the process as easier when beginning with an “idea” as in the first collage “SEEDS”. The second one she describes as “…a pure response to colour rather than concept… Once started I didn’t want to stop! Best fun I’ve had in ages.”


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Alan & Estella Scholes, husband & wife, both artists, both made collages. In Alan’s work the small figures appeared ambiguously in both pieces. Was the crow about to feed them or eat them?

Were they holding up the basket or was it about to crush them?

Estella’s work was unexpected. She had made a delightful small collage bag, different on both sides & filled it with unused bits.

Note here again to myself …. “Why didn’t I think of doing that?”

It struck me that this is a great example of what Graphic Designer Alan Fletcher explores in his book ‘The Art of Looking Sideways’.His work has been fresh in my mind since last month when I saw the inspiring exhibition of his work in Cube: Centre for the Built Environment in Manchester. The work there was brilliant, inspiring & also fun. It is having creative fun & the chance to play that has been the core of art allotments since the start.

There are no rules here just guidelines to be stretched.


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The hardest thing about Art Allotments 2 was knowing what was in the envelope as I had made it up. I had to try & disassociate myself from the choices of contents made. It was also a challenge to find 10 identical, or near identical, pieces of rejected work. Finding a few is usually not a problem as I take lots of proofs while making plates. This time I needed ten and luckily I had a near miss print of a long line of collograph figures of women. All were slightly different but alike enough to fit the bill. The etching proofs were mainly textural & big enough to cut up into similar sections. Angela’s page of drawings was photocopied so that they were identical in each envelope

I posted the envelopes and put the one I had randomly selected for myself from the pile to one side. When the first collage arrived back I didn’t open it until I had finished my own effort.

The figure and the crow were the starting points. I have always admired crows and been amused by their comical stance. My admiration grew after reading Corvus, A Life with Birds by Esther Woolfson brilliantly reviewed by Olivia Laing in an Observer article.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/24/scienc…

I am aware that there is a deeper unconscious rational for my choices allied to loss & loneliness but for the moment that can wait for exploration.

Mellie’s and Angela’s collages, the first to arrive, also placed the woman’s figure in a central position with each collage and all three were telling different stories.


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