archaeology - Page 6 of 7 - a-n The Artists Information Company

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Preparing the preparations

This week has been mainly studio housework in preparation for developing the material collected during the residency. In between clearing the decks, I have been re-scanning all my sketches as high resolution images on a flat bed scanner, and regaining the […]

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Back in the studio

Now that the residency is over, I am starting to analyse the material collected and prepare to develop work in my studio. This blog will be updated each week with a post about the progress of my project. So far I […]

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Final two days at The Ness of Brodgar

Day 20 The weather kept the site closed all day so I used the time to get other things done. In the morning I went to the Orkney Museum in Kirkwall to measure up a small room, for an exhibition […]

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Day 19 – Time running out

There are now only three days left of my residency here at the Ness of Brodgar.  We had fine weather today but the forecast is so bad for tomorrow that the site will be closed.  In order not to lose […]

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The final week begins

Saturday In the afternoon, I gave a talk about my residency at the Pier Arts Centre. The room was full, with a mixed audience of local people, archaeologists and others from the site.  After giving some background to my work […]

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Day 16 – a fine day at last

This morning I visited Orkney Museum in Kirkwall for a meeting about a potential exhibition there next year. They have a small space next to the Archaeology rooms, which is ideal.  It is great to be able to visualise a place […]

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Day 15 – mostly indoors

Bad weather meant people were more willing to give me 15 minutes of their time to come indoors and have their portraits drawn. But some intrepid archaeologists kept going. Today’s portraits Catriona supervisor in Structure 8 and Ben supervisor in Trench 10 Mark and […]

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Day 14 – on and off site

This morning the site was closed so I spent some time preparing my talk for Saturday at the Pier Arts Centre.  It’s called Work in Progress and is quite hard to put together, as the work to date is really […]

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Day 13 on site

Today I met two experts who showed me treasures. Pottery specialist, Roy, who let me draw a magnificent piece of a Neolithic pot and a small piece of fired clay, with what appears to be the impression of a finger. Afterwards, the ‘Rock […]

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Day 12 on site

Two portraits this morning, with sound recordings explaining archaeological procedures, in the trench and for finds. While waiting to draw Anne, I was able to draw her being filmed with an expert examining a find. This afternoon, I made a number […]

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Day 11 – Open Day

Today was Open Day on the Ness of Brodgar Dig.  Despite bad weather crowds of people came to see how the excavations are progressing.  The rain limited my drawing time but I managed two drawings during the (almost) dry spells. […]

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Day 10 – a day off site

Today, the dig had a day off, because everyone will be working on Sunday for the Open Day. So I spent the day visiting old haunts and thinking about the project. The residency is half way through and I have begun […]

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Day 9 – in and out of the rain

Rain stopped all action for the morning so I spent a few hours considering work to date and how it might be best to proceed. There is too much going on in my head to write about it here but I can say […]

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Day 8 – in the trenches

A wet and windy day meant intermittent drawing, mainly in the shelter of the trenches.  It was good to get in close to the action and see real traces of Neolithic human activity. A heap of burnt material piled up […]

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Day 7

High winds this morning made taking the tarpaulins off a bit of a challenge. The other side of archaeology – paperwork and endless measuring Excitements of the day – 1 Getting into a trench and painting a row of little red flags […]

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Day 6

A very windy day, with variable weather – so, unless I could find shelter from the wind, it was best to concentrate on quick drawings of people including the visitors’ tour If you are not a member of a-n, please leave comments for […]

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Day 5 – end of week 1 on site

A second portrait. This is Hugo – and his last day working in Structure 14 The first week in any new place is about getting used to the context and working out what is to be done – and in the […]

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Day 4 on site

Fine weather and lots of work done, including my first portrait, another watercolour, and a view across from the Ness. Many quick sketches made. The first series was of a tour of the site to introduce newcomers and update proceedings for others. […]

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Day 3 on site

A wonderful sky to begin the day. One watercolour and four drawings achieved during the morning, with accompanying sound recordings. By lunch time rain arrived together with a gale so all work was abandoned for the day. During my afternoon off […]

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Day 2 on site

Fine weather all day and very hot. Lots of drawing, colour notes and recordings of background sound. Some drawings (not shown here) are across both pages of the sketchbook. These will be joined up with colour added later.

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Day 1 on site

A wet start to the residency but, despite the rain and swarms of flies, it was good to begin getting acquainted with the site. I sat in my hire car to paint the weather and did some drawings of the archaeologists catching […]

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Arrival in Orkney

Today I arrived in Orkney across a rolling sea. I have the weekend to settle in before starting my residency on Monday.

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On my way to Orkney

Packing to leave for Orkney this evening. Ready to start my Artist’s Residency on Monday. Hope I haven’t forgotten anything…

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Funding update

I’m delighted to say that my project, in addition to the Travel Bursary from The Artists Information company, is now also supported using public funding by The National Lottery through Arts Council England.  This means I can afford some really […]

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Beginning to create a network

  Place-names, church dedications, archaeological finds, even the street pattern – all these give clues to where the Danes lived and worked. A thousand years ago, Norwich was a truly Anglo-Scandinavian town. http://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/home We have arranged a meeting, to discuss […]

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