Tomorrow at 5.15pm on BBC1 you are invited to watch the June Challenge live. I will be appearing on the Weakest Link to complete the challenge set by Anneka French; to appear on a TV quiz show or game show to test my knowledge. If you miss it you can catch up on BBC I Player. I filmed the episode back in November so am looking forward to see how it appears once edited. On the day of filming they filmed three episodes, each one requires rehearsal, re-takes, make-up, hair, wardrobe and a whole host of other adventures you would never know went into half an hour of TV!
The red kite I am making now has 480 feathers on it, and the stockist has run out! This means I have to upgrade to 12packs of larger red feathers. My partner pointed out that there have been so many things that have gone wrong with this particular piece it seems a bit of a mess. Hopefully when I come to shoot the film it will all fit into place. Here is to hoping any how.
Progress! I have begun work on the Red Kite work for the September Challenge. Eventually the piece will be a video, however I initially need to make the components to the work. The red kite is made from an existing kite called the Hawk, it is then modified with red feathers. I bought 240 red duck feathers and have been attaching them to the frame work over the weekend. I am please with how it is beginning to look, however 240 feathers only cover a sixth of the kites surface at most. I have ordered a further 240. The website I am buying them off must be supplying to me alone, as every time I need feathers I buy all they have in stock, and I can’t find them cheaper anywhere else. I am also beginning to wander if this compromises my morals, as I question how the feathers were obtained.
I think I may have missed the ideal weather for filming in so will have to rely heavily on the editing process. I am going to need some help with this as my computer is not sophisticated enough to cope with the software I need. I plan to employ my friend to help with this, but have yet to ask him. I also want to edit the footage in a very particular way which I am unsure even exists as a function. Similar to the techniques employed by Photoshop I would like to use colour effects with selected areas throughout the piece, which I plan to be 2.5 hours long.
If you know of any good film editors do let me know. Email [email protected]
I have completed the August Challenge, which was from the famous Simon and Garfunkel song Scarborough Fair; to sow a cambric shirt with out seams on needlework. Despite taking me the best part of five months to realise I have thoroughly enjoyed it. The research process took me on an exciting journey to Elizabethan France at the time cambric was inaugurated, through to the then present French monarchy and Elizabethan fashion. The end result is a shirt for King Henry the III of France and Poland, who was chosen due to his turbulent relationship to the Poles who believed him to be vain. The shirt is in a traditional Elizabethan style and uses ribbon as the bind between fabric sections instead of sowing. More information on this can be found on my site www.ameliabeavisharrison.com
The research process is something I plan to take further into my current practice, and has also fed into how I began to research the September challenge, of celebrating one of the early female aviators. The next mountain to climb is completing this work. After getting over the initial feather fiasco (dying feathers and them crystallising, they are to be attached to a kite) I ordered 100 more, which were actually red. The only down side is they are about 10 cm tall and will probably only cover the tips of the kite. This is becoming quite a drawn out process with the feathers, which is surprisingly costing a lot. I have a deadline for the challenge now, as the challenger has suggested it could be a part of a digital festival he is involved with in March. The time frame should be fine, but as I have learnt from this whole process it is quite hard to make 12 art works in a year, at least it is for me anyway.
Only four more challenges to complete, and a venue to find to take the show, and some funding to find to make a publication…
My blog and project is a year old to the day. This time last year I was about to start the 2010 Challenge project. I had assumed that it would be almost over at this point in 2011. In reality I am just over half way. I still have all the art works from August to December to complete. I am hoping to complete the August Challenge in the next few days which will mean there will be less works to make.
It would appear that my practice can not sustain making one art work a month at this point in time. Although that is down to the types of art work I make, and how much time I choose to spend on each piece, its a self imposed limitation. I am surprised that very few of the challenges I have received have been time limited in any way, especially as that is a huge part of the project.
I have now received the final challenge for the project which seems like a fitting challenge to finish with:
December Challenge
‘Celebrate new year’s eve as if it would be already Friday, December 31st of the year 9999. Invite people living already in the future.’
Challenged by Julian Klein
The challenge is also some what reminiscent of the January Challenge, which had a guest list and feels event based in a similar way. The two remaining challenges for the project are to finish the production of all work and find a venue to show the concluded exhibition of work and documentation.
Happy New Year!
