Creating luscious blobs of pure paint by dipping endlessly. They hang and glisten in the sunlight, as if waiting to be picked. It must be because it is harvest time, I have just returned from the Isle of Portland where, on the way back, bags of fruit were being sold in front of houses. I was presenting an artist provocation at The Excursionist symposium for b-side – what a great time! It was a really good event. Next up is Hoard at Leeds Corn Exchange on Thursday 15th October at 6.30 for anyone who is interested.
Just returned from the brilliant FKL Soundscapes and Sound Identities Conference at the beautiful Castell Besen in Trentino, Italy where I presented a paper and a sound/video work. Learnt so much over three days and met lovely people who I hope will become long-lasting friends. Think the measure of success of conferences is how many ideas you generate from listening and reflecting. It began with a concert by Pierre Mariétan, you might call it a sung sound poem and continued with papers, videos, sound works and lots of discussion. Although sound has been part of my practice for a long time and relates closely to my theoretical concerns, I am now seeing it as a sculptural medium.
Over 400,000 bees, there, in front of me, behind, everywhere, striking terror into my heart. I have just created a piece for Salt Road (saltroad.org) playing on the emotions that this sound creates. Always fearful of bees, it required such a huge effort to be absolutely calm during recording, I just wanted to sleep afterwards.
The second of the exhibitions that I have curated has just opened. What a steep learning curve it has been. I don’t think I understood how time-consuming it was, especially in thinking time. And so many lists! The exhibition, Things You Didn’t know You Didn’t Know is open until May 9th so this is only the start. Initial thoughts on the learning process are that time and money are essential; it is a creative process that has sat nicely alongside my own practice; it has created insights from a different perspective that couldn’t be gained in any other way: the project management of a defined process will benefit throughout my practice and research. I wouldn’t have missed the opportunity and I am grateful to Jackie Berridge of Harrington Mill Studios for the opportunity.
Luxuriating in the way the paint swirls, clings and disengages from its support. It changes constantly, both during the process of application, whilst drying and after. I am not a painter. For the last 18 months at least, I have been attempting to use paint as a 3D medium. Moving on from the sculptural process, I am now trying to create wall-based work that sits uncomfortably on the wall, that aligns to neither sculpture nor painting. The sensuousness of the paint as medium and process also aligns to the sound work I have been doing, to the way sound inhabits the head and the body. The connections are in both the mental and physical process and materials. I had begun to think of my practice as one where thinking time vastly outweighed the making time. This line of enquiry has brought the two strands together.
Other activities include the curating of two exhibitions; one now installed and open, the other well on the way. This has really helped me understand the curatorial thinking process.
One way I am continually failing, though, is posting blogs. Since the change in the web site, I am continually writing them, straight on site as I find that the most immediate way for me to post, trying to add media and not saving before doing so. Wish the Save button was at the top of the page, not out of site at the bottom!
