PRESENT
I have been absent for a month. Now back in the world of the well. I have prints to finish, thoughts and threads to pick up – time to start sewing/sowing again.
Broad bean and runner bean seeds are sprouting. Seed potatoes and onion sets are waiting for a sunny day to be planted.
I have to arrange a couple of days to complete my residency at the University, do some tutorials and a presentation.
Talking to a visitor at our Open Studios about the emphasis in our culture on the visual, made me think about listening to the allotment. Traffic noise, the occasional squawk from a crow, the wind blowing dried stems, fork against chalk. What is the language for sound? Onomatopoeic, metaphor, synonym… squawk, whistle, whisper, clink, hum…. Can listening open us to a wider experience of a place, a different feel.
THINKING THROUGH PRINTING
I am finding thinking through printing an interesting process, and one which perhaps I should do more of. Its benefits are something to do with the combination of decision-making which has to be done in order to get anything on to paper at all, and the changes which occur through the printing process.
Been thinking broadly today about how Roz & I can tackle this idea of a constructed "Space for Two Artists". We'll have to use simple, low-tech methods, because neither of us are particularly technically minded. Ray was talking about Japanese paper making today, and the Japanese use of architectural paper screens…food for thought.
PUBLIC SPACE, PRIVATE SPACE, SHARED SPACE
After the earlier frustrations of foot-print-making this week I decided to leave that line of enquiry for a little while & focus on something new. For some time now we have been thinking about developing our ideas around the notion of building a shelter, somewhere which can be "A Space For Two Artists" during the next phase of our Breaking Ground project. I decided to think about this by drawing & started to make lots of little images around this idea. Next week I'll try printing them & see what happens.
In some ways it has been a frustrating week. Haven't really managed to get into a rythm. Couldn't get in to the Uni versity for three continuous days due to other commitments, and my focus and train of thought has been fragmented – and it shows. On Monday I was keen to develop my ideas for footprint tracks and trails, but that didn't seem as fruitful as I'd hoped. The image of my inky screen seems the most interesting thing I've produced!
ABSCESS
Been away, absent, from the University Residency with a tooth abscess. I looked abscess up: from the latin for going away, separating. Absent is also from latin but from a dfferent root: to be away, not present.
Looked up the latin for the vegetable names: tomato is Solanum lycopersicum; leek is Allium porrum; pea is Pisum sativum.
All this reminds me of school again, roots of words, latin lessons; and of The School for Artists that we constructed on the Allotment Residency. School has framed my life- born in a school, can't seem to leave school, always want to learn more.
