The project I am working on is expanding. I have invited friends and aquaintances from facebook and beyond to whistle a tune thus:
‘Hayley Lock is inviting everyone she knows to whistle a tune for a project I am doing.The idea is that if you were a whistling shepherd, then what tune would you whistle? Please leave a tune with your name attached (or anonymous) on (0044) 1379 678084 if you are outside the UK and 01379 678084 if you are within the UK’.
The idea of this project is to feed into the sound works that I have proposed for a residency at g39 in Cardiff in September. The recordings will then be worked on in some way, so that the work may not be identified as whistling at the end. I hope more people will join in.
These soundworks will also inform new work within the evergrowing ‘Imperial Leather’ series. I will add to these when in Cardiff, but I aim to have a suitcase of goodies before I go.
My practice appears to be ever changing depending on where and what I am surrounded by. I am looking at expanding my practice in different ways in order for me to be challenged and I am fortunate to be able to do this financially through my lecturing post. However this does mean that I need to work very hard to fit all of my ideas into the day to day.
The pressures to ‘succeed’ are for me, personal. Recently on the retreat ‘Neither Here Nor There’, at Wysing Arts Centre I brought this question up through a discussion a group of us were having at the time. We decided that this was an ever evolving query of personal development, measurable only by self, maybe measured by the audience on a different level (although displaying work through an audience in some way was seen as important). I have to say that I find exposing my practice to an audience highly excruciating, yet one of those challenges I appear to partly work towards in an oddly masochistic way.
My mind is full of ideas at the moment. Regarding the near future I just need to find the clarity of thought to put them onto paper for a proposal that I have been asked to do for work leading up to 2011. This will involve the idea of travel and storytelling.
I am also putting ideas forward to working with a photographer and film maker and hopefully a writer. All exciting and demanding stuff.
My work is coming together for the residency at g39 in September. I am currently working on sounds that I recorded on my trip to London to meet a couple of Russian ladies regarding selling my work. I was fortunate to take a break at St Pauls Cathedral on my way back to Liverpool Street, where the choir were in full voice for Evensong, so I took advantage and recorded the prayers as well. I am not a religious person and so my recordings are to be converted into some kind of conversation that I am working on with Gimp from the Imperial Leather series.
My work for g39 has been building for a while now with the Imaginary story of Imperial Leather. A number of incidents have occurred that force these characters lives to cross over in curious ways. The story has just started. i have no idea as to how it will end.
In the last few days, I have started to draw influences that Gimp has found significant in his life. I have also today made new images of the kind of things he may have had on his walls as a child. The story behind Gimp and his associates is ongoing and I add to his diaries most days in order for me to understand his and their personalities more.
Tonight, I am gathering up a few of his possessions and will be recording these objects in a number of ways.
I have been away for a few days with a mix of close friends and family with the intention of doing very little other than procrastinate about work ongoing, to think.
In looking at the visitors book of our stay at Bruisyard Hall, Suffolk, the latest entry by a child staying previously to us just said ‘I have enjoyed playing in the attic with the green lady’ which confirmed my suspicions… it is, most likely, haunted. Separate to this private reading, a friend also commented that she had had the sensation of the side of her face being stroked whilst reading a book..perfect material for storytelling.
Since last week I have been rereading old books and writing down words from the 23rd and 27th pages to inform new work. These significant numbers are linked to the number 23 being seen as unlucky historically and the number 27 refers to the ‘dead at 27’ myth.
It must have been coincidence to read the ‘green lady’ insert on page 27…..
For the past 4 days I have been at Wysing Arts Centre, Cambs as one of the artists selected for the first Escalator Retreat programme this year. Feeling rather exhausted from my lecturing post I was looking forward to lying back a bit, listening to artists discuss their practice. HOWEVER the reality was that it was an action packed programme organised I have to say, extremely competantly by students from The Royal College of Art’s MA Curatorial practice course alongside Donna Lynas and Lotte Juul Petersen.
We had a series of talks from a variety of artists including Stefan Rusu, Margarita Gluzberg, Heim Lattner and Charles Avery as well drawing workshops, group crits, philosophical discussions and a walk involving storytelling as we went along.
Kit Hammonds, tutor and independent curator, alongside all of the students involved had considered the topics and artists extremely well. Myself and therest of the selected artists and curators on the retreat all found that our practice overlapped time and time again throughout these four days.
Wysing was as a venue an exciting place to be, meeting studio artists, curators and directors across those few days and on the last day of the retreat we were all surprised to hear that we had all been awarded the escalator artist badge should we want it. This was great news to us all as we had all got on really well supporting each other throughout. We will be meeting up again in a couple of weeks to discuss the retreat as well as discuss any project work that we hope to carry through as a result of the retreat.
The other artists and curators selected are:
WIll Clifford, Lucy Conochie, Sarah Evans, Bettina Furnee, , Catherine Hemelryk, Jo Mardell, Mark Ross, Rachel Moxley and Caroline Wright
