THINKING WITH CHALK, PHOTOGRAPHING MOON ROCK AND MAKING A SHOPPING LIST
I’ve been using chalk and the blackboard painted paper to think about how to create a new experimental environment for the growing stones. I’d forgotten how liberating it is to use something as instantly erasable as chalk. It’s an odd drawing and one that will undergo more changes yet as I work out what I need to do.
I was fascinated by images on tv yesterday of moon rock wrapped in foil and polythene being removed from its sterile, bomb-proof storage container. There was a resonance there for me; a reminder of my own stones wrapped in foil as part of my earlier experiments with growing stones. I photographed it. It seemed important.
My shopping list for this week:
– glue sticks for more work on the “thing” which continues to grow on the rafters in my shed
– new heater for the shed because the weather man says it’s going to get cold
– UV light for the latest growing stones experiment
THINGS THAT ARE ON MY MIND
1. Rudolph Steiner’s “blackboard” drawings which I saw at the Venice Biennale last week which are actually not blackboards, but are in fact chalk on black paper which his assistant used to cover his blackboard before he gave a lecture so that the drawings he made during the lecture could be preserved.
2. My “growing stones” – the question is, am I just trying to make them grow, or am I actually trying to bring them to life?
3. STUFF that’s happening in my shed. There’s actually quite a lot going on that needs my attention. I need to get in here more.
4. My sketchbook/workbook. I need to spend some time with it. **NEXT JOB**
5. My project for Phoenix Brighton – I need to write some stuff about it – a timetable; a plan. And then I need to get started with my research and making some contacts.
I have decided to start working on Saturdays again – I gave it up thinking that I should get more of a life, do more stuff that normal people do at the weekend… but it’s no good, I NEED that extra day.
I have been painting some lovely old paper with blackboard paint – both sides. I had previously used it years ago for some screenprints which are irrelevant now. I like to re-use stuff – it gives it a sort of history and sometimes unexpected things happen. I think I might try making some chalk drawings of my ideas for my bringing-stones-to-life equipment.
I’ve got this THING I started making months ago like a growth on the rafter of my shed roof. I might cut it down and incorporate it into the bringing-stones-to-life installation.
I want to finish my book today. I’m reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5. It’s very touching, sweet, funny, sad. People “nestle like spoons” in it. I’ve got 16 pages left.
So it goes.
More experiments with Growing Stones
Blog entry from 4th June 2013: “The stones haven’t grown. I might need to be a bit more scientific about providing the right conditions for life to start.”
It is true, I have paid less attention than I should have to the stones which I originally planted all those months ago, but still 4 months on, there is not a single sign of ANY change in them at all.
I have been doing some research, looking at the ways in which seeds and stones sometimes need a kick start to trigger germination or growth of some sort – extreme heat or cold or even fire; soaking in water; scarifying; cracking; feeding… starving.
I’m interested in the chemistry involved in the origins of life and also in the part played by electrical charges in these processes so I have begun to explore the effects of some of these things on my stones in an attempt to somehow nudge them into life. Meanwhile, I will need to do more research, more experiments, more reading and learning to try to understand the combinations of chemistry and energy that might just make my stones grow.
An unexpected development, a meeting with my mentor and a birthday party
While I was working back in June or July, I was unexpectedly put forward for an opportunity at Phoenix Arts in Brighton. Things progressed and excitingly, I have now been offered the chance to curate an exhibition there in 2014/15 as an extension of my artistic practice. Everything about this seems to be fitting together very neatly. My proposal is that the exhibition will be a culmination of my research into a question arising from my LIFE Now project which is: “What difference would it make if we never died?”
This is exciting for many reasons. Firstly, ever since working as a Gallery Educator on the Grayson Perry curated show, Unpopular Culture at the De La Warr Pavilion, I’ve been aware of the potential for artists to tell their own stories by putting together collections of art and artefacts – even more ably demonstrated by Grayson’s second adventure in curating at the British Museum. Secondly, I’ve always struggled with how to represent all the research that is the background to my practice and this seems to be a way of doing that. Thirdly, I feel that my own work is in a state of transition at the moment and this project in some ways removes the pressure to produce and allows me the freedom to experiment unselfconsciously whilst developing a solid research base for future work.
Last week was the first chance to meet one to one with my mentor and talk through these things. I’m looking forward to meeting her again, perhaps on her home territory next time rather than in my shed!
At the end of a busy week there was a lovely opportunity to get together with old friends and celebrate the 10th anniversary since four of us, still wet behind the ears from Uni, set up Blue Monkey Studio in an abandoned light industrial space backing on to the railway line in Eastbourne. Lots of friends joined us at the studio to wish happy 10th birthday to Blue Monkey. Wine flowed, cake was eaten and a good time was had by all.
Getting back on track and The Creation Drawings
Almost back on track although lots of things have suddenly become very busy and complicated. Have just arranged my first meeting with my mentor so really looking forward to that. We have already chatted on the phone and e-mailed, but this will be the first time we will have met and even better, we are going to meet at my studio at the end of the month.
The Creation Drawings have been in my mind for a while. They might not necessarily be what I’d normally think of as drawings, though they might start off that way. They might be a record of a process of making a drawing. We’ll see…
