The day began with a discussion on the Neolithic method of construction. It seems that they started with good intentions but when chaos intervened they made the best of what they had.
How many of us artists identify with this Neolithic work ethic, which I see as a form of rigorous pragmatism? Can such a way of working be regarded as a serious research method? Some may see it as action research but I prefer to look at it terms of phenomenology, where we let the world present itself, and allow that to lead to reflection. The process of drawing and painting whatever is in front of me, means looking at something over time, which allows for ongoing reflection as the work progresses. Then returning to look at the work some time later, new ideas emerge.
So back to the drawings of the day. Many of the structures on site are built on top of other structures – often using stones robbed from existing buildings. (Cf Neolithic work ethic) Some walls, especially the early ones are very beautiful, but the later walls are a patchwork of available material and now, over the millennia, they also undulate where walls on top of walls are slumping. The far wall in Structure 12 is a good example of this.
Compare the haphazard wall of Structure 12 with this piece of Structure 27, where what appears to be an earlier wall is made of beautiful straight courses of large stones.
