“Argillaceous Marl contains from 68 to 80 per cwt. of clay, and consequently from 32 to 20 per cent. of aerated calx. Its colour is grey or brown, or reddish brown, or yellowish or bluish grey. It feels more unctuous than the […]
Yellow ochre, FeO(OH)·nH 2O, is a hydrated iron hydroxide (limonite) also called gold ochre. From wikipedia: In Ancient Egypt, yellow was associated with gold, which was considered to be eternal and indestructible. The skin and bones of the gods were […]
It’s my last week on site already! I started off at the skips and found a chair in mustard yellow. There were a lot of house clearances today and items included this rusty umbrella, a folding table and a ceramic […]
Words and images from the development of an artist book, supported by an a-n Artist Bursary. An ongoing project concerned with mineral extraction, accelerated agriculture and sensation in scientific processes.
On site today involved a discussion with staff about the brick building that appears boarded up. It’s currently used as storage but apparently was the recycling centre when the site was next to the municipal tip. The site manager found […]
The morning of 8th of September saw me in london for the Unlimited Festival at Southbank – a festival highlighting the best in disability arts and performance – mostly from commissioned work by Unlimited. But I had other things on […]
Objects of interest from the skips today: Broken cellar door Kitchen sink from a kitchen refit Rocking horse given to the previous owner but ‘immediately trashed’ by her kids and too small for them anyway. File used to store important […]
I used the paint colour-matched with ‘Oro Antico’ (paint thrown out after a relationship break-up) mixed at Seagulls Recycled Paint to ‘repair’ some torn pictures from discarded/recycled materials (Ikea advert and Suez recycling leaflet). I was originally thinking to carefully […]
Day 3 on site started with noticing some embroidered church kneeling cushions in the general waste skip. They were kindly pulled out for me to photograph. Someone was getting rid of a load of frames and let me take a […]
I’m delighted to announce that I’ve been awarded a micro grant from 509 Arts Transitions programme funded by Community Foundation for Calderdale to support my upcoming show at Brighouse Library – a conclusion to my artist residency at Brighouse Recycling […]
I met some more members of the team at the Recycling Centre today and we had some really good Rubbish Conversations. I asked them what the strangest thing they’d had thrown away was. After a bit of thought, the strangest […]
I spent the morning on site today meeting the team, talking rubbish and talking some photos. We had a good chat in the office about rubbish: the sorting categories and value of rubbish. Apparently there’s no money (for them) in […]
As I gear up for my first proper day on site on Thursday, I’ve been making some collages out of discarded/recycled (charity shopped) materials combined with Suez’s leaflets (which inevitable become recycled materials too). The first one of these (above, […]
Stroud-based artist and mother Sharon Bennett discusses her work with the Women’s Art Activation System support network which she developed in collaboration with two other Stroud-based artists, taking part in Lenka Clayton’s Artist Residency in Motherhood, and opening the temporary ‘Mother House’ studio.
The last day of this year’s dig and there were very few people left on site. Everyone is tired as they wind down from a rather intense season. My adrenaline is seeping away and it’s difficult to think clearly or […]
Today saw all the trenches covered over with tarpaulins held down with tyres, to protect them until next season’s dig. It felt quite sad to see everything that has been revealed this year being hidden. But it has been an […]
Today was the last day that the site was open to the public. But while the last tours for visitors went round, the archaeologists were starting some serious covering up of the trenches. First with sandbags. Then tyres were rolled […]
A very different atmosphere this week all round. The weather is autumnal, i.e. cold and windy with occasional horizontal rain. Visitors are keen to engage with the Art Hut – maybe to shelter from the weather. In the trenches it’s […]
Four and a half years to be precise. Back in 2014 I received a small project grant from Creative Case North to work on a collaborative project. I wanted to place a disabled artist with an organisation to be able […]
In recovery after the Open Day, so assessed the collection of pigments. It would be good to complete my ‘picture’ but there are more pressing matters during this final week. Having said that, I find my playing with pigment becoming […]
A very busy day on site. I managed one drawing of some interaction outside the Finds Hut. Nearly 300 people visited the Art Hut. So, as I needed to be around, it seemed a good opportunity to play with pigments. […]
Today is the last day for many on the dig. Tomorrow (Friday) will be a day off as Sunday is an Open Day. There is an air of closing down. Trenches are being cleaned rather than dug, and areas are […]
As the end of the dig draws near everyone is concentrating on what is most urgent to achieve. In Trench Y, which is due to be filled in as they have not found ‘the wall’, work is focussed on the […]
Rain all day. So no good for drawing on site apart from sketching the archaeologists from the door of the Art Hut, during a wet tea break. The alternative activity was to annotate my sketchbooks, adding the date, place and […]
It has been suggested that my work on human activity at the dig should be linked to the official Ness of Brodgar documentation – specifically when I draw a find being excavated the drawing should reference the context number of […]
