I have been doing more making, being in the physical and not using my blog to record or comment on work. The result is a gap to be acknowledged or filled. In the time since May I have become more aware of the multiple activities that FrostArt is involved with, they overlap and often take too much time, which does not fit into the Slow Making approach. How to resolve this is always an issue. The glut of fruit and vegetables at this time of year is a bit similar, they take time and energy to tender and maintain during the dry spring and summer, then they are all at once demanding attention! Images are of willow activities over the last few months, in schools and for the The National Trust's Angelsey Abbey story telling space.Calendar for workshops
In this really cold and belated spring, the daffodils are only just coming out and the wind is freezing today. Helpfully I am starting on a project with RISC and have been dyeing recycled blankets a whole range of colours. Colour always cheers me up and seems to provide an energy that nothing else can. After what seems like months of planning this is the first practical phase of a Generations Together project. More to follow very soon I hope.
Thinking and working in preparation for High Tide:Mersey began a new phase of Waterways:Walking:Stitching
I have now printed the first of what should be a series of postcards of sites that are significant to individuals or communities, or have environmental importance for research or historic reasons. They are laid out like the most ubiquitous holiday postcards, except the reference is in longitude and latitude, not the name of the place. The first is where the site of 'Sea Henge' was excavated on the North Norfolk coast.
As always I am never sure that what I make and what people really see have anything in common, so the opening at Liverpool John Moore's provided lots of good conversations and feedback. The selection process to make a clearer and more coherent show is all part of the slow making. Interesting to realise that what is shown is not really what, how or why it is made.
This year seemed to start slower, the marmalade made, the process, colours, smells and resulting rows of filled jars on the shelf very satisfying. The same feeling is produced by completing a good piece of work. An order for 12 willow plant supports was similarly seasonal, repetitive work on the allotment. I am possibly growing into the pace that I have thought about for the last few years, at least when I make work. This includes the multiples, the aim for craft skills in each piece. The pace of making multiples is both slow and fast at the same time. Learning to make exact same forms takes time, the making of each pieces has to be fast, or the work is neither elegant nor cost effective! However, the pace of working on multiple tasks and commitments still seems to be other than slow and although that is my aim, time does not seem to stretch to fit them all.
The last entry of the year. A strange combination of slow and overactive, that happens sometimes. Not a sign of miss-spent time or of nothing done, just not yet evident in practice. The image of our seasonal garden decorations, made by spiders and we had to do nothing except provide the environment for them! In the nature of Slow Making they are transient and seasonal and use sustainable materials. Contrast to the neighbours' bright lights, fashionable, brilliant and energy thirsty, I thought somehow Christmas decorations should be in harmony with the Creator they promote and celebrate, especially as we are currently trying to promote the Copenhagen agreements and cut down on carbon dioxide emissions. I have started a Flickr site to collect images of Slow Makingwith others, the first images are of these spiders' webs. The New Year promises many things which offer new places and challenges. Looking forward to them always conscious of seasons and timings not of my planning!
Planning for a workshop at WWT Welney Swan festival, I planned to set the task of drawing a swan with one piece of willow. Surely a result of the workshop last week, I found myself drawing with willow and these are the first results.
They are almost balletic in form, the beginning of something new perhaps. Just realising the diverse variety of entries there are in this blog, the materials and processes; but the thoughts go along together in very similar ways all the time. The pace of growth, drawing and stitching have so much in common.
Mary Butcher lead a master class at NUCA, a chance to play and reflect; 11 of us were invited. to take part. The opportunity to have conversations about the nature of making, the processes involved and the character of materials; it was both refreshing and hard work. Good to see the variety of work approaches. I found myself taking more and more and more apart! Learning how to leave stuff out was good. Leaving space for imagination and thoughts, always a good idea. Space to breathe. Again it showed me how vital it is to STOP and work slowly. Slow Making includes the spaces, the time to look, not constructing, just feeling materials and tools. There are images on a Flickr page, so just a taste here.
Making simple actions in public, the theme was of footprints and walking in conversation. Sun and rain, together with hot cups of chocolate and generosity of spirit were overwhelmingly the feel of the day. Most people are aware of the need to do something and want to change their dependence on oil products, I found a real concern but at the same time lack of knowledge about how to do that change. Now is the time to be informed and make a difference!
This work I made 10 years ago. It has a list of endangered species, many of which are now extinct I fear. I have brought this out again because the 350 International Day of Cilmate Action is coming up on 24th October and I am going to walk next to the river in Ely, inviting 350 people to join me to take part in an action and making transient work. See the facebook group page to see when and where. Not easy to photograph, the fragility of fine cotton and copper wire crochet does not show itself well. I made it as a model of a much larger piece, where the space between the two layers would be big enough to walk between. Not yet commissioned but I do have a place in mind, so let me know if you are interested. Again walking and conversation are the priority.
Stitching and expression of community, cups of tea and cake shared by participants in the workshop and opening event for Fair Trade Material Matters at RISC. the Global Cafe is a hub for all sorts of activities where the work will become part of people's everyday lives for the month.
I found leaving the work in place hard this time, almost as if it had taken on a personality. The more relationships and faces collected, the more powerful the work becomes. I had not anticipated this effect. I need to reflect on Slow Making again, what it signifies and how the power of accumulative, collecting, repetitive work expresses Slow.
This month was so dry, the whole of September with no rain. I don't know the records for previous years, but sure I don't remember any September without rain and so warm. I have been outside most days working on the allotment, cycling has been easy in this weather.
Why so preocupied? Because I presented work at CRASSH seminar 'Vegetable Love' about being an artist who grows edible plants.
The action, my allotment drawn and stitched onto a tablecloth, together with some of the vegetables grown there. Conversation about the process of growing, relationship with human and non-human neighbours, I found myself performing in a way that became poetic, lyrical and characteristic of the place. Again the pattern is Allotment Stitching Walking Performing.
I have been pre-occupied with trying to keep up with all the different aspects of making work. In the nature of Slow Making this is not always bad and as Salt Trailsat Salthouse 09 has been the main reason it has been productive and enjoyable.
The pace of work is not always to do with the making, the spaces in between when no work is physically made is equally important. Finding space and time when no-one interrupts and nothing else has priority on my time is hard. Not easy to explain that sitting, being, listening and watching is part of the work that is not yet apparent. I need the time to absorb what has happened, what will change and enable the work to form.
Walking at Salthouse with a group from Contemplative Fire was a journey in a different direction, or at least one that took a new path. A progression maybe, crossing pathways and carrying baggage from other events and communities. Do we share the baggage or help each other to let go? Which ever it is I learned that it helps to have the right pack, walking aids and companions, and to know how to carry the load. I enjoyed the fact that this was seasonal work and intend to demonstrate more of this in my work. Seasonal fits with Slow Making.
Making space, clearing surfaces is like making a pathway to walk and work in, so that is what I am doing until September, when not keeping the allotment clear of weeds and picking fruit and vegetables. A similar activity I suppose. Preparing the studio to do concentrated work includes removing all traces of other activities, they are like background noise, or muddy water! For me story sharing and stitching go together, indoor activities, so stitching work for Fair Trade Material Matters will start again as the summer disappears, it seems to have taken on the character of autumn and winter activity. This autumn it will go to RISC in Reading and make new relationships and connections.
All coming closer together, having relationship, beginning to form a pattern of making and being.
People and places, exhibitions and walks, allotment sheds, studio and garden, computors and drawings, thinking about the relationship between growing, stitching and weaving patterns, making marks in land, fabric and lives.
Origins of the word stitch come from Old Saxon: stiki Old English: stice Old High German: stih Gothic: stiks Definitions of the word stitch:(noun) A prick, puncture or stab inflicted by a pointed implement. (verb)Fasten together or join pieces of fabric Phrases: A good stitch - a considerable distance to walk. A ridge or baulk of land, especially a strip of ploughed land between two water furrows. A narrow ridge in which potatoes grow. To stitch: Set up sheaves of grain in stitches, stooks or shocks.
Littleport Field Theatre walk is planned for June 27th, a Mid-summer event and an opportunity to make more Green Corridors work and invite others to take part. Physical textiles are taking second place or are the metaphor for field trips and walks. Interlacing people and places, weaving walks between communities. Salt Trails, Landline Arts and The Field Theatre - here is a strong theme that I hadn't planned. Well that was the plan, but things change and the walk is not taking place. Summer is hot and apart from keeping the allotment free of weeds and with a succession of crops going, I have been spending time doing more stitching for Fair Trade Material matters. The online quilt is growing and currently has about 160 portraits.
Fair Trade Material Matters is installed at Shed and a Half Gallery, in London. The web site is relaunched, a really significant step for the work it is able to grow without me, an entity in it's own right. Being involved with developing the site I have considered it more as an exhibition space, more than just an information hub. This has made the process seem visual and physical. The sheds at Shed and a Half have taken on the character of the work as a whole, comments already about the atmosphere being calm and spacious, while still full of work I like the way people respond to the invitation to draw their self portrait, there have been some very strong, unexpected reactions to the process. There will be a mid show event, so if you are looking at this before June 5th 2009 get in touch to find out more!
Developing a work pattern and walks with Liz. Salt Trails website published conversations about land and places. We chose Hapisburgh - pronounced Haze-br-e as our first practice walk with participants. Dramatic and unsettling, difficult to comprehend what it might be like to live there.
Again links with people and places, the ones that amaze me are the ones who are already so busy and knowledgeable and have given the ideas and work so much respect. It is very special to share walks and conversations with them. Littleport Field Theatre and Landline Arts are also exploring ways to express the significant and meaningful sense of places which make them special to communities. Values of property and people are so different on the coast, especially a moving and unstable one. like the East Anglian one. Coming across a Ringed Plover's nest on the beach was also very moving. How delicate and 'on the edge' is that existence!
I am aware that I have been too pre-occupied with cultivating and maintaining the garden and allotment, as always I get far too over focused. This may be because there has been no rain for three weeks, but before that it was because I want to re-establish my relationship with growing food as well as providing a better environment for the cultivated plants to grow in. I saw the willow structure made earlier in the year in Ely today, it is developing happily, with only a few straggling parts not showing new shoots. It was good to see it in use by small children
I feel as though the crossing paths are making links and bridges between people and places which I have not been relaxed enough to do previously, working more locally is sometimes harder. But now is the right time for me. I have also had time at Welney Wildfowl Centre one of the first places I used willow and made a large structure, so this year I have been restoring the shape of the Swan Shelter, now eight years old. The sound of bees all over the willow flowers was quite overwhelming, especially as there is such bad news internationally about bees dying of mysterious disease.
Being visiting artist at Fact, Foundation for Arts and Creative Technologies, Liverpool for a few days, was busy, inspiring, thought provoking and provided me with a place to see responses to Waterways maps as they happened. I always had the idea that they would extend my walking relationships. Conversations with audience, visitors and participants in workshop sessions revealed the power maps have to aid conversation and relationships between people and places. I will now be able to develop the work further and more effectively. For more images see GaiiaL@tE project
Installing exhibition with Landline Arts, at Haddenham Gallery Gave me the chance to hang Waterway maps in a different way and response from other artists was very affirming. From general visitors it seemed to be they were somewhat mystified. The venue is not one for 'Slow' art perhaps and as always I am learning that the relationship between the work and the host is crucial. It was a good place to move the shelter from Holt, especially as it snowed and gave it new character. Inland it is a different being.
A new phase in Slow Making, a new relationship to work with. Accepted for Salthouse 09, I am working with Liz McGowanon Salt Trails. A joy to be thinking about this work with the knowledge that I will not be building or creating a structure, no materials to be manipulated. Quite strange to be in a place time where I feel that this is a good way to work. Salt Trails will be a series of conversations and walks along the North Norfolk coast. A piece I have been weaving in the studio will also come to conclusion this year. Originally made to help my thought processes when I started to think about Slow Making, it is also used in an animation by Tim Drake. I think the nature of this year will be reflective and Slow, but who knows what people and places my path will cross and what will be made from them.
Creatively this year has started slowly, each step taken with a bit more time and consideration. Is it age, or is it just that I don't want to be rushed into making decisions?
Marmalade has been a real marker for the start of this year, even more this time because I was away when the Seville Oranges were available last year. One of the few seasonal fruits remaining it serves as a marker, like a punctuation, or breath in the over abundance of food. While taking time preparing the fruit I became aware of the relationship between this activity and Slow Making, So here are some images of the process. Unfortunately you can't smell the wonderful overpowering citrus fumes or hear the family conversations, which seem to be integral to making enough marmalade to stack on the shelves and supply friends and family for the year. Not quite the same conversations, but similar each year, drawing people and places together. The colours, the reflections, the tactile elements. Sticky, hot and sweet. So much a part of childhood and yet so much my decision to continue the activity. Making this seasonal produce helped clarify thoughts about planned Slow Making conversations and how they might develop this year. It really is a sign of the new year, the reminder that the sun and warm seasons will bring colour, fruit and food once more.
A two day workshop in Ely, with the guys from East Cambridgeshire District Council who maintain the trees to make a living willow structure in the form of a giant eel trap. It was a delight to do this, they had an understanding of the land, the plants and their surroundings. Including the people who come and chat or just watch the work being done.
There are three varieties of willow used for the structure, traditional osier willow, Goat willow which is a hedgerow native and Salix Gracilistyla Melanostachys, a beautiful pussy willow. I look forward to seeing it used by all ages in the Cherry Hill Park for several years.
The beacon structure will move from Holt Country Park soon, to go to Haddenham Gallery, Cambridgeshire. But this does not mean it will lose relationship with the North Norfolk coast, in fact I have only just received this from Jerry Seaborn. Thank you to all who are still sending messages, for generosity in sharing your pictures and memories of Light-Lines. The long gap since my last posting has been because I have been involved in conversations, going back to growing and using willow and vegetables, back to the physical and reviewing my use of online research and making. I always feel as though the year closes now and for most living things in the UK climate it is a time of death or sleep; waiting to renew, so it is good to know that we will enjoy long days and sunshine again next year! Look out for dates when I will be leading workshops and walks next year under the title of 'Weaving a Walk'
My last visit to Light-Lines last week was to move it to a new site. It was a strange experience and I found the disruption surrisingly disturbing; visitors have continued to add elements and decorations. It really did become a local landmark, I met visitors who have been regularly during the two months and those who were coming across it for the first time. All asked why it should be removed, although having some reservations I am sure that it is not a good thing to leave it. Part of the message of Light-Lines is that nothing is permanent in the landscape, especially on this moving coast.
The work is now installed at Holt Country Park, thanks to help from site Ranger Rob Goodfiffe. This is a very different venue, the scale and atmosphere of it's surroundings change the feel of the work. I am not sure how long it will stay for, probably until it has a new coastal site somewhere on the Wash, this site has different environmental issues to highlight. The management and species grown here have changed over generations, as always none are permanent. Areas that have been woodland, growing trees for commercial practices, are now being planned for open meadow land. In addition I found this on You-Tube, it is from someone who visited Light Lines at Salthouse Beach. Great to hear how it was used by so many people. If you have five minutes to see and hear two short stories go here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b89sNv127RU
I took a break, a holiday sailing on the north coast of Spain. Brilliant sunshine and good winds, some rain but not enough to spoil the sailing.All the towns had some public art, mostly related to fishing or sea travel. I think the one I liked most was this strange little relief. It reminded me of the graffiti in Salthouse church.
The final day of Salthouse 08. Un-making is part of the Slow process, understanding what I have made and seeing the effect on people and environment. Salthouse has been a good example.
It turned out to be much easier to start the take down than I had anticipated. For the first time it was cold and wet so not many people were there. All the work from the churchyard has been taken down, and all the lanterns along the beach path. It was an unraveling, the un-making was a real process as much as the making. I found myself going through memories of conversations and making the initial work. there was a pattern and rhythm to it all.
Still meeting people who are visiting for the first time as well as bringing friends and relatives to see the installation. All with very personal experiences of the work and place, keen to share their comments. In the same way interventions are still happening in the beach structure, demonstrations of people having relationship with it. On this visit I heard someone refer to it as a beacon for the first time. Met up with Viv Allen, also in the process of un-making see who has kindly sent this comment. 'I thought your work was really the strongest in the show. I thought you successfully met that challenge of working within the landscape. I thought you achieved just the perfect balance of your work being clear and well rooted with the landscape while at no point being dwarfed or lost within it. The forms were both beautiful and natural and I felt showed a strong sense of belonging.'
