Business Cards

I have just picked up my business cards from the Print and Copy Centre.  They are double sided and I am well pleased with them at £22.00 for 250.

Arts Meridian Peer Group Network; A Day in the Life

A Day in the Life

With the official demise of Arts Meridian through the lack of Arts Council funding a group of fellow artists has decided to continue to work towards an exhibition in September 2018 self-directed, but under the guidance of Linda Ingham.  Glynne Bulman has agreed to chair and coordinate the group.

Initial Meeting

• The initial meeting for this group took place at The Discovery Centre on Saturday 21st October.  Glynne presented a power point to the group of work from different artists (including photographers) to show how the project might be approached;
• The priority will be to produce a body of work as a group as well as a personal one;
• The next meeting will be in January and group members should present ideas or initial pieces of work;
• Linda would put in a bid to the Arts Council through Arts Meridian;
• The prime object will be an exhibition during September/October 2018 which would be at The Discovery Centre.

My initial ideas for this project are:-

• An AV presentation with my own sound recording as I have done for my Shul project;
• A time lapse piece of work;
• Some sort of collage
• A small selection of Exhibition prints.

Feedback on My Body of Work

As part of Assignment 1 we were required to send out our work as a PDF for practising professionals in order to gain feedback on the work. I approached gallery owner Emma Roberts, curator and artist Linda Ingham, photographer Lee Gilby and curator Alan Raw. I was also fortunate that, whist at an excellent and inspirational exhibition, The Long View, (see blog post) in The Lake District by photographer and poet Rob and Harriett Fraser, I was able to talk to them about the similarities in our work. They also agreed to give me feedback on the work. I was delighted that I received feedback from all but Alan Raw. All were positive about the work and all provided constructive criticism which will enable me to develop the work further.

Linda Ingham

Linda picked up from my introduction that I was posing the question: which of the following options would be 'best' – create your own track,, or follow one which is already established. She felt that all of the images show evidence of a track apart from the final one whch has no foreground and no discernible way through. She feels that the question is a meitaphorical as there can be no answer until both options have been tried and even then it is subjective. She suggests that I might take more images where there are no paths and pair them with ones showing discernible tracks. This would be a viable option and to this end I am making more images of tangled undergrowth but no path so that I can try the idea. Linda feels that this might take the viewer closer to the question without being too literal an interpretation of my purpose. She does feel , though, that it is that single image with no pathway which intrigues in relation to the others. Another suggestion is that I could show images where there is no path and then either physically on the prints or digitally mark where a chosen path or track might begin. This is an interesting idea and I am currently discussing how I might mark of work on a print as part of another project I am working on with Linda. We shall see.

Linda also referred my to Robert MacFarlane, especially a particular passage in The Old Ways, a book I also find inspirational. Another author she suggests I should read is Richard Mabey's Nature Cure. She says that he does not always discern that is what he is talking about is moving through wildernesses.

Linda says that the images worked really well for her and are well-composed reminded me that I had shown them at a peer group session. In this instance, although she had viewed them upside down, they reminded her of some of the lesser-known Klimt paintings. I need to research his landscapes.

Very encouraging and ideas to take the word forward.

Emma Roberts

Emma begins her feedback by writing that the way the project has been presented and written is in a very considered way, reflective and representative of the subject of the work. She felt that the quality of images themselves (all had both the PDF and digital copies of the images) is good and consistent throughout with a strong consistent theme and obvious exploration. She enjoyed the written statement; it was concise and conveyed the project well, with enough points for thought or further exploration without spelling things out to the viewer. She felt that the Vimeo slideshow was an interesting way of presenting the work. She says that it is striking in a way fitting with the pieces and the subject. It really does the work justice and shows it off very well as well as holding onto the natural nature of the work; all the elements knit together well. She likes the meditative flow of regular footsteps as the soundtrack which also fits with the Tibetan title. She enjoyed the subtle way the images lead into one another. She felt that it might be a good idea to play with using gentler colours on the font slides and the framing of the images – colours fitting with nature such as an earthy grey, charcoal with green /brown hues. She finds the black to be wuite jarring although she agrees this is subjective. I take this point on board entirely and will experiment with the idea. She feels that the video brings the photography to another level. She could see it as a docu-photography piece working as an installation in a gallery space – a large screened piece for viewers to sit and take in.

Overall, she says, she feels that the work achieves that thing of making something flow to a high standard and making it seem effortless which is often hard to achieve. On a personal note she enjoyed it for nature coupled with a meditative/contemplative current running. A tonic to 'busy noisiness' of a highly technical world in which we live.

Lee Gilby

Lee introduces his feedback by stating that he began by taking a purely technical view rather than being influenced by personal artistic taste.

He feels that the composition of the images is thechnically sound, especially given the square format. The lack of any clear horizon line, or in most cases, sky ties in well with my statement and this forces the viewer to concentrate on the main subject. He says that the theme is consistently featured in each image and there is a repeating element – the vanishing point – in al but two of the images. The final image appears to show no shul/path and he assumes I have added this as a metaphorical 'end of the road'. He feels that the thirteenth image strays slightly from the format in that there is no vanishing point and he also feels that it is a little over exposed in comparison to the other images, although he suggests this could be his monitor. This is something I need to give thought to and I could, perhaps resolve the problem by taking on Linda Ingham's suggestion of pairing path with no path. I will give some consideration the whether I feel the image is over exposed. I thought that the print looked OK. It will be interesting to see what assessors of my BOW feel in November.

Putting technical considerations to one side Lee examined the images again. He found himself drawn into into the images as a whole and feels that each one works in that the viewer is almost challenged to find their own path. He sugests using even more subtle tracks to challenge the viewer further. A good idea and one that, again, could work with Linda's suggestion. He feels that the accompanying video work takes the concept further and the sound of footsteps is almost hypnotic adding a level of isolation and immersion for the viewer that a print wouldn't.

He feels that the artist statement explains the subject matter well, highlights my own thoughts and ideas as well as those of others who have gone before.

Lee's only concern is that the colour palette appears a little washed out and there are some subtle differences in white balance. He says this may have been a choice for me at post processing or maybe his monitor is not in sync with mine. Again it will be interesting to see what assessors think to the prints in November. However, it was a conscious choice for the colours to be quiet, muted and reflective. I chose to photograph on days of muted light and under rather than over processed.

Overall Lee feels that the work is interesting in that there is a clear concept behind it and is not just a collection of derivative woodland scenes so challenges the viewer to explore the scene. He feels that the project could run for a long time and be developed not only in the expression of the concept but in themed variations such as open country, desert, snow, looking at my own new tracks or that of animals or revisiting the tracks at different times of year. I like this thought and am in fact extending the work on the Lincolnshire coast as part of another project with which I am involved.

He finishes by saying that developing the accompanying video installation opens up a whole new world of ideas and immersive events. A possible idea would be to project different pathways on each wall of a viewing room and the viewer can take their own path by simple changing their viewing position. Taking this further, he says, maybe the installation is actually on screens in a forest. Grand ideas indeed!!

Rob Fraser

Rob's feedback was more brief as it was part of a general communication. However, I was delighted that he took the time to view my work and comment.

He enjoyed my artist statement and introduction to the work. He liked the simplicity of my woodland pictures. He was interested in my ideas of collaborative working and feels that there is a super-additivity nature of placing words next to images, as if the sum of their parts becomes stronger.

Landscape Workshop; Arts Meridian

Although I have included this workshop under the umbrella of Arts Meridian, Sadly this has ceased to function in its old guise due to a failure to secure Arts Council funding for the project.  However, two spin-spin off projects have emerged like a phoenix from the fire: one is the project A Day in the Life (see other blogs) and the other is this landscape project, like a day in the life, based on the coast at Cleethorpes.  Hopefully, both will culminate in exhibitions.

Yesterday's landscape workshop began at The Discovery Centre, Cleethorpes where Linda Ingam (Arts Meridian) explained the plan for the day and her method of working as a landscape artist.  We also discussed her inspirations which include paths, Robert Macfarlane and Rebecca Solnit.  With these inspirations I am already in tune with Linda and it is interesting to hear how she works with them as an artist rather than as a photographer.  We also looked at some of her work and found objects - she is big on collection objects when out and about and working with them in her studio.  I was reminded of the work that I did in PWDP when one of my assignments was on flotsam and jetsam found on the shoreline and the way I photographed them both on location and in the studio back at home.

Following Lind's introduction it was time to head out onto the beach.  The brief was to take notes, sketches (photography experiments in my case), collect found objects, take video clips.  It was a beautiful day with some attractive clouds building.  It was low tide but there had been some recent big spring tides with plenty being washed up onto the highest strand line.  The group moved quite quickly and all too soon it was time to head back to the library (after a fish and chip lunch) for feedback.  Once in the warm and comfort of the library we discussed what we had all seen and done and reflected on further steps forward.  It is early days but one way I see of working forward is to produce an av show with my own sound recording as I have done for my Shul project.

Some of my images from the day are included below:-

The Long View, Grizedale Forest Centre, Cumbria.

The Long View

Overview

Rob and Harriet Fraser (Photographer and writer) are a partnership, both in the sense of being married and also an artistic partnership.  I am interested in this as my wife (sculptor in rope and felt artist) are keen to work collaboratively when I have completed my degree.  This comes from ourselves but has also been suggested by Linda Ingham director of Arts Meridian and curator who also collaborates with her partner David Powell.

A little over 7 years ago, early in 2010 and early in their life together, Rob and Harriet walked through snow to visit a single sycamore tree on Whitbarrow Scar (A wonderfully evocative karst landscape.  My image below).

They discovered that they both knew the tree and had both climbed it.  Here they felt was a tree that was remarkably ordinary, but, the more the became acquainted with it, the more extraordinary it became.  They say that is what trees are like: "They are treasures hiding in plain sight."  This encounter gave them the inspiration for their project, initially called seeing seven trees.  They embarked on a search for seven trees within the Cumbrian fells.  Seven is a special number and also linked to the seven chakras (energy points in the human body) and to the seven colours of the rainbow, light being an essential ingredient in photography).  Once found they walked to them repeatedly, photographed each many times, wrote about them in verse and prose, slept by them and walked between them in seven days in both summer and winter carrying packs of 90lb.  It took five years to refine their plans, to locate the trees, to gain funding and support, to put down firm roots and begin.  The work has then taken two years to complete, but it is an ongoing project.  A whole range of people have been involved in this work, including seven local primary schools, Arts Council England, The National Trust,  The Woodland Trust, The Lake District National Park, Natural England and many others.

The Exhibition

The exhibition was one of the most rewarding it has been my pleasure to visit, perhaps, I suppose, because they ticked so many boxes that matched with my philosophy and beliefs and also my Body of Work - we have both walked and worked with trees, but we have much, much more than that in common.  The photographs are beautiful with several  of each of the trees being included, one main, very large one, mounted on board as well as several smaller ones framed and in both colour and monochrome.  Accompanying each were Harriet's evocative diary extracts and her moving poems.  Some of my favourite images were ones of the trees taken at night using a head torch to floodlight the tree, in particular Langstrath Birch with The Milky Way arching over it. One aspect of the project was to walk between each tree and an altitude profile of this has been laser drawn onto a panel made of wood blocks from each of the tree species.  How wonderful to touch and smell the wood.  Like myself, Rob grows bonzai trees and part of the exhibition featured a bonzai of each of the seven trees up to ten years old, each displayed in a square section clear sided pot framed with wood.  These were displayed on a superb display table made of an elm plank crafted by a local woodworker. 

Artists Talk

We had decided to visit the exhibition on this particular day as Rob and Harriet (and Guilly the dog) were giving an artists talk.  Having first seen a mini version of this exhibition last September at Thorny How Youth Hostel in Grasmere as part of Cumbria's C-Art festival (Link to my blog entry here).  It was fascinating to listen to their talk and audio visual presentation my main points of interest being noted below:-

• The project began with a lone sycamore on Whitbarrow Scar seven years ago
• The pair determined to embark on a joint project on seven trees
• Mind mapping was used to get them off the ground
• Walking was very important to them.  Walking was used to locate the trees and to visit them and travel between them
• Talked to relevant bodies for advice, support and funding
• Meeting with seven remarkably ordinary trees
• All in The Lakes apart from The Little Asby Hawthorn which is on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.  It is so isolated that it has its own symbol on the OS map
• Many of the trees are growing against the odds - crevices, sheep grazing etc
• Through the project Rob and Harriet gained a respect for the environment which survives despite all we throw at it
• The authorities are trying to keep sheep out of the Troutbeck Valley so it is becoming the most biodiverse valley they know. (ref. Georg Monbiot's Feral.  Enerdale is going through a similar experimental rewilding.)
• The Langstrath Birch.  Langstrath also has fencing to allow the regeneration of trees.  (We have noticed the same in Longsledale and Mardale)
• The trees have been twinned with seven primary schools
• Rob and Harriet have worked and walked with a wide range of people and this is described in the exhibition book The Long View
• We can become emotionally connected to trees
• Walking to a tree through the landscape became very important to the pair
• The Light Walk. A 118 km summer walk, involving wild camping and 90lb packs (needed to carry camping and camera gear) and linking seven trees over seven days.  Guilly carried his own food!
• It was not just the wider views but the micro world as well that fascinated them
• The Dark Walks. Made in December 2016.  Seven Walks to the trees in seven days.  Camped overnight but used the car to cover some of the distance as there was a lack of daylight hours.
• Rob and Harriet were heartened by the number of birds they encountered on the walks
• Light and colour were important.
• Each tree has been linked to the seven colours of the rainbow and the seven chakras (energy centres) in the body
• Pausing in the landscape is important.  Pausing to spend time with each tree
• The latest part of the project is to add to the sculptures in Grizedal forest by using old walling stone to build a tree fold to encircle a newly planted tree.  This is also going to be done in Wasdale, close to the Wasdale Oak using stone from a collapsed and abandoned sheep fold.

Of significance to the pair is a quote from David Attenborough:-

No-one will protect what they don't care about and no-one will care about anything they haven't experienced.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the artist talk and talking to both of them afterwards.  We have many beliefs and interests in common.  They were keen to hear about the OCA and my degree and what I was doing.  They have provided my with their business card so that I can send a link to my blog and also send them a PDF of my BOW.  The link to their website is here; it makes fascinating reading.

Fraser, H&R. (2017) The Long View, two years with seven remarkably ordinary trees Somewhere-Nowhere Press

Fraser, H&R. (2017) The Long View [online]. Somewhere-Nowhere. Available from:  https://thelongview.today/ [accessed 27.07.2017]

Arts Meridian workshop and Peer Group and Professional Development Workshop.

  Arts Meridian workshop and Peer Group and Professional Development Workshop.

This was a day organised by Arts Meridian at Cleethorpes Discovery Centre.  It began with an artist talk by painter Steve Ingman followed by a Professional Development Workshop and finished with a group crit. 

·         Artist Talk

Steve Ingman is a Nottingham based  artist who works largely with oils, but gains inspiration from the world around him which he explores, like myself by walking when he uses a camera to record his observations which are the interpreted in paint.  He studied for his VS at Lincoln and then in 2014 began an MA at Wimbledon College of the Arts.  He is part of the Arts Meridian sponsored Arts underlined project and is collaborating with local artist Dale Mackie to produce a body of work on Cleethorpes which will be exhibited at The Discovery Centre from January – March 2018.

He moved to Nottingham in 2008 and set up a studio which he admits is messy but allows for creative freedom.  From 2008 -2010 he worked on his first BOW:Night Light which comprises night scenes of cityscapes painted in oils using both brush and palette knife.  I thought the work was reminiscent of Van Gogh although he says he was inspired by Edward Hopper[1] .  One painting: Lego Brick Bollard employs a photographic technique where a car is given an impression of movement by representing it as though it had been photographed with a long exposure.  In Department Store (2010) he tries to portray the idea that the department store is the new church and consumerism the new religion.  Very rarely are people included in his work as he prefers to put more emphasis on the environment in which we live.

Between 2010 and 2012 he moved his focus to the village where he grew up and the woods and old military installations which were his playground; his wilderness.  He produced a series of paintings entitled Widerness.  One particular painting reminded me of the final image of Silver birch trees in my BOW. I had a print of the image which I showed later in the crit and both Ingman and the rest of the group agreed.  The foundations for his works are completely abstract and then he builds his painting onto that abstract base.

Influenced by Peter Doug’s Concrete Cabin (oil on canvas 1994), a painting of an abandoned modernist building which at the time was rapidly becoming rewilded, and also influenced by the recession, austerity and now Brexit, Ingman produced a series of paintings based on empty shops.

Interested in the natural world around him, He began, in 2013, to work on a series he refers to as the Wanderer.  This included paintings of the crash of a B29 bomber in 1947 on Bleaklow above Glossop in the Peak District.

In 2015 he began work on a series that particularly resonated with me: Temples of Ruin.  He is interested in the meanings of wilderness, urban and rural.  He had discovered an old lime kiln in the Peak District near Buxton and was fascinated in the way it was being reclaimed by nature; rewilded.  He saw it as the remains of a modernist temple.  The results of his Labour’s, whilst obviously being a lime kiln is very reminiscent of the ruins of an Aztec or Inca temple.  He researched painters who had worked with ruined archaeology and came across David Schnell from Leipzig.  Ingman's Temples of Ruin series explore the relationship between the natural and man-made (nature v culture?).  He argues that the term ruin can mean different things to different people; there are different connotations.  Research began to centre on ruin: artists and philosophers.   He recommended to me Paul Virilio's Bunker Archaeology. The Nazi architect Albert Speer had developed a theory of the value of ruins.  He argued that a ruin in 1000 years would signify greatness in the past.  Buildings that become runs are a message to future generations of past greatness.  This body of work Temples of Ruin formed his MA degree show.

Another resource he recommended was Ruins published by The Whitechapel Gallery and on the Guardian website Brian Dillon on Ruins.

I felt drawn to Steven Ingman's work and philosophies as I felt that we had much common ground.  Two things sprang to mind regarding my own work is that I would like to make it less figurative.  One current approach is to concentrate on micro-landscapes: micro-wilderness.

·         Professional Development Workshop led by Linda Ingham

1.       Creating Opportunities

·         Building networks are important

·         Group/partnership working; designing a project

·         An element of partnership is present in all of Linda's successful funding bids

2.       Making Approaches and the Importance of Research

·         Galleries and other organisations such as stately homes and outside spaces

·         We need to be confident and ambitious

·         Research of exhibition venues is vital

·         Attend openings and make contacts.  Who you know and what you know is very important

·         Research competitions and opens: gallery, judging panel, previous work selected

3.       Useful links

https://www.a-n.co.uk/news

https://www.curatorspace.com/

https://www.publicartonline.org.uk/resources/Practicaladvice/commissioning/commagencies

https://www.commissionanartist.co.uk/

http://www.artcontact.co.uk/

Group Crits

As always I found it fascinating to discuss other people's work and with me being the only photographer it really broadened my experience.  Work included graphite drawing painting, ceramics, rope sculpture, oil painting,.

Again it was valuable to share my own work.  Ad mentioned previously talking about your own work really helps to get to know what it is about.  I had taken mounted A3 prints of a selection of my BOW.  Remarks bout the quality of the prints were positive and extremely encouraging.   It was suggested that either grey or white mounts would be more suitable with black frames.  I was pleased that I had mounted them as these comments will be useful when it comes to producing the images for my final exhibition.  I had mounted them with no white showing between image and mount, but wondered whether a narrow white border would be more suitable.  All agreed that no white would be better. I also had the introduction to my work with me as I’m SYP A1 and enjoyed talking about it.  This generated an interesting discussion.

Exhibition and Workshop - Living Landscapes; Cleethorpes Discovery Centre.

Today was a lesson in making sure to read emails properly:  I didn't realise that I had signed up to a landscape painting workshop!!!!  However, it was a fascinating eye opener into another aspect of the art world.

The day was based around a touring exhibition of landscape paintings : Living Landscape.  Artists featured were: Robert Moore (also curator), Jake Attree, Jean Davey Winter, David Fulford, Richard Harfield and Patti Lean.  It was hosted by Meridian Arts.

I was interested in the fact that all of the work was to a greater of lesser degree abstract. For some time I have been wanting to make my own work less figurative and more abstract.  I have experimented with an ICM approach, and as much as I like the effect it has, perhaps, been overdone.  I have also been working on what I term micro-landscapes, much more intimate views of the world around me that encounter through my walking, that are by their very nature less representational and more abstract.  I include some examples at the end of this blog.

Living Landscapes

As Rob Moore says in the introduction to the exhibition catalogue, the work on show represents diverse conceptual and technical approaches.  In these paintings can be seen weather, climate, sounds, surfaces, feelings, colour, mark, horizon, high places, beauty, awe and the desolate.  He goes on to point out that each of the artists are able to find relevance in making work about the land through painting in a contemporary creative environment where digital arts have increasingly made their presence felt.  Both Rob Moore and Richard Hatfield who later led the workshop made the point that if you want the work to exactly represent the world then it may as well be through photography.  This is another reason why I am keen to move away from the figurative in my work and to include more emotion.  In her essay for the catalogue Lynne Green points out that in this time of global warming and dire predictions of the destructive consequences of human activity upon the planet, it is increasingly urgent to be reminded of the depth of meaning the landscape holds for us.  She argues that there is a growing need for us to be drawn back to our physical and emotional roots: to the land, in all its varieties and richness, that has nurtured our species.  She says landscape has been, as it remains still, a repository of psychological, emotional, symbolic, mral and spiritual significance.  Landscape, she points out, is the stage and backdrop to our history and to our present.

Jake Attree

Attree lives in York and it is here and in the work of Bruegel that he finds his inspiration. Although his work is less abstract than other work it is still far from representational.  He uses both a limited palette and thick layers of oil paint that take a long while to build up.

Jean Davey Winter

 Jean Davey Winter's work derives from aerial photographs, first taken from the windows of passenger aircraft, later from a microlight and most recently from the top of step ladders.  The initial images are digitally manipulated to evoke her emotions and then these used as the source for her paintings.  Her work reminds me of 3D maps or satellite photographs.

David Fulford

Fulford says that the strongest experiences of being in the world are bound up with being in the landscape - with travelling, walking or simply being there.  I can empathise totally with this emotion.  His work, oil on canvas, is informed by visits to Alaska and Iceland.  He works in his studio using photographs taken on his trips as source material for his interpretations of ice fields and glaciers.  He tells us that he is a member of the John Muir Trust and believes in Thoreau's maxim in wilderness is the preservation of the world.

Richard Hatfield

Hatfield's paintings are oil and acrylic on canvas and are a reinterpretation of the landscape he sees every day.  Like Rob Moore he is concerned with our growing alienation from nature and its disconnection from our daily lives.  Hatfield works in his studio producing paintings without any reference material and begins by 'playing' with the media.  As they develop associations occur which determine the outcome.  The subjects are the amalgamation of the remembered, the fleetingly observed.

Patti Lean

I feel on the same wavelength as Patti Lean as walking is intrinsic to her practice, both as a tool for unlocking ideas through repetitive physical movement, and as a whole experience of an environment.  When walking, she says, you can get to places at your own pace and in your own time, and you can follow chance and randomness.  She wild camps, as do I, and at these times she feels that she absorbs the sense of place that camping brings.  Whilst walking she collects information in the form of sketches, photographs, objects and sound recordings.  Back in the studio she often introduces other visual modes to produce her abstract works such as maps, plans, prints, rock pigments, found objects, 3-D work and a performative element, in mono-printed traces of walks and footprints.

Rob Moore

Here is another artist who is inspired by and enjoys walking and nature.  Since childhood he has immersed himself in the landscape.  Although he sketches, makes notes and writes poetry whilst out walking, his current work is is imaginative and produced in his studio. These paintings are, however, informed by his memories which insinuate themselves into the paintings. 

Artist (Curator) Talk by Rob Moore

In his inspirational talk Moore explained that all the artists featured in the exhibition Live the landscape they portray, hence the title of the show.  He was forceful in saying, as well, that landscape is a living thing.  All of the artists he told us have a strong interest in drawing and all the featured work was abstract.  He says that he learns by looking at other people's work.  I can testify to this from my own experience of our Hangouts.  Like myself, Moore is heavily influenced by Robert MacFarlane, Andy Goldsworth and Richard Long as well as the works of Ted Hughes and Seamas Heaney.  He was passionate when explaining his concerns for the state of our planet and the effects of climate change which occupy his thoughts and in his own work the stronger colour and bold compositions are a result of his thoughts about the increased fragility of the places that we inhabit.

I found this exhibition truly inspirational and the emphasis on walking and immersion in the world around us, as well as a huge concern for out planet, was a common theme exactly in tune with my own thoughts and feelings.  Many of the works remind me of what I am trying to do with making more abstract imagery by concentrating on micro-landscapes.  I was also reminded of my own work on rewilding and the book I am currently reading by environmental activisit George Monbiot: Feral.

Workshop led by Richard Hatfield.

This workshop gave participants an opportunity to experiment with techniques used by Richard Hatfield.  Although I quickly realised that I am not a painter (not yet anyway!) Richard made the suggestion that I could combine painting and photography by overlaying a photographic emulsion over a painting (?) and when discussing this in our hangout today other suggestions were made including experimenting with cyanotypes.  Lots of food for thought.

Some of my own micro-landscapes.

Arts Meridian. Alf Ludlam - Arts Underlined Peer Group Session

Organised by Arts Meridian,  Artist, historian and writer Alf Ludlam joined the group to launch the first Arts Underlined Peer Group Session.  The morning began with an introduction by Alf where he told us of his practice and concerns about his work.  This led onto each group member introducing themselves, talking about and showing their work.  This was in the form of a crit and members of the group discussed relevant practical and conceptual issues which informed and guided us, perhaps enabling future developments of our work.  I thoroughly enjoyed talking about my body of work, its development and conceptual background.  I was reminded of something that John Umney, one of my OCA peers said in our last Hangout:  "By talking about our work we get to know what it is about!"  as showing one or two A3 prints from Assignment 4 and a couple of A4s of my current work, I also had with me the PDF document that I have produced for SYP A1.  I was interested that Alf suggested found the images at thumbnail (three to an A4 sheet) were intriguing.  This made me wonder about displaying them in an exhibition and wonder if it would work to mount them at a relatively small size (15x15cm?) on aluminium of PVC and display them at stepped intervals like steps on a path.

I was also intrigued when Linda Ingham (organiser of Arts Meridian, curator and artist) told my wife and myself about an initiative she was involved in at Sheffield University where artists in different media collaborated with each other on a project.  She said that there was Arts Council Funding and we might be eligible to apply.  My wife has a degree in fine and applied art and works in textiles and sculpts with rope.  The idea of us working on a project together has long been in my mind. 

Alf Ludlam - A Life

In the afternoon Alf led us on a conducted tour of his retrospective exhibition A Ludlam - A Life.  I enjoyed his work.  It is largely portrait based and is often autobiographical in nature.  I particularly enjoyed one painting of a locomotive on the tiny Louth - Bardney branch line.  In the foreground are the crew who are checking snares that they had set for rabbits on the outward journey.  A glimpse into a very quiet rural life from the past.