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.