Artist In Residence - The Arboretum

I'm currently half way through my first residency at Derby's Arboretum in Normanton. It's a beautiful busy park full of wildlife and old trees. It was the first free park in the UK, and has undergone a restoration over the last few years.

I'm working out of the Orangery and spent last week drawing and just getting to know the park. I enjoyed the opportunity to just draw, instead of worrying about answering emails and all the usual day to day things that get in the way.

After a few days of not being in the Orangery, I've returned to today with a new sense of vigour!, and spent a few hours bending wire and covering it in modroc, I'm not sure the forms are exactly how I want them to be yet, but they will be dry enough tomorrow to put a covering of plaster on and the form will grow and develop further.

Perspective

A recent shift in how I view the world has happened.

It has left me feeling more secure and stronger in my roles as artist and mother.


1 the art of representing three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other. the appearance of viewed objects with regard to their relative position , distance from the viewer, etc.:
a trick of perspective[count noun] a view or prospect.
Geometrythe relation of two figures in the same plane, such that pairs of corresponding points lie on concurrent lines , and corresponding lines meet in collinear points.

2 a particular attitude towards or way of regarding something;
a point of view:
most guidebook history is written from the editor's perspective;
true understanding of the relative importance of things ;
a sense of proportion:

And looking up the Oxford Dictionary definition, my attitude towards life and my way of regarding how the world works has recently been altered. I've never had to question this which I now find surprising when the two definitions include sculpture and life...

Wonderful Derbyshire Art

I went along to the re:place symposium last week. Where I got to hear lots of artists speak about how they had approached their residency in Derbyshire. It has made me really consider how I will approach my upcoming residency at Derby Arboretum. My proposal was fairly safe, and although it is clearly thought out, it feels very much in my comfort zone, so I'm hoping to be able to push that when I get there. I think my plan may be, that if I think of something I'd like to try, and it gives me butterflies and I'm scared, then I'll have to at least have a go!

Bizarrely, one of the re:place commissions is based at Longshaw, near Grindleford, in the Peak District, where I spent 3 days as part of the Derbyshire Open Arts, unfortunately the only parts I got to see, were the views from the car as I drove home exhausted at the end of each day! But wow, what views, and I did take my camera (yes, a proper film one!) and stop and take some pictures, so I can look forward to developing those soon.

A weekend is planned with a sketch book, studio dog and some walking shoes, to go back and do some drawings. This will have to be soon, as the Snee-Snaw project starts soon and I'm evaluating it for Andrew, and I suspect it may take over our lives.

Busy Times..

Its been very busy lately, I took part in the Draycott Arts & Gardens Festival, which was great fun, lots of yummy cake (again) and some really good conversations with people.

The area where the studio is going to be built has been cleared and a skip was hired which we managed to fill within a couple of hours, I really should've ordered a bigger one!

The developments with the studio feels very exciting, it means that I will have a workspace where I can walk out of the house in the morning and straight into work, with no travelling, no fuel consumption, and very, very convenient.

I've also started working on some new sculptures of animals, which I'm quite motivated about, despite comments such as 'oh you made a goat' and 'I like your dog mummy' this being about a hare and a rat....

Claymills Victorian Pumping Station

I've just spent the weekend at the Claymills Victorian Pumping Station, just outside Burton On Trent. It was their first craft fair, organised by Hayley, of Forever Forged, who is the Blacksmith at the Station. We were also joined by Jayne Sanders, their first Artist in Residence, This is Bazaar, Samantha Eynon and a Jeweller, whose name I didn't get, and a wood turner, who was called Paul.

This has made for an enjoyable weekend and a good trial run for next weekends Draycott Arts & Gardens Festival, it gave me the chance to put all my work out and see how it looked together, luckily, it looked ok! A few tweaks and it will all look much better.

They also have THE BEST, Beetroot and chocalate cake, which sounds wrong, but tastes soooooo right!

Its well worth a visit when the steam engines are up and running, if not for the noise, then definately for the smell.

Come Home Soon Preview

Tonight was an informal get together at The Arboretum in Derby, Diana Shepherd organised an evening of Poetry, Music and Art in The Orangery as a preview to her exhibition opening. It was a wonderfully hot evening and we made our way to the hub of Derby's more culturally diverse area, rich in smells and tactile colours. The Arboretum is a central point for this eclectic community to meet.

Diana was showing her latest works in Charcoal and Ink, beautifully sensitive drawings hung on the walls, surrounded by the poetry of Stephen Vaughan Williams, who stood up and performed some of his poetry to an accoustic guitar accompaniment.

And in response to the poetry, participants were invited to draw on large sheets of paper in charcoal, I found myself surrounded by people absorbed in drawing images on the walls. It all added up to a very calm, rather surreal atmosphere, an area of serenity nestled amongst all the noise and energy of the park surrounding the Orangery. All in all, a very lovely way to spend an evening.

Jaume Plensa at the YsP

Last Wednesday, I visited a pre private viewing of Jaume Plensa's exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, this was all thanks to keeping a blog, as the invitation came through facebook and was aimed at using social media in a positive way to promote our culture. So having jumped on a train up to Wakefield, then a short bus ride out to the park, we were met by the very silky catalonian who talked about his work. I have to admit to not really hearing the words, just the sounds.

Feeling slightly reminescent of being herded, the group of about 50 tweeters, bloggers, facebookers or whatever social media they connect to the world with, followed the curators and Plensa down to the Longside Gallery, where the bull fight for photos and a few words with the man himself were challenged and consequently won by the more confident with their own words than me. After a short while we wandered into the first gallery where 3 gormley-esque monkeys were positioned on the walls, and the great man bathed us in his charimatic voice, again, didn't really hear the words, just the sounds but the words 'caress' and 'communicate' did stick in my brain... why oh why didn't I record it!!!



If Plensa's voice was chocolate, it would definately be Green & Blacks... But I really should be concentrating on his art...

The art, was a mixture of wonderful sensitivity and text, while inducing the viewer to really think about what the piece means. The sheer size of some of the pieces gives them a sublimity that is breathtaking, while the figures sat holding desperately onto trees invoked a feeling of urgency and determination to grasp out surrounding environment and keep it safe.

There is something very peaceful about Plensas work, it demands quiet contemplation and reverie to enable you to interpret the meaning in a subjective way.

It is definately worth the effort to head up the M1 to the Sculpture Park - http://www.ysp.co.uk/ - while this exhibition is on and spend the day absorbing some wonderful art in the best gallery setting ever. You can also read more on The Culture Vulture blog at http://theculturevulture.co.uk/blog/ for more information on the exhibition.