We’ve recently returned from a holiday in Reykjavík. It was fantastic; a wonderful city. We went on tours around the Golden Circle and to the Blue Lagoon, and made the most of the local geothermal baths as well - there is something absolutely wonderful, and unreal, about sitting in an outdoor pool of water that has been heated by the earth to a cosy 40 degrees Centigrade whilst the air temperature is around 2 degrees. Reykjavík’s legendary nightlife also lived up to it’s reputation!
Here are some photos.
Posted by Rich
The first work to come out of my studio space - my book for Collectible.
Posted by Rich
The book for Collectible gets closer to completion. Here’s a few examples of the pages. I’ve made another 74 today. Next I have to choose 100 out of the 118 that I’ve made and bind them into a book.
BTW the yellow/orange one is going to be the cover.
Posted by Rich
I started work today on a new piece of work for the show ‘Collectible’. I’m gradually getting used to the idea of having a space to work in, so today I got stuck in making a mess.
I’m making a hand-bound book version of the Resonant Forms pieces. Today I made 44 pages. Not bad for a days work.
Posted by Rich
I’ve just finish an intensive three day action research project in West Bromwich looking at linking the High Street to the beautiful Dartmouth Park. Myself and five other artists spent some time exploring the route, meeting with various folk and brainstorming ideas for artworks which could be created to highlight and enhance the journey from the High Street to the park.
West Bromwich is under-going major regeneration works at the moment - mostly due to Europe’s largest Tesco being built on a site that is pretty much the same size as the adjacent town centre. A previous ‘regeneration’ saw a dual carriage-way bypass (the A41) cut through between the town and the park making it difficult to get to - which is something the Tesco development hasn’t really taken into account. The above plan shows the routes that I have plotted that lead to the three bridges that span the bypass providing the only access from the town. This plan is post-Tesco, by the way.
I went on a walk to all three bridges to see what it was like to make the journey. It was confusing. Granted the development is currently in progress but the routes to the north and middle bridges will be fairly similar as there is not much scope for going through the site even after it is completed. I started off trying to get to the north bridge via the roundabout but found it impassable due to the works taking place. I followed the edge of the site to make my way to the bridge. It felt like the hoarding was guiding me - particularly due to the red stripe along the top edge which drew my eye.
So I developed a scheme of strips which would wind there way through the streets above head height, leading you from the centre of the high street to the bridges, following the routes I had mapped on the plan. They would not be continuous - they would break for road junctions, and also not span the complete length of a street, so you would see the next section over or down the road and know which way to go. And of course they wouldn’t hover magically in the air! We were so pressed for time I wasn’t able to draw supports in - but I envisage a very simple square column with a 45degree arched top and a plate to which the strips would be bolted or riveted.
The colour comes from the Broom, the plant that West Bromwich is named after - it’s domesday book reference describing it as ‘the little village on the heath of broom’.
I also felt I was on the right track when Johnny (one of the other artists involved) and I found the boat. It’s the last surviving boat from when boating was allowed on the park’s lake (something which may be returning). The boat is in a state of disrepair but had recently been repainted a wonderful yellow. I really like these kinds of coincidences.
I was looking for a symbol or form that could represent the park in the High Street at the beginning of the trail, and my initial thoughts for this were to find out what the draw is at the park - what brings people to it?. The boating used to be the thing that people went to the park for so, for the purposes of the presentation I used the idea of the boat. Some kind of sculpture based on the boat would sit at this point with the curving strips emanating from it, bringing a part of the park into the town and guiding the way.
There is more to add to this project - I even had in mind a scheme for the three bridges - but we simply ran out of time. It was a great experience - a very exciting way to kick off the development of a project. Hopefully this won’t be the end of it.
Posted by RichI came away from OpenAIR with mixed feelings. On one hand it was great to see a whole load of AIR members all eager to find out how we can help one-another and how we can affect change for artists for the better. On the other hand, it was confusing and seemed to lack a clear direction.
The speakers were excellent - it was a really good idea to get non-artists who specialised in engineering change to give us ideas about how to motivate ourselves and other people. However, it would’ve been good to hear from the AIR council about what they were planning. Admittedly part of the day was about trying to find out what we wanted them to help us with, but even that seemed a little rudderless: our break-out session apparently had a theme (or themes) but these were never really made clear, and some of us felt confused as to what it was we were meant to be discussing. When mentioning this we still didn’t really get a clear answer and it felt like we were talking around a subject as opposed to about it.
What were we trying to affect change for? Artists face so many problems - many of which aren’t purely artist’s problems but problems faced by many in the current financial climate. Points were raised about whether we were focussing on being artists solving problems for artists or artists working more generally for the greater good (a notion I think genuinely worth pursuing).
As usual I didn’t really think of what I wanted to say until afterwards - I had so many half-formed questions buzzing around my head that never really amounted to actual responses at the time. I left feeling like I hadn’t really taken full advantage of the event - I could’ve asked more things, I could’ve suggested more ideas. I do have a view on the situation but I feel that I haven’t worked it out yet. Perhaps I should’ve taken Carrie Bishop’s advice and not wait until it is all resolved, polished and packaged, but share it now because you think it’s a good idea and you’re excited by it - and then through sharing you can resolve any problems or stumbling blocks.
So what’s my idea?: I’m interested in how we can change people’s perception of art through the art itself; make a case for the importance of art by making art itself more important. This would involve (I think) a significant, but slow, alteration of how art is presented and perceived. I get the feeling today that there is a general slump in the quality of culture - at a later date I’m planning a large rant about the dangers of nostalgia, the proliferation of ‘photographers’ and the problems with the term ‘artist’, but that’s a whole other thing. To cut it short: I don’t think art does itself many favours at the moment. There are a lot people calling themselves ‘artists’ that produce work which creates ammunition for the ‘art is a waste of money’ brigade. I’m not saying that this work is not necessary or important - I don’t believe in censorship of the arts, I don’t believe in telling people what they should or shouldn’t make and how they should or shouldn’t work - but sometimes you are shooting yourself in the foot by making work that, rather than challenging people, physically puts them off art.
One of the delegates said ‘Artists think differently’ - I disagree with this and I think this is also a dangerous route for artists. Everyone thinks differently. The danger lies in perpetuating the idea that artists are ‘different’ and ‘special’. If we continue this I don’t think that we can overcome the particular prejudices that cause people to be negative about art: that it is not for them, that they won’t understand it, that it is a waste of money. Artists are just people who, like many other people, can be very dedicated to what they do. By setting ourselves apart to such a degree we risk appearing like we want special treatment, which in these straitened times is also going to make people wary of our value.
Can 17000 artists work together to create work which makes a case for art? We don’t really have to change what we do that much - just bear in mind how our work is perceived and work cleverly to instill something within it that adds another weight to the scales to tip the balance in our favour.
As I mentioned earlier this idea is not fully formed, but I think it’s got legs.
Posted by Rich
