getting in a spin about leaving a trace

Spin, Ashburnham, 

Spin is a site specific temporary drawing made out of mirror tiles. I wanted to play with the flashing flecks of light reflected from the water nearby and to create something that related to the rotational work I was making in the studio. Spin was subtle and became apparent if you were almost on top of it making it a very personal and intimate outdoor experience. 

I had been thinking of doing something like this for ages but suddenly the moment came and I had to do it, I find this happens a lot and as long as its possible to make the work its best to go with the moment as part of the ongoing process. If this process gets halted for any reason it can be confusing or stifling. Its best to get going and not think too far ahead. 

Where I am working there was a conference due to be held around a creative theme  onsite and so it became a natural response to leave Spin out for this and for me to leave an installation in the studio space where I work so that people could go and visit it and take part in it. So I left Trace, a selection of natural materials in piles with big outdoor brushes for visitors to sweep into circular forms an idea stemming from Ash with brush which I had made a year earlier. 

Ash with Brush, 2014

I invited people to play with the materials and to use the moment to leave their own trace for the next person to develop. I went along during the weekend and was delighted to find a couple of people doing just this. 

 A visitor making work beyond Trace ie inspired to take it a step further by weaving paper on the wall...

When I leave work out like this I always get excited in the preparation but then am left with that awful sinking feeling that it might just be ridiculous, so when I came across real people interacting with Trace I felt a connection which gave me confidence to have faith in my instincts. 

I've accidentally put this into my blog here on blogger but more up to date blogs of mine are to be found on https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/review-15

Shared space residency with Blue Monkey network

I'm in this big big space made up of three spaces connected - there is light and silence. Energy and fear. Blue Monkey shared space residency is at Casson Art School studios, Eastbourne College for two weeks. There are 5 artists working alongside me Angela Smith, Juidth Alder, Sharon Haward, Pat Thornton and Claire Shoosmith.

It's day 3 and my emotions have ranged from arriving in total exhaustion on the first day to a frenzy of energy and excitement - taking risks and feeling at home producing large scale work. There is fear of course that helps keep it turning over. 

I am going through ideas I have been playing out in my mind for a long time now which need a larger environment these include 3 series: contact drawings, ash lines and alteration drawings 

I started with cutting up ash line trace drawings with Roni Horn in the back of my mind, I like her pigment drawings which she cuts up and pieces together meticulously. I am experimenting with the trace drawings to see if they will go any further. 

The first intervention drawing 

I placed paper around the studios and taped it down in order to get going, I made a black pigment brush drawing and then 'shot' the pigment off the edge the result was a lovely trace line of pigment which resonated with the intervention above

The second day was pushing beyond and taking risks I took my socks off and stepped onto the big ash circle trying ballet steps around the paper getting pigment, ash and charcoal all over me and the floor the result was a huge liberating mess! After mopping up I re painted it with gesso.

...and then I put on the rollerblades. Wanting to make contact drawings where the body and weight make marks that are ambitious roller blading across the paper through and over ash was the idea. 

Once I had gained a bit of steadiness by rolling around the studio several times much to the amusement of my fellow artists I started an inline drawing rolling back and forth whilst videoing it holding my phone. It was lots of fun and just what experimental art should be. 

These works are very much a continuation of my interest in the landscape and its inherent materials. Working in Eastbourne very close to the South Downs has a strong relationship with these materials.