The Art House Co Op Chronicle Project - The Day

The Art House Co Op Chronicle Project - recording my chosen 24 hours. Initially I thought I would I choose the Miles & Dacombe Light Walk day at Sywell Country Park as we would be taking lots of photographs and making a map. But then it seemed a bit lazy to record the event twice so I decided to chronicle the 24 hours from 12 pm May 4th - 12 pm May 5th. May 5th saw us making a day trip to see relatives in Stoke-on-Trent. I noted down times and events but not thoughts or emotions to use as the starting point for my Chronicle artwork.

Chronicle in notes and images

Sleeping

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 23:00 to 01:30

Continue sleeping

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 01:30 to 02:00

Still sleeping

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 02:00 to 03:00

Dog wants to look at the moon

(it may not be this exact moon)

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 03:00 to 03:30

waiting for dog to finish moonlight garden ramble 

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 03:30 to 04:00

back to bed

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 04:00 to 04:30

Check email on phone

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 04:30 to 05:00

Check Twitter & Facebook

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 05:00 to 05:30

Sleep

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 05:30 to 06:30

Wake, bathroom, coffee, bed, internet

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 06:30 to 07:30

Feed dog

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 07:30 to 08:00

Shower, wash hair, dress, assemble gifts

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 08:00 to 09:15

Drop dog off at parents house

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 09:15 to 09:45

Join A14 - I am the passenger

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 09:45 to 10:15

Reading The Pleasures of English Food, watching cloud

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 10:15 to 11:00

A50 Services before derby Turn off. Coffee. 

Magazine. Buy miniature Rosebush

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 11:00 to 11:30

Rejoin A50 heading for Stoke-on-Trent

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 11:30 to 12:15

Passing Britainnia Stadium - 

ring Andrew's parents to explain late arrival 

of fish and chip lunch

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 12:15 to 12:45

Packmoor - David's Chip Shop. 

Cat on a lead on a wall. 

view of Mow Cop from Chip Shop window.

 Millenium Breathing space garden and Millennium Throne

(artist on the project Phil Hardaker)

Finches and sparrows investigate plants

and perch on satellite cables. 

Explore remains of terraced street life. Breath in. scheduled 5 May 2012 from 12:45 to 13:30

Arrive at the inlaws to have lunch scheduled 5 May 2012 from 13:30 to 14:15

The rest of the boyz arrive

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 14:15 to 15:00

Talking in the back room

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 15:00 to 15:30

take family snaps, say goodbyes

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 15:30 to 16:15

Visit Trentham Gardens - shopping, eat pie, buy new lime green shoes in the sale

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 16:15 to 17:00

Leave Stoke head out to A50. As I am not 

driving I read the Pleasures of Engish Food again which is strangely engrossing

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 17:00 to 17:30

Stop at A50 services to stretch legs, have a break

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 17:30 to 18:00

Rejoin A50 heading home

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 18:00 to 18:30

Join M1 road getting pretty busy

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 18:30 to 19:00

Join A14

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 18:45 to 19:15

Collect Charlie Whippet from my parents. 

Have tea and chat about the day.

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 19:15 to 19:45

Arrive home, unpack, check emails, 

make coffee, download photos

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 19:45 to 20:30

Make food

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 20:30 to 21:00

Watch back to back episodes of The Bridge

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 21:00 to 23:00

Watch unremarkable TV programmes

scheduled 5 May 2012 from 23:00 to 23:30

Bed

scheduled for 5 May 2012 at 23:45 to 6 May 2012 at 00:45

Snibston CPD Inspirations - Pipes & Ducting

This set of images were taken on my second visit to Snibston, on my day of collecting connections. In my mind there is a visual link between the ducting, what travels trough the pipes, the idea of internal and external spaces, expansiveness and confinement which is leading me back to corsets, bustles and bottle cages as sculptural forms.

Drawing

During a few brief moments October I gave myself permission to draw, I have been heavily involved with Back To Books Big Draw activities at the Cube in Corby. The Family Drawing Days were great fun, with a steady stream of adults and children coming to make drawings in and around the building.

 This is an uncannily accurate portrait of me by Oscar Cullinan!

As it had been quite some time since I'd allowed myself the pleasure of drawing I just made quick sketches in between the activity of others, trees in the car park, pebbles on the roof, people sitting waiting for a bus, a family exploring the view from the top of the spiral staircase.

I wasn't trying to be accurate, I just wanted to enjoy the soft bite of the pencil on paper, the longer it is between one drawing and another, the more timid one is likely to become, that's why the Big Draw is such a life enhancing proposition and it really does encourage all sorts of people to pick up some sort of drawing equipment and start making a mark. 

It allows you to go back to the joy of looking, thinking and exploring what is seen and felt in the bustling world around us, tracing the shapes people make inside the space.

During half term we visited Compton Verney  spending a really enjoyable day walking in the gardens and visiting the exhibitions. There was an exhibition "Larger Than Life" of work commissioned by hospitals, made by Quentin Blake. The Circus series was a wonderful set of images created for an older adult's mental health ward depicting a range of older people showing off their circus skills to younger participants, a lovely way of exploring age and skill, youth and experience, fun and games. It was also great to see the real marks and washes on the paper, reproduction doesn't entirely capture the energy and humour, or the way colour and form are captured inside well practised lines & marks.

There were Big Draw activities throughout the building and the most fabulous exhibition of the history of fireworks and fire festivals, I love graphic design and the packaging and posters were gorgeous. Another exhibition made a host of fascinating juxtapositions between artworks from their British Folk Art Collection which has been cleverly placed in amongst other collections and peppered throughout the building. The artists involved included:-Tasha Amini, James Ayres, Daniel Baker, Sir Peter Blake, Sonia Boyce, Faye Claridge, Simon Costin, Jeremy Deller, Carolyn Flood, Jenny Gordon, Antonia Harrison, Susan Hiller, Juneau Projects, Alan Kane, Paula MacArthur, Mike Nelson, Martin Myrone, Paul Ryan and Sarah Woodfine.

Artist Laura Ellen Bacon is currently Maker in Residence and has made these intriguing structures amongst the trees in the gardens.

In the same week The Fishmarket Gallery in Northampton was a hive of activity as artists took part in interventions and activities for Northampton's Light Night Run. Artist and Queen of Cup Cakes, Tamsyn Payne offered artists the opportunity to make a sketch using EL wire. I made four small heads which were sited outside the Royal & Derngate (for one night only and they mysteriously disappeared) but here's a very very short clip of them blinking!

When I dropped the pieces off at the Fishmarket I had a chance to see The Seven Spires by Steve Massam which had been visiting many parts of the county as part of Northamptonshire's Cultural Olympiad project "Flow". 

The were land locked in the small courtyard outside, soaking up the weak October light and dreaming of their travels along the Nene.

I was reminded of Steve Massam's Spires when I spied the roof line of the St Pancras Hotel from the courtyard of the British Library during our Pilgrimage to London. We took a brief tour of the Treasures From the British Library after an inspiring day in the British Museum.

There had been so much publicity about Grayson Perry's "The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman" I was worried that it might not live up to to all the praise. It was totally a totally fabulous exhibition and I think I might just need to go and see it again. The thought behind the selections, the clever balance of artefacts, the energy and intelligence of the artist combined with the sensitivity and humour of the texts made this a filling, thought-provoking day. Oh yes, and there was lots of drawing - on pots and from history. Luscious!