Words

The first months of this year have been challenging, so to keep my spirits in good state I've been adopting Jo Dacombe's "Do one thing" strategy, every day I try to do one thing towards improving my situation or extending my artistic practice. Some days I do wish I'd opted for a career writer as trying to make things happen, improve things, get projects under way takes up hours and hours of unpaid time writing. However I am just too literal and my imagination does not run to the twists and turns of crafting  fiction. 

I must also confess that having worked briefly and long ago in Literature Development, the career path of the writer is beset with just as many pitfalls as pleasures and isn't any easier than that of a visual artist. I do find it interesting that no one seems to quibble about a writers daily rate of pay, which seems to be generally more than for visual artists. Do we value the work it takes to write, do we feel safer with the the narrative and value it more than a visual statement?

I do love the powerful richness of words, language, poetry, sentences, communication, I use words in my work either as inspiration or as part of it's content. However some days the sheer effort of will it takes to sit down in a room by myself, in front of a screen and answer questions; which may or may not result in being able to make some work frustrates me. At those times I feel caught in a continual round of exam conditions, writing to time, trying to meet someone else's criteria, wondering 'Have I made myself clear enough, have I understood the question?". At other times I revel in the process, I have ideas, I am excited, the process is fun, the words flow, particularly if I feel there is a good chance of success.

When the field is fallow, work is not plentiful, then I have to do that leap in the dark stuff, spend time applying for things because I need the work, not because I am entirely convinced that success will be mine. I can't just sit in the shed moping, I have to try, I have to make an attempt at changing my predicament. I know the activity of writing down ideas is never really wasted, thinking is good, dreaming is good, even if success is unlikely. 

So the words on my mind are:-

SUCCESS, FAILURE, YES, NO, FORWARDS

Olympic Mosaics in Druids Heath

Just before the end of the Summer Term I had a 6 day residency at Bells Farm Primary School near Birmingham. I was working with Year 6 pupils to help them create 5 mosaic panels as a Legacy Project. Each panel featured the silhouette of a sporting activity on a 1m x 1m board. There were many other activities going on during the week, a  sleep over for Year 6, the school production of The Jungle book, flute practice, sports coaching, art activities and the finishing of work books. Through it all staff and pupils remained lively, active and focussed and were a delight to work with. All the children have wonderful singing voices too and the working days went with a swing!

Outlining

Filling the gaps

Gymnastics

Tennis

Basketball

Football

Athletics

The Held in the Hand Hoard

I’ve been blogging on Undiscovered Networks with artist and collaborator Jo Dacombe for just over a year, as the project has now become more focused I thought it might be good to start a separate Blog to talk about my other projects and to explore other areas of interest

Earlier this year I received a commission from Leicestershire Artworks to make a piece for the second series of Held in the Hand collections. I had seen the Held in the Hand 1 and was excited to be part of the second round of commissions, which had three themes light, sound and movement. My piece was made for the aural collection.

I had worked on a mosaic project for a Festival of Angels in Hallaton, during the making sessions in the village the group told me wonderful stories about an ancient treasure trove that was found in one of the local fields.

Whilst thinking about the Held in the Hand Commission I had a vivid dream about the hoard, imagining holding the coins in my hands, letting them jingle and rattle in my palms, feeling them slipping through my fingers. From this dream my idea for a bag of treasure, which would also be a rattle that could be shaken to make sounds, evolved.

I did some research and went to see the finds in Market Harborough Museum. I was intrigued by the images and markings on the coins, loving their tiny yet tactile qualities. I was interested in the notion that the Held in the Hand boxes might contain things that are precious and from an imagined or undiscovered country.

My piece was inspired by the idea that access to language is a gift, incredibly valuable and that signs and symbols can aid communication, preventing meanings from being buried or obscured. As my ideas developed I needed to create images on the coins that related more closely to the way I draw.

Clay test pieces

Before firing, after firing and bronze coin all made from the same master

There are also some very small, very rough bronze coins, they were meant to be the same size as the silver ones but there was a problem either with the material or the firing. I have included them even though they are imperfect because they remind me of objects that have been worn and eroded by time, pressure and earth.

There are a selection of images on the coins, some drawn from the symbols used in Communication in Print, others represent the changing seasons and our connection with the earth. There is a horse, which refers to an image found on the original treasure and a running dog with a curly tail after my own dog. I hope that the people who handle the coins will use the images on them to create their own stories, invent their own language.

Whilst wrestling with the contents of my ‘hoard’ and struggling to make enough coins to make a suitable amount of noise I started looking at other sorts of rattles. I had seen a small bowl, which was part of the treasure found in Hallaton, I liked the idea of coins falling into the bowl and the noise they would make.

I asked my Dad (a four times retired Heating Engineer) if he had any scrap copper spheres we could fashion into a bowl for my treasure. As is often the case when I go to him with an idea he came back with all sorts of copper fittings and end caps.

Some of these became my second rattle, which also doubles as a series of chimes.

I took them into school and asked some of the children to help me test them out.

Both the rattle and the descending chimes worked well and one young research assistant said “Where can you buy these, can you get them on the Internet?”

I made a pouch to keep the hoard in, constructed out of fabrics with different textures, tea-stained cotton, velvet and silk.

The pouch is decorated with a tree and an assortment of leaves, the exterior is in subtle shades and the interior is a deep red to enhance the shine of the coins within.

The pouch also serves as a rattle when it is shaken

I can't wait to see the other treasures that have been made for the three new boxes and the see what all the other artists involved have created.

For more information about the Held in the Hand Collections

Contact : The Artworks Officer
E-mail :lisa.webb@leics.gov.uk