Happy Apple Day!

Some apples found and purchased from the orchard at Woolsthorpe Manor, the home of Sir Isaac Newton yesterday. The variety is called The Flower of Kent is a cooking apple and apparently tastes good in a pie! 

An older apple walk

Apple Day

An apple article

Compass

During October Beacon Arts presented an exhibition of four new commissions at three heritage sites in rural Lincolnshire: Woolsthorpe Manor; Grimsthorpe Castle and Ayscoughfee Hall. International artists Jordan Baseman, Amanda Coogan, Jem Finer and Bethan Huws drew on the particularities of Lincolnshire to create new artworks. Amanda Coogan worked with seven emerging artists selected from a national open call to create a performance piece at Ayscoughfee Hall that took place as part of the guided excursion only.  Amelia Beavis-Harrison, Joana Cifre-Cerda, Robert Foster, Laura Mahony, Julieann O'Malley, Hestia Peppe, Sally Anne Roberts. 

Hestia Peppe - Ayscoughfee Hall

I went on the coach trip during Saturday October 20th and was reminded of Ceila Fiennes book Through England on a Side Saddle. With this in mind I decided to use the camera in my phone and variety of editing apps as a means of sending myself a set of postcards made during the day.  By using the apps I felt I was embracing some of the spirit of the Marcel Duchamps 'Ready Mades', as the technology was ready made and the images formulaic. The colours and style have a deliberately pseudo vintage look and my cue for this was largely taken from Jem Finer's space travelling mini-caravan. On my return I wrote the words to accompany the postcards. The journey, the properties, the art / artists and the incredible ticket price (£7.50) made it a hugely enjoyable day which posed many questions and delivered on many levels. 

The last tours take place 27/28 October Details and to Book

You can read the postcards in the posts below.
Postcards - WoolsthorpeManor
Postcards - Grimsthorpe Castle
Postcards - Ayscoughfee Hall

Saying Yes

No was the first word I learnt to say and in many ways I've been battling against the inner No ever since. So when I was invited by artist Sophie Cullinan to become a Sockateer I said yes - having very little notion of what I was saying yes to! Sophie is blogging about the project on the A N website and if you click the project title below you can trace my socks' journey before it arrived with me.

MULTICOLOURED SOCK SWAP (Reciprocal Reactions)

By: the sockateers

Wholly holey sock continuum consortia.

Posting postal parlance.

Sock protocol and manifesto created by Elena Thomas and Sophie Cullinan.

Mathematical Advice from Dan Thomas MSci MA (Cantab)

Apparently I am Sockateer C and here is the Dinosaur sock after my additions. Being quite a literal thinker I was out there running around in pre-historic forests filled with exotic, imaginary flowers; the textile and stitch additions are a handful of those blooms, some impressed with dinosaur footprints.

I've attached copper tags which hint at the dinosaurs demise and where we might find their remains now. The tags say Bones Under Earth, which reminds me of Kathy Page's novel The Find and of trips to museums as a child, especially as this is a child's sock. I love the fact that this collaboration is'nt dependent upon grants or funding, as grants and funding in the current climate lead to more noes than yeses and tend to create a pause in creativity. We spend hours of unpaid time thinking and planning, writing and scheming and there are benefits that come from taking an idea for a walk. We can't get paid for everything we want to do, but events like this inspire me to keep doing, rather than just think about doing! I'm intrigued to see what will happen next, will I get another sock, will I remain Sockateer C, where will the maths come in, what will I manage to excavate next............

Playing Tag

 As  a treat after all the hard work entails in moving from my former studio to my new space at the bottom of my garden, I attended a wonderful workshop at Unit Twelve Gallery, 'Found Object Jewellery' lead by artist Lucie Elsie Harvey. The 'Found' exhibition featured some of her jewellery , but do check her website as she has been involved in projects which explore objects, especially those held  in a museum context, in unique ways. 

Lucy's work is wonderfully poetic and she was a totally inspiring tutor, the day left my mind whirring with possibilities for some of the other bits and pieces I have and would like to use, I also started thinking about new projects. 

Before the workshop we were encouraged to bring our own treasures and found objects and here are two brooches I made on the day incorporating some of the many hoarded objects in my possession ie:-

Mother of pearl Mahjong counters, an acorn that may have been part of a hat pin, a brass tassel, an amethyst bead, a jet bead, a glass bead.

As I love incorporating words in my work I really enjoyed using the copper tags and letter punches available during the workshop day.

Once back home and installed in my work space, I was lucky enough to receive a set of punches and a tiny anvil as a gift and I've been making a new set of multiples which I hope to make available very soon. 

Medalling with words

Playing Tag

I have decided that since my relocation, I'm now a Shednologist and am finding this new / old space is quite a good place to work. I need to get the power situation sorted as the light days are fast disappearing - I'd love to be "off grid" practicing "bespoke up-cycling" like Kevin McCloud but at the moment I'm just about "on extension lead". I'm sharing the space with spiders-to-be and earwigs, but have had the pleasure of viewing my garden and watching the many Dragonflies dart past the windows. I'm busy working towards end events for two collaborative projects, some making has happened in the shed, as well as plenty of PPD - Plotting. Planning. Dreaming.

AirSpace - A Dérive

A Saturday dérive to the AirSpace Gallery and Yarden in Hanley, where I saw a lovely tent by Kate Lynch, heard a great talk about an Artists Retreat to Lower Parkamoor at Grizedale Arts. 

Inspiring and thought provoking day.

Come and See!

I'm displaying some of my felt vessels on Level 2, The Cube. George Street, Corby so if you are in the building please do come and have a look. They will be on display for 3 months from today. If you can't get to the venue you can see more detailed shots of each vessel in this Flickr Set. Someone who saw me putting the work on display said "It's surprising, the longer you look, the more you see. Enjoy!

Unexpected Bounty

with my Rushden foraging guide Carolyn Bantin

As part of the Light Walks for Dark Days project I'm doing with Jo Dacombe in Kettering, Wellingborough, Finedon and Rushden I have been out foraging for wild and home grown produce to cook up with our walking group.

Damsons in Rushden

Luminous blush, wind fallen fruits

Nestle in moss and ivy

Succulent jewels

Rosehips in Corby and Kettering

Hard red berries on thorny branches

Glow against Paynes Grey sky

 Ageing grasses

Elderberries popped from stems with 

Silver forks, cordial in progress

Purple fingers and thumbs

Blackberries sweet from twilight bushes

Explode fat with juice and joy

Unexpected bounty

Crab Apples, sweeter than most

Many red and fallen

Sunday spoils

You can read about our adventures in cooking and bottling here