light and structure

Yesterday we began our three week Unitas Summer Arts College project with the Wakefield YOT at The Hepworth Wakefield. We are getting to know each other, testing boundaries, finding inspiration, trying new things and beginning a journey that will culminate in a celebration and exhibition opening on the 4th September 2013.

art pod

I've been busy working away on a series of new activities for the Hepworth Gallery Art Pod. The pods, situated in the galleries, encourage children and their families to explore the collection and create stitched, drawn, collaged, spoken, 2D and 3D responses.  

if i keep doing what i've always done...

I’ve been pottering and thinking and waiting.

During some stressful times of late sewing has been a refuge, making, mending and altering calming my mind and helping me gain balance. I’m conscious that this sewing is not ‘work’, its a place of treading water and I want to embrace this, but as a person for whom ‘doing’ and ‘being’ overlap I can easily end up feeling lost and unsure. So... deep breaths.

This year has been special in that I’ve allowed myself time to think. If I keep doing what I’ve always done, I’ll keep getting what I’ve always got. What will happen if I become conscious around this? Right now this is feeling pretty uncomfortable in terms of self identification, who am I? Who could I be? What’s important?

I’m about to spend the whole of August putting my energies into others, working on the family programme and the Unitas Summer Arts College with young offenders at The Hepworth Wakefield. I’m ready to be drawn out of my pondering and focus on others responses and needs.

Finding a balance, isn’t that something we are all striving for?

I’ll be posting about the Summer Arts College as we progress, working towards a celebration event and exhibition in early September - so watch this space.

watch this space

At the beginning of May I moved into my studio at Blackhorse Lane Studios, E17. It's been so great to unpack my inspirations, materials and equipment and begin to think about what might come next.

celebration

People flocked to the Mint Street Adventure Playground last saturday to celebrate the consultation process for the potential transformation of this vibrant and loved interior space. The Building Exploratory commissioned me to work with the children who vitalise, ignite and give meaning to this space to express their ideas and inform potential changes. See here and here for my previous posts on my Mint Street adventure.

We worked with families, challenging the children to create a diorama of an interior they would like to spend time in. With a range of card, paper, textures, stickers and glue they got to work inventing places to socialise and relax in. Some spaces included complex structures to climb on, most included movable walls to create temporary sections within the space. These inventive interiors can adapt to the needs of the moment. A living space, a responsive space. 

All day long my workshop was full of making, testing, sharing. I got to spend time with some familiar faces and meet new families. A perfect day. 

We are ready!

 Sisters working together

 A toddlers contribution

A suggested interior

craft and social change

Norwegian Crafts hosted their second London conference which examined crafts contribution to shaping society. Craft and Social Change was a thought provoking day and a half with a succession of fascinating speakers. In the days since I've been observing what thoughts have been triggered and what ideas keep returning. The speaker who seems to have lodged in my brain is Irene Nygardsvik, she trained as an economist but couldn't act in a way that traditional economic theory dictated, i.e, to get the most output with the least input. Irene feels this kind of thinking takes away love and she proposes A Humanistic Economy Based on Generosity and Dignity. She believes we are entering an era where it is time to get lost, explore and create playful and creative relations.

What resonated for me was the poetic notion of 'the soil of the soul'. A place within each of us where while engaged in a particular activity we are in flow, lit up, inspired and most US. She believes you can sense when another has been into the soil of their soul, when you read their words, see their work, hear their music and can tell they found gold. What I particularly enjoyed was the idea suggested by Irene that human beings are 'a wandering measuring tool of quality' and goosebumps are the sign from our intuition and emotions that we have found quality. Always take notice of your goosebumps!

A decade ago during my MA show at Goldsmiths College, London, I received a compliment I've never forgotten. Someone told me the hairs had stood up on their arms when they walked into my installation, the piece (a slide projection in a dark space of the image below) had bypassed their intellect and registered with their primitive brain. Yes yes yes.

Theres No Place Like Home, 2003

When speaking of the soil of the soul, Irene shared this poem by Jon Fosse.

Let the rain pour
Let the sun see
Let the wind blow
Let my heart beat

edges and boundaries

See fabrication post for details and images from my first session at Mint Street Adventure Playground on friday 5th April. The overriding memory from this session was that the girls (mostly) created the spaces and the boys settled into the spaces and played computer games. The girls then went on to create a girl only space in which they sat quietly and thoughtfully considered words to physically and emotionally describe the interior they had created.

The second session on wednesday 10th April had a different feel. This week issues around boundary, respect and rules came to the foreground. Passwords and knocking before entering were required, rules about who was allowed entry and who was barred. This led to some conflict and a few disagreements and tears. 

With my encouragement the space was in constant flux, remaining open to change, unmade and remade. For some children this was challenging as they became attached to their space and wanted it to remain static. Engaging children new to the activity into making alterations and expressing their ideas was hard on some of the previous creators who's spaces were dismantled in the process. It was a tightrope that needed to be walked. 

Boys unpacking and getting ready for play

A sunny day at last

Intriguing installation  

 Great image captured by Millie

Unmake, remake

Reflecting

Word Cloud created from the children's writing about their spaces