Blog 64

These last three months here in Portugal have been quiet but busy. I continued hand sewing squares of patterned fabric together using the English Paper Piecing method as described in my last Blog 63. I do enjoy the process but was dissatisfied with the results. My hand stitching just doesn't look neat enough!

I made up some samples on the sewing machine as a comparison and they were better which leaves me questioning where can hand sewing as a process and 'style' fit into my practice?

I would like two or three processes of making by hand that I can switch between, and to balance the use of different skills and experiences that come with each method. The search goes on.

In my last Blog 63 I wrote about the upcoming group show with Plastic Propaganda that was about to happen in London December 2016. I am delighted to share with you some photos from that show.

Detail of my work taken in my studio before the exhibition.

My work in situ at St Katherine Docks London.

'Untitled' Fishing Wire November 2016.

Approximately 120 x 180cm.

For more images of artists work that was exhibited in this group show see:

Plastic Propaganda Exhibition - 'The Thames The Artery Of London'

Putting patchwork and sewing to one side I decided to pursue more knitting using nylon wire and I am enjoying the results so far.

Knitted Nylon (Fishing) Wire.

My favourite is the very thin black nylon wire. The knitting is almost weightless. When you hold it in your hands it feels like nothing is there, except the sensation of the tangle of thread. I have ordered some more of this wire to make a bigger piece. If you catch the sunlight right it makes the knitting sparkle, and in the breeze the piece gently moves about. How do I interpret that into an exhibition setting?

Knitted Black Nylon Wire.

Knitted Black Nylon Wire (Same piece).

This photo does not do it justice as it does to the naked eye. The piece practically sparkles and flickers in the sunlight.

Knitted Black Nylon Wire (Same piece) on white background. 

The white background accentuates the thread's shadows. In this photograph it looks like a drawing. The 3 dimensional melding into the 2 dimensional.

Do you remember my black mohair wool that I was using in February 2016? Take a look here Blog 58 The black nylon wire I have just knitted with is similar.

Black Mohair wool unravelled from it's ball. February 2016.

These black thread works remind me of my bubble paintings that I was creating back in 2008.

Me at work creating the bubble painting installation.

Bubble Ink Painting on Erased Photograph 25 x 20cm 2008.

Bubble Ink Painting on Erased Photograph 25 x 20cm 2008.

I have been looking at artists online who work with thread. At least half of them are Japanese, an interesting observation. Agano Machiko, Chiharu Shiota, Asako Ishizaki, Atsuko Yamamoto. What could be my take on thread and knitting?

By chance I started free form knitting with some of the nylon wire. With the stiff structure of the wire and this abstract form of knitting process I have been able to create a more structured three dimensional object. It was a bit of a 'wow' moment for me. I knit for meditative and relaxing purposes, row after row, same stitch, repetitively. With free form knitting I am constantly alert, having to make conscious decisions on where to stitch next. It is lively and quite a different experience to what I am used to with knitting. Hey, knitting as subject with two different processes and two different experiences!

Free Form Knitted Nylon (Fishing) Wire.

I have recently read "The Language of Sculpture" by William Tucker. In the book the author describes the sculptures of certain famous artists and the context in historical terms of their development. As says in the title of the book "The Language of Sculpture", the author's text provides me with key sculptural type words that can trigger descriptions and thought processes for my own work that I am making. Things to think about such as: volume, gravity, animation, illusion, perspective, density, 'drawing in space', balance, light, weight... I have ordered some books from the Henry Moore series "Essays on Sculpture" to hopefully expand on my ideas.

As regards to the spinning project that Shawn and I are developing, progress has been slow. We have had trouble sourcing an environmentally friendly finish to protect our spinning wheel wood. This has now arrived and the assembly of the wheel can finally begin. We have washed our sheeps fleeces and purchased our carders. They come in pairs and look a bit like combs that you would use to brush your hair. You use both of them to brush each strand of fibre so that it lays straight and in the same direction, before you start the spinning process. We have a lot to do!

Unwashed Portuguese Merino sheep fleece ready to be trimmed before washing.

Romney sheep fleece - washing in progress.

Romney sheep fleece drying on the washing line.

Shortly Shawn and I will be in France for a house-sit, looking after two cats and two dogs. During our stay I would like to spend some time looking at my website and I would welcome constructive feedback on what you think about my website as it is at the moment. Take a look here: www.emmamoodysmith.com

I will also take some more knitting and sewing with me and some books to read. The creative process goes on!

Blog 63

These last ten weeks Shawn and I have been on a epic tour of Europe snaking our way from Portugal through Spain, France, England, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, France, Spain then back into Portugal. We are very nearly home. It is but a brief visit, a driving tour through each place, a taster, and there are some countries we definitely would like to return to.

I have been reading a book called 'Untitled for Ladies An Anthology of Women Travellers' by Jane Robinson. It is a collection of tales from women who have written about their experiences of travelling from the 18th, 19th and 20th century. From the desire for adventure and the unknown to the call of duty or to escape, the stories tell it all. For some it is a pilgrimage. I have read of giving birth, being ill or injured, to the death of loved ones en route. Stories of local customs, weird and wonderful food, dress code and the weather, the epic and the mundane. I am enjoying the book the more I read of it.

As we headed north, I wanted to start knitting again. Having learned about the benefits of knitting for health and well being in my last Blog 62, I knew I had a stressful bit of our trip coming up and hoped this activity would give me some focus and be relaxing as well. Seeing what stash of thread I had in our van I decided to start knitting with fishing wire again, this time larger scale.

At about the same time a brief came through for a show with the artists group Plastic Propaganda and I felt my knitting fitted this brief and applied for the show. I am very pleased to say that my fishing wire artwork has been selected and will be presented as part of this exhibition. It will be from the 4th  - 18th December at St Katherine Docks in London. Do go along and see the work of this dynamic group if you are able to.

Here are some photos of my work in progress:

And here are the details of the show:

                                                     

The exhibition is a collection of artists responses to the River Thames in London. Here is my statement and what I have to say:

Emma Moody-Smith's practice explores the process of making. Taking some fishing wire from her stash of unused materials she decides to knit with it. The wire is troublesome, twisting and twirling in all directions, yet it creates beautiful swirls like ripples in a river. Moody-Smith is not concerned with her stitching mishaps, choosing to let the flow of the thread and rhythm of her knitting find its own course. In a state of continuing flux, the work gradually winds itself from one end to the other.

I started knitting and crocheting with fishing wire back when we were living on the Isle of Mull. I cannot believe it was the summer of 2013. I wrote a blog about it in June 2013. Here is the link: Blog 39

Back to our travels, and when we were in England I had the pleasure of attending a workshop on English Paper Piecing. I thoroughly enjoyed it. English Paper Piecing is a method of hand sewing shapes of fabric together using thin card as a support for the fabric, from which you stitch each patchwork shape together to form a cloth. It is a process of making which I have been keen to explore since I made the patchwork quilt for our settee in 2015. I have been gradually building my knowledge of patchwork and quilting ever since then.

I want to blend my life and the work I do as an artist closer together. Knitting and being part of the exhibition in London and achieving this whilst travelling is a perfect example of how I would like my life and art practice to develop. I want to make artwork that uses less the formality of studio table / art space and more something that I can pick up, literally, as and when I want and need to. I am a maker, I like working with my hands, and more and more it seems I lean towards textiles.

I have started hand piecing squares of patterned fabric together. At the moment I am looking at this process from an experiential point of view. I would like to see how different geometric shapes fit together and how visually our eyes register and explore pattern. Will the joins of the fabric or different lay of the weave of the fabric mess with our eyes when we look at pattern?

Whilst we were in England I visited the 'Abstract Expressionism' show in London at the Royal Academy gallery and I particularly liked the work by Ad Reinhardt. One of his paintings looked like a single black rectangle, yet on closer inspection, you could see it was made up of a number of black rectangles, very very subtle. I watched people's responses in the gallery space. Some viewers gasped when they realised the plural of the black rectangle whilst others walked straight passed. Some viewers were intrigued, others disappointed. Could I achieve something like this through the method of hand sewn patchwork fabric?

Back in May 2016 (Blog 59) I wrote about Sergej Jensen who's work I had seen in April at the White Cube Gallery in London. His 'Moneybags' series is made up of recycled cloth bank bags sewn together like patchwork to form a canvas, some of which he painted onto, others he didn't. That's when I had had an "oh yes" moment.

In my last Blog 62 I wrote about the five fleeces that we had sheared on the small holding where we have been staying in Portugal this year. Shawn and I took the fleeces back to England with us and arranged for a spinner in Lincolnshire to spin them into yarn. We spent some time with her and she generously showed us how to clean, card and spin wool. We became hooked on the process and after a lot of discussion decided to buy a spinning wheel of our own. It is an early Christmas present.

Shawn and I want to explore the possibilities of what wool can do for us. I want to see what can the spinning wheel do for us as a piece of kit. I am also keen to discover the holistic side of spinning, its meditative and rhythmic process. It is said to be a whole body experience using hand, eye, feet and brain coordination. Our spinner in Lincolnshire said that in her first year of spinning, she nearly threw the spinning wheel out of the window in disgust. Let's see how we get on! This is a joint project with Shawn my partner, our first collaboration together creatively, for each of us to find our part with it.

Well a lot has happened these last ten weeks and a lot has happened creatively, much more than I expected. I am very pleased. I recently was sent a tweet by artist Simon Fell linking me to an article he had written on the a-n The Artists Information Company website. Titled 'The Creative Cycle'  Simon endeavours to define the creative process and his own experience of it. It is very good, I can relate to a lot of what he is saying. Here is the link: 'The Creative Cycle' by Simon Fell

Shawn and I are very nearly back to where we started our journey in central Portugal. We will be stopping here for a while. We are both tired having travelled nearly four and a half thousand miles through ten different countries in a short space of time and I am looking forward to cracking on with making.

Blog 62

These last few weeks Shawn and I have been away house sitting for a couple further north in Portugal. It has been an enlightening experience helping to bring perhaps more clarity to how our own lives might develop.

Our hosts are very inspirational people, he a poet, she a writer, with creativity being at the core of their existence. Very focused, they work hard, yet make time for relaxation. They have always tried things out, and take on board the mistakes they make on the way. They are calm, which is a quality I need within my life. 

We had some good conversations. For many years he questioned 'What is the point?'. I think that has been my question too. Whilst in the past it may have been negative, 'What is the point?' with a groan, I think more and more I ask now 'What is the point?' as a line of enquiry. 

Having created ourselves an 'alternative' life as such, different from the expected norm, he felt it was easy to 'drop out'. I slightly disagree with that. It is not easy for people to 'drop out', some just cannot do it, may have family commitments, financial constraints etc. What he did say, was that it is harder to 'drop back in', to find your place in the world, under your own steam and with your own revised beliefs. I definitely agree with that, and I think that is where my problems lie at the moment. Having spent quite some time 'away from it all', I think I would like to 'drop back in' now, only a little mind you, but I don't know where I could 'drop back in' and in what form? We discussed 'form' coming up with no definitive answers, but that is the exciting bit for me to work at and find out. It could take a life time. 

Our hosts are very interested in traditional or ancient methods of making and productivity and for a few years they ran their own weaving business, he making simple functioning contemporarily designed wooden looms and she weaving on these looms. They very generously shared their knowledge with us. 

Our host where we live mostly, further down in Portugal, has five sheep and back in June this year they had their yearly shearing of their woollen coats. It was one of the best days we have spent here and I could have listened to the shearer talking about his passion for sheep and wool for hours. We have five fleeces ready to clean and spin into yarn.

Shearing in action.

Shearing in action.

Shearing in action.

Five fleeces ready for cleaning and spinning into yarn.

Five happy sheep munching their way back onto the land.

The shearer's felt shoes he wears for shearing. I love them and want a pair...

Our weaving hosts have recommended I try a peg loom to weave the un - spun fleece into fabric. Shawn has made the loom and I now need to weave the fleece.

Hand - made peg loom, ready for me to weave some un - spun sheep fleece.

I have also been trying out weaving with a cardboard loom, just some square samples to see what this weaving method feels and looks like. I am enjoying the process and it is something I could do whilst on the move, a mobile creative activity. 

Cardboard loom weaving samples.

Another mobile creative activity is knitting, and I have recently read a book on the therapeutic qualities of knitting for health and well being called 'Knit for Health & Wellness: How to knit a flexible mind & more...' by Betsan Corkhill. Knitting can be a form of meditation and the author recommends having a range of knitting projects on the go at any one time to fit your moods and feelings in the moment. Perhaps it could be an intricate project that needs your full attention or a project where you don't have to think at all, 'just' knit. It could be a mobile 'bag' project to take out with you and work on whilst you are out. A long term knitting project gives you something to aim for, a goal in mind and a tool for enjoying the process.

The author references a book about hands called 'The Hand: How Its Use Shapes the Brain, Language and Human Culture' by Frank R. Wilson, and I have since discovered another book called 'Hands: What We Do With Them - and Why' by Darian Leader. These two books I have put on my wish list for future reads, linked to my interest in the subject and process of making.

I have been looking back at Blog 58 , revisiting my knitting I was doing back then. How could I take my knitting further?

I said on my last Blog 61 , that I am thinking about the idea of a writing course, finding another outlet for my creativity. Our recent host recommended that I try the practice of Proprioreceptive Writing. It is another kind of meditation where you write about your thoughts, for twenty five minutes or so at any one sitting, your thoughts unraveling at the speed it takes to write down these thoughts. Whilst writing them down, you regularly ask yourself 'What do I mean by...?' continually asking this question as you write, as a line of enquiry, maybe, or maybe not, reaching a conclusion. This practice is a bit like 'Morning Pages' where you write continuously pouring out your thoughts. The difference with Proprioreceptive Writing is that by continually asking the question 'What do I mean by...?', you hope eventually to get to the essence of what really is on your mind, to then be able to respond to it within your life. Artists that have used this method of writing have found it extremely helpful in understanding their art practice and the artworks that they make and how to explain why and what they are doing.

Here are a couple of links:

Proprioreceptive Writing Website

'Writing The Mind Alive, The Proprioreceptive Method For Finding Your Authentic Voice' - Book

Meditation has been a topic of conversation with a number of people recently, whether through the activity of sport, knitting, writing, mindfulness. Pooh-poohing the conventional methods of meditation (I just can't sit with my legs crossed!), I would like to find a method of mediation that works for me. Repetitively piercing paper with a needle could be said to be a form of meditation, but I would like to move on from that...

Whilst on our house sit further north we had the pleasure of visiting the Burel Factory in the Serra da Estrela mountain range of Portugal.

The Village of Manteigas in the Serra da Estrela Mountains of Portugal.

This factory produces woollen fabric from Portuguese sheep breeds. We had a tour of the site seeing first hand the fabric being made and the old fashioned weaving machinery in action with the most wonderful smells of oil and wool, and the sounds of the rhythmic clicking of the equipment. We were shown some of the weaving patterns they produce, the patterns hand drafted in notebooks going back years and still in use today. Ranging from rugs to handbags, to garments to wall hangings, there is a team that sew and hand finish the products. Alas they were on their lunch break, I would love to have seen them in action, even have a chat. I believe they have an excellent brand image, contemporary, lovingly hand finished products, in a stunning ray of colours, very simple in design yet with a nod and respect to history. 

To learn more about them, take a look here:

The Burel Factory

'Viva Burel!' Video

My favourite was the deep red plain coloured fabric which you can order by the metre. Hmmm, I think I might have to treat myself sometime...

The hot weather still continues here in Portugal and I still struggle with it. Temperatures have been reaching nigh on 40C. The most prominent experience that I will take with me this summer, in terms of sense of place, is the heat and power of the sun here. From the cold climates of Scotland to the extreme temperatures of a Portuguese summer, never has the weather had such control over me in my life until now. I have become almost stationary at times, finding the heat debilitating, often too hot to function. I have seen first hand the devastation of the unpredictable fires and smoke that appear on the land, one link from the hot sun. Two symbols - sun and smoke. We will be back in this heat again in the future and whilst Shawn finds the heat easier to handle than myself, we will need to think more carefully how we manage our daily existence. It is an engaging prospect, from a 'What is the point?' line of enquiry, to 'How can we do this?' study.

In Portugal there are extensive forests of Eucalyptus trees, fast growing, on a mass scale for paper manufacture. This industry is a key source of employment and economy for the country. The trees are planted very close together and their papery bark can be seen everywhere scattering the ground. These flaky bark peelings along with the swaying branches and leaves of these trees, close together in proximity, combined with the heat of the summer, add to the tinder box atmosphere ready and waiting to spark fire and spread at any one moment.

More and more we are being encouraged to use less paper in our daily lives, something that I struggle with. I like paper. Seeing the destruction of land, the sense of loss of people's homes, livelihoods and lives, due to the commodification and commercialism of Eucalyptus trees for paper, makes me realise how I must try harder to use less paper. Seeing it first hand, this experience has been an example to me in how I should think more carefully about my choices of what I use and what I buy, ethical shopping, something we are all being encouraged to do across the globe. Of course for Portugal, they couldn't stop this industry overnight, it provides necessary mass employment and finance for the nation. How can they turn this problem round?

This year I have started reading the Antennae Journal. Their summer issue 2015 (I think it should read 2016), includes an article on best practice environmentally for artists when choosing and using materials and the making of artworks. It is really good, something I have been looking out for and thinking about with my own work for a while.

You can go to the Antennae website and download their issue #36 Summer 2015. The information can be found within the last article titled 'Pondering Eco - Art Criticism / Eco - Art History' on pages 137 - 140. I do hope you can find it.

http://www.antennae.org.uk

Shortly Shawn and I will be back on the road travelling for a while. No doubt it will include some form of creativity somewhere and hopefully I will do some making in between. 

A long blog, my mind is on the life that we lead, where I fit in, the consideration of a more thoughtful environment, wool, weaving, knitting and fabric. I think that about covers it!

Blog 61

What is my research question?

What is my subject?

What is my material to visual my subject?

Why do I keep thinking I have to make?

How do I communicate what I am doing now? How can I present what I am doing now?

What is my end goal?

What level of importance is my art to my life? 

Big questions which I don't have all the answers to.

It is very hot here in Portugal, like nothing I have ever experienced before with temperatures in the mid thirties centigrade most of the time. The weather is actually effecting my daily living existence and I am frustrated, angry, tired, exhausted, yet intrigued and curious by this experience. 

How could I express 'hot' with an artwork?

The heat has stopped me from doing things and slowed me down. I have had to alter my routine getting up during the night and working until late morning when the temperature becomes too intense to do any more. I could not do anything, and sometimes I don't, but it is important to me that I achieve 'something' each week for my own self worth and value. 

The best thing is that I am reading, the most I have done in a long time, and I am loving the chance to do this. These hot circumstances have presented me with time and enabled me to do this. 

'Reading List' Mind Map from Blog 60

So, I have tapped into my reading list from the mind map that I showed you in my last Blog 60 starting with Georges Perec 'Species of Spaces and Other Pieces'. This book follows on from Gaston Bachelard ‘The Poetics Of Space' which I read a few years back and still pick up from time to time.

Georges Perec's book is brilliant, perfectly in tune with the love of our 'van - centric' life and the importance that Shawn and I put into our 'van', which is our home and the space we hang out in most of the time. I only describe the first section here written in 1974 titled 'Species of Spaces'. Perec starts with a simple list around the word 'space', such as Open Space, Lack of Space, Deep Space, Blank Space and so on and so forth. He then continues to write about his room, the bed, the bedroom, movement through 'one's' apartment, useless rooms, doors, walls, belongings, the street, the neighbourhood, the town. It is so banal some of it, yet for me, I love it. Once I finish this book I plan to read Xavier De Maistre 'A Journey around My Room' about a young officers voyage around his room whilst under arrest for participating in a dual. It was written in the late 17th century. 

The next book I have read was a complete yet relevant diversion. We went to the cinema to see the movie '2001: A Space Odyssey' one evening. Released in 1968, the film was directed by Stanley Kubrick with a subsequent book published by Arthur C Clarke the same year. I had to read the book. It is a story about evolution, starting from primitive apes to man living on the moon and eventually going into deep outer space. It is a story about existence and 'one's' state of being, time and time travel, ownership and knowledge, fact and fiction. There were interesting observations about the future such as the invention of an iPad type tool, the derogatory effect of an Internet style communication system and the idea of computers taking control of humans. There was also a great big black slab monolith which appeared three times and the key to connecting the different evolutionary periods. Interesting the author's take on this when objects of this type, minimalist based art, was happening in our galleries around the period of this films release. The film and book have become relevant to my growing interests and curiosities, and the big black slab monolith my favourite type of art. 

My big large scroll of black pierced paper I presented in Scotland in 2012 is like some kind of monolith. What is that saying?

Photo: Shannon Tofts

Photo: Shannon Tofts

I am wondering whether to read David Lewis - William's 'The Mind in the Cave Consciousness and The Origins of Art' next? Seeing the apes in the film and their development, this book proposes where the origins of image - making and art come from, starting with the caves of Western Europe and the Ice Age. I have read something similar on this subject a few years back, since we've been travelling. This would then link me into the making of artwork, another branch and investigation in my 'Reading List' mind map. I'm also ready to pick up Tanya Harrod 'The Real Thing essays on making in the modern world'. This looks like a book I can dip into as and when I want. 

I have just finished the Kindle book 'The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone' by Olivia Laing. I actually found the text a bit harrowing in places, loneliness perceived at it's most extreme, and yes, touching on the personal. I realise I have been lonely in my life many times and like the hot weather here, whilst to some it may appear negative, I am curious about what is this feeling of loneliness? This thread of interest follows on from Sara Maitland's books 'A Book of Silence' and 'How to be Alone', both which I have read in the last few years. Silence and 'alone time' are important to me in my life, loneliness, well I haven't thought about that much before.

How could I portray loneliness in my artwork? I think some of the answers are already there. 

Shawn and I are away soon taking a short break from our current stop to house sit for a couple of weeks. Still in Portugal, further north, we are going to look after a cat. It is a new area of the country which we have not visited before.

On our return to where we are now we are thinking of trying a little experiment and try to live without a clock. It is something we have talked about on and off for a while. To live by day and night light. To eat, sleep and work when our bodies need to. To resist the time on the clock telling us what we think we should be doing. How would we get on? As two individuals would we want to eat and sleep at different times? Would it bring us closer together or further apart? Could we be more productive? How would it effect our cohesion with others? Our neighbour here lives like this which has made us think about the idea of what is time a bit more and we are curious about it. 

We don't go out much, particularly at the moment because of the hot weather, and our life revolves around the van and the land we live on. Perhaps this will change when the cooler weather returns. We love our 'van - centric' life and small space living and strive evermore for a simple lifestyle and to live without 'clutter' in all its various guises.

For me it is a time of reflection and I have many questions. I am wondering about taking a writing course, an add on and diversion to my creativity. This is something I have talked to Shawn about for a long time. I like writing, I am good at it. It would need to be the right course, with a recognisable qualification or award from a reputable organisation, to add to my development, CV and biography. Can anybody recommend a suitable course please, that would be brilliant? 

What kind of writer am I? 

I haven't done any more mind maps since my last Blog 60 but I will be taking my big sketch pad and coloured felt tip pens with me on our trip north. Perhaps Shawn and I can do some mind mapping together? We will see... 

and which book should I read next?

Blog 60

These last few weeks I have started mind mapping to try and unravel my thoughts and actions. This is a new way to work for me and I'm not always finding it easy. The content is strong but the visuals weak. However as I am reminded it is for personal use mainly and doesn't have to look pretty or accurate or 'perfect'. What do these words mean anyway?

What is good is that I am starting to take action from some of the content in the mind maps. 

I cannot draw, at least in the conventional, expected sense. I can write. I'm good at writing. My mind maps are very text based at the moment, that is what comes most easily for me to do.

I hope you can read the words in the images below. Click on the photographs and scroll in further if you can. 

The mind map above is about what is important to me and what I do and would like to do. I describe our life as 'van - centric' in that it is our motorhome or 'van' that is the most important thing to us. It is our home and the space we hang out and live in. 

I am interested in Permaculture, most so as an attitude and approach to living. I'm not into the gardening, not yet, but trying to establish how we currently live and can live sustainably, comfortably, realistically and within our means. 

The 333 challenge refers to the Blog 'Be More with Less' and I attach the link here: Be More With Less

I aspire and want to live a more simple life, free of clutter, physically and mentally. It is a continual work in progress. I want to reduce the clothes that I have, or change them, reduce the kitchen objects we have, reduce the food / store cupboard excess we have, reduce the folders and paperwork that I have. 

I have an arrow pointing to time management, that needs improving because I don't always get it right, missing out or trying to do too much, and generally knackering myself out in the process. But what would I give up in that process? You will notice that I include the statistical percentage numbers recommended 'one' spends on each area of their art practice. Does anyone else achieve that, and how?

I want to read, I want to make, I need to rest and I want to spend time with Shawn my partner. 

When I think about my artwork it is simple, using simple processes and minimal tools and materials. It is the complexities behind that are perhaps cluttering it up.

Drawing got the better of me and I slipped back into text and lists with the mind map above. Is it a mind map even? Probably not, and not that that matters either. The page is a summary of the mentoring session I had whilst in London in April this year, picking out key subjects that my work is about or could be about. Key questions are being asked, and I may not take action on all that is here. Lots to think about... My mentor thinks I should write a manifesto to establish and clarify a few things and give me direction.

I love reading and never make enough time to do this (it's that time management thing...), and I have a number of books stashed in the van waiting to be opened and read. For the mind map above I have tried to break my reading list into subject matter to give me some direction and order of which books to read first. I can see where the different subjects link up. Me spending a lot of time of reading isn't very exciting for others to follow. How can I share my excitement, enthusiasm and knowledge of what I'm reading and learning via my social media platforms? How can I convert reading into something visual? What is my relationship between reading and making? 

I have a number of notes from past books that I have read, important books to me. Perhaps I should revisit these notes and mind map them to unravel what I have learnt or struck upon from reading these books? 

Another list above. Whenever I exhibit or what exhibitions I apply for, the shows should always be along side my own interests and practice. I am learning more and more to say no when exhibitions don't fit or feel right with my work. This can be hard, not wanting to miss a potential (will it be?) opportunity. I am happy with my exhibition history so far and can see how each show links from or with one to another but I would love it to expand a lot more. 

And finally in the image above, these last five years or so I have been collecting information under key subject categories that have particularly caught my eye or are relevant to my practice. I wrote the list of folders out to remind myself what these subjects are and the use of these words act as triggers reminding myself what is in each folder. In decluttering mode, I think it is time to sift out some of the paperwork that is in these folders.

I recaptured what Rebecca Gordon wrote about me in her essay for my solo show in 2012 in that my work is about materiality, process, craft, sculpture and performance.

The conclusion that I have come to is that I know a lot of this stuff already and need to delve deeper, just as my mentor said. He also stressed I should 'chuck out' all the irrelevancies. 

So it is time to start reading and time for more decluttering and hopefully these activities will activate a new body or extended body of work, I do hope so.

I have brought some coloured felt tip pens to aid my mind mapping technique.