'As we move from shadows'

So the exhibition is installed and opened today. The bottom photograph shows four out of the six paper cuttings that I made. I have to thank Dan Willett and Alma Cunliffe in helping me to install the work, they put so much effort in to help make it perfect for me.

The installation has the paper in the middle of the room as well as low frequency sounds and projections, which all add up for an atmospheric installation.

It seems quite eerie and chilling in some respects, with my response to a fairy tale theme, yet I hope that it can portray a sense of easing out from shadows and moving towards light, which is what I see many of the Arts of prescription participants doing.

Private view is tomorrow night, I hope all the participants and artists involved in the project like the work, as well as the public.

Shadow and light

Shadow and light was an important element of this commission for me, as well as the way in which the people at the workshops seemed so energetic in experiencing and seeing things in new ways. It's very refreshing to find open minded people willing to explore.

So I decided imagination, light and shadows were going to be the main elements to the work.

Initial ideas and influences

With the commission for City Arts my work/installation was to be directly influenced by the series of summer workshops that were taking place for the Arts on Prescription programme http://www.city-arts.org.uk/.

With a variety of artists leading the workshops being given the opportunity to explore new mediums and new ideas. It meant that fresh and exciting workshops with the artists working as a group to form a cohesive programme that was particularly interested in fairy tales and gothic interpretations. With puppets, masks, scenery and backdrops, mobiles and chime workshops giving me a breath of ideas and mediums to run with.

I was inspired by the energy and the enthusiasm that I encountered at the workshops, and the willingness of the participants to try something new to put themselves on the line.

The chimes workshop was brilliant and engaged participants in a very fundamental way, allowing them to play instruments in a very fulfilling way as a group without having to have any musical knowledge. With one participant being inspired to make a rap about the workshops.

The use of light and shadows seemed to be important for the visual arts workshops across the board, and it seemed that this was the way for my work to engage with the programme especially as I have often used light and shadows and paper with my own work in a variety of ways.

So having been influenced by the scenery workshops also using large sheets of paper I decided that this was the route to go down

The images here show my tenuous start as I explore shadows and light through photography.

New Commission

So long time no post. I've been making posts in my head but I've either not had the time or inclination to actually get them to a computer, which is quite frustrating.

I'm working on a commission, which has been bubbling along for the last few months. I'm currently in the final stages of making and getting ready to install in under a weeks time.

Which is why I'm sat writing this blog at 2.30am . I'm working on a commission that is extensively made from cut paper. Paper cutting for me is very physically demanding on my hands, and means I have to stretch and take lots of breaks- so its extremely slow progress and it means I'm working at odd hours.

I've been commissioned by city arts in Nottingham to produce a installation at the New Art Exchange. I've been tasked with responding to the Arts on Prescription programme, and its summer workshops that have had a fairy tale theme. The workshops help the participants gain confidence, well being, art skills and explore creativity.

I found that in visiting the the workshops that a variety of themes and ideas emerged that inspired me. Imagination and giving it a go seemed to be predominant, the potential that comes from shadows, what might be, and how we view the world also struck a chord with me. This is what inspired the work I'm looking at, the potentiality of shadows and our own imagination

I'll go into more in my next post, but for now I'll leave you with some initial images, not cleaned up and in all their early morning glory.

Back on form

Works looking at anomalies and iridescence, touching on issues around the beautification of science.

Unfinished business part 4

End of the line. I decided to project some of the other images in iridescence that I had been working on, however forcing different pieces of work together because I'm desperate isn't really the best way to practice.

Unfinished business part 3

It goes on, funny how as an artist its hard to let go of an idea of using something. But I did like some of the imagery that I made with these installations. But I still didn't see them working.