LK UnderSail at Ullapool
16 May 2012
LK243 UnderSail is currently exhibited at an talla solais, in Ullapool on the wonderful West coast of Scotland. The exhibition is up until the 20th May when it travels on its way to North Uist.
For more info see:
www.antallasolais.org
Turn the Page book fair
15 May 2012
The Turn the Page book fair in Norwich (4th and 5th May) was a special two days. It was a treat to show my work for the first time, in the part of the country where i grew up. The fair was superbly curated and coordinated, with a selected group of artists many I've not seen before at a book fair. Under the glass roof of the Forum, a new audience had a chance to discover book arts, most were really just on their way to the library.
Lots of great conversations, with friends and strangers.
Found Sea Postcards
12 April 2012
The LK 243 UnderSail project has now been completed and is off on the beginning of a new journey. The Bunk Box that was made and used onboard the Swan, is now the container for the complete exhibition which is due to start touring at the end of April. More info on that soon.
Part of the Swan residency involved putting 43 wooden postcards in the sea from Waterford to Halmstad. A book has been made about this part of the project and at the time of going to print 6 postcards had been found and returned. Now two more have arrived. Number 3 was found on Nethertown Beach, Near Carnsore Point outside Wexford, Irland and number 34 has been found a long way from where it started.
Number 34 was dropped in the North Sea just outside Stavanger, Norway and was found on 7th March over six months later on an island called Bogla, which at 66º48.N is above the Arctic Circle! So keep searching those beaches, you never know what you may find!
Happy New Year 2012
08 January 2012
Happy New Year / Godt nytt år
May 2012 bring lots of adventures large and small!
4 SEA POSTCARDS have been found
23 August 2011
I have arrived in Shetland to finish of the LK243 UnderSail residency, and have just collected 5 SEA POSTCARDS from Shetland Arts office. Exciting! 43 SEA POSTCARDS were placed in the sea between Waterford, Ireland and Halmstad, Sweden and numbers 5, 8, 13, 15, 16 have been found between Fleetwood, Lancashire and Stornoway, Isle of Lewis.
If you do find a SEA POSTCARD feel free to write your contact details on the back so I can get in touch with you.
Keep looking there are 38 still to be found!
The documentation resulting in this dispersal and collection of SEA POSTCARDS will form part of the LK243 UnderSail exhibition that is planned to travel back to some of the destinations that the Tall Ships Race 2011 visited next year: more info later.
Look in the Residency Section on right for more info and images.
The End of the Race
11 August 2011
The Talls Ships Race 2011 finished in the harbour of Halmstad, West Sweden after 5 and a half days at sea. Leaving Stavanger we were becalmed and went round and round in circles of a few days. It is very confusing to leave your watch sailing south (the direction that we wanted to go in) sleep and then wake for the next watch only to be pointing north! On our trip from Lerwick to Stavanger we sailed in one straight line at course 110°! This was a new experience for me that you can't just go in the direction you want under sail! With no wind and northerly currents we were pushed backwards! Like normal the Swan was at the back of the pack, but we didnt mind, we have a very comfy solid boat!
This part of the residency has come to an end, it has been a really big adventure, have shared the Swan with 46 other sailors, small things have happened along the way, funny incidents, broken eggs, lost buiscuit box lids, captains dinners, crew parades, painted faces, garden gnomes, dodging cargo ships in the dark, hunting for waffles etc. Incidences that are hard to retell or capture. But I am going to try!
After 4 days off the boat the world has just stopped rocking!
Now with a quick turnaround in Bergen I set off for North Uist and Shetland for the next month, to get the essence of the adventure down on paper. Time to reflect and start making! Time to concentrate.
Life on the Swan
22 July 2011
I have been at sea since the 1st July with lots of stop overs at ports and harbours along the way, on board the Swan, a Shetland herring drifter from 1900, as artist in residence during the Tall Ships Race.
It has been an non stop adventure of sailing in calm seas and rough ones, and of festivals at each port. Living on a small boat with 15 others of which 8 are teenagers, being on watch at unearthly times of night, sleeping and cooking and just getting into the rhythm of the sailing experience takes time and leaves little time to get anything else done. The call of "All Hands on Deck", "Breakfast", "Dolphins", "Watch Change" interrupts any concentration of getting something down on paper, but photos have been taken and other things are happening along the way.
I have thrown 26 wooden postcards in the sea during our trip from Waterford and today I got an email that someone has found one on the beach in Ardrossan, Ayrshire. Each postcard is stamped with the coordinates and date of the position of the place it is thrown in the sea. If you find any of these postcards please can you return them to the address on the back of the card. The will then become part of the planned exhibition to take place sometime after the sailing leg of this journey.
At each port dressed in a polka dot blue dress, I collect drawings of boats and stories of being at sea, so far I have over three hundred, but am being hampered by wind and rain here in Lerwick were we are currently in harbour.
Next leg is to race to Stavanger, Norway with the rest of the boats leaving on Sunday 24th July in the Parade of Sail - a spectacular display of sailing ships from all over the world large and small!
Lets hope the wind blows us in the right direction!
LK 243 UnderSail Residency
05 June 2011
This summer will be spent on board The Swan, a herring drifter from 1900, taking part in the Tall Ships race 2011. After the voyage I will be based in Taigh Chearsabhagh Arts Centre, North Uist and then at Shetland Arts to complete work documented. For more info look at LK243 UnderSail in the RESIDENCIES section to the left!
Aquatint to Zerkall – Alphabet prints
02 June 2011
Some of my prints will be shown in the exhibition Aquatint to Zerkall - Alphabet prints from contemporary Artists at Northern Print Studio, Newcastle from 9th june to 10th sept 2011
Opening 8th June 6-8pm
Handmade Library at An Talla Solais
03 June 2011
Living North of the North Tyne library bookcase and other books were sent to An Talla Solais Visual Arts Centre in Ullapool to take part in the weekend book fair event.
May 2011
14 May 2011
Travels to Bristol, Sheltand and Berlin May 2011
I have just returned from a mad journey that included an interaction at the Bristol Artist Book Event, an interview at Shetland Arts and giving a presentation at the Arts in Society conference in Berlin.
The Bristol World Atlas was great fun, challenging the public to create a world atlas in two days, the reactions and conversations that took place in the meeting room of the Arnolfini were special and fantastic. Soon the completed and bound (2 volumns) will be placed in the Arnolfini Reading Room for all 560 participants to take a look at. I will let you know when this becomes avaliable. Meanwhile have a look at the Bristol World Atlas page below.
The Interview in Sheltand was for at the LK243 UnderSail residency on board the old herring drifter The Swan which I was successful in getting! More info will come later!
Doing a presentation with Janet Ross of VARC was a brilliant experience to an international audience at non-stop conference about Arts in Society in Berlin. Information over load about a phenominal amount of work that combines arts and science, arts in the community, including the most bizarre and fantastic subjects.
Now back in Bergen to concentrate on my students at Bergen Architecture School and work at Galleri VOX until I travel with the Swan from the 3oth June.
Arts in Society
17 April 2011
I was invited by VARC to give a presentation at the Arts in Society conference in Berlin in May 2011, to discuss how I integrated my work into the community calander whilst living in Northumberland for a year.
The conference in Berlin was an amazing event, non stop talks about various projects by people from all over the world.
Janet Ross and Imi Maufe have co-written a paper called Raffle Tickets and Midges which has been accepted for The International Journal of the Arts in Society.
BABE 2011
21 March 2011
Welcome to BABE 2011
Over the BABE weekend (30th April - 1st May) at the Arnolfini, I will be running an interaction that the public are invited to get involved with, and hopefully we will, by the end of sunday, have drawn a world atlas from memory.
Everyone who takes part gets a jogged memory and a free badge!
Find the Bristol World Atlas in the 1st floor meeting room, straight ahead at the top of the stairs.
Hello and Welcome
01 December 2010
Welcome to this new website featuring an archive of projects completed as part of residencies and commissions, exhibitions and workshops spanning the last tenyears.
The site has been built using Indexhibit CMS and developed by Newcastle-based graphic and web design studio Supanaught.
Hope you enjoy and get in touch if you would like more information.