Bench for Britain is a collaboration with artist Penelope Davis. The project began during The Mobile Edge arts festival in November 2009. It is a project based in the everyday milieu of the urban space. The project continues to take shape as experience informs our understanding. Field research into the potential of the British-park-bench is posted on-line at benching.org
This is a blog, a recording area or log for Imagination Flights, a public art project on the streets of Oxford. This project is an exploration using the media of imagination, voice and internet (virtual space). The actual work is sited in the transient space of the public street. I attempt to carve a space out of the chaos of the street to activate and share an imagination experience. This is a public journey to find more conscious ways of shaping the self. The flights are posted here along with video, photos, sound recordings, thoughts, evaluations, and expectations.
Guerrilla Beans began as a study based on my fascination with the runner bean's mottled purple surface and moist tactile qualities at harvest. The study evolved to become an exercise in tracking the act of sowing seeds in city areas. This was blogged and festival attendees were invited to take some freshly harvested jewel like beans home to sow or participate in the act of guerrilla gardening and sow in public spaces. I request they log on to the blog to plot the growing destination of the next generation. The project is posted here along with the mapping of the next generation of beans.
The Mobile Edge was the degree festival for the Master of Arts graduates on the Oxford Brookes postgraduate course in interdisciplinary art. Artists included Ania Szwajgier, Charlotte Heffernan, Claudia von Knorr, Darla Rae Oglesby, David K Frampton, Deborah Ravetz, Emma Kwan, Lis Mann, Lynne D Jones, Penelope Davis, Peter Howe, Shirley Pegna, Tim Croston and Zaiga Dumina. We graduates organized and created the festival to display our artwork. In conjunction with completing the major final project pieces, I also played a lead role in project management and marketing for the festival. The website is located here .
A commission lead by artist Richard Layzell for the window wall outdoor exhibition space at the Cornerstone arts centre, Didcot. The Positive Perception Filter consisted of three large tooled-metal spinning wheels mounted on mass-production electronics equipment rebranded with the Mezmatron logo. The wheels sat in the window display case. The window had positive affirmations printed on it for the community to read. The radiant spinning wheels were intended to hypnotically entrance. Also, printed on the window were Positive Perception Filter, the weblink and the company motto We make positive Statements. I built the website to substantiate a Mezmatron history for the Positive Perception Filter, to manufacture a commercial identity and accentuate the hypnotic and affirmational elements of the work. Mezmatron.co.uk is posted here.
At St. Nicolas school, I worked collaboratively with young people, staff and other partners to develop two school wide artistic projects; a cookbook and art exhibition & auction. I devised activities and workshops for pupils to support their learning and excite their imagination. The projects were financially self-sustaining and raised funds for the future of arts in the school. I also worked on the steering committee to create the St. Nicolas creative arts scheme for which St. Nicolas received a silver Art Mark from Arts Council England.
Gift was an exhibition of new work by members of The Ideas Exchange, an artist led discussion group. It included video, performance, painting, photography and social intervention, as well as, a series of events and workshops at the OVADA gallery and around the city of Oxford. A review from AN - artist newsletter archive for the exhibition is posted here. The Ideas Exchange website is located at theideas-exchange.org. The Givers was the title of the audio piece I created for the exhibition. The work was based on a study of gift economies with a focus on volunteerism and opensource-software communities.
Through a journalistic drawing investigation of my purpose for making art for public consideration, I try to understand my role as human, as artist, as designer and as craftsperson. I challenged my thoughts on being an artist-human by experimenting with the mixed perspectives, the play on time, the display of work, the creation and the replication of work as a means of propagating ideas. The perspectives employed in these works are mainly monocular views of my body in the act of making or observing. I question my ability to be both objective and subjective when viewing work as an object, ultimately a commodity.
After images, or retinal memories are painted from notes and studies of the image left on the retinal receptors seconds after closing my eyes to the scene. These paintings are created with a layering process that mimics the floating images left behind in those brief seconds. I used a mix of old oil paint recipes, realism, memory, denial, apathy, sensory overload, escapism and colour theory studies.
A series of medium scale oil paintings on canvas depicting in vibrant colour decaying flowers, otherwise known as the embryogenesis stage of plant development. Intrigued by the contradiction in this stage of continuation and desiccation, I felt compelled to paint the colours, to understand the feminine-masculine balance, think about the symbolism, imagine the enormity of this stage of development in gargantuanism and the non-locating imagery of the imagined vs. the perceived and disassociate the moment in whimsy.
Imagination Flights
Project dates April - Novemebr 2009This is a blog, a recording area or log for Imagination Flights, a public art project on the streets of Oxford. This project is an exploration using the media of imagination, voice and internet (virtual space). The actual work is sited in the transient space of the public street. I attempt to carve a space out of the chaos of the street to activate and share an imagination experience. This is a public journey to find more conscious ways of shaping the self. The flights are posted here along with video, photos, sound recordings, thoughts, evaluations, and expectations.
Guerrilla Beans
project dates May - November 2009Guerrilla Beans began as a study based on my fascination with the runner bean's mottled purple surface and moist tactile qualities at harvest. The study evolved to become an exercise in tracking the act of sowing seeds in city areas. This was blogged and festival attendees were invited to take some freshly harvested jewel like beans home to sow or participate in the act of guerrilla gardening and sow in public spaces. I request they log on to the blog to plot the growing destination of the next generation. The project is posted here along with the mapping of the next generation of beans.
The Mobile Edge an Extraordinary Arts Festival
project date October 2-5 2009The Mobile Edge was the degree festival for the Master of Arts graduates on the Oxford Brookes postgraduate course in interdisciplinary art. Artists included Ania Szwajgier, Charlotte Heffernan, Claudia von Knorr, Darla Rae Oglesby, David K Frampton, Deborah Ravetz, Emma Kwan, Lis Mann, Lynne D Jones, Penelope Davis, Peter Howe, Shirley Pegna, Tim Croston and Zaiga Dumina. We graduates organized and created the festival to display our artwork. In conjunction with completing the major final project pieces, I also played a lead role in project management and marketing for the festival. The website is located here .
Positive Perception Filter from Mezmatron Inc.
project date August 2008A commission lead by artist Richard Layzell for the window wall outdoor exhibition space at the Cornerstone arts centre, Didcot. The Positive Perception Filter consisted of three large tooled-metal spinning wheels mounted on mass-production electronics equipment rebranded with the Mezmatron logo. The wheels sat in the window display case. The window had positive affirmations printed on it for the community to read. The radiant spinning wheels were intended to hypnotically entrance. Also, printed on the window were Positive Perception Filter, the weblink and the company motto We make positive Statements. I built the website to substantiate a Mezmatron history for the Positive Perception Filter, to manufacture a commercial identity and accentuate the hypnotic and affirmational elements of the work. Mezmatron.co.uk is posted here.
St. Nicolas School
project date August 2007-09At St. Nicolas school, I worked collaboratively with young people, staff and other partners to develop two school wide artistic projects; a cookbook and art exhibition & auction. I devised activities and workshops for pupils to support their learning and excite their imagination. The projects were financially self-sustaining and raised funds for the future of arts in the school. I also worked on the steering committee to create the St. Nicolas creative arts scheme for which St. Nicolas received a silver Art Mark from Arts Council England.
The Givers for TIE group exhibition, Gift
project date April-May 2008Gift was an exhibition of new work by members of The Ideas Exchange, an artist led discussion group. It included video, performance, painting, photography and social intervention, as well as, a series of events and workshops at the OVADA gallery and around the city of Oxford. A review from AN - artist newsletter archive for the exhibition is posted here. The Ideas Exchange website is located at theideas-exchange.org. The Givers was the title of the audio piece I created for the exhibition. The work was based on a study of gift economies with a focus on volunteerism and opensource-software communities.
Another Artist For Sale
project date 2006-07Through a journalistic drawing investigation of my purpose for making art for public consideration, I try to understand my role as human, as artist, as designer and as craftsperson. I challenged my thoughts on being an artist-human by experimenting with the mixed perspectives, the play on time, the display of work, the creation and the replication of work as a means of propagating ideas. The perspectives employed in these works are mainly monocular views of my body in the act of making or observing. I question my ability to be both objective and subjective when viewing work as an object, ultimately a commodity.
Retinal Memories
project date 2005-07After images, or retinal memories are painted from notes and studies of the image left on the retinal receptors seconds after closing my eyes to the scene. These paintings are created with a layering process that mimics the floating images left behind in those brief seconds. I used a mix of old oil paint recipes, realism, memory, denial, apathy, sensory overload, escapism and colour theory studies.
Withered
project date 2005-07A series of medium scale oil paintings on canvas depicting in vibrant colour decaying flowers, otherwise known as the embryogenesis stage of plant development. Intrigued by the contradiction in this stage of continuation and desiccation, I felt compelled to paint the colours, to understand the feminine-masculine balance, think about the symbolism, imagine the enormity of this stage of development in gargantuanism and the non-locating imagery of the imagined vs. the perceived and disassociate the moment in whimsy.