My commission for Yorkshire Sculpture Park and 14 -18 Now has been developing this week with the help of the Horse Assisted Development work at Glint in Huddersfield. All of us have felt privileged and moved by how the horses enable personal reflection, improve confidence and absorb emotions. Working together – horse and human – we met, connected and offered ourselves. In return we were met with kind gentle horse powered nourishment.
I spent this week at The Bromley House Library working in the garden. The cynatype shown here, made using acollected Forget Me Not, is just one of the 14 made. They relate to The Bromley’s history as a photo studio and draws attention to its hidden garden and the importance this holds for visitors and members alike. The cynatypes, like other works made, will be hidden in books across the library creating poignant finds for sometime in the future.
The Bromley House Library is clearly full of marks left by people, some long since dead, words, grease marks, creases….. Like the scored bark of this beech tree found in the Arborteum nearby, the BHL holds in these marks fleeting ambitions, potentials and of course desires. These limited editions add another layer, another declaration – “I was here”
I spent a great week at Metal Southend making new drawings and collages in preparation for installing a new site specific drawing at the Martello Tower in Jaywick Essex in late June. I explored nearby Canvey Island and its plotland sites, structures on the forshore and other landscaped spaces including the Red Hills. A fascinating place where all is constructed, at risk and adapted – all offering inspiration for this and ongoing works at large
The Museum of Contemporary Farming undertakes its final event tomorrow at The MERL in Reading. As part of this evening gathering, which builds on the Walk Talk and Eat day at Croft Farm on Sunday, Georgina Barney and I will be sharing with 5 other artists ideas for inclusion into this conceptual impossible new collection.
The MERL have accessioned my 12 “You complete me” drawings this week and are currently displaying them until June 10th as part of the Museum of Contemporary Farming exhibition. Here are a couple of photos of them in situ. Our aim was to extend the meaning in them and the objects they are surrounded by and of course bring some of the intangible back to the collected artefacts. You can follow the larger project on Twitter @mofcfarming
I’ve just been commissioned by Yorkshire Sculpture Park as Lead artist on their new 14 -18 Now project: Leap of Faith. It takes Katrina Palmer’s The Coffin Jump 14-18 NOW newly installed work as catalyst.
Led by YSP’s Art & Wellbeing Coordinator, Rachel Massey, Leap of Faith will work with participants from two local authority areas that border the Park, in partnership with Ashiana Sheffield, Kirklees Women Centre, and Glint [Horse Assisted Development]. Massey says: “At YSP, we use a range of approaches to help people engage with the art. We are interested in exploring ways to support people to engage with their own creativity and self-expression. This is a unique opportunity to work with women, therapists and artists and create something together, inspired by The Coffin Jump and other art at YSP”.
Leap of Faith aims to help participants gain the confidence to express themselves, to develop positive relationships, and to build positive new memories. Activity will include creative sessions devised by the participants themselves in conjunction with me, as well as equine therapists.
February 12th. At Bromley House Library. 2pm – 4pm. How can you picture a placebut never hold it still with an anchor of description?
An afternoon of exploration, reading, discussion and reflection to consider alternative archives and unique systems of recording inspired by both place and practice. With readings and presentations by cultural geographer Dr David Matless (University of Nottingham) and Bromley House Library artists in residence Kate Genever. Included in the event is an opportunity to visit the ongoing archive work within the library and a tour of the current exhibition and library. This event is supported by CVAN East Midlands.
Follow link HERE to book a place
A drawing installation and works in progress.
Metal. Chauffeurs Lodge. Peterborough
9th– 20th January.
Artist Talk – open to all, Thursday 11th at 6pm
Artist in residence Kate Genever is trying to make work about big things, big issues, but sometimes they are too big and overwhelm her, so instead she has been focusing on the small acts, the quiet improvisations made by communities that reveal coping mechanisms and acts of resistance. This exhibition and drawing installation aims to share some of Kate’s findings at the beginning of her residency and propose a temporary site to consider man’s ingenuity in the face of change.
Metal Southend were kind hosts last week – their beautiful house and its view supported exploration and thinking. It confirmed the known idea that stepping away can help looking and seeing anew. Visiting seaside communities at Jaywick brought up close the struggles faced when weather, land and housing all compete for control. As one resident I met said: Mother nature will always fight to take back whats hers.
Proffessor Emma Sdengo and I offered at talk on 29th September – ‘Healing Venice’- as part of a city and Ca’foscari collaboration: Venetonight. We presented ideas that suggested the architectures and lives of Venice offered healing potentials – inparticular we referenced ideas of John Ruskin and my drawings. The talk took place in Scuola Grande di San Marco [now the main Hospital entrance], with my drawings installed in the Bellini Library.
I’ve received a new commission from The Museum of English Rural Life with Georgina Barney. The proposal is for a new kind of collaboration, developed from being involved in the Museums recent ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage’ workshop and evolves from our shared interests. We will be bringing our established practices, art and farming networks and creative skills together to support, challenge and explore MERL’s ambitions to capture intangible knowledges and to extend their offer to audiences both rural and urban.