Back in June ...

Some images from the degree show at Central St Martins. Such a lovely old building, bits of it anyway - but the college is moving to a new site, and the building will become - what, offices? flats?

They came from Anatolia

The Minoans - the first civilisation in Europe - didn't come from Africa, DNA research shows; read all about it here.

Years ago I went to some courses about Minoan civilisation, and sketchbook in hand, visited the Ashmolean to see the collection of Sir Arthur Evans, a keeper at the museum, who excavated Knossos.

The interest was sparked by encountering, on a postcard, two huge storage jars

(they have been much photographed!). I did a whole term's embroidery work based on these jars, and often went to the British Museum to see the similar jars there.

An unexpected outcome was this interpretation of the cataclysm (eruption of Santorini) that is thought to have ended the Minoan civilisation -

Intervention

When the bus rounded the corner, past the usual "Low Trees" sign, I couldn't believe my eyes - and had to go back and take a photo.

It's done with a bit of paper pasted on - clever of whoever-it-was to get the type exactly right. Must have been a tall person....

Book du jour

Actually I made this a couple of weeks ago - a version of "pictorial consequences" (aka Exquisite Corpse) -

Well, it helped me cut up and throw out a few more magazines....

My next playful excursion on this theme could be to use non-body-parts, cut from magazines, to build up a head, a torso, legs - inspired by John Stezaker's horse.

This is working towards making a piece for Contemporary Quilt's current challenge, Pictorial Consequences - some have already been submitted and can be recombined on the CQ website.

"Figurative" is truly outside my comfort zone - but hey, that's why it's a challenge!

Book du jour

More of a discovery than a "book" -

A little box full of index cards, on which I'd drawn - must be nearly 10 years ago! - some of my favourite objects. Alas, the little broom from Greece got used by "someone" to sweep up some drying cement or plaster, and had to be thrown out. It's only "a thing", but I did like its handmade quality and humbleness.

Art I like - Vija Celmins

Vija Celmins is now best known for her abstract images of "vast nothingness" - the surface of the sea, the night sky -

Her early work is being reconsidered in this book -
Among the early works is a "shocking array of violent imagery ... guns, riots, bullet-ridden cars, bombs exploding, warplanes patrolling or being blasted out of the sky, houses and people on fire."
Celmins says: "Basically I decided that I had to connect with myself ...I was trying lots of different things, different kinds of painting - I began to plumb myself. You know how you have to be behind what you're doing. I began to find things ... things that were really somehow a part of me ... there's a time when you are in your twenties and maybe in your early thirties when the whole idea of making something is so much of a fire in you."

Art I like - Carlos Garaicoa

Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa is known for his explorations of social and political issues in the context of urban architecture and the built environment. He works in installations, new media, and photography -


Read more about this work here.

Bend City - Red, and a review of recent work, are here -

I like the formal solutions and the way his work challenges history. The mix of nostalgia and endeavour - the way the city of the future challenges the ruins of the past, perhaps. I also like that he spends time "exploring cities to discover their true meaning."

Journey in

A "mind the gap" moment in the tube, and the rest of the pix are between Vauxhall and college, through the windows of the no.36 bus -

This is just about the only photo worth keeping -

"Nail and toe extensions" are offered!

No end to discoveries

[Many drafts have piled up - half-written blog posts. I'm on a mission to get rid of the drafts. This one has been hanging around for a mere 8 months.....]

After seeing the Indian Portrait exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, I was inspired by the bright colours (especially that yellow!)

Seems like a good time to use some of these -

[Hmm, haven't done that yet... Could this be the next mission?]

This morning in the studio

Silk paper - drying on the radiator -

Under the needle -
After stitching -

Re-wet, moulded and drying -
Here's some I made earlier -
But - what's it "for"? (is it a container for a book??) Is it enough that it's "a nice object"? Has it further to evolve?

Such stairs!

Art I Like - Gathie Falk

Vancouver artist Gathie Falk has worked persistently and with imagination over a long career. These images come from the library book in which I discovered her -
The web has many more images of her work, including this one from a Canadian art website

which said, in 2008: "The 80-year-old Vancouver painter, sculptor, installation and performance artist Gathie Falk has long been inspired by the elements of everyday life: fruit, eggs, men’s shoes, women’s clothing, garden flowers and reading a book, among other things. Her work appears to meld feminine and masculine elements in a unique, charming, serious way."

At work in her studio, 2007 -

Bedside books

Couldn't resist these when I was at a loose end in the bookstore -

These are from the college library - dipped into - but I haven't made any notes from them yet -
Details later, perhaps...

Book du jour

More books to explore the sound qualities of sheets of paper in sequence - crinkle, rustle, whisper; there are undoubtedly other words. The last of that shopping bag has been used up - some of it was crumpled before being sewn. The tissue paper came pre-crumpled, and one of the tea-bag paper books has also had the crumple treatment.

While you have the materials in your hands, you start to do unexpected things. The little book at bottom left has had each page folded before stitching together, which makes interesting shadows. The tracing wheel was used on the tracing paper - instant, tactile "journey lines" - travellers' braille?

The sounds of turning the pages are much more subtle than of opening and closing the folded book I made yesterday.

New kid on the block

It took a strong man to get "Hercules Brand" from the Edinburgh junkshop to Cambridge, all those years ago. He's travelled around - Manchester, Norwich - and because of space constraints elsewhere has come to stay with me for a while. He'll earn his keep.