les bicknell

bookartsnewsletter

2012-01-24T06:48:00.000-08:00

started to document doorways lost - No. 71 February 2012 of the book arts newsletter ISSN 1754-9086 is out – published at the CFPR and edited by the wonderful Sarah Bodman – it can be accessed at http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/newspdfs/71.pdf my latest bookwork created for journey to the podium is listed on page 25.
a full day working on the large books for firstsite, thinking about the repeat symposium tomorrow at nuca, looking forward to seeing all the journey to the podium work at the Beecroft Art Gallery, Station Road, Westcliff on Sea, Essex – i’m taking the work down to be hung on thursday - the private view is on 2nd feb
meanwhile managed to see the new steve mcqueen film shame – a film so relentlessly boring that it moved into the realm of wonderful – the darkness, real time filming, and the claustrophobic way in which the lead characters life and flat is documented make it truly oppressive.

satanicmathsmadeboring

2012-01-22T07:05:00.000-08:00

so try to imagine what would happen if your ‘groovy’ maths teacher had tried a little too hard to make maths ‘interesting’ – then arm them with a disfunctional yet ‘wacky’ pressi presentation – combine that with the idea of them then laying out satanic symbols on the floor in masking tape – of course missing the point and taking far too much time getting the angles right – sad - that was my evening with Marcus de Sautoy at snape as part of faster than sound – the only note of hope was the wondrous but far too short sound and visuals by Russell Haswell http://haswellstudio.com/

stillnessandsilence.

2012-01-18T12:06:00.000-08:00

a busy time of meetings, emails and writing around the project that I am building to enable work to be made working in archives and collections – developing partners to work with. so far all parties are supportive, interested and have contributed to the ideas behind the proposal.
Camberwell has seen two weeks of group presentations focusing on the students project proposals – some really exciting work was presented – both actual work and the promise of it.
meanwhile a walk at the weekend saw stillness and silence.

finalworkreflections

2012-01-09T13:13:00.000-08:00

just back from the repeat private view – the show has a very professional feel to it with some really interesting work. It was good to catch up with past students who i see vey infrequently and to talk with other members of staff at nuca who I only see at staff meetings. my work looks okay – couldn’t resist getting the work from behind the glass and explaining how it operates to people who looked interested – i also enjoyed the reflections of St George’s building in the glass.

puttingthingstogether

2012-01-03T13:24:00.000-08:00

started to put together the display of my work for the repeat show at nuca – testing the layout under the glass – making the public unable to touch or manipulate the pieces will be an interesting experience for me to undergo.
the flyer looks good - the typography I designed for the title has been used and the publicity department have followed the general lay out i proposed – unfortunately the image of my work has been printed on a 90 degree rotation to its original – but it now looks unsettlingly interesting.
the day at nuca has been about focusing the students minds around the time they have left and the work they need/want to do – http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/dates-to-go

startingaswemeantogoon

2012-01-02T01:41:00.000-08:00

new year was all about the outside – a walk over the mashes at Aldeburgh in the evening and the next day the usual meeting at Covehithe. meanwhile a list of some of my highlights of the year, not all out this year but it was the year i found them.
Book, fiction – Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel
Book, nonfiction – Folding Techniques for Designers – From sheet to form – Paul Jackson
Blog – http://www.thisiscolossal.com/tags/blog/
Podcast – Freakonomics closely followed as ever by in our time
Music, track – IMFAC party rock anthem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6zr6kCPj8&ob=av2e
or Ministry - Jesus Built My Hotrod http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXCh9OhDiCI
Music, album – Metronomy – The English Riviera http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFrNsSnk8GM
Music, video – i enjoyed the knowing postmodern madness of Duran Duran’s ‘film’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSMbOuNBV0s but
Film – Departed http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407887/ closely followed by
Norwegian Wood http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1270842/
Film – documentary Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow http://overyourcities.com/
Gig – rubberbanditz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBT4ZWy6Lm4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNFfDirBE6w
Dance – Akram Khan Dance Company - Vertical Road http://www.akramkhancompany.net/html/
Theatre – The Strange undoing of Prudencia Hart – National Theatre of Scotland
Live art – shunt at Latitude http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbL_VvV9tT4 http://www.nigelandlouise.com/
Event – faster than sound with Christian Marclay - Hoffman Building Aldeburgh
Exhibition, art – Lee Yongback in the Korean Pavillion at Venice Biennale http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IVFtFZLmMU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbMjd5r1WYU
Television – Fresh Meat http://www.channel4.com/programmes/fresh-meat
Radio, series – in our time BBC Radio 4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/in-our-time/
Radio show – Radcliffe and Maconie BBC Radio 6 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0100rp6 or Jarvis Cocker - Sunday Service http://editthis.info/cockers_sunday_service_archive/Main_Page

cuttingoutthepast

2011-12-23T01:30:00.001-08:00

a day of cutting – the printing on vinyl is back from the printers and is now in piles ready to be bound into the books for firstsite but that will have to wait till after christmas.
meanwhile some images taken on my trip to Coventry and an aerial view to give you an idea of what it used to look like and a link to a very informative web site about the GEC factory at Copsewood which was were the photographs were taken. http://www.telephoneworks.co.uk/

current CV

2011-12-21T06:26:00.000-08:00

I've been sorting out my filing and rethinking my cv so thought that I would post it along with some wonderful christmas parking to add to my collection

CV - Les Bicknell

Education work

Current Education posts

Course Tutor at University of the Arts London Camberwell on the MA in Book Art
Senior Lecturer on the Textiles BA at Norwich University College of the Arts.

Teaching Experience

Lincolnshire College of Art. G.A.D. Graphic Design. 1990 – 92
Suffolk College, Foundation. G.A.D and B.A. Graphic Design. 1992 – 94
Camberwell College of Art. B.A. Graphic Design & Joint Hons. 1993 – 99
M.A. Book Art. 1996 –
Norwich Institute of Art and Design. B.A. Textiles. 1999 – 04
Visiting Lecturer
Brighton University, B.A. Fine Art.
Coventry University B.A. Art & Craft Studies.
Hertfordshire University. B.A. Fine Art.
Humberside College of Art. B.A. Fine Art Sculpture.
Kent Institute of Art and Design. B.A. Communication Media.
Loughborough College of Art and Design. B.A. Fine Art.
Middlesex University. B.A. M.A. Fine Art, Printmaking.
Manchester Met University. B.A. Visual Communication Media.
Norwich Institute of Art and Design. H.N.D. Surface Pattern, Crafts, Foundation, B.A. Visual Studies, Textiles, Fine Art, Contextual Studies.
Suffolk College. B.A. Visual Studies.

Schools Residencies – over 20 years experience of ‘rising fives’ to 6th forms including inset training with Humberside County Council, Suffolk County Council and Norfolk County Council Education Authorities.

Residencies include

1989 Household Waste Disposal Site, Lincoln

1991 Kesteven House Assesment Center

1993 Stowmarket Library

1994 Becon Hill Special School, Ipswich

1995 Camden Arts Centre

Morton Hall Prison Lincolnshire

1996 Suffolk College

Scunthorpe Library

1998 Norfolk CC P&T Yota

1999 Engage, Encompass Project UEA
Alnwick Festival

2001 Sibton Parish Council
2001 Physical Poetry, YOTA, NCC

2007 St James Centre for Creativity, Valletta

Commissions since 2000

Queen’s Suffolk Book.
Creating an editioned book, a one off bookwork and web site for Suffolk County Council in celebration of the Queen’s jubilee visit to Suffolk.

Louth Millennium sculpture project.
A number of interventions around Louth with the sculptor Lawrence Edwards including 3 life-sized bronze figures and floor text panels. The work also involved working with local media to generate text, alongside workshops in schools and the generation of a one-off book and exhibition for the library.

Multi-functional street furniture in the Quayside area and at St Crispin’s Urinal in Norwich.
Developed with Norwich Planning Department a large text fence and ‘functional’ text feature that explored the history of the developed space.

Writing instructions / reading words – a site-specific text based work at the Poetry Society and an artist book Here are my instructions.
Curated, produced and edited by Redell Olsen and Susan Johanknecht with support from an Awards for All grant.

Temporary installation - based on ideas around Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon.
Large-scale installation for St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity in Valletta. The piece explored concepts around the science of seeing and the myth of believing.

What is important? – Working on a housing estate in Great Cornard within the Housing Department of Babergh District Council.
This became a 4-year project working to develop a permanent creative shared space. The work included working closely with the residents and all stakeholders to development a shared language with which to develop concepts and drawings. These became final inclusive pieces, including paths, which realigned the estate.

Diss stones
The creation of a work with Diss Town Council and Cittislow sited at a Morrison’s store. The work celebrates the history of the site while providing a talking point for the residents of the town. The piece
takes the form of 4 large granite pieces in the shape of buildings formally located on the site with text/equations generated from community involvement sandblasted into it.

beyond
A piece for the Hythe area of Colchester which celebrates the stories of the people who used to work, live and play in the area before its redevelopment. The two piece artwork sits either side of a path and the continuous text is derived from reminiscence work with past residents of the area and workers from the laundry. The shapes are derived from the distinctive laundry building roof that was on the site. Supported by Barratt’s and delivered by Colchester Borough Council

Wrapping the Corn Exchange with cornfields and sky
A temporary piece which celebrated the history of the space whilst generating a moment of calm within the town. The 75m x 10m printed piece wrapped Ipswich Corn exchange while it was being redeveloped.

bench for Leiston
Working with Suffolk Coastal District Council on the creation of an ‘art bench’ for the town of Leiston. The project involved working with all of year 8 pupils from Leiston Middle School, creating drawings at The Long shop Museum that were developed into designs which were then sandblasted into recycled stone blocks and sited in the main square.

Lead Artist roles since 2000

Artistic Director of the Millennium Gorleston Psalter Project.
A collaborative community art project that included building an art team, working with over 200 volunteers and a team of artists and designers to develop, design, and create a one off Psalter. I then worked in collaboration with musicians, both professional and amateur to enact the book in a performance in the church that was involved in the commissioning the initial Psalter.

Marriott’s Way, cycle path, Norfolk County Council Planning and Transport Department.
Working over 21 miles in liaison with 12 Parish Council, Norwich City Council, Norfolk County Council on the development of an artistic vision for the path. The work over a 3-year period included numerous consultation situations, developing the signage, the creation of a number of sculptural text interventions, the interpretative material, working with the Poet Esther Morgan on a YOTA project and the design of a bridge.

‘Home Zone’, Suffolk County Council Environment and Planning Department.
Redesign of two new streets in Lowestoft within the context of the national 'homezone' design criteria with the residents of those streets, the business's, local and national services. This was a 3-year project and also included in the last year the generation of a creative team to build a new kind of manual for the residents to understand their new street which resulted in many digital interventions, a bookwork, CD ROM, web site and conference.

Earlier Commissions include

North Kesteven District Council, Alnwick Library. Sustrans.
Scunthorpe Borough Coucil, Essex University. Suffolk County Council
Lincolnshire County Council, Eastern Arts Board. Crafts space Touring
Manchester Metropolitan University, Birmingham City Council, Norfolk County Council.
National Museum of Scotland, Suffolk College, The Minories

Exhibiting

Selected one person shows since 2000

the lesson - National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Jan 2000
reading landscapes - Focal Point Gallery, Southend, Jan – March 2000
rural but not isolated - Peasenhall and Sibton Youth club. June 2000
sibton - Peasenhall and Sibton Youth club. May 2001
folded space - IP Gallery, Colchester, April 2003
suppose it is true after all? - The Cut Arts Centre, Halesworth April 2005
threads: mapped - Gallery 1.1 Town Hall Gallery, Ipswich Sept 08 – Mar 09

Selected Group shows since 2000

Views across the Pond - Blickling Hall National Trust House 2000
Inside Cover - Touring inc Oxford Brookes, 2001
On Paper. New paper art. - Crafts Council, July – Aug 2001
Edges, Crossings, Thresholds. - Elizabeth Fry Building, UEA, July – Aug 2001
paper past/paper perfect - MoDA, Feb - March 2002
paperworks - Norfolk Creative East Tour, May – June 2002
Right here, right now - the Herbert, Coventry, Sept 2006
looking for - University of the arts, London March 2007
Action/interaction - Chicago Centre for Book and Paper May 2007
Picasso’s Laboratory - St James Cavalier, Centre for Creativity, Valletta Malta 2007
From Book to Book - Leeds Art Gallery, March – April 2008
The Last Book - National Library of Spain, May 2008
imprints - mediatheque La Durance, Cavaillon, France Jun – Aug 2009
we are the history of textiles - Dragon Hall, Norwich, March – April 2010
exhibitor - Royal Academy Summer Exhibition July – Aug 2010
Prospero's Library - Studio 75, London April 2011
Modified Expression - National Craft Gallery of Ireland, Kilkenny July – Sept 2011

Grants and Awards since 2000

YOTA - Arts Council 2000
Working for a year with my Parish Council exploring the role of the artist in society. The outcomes were rich and varied including abstract signage, lighting the church, exhibitions in the village hall and editioned artworks each month for every household.
Commission East – Awards for Artists 2001
To work with The Museum of East Anglia Life, the artist Sue Brinkhurst and poet Esther Morgan to work on mapping the collection project.
Commissions East/Eastenglandarts – Awards for Artists 2002
To develop concepts and new work around ‘idea’ a virtual artwork in collaboration with the writer Robin Brooks.
Commissions East/Eastenglandarts – Awards for Artists 2003
Purchase of digital equipment to extend and develop practice.

Published writing and articles

Artists Newsletter. Galleries magazine.
Artists Book Year Book. Catalogue statements as an artist and curator.
Engage 9 an
Norfolk CC P&T Website

Advisor/Board membership

Artist advisor for L.H.C.C.
Panel member for the distribution of individual grants to artists for L.A.B.
Member of the working party validating the M.A. in Book Arts and writing the student
Course handbook at Camberwell College of Art.
Validation panel member for proposed B.A. in Fiber Art/Textiles at Norwich School of Art.
Member of Eastern Arts Board’s Regional Artists Advisory Group, The Year of the Artist.
Board member Commissions East 2007 - 2010

Fairs

Frankfurt Book Fair - 1993

Chelsea Craft Fair - 1994 - 97
Represented at Frankfurt Book Fair - 1994 - 97

London Book Art Fair 1994 - 97

Collections

The work has been acquired by numerous private and public collections nationally and internationally including – Blackburn Art Gallery, The Bodelian Library, Oxford, Chelsea Art College Library, Bibliotheque Nazionale, Florence, Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry, Manchester Met University Library, Bibliotheque, Paris, L.C.P. London, The Rijksmuseum, Den Haag, The Victoria and Albert Museum, New York Public Library, H.R.C. Centre, Austin, M.O.M.A. New York, St Martins School of Art, London, Wimbledon School of Art, Yale Centre for British Art.

My Education

Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry, Foundation Course - 1982
London College of Printing, Graphic Design BA Hons - 1982 – 85
UAL - Post graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching - 2009/10

Current projects include

Journey to the podium – a commission for Essex County Council – to create a collaborative bookwork with an athlete for the 2012 Olympics.

The big book – a commission to create a bookwork for the learning programme at firstsite gallery.

Interactive print - working with Firstsite, Colchester museum service and Essex schools to develop print around the Berryfield mosaic.

Modified Expression – a touring exhibition developed by the Kilkenny Festival starting at the National Craft Gallery of Ireland in the Irish Crafts Councils head office.

smocking is evil? – research around the relationship between smocking and book binding.

“Between You and Me’ - collaboration with Jeonghee for an exhibition in Korea with the Samwon paper gallery.

rewind – collaboration with Caroline McNamara for the Kaunas/Texere bi-annual.

repetativethinking

2011-12-15T04:11:00.000-08:00

a day of rethinking the work around folding and the repeat in the light of going home to visit the spaces where the houses and streets i grew up in and around used to be. the idea of repeat and repetition embedded in the soul is something i am considering at the moment.

trainingandsmoking

2011-12-12T03:17:00.001-08:00

spent Saturday in Warwick at the GB Olympic Boccia training – i was there to work with Dan and to show him the work i had done so far for journey to the podium – it was interesting to see people I have only seen on TV or through the web. Andrew Morgan, Zoe Robinson, David Smith and of course Nigel Murray – everybody was so friendly and helpful – I became really interested in Dan’s training and stretching regime – which may become another piece of work.

meanwhile I managed to add to my smoking architecture taxonomy – one that was burnt down!

localpresssure

2011-12-06T01:44:00.000-08:00

when i first came across the wonderful Langlands and Bell in the mid 80s two artists working together in collaboration as one was intriguing and went against everything I had read or been taught about art - the artist as heroic master, a genius of all they survey. the role and position of the artist has evolved since then and collaboration seems de rigour. ss somebody who makes books i understand the very notion of collaboration so it was with this background that i asked Langlands and Bell in the question and answer session after their presentation at UCS to talk about the suspicion they may have encountered during the course of their career. little had i underestimated the role of the 'general public' and local press in warping a discussion of this kind. Langlands and Bell have obviously undergone the hostile, tedious and uninformed what a waste of public money and the woeful is it art? barrage as my question was met with muted hostility and the look of fear. it was a shame as i went to listen to two very intelligent artists whose work i admire and all i learnt was that they have to endure this nonsense. on a lighter note i’m working on a seminar for students on the MA Textile Design at NUCA about context and practice and looking forward to discussing this whole at some length.

assessmentfolding

2011-12-05T07:17:00.000-08:00

still deep into assessments at nuca – now into week three – some really interesting work – some not – onto the draft reports from year 3 - reflecting on what 400 hours of work looks like and if I had a less fragmented life what 400 hours of my work life would look like or maybe the fragmentation feeds each aspect of what i do. spent the day developing more complicated folding for the repeat show and my research in general. tonight off to see Langlands and Bell in Ipswich at UCS after a weekend of film - departures https://owa.nuca.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1069238/ a truly beautiful life affirming film about death and of course life

doublepageauthorship

2011-11-30T01:38:00.001-08:00

working on the ‘big book’ for first site - along with a manual for teachers to work the book and all the technical stuff around dpi and printing i have been editing all the images down to 20 pages a section – creating double page spreads – these two come from the section titled - abstracted images of the final building – with instructions like - its all in the detail - celebrate and find - point out the design the work is coming together and will be an exciting tool in the education arsenal! its been interesting to consider the idea and role of the author in relationship to this work which straddles the worlds of art and design – the work follows a brief to enable the exploration of creativity, particularly the deconstruction of the exhibitions at first site, whilst being the product of the creative act itself.

mushrooooooomingshared

2011-11-27T11:14:00.000-08:00

mushroooooooming – its that time of year and i’ve been out and about collecting – meanwhile a busy week of assessments and timetabling at nuca alongside working on the publicity for repeat – a show of the work of people who work on the textile course both visiting tutors and course team. a day at camberwell working on the MA saw the session extending onto 6.15 when it should of finished at 4.00 – but some excellent work needed to be shared and it was the first crit of the year.

betweenmeandyouondemand

2011-11-18T02:05:00.000-08:00

between you and me – the exhibition at the Samwon paper gallery in Korea looks good. The photographs show a really diverse approach to the book – so far I have images of the international section and I look forward to seeing the collaboration with Jeonghee. Mine is the sky and string piece and the upturned brown book sculpture!
I had my first print on demand book printed/published this week – its a sequence of images that I have been working on for a year – an element of which was trying to find the correct format for the digitally manipulated images that were taken in the swampy marshland area between Dunwich and Walberswich in Suffolk.

oldskooldrawing

2011-11-16T00:21:00.000-08:00

a creative day of large scale and experimental drawing for textile students at nuca. working with martyn Blundell - http://martynblundell.blogspot.com/and year 3 students we looked at scale and touched on collaboration all within the context of their work within unit 7 which is a precursor to their final projects which they start next term – there is some interesting work within the student body and it felt good to set up something ‘old skool’.

smockingisevil

2011-11-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

spent yesterday working on the ‘smocking is evil’ project and making design decisions on the ‘big book’ for firstsite, eventually the day culminated in a meeting there – i don’t think i will get over the interesting space – I have also managed to see some shows - Gareth Bayliss at Ipswich art school gallery - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-15239144 some well conceived straight-up designs for t shirts and Joni Smith at Stew in Norwich http://stewprintrooms.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-show-at-stew.html a wonderful show of insightful crafted pieces which on investigation have a richer meaning.

adayofthinkingmusic

2011-11-06T08:59:00.000-08:00

another interesting day in the hands of TEDx at Aldburgh. highlights include Vincent Wash’s succinct overview of creativity linked to obsession which will find itself embedded in a seminar at nuca someday soon and the interactive work of Kathy Hinde. it was a pleasure to be in the company Nitin Sawhney listening to him talk about the point of music and finally the Modified Toy Orchestra who gave an excited presentation celebrating the nerd and the effects of standing next to the Hubble telescope before giving a short set finishing up with my MTO favourite Black Star – a good day.

followup

2011-11-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

to follow up some of the exhibitions I’m involved with –
Modified Expression is at the County Library in Tallaght, Ireland. Between you and me starts at the Samwon Papergallery_ 649-4, Junggok-ding, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 140-220 Korea on the 12th. The Sunderland Book Project at Arts Centre Washington has its last day on 5th Nov, its next exhibited at Durham Xmas Book Fair and then next year off to Bristol for a month. Theresa has really worked hard on the curation and distribution of this. http://theresaeaston.wordpress.com/

managementreflectivetheorypractice

2011-11-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

its been a busy week so far – a faster than sound at snape – not a bad one, it was interesting to see the wonderful Cynthia Millar and her Ondes Martenot again, although the visual side felt a little unconsidered and repetitive in the first half but it did improve in the second half with some almost exciting channel distortion from Rod Maclachlan. teaching at nuca has been around notions of ambition using images from Venice, exploring how management theory can be used in artistic reflective practice with a P.E.S.T analysis and practical advice on how to develop a context for your making.
the first teaching session at Camberwell saw 25 years of bookmaking – sequence, order, control, revelation, image generation, text, translation, narrative, 35 book structures and 225 images of bookness crammed into 4 hours of contact time. it was good afterwards to go to the private view of overdue an exciting exhibition in the library of the year 2 part-time students work and a chance to meet socially the new students. http://margaret-cooter.blogspot.com/2011/10/overdue-exhibition.html
looking forward to TED x on Saturday – highlights should be Modified Toy Orchestra who are really extraordinary and blew me away the last time i saw them and it should be great to hear Nitin Sawhney talk after seeing his many collaborations at snape, especially with Akram Kharn.

ambitionarego

2011-10-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

back from the Venice Biennale. i am a little overwhelmed just thinking about some of the wonderful work i saw over the 4 days. in my role as lecturer i have several hundred images that i have taken with a view to talking about them to students over the next 6 months – the subjects range from – the idea of archive, the role of documentation both as art form and how to display and access, the floral, the role of the artist as protagonist, activist and testifier, materials their use and meaning and the idea of how to exhibit process. in my role as artist the idea of ambition and scale has sparked in me a desire to get some things printed very large!
and then there are the highlights – Venice! – i will never tire of riding the vaporettos late at night but in terms of the art moments there are so many - but to name a few they have to be Lee Yongback in the Korean Pavillion, especially the video piece angel soldier, the painful madness of Christoph Schilingensief’s German pavilion – the design of the Austrian pavilion, Fernando Prat’s act of printing actual disasters, the warmth of Domink Langs collaboration with his dads sculptures, Hungary’s car crash opera, the darkness of Serbia with Dragoliub Rasa Todosijevic, the subtly of Alejandro cesarco’s photo drawings of cloth, Dayanita Singh series of photographs of archives titled File Room and Yto Barrada, Family Tree and telephone books will stay with me alongside the wondrous ambition of The Clocks by Christian Marclay.
now to work.....

journeytotheprocess

2011-10-22T02:19:00.000-07:00

a sharing session as part of the journey to the podium enabled the artists to present a range of interesting work but the individual process of making and thinking rather than the outcomes was more useful.
during the day i added some images to my collection of public non-designed designed spaces and a pond that I have been documenting over the year.

http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/journey-to-the-podium-share

lateralcaravanthinking

2011-10-19T23:50:00.001-07:00

just back from Hopton Holiday Village after 3 days of a residential course with year 1 textile students from nuca – a wonderful creative experience of drawing workshops, bonding exercises, lateral thinking and problem solving all within a holiday complex. It will stay with them forever!

http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/hopton-2011

workworkworkandsomeendings

2011-10-05T05:32:00.001-07:00

it was good to show a group of teachers the plan for the big book for firstsite at a learning to look presentation last night. the presentation included some sample pages from the contents of the 10 books which go to make up one large bookwork. the images range from a collection of mind bending optical illusions to a collection of images from my ongoing archive juxtaposed with each other - all an attempt to generate a range of possible narratives.
the feedback after the presentation that focused on the idea of a book as a tool was positive – i now have to finish the designs, get it printed and then bind it – so still a fair bit to go.
meanwhile I have finished the bookwork for journey to the podium. the folder has two sections sewn into it - one a colophon and the other a text piece written by Dan and typeset by myself that gives a real flavour of Boccia.
and finally I have in my hand a copy of the firstsite berryfield leaflet with the perforations – i am really pleased with the feel of the print and it really has gone down well.

brassbandcollaborationwithsound

2011-10-03T11:18:00.000-07:00

faster than sound – quite possibly the most complete combination of sound and visuals so far with the wonderful Christian Marclay creating a film sound collage piece that was responded to by live musicians including a brass band. I was first taken with his work when I saw telephone – a collaged film of people answering the phone amassed from various films and then mesmerised by a huge projection of Video Quartet at Tate modern – Iooking forward to seeing the clock when we go to the Biennale in a month’s time – can’t wait.
before that we were treated to Ephemera – a piano piece with a graphic score of torn printed matter with pieceds of both actual and invented musical notation which was performed by Steve Beresford and Manga Scroll – sound effects collected from manga comics and graphically written into long text piece a interpreted by vocalist Elaine Mitchener in the intimate space upstairs at snape.

crossfoldedfertilization

2011-09-30T00:43:00.000-07:00

working on a number of projects at the moment and enjoying the cross fertilization between them - the folding structures for the show at nuca titled repeat which were Informed by the work for the exhibitions Modified Expression and Between You and Me are feeding the cover design for journey to the podium and that work has connections to the big book for firstsite.
meanwhile fresher’s week at nuca saw me running a session around group work and problem solving – as ever the images don’t really show where the work happened – the glorious conversations between the students - https://net.nuca.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=17467
Modified expression - the show organised by Kilkenny Arts Festival is being toured by The Crafts Council of Irelands National Craft Gallery The tour dates are Tallaght Library, Dublin: Oct 21 – Nov 26 2011 and Galway City Museum: Dec 2011 – May 2012. I have a body of work in the show which was in response to the new poems of Gerard Smyth.

repetitionrepetitionrepetitionrepetitionrepetition

2011-09-23T08:12:00.001-07:00

after a long day of folding, cutting and gluing I have finished the 12 copies of boccia the bookwork i was commissioned to make as part of journey to the podium. there is a proposal to have a show which is centred around the theme of repetition for the staff who work on the BA Textile course at nuca and i am struck by the production lines i have created as part of this and seemingly every project i work on.

trajectoryspraydrawings

2011-09-21T07:15:00.000-07:00

half-way through spray painting the pages of boccia - really pleased with the system I’ve created to make the work and the effect of the spray-paint on the paper makes sense in terms of the research i have done around projectiles, especially the cannon ball trajectory drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.

signingoff

2011-09-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

working on the journey to the podium bookwork – developing the spray painted pages with an intricate masking technique – the printers in Colchester called and wanted me to pop over to sign off the layouts – after checking I dropped into firstsite to take photographs for the large bookwork I am designing for the learning department.

combiningthestructuralconcerns

2011-09-16T02:26:00.000-07:00

after finishing work on the collaborative bookwork for the show in Korea i had some wonderful paper left over from the package that the Samwon Paper Company sent so i have created another piece which takes its starting point from the research i have been involved in over the summer – combining the structural concerns visible within the book and smocking through experimenting with the fold.

tweakingthedesign

2011-09-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

a day in Colchester at firstsite tweaking the design for the Berryfield mosaic print – photo credits, proof reading etc and then onto the printer to check all is okay as the design is quite complex with several folds, cuts and over 70 lines of perforations. it’s all go in the new space setting up everything from the kitchen, the shop and the first show - it was a real joy to work there - it’s defiantly a place to organise meetings in and generally hang out
managed to get a chance to look at the leaflet of a show i saw at Tate modern last week - contested terrains – a show from Africa that creates a number of narratives – i was taken with a two screen slide show by Kader Attia - open your eyes - on one side images of broken objects including wooden and ceramic vessels that have been fixed with wire stitches and on the other images of early facial plastic surgery from the 1st world war – both before and after images. the juxtapositions created a wonderful overall narrative along with the specific pairings.

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/contestedterrains/default.shtm

printcommissionedderivedfromfolding

2011-09-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

looking forward to the opening of the new firstsite gallery in Colchester – I have spent the morning working on the design for the printed matter around the Berryfield mosaic and then most of the afternoon trying to send it - the inequality of broadband provision in rural areas really has to be addressed if we want a connected country - it’s exciting to have such an interesting piece of print commissioned that has been derived from the folding and book art that i have been working on.

timetostartwork

2011-09-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

a really good meeting with Dan at his house about journey to the podium – focusing on the bookwork and the proposed work in school - we talked a lot about rules and statistics and the oppressive nature of training most of which is embedded within the book . it was nice to meet Dan's dad after seeing him in the film made about Dan and on the tv after the Beijing olympics.
now I have Dan’s sanction on the work it’s time to start editioning the book and to start the design of the finished box/cover.

studentsfinalwork

2011-09-08T01:13:00.000-07:00

last week I had a very long day assessing MA students final work at Camberwell – it was a real joy to spend the day looking at their work, making connections, judgements and discussing work - last night was the private view – always very inspiring to stand in a busy room with an active audience looking at the work of students who have considered, discussed and worked hard to create exciting, innovative and inspiring work. all the nonsense around higher education – the squeezing of resources etc pails into insignificance as you feel your job here is done. Below is a link to images.
http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/final-show-2011

mabookartshow2011

2011-09-05T10:05:00.000-07:00

just back from a short break in Croatia - looking forward to the ma book art private view at Camberwell tuesday night – meanwhile here is a link to the web catalogue. http://www.wearebookarts.co.uk/

i’m also helping hang the exhibition - The Wallpaper History Society Celebrates 25 years of Wallpaper Design at The Imago Art Gallery on wednesday. some students from NUCA have their work on show.
http://wallpaperhistorysociety.org.uk/events/

assessingbooks

2011-08-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

a very long day assessing MA students final work at Camberwell – it was a real joy to spend the day looking at their work, making connections, judgements and discussing work and the ideas behind the it– on the journey back now working on the Berryfield project print and thinking about tomorrow.

thespaceofchange

2011-08-25T05:43:00.001-07:00

over the past few days it all feels like my life has been about rooms and change. hanging the MA Book Art show back in the main building on Peckham rd has been interesting – returning to where i first worked at Camberwell and yet it’s the end of my connection to these students. there is some excellent work this year, as ever full of material investigation underpinned with rigorous theoretical thinking. i stayed with old friends who are moving after living in their house for a very long time – initially the last night in the empty house appeared to be about memories and loss but as the removal men carried out their boxes of possessions on the morning i was staying the space evolved - before my eyes the home transformed into a house then just a number of rooms and the possibility embedded within the future became the overriding emotion

nucamashowandotherprojects

2011-08-18T02:38:00.000-07:00

the MA show at nuca should be interesting –http://www.nuca.ac.uk/ma-degree-show i have spent the last week during the day working with the students supporting them in the hang and in the evening working on the projects I have in my portfolio. so the conversation has ranged from large scale hybrid typography to black british identity through the moving image via east west culture clash. meanwhile the collaboration with Jeonghee in Korea continues at a pace, the textile photo book with Caroline for rewind is being printed and resembles a ghostly photo album, the work on the folded print for firstsite is at the design stage and the research around smocking is coming to a number of conclusive outcomes and then there is the ongoing conversation with dan and boccia and journey to the podium.

betweenyouandme

2011-08-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

spent the morning working on the collaborative bookwork with Jeonghee for an exhibition in Korea with the Samwon paper gallery called “Between You and Me”– the show is coming up fast and the collaboration beginning to get exciting with the ideas flowing back and forth through email.

returningandcontinued

2011-08-11T01:49:00.000-07:00

returning after a refreshing break to a mountain of emails with some exciting opportunities. managed to take in some interesting art over the past 10 days – the victor vasarely foundation in aix en province http://www.fondationvasarely.fr/ was extraordinary – in many ways – the work created specifically for the space was huge but seemed strangely lacking in emotion within the building designed with and for the work which was a little run down. the James Turrell piece Pink Mist in the exhibition IMMERSION at Musée des Beaux-Arts in Valence http://www.fabarte.org/page.php?lang=en&cont=participation was stunning and provided space for contemplation and finally the excellent show at imprints in Piégros La Clastre http://imprints-galerie.com/galerie was of prints with some stunning work in a beautiful space.
i managed to get to some reading whilst sitting in the sun - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and Fatherland by Robert Harris. i came across Ayn Rand and her theories of objectivism through the journalism of Adam Curtis and the series All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace. Within the Fountainhead there are a number of prescient themes including the downfall of a media magnet – a hugely enjoyable read.
continued to work on the series photos that i take at night using a flash – it creates a feeling of unease and loss and of course the unexpected.

firstfirstsite

2011-07-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

the first public workshop at firstsite – working on the structure and text for the berryfield mosaic interpretive material and artwork. some exciting work with the children and a meeting with the potential printer have moved the project on – got to collate all the work so far and create dummy artwork – meanwhile speculation around the skeleton in the hole grows.

unearthedphotographs

2011-07-23T03:26:00.000-07:00

an afternoon in the library at Colchester museum unearthed some exciting photographs which will support the work for the mosaic interpretive material I am working on with firstsite.

the new gallery is most excellent – i was lucky to get to walk around the building which is breathtaking – it really feels like art and creativity have been valued and i was impressed with the detail in the finish as well as the overall vision, looking forward to running the first public workshop in the space next week

earthalleluiah

2011-07-19T01:50:00.000-07:00

well – latitude – yes – many excellent moments - words, images, sound and a lot of dancing but – highlights– rubberbanditz, hypnotic brass ensemble, late night gimp fight, reverend billy and the church of stop shopping choir, shunt and of course linton kwesi johnson and so now to work.

extremetimelinefolding

2011-07-14T02:02:00.000-07:00

started work yesterday on a really interesting project for firstsite in Colchester – Berryfield mosaic: relocation and renovation. a roman mosaic that was displayed in Colchester museum has been relocated into the floor of the new gallery – just feet from where it was originally dug up. my role is to pull together all the strands of the work so far and create a piece of interpretive print. spent yesterday working with artist Bethany Mitchell http://www.bethany-mitchell.co.uk and a group of pupils from St Helena school in Colchester who have been researching and developing work in response to the mosaic. aside from mind mapping and paper folding there were many strands of discussion around the known and unknown and that for many years the piece was not valued. ideas so far include an extreme time line – to include the material it was made from so that would include 35m of just rock! a piece of print that is an exact reproduction of the mosaic so that you can take it away and have one at home - much like on exactitude in science - the borges short story http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/08/bblonder/phys120/docs/borges.pdf. a design that has the material from lottery cards printed over the design so that you can have the opportunity to excavate the print. creating the missing bit of the mosaic and developing a whole philosophy and alternative reading of the mosaic much like the museum of Jurassic technology http://www.mjt.org so we shall see what happens.

teacherssneakypeak

2011-07-08T02:22:00.000-07:00

busy amassing images of smocking for my research at nuca
i’m creating a large bookwork to be part of the tool kit used at first site gallery in Colchester in their outreach work. the proposal would celebrate visually all aspects of firstsite. the contents of the proposed books would include initial drawings and plans, aspects of the buildings construction phrase and abstracted images celebrating the final building.
as well as looking at the physical structure I want to make work that explores the buildings function and purpose. this would consist of a number of books that contain basic ideas connected to looking, thinking and art practice. it would include ideas around visual communication, colour theory and visual perception. http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/teachers-sneaky-peak-8541550 about to give a presentation called teachers sneaky peak at firstsite to teachers as part of their outreach program – also looking forward to seeing the new building
meanwhile tonight I'm looking forward to seeing big bag of boom by new art club - http://www.newartclub.org/ its the culmination of a show I saw at the dance house when it was in development - looking forward to the lycra and inappropriate country dancing to Heaven 17. go and see them if you think you don’t like dance.

winningandsmocking

2011-07-06T01:38:00.000-07:00

a student on the textile course i teach on at nuca has won the historic wallpaper society competition i have been responsible for - Lauren Mellor http://laurenmellor.tumblr.com/ whose wallpapers are inspired by the intricate Japanese technique of quilting, called, Sashiko. the 3-Dimensional qualities are emphasized through layering the cut paper so the patterns can be folded out to reveal a spectrum of colours, lifting the designs off the wall. this means that she has secured a 4 week paid work placement, at Zoffany worth over £1,400. so success.
meanwhile smocking is taking over my life!

smockingisevil

2011-07-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

started the research allocated to my contract at nuca. i am focusing this period of time on smocking but looking at the fold and exploring the relationship between binding books and folding cloth. i think that the work will centre on the creation of a body of work with a view to exhibiting and publication. the research will be in three parts - research and development – creation of teaching tools – visit. the main part of the first section of the research will be to explore the relationship between book structures and traditional textile processes. i am going to look specifically at the fold through pleating, darting and smocking and western book binding structures. the title for this work is - is smocking is evil? based on looking at the role of the characters wearing smocked clothing on a visit to the academia in venice and of course the whole idea of the hidden within both fields - the book and the folded cloth.

newthingsbecomeoldthings

2011-06-29T02:26:00.000-07:00

a day out in London to see the final show at Chelsea and both sites at the RCA. As ever the standard of the textile work at Chelsea was of a very high quality and the graphics ‘tight’ fuled by solid thinking. the spaces for the RCA show are quite wonderful and the work in general matched it in general – it really is important to see the work of other colleges to check oneself – on that note Monday was a day at the design centre in Islington setting up the stand for New Designers. the actual stand looks good – focused with a professional edge – hope the work matches it.
symposium 2 at Camberwell was a full day – 19 students presentations with me providing the chair/continuity/timekeeping role. some truly wonderful presentations – some of the best I have ever seen used the space of the presentation to test and challenge elements of their practice – a real joy.
the MA Book Art Course is moving from Wilson’s rd to Peckham rd and the rooms are all empty but for packing cases. i came across a room with empty cabinets that used to hold the Camberwell decorative arts collection. the negative space created by the objects talked of loss and time and ultimately change – which we are all heading into in higher education.

thefuturewillbefantastic

2011-06-23T12:24:00.000-07:00

i live in a house conceived, designed, built and celebrated as an opposition both conceptually and physically to sizewell – the nuclear power station down the road. my house was built by clive latimer in the 70s – a radical closely associated with robin day and ideas around light and sound experiments at Horsey art college and known for developing pink Floyd light shows. he was also an anti nuclear protester and my house was the centre of opposition to the power station so it was interesting last night to attend an art event at sizewell and to think of clive and what he would of thought about the whole experience. everlasting light – a reflection on sizewell was quite wonderful - devised by Netia Jones with voices by exaudi and ending with projections onto sizewell power station itself. i thought about clive and also back to when they were building sizewell B and we used to go down at 3.00 in the morning to test the access laws – getting the guys to open up the footpath that ran alongside the plant on the sea shore which had to be accessible 24 hours a day but was heavily guarded.

factoryvisitandsometeaching

2011-06-22T02:30:00.000-07:00

took four textile students to Anstey’s of Loughborough for them to undertake presentations for the Historic Wallpaper Society competition. the factory visit was instructive and threw up many issues that the course could pursue and discuss – ethics and sustainability being two. they have worked really hard and all of them could benefit from the opportunities generously offered by the society. tuesday i ran a very intense and occasionally combative seminar at camberwell which explored a maker’s relationship to audiences and the work they make through flow diagrams – some wonderful thoughts and thoughtful comments mean that some of the diagrams I present will be changed and some added. we also looked at the individual students plans for the final show in the actual space – the course has been altered and we will be showing the work in September – after jumping on a train to Norwich for the nuca BA private view – as ever a very social affair which was glamorously busy with lots of textiles being sold.

voiceandelectronics

2011-06-19T03:33:00.000-07:00

two wonderful evenings at the aldeburgh festival – one at the pump house saw voice and electronics working with and against each other – in the audience was an enthusiastic Pierre-Laurent Aimard, artistic director of the festival so we knew we were in the right place http://composers-classical-music.com/d/DanajloskaEvdokija.htm - at one point the extraordinary vocal noises created by evdokija danajloska were manipulated by wilfried wending to such a way as to of created the impression of being snatched from her throat – just before she had sounded as if she was singing a tape loop of sounds backwards without a mic and accompanied a projection of a giant fly from the inside of her piano the second at the Hoffman building at snape by marco stroppa on electronics who was danajloska’s tutor and the phenomenal saxophonist, Claude Delangle – during the talk given by arshia cont before the performance he talked about the software created at ircan http://www.ircam.fr/ I thought about how some of the ideas explored within the world of musical thinking could be used to explore the visual arts. his ideas around collaboration – the car and flight control will be added to my seminar on collaboration that I have given to the students at nuca. meanwhile - there is some artwork dotted around the site as part of the festival – lookout for the end wall portrait and text in the auditorium – the rest.......................... http://www.aldeburgh.co.uk/events/snap-art-aldeburgh-festival

buybuybuyfinalshowatnuca

2011-06-17T03:24:00.000-07:00

the show at nuca is up and looks most excellent – recommend that you bring a cheque book as there is some fabulous work to purchase and commission. BA Textiles and Surface Design have two spaces - in the gallery space at the front of the building we have created a retail experience and upstairs the presentation is more about explaining the background to their work.
the private view is on tuesday – i’m rushing back from running an audience development seminar at Camberwell so will meet the experience that is the private view after a full day
the shows are on from Wednesday 22nd June to Tuesday 28th June 2011
http://www.nuca.ac.uk/the-gallery-at-nuca/forthcoming-exhibitions

welcometothe21stcentury

2011-06-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

managed to book time at college today to continue testing shapes for the journey to the podium book – building the pages in illustrator and then laser cutting the shapes for the pages has given a really precise edge and solved the folding issues that had been thrown up when i cut them by hand.

finishedpackaging

2011-06-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

finished the work and finished the packaging up of the work for the Kilkenny Festival - here are some of the pieces - there are 22 in total.

talkingaboutthinkingaboutwritingaboutworkthathasyettohappen

2011-06-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

at home thinking about Daniel and the journey to the podium – an image of him stretching and one about repetition – these ideas seem really important - could they become part of the bookwork.
a full day at nuca – arriving at 8.30 to go through all the year 3 portfolios, talking out work to put in an area of the retail space we are building in the gallery space as one part of the two spaces for the final show –we are having a floor to ceiling salon hang in one part of the space - there really is some wonderful work in the portfolios, this is often unrecognised by the students as they go onto develop a lot of the raw ideas into final pieces – then sitting in on the CAB where the final year awards are read out – I like the formality of the experience and something about the reading out of the name and their mark, even though they are not there, the announcement seems enough – the saying makes it real. the afternoon was spent with the MA textile design students talking about the idea of proposals and learning agreements – talking about thinking about writing about work that has yet to happen. http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/learning-agreements-considering-and-formulating managed to leave at 6.00 after checking on the wood that had arrived to build the space for new designers – come and find us at stand T43 - again - the students have work hard and the work will be stunning.

bookstalkingtoeachother

2011-06-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

packaging work to send to Kilkenny Arts Festival – thinking about the work as a whole – almost one piece so possibly it should all sit together on a large piece of sheet material. trying it out on the table in the house in a number of configurations and enjoyed the dialogue that starts up between the pieces.

working on the text for the interpretive material, the inspiration for my work in exhibition which sounds a little like this so far –

Throughout the process of making this body of work the feeling of a voice emanating from the page was prominent. When creating the work the book form often stood in for the notion of person.

I wanted to make work that engaged with the poems at a psycho geographical level, creating and inhabiting spaces, alongside exploring what I believe to be the fundamental concepts within the poems that lie beyond the descriptions of place. The ephemeral space created during the act of page turning enables the viewer to build a territory where they can bring themselves to the work and construct their own narrative.

Rejecting image and text I worked with materials to create a number of sculptural forms, physical haikus, these spaces are dense and layered with possibilities that act interdependently with Gerard Smyth’s text, presenting a duality where neither element is subservient but somehow inhabit each other.

bocciamovements

2011-06-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

as part of the journey to the podium commission i’ve been folding paper and card in an attempt to create book structures that in some way explore the movements associated with Boccia. focusing on the idea that in the game each ‘turn’ can completely change the change both what was there, what is there and could be there! so with each turn of a 'page' the contents has to move and the structure has to be constantly interchangeable with all possibilities available and yet have meaning. really enjoying this problem solving.

maessaytitles

2011-05-31T07:27:00.000-07:00

spent the day looking at some of the footage from the day with Daniel - there are some interesting sequences i'm examining with a view to looking at movements associated with how Daniel plays Boccia

meanwhile - just finished reading this years ma book art dissertations - it was interesting to look at the subject matter of the essays over the years since the ma started.

1996
PERSONAL STATEMENT
Notes and Fragments: The documentation of the development of an idea
Books: Public or Private objects?
WRITTEN STATEMENT
written statement
INTERVIEWED IN THE BOOK ART STUDIO
WRITTEN STATEMENT
STATEMENT
Written Statement
A METAMORPHOSIS AN ADVENTURE INTO BOOKARTS
1997
FRAGMENTS – PROCESS – SENSORY IMPRESSIONS
- JOURNEY WITH UNPREDICTABLE END -
An Unprecedented Event
Language as Art, Typography as Language
On Medieval Manuscripts
ABOUT BOOK ARTS
SEQUENTIAL ART or (The invention that is Art)
MA BOOK ARTS
A Projection. A theory
Book arts, Architecture, Space, Place, Paper and me
Mid-century Disjunction: the Fate of Early Modern Typography and the Evolution of Artists’ Books As Traced In the Work of Johanna Drucker
books as visual form for communication
1998
Memories of my food in the 1970’s, 1980’s
ESSAY: ART AND ECOLOGY
Low Culture, High Art
DOCUMENTING THE CITY
Time
Not At Home: in search of green ornaments – a collected narrative
Halfway to Inevitability
The Booked Block
1999
Judging A Book by it’s Cover: Questions of Legitimisation, Aesthetics, and Audience. A Catalogue Essay.
MA Book Arts
ROCK & ROLL an archive
- Found Words – The use of found words and objects in Book Art
Trivial Tales About Nothing At All
STRUCTURE
GIVER OF LIFE about rituals and metaphors, about domestic and the feminine in life and art.
Aspects of Exhibitions and Collections
UNDERGROUND
Thinking about reading
The narrative of London
2000
Silent Books
Towards Process as the work and Reading as the practice
Natural Mystic & Book
Personal Experience and the Book Outcome
IF YOU WOULD LIVE HERE YOU WOULD BE HOME NOW
(Space is everywhere open…We are in this place)
NARRATIVE AND CONCRETE SYSTEMS IN BOOK ARTS; through the book structure and content
The book: a psychosocial metaphor
SQUASHED FROG
CULTURE JAMMING; Its relation To My Work As A Book Artist
War, Art, and the artist as the recorder of History.
Are the contemporary pop-up books really that much better than the Victorian ones?
MA Dissertation Book Arts 2000
THE TRIAL AND CHANGE AS AN ARTISTIC FORM OF BOOK
2001
Approaches To Depicting Space
Books as Objects
A comment on repeat through artists books and multiples, form and process.
Time and the Artist
INTRODUCTION TO DOMESTIC PHILOSOPHY ABOUT ART, AUDIENCE AND THERAPY
on coming to book arts
Knock! Knock! Bang! Bang!
Public Space: Room for Authority or Art?
The influence of psychological theories on changes in representations of childhood in art since the Romantic era
‘Focusing on Studio Practice’
Alice in Wonderland
Opening the Text: The Book as a Hypertextual Object
An investigation into the Context of My Studio Practice
Evaluating House and Home
The True Nature of Conservation: Are Conservation Ethics Commensurate with Contemporary Art Practice?
2002
An Investigation into the “Disappearance of the Book”
The gap
The efficacy of the diary format in artists’ book.
Between Author and Reader exploring the notion of the writerly and readerly within the work of Susan King and Lygia Clark
Savouring the recipe book
The library of unpublished books: From fiction to reality
Visceral Passage: Reading the Book as Body
In/Outside Space: The shifting boundary between private and public…how it structures our homes
Un Coup de Des: Musique Meditation on a Musigram
Book as Box : Box as Book
ELUSIVE/ALLUSIVE: Book Arts and the Undermining of ‘Truth’ and ‘Reality’
A comparison of, and investigation into, Michael Landy’s break Down (2001) and Susan Hiller’s After the Freud Museum (1995), with reference to the role of research within artistic practice as compared to academic models.
2003
The Precious and the Processed: What are the implications for the status of the art object and the integrity of the artistic vision within the medium of artist publishing?
Man, Earth and Presence: Self-awareness in Floor-like Piece of Work
The System of (Book) Art
Description of Life a Users Manual
The Visible Word Concrete Poetry and Book Arts
Art, Therapy and the Artist’s Book: Inspiration from Eva Hesse and Lygia Clark
2004
How could language shape the future?
The Narratives of the Cabinet of Curiosities in 16th & 17th century Europe and Contemporary Book Artist Practice
To receive or not to receive: choice, the gift, and art.
The Surveillance of Everyday Life: Appropriating City Space/Book Space
The book as a space within contemporary curating
CLOTHES ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
Cultural shift in relationship to the significance of objects, as seen in British collections from the sixteenth century to the present day, with particular reference to the Enlightenment Exhibition at the British Museum, the Soane Museum and the Saatchi Collection.
The Visual Power of Language Language Play/Word Play
The Erotic and the Innocent: The role of the child/adolescent as seen through the role of Hans Bellmer and Dorothea Tanning
What is the role of a visual style and media in the development of the content of a visual book?
Magic Lantern
How the Viennese painter Gustav Klimt appropriated motifs from the Archaic Greek Art period in his paintings and in what way this engagement might have affected his formation as a mature artist in his career?
RELATING TO DISEASE: The Narrative Origins of Medical Artists’ Books
How do the books of Susan Hiller and Joseph Cornell differ in their presentation and revelation of an inner, emotional journey?
In relation to my own explorations of an empty three dimensional book space, how effectively have Rachel Whiteread and Johnathan Callan articulated negative space and to what extent in terms of the book?
This is me, this is you: Ubiquity of self
How do Joseph Cornell and the collaborative artists cris cheek and Kirsten Lavers (T.N.W.K.) use systems of objects to give a sense of implied narrative?
2005
An artists’ search for sense of self, time and place, reflected back through the Mother’s Gaze
Memory as a vehicle for self-exploration, or a gateway for others?
Revisiting the Sublime Through Mariele Neudecker and Alison Wilding
Exploration of inner and outer spaces in book: Through analyzing works of Richard Long and artist books of Telfer Stroke and Helen Douglas and Michael Snow’s, Cover to cover and Real Fiction, I will examine the ways of depicting spaces within book structure and spaces in nature.
When Craft Is Applied Into Book Art
Through the exhibition Body Worlds I will examine the relationship between art and science and the issue of consent in display of the human body within didactic institutions
Is the Use of Photography in Documentation of Ephemeral Art Inherently Contradictory?
What Role Does Freedom play in the work of Joseph Beuys?
Read me, Seymour! Considering Book Art worthy of analysis as ‘text’.
The influence of the “Duesseldorfer Schule” of Bernd and Hilla Becher ass seen in the works of their former students Thomas Struth, Thomas Ruff and Andreas Gursky.
Art imitating life, Life imitating art
The presence of mental anxiety in the artwork of the displaced
Portraying the Stories: Paula Rego and Illya Kabakov’s visual-storytelling practices in art context
THE ART OF NOTATION: THE MUSIC DRAWINGS OF TOM PHILLIPS
2006
Extended Artist’s Statement: Shaping the Gathered Parts
ON COLLAGE
THE WAY OF TELLING A FAMILY AS A ROUTE FOR SEEKING AN IDENTITY
Visual Approaches of Reading sound and Listening image
Visual Sequences : speeds of reading
The Embodied experience of space: Michael Snow’s Cover to cover
The Container of Fixed Truths
Words of Comfort The Book As A Fashion Item
Alter-ed books. Alter-ed narrative? Two Famous Artists compared and an Emerged One takes her position.
The Journey in Book Arts
This paper is an examination of my own practise, compared and contrasted to “The Sleepers” by Sophie Calle and Martin Newth’s “8 Hours” I intend to explore the ideas of voyeurism in my work and where my practice stands in relation to book arts.
2007
FUTURISTS The roots of the controversies
Where the Art Lies
Feeling the book: The book in the digital era
The promotion of the moral and social development of the child through fairy tales
A Study on presenting the words on paper structure
The assumption of casualness and the discovery of intensity
Absence/Presence
MUSICAL SYNAESTHESIA
How Have Ideas Of Fiction, Theatre and Literature Influenced Ilya Kabakov’s Installations; ’10 Characters’, and ‘The Artist’s Despair, of the Conspiracy Of The Untalented’? How Do These Ideas Relate To His Thoughts On ‘TotalInstallation’ and What Effect Do His Concepts and Techniques Have On My Own Artistic Practice?
Deconstruction/Construction
HOME
2008
Touching as reading – When does touch make a reader become the content of a book?-
The book as a Document – Personal Statement and the audience Exploring the notion of documenting in Artists’ books and locating their audience by portraying and critically analyzing ‘Autobiography’ and ‘Break Down Inventory’, works by Sol Lewitt and Michael Landy respectively.
History and foresight of public libraries in UK
Shaping issues of personal verus global feminist issues through evocative memories within the context of book arts and particularly in consideration of book structure.
Existence of Book and Book Art
Semiotic Guerrilla War
Hunting Rabbit
What is the difference between a book and an artist’s book? What I pay special regards in creating my project?
Migration
The Aspects of Narration-Narrative relationships with the object.
Through comparing and contrasting three artists’ books: String Book, Mirror Book and Killing Book; this essay examins the physical structure and materiality of books in order to articulate a non-verbal sensational language, which is highly concerned in my book art practice.
2009
Does Unconventionality aid or constrict book art, or any form of artwork?
SEEKING FOR FREEDOM – THE INSTALLATION ARTS OF ESCAPING FROM THE SURFACE
The transitions of daily life in living spaces andpublic spaces.
A comparative evaluation and analysis on the works of Sophie Calle, Paul Auster and Michel DeCerteau in the context of the pedestrian self belonging to the urban life journey.
How everyday objects infused with personal/sentimental value are translated into artworks of public significance.
Future tense: Steampunk in Contemporary Art and Artists’ Books.
GREEN WORDS
Using Heidegger’s ideas on the nature of time and relating them to Keith Smith’s book 91, this paper will investigate book as a form of living art/live experience.
What would be the aim as an art practitioner by giving value to the collection of the disposal, the clutter, or the remnants of the ordinary, within the context of the scarce and the abundant in both Ilya Kabakov’s work The Boat of My Life and Andy Warhol’s Time Capsules.
MULTISENSORY INTEGRATION IN INTERACTIVE MEDIA ART: PRACTICE AND EXPLORATIONS WITH INTERACTIVE MEDIA ARTWORK FOUR SELECTED ARTISTS
By using both visual and haptic methods I intend to investigate ‘Cover to Cover’ by Michael Snow and ‘In Between’ by Kate Farley. This paper will compare and look critically at the ways these artists create visual spatial experiences in their work.
HOUSE AS ART Monuments for memory – Vessels for living.
2010
Chance as an agent in art
To what extent does Marinetti resolve the apparent paradox in his work of achieving a spatial and temporal extension which allowed simultaneous communication and sensation?
Investigating connections between the objective and subjective systems of classifying found material, I will be comparing Mark Dion’s ‘Tate Thames Dig’ with Joseph Cornell’s ‘Planet Sex’ Tete Etoilee, Giuditta Pasta (dedicace), in order to establish how the ephemeral can become precious.
IN THE LIGHT, ONE IS AWAKE
Does a comparison of Walking and Sleeping by Richard Long and Seven Walks London 2004-5 by Francis Alys reveal the differences between urban and rural walking or merely the difference or similarities between two artists who walk?
Materials can speak for themselves without words in Book Arts
OUTLINE OF ROBOTIC AND MOSAIC ART IN EDUARDO PAOLOZZI ARTWORKS CHILDHOOD MEMORIES, TEXT, FORM AND IMAGE AND THEIR PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS
Is the future of comic Books related with that of the book?
“The availability of touch in art galleries and museums” A study of today’s defined values and a personal experience from two tactile exhibitions.
Typographic Expression in Visual and Concrete Poetry How can typography successfully convey ideas of the text and add expression to printed word in visual/concrete poetry.
Imposed Passive Participation. By contrasting specific artworks by Susan Hiller and Sophie Calle I will discuss how personal artefacts are made public in order to create and develop an intimate relationship between the artwork and the viewer elicit a personal response and place the viewer into an integral part of the work as a passive rather than a passive observer.
The Art of Book Structure – Deconstruction Book Body
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ENERGY OF HANDWRITTEN TEXT IN COMMUNICATING EMOTIONS AND IDEAS IN VISUAL ARTS BY LOOKING AT VAN GOGH’S LETTERS, CY TWOMBLY’S DRAWINGS AND SOME CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS
2011
What else besides the body, could physical thinking look like? A discussion of the intersection between art and dance in response to Catherine Wood’s article The art of writing with people.
The book, socially collaborative art.
Reading in space – at what extent does language control the space that it is placed in or is that control dictated by the space in which the language sits?
Interpretation and Categorisation of Fired Books in Book Arts: Three Books by Yohei Nishimura.
Can and should all art be considered therapeutic to the artist and viewer, and in what ways can any therapeutic benefits be further exploited?
Destructive art and auto-destructive in contemporary art is based on the dismantling of forms to create new forms, Where, then does the value in such art lie?
Five senses of book
Journey to the centre. How do contemporary artists use the device of spots and circles as strategies to individualise elements of graphic culture within their practice?
In what ways has the use of language in art changed since the 20th century movements of Dada and Surrealism, and what is its role in contemporary art?
Silhouette Art: the aesthetics of concealedness
In what ways have time and space been expressed by artists in relation to artists books?
HOW DOES THE EVERYDAY MANIFEST IN CURRENT ART PRACTICES? TECHNOLOGY, RELATIONAL AESTHETICS AND THE URBAN LANDSCAPE
Does fashion blur the boundary of gender or not? – from French fashion to Leigh Bowery’s Art
In what ways does the writer Vladimir Nabakov and artist Joseph Cornell approach the challenge of rendering desire in their works?
Might consideration of the artists’ book prove fruitful when considering the evolution of other topics, for example happiness?
Is the repetition of daily life really boring and meaningless? Which artists convince us the repetition is both enjoyable and therapeutic?

lessreallyismore

2011-05-29T03:52:00.000-07:00

the latest faster than sound at snape has three parts – Variable 4 a sound piece that is determined by atmospheric conditions – soundtrap V a piece in a wonderful building in iken and Soundfields - Fixing Point a countryside walk, devised by Blast Theory and Clark that uses gps tracking to set off fragments of a narrative that you listen to on headphones whilst walking in a wood – it was an interesting experience – the content of which made sense in terms the action of walking in the woods whilst having a fractured narrative about the missing in Ireland in one’s head.
meanwhile the visual art experience at snape has been improved - work has been taken away leaving evidence of a recent presence - it provides an interesting intellectual and aesthetic experience that talks about potential and possibility.

bocciabocciaboccialatinforball

2011-05-28T03:10:00.000-07:00

a day spent with a world ranking Boccia player yesterday was most excellent. Dan is ranked 14th in the world and lives a life that is rigorously dedicated to bettering that http://www.bentleysboccia.com/bocciahomepage.html – i started to understand the role of strategy in relation to the absolute idea of rules. it really is quite a cruel game and i hope to have something of this in the bookwork i plan to make. thoughts on trajectory, movement of spheres, rules, repetition and motivation are in my head. i now have to look at the notes, drawings, diagrams, photographs and video made during the day to make sense of the movement within the game.

makingandassessing

2011-05-25T04:45:00.000-07:00

a busy week of making – both for the Kilkenny Arts Festival in Ireland and the Sunderland book project – i have finally finished the edition which centres around the idea of the scribe and transposition. the project gave me the opportunity to reconnect with the work of the Bede. it uses folding and digital printing alongside the handwritten to explore the idea of the scribe, the next stage after life and the labyrinth of thinking involved in developing understanding.
meanwhile assessments at nuca and camberwell have been exciting – there are some excellent students with wonderful work this year - really looking forward to both shows.

i am in the middle of creating a workshop for the peer assisted learning scheme (pals) at nuca around the development of a publication of a booklet to help the pals support the cohort of students who come to nuca next year.

mid-termpresentationsatcamberwell

2011-05-18T00:33:00.000-07:00

mid-term presentations at Camberwell – work is shown without the maker contextualising it with an introduction. a raw yet intriguingly empowering experience for the student. yesterday's session was so good that i wish it had been recorded. we had the whole range of the book experience on display – starting with the kindle ending with the body as book, book without physical presence. in between there were codex books and book objects which alluded to other forms of reading including the map and the newspaper –wonderful. we even discussed the deconstruction and destruction of the book – most excellent. anybody watching would have had a real insight to the full range of what the book art course encompasses and celebrates on the Book Art Course at Camberwell.

awonderfulweekendoftheatre

2011-05-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

a wonderful weekend of theatre – Nicked by Richard Marsh was truly wonderful – although because of its subject matter – the experience that is the coalition - one was never sure whether to laugh or cry – it was a powerful experience to see it on the night that the AV vote was announced – if you get the opportunity go and see. a quick note on the music (Paul Harvard) and choreography (Alistair David) – like a grown up pantomime – a mixture of 80s electro pop, believable grime rapping, the tango and morris dancing – excellent. Incoming a new play by Andrew Motion was an emotional roller coaster but could possibly of benefitted from rearrange the various sections – the third, with the boy becoming the first as it seemed to lose momentum - still go and see and be moved - as part of the Genesis Studio Programme there were a number of staged readings – i managed to see/hear Sonderkommando and A Thousand Miles of History - both well written pieces - the reading is a really interesting stage in the creation of a theatre piece – you get a real sense of the stage craft of the actors and enables you to project how the work could be presented in a finished state. i am looking forward to seeing how these two plays get to be produced.

on another thread i remember watching the century of the self and feeling as if all my paranoid conspiracy theories were upheld so I have to recommend Adam Curtis’s new series that is coming up - All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace - it begins on BBC2 on 23 May at 9pm

go to his blog to see and hear a much needed alternative to what we currently call information http://adamcurtisfilms.blogspot.com/ and see all his work.

imageoftheworkcouldbecomethework

2011-05-06T09:29:00.000-07:00

it was interesting to work with level 3 textile students at nuca yesterday – delivered a presentation with breakout sessions about pricing their work for the retail space we are creating this year as part of the final show alongside the idea of working freelance – the general feedback was that the course and nuca deliver the tools to enable students to develop a practice, make connections and ultimately a living which felt good http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/the-beginning-pricing
just written a powerpoint presentation for the briefing session on monday with level 2 - its the start of thinking about assessments and feels like real beginning of the end and the start of summer http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/year-2-assessment-briefing
folding again today in the garden has led to a number of sculptural bookworks that will feed into the work for the Kilkenny Arts Festival – started to think about the idea that the image of the work could become the work.
looking forward to the high tide festival this weekend - http://www.hightide.org.uk/ off to see nicked tonight - a new musical about the coalition.

sculpturalhaiku

2011-05-03T23:51:00.000-07:00

this week i’ve been reading Greard Smyth; The Fullness of Time; New and Selected Poems for the Kilkenny Arts Festival and developing an approach to making work - i’ve been really enjoying them and have decided to concentrate on his new work – not wanting to illustrate the words i’ve looking at a way of creating a body of work that in some way captures the individual poems and would work as a set – starting off as quick sketches the pieces are becoming a sort of sculptural haiku - dense and loaded with meaning

tomorrow i'm giving a presentation on powerpoint using powerpoint for year 1 students on the textile course at nuca - this morning i'm draw to the fact that Nelson Mandela did not use powerpoint to inspire a nation but they have to give to a presentation about their work next week and powerpoint will service the occasion!
meanwhile the book show at studio 75 – prosperos books has been and gone – check here to see images - http://blog.situ.org.uk/2011/04/29/prosperos-library-preview/

coupleoflatestarters

2011-04-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

here are a couple of late starters on my part -
spotify – i’ve finally got round to getting to grips with it just as its owners attempt to make it less free – but – wonderful – a great way to easily check out new music – i’ve been playing the soundtrack to Tron since watching it last week but its beauty is that it enables you to easily come across such a wonderful excess of sounds - today included The Look by Metronomy, The Monkees album Head, swimming by O’Death which led me to O Death rock me to sleep by Norman Notley from an album of Elizabethan songs – wondrous madness!
All Known Metal Bands - my favourite book of the moment – published a while ago but just found- its basically a list of all known metal bands - http://www.eyeoftheblackbird.net/all-known-metal-bands.htm who knew there was a band called Aaaarrghh...? but after looking around i also found an online version where through the wonders of new media you can find out more http://www.metal-archives.com/
meanwhile I have started to sew various folded structures together -

foldinginthegarden

2011-04-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

with all this good weather I’ve been working in the garden on some new ways of folding that explores the very idea of the fold – informed by reading about the fold – obviously starting with Deleuze and moving onto various people who have commented on his writing. this work will form the basis of the contracted research hours part of my teaching at NUCA. I have some work in a show titled PROSPERO'S LIBRARY an exhibition of book art - it runs from April 29 - May 01 2011 set up by Gillian McIver as part of an artist’s run space called studio 75 http://www.studio75.org.uk/PROSPEROLIB.html it’s an interesting idea to be connected with.
I’ve also been asked by Angela O'Kelly a jeweller and curator of contemporary applied art to do some work for the Kilkenny Arts Festival - a festival in Southern Ireland – the idea is to ask makers who manipulate books and explore ideas of books and text in different forms and materials to read some of the books in the literature strand and to respond to them. The exhibition 'Modified Expression' will be an exhibition of transformed books or ideas from the books. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on Patrick McCabe; The Stray Sod Country and Greard Smyth; The Fullness of Time; New and Selected Poems.

fairtomiddling

2011-04-19T00:54:00.000-07:00

i am working on the text/textile/words lecture for nuca and getting very excited about the root of words or expressions we use everyday – fair to middling – a phrase my parents use often - fair and middling were terms in the cotton business for specific grades - the sequence ran from the best quality (fine), through good, fair, middling and ordinary to the least good (inferior), with a number of intermediates, one being middling fair – wondrous thing language. at the first meeting for journey to the podium yesterday it was interesting to meet all the artists and see the range of practices that the Essex CC team have chosen. it’s now time to get on with meeting the athletes and making work. meanwhile i have a book - chasing lines, in the Prospero's Library show at Studio 75 http://www.studio75.org.uk/ and my words are in a number of the publications in 'Please do not place drinks on vitrines or books' at focal point gallery in southend http://www.focalpoint.org.uk/exhibitions/current/32/. the book art blog coming out of Camberwell is showing some excellent work – i recommend looking and following some of the links http://camberwellbookarts.blogspot.com/.

journeytothepodium

2011-04-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

i have been commissioned to create a piece of work for journey to the podium. http://www.essexlegacy.org/culture/cultural-projects/#Journey_to_the_Podium its a really exciting project that has teamed me up with Daniel Bentley http://www.bentleysboccia.com/- a world class medal holder. the idea is to make a piece of work about him, the sport of Boccia and the idea of being a sports person in general. i am looking forward to the first meeting with the other artists and athletes next week. as an artist much of the process of making work is invisible – Journey to the Podium is an opportunity to explore the process of thinking and making within a wider community whilst sharing ideas and skills. i see the commission as an opportunity to examine the parallels between art and sport but specifically to look at the reality of the hard work behind the image of sport alongside the idea and value of repetition. I am going to make a limited edition artist’s book that celebrates the individual as well as the idea of training and competing. the book communicates with people but through good design space can be left for the viewer, enabling them to stop and reflect. this is something that i have focused on with the books i have made in the past. the book enables ideas to be disseminated to many but at the same time as an individual you hold the book and feel a personal connection. there are many connections between the athlete and the artist. it would be interested to explore the parallels between the art exhibition and the individual public sporting performance, attempting to make the hidden process public. the idea of self motivation and dedication to getting better at something is something that i am drawn to with this commission. i am interested in both the image of their experience but also what motivates a sports person. i would want to discuss the qualities of concentration, control and commitment and how this leads to building their confidence which in turn leads to physical achievements. i work with people often exploring how and why they do what they do – discovering the systems people work within. the projects i have undertaken with teachers, dancers, musicians, engineers and planners have informed my practice and made me the artist that i am. There is a reflective experience when working within the world of others. i have never worked with athletes but they are goal orientated, dynamic and focused people - a lot like artists. i am interested to explore their discipline and desires around focused repetition, to be a part of their world.

crossingbordersandbooks

2011-04-11T01:03:00.000-07:00

building some new presentations for NUCA - at the moment they are titled - weird uses for textiles stuff, text and textiles, understanding practice through classification and textiles as a mediator.

my application to an exhibition at the point in Eastleigh titled without borders has been accepted – the proposal was to show artists books - the statement - I make books and believe them to be a tool to enable the smooth crossing of borders. The book, a symbol of power and knowledge can be a vehicle to communicate directly; it is a form that is understood in these terms. But repositioning its context and redirecting its purpose challenges these very notions. The work becomes a question rather than an answer, a collaboration in the mind and hand between maker and reader/viewer. The practical aspects of the book form, of disseminating information; of making things clearer are questioned. Within the work ideas around a sense of place come from stillness and silence, a reflective experience of taking time to connection, look, listen, and consider the spaces i find myself in.

the FRAC Haute-Normandie in Rouen have contacted me for permission to digitize and display on their web site the work of mine they have in their collection which is a good thing - making the work and the idea of the book as an art form more accessible. I am looking forward to a workshop on podcasting at NUCA on Thursday – should be interesting to see how it’s done and to consider how the podcast could be utilized both in my teaching and my practice.

followingblogs

2011-04-07T13:32:00.000-07:00

wanted to share some blogs that i have been following - http://butter-brass.blogspot.com/ a wonderful collection of fashion and photos and style - http://iamnotagun.blogspot.com/ a great eye for good design - http://bookshelfporn.com/ organised and disorganised bookshelves - http://amazing-maps.blogspot.com/ it is what it is amazing maps of all kinds - http://bigthink.com/blogs/strange-maps mapping and maps of all and everything - http://culturepopped.blogspot.com/ general and specific graphic illustrations. meanwhile at NUCA – working on the MA textile design http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/context-audience-understanding-for-ma-textile-design and the fda surface design course http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/presentation-briefing-ba6-contexts-collaborations-audience-and-employability-briefing

gettingdowntoeditioning

2011-04-05T04:46:00.001-07:00

getting down to editioning the book for The Sunderland Book Project http://theresaeaston.wordpress.com/the-sunderland-book-project/ - the starting point for the book is an extract of a text from St Bede, it’s become an edition of 10 with folding and digital printing alongside handwriting that combines the idea of the scribe, the next stage after life and the labyrinth of thinking involved in understanding. meanwhile NUCA has seen me working on the MA design course running a session on PechaKucha – http://www.pecha-kucha.org/ a wonderful, yet intense presentation tool where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. the images forward automatically and you talk along to the images - something that gets rid of waffle and down to the facts – a format that might be good to adopt for the BA students, the rest of the teaching has been a mixture of individual tutorials, briefings and support for both the wallpaper society and the final show. its rare that i get disturbed by images but i came across a book titled the perfect medium – photography and the occult, the chapter on ectoplasm – where cloth is used to illustrate the spirit is obviously not true but the photographs very existence, the paucity of the imagery and the belief in them combines to make an oddness.

foldingandsewinginisolation

2011-03-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

after a day of interviews at NUCA yesterday – effectively deciding on the fate of individuals and in turn the future of the textiles course it was interesting today to spend the day in isolation folding and sewing

professionalcontexts

2011-03-21T13:03:00.000-07:00

a most excellent teaching day at NUCA - starting with a professional practice session with year 2 textiles students. http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/10-professional-practice-21-march-2011 this was really to begin to talk about the many ways to approach writing about your own work – starting with the idea of the question and thinking about the idea of context. it led onto discussing the 5,000 word report and how to embed it within your overall practice. the afternoon was spent with students who have entered the wallpaper competition – some superb ideas – they just need executing - finally an image to add to my picture file titled wonderful town planning and why the world is like it is

crossstitchbookworks

2011-03-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

friday saw an evening at snape maltings to watch far by wayne mcgregor and random dance – the lighting object by Lucy Carter at the back of the stage was truly wonderful to watch - matched by the Ben Frost soundscape that at points disrupted ones internal organs but the dance was really in the way most of the time - a lot of the usual angular noodling which didn’t appear to go anywhere - a shame as i was looking forward to it. in the studio during the week I’ve been stitching into some of the bookworks i have been working on that celebrate their materiality – galvanised by a visit to the national gallery and viewing paintings that have pattern on cloth that does not take into account the fall and folds or perspective – teaching at nuca was a mixture of briefing, reading and feedback around learning agreements, one to one tutorials and support around the final show.

cyclinglookingandsharing

2011-03-13T11:46:00.000-07:00

i have to flag up again slideshare.net – a wonderful service – a place to post presentations so they can be accessed from anywhere with a web connection – to see what I’ve up to go to https://owa.nuca.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell recent presentations are all about deconstructing course documents for briefing sessions with students. – next one is on Monday with year 1 textile students at NUCA. managed to slot in a visit to the wolsey theatre in Ipswich on Monday to see the devil has quentin’s heart - a faustian pact with movement! –the drunk/dance scene was mesmerising - a one man show with Benji Reid, although the on-stage sound by Andrew Wong was startling and inventive – if you get the chance it’s a thoughtful show to see https://owa.nuca.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/2211/shows/the-devil-has-quentins-heart.html while we are here i should mention the lighting – moody and strangely illustrative by Paul Colley. cycling around Heveningham hall at the weekend i came across the creek men a work by Laurence Edwards http://www.laurenceedwardssculpture.com/ a piece i last saw looking quite splendid in the reed bed at snape maltings, having been floated/sailed/punted from Laurence’s studio at Butley – a place worth a visit on their next open day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB-y89E5-As especially if they are pouring.

springinthecountry

2011-03-09T08:50:00.000-08:00

spring in the country. another faster than sound at snape on saturday – quite possibly the best attended but the most gentle in terms of its impact on me. leafcutter john made some interesting noises in interesting ways and the drumming from Seb Rochford got good when he ventured into his jazz-noise phase – but i think i prefer to hear him talking and explaining http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3W-3PVUofY&feature=related took some interesting shots in the dark on the walk back. monday saw a full day at NUCA it was the deadline for the proposals for the students to have an idea of how their work should sit in the retail space linked to the final textile BA show – some very professional ideas so far – there will be some awesome things to own. there was also a session to support the wallpaper history competition – again some really exciting starting points. tuesday was wall to wall tutorials with the year 3 students – the fear has started with only 6 weeks to go. after the trip to Venice the realisation that my art education started in 1900 was brought home – so what to do? I have called on the services of Kenneth Clark and the wonderful civilization series. what a wonderful way to be educated – i now know why rome fell, the role of the church, the reasons behind the dark ages and so much more and i’m only on the 3rd programme.

thevenerablebede

2011-03-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

i have been creating work for some time which looked at the hand in relation to the book but my recent submersion into the world of 1400 – 1500 paintings has led me back to the book itself. combined with ideas around a bookwork i am creating for the sunderland book project http://culturgen.ning.com/profiles/blogs/open-call-for-submissions-the which has as its focus a quote from the venerable st bede http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bede . this recent body of work has at its core the elimination of all but the books and will be printed within a bookwork and as full size (the size of the original paintings) prints.

writingyourwayoutofsomething

2011-03-02T03:30:00.000-08:00

after a week in venice where the focus for the day centred around deciding which church or gallery to visit the past two days have been a little hectic. monday saw a full day at NUCA briefing year 2 on unit 6 for BA Textiles – deconstructing the course documents and supporting the writing of their learning agreements. the afternoon was a rather wide ranging, all encompassing raucous affair – the presentation looked at the idea of extended textiles with a view to mapping an individual relationship to textiles. this is a version from 2 years ago - http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/09-008-extending-textiles-a meanwhile tuesday was mid-point review at Camberwell where students present silently their work and the cohort critically discuss the merits of the work – quite a full-on experience - with questions such as - is the work a tool for the curation of narrative? being posed.

richpeoplehavingtheirphotographspainted

2011-02-25T05:46:00.001-08:00

a week in venice – where to start – it really is a place that enables creative thought and possibilities to flourish – staying away from the biennale site and the arsenale in a part of venice that was unfamiliar meant that new places were unearthed – highlights have to be seeing Hieronymus Bosch at the Palazzo Grimani – only three paintings but superbly hung within this conserved space – connecting what was to what is gave an indication of the life of the space. they had hung a stone angle in the same room as The Ascent to the Empyrean from the Vision of the Afterlife – truly transformational. http://viewfromthebow.blogspot.com/2010/12/hieronymus-bosch-in-venice.html the Academia was a mess of rebuilding but I wanted to look at the representation of cloth and consider a new line of research – the fold, specifically book structure and smocking – but coming across - The Ambassadors Return to the Court Inglese by Vittore Carpaccio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_Saint_Ursula the question of association was posed – is the fold and therefore smocking evil? – more of this later - looking at my notes the name Vittore Carpaccio appears often – his cycle of paintings for Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scuola_di_San_Giorgio_degli_Schiavoni were quite extraordinary – a real treat especially as the space felt like it really hadn’t changed since 1555 and then there is the extraordinary alterpiece The Ten Thousand Martyrs of Mount Ararat http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diecimila_martiri with its quite bizzare Michael Moorcock/Ron Hubbard science fiction image of heaven. finally a couple of images that i am sure will find their way into lectures quite soon.

maintainingcurriculumintegrity

2011-02-19T07:04:00.000-08:00

yesterday was spend in a staff development day at NUCA – a really interesting set of presentations from course leaders set out ways they are addressing the core concerns of the new framework within their individual courses – studio practice, contextual studies, business and professional and personal development planning. they all looked at how the courses deliver this part of the curriculum holistically. on the BA textiles we have been doing this for some time – looking at new models of delivering and how we can integrate – i find that i am delivering a lot of this and am excited by the many opportunities to introduce theory to the students that gives practical examples to enable them in the fulfilment of their aspirations. this way of thinking is something that i worked on with Humberside Arts in schools in the early 80s so it feels a little like a return to something familiar. oh and another example of smoking architecture.

connectingconnections

2011-02-16T02:19:00.000-08:00

i have returned to the Alde and Elder project – they have developed into Landingstage.net and have created a web site - which is a space for ideas... http://www.landingstage.net/we – for i have joined - are a growing number of Suffolk artists and writers who are interested in coastal and climate change. the website is an attempt to explore these changes and our relationship with our environment here on the Suffolk coast. early days yet and i have to post my thoughts/ideas/projects
the other space that i am now connected to is http://suffolkarts.wordpress.com/ it really is the place to find out what’s going on – specifically in Suffolk.

whatdoesthepastlooklike?

2011-02-15T09:03:00.000-08:00

as part of the project for rewind i have been looking at family photographs – the idea would be to print these on sheer fabric – see application below -

What is your story, our story? It is the story of all of us, centred on the idea of ‘unfound’ photographs.

What does the past look like? What does memory feel like? The disjoined photograph presents a fragmented experience, there is no before or after only a frozen timeless moment. The work could be seen as a puzzle – with the role of the viewer one of completing the uncompleted narrative. Not in the physical sense, with the hand but in the mind. The work enables its audience to build their own story, to imagine, to impose.

The work recognises our individual need to connect, to make sense of our existence and presents us with the opportunity to reflect on this phenomenon enabling us to build our own world, to develop our relationship with the past, making sense of one’s own past through the history of others. The work also provides a space for private contemplation to reflect on one’s own sense of loss, mourning for the past of others and the possible futures for ourselves.

Who are the people in these photographs? Do they talk to us? What do they say? What are they telling us? The once meaningful photographs have lost their position. The dead do not speak and often we find ourselves waiting too late to ask questions of the people with answers. But are the thoughts and recollections of the elderly the truth or one of many truths? The facts, figures, dates and partly remembered names and relationships never really add up to a satisfactory experience for the questioner. What are we asking and why do we want answers? There is a need to connect, to have a context. This loss of history, loss of story means that we find ourselves imposing a narrative. The photograph presents us with the evidence, the opportunity to connect with the idea of legacy, to leave behind a mark a permanent statement, although it too will be something that will disappear over time.

We as individual artists present and in fact represent monumental movements and events in 20th century human experience. Les Bicknell’s images talk of the industrial revolution, his families and the western world’s migration from rural to urban living, the move from farming to industry and the factory mechanisation. Caroline McNamara’s images add to our understanding of the global Jewish experience. Her personal archive of images taken by long dead relatives in a hospital in Poland run by the Austrian Army in the middle of the First World War talk of the extraordinary in the ordinary, the everyday activities and objects that stand for all of our lives.

The physical qualities of the materials used in the work are very particular. The photographs are digitally printed on semi-transparent fabric enabling the image to be both present and absent. As the audience moves around and between the pieces the fabrics fragility creates a luminal surface of impermanence. Its physical presence constantly changes inventing and reinventing the audience’s experience. Because of the quality of the material the images are printed on various areas of several separate images combine in space to become a hybrid image of the past.

The light shade, an everyday object from the photograph has been re-made and used as a device to animate the image. They have been wired up to provide a light source. This light both illuminates and obliterates the image. The concept of illumination acts as a metaphor for the act of looking. Illuminating the past, shining a light both on the image and the person looking. The texts made physical by light, through the cutting of text in the material, reference the idea of the authority of knowledge and its power to enlighten.

The text physically joined to the image (1) acts as both a text label, a framework for the understanding of the work and also a text in its own right, a starting point for a discussion around the imagery. This text can be read and reread on multiple levels with multiple narratives in any order.

Within the installation as a whole there is a sense of revelation in how the work is encountered. As the individual viewer looks at the hanging pieces the idea of the work as an expanded book, revealing and concealing, folding and unfolding is informed by the idea and the possibility of the ‘page book’ experience as the viewer walks through the large scale ‘pages’ of the ‘book’. The room itself becomes a book – creating a new way of reading which will envelop the reader and presenting an all-encompassing viewing experience.

rethinkingthinking

2011-02-09T01:13:00.000-08:00

a full day yesterday – the teaching at Camberwell saw me running two seminars that had presentations at their core – we started to consider the catalogue for the final show and what its role might be for this year’s student cohort http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/catalogue-what-2011-6859005 its interesting to look at all the catalogues since the beginning of the course - it really is an interesting archive - and to remember the conversations that have taken place over time – the introduction of the virtual and how the group dynamics inform the intention around the catalogue as well as the final design. in the afternoon there was also a conversation around research and its relationship to the final essay http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/writing-context-2011-6858951 supported by this year’s part-time students who have already gone through the process it was a very full presentation with lots to consider – but the possibilities are endless.
before getting the train home (late!) and going for a drink in the city with a friend i managed to see the second in the must see shows in London at the moment the Gabriel Orozco exhibition is magnificent http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/gabrielorozco/default.shtm there are the signature pieces – which are fun but the ‘folded ink blot pieces’ and the circular drawings really captured me – the catalogue is so full of ideas and work which makes you rethink the act of looking.

singingapicture

2011-02-05T06:33:00.001-08:00

another stunning evening at snape maltings - EXAUDI working with Bill Thompson explored John Cage’s Song Books http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Books_(Cage) EXAUDI are so wonderful – i love it as they retune themselves throughout the evening – like the tuning of a machine – constantly navigating their sound within a specific band width. the graphic scores and set ups for the creation of the sound were exquisite and mind expanding. My favourite has to be Solo for Voice 5 (SE) “Wander” over a provided portrait of Thoreau, such that the path resembles a melodic line. Each of eight parts is given a set of time units, ie length of which is determined by the speed with which Part 2 can be performed. The texts are letters and syllable from Thoreau. Electronics should change with the facial features. Accompaniment may include sounds of wind, rain, thunder, etc. http://vorlon.case.edu/~zwb2/songbooks.htm the idea made me think about Eno’s Oblique Strategies – check out the on-line version http://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html overall it was an evening that makes one think how marvellous snape is – anybody who complains about the fact that nothing interesting happens in suffolk is just wrong. finally i think that i might be the only person who has been to every faster than sound event in Suffolk as Mira Calix was not present (see previous posts!) – looking forward to her at snape on feb 17th as part of exchange and return a year-long collaborative project, sharing creative ideas and practical working methods between Mira Calix, Tansy Davies and Larry Goves http://www.aldeburgh.co.uk/events/open-session-mira-calix-and-larry-goves

itsgone

2011-02-04T09:53:00.000-08:00

i missed the PV at Suffolk University College due to working late at NUCA. the carousel interview technique introduced works well but leaves little time to breath so admin for the day started at 5.30! - anyway hope to see it before it comes down. meanwhile a meeting in London today saw the completion of the application for rewind – it’s now gone – managed to squeeze in a visit to the whitechapel to see John Stezaker http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/john-stezaker –

one of the 3 must see exhibitions on in London at the moment – the others being Susan Hiller at Tate Britian

http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/susanhiller/default.shtm

and Gabriel Orozco at Tate Modern http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/gabrielorozco/default.shtm

The show was quite beautiful – it was fascinating to see how he had mined the collection of images whilst working through a number of ideas . if you do go i recommend checking out the Wentworth upstairs – a man whose seemingly ‘slight’ interventions hide a wealth of thinking.

blogblogblog

2011-02-02T06:23:00.001-08:00

a full day in London saw the assessment of part-time year 2 MA Book Art students at Camberwell – some exciting work with many possibilities for a wonderful final show – the Camberwell Book Arts course has an interesting blog - http://camberwellbookarts.blogspot.com/
some personal blogs to follow
work which looks at the creation and meaning of burning books http://www.blog.egidija.com/ work which celebrates the visual qualities of typography http://georgecullen.tumblr.com/
work which investigates text in relation to performance http://commonthingstotalkabout.blogspot.com/
after i had a positive meeting with caroline about the rewind proposal we are putting together and as ever the train provided a spotlessly clean, punctual service with enough seating and working to an efficient and customer led timetable just like the morning when it was again 20 minutes late made up of only one carriage!

aweekendoforganisingtheweek

2011-01-30T10:56:00.000-08:00

a weekend of planning and organising the week to come – catalogue conversations with the year 3 students at NUCA and presentation of the wallpaper history competition but there was also an evening at the dance house in ipswich to see Luca Silvestrini's Protein dance presents LOL (lots of love). http://www.lollotsoflove.net/ some interesting ideas around social networking and our relationship to and within it – the section about second life was particularly well observed - a world premiere which is now on a huge tour – i would recommend checking it out. while we are there i have to recommend tuning in to Radio 1xtra monday night (31 01 11) at 7pm to catch the Gentleman's Dub Club session http://www.myspace.com/gentlemansdubclub from Maida Vale. a most wonderful sound and if you are looking for a good night out - a great live experience - also fire is on repeat on my ipod.

blogastool

2011-01-28T04:09:00.000-08:00

celebratingtheindividual

2011-01-28T01:30:00.000-08:00

i have been at NUCA 3 days this week and have felt embedded – some really good teaching experiences happened – especially supporting individual students practice. we are also looking at rethinking the final show presenting a more visible/commercial experience which will mean a lot more work but will be good for the student’s professional outlook. i have been reminded this week of the TED talk by Barry Schwartz: Using our practical wisdom, in which he derides the current trend for rules and targets and talks about trusting your wisdom and celebrating the individual. http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_using_our_practical_wisdom.html

in-between i delivered the work for the exhibition at UCS and worked on rewind which is moving on.

expandedmulti-narrativestonebookwork

2011-01-24T04:10:00.000-08:00

working on the layout for one of the pieces intended to be in the Suffolk New College exhibition in my corridor over the weekend ended up looking at bit like this - an expanded multi-narrative stone bookwork

teachingteachingteaching

2011-01-23T02:17:00.000-08:00

teaching teaching teaching – and organising - i have been heavily into running seminars and workshops on PDP at NUCA – working mainly with year 2 on ideas such as professional practice http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/level-2-professional-practice audiences http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/012-relationships-with-audience and the idea of context http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/context-why-how-and-what-it-means. it is all an attempt to get the students to consider themselves as professionals - work on the application to rewind continues with inroads into the creation of giffs.

validatingintuitionasmethodology

2011-01-11T13:41:00.000-08:00

a spectacularly good two days of teaching – Monday working with Surface Design at NUCA exploring the concept of assessment – which involved creating huge and unwieldy assessment criteria for fruit! – then in the afternoon looking at promotion of practice – from the practical –issues around visibility including the blog and business card to the more conceptual and ethereal questions such as what is your role on this earth?

today has been the second session around the MA Book Art students presenting their project proposals – joyous – a day of fantastically creative and thoughtful ideas – my favourite feedback question was - is the focus for the work to be around validating intuition as a methodology – the idea of transposing context for the found and evaluating chance? straight after I quickly got up to Holborn for a meeting at the Art Workers Guild to discuss the proposed wallpaper competition that The Wallpaer History Society and Sanderson are running and students at NUCA are taking part in. a really interesting exhibition of the finalists work from last year was on display as well as background support material, including the sketchbooks.

the exhibition at Suffolk New College University is on and they have picked the work they would like to show – so in theory there will be some sandblasted stone, printed silk and a bookwork on show.

emotionalcutting

2011-01-07T01:50:00.000-08:00

straight into work after a good break was something to be anticipated with excitement – so a day at Camberwell looking at the students work within the context of their proposals had to be a good day – there were some exciting ideas around the table with the possibility of developing really exciting projects.

a full day at NUCA working with the surface design first years – a whole day of exploring cutting – tried to get the students to look at the cut as a conceptual concept - developing a visual language with the cut which would then enable you to ‘talk’ using a scalpel.
i had created an extensive powerpoint which presented a range of practitioners and their making but focused on the act of understanding cutting and then from that ‘products’ would come depending on materials and scale – lighting, seating accessories, clothes etc.

but of course it has to start with Lucio Fontana.

Irarelydothisendofyearlistthing

2011-01-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

i rarely do this but thought that it would be interesting to consider the past year and compile a best of list for 2010. The items haven’t necessarily found the light of day in 2010 more that this was the year i encountered them or in the case of the music found itself on repeat play on the ipod.
Book, fiction – The Road by Cormac McCarthy or Zeitoun by Dave Eggers also this was the year i found Robert Harris so the Cicero trilogy is up there.
Book, nonfiction - Structure Systems by Heinrich Engel
Web site - http://www.probelog.com/
Blog – iamnotagun.blogspot.com/
Podcast - in our time – if I had to pick one it might be Daoism or maybe Logic
Music, track – women of the Ghetto by Marlena Shaw or reach you by Engine-EarZ Experiment ft Lena Cullen
Music, album – The Man Machine – Kraftwerk has been the sound track to 2010.
Music, video – ok go – this too shall pass but the audiobullys – only man has to be mentioned – don’t you want those trainers?
Film – a Single Man or Kick Ass for obviously different reasons
Gig – close call between Tom Jones or Gentleman’s Dub Club both at Latitude.
Dance – new art club at Ipswich Dance House.
Theatre – The Way to the Sea - at Aldeburgh Festival
Live art – Pregnant by Mamoru Iriguchi at Pulse Festival
Event – TEDx Aldeburgh at The Hoffman Building.
Exhibition, art - Isa Melsheimer at Carré d'art, Nimes or Lygia Clark at Alison Jacques Gallery, London. Also Serra at the Gagosian was a must see.
Exhibition, museum – I was drawn again this year to the Hunterian museum, although the museum of miniatures in Montpellier was glorious.
Television – The Trip or American Chopper
Radio, series – history of 100 objects, radio 4

Radio, one off program – How to get an A star, radio 4
Radio show – The Radcliffe and Maconie Show

frenchart

2010-12-29T01:59:00.001-08:00

spent christmas in france with friends at imprints but spent 2 days in lyon before and as ever when in a new space i checked out the visitor offering – some recommendations – a little out of town but set in its own grounds with a great car park! is the lyon museum of contemporary art http://www.mac-lyon.com/mac/ which had 2 fabulous shows - bruce nauman and trisha brown – a wonderful piece of programming enabling the reviewing of both bodies of work. also within the building was work that i only seem to see exhibited in regional galleries on the continent – work of huge scale in huge spaces which seem implausible – giant blocks of ice melting in the gallery, massive (20 m x 5m) colour field paintings and action installations the size of a building. tricky to find but worth it the Institute d'art contemporain http://www.i-art-c.org/ housed in an old school - it seeks to show work that challenges the notion of what art is a trek stuck way out within the suburbs but worth it for the work of Vincent Lamouroux who had rebuilt his space and Francois Curlet’s wallpaper based on rorschach blots. while not eating tete du veal or boudin noir with apples and mashed potato closer in town was the wonderful lyon museum of religious art http://www.fourviere.org/fr_FR/index.php which had a temporary exhibition of pieces from the Urals - an incredible collection of statues in polychrome wood but the standout ‘exhibit’ was the fourvier basilica – i was taken with the stone work on the outside. i also have to mention the quite bizarre museum of the miniature http://www.mimlyon.com/ which is as it says a museum of miniature stuff – the choice to recreate in miniature spaces not usually celebrated – stairwells, hotel corridors and the bottom of a swimming pool made it quite wondrous - there was a feeling that somebody had read Bachelard's The Poetics of Space or Perec's Species of Spaces and then there was the usual city images for the collection – covered shop fronts, interesting use of fabric in building work and then there was cheese.

shoegazingexhibition

2010-12-17T03:55:00.000-08:00

helping a friend dig underneath his house in an attempt at underpinning we came across a collection of shoes 3m down. preserved in the mud infill they were underneath a house that is over 100 years old – the stitching had perished but the punched holes and traces of stitching remain – quite a find.
meanwhile i am looking at my work with a view to exhibiting at University College Suffolk who are organising an exhibition with past and present teaching staff. http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/images-for-proposed-teaching-staff-show-at-ucs i worked at what was Suffolk Art College at the wonderful High Street purpose build space when i first moved to Suffolk. initially working on the foundation course, making books and printing and then with Michael Lumb http://www.michaellumb.co.uk/ on the first cohort of the modular fine art course – focusing on site specific work before it was fashionable. At present it houses an exhibition from the Saatchi collection. http://www.ipswich.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents.php?categoryID=200130

leasteventtimetabling

2010-12-16T13:55:00.000-08:00

another day of timetabling at nuca – a momentary glance at the wall of the textiles print room led me to the dye splatter where the screens are washed – and a thought about the recent visit to John Lathams flattime house and the conversation around the ‘one second drawings’ – the spray-gun paintings that dealt with temporality and the idea of the ‘least event’- the idea of a moment of existence - the shortest departure from a state of nothingness – a small moment but one that creates an infinitely complex image. well it took me away from excel spread sheets for what seemed a lifetime.

evolvingenglishevolving

2010-12-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

A wonderful day in London with the ma book art course students – first stop the british library to see their latest show – Evolving English – http://www.bl.uk/evolvingenglish/ - a truly superb show that explores the roots of the english language and its development. I chose to focus on 3 ideas - The physicality of the letter forms - the use of different type fonts and how the characteristics of the letters communicate the content of the words. How a language is centrally controlled - how to translate a sound into a word which in turn is to be used as a set of rules. How the past can inform the present - there are many examples within the show when the printed matter from the past enables us to reflect on the present. After lunch we visited St John Soane's museum http://www.soane.org/ and the Hunterian museum http://www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums - the purpose of the afternoon was to visit two very different exhibition spaces - to compare and contrast. the students were asked to consider – the idea of the collection – to ask what are the narratives that are presented? the role and look of the labels – what do they communicate? the display of the objects – how are they presented and what systems are used?

threadcover

2010-12-09T12:37:00.000-08:00

gave a new lecture on the city and its relationship to textiles today – the presentation explores two strands – the concept of the line (thread) as a conduit and the cover (sheet) as a device for shelter, intertwined with the idea of the role of textiles in building what makes a city from a theoretical linear time-based perspective. all this as ever derived from photos taken abroad. http://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/textilesurface-city-textiles-dec-10