make:shiftshowsusthefuture

back on another train after speaking at Make:Shift in Manchester - delegates were very positive about my talk that had at its core in some ways a traditional yet erratic 'old school' approach to making through gathering - its always interesting to see what will happen when standing in front of images of one's work. The process of talking is always interesting (organising, sifting, sorting images, reflecting and clarifying) and it's rare to get feedback as I'm usually standing at the front in a position of 'sort of power' so the conversations I had after the session were so instructive and helped to place or locate my practice in this new terrain. My panel was full of people talking about fabulous new materials and ways of working - collaboration and hybrid approaching to understanding are the key - obviously. The Manchester Met University were running a collaborative workshop - they were such lovely people and I have some ace paper samples which I intend to explore in the nano project as they have different surfaces on each side so will fully exploit the haptic experience. Meanwhile in the Museum of Science I got the chance to see the textile history of Manchester be performed - the looms are set up and powered - the whole process from raw cotton to calico is show and it was just awesome - if my textile students are reading this you must go - in fact everybody should see it and listen to the people explaining the process's and the wonderful way they weave the social history and trade union activity within the demonstration. I had my bike so managed to get out and about the city - often a mixture of Escher like moments where standing on a steep cobbled street looking up a bridge which carries trains, there is a canal to your side and below that a dual carriage way, all the while surrounded by brick buildings built with civic pride, iron in the road, walls and sky, stone and warehouse regeneration modern sheet glass - I think that I loved it. Manchester Art Gallery had a show looking at Fashion - some good starting points for a discussion around a number of issues as the work was very theatrical, almost beyond catwalk. The highlight of the day outside the conference was the wonderful Rachel Maclean at Home - disturbingly excellent art, awesome space and really friendly, interesting, helpful people. I can't wait to see her work in Venice next year. 

busybusybusyallgood

after a week attending the NanoDTC Autumn school I'm back  - for more information on this follow https://unfoldingthinking.blogspot.co.uk/ which is the blog that will document the project with NanoDTC at the Maxwell Centre. meanwhile Its been a busy week of opportunities - The Crafts Council have invited me to present my work in Manchester as part of Crafts Council's Make:Shift conference - already looking forward to it as it's an opportunity to share the advances my practice has had as a result of working within a science context. Nicola Naismith has contacted me to be part of her interesting project Postures of Making - exploring what happens beneath the surface of the skin when engaged in art practice and how we work with the idea of repetitive acts. I have several art related body malfunctions!!! as a result of creative making over the years and have been interested in the ergonomics of art practice for some time, especially when considering the of concept of the space of reading and idea of page turning as a performance. Confirmation of the upcoming work for Open College of the Arts has come through - I'm running an interesting project which focuses on creating an online exhibition. meanwhile managed to read  I love Dick by Chis Kraus it's a wonderfully incisive book. I loved the descriptions and general critique of a number of art pieces, films and artists I am familiar with - it really is very funning, I now want to go back and check out the work I was unfamiliar with - this book should be read by all artists. I've been invited to Unfold a show at The Roundhouse on October 8. The Catalogue for ALL is out and the work looks good - can't wait to see a physical copy in my hands - the events on the 13th October if you are in Cambridge https://artlanguagelocation.org/ Dan Tsu of Lyrix Organix very kindly mentioned that this is the project I inspired them to develop last year! but I think that is really down to all the hard work they do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SQ_K_WQl0A