patterntestinthehand

a busy session of heat bonding - first taking apart the material I used to make the capes as they no longer have a purpose and reusing the material to make structures for the hand - I managed to create pockets within the material, fusing rubber and using silver foil as a barrier within the structures.

bondingspace

playing with the properties of heat bonding on a range of materials to create a collection of sculptural bookworks - tools for the hand - reflecting on the images and films is a way of listening to what your eyes tell them. Wading through some terrible films recently after such a wonderful array of Oscar nominations but Ashby is a winner with Mickey Rourke giving a mesmerising performance and Macbeth where the mist is a main character with the stunning cinematography overshadowing the whole thing. late to the party but enjoying the cringe inducing girls - fabulous.

somefoldedfoldsworkingmagic

two short films emphasising the 'magical' element of the work - busy day at NUA yesterday but managed to view the films on the large screen in the lecture theatre - yes sometimes bigger really is the answer 

multifunctionalfoldedspaces

the display in Bristol looks good - I like the idea that Sarah will continually rearrange the pieces in the space - this is the core of the idea - the multiple narratives created through the manipulation. http://www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk/les-bicknell.htm

doublepageauthorship

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.

teacherssneakypeak

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.

thevenerablebede

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.