blinkandyouwillmissme

The Craft Council have just released a great overview film of Make:Shift - it really makes it look informative, dynamic and exciting - as it was - if you blink you will miss me at 1:15 (cause it's all about me!!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RUvexSqo3o&index=1&list=PL3dHwye4ClRJ06I43_hMqzTyjQB9oPKa1meanwhile congratulations to the lovely Celia Pym http://celiapym.com/ for her deserved nomination for the Loewe Craft Prize.

Hacksaw Ridge http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2119532/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 saw Mel attempt what Spielberg did in Private Ryan with the American experience in Japan - yes we get it war is hell and pointless (with rats) but. Live by Night http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2361317/?ref_=rvi_tt the KKK defeated, bootlegging, gangs, prohibition, great hats, Gleeson, Aflleck what's not to like? but.....why, what  and that ending? Denial http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4645330/ Spall is awesome and Wilkinson riveting - the film does a lot of explaining but then it is a court case. 

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. 

itsallaboutthefuture

at the moment my work/life is all about the residency within NanoDTC at The Maxwell Centre in Cambridge https://unfoldingthinking.blogspot.co.uk/ but I am speaking at Make:Shift in Manchester on Friday so initially I planned and indeed tried to cram 30 years of experience into 10 minutes. This was of course an insane idea so am now, after much reflection, going to talk about how ideas inform process which in turn becomes a methodology for research. I'm going to lean heavily on the past two projects - The Robotics at Kings and Nano in Cambridge as well as bookness!! meanwhile some images from unfolding thinking   

truthinprint

Parallel Practices - the project with the crafts council and Kings College is featured in Aprils Crafts Magazine - it captures the shift in thinking that occurred during the project -  

squeezefoldbendandexpand

success - I’ve got through the initial application, a day of meetings/presentation, ‘interview’, the short-listing and the joint application to have the opportunity to work with the Crafts Council on a project titled - PARALLEL PRACTICES - http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/parallel-practices/

It’s a really interesting collaboration I am about to work with Thrishantha Nanayakkara http://www.kcl.ac.uk/nms/depts/informatics/people/atoz/nanayakkarat.aspx who works at The Centre for Robotics Research, School of Natural and Mathematical Sciences at Kings in London and Naomi Mcintosh who creates body related Jewellery and Jewellery related objects - http://www.naomimcintosh.com/. It’s going to be a great journey of discovery for us all. The project we have created is called Squeeze Fold Bend and Expand - Structural Memory in Deformable Objects. We want to extend current soft robotics through model making, challenging and expanding our practices by exploring ways of controlling movement and articulation of objects in order to build new structures whose functionality and manipulation will be framed and enriched by knowledge of soft robotics – phew!!!

buildingmatchmakingexhibitions

The matchmaking event I was invited to attend at Kings College Hospital was very intriguing. The full-on session organised by the Crafts Council saw medical academics and makers giving one minute peckha kuchas and then speed dating for an hour with 3 minute segments - which felt like 10 seconds or/and 10 hours as it whizzed by in a blur of slow motion of new concepts and words and then 30 mins of balancing food and talking all the while assimilating complex medical research and trying to find a way of connecting practice’s which was really interesting but each conversation needed a day - anyway - efficient and organised. I learnt why medical research uses tiny fish, about robotic origami, how to grow bones, invisibility cloaks, 3D mapping of the brain using toilet roll holders and a lot of other stuff that sounded more like science fiction - but all most excellent – I responded by folding paper as a way of communicating what I do and what I have to offer - I may said WOW and mentioned Science Fiction, The Big Bang Theory, The Matrix, Star Trek a little too often - the only sadness was not having time to talk to the other makers who were all so confident, eloquent, positive and supportive. It would be good to invite some of them to talk at Norwich as part of the Thursday lecture series.
The post-grad shows at Camberwell are almost up. The Book Arts space looks really good and all the work explores as ever the wide range of inherent qualities embedded within book. Book as tool, vessel, guide, instrument, weapon and beautiful object. I recommend checking it out. It starts on the 16th july with the Private View on the 15th. 

Invigilating at Cley14Friday and Saturday - looking forward to it.

Its because they are transparent......the fish.

thinkingandnegotiating

It’s all go within the world of education at this time of year – hanging the textile degree show at NUA requires a skill set that includes the mediation of Nelson Mandela, the steely nerve of Amelia Earhart and the dedication to truth and fairness exhibited by the wonderful Sharmishta Chakrabarti 

Or on the other hand maybe it’s more like the truth spoken by Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinski affair, the understanding of other people’s needs evidenced in the work of Putin and the focused thought of late Elvis on pain killers. But this year has the potential to be one of the best shows having spent 2 weeks with some quite excellent work while assessing it.

Meanwhile I have been shortlisted for the Parallel Practices Craft Council project - well more through to the next round of many – it’s going to be a fascinating process of speed date matching art and craft with medicine which is very exciting

There are so many opportunities for active participation around Cley14 from walks, talks and workshops – I would check out the web site. http://www.cleycontemporaryart.org/nwt.htm