returntojazzzzzz

A return to Nantes exactly a year from my last visit - such a fantasticly french town - they have a jazz festival where main streets are closed off to traffic and every year commission masses of new public art and a curated exhibition across the city - most excellent - cycling is great as there are numerous bike lanes - Jazz is everywhere and its all free saw Big Chief Juan Pardo & Nala 7 Brass Band - hiphop jazz and Dolphin hyperspace - which was mad Space jazz. Great street food and a beautiful vibe! Fantastic exhibitions in interesting buildings - highlights were Anne-Charlotte Finel's mesmerising videos in the cathedral crypt, Justine Emard's truly haunting show at le lieu Unique - if you go check out their plat du jour - always amazing. HAB has a slightly heavy handed curated exhibition about the moon. The best work were the early documents and photographs. The chateau /castle had an brillant exhibition contextualising France's and Nantes role in its colonial past by Omar Victor Diop, excellent photographs. To be fair the whole space tells France's and Nantes role in slavery through objects and testimony. After 3 days went out to Les Sables-d'Olonne, by train to pick up bikes to cycle 20 miles to Longeville-sur-Mer where cycling and swimming and eating and reading were the only activities. Stayed in an amazing Airbnb 500 yrds from the sea. In terms of reading I've got to recommend Human kind by Bregman - it will change how you cope with the world. Recursion by Blake Crouch will twist time in your mind - I would love a diagram. The things we never say by Elizabeth Strout has given a road map going forwards by enabling me to reflect on the past. Stayed here! my review!! OMG I LOVE your house - its full of the most beautiful objects so thoughtfully displayed - discovering them brings joy - the narrative between the postcard and the bookends almost too much! - ceramics to DIE for - pictures to contemplate (the seascape in the bedroom is especially special) and then the design of house itself is SCANDALOUS - wonderfully ostentatious and yet petite - like a stubborn small child proudly squatting holdingtheir ground - inside EVERYTHING is considered and followed through to create a whole, designed for a purpose. 

hothothot

A trip to France – eating, drinking, reading looking at exhibitions in Marseille. As usual a visit to Mucem was a joy and had 3 interesting shows –, mother, and a set of collaborations set up by the fashion designer Mossi Traoré, fashion too. At the newly opened Museum of Contemporary Art [mac] Clément Cogitore, Ferdinandea, the ephemeral island and Bonnes meres was ok, but the collection has some fantastic examples of French artist’s work.The Marseille History Museum has some wonderful individual artifacts.Then up to Crest and Avignon to see Lee Ufan at the Palais des Papes. The building was awesome, the work not so. Spent a lot of time with Jackson. Just finished the latest David Sedaris collection The Land and its People. Its laugh out loud funny with a great turn if phrase and comic timing - I'm in the hard part of getting old - the part where everything irritates you. The easy part comes a little later, when my short-term memory disappears. Onto screens - The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - wonderfully styled japes. The Last House - horror meets home alone with monsters. Glenrothan – great performances leading to lovely resolutions all round. We Still Kill the Old Way - Disturbing old school revenge. 

floralsandparties

A weekend of parties – a 3-year-old and a 60 and then another during the week– most excellent, also got to hold a 3 day of baby! A thoughtful and productive day at Aldeburgh Hospital talking with staff and patients about the proposed artwork for the corridor. It is such a wonderful space filled with light and the friendly faces of the people who work there. It is a real pleasure making this work so far, I feel that it’s real consultation, taking and being led by the people I am working for. I am developing a side project – the celebration of peoples lives through their hands. I have been taking photographs of people’s hands and adding their favourite flowers. I see the work referencing ideas around protection, holding and shielding or as a form of gift, giving and receiving. I don’t know if they will become part of the work or a piece on their own, which is the great thing about this project, a continual feeling on not knowing where it will lead. A cracking night out at the Marina Theatre in Lowestoft – we will rock you. Checked out Ryan Gander’s work at 303. The last song could fit into a live art context without any irony. Onto screens - Tuner – a rollocking caper.

itsstillthereasileftit

As ever - Venice was there as I left it, beautiful and other. 2 years later I'm at The Venice Biennale 2026, and it was great to see so much textile within a fine art context. To breathe in gives me the ability to breathe out. I’ve been a member of an, now renamed Artists Now, since it was called artists newsletter. It is an essential organisation that supports artists in so many important ways. I recently received assistance to attend Venice Biennale. Visiting the Biennale exposes me to an alternative creative experience to a western, male, global north art world position. This act of creative breathing in gives me the ability to breathe out. The experience of attending exhibitions is invaluable, enabling me to grow both as an artist and as an educator. As somebody who works with others I pass on this knowledge to the students I engage with. Thank you to Artists Now for recognising the need of artists to continue to grow and for your valued support over the years.

howitallworks

Work on the hospital project continues – the next stage is manipulating the original images which are going well. Latitude 2026 – another year, this one was a dusty burner, but I got to be in the presence of one of my favourite all time people - David Byrne. I love everything from obvious Talking Heads to the art books – Arboretum and Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information, a great book about and using PowerPoint, which I have given to somebody and can’t remember who, and the thoughtful ideas in How Music Works. The whole show was stunning. And then there was the magnificent Jungle Drum and Bass lesson from Fabio & Grooverider with The Outlook Orchestra, superb. Meanwhile The Dunwich Dynamo was blocked by the closure of Willow Marsh Lane by Sizewell C. The roadworks overrunning by now 34 days. Suffolk CC appear to be ineffectual and unable to do anything about this.

workisongoing

Work on the hospital project is going ahead; I spent a lovely afternoon at their garden party talking with a such a fabulous and supportive group of people sharing ideas and developing a feeling for what is needed. There is a cracking text based fun and serious show at the cut by Neil Hanger that is really worth a visit. Onto screens – The get out – some nice twists. Rivals – the last episode in season 2 is a wonderfully written revelation about the roles of women. Confessions of a Shopaholic – serious and/but/yes funny?

busysteaming

During a STEAM event this week a very small child came up to me and explained that "you can put all the elements in a bag and mix them to make anything. Some are bad some not so. Some will kill you and make you go to hospital. Helium is one of the good ones you can lick". I thought - well that’s about right. Science is done.

Anyway - a full week started out in Norwich, then working with the Kingfisher School Trust people at SZC, finally hanging the children’s interpretation of Energy and then two days at a STEAM event brought some great conversations within the sci-art workshops in SZC’s new visitor centre. My Saturday started out early - leaving the house at 7:20, boarding a train to London, then New Designers, then home at 9:20, a ‘usual day’.  Onto screens – The Devil wears Prada 2………………..uummmh.