behindyou

boooooooo - behind you – on-no-it-isn’t, oh-yes-it-is – Dick Whittington,The panto at the New Wolsey in Ipswich was truly excellent – alternative words to well known songs, a new type of set and the addition of an evil character alongside the caustic dame – what more do you want! Meanwhile creating new 3D printed structures but have been sidetracked by the imagery in the software.  

finallyitsbeenalongtimefinally

The term at NUA has started, and I’m finally teaching – it’s great to be in the presence of students involved in learning – image from a pleating workshop. Onto screens - The Green Knight was stunning – some extraordinary filming, The Morning Show continues to disturb and entertain. It’s been a busy week on the going out front – New Wolsey to see Never Lost at Home, the second in the Ipswich Town story – Peter Peverley as Bobby Robinson was storming again. Aldeburgh Cinema to see Time to Die – not a great Bond yet there was great sadness in Daniel Craig’s performance. Dance East to see Alexander Whitley’s Anti-Body which I’m sure will be stunning.  

behindyouohyesitisohnoitisnt

Its glorious pantomime season at Wolsey Theater in Ipswich - this year the experience is one of full on fun - with sing along tunes and 'site and time specific' jokes you know and love - it's a must see - https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/shows/aladdin/   

meanwhile a busy week of teaching - working with year 1 students at NUA to create specific drawing tools to make marks that in turn will lead to supporting the initial ideas for the weaving induction - the session was all rounded off with a mini exhibition in one of the corridors of their submitted work - curated, created, hung and critiqued in 20 minutes. Camberwell Book Art students had theirs and the courses last unit briefing which involved a series of workshops envisaging each other's project proposals with equations and plastercine. Then back to NUA with year 3 students to present possibilities around the body https://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/some-thinking-body and interiors - https://www.slideshare.net/l.bicknell/some-thinking-space basically extended ideas around textiles relationship to fashion and interior design. meanwhile I think Once Upon a time in Hollywood could be one of the most amazing meta films ever - so much to think about and then there is Mandalorian - worth watching for so many reasons - baby Yoda, Werner Herzog as a baddie, fantastic costumes and did I mention there is a baby Yoda. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8111088/

menactuallyrainohyestheydo

OCA was fascinating this week - I supported/hosted Karl Foster looking at the idea of creative academic writing with year 3 students - The reading for the session was the critical writing of Benson and Conners and the poetry of Francis Ponge. There were many lessons in Benson and Conners, especially the idea of the self, the I within and the wrestling bout that is writing. I was drawn to Ponge - a little like a surreal version of Perec - it's all in the detail. http://www.cbeditions.com/userfiles/file/ponge-unfinished-ode-to-mud.pdf

men actually rain - oh yes they do - its Pantomime time again and the Wolsey theatre has Cinderella - it is truly a wonderful night out - some acid wincing terrible jokes, 'bad taste' characters and a splendid set with dazzling lighting - you have to be there to get it - I was surrounded by families having a great time  https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/shows/cinderella/ During a workshop at Camberwell I found myself explaining the concept of Pantomime to  a room of International students which was a feat of linguistic juggling - I think I may of learnt something myself - and when the idea of camp was thrown up we digressed into another cul-de-sac. Meanwhile Pete Holmes on Hot ones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXp-oWBF5x0 gave us wisdom on experiences that change us - it's not about knowing something it's about becoming something - it's not about learning something it's about forgetting everything.  

patternandmarvelouschaosinthetheatre

a fabulous 2 days and one night at Pulse Festival http://www.chinaplatetheatre.com/pulse-festival in Ipswich - the opening night and then Suitcase day and Testing Ground - my two favourite sessions where experimental work is experimented. It saw me watching 23 pieces of theatre. Highlights were Nikki's extraordinary strength in KNOT, the disco energy of Dan Watson in Venus, The storytelling in Sophie Woolley's Augmented and Not Now collective's http://notnowcollective.com/ Pepper and Honey. The deconstruction of Invisible Flash's http://www.invisibleflash.co.uk/ The blind traveller, Fig's in wigs https://www.figsinwigs.com/ production values is always excellent and Brick Wall's https://www.facebook.com/brickwalltheatre/ Henry 5th was just storming good. Meanwhile I'm watching the pattern and chaos conversation that is happening in my garden as the work for Chelmsford is rusting nicely and been taken over by random growth.

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our blue heaven - the story of Ipswich Towns FA Cup Victory at the New Wolsey https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/whats-on/upcoming/ is a triumph - it's a complete sell out so you will have to wait for its revival in 60 years time!! will the whole squad turn up on Saturday? still deep into assessments - by the end of the whole thing I will of written over 7,000 words and checked numerous boxes - every word from my team is carefully considered, I hope the students manage to read the comments.

The CSM final year show felt like you were at the epicentre of people engaging with what it is to be cool alongside slightly confused parents - it was full of the most excellently beautiful looking individuals - the work was also interesting - full of collaborative groups working together - the future is bright. You still have till Saturday to go see it - make sure you check out the basement and The Sculpture Garden http://sidandjim.blogspot.co.uk/.  Turn the Page - the fantastic Book Art Fair is on in Norwich on Friday and Saturday - it's a must see https://www.turnthepage.org.uk/ Looking forward to PhotoEast https://www.photoeast.co.uk/ at the weekend. Meanwhile its back to assessments and then building a presentation for PALs for Wednesday. Undergraduate courses have a system of peer support known as Peer Assisted Learning or PAL. This means that Year One students have ready access to trained Year Two students from their course, from before they arrive through to the end of the first year. The advice and support given by the PALs is directly relevant to first year students and is delivered by Year Two or Three students who have had similar experiences themselves. This extra layer of support for first year students has been found to be very effective in helping to smooth the transition to higher education. Looking forward to the symposium on Tuesday at Camberwell. Its a point where the students journey is really captured as one is able to reflect on their first symposium in year 1.

studiothoughtsandcollectingforanaudit

Getting reading for a making day as part of OCA - it's a first for me and am excited to be a part of it. I'm in the process of creating a form of audit of things I am interested in exploring in readiness. Sort of evaluating or just trying to look at the last few projects and pick up threads that I didn't fully explore that still interest me....see what's on the table in the studio.

spent yesterday reading a number of texts - this one springs into my head today.... Evidence was brought that “what is called ‘news’ is always an anti-social and disturbing act; that ‘news’ consists, as to ninety percent, of the records of human misfortunes, unhappiness and wrongdoing, as to ten percent of personal advertisement” - Uncommon Law, Alan Herbert 1935

This relates directly to the current thinking of Hans Rosling - I'm really enjoying the book of the week https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qftk/episodes/player from the beautiful Hans Rosling - him of glorious data. Meanwhile some stuff -  Ramps on the Moon at the Wolsey had another stunning production - this time Our Countries Good https://www.rampsonthemoon.co.uk/show/our-countrys-good/ go see them - it will be good for you...funny, powerful, thoughtful theatre, what more could you ask for. saw a number of films including Speilberg explaining gaming but not quite as good as the book Ready Player One http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1677720/ the haunting Thelma http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6304046/?ref_=nv_sr_1 the almost annihilation

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2798920/?ref_=nv_sr_1 and relentlessly oppressive The Florida Project http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5649144/

outcomesfromincomes

How small is nano? Was a question I was constantly asked when working at The Maxwell Centre in Cambridge. The answer was always contextualised with something from the real world as nano scale is almost beyond comprehension. This was usually human hair which is approximately 100,000 nanometers wide. As a reminder of this fact I grew my hair for the duration of the project. It is now over and I am left with a giant hair ball which in some ways explores the idea of scale. There were many outcomes from the project including a number of artists books. It was really great that Sarah Bodman chose using a known to make an unknown to be in her top ten artist books of the year - thank you.  https://www.a-n.co.uk/news/artists-books-2017-10-best-noise-alphabet-rearranged-romance

The Synthetic anatomy project at Kings is moving along - lots of thoughts around reflective thinking and how to support individuals who don't supposedly engage in the process. The aim is to develop the skills needed to create a reflective journal as part of a 'changing classrooms' initiative. But most individuals engage in the act of reflection when making choices based on experience so the challenge shouldn't be too great.

Finally looking at the range of upcoming booked leisure activities in the diary - The Berlin Art Biennale, tickets to flight of the conchords at the O2 and Titus Andronicus at The Barbican and then the glorious pantomime at The Wolsey in Ipswich, this year Red riding hood....nothing but eclectic.

anticipatingthenearandfarfuture

finally got round to watching T2 Trainspotting -  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2763304/ just so sad, something about the loss of hope with the passage of time - their youth, even if hopeless did appear to have optimism but later it's all about despair. But it's quite mesmerising and Danny did not let us down because it was important that it was good. Venice Biennale gets closer I can hardly contain myself but getting tickets for Pulse https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/pulse-festival/ will keep me going - suitcase day is always a winner having the opportunity to see half formed thoughts tested out - looking forward to seeing how last year's winner, Tell me Anything by www.ontheruntheatre.co.uk has been developed, although everybody is talking about Golem but just I'm looking forward to seeing a mass of theatre and the Wolsey Theatre is such a great place to see work. On the podcast front I have to recommend reply all https://gimletmedia.com/reply-all/ it's all about the wonders of the web - there will be stuff in there you have no idea about but it is happening now and it is about to take over your world.

wheninodmyheadyouhitit!

A great session this week with Nicola Naismith and Dr Valerie Woods being interviewed for their collaborative Postures of Making project. https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/postures-of-making I have a long history of art related injuries from lower back from printing to misaligned finger joints from cutting but you get on with it. I find myself constantly telling students on looms and print tables to listen to their body and timetable breaks and include yoga and pilates into their schedules.  Being measured, filmed and photographed in my studio sitting and standing enacting the multiple repetitive actions I engage in gave me pause for thought about my own practice. The work I'm engaged in for the nanoDTC work https://unfoldingthinking.blogspot.co.uk/ has some really nice links and similarities, the day has made me think about tools and how they are held as well as general ideas around collaboration. My family history of factory working was also an interesting issue to consider - the creation of mini production lines and the ergonomics of how this is laid out. The Ipswich Wolsey Theatre's  Panto was most excellent - oh no it wasn't - I'm afraid my dear sir it was - press night is always tricky, you get the nervous rather than the bedded in casualness but there was still some adlibbing from the more experienced members of the cast. As ever a mixture of all sorts of storytelling is thrown into the mix along with great tunes and some of the most outrageous Dame costumes ever. Timbad the Tailor along with the evil Sinistro really stand out but the whole evening is a real blast - get down to Wolsey for a great night out https://www.wolseytheatre.co.uk/panto-2016/