extremetimelinefolding

started work yesterday on a really interesting project for firstsite in Colchester – Berryfield mosaic: relocation and renovation. a roman mosaic that was displayed in Colchester museum has been relocated into the floor of the new gallery – just feet from where it was originally dug up. my role is to pull together all the strands of the work so far and create a piece of interpretive print. spent yesterday working with artist Bethany Mitchell http://www.bethany-mitchell.co.uk and a group of pupils from St Helena school in Colchester who have been researching and developing work in response to the mosaic. aside from mind mapping and paper folding there were many strands of discussion around the known and unknown and that for many years the piece was not valued. ideas so far include an extreme time line – to include the material it was made from so that would include 35m of just rock! a piece of print that is an exact reproduction of the mosaic so that you can take it away and have one at home - much like on exactitude in science - the borges short story http://www.sccs.swarthmore.edu/users/08/bblonder/phys120/docs/borges.pdf. a design that has the material from lottery cards printed over the design so that you can have the opportunity to excavate the print. creating the missing bit of the mosaic and developing a whole philosophy and alternative reading of the mosaic much like the museum of Jurassic technology http://www.mjt.org so we shall see what happens.

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.

winningandsmocking

a student on the textile course i teach on at nuca has won the historic wallpaper society competition i have been responsible for - Lauren Mellor http://laurenmellor.tumblr.com/ whose wallpapers are inspired by the intricate Japanese technique of quilting, called, Sashiko. the 3-Dimensional qualities are emphasized through layering the cut paper so the patterns can be folded out to reveal a spectrum of colours, lifting the designs off the wall. this means that she has secured a 4 week paid work placement, at Zoffany worth over £1,400. so success.
meanwhile smocking is taking over my life!

smockingisevil

started the research allocated to my contract at nuca. i am focusing this period of time on smocking but looking at the fold and exploring the relationship between binding books and folding cloth. i think that the work will centre on the creation of a body of work with a view to exhibiting and publication. the research will be in three parts - research and development – creation of teaching tools – visit. the main part of the first section of the research will be to explore the relationship between book structures and traditional textile processes. i am going to look specifically at the fold through pleating, darting and smocking and western book binding structures. the title for this work is - is smocking is evil? based on looking at the role of the characters wearing smocked clothing on a visit to the academia in venice and of course the whole idea of the hidden within both fields - the book and the folded cloth.

newthingsbecomeoldthings

a day out in London to see the final show at Chelsea and both sites at the RCA. As ever the standard of the textile work at Chelsea was of a very high quality and the graphics ‘tight’ fuled by solid thinking. the spaces for the RCA show are quite wonderful and the work in general matched it in general – it really is important to see the work of other colleges to check oneself – on that note Monday was a day at the design centre in Islington setting up the stand for New Designers. the actual stand looks good – focused with a professional edge – hope the work matches it.
symposium 2 at Camberwell was a full day – 19 students presentations with me providing the chair/continuity/timekeeping role. some truly wonderful presentations – some of the best I have ever seen used the space of the presentation to test and challenge elements of their practice – a real joy.
the MA Book Art Course is moving from Wilson’s rd to Peckham rd and the rooms are all empty but for packing cases. i came across a room with empty cabinets that used to hold the Camberwell decorative arts collection. the negative space created by the objects talked of loss and time and ultimately change – which we are all heading into in higher education.

thefuturewillbefantastic

i live in a house conceived, designed, built and celebrated as an opposition both conceptually and physically to sizewell – the nuclear power station down the road. my house was built by clive latimer in the 70s – a radical closely associated with robin day and ideas around light and sound experiments at Horsey art college and known for developing pink Floyd light shows. he was also an anti nuclear protester and my house was the centre of opposition to the power station so it was interesting last night to attend an art event at sizewell and to think of clive and what he would of thought about the whole experience. everlasting light – a reflection on sizewell was quite wonderful - devised by Netia Jones with voices by exaudi and ending with projections onto sizewell power station itself. i thought about clive and also back to when they were building sizewell B and we used to go down at 3.00 in the morning to test the access laws – getting the guys to open up the footpath that ran alongside the plant on the sea shore which had to be accessible 24 hours a day but was heavily guarded.

factoryvisitandsometeaching

took four textile students to Anstey’s of Loughborough for them to undertake presentations for the Historic Wallpaper Society competition. the factory visit was instructive and threw up many issues that the course could pursue and discuss – ethics and sustainability being two. they have worked really hard and all of them could benefit from the opportunities generously offered by the society. tuesday i ran a very intense and occasionally combative seminar at camberwell which explored a maker’s relationship to audiences and the work they make through flow diagrams – some wonderful thoughts and thoughtful comments mean that some of the diagrams I present will be changed and some added. we also looked at the individual students plans for the final show in the actual space – the course has been altered and we will be showing the work in September – after jumping on a train to Norwich for the nuca BA private view – as ever a very social affair which was glamorously busy with lots of textiles being sold.