http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Breaking Ground Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:15:16 +0100 a-n rss generator a-n The Artists Information Company and contributors edit@a-n.co.uk technical@a-n.co.uk http://sites.a-n.co.uk/img/logo.gif http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Roz Cran and I met as students on the BA Hons Fine Art (Printmaking) course at the University of Brighton, both graduating in 2003. After graduating, we each followed separate paths, with Roz eventually taking up a place at the RCA, while I embarked on an independent, mainly studio based practice. Our resulting experiences of the past three and a half years have been very different. Roz has been able to take full advantage of her MA studies within a prestigious institution with all of its associated networks and benefits. I have begun to build a professional infrastructure for myself, including the founding of a shared artists’ workspace, Blue Monkey Studio in Eastbourne, along with 3 other graduates. Roz recently took up a workspace at Blue Monkey Studio and we have been able to renew our working relationship. We are keen to take this opportunity to spend some time developing our practices collaboratively, seeing it as a chance to introduce fresh elements to our work and to test out collaborative ideas, exploring the possibilities for developing new work in a speculative, stimulating and creative environment. We are both very open to experimentation and see our practices as investigative and exploratory. We are going to develop ideas for a residency on an allotment where we can set experimental processes in motion in what we both consider to be a productive environment.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Yesterday I visited my allotment which we will use for our residency. I found polaroid photographs scattered over the overgrown flowerbed. They show antique furniture: a desk, table, chests of drawers. How did they get there? Who took the photos and for what purpose? Perhaps they were a record to use in case of theft. Perhaps they themselves have been stolen and abandoned. I took some digital photographs to record the event. www.rozcran.co.uk... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Here is a photo of the allotment we plan to use for our residency.  It is covered in patches of carpet (now banned) to hold back the winter growth of weeds.  This gives an idea of the space available for our projects.  The allotment sits on top of the Tenantry Down opposite Brighton Race Course and the garden centre.The views over Brighton are spectacular.  On a clear day the Isle of Wight is visible.  Kestrels hover for minutes then rocket down.  The daffs are opening and the rosemary has grey flowers.Soon I will dig it over and plan the planting.  A last strim of the grass and then leave it for the cowslips and polyanthus.A space for growth, reflection, questions, wonder.                       www.rozcran.co.uk     www.judithalder-live.co.uk... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Roz's photgraph of the allotment (see yesterday's post) whets my appetite for a "site visit". I haven't yet been to the allotment and I'm looking forward to my first visit. It will be exciting to get a feel for the place, to explore and to begin to develop our plans for the time when we're "In Residence". I always have a great sense of anticipation when I'm starting a new project - that feeling that anything can happen.www.rozcran.co.uk           www.judithalder-live.co.uk ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 As part of our research on collaboration I went to see Lone Twin in their show Nine Years at the Gardner Centre, University of Sussex.Gregg and Gary have spent the last nine years making work together. They have travelled half way across the world, given performances in the places they visited. They cycled round cities, walked over bridges, talked to the people they met.They dressed as blindfolded cowboys and danced in a local hall. People were invited to join in and dance too. One person whispered as she left, "you are very special".This celebratory Lone Twin show played against video of past performances including footage of people waving back as they travelled home.At times I laughed, sometimes sighed. The show was wry, poignant, hopeful. I loved it.I watched the way Gregg and Gary worked together as a team. How they played to their individual strengths. Gary carried more of the humour, Gregg more of the straight man.Helpful research. http://www.lonetwin.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 We went to Alice Maher's exhibition, "Natural Artifice", at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery on Saturday. Alice gave a talk there in January which sadly we missed, but this weekend we went to a gallery talk by Gill Perry, Head of Art History at the Open University, about the exhibition and about Alice's work in general.The exhibition includes work in a variety of media. A series of photographs explore Alice's relationship with nature as she wears a hood of moss, a helmet of snail shells and a collar of hearts; large scale charcoal drawings are inspired by Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delight"; a human sized "ice bed" and a miniature house of thorns play with ideas of comfort and discomfort and subvert the familiar.The talk brought up issues which we've been thinking about within our own practices; questions about working broadly with an assortment of materials and processes on a range of themes which sometimes appear to be unrelated. It was reassuring to see the links in Alice's work which have appeared over a considerable length of time. Something for us to think about more when we write about each other's work.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 We have been invited to give a short presentation at the next a-n AIR Open Dialogue at Fabrica in Brighton on Thursday 29 March. Judith and I will speak about our new collaboration and key issues for our practice now and in the future. Two other artists will present, followed by discussion and a glass of wine. AIR stands for Artists' Interaction and Representation. This event is for AIR members only.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 As part of our research into the collaborative process, we’ve begun to build up quite a list of collaborative partnerships whose work we’d like to look at, some of whom, if possible, we’d like to meet and talk to. Recently we came across Jen Hamilton and Jen Southern during their exhibition “Running Stitch” at Fabrica (http://www.theportable.tv/runningstitch/index.html) and Roz went to see “Lone Twin” (see 4th March post) at The Gardner Centre. We’ve both encountered the work of Nina Pope and Karen Guthrie and, now that we’re looking, we’re beginning to come across more and more partnerships whose work we want to find out more about. We’ll definitely be researching Anne Eggebert & Polly Gould’s work, including their projects “Transplantation” and “Nature and Nation”. Today Roz has discovered a project called “Kitchen Antics and Appliances” by three-way partnership Barbara Dean, Ann Rapstoff and Hilary Kneale and we’re hoping to make contact with these artists soon. (http://www.kitchenanticsandappliances.com/) Roz already has experience of collaboration with Isabel Albiol which resulted in a piece of work entitled “Rabbit Hole”, shown at the Hockney Gallery, RCA in 2005. (http://www.roz2.co.uk/rab01.html) I have less experience of collaboration, having only dipped my toe into collaborative working on a casual and experimental basis. As I’m beginning to research these and other projects, questions about the nature and variety of collaboration are raised. Some collaborations are specific – partners come together because they have something they can offer each other – specific skills or attributes. Others are speculative – an opportunity to pool resources and see what happens. FAMOUS COLLABORATIONS Gilbert and George Warhol and Basquiat Elton John and Kiki Dee Sarah Lucas and Tracey Emin... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 I went to London today to visit The Princes Drawing School during it's Open Day. Also went to the Jerwood Space where I saw the work of Williams-Suggitt, another collaborative duo who are new to me. In their video piece, "Perched", currently showing in the Jerwood Cafe, Williams and Suggitt, dressed in colourful bird costumes, spend time "perched" on stools in the cafe, exploring ideas around identity as they experiment with how it is to be "other". Made me think of Roz's exploration of similar issues. http://www.myspace.com/williamssuggitt Roz and I have also talked briefly this week about spending a one-off pilot day at the allotment, just to see what we might want to do together over a longer period of a residency. I'm very keen to visit the allotment anyway, and Roz wants me to film her burying her typewriter there. The weather has been glorious and Roz was busy at the allotment last weekend actually cultivating it.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Arrived home from the studio to a lovely surprise: a parcel from my friend Val Murrary – a copy of Low Tide – Writings on Artists’ Collaborations written by Jeni Walwin. Last week Val and I met in London to see some exhibitions and each other. I talked to her about this new collaboration with Judith.Val is part of TEA, a collaborative group of artists who have worked together since 1987. She was full of praise for the benefits and pleasures of collaborative practice. Low Tide includes a chapter on TEA. Although published in 1997, this book offers much of interest to a pair of new collaborators.In the Foreword, Paula Brown speaks of the collaborative art documented: “This is cunningly mercurial work where art forms merge or collide or metamorphose into something else altogether; where artists experiment with new partners, practices and identities. This is work which offers spectators new ways not just of seeing but of participating.”www.teaweb.org... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Here are three of the polaroids I found on the allotment - three different tables.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 It’s almost exactly a month since we posted our first blog entry and so far we’ve spent a lot of time thinking and talking about the whole idea of “collaboration” - what we might gain through it, as well as what we might have to give up for it. However, we’ve also been spending a lot of our time working towards commitments within our individual practices. This week sees a sort of tying up of loose ends, culminating at the end of the week with our talk at the AIR event at Fabrica on Thursday, and Roz’s almost immediate departure after that to take part in the "Hen Weekend" at the De La Warr Pavillion, Bexhill from Friday to Sunday this weekend. (http://henweekend.org) After a short (?) recovery period, Roz and I will be meeting up next week to plan a timetable for the first part of our project. We will be setting aside time to make presentations about our work to each other and will then individually write articles about each other’s practice which we will publish here through our blog. We anticipate that this activity will have all sorts of benefits for us, both through the process of analysing and articulating another artists’ practice, but also gaining an insight into our own work through someone else’s subjective view.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 We have been awarded a NAN New Collaboration bursary to support the development of Breaking Ground, our project in 2 parts. Judith and I raised a glass to this success on Monday night and are planning our next steps. We have a busy week of art events, AIR Open Dialogue on Thursday night and then my Henweekend 3 day seminar starts on Friday. We finalise our joint presentation tomorrow afternoon and then it is full steam ahead for Part 1 Writing articles about each other's practice. High excitement.We have chosen this sketchbook image by Judith as appropriate to the unfolding of the collaborative experiment.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Hello to everyone we met at Fabrica on Thursday at the AIR Open Dialogue event. It was a great opportunity to meet a lot of new people and to put faces to names of people who we felt we already knew through visits to their web-sites or blogs. Roz and I, along with Elpida Hadzi Vasileva and Rosemary Shirley had been invited to talk about key issues for our future practice – a subject which has been consistently used at AIR events to open the dialogue between artists. We took along Roz’s three legged stool which Roz used to explain how she visualises our collaboration. She talked about the “wobbliness” of being an artist and the need to operate at the edge of stability, and how she sees the collaborative relationship as providing a third leg which might provide steadiness at the edge. She went on to expand on this notion, saying that if we two collaborators are then viewed each as three legged stools, between us we have a grand total of not just four legs, but six legs on which we could cover a lot of ground. It all conjures up a slightly comical image, but describes how we hope the relationship will work for us. My issues, as an artist still in the early “feeling my way” stages of my career, revolve firstly around “support”; how to build a support network through which I can get appropriate advice for all the different aspects of my practice – professional, creative and developmental, and then, secondly, how to maintain a balance between the development of all those separate areas of my practice while still retaining the integrity of my work as well as generating income to support my practice. Roz focused on the immediate issues concerning our new collaboration. How will the collaborative process work for us? Will there still be time and space for us to maintain our individual work? How will we work together? What if our strengths and weaknesses are the same? Will we become too stable, too steady and lose the excitement of "the edge"? What will we gain from the collaboration, and what will we have to give up? These were some of many questions raised. Elpida and Rosemary, artists at different stages of their careers, raised other issues, and a foundation was laid for an evening of very interesting and informative discussion where a whole range of subjects were covered. One thing which came up almost incidentally was that several people expressed slight frustration at not being able to add a comment to the a-n blog, so for the time being, if anyone wants to communicate with us about our blog, we would love to hear from you via the e-mail addresses which can be found on our web-sites at http://judithalder-live.co.uk/contact.html or http://www.roz2.co.uk/contact.html... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Two more polaroids - table and chair - found on the allotment today. The old wooden chair i took up a couple of winters ago, split in two as I turned to put these into my bag.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Beginning to pick up the threads from where I left off before the Easter break. In the meantime I’ve been making the most of time available to get on with some personal, non-collaborative work. But continuing with my research on collaborative working, I’ve booked a ticket to go & hear Gilbert & George speak at Tate Modern on the 30th April and I’ve started reading the articles in issue 3 of “Dialogue” on the Axis website entitled "Inside the interview: Exploring the workings of the artist interview." There is a lot to read, and I don’t suppose all of it will be relevant to us, but as Roz and I are about to embark on the part of our project which involves us “interviewing” each other, it is useful to have some idea of the context and history of the artists’ interview.The image used on the opening page of the Editorial by Jon Wood is by Dave Ball, entitled “Interview with a House Plant”, 2005 and depicts a scene in an interview room with two chairs. On one of the chairs sits a man obviously engaged in interviewing the potted plant which “sits” opposite him on a second chair. It reminded me of Roz’s work, “Interview (pig)”, 2006 (see http://www.roz2.co.uk/ani08.html )... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 I'm really interested in how other people's blogs are developing and keep telling myself that I must give myself a bit more time to really delve into them, rather than dipping in and out as I do at the moment and just picking up snippets here and there. I have got quite caught up in the nervous energy of larisa blazic's: 205A Morning Lane and have also become quite involved in the trials and tribulations of Gabrielle Hoad's: Exeter Studios Project - I hope it all eventually gets off the ground, and if it does, it would be great to try to arrange to go and visit - how about it Gabrielle?I loved "Little Death 2, A little Death film of a dissolving Alka Seltzer tablet" (see Alex Pearl's: Foundling Museum Commission) and I'm also enjoying following Jane Ponsford's: Papertrails Residency, especially since meeting her at the AIR event a couple of weeks ago. I was interested in Jane's comments on 1st April, following that event, about her frustrations on hearing discussions about how artists need a forum to be in touch with other artists because, as Jane says, "...the forum is there. It's where the discussion is being held." I have to agree, and not only on the issue of a forum, but also many of the other things which artists say they need, which, I'm beginning to discover, are already in existence. The issue is, perhaps, knowing how to access them.I was amazed yet again yesterday about the way opportunities multiply when you start looking for them. All of a sudden, collaborations are everywhere! An invitation arrived from Phoenix Arts in Brighton to the opening celebration of their next show, curated by Sally Lai, curatorial fellow at Phoenix, entitled "Double Acts". Any guesses as to the theme? Another event to add to my list of things to see and do! The exhibition, which opens on the 28th April, is "a celebration and mini-survey of collaborative practice in the UK today" and features work and new commissions by Ayling & Conroy, Karin Kihlberg & Reuben Henry, Library of Unwritten Books, The Owl Project, Semiconductor and Jonathon Gilhooly & Stig Evans. http://www.phoenixarts.org... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Judith visited the allotment for the first time. It was covered in cowslips, forgetmenots, tulips.We planted a flag Breaking Ground to launch the project.Judith brought a bag of homemade compost for the allotment. She took home a bunch of spinach from the allotment. A useful exchange - a kind of beauty.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Visited TATE Modern last week to see, among other things, the Gilbert & George exhibition and to see G & G themselves in conversation with Michael Bracewell in the Starr Auditorium. I was keen to see the show and to hear the pair talk about their enduring collaboration. I hoped I might gain an insight into the way the collaborative relationship worked for G & G, and although they did briefly talk about the strength which came from being a partnership, I came away with the feeling that there was little to be said about how collaboration works for them, because, after 40 years, it is so entirely a way of life. They talk only of “we” and “our”, never “me” or “mine”. There is no evidence of a division of labour or of defined roles or responsibilities. It appears that they think and work as one.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 We have spent a day each interviewing our collaborator about their work.I started by showing Judith the framed pictures I have up on my walls - a safe place to keep them - and gave her a pile of black photo books to look through. These contain images from the 3 years I spent at Brighton University. Next I took her through a powerpoint presentation titled 'Seven years: a journey through art education'. We finished by examining the zigzag books I have made for each body of work, the final one being 'animals, vegetable, mineral' a set of 5 zigzags in a slipcase produced using duotone lithography at the Royal College of Art last year.Judith showed me her work in the Blue Monkey studio surrounded by the paper trees she is making presently. She explained how she is mapping and documenting her journey from home to the studio. She took me through her website and talked about the various residencies and projects and the changes in perspective they have involved. After lunch I asked a set of prepared questions and recorded her answers on my new voice recorder.Both of us are writing and shaping our notes into draft articles for the other's consideration and comments.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Roz and I have been working on our articles for Breaking Ground over the past few weeks. We presented our work (past and present), to each other. Then we went our separate ways to write up our first drafts. Those have now been refined and we're ready to upload them to Projects Unedited. It has been a useful process, making us review our practice and establish areas of common ground which we can build upon during the rest of our collaboration. Reading what Roz has written about my practice has been interesting. She has examined my work from a fresh perspective, putting a different emphasis on certain areas of it and articulating some things which I could not.We've decided that the best way to publish the articles is in small portions, a little each day for the next few days, and I'm going to start later today by publishing the introduction to the article which I've written entitled "Roz Cran - Seeing Through The Eyes of The Other".... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Roz Cran - Seeing Through The Eyes Of The OtherPART 1 It is a grey day in a muddy-looking park. A leafless tree stands alone in urban parkland. Lumpy grass stretches away to a horizon where more bare trees partly obscure a row of low buildings. A tower block rises above them. As I watch, a woman enters the scene, walking purposefully toward the tree from one side. She carries a bag, which she proceeds to place on the ground near the tree. From it, she unpacks a bulky, brown bundle. She takes off her coat and scarf, and packs them in the bag. She takes the bag away, putting it to one side, out of view. The woman returns to the bundle, unfolds it, and carefully steps into the opening of what now appears to be some sort of sack. Pulling up the rim of the sack around her waist like putting on an awkward suit, she gradually tugs and wriggles the heavy material over her body, eventually enclosing every part of her, even her head. Her arms slip into long sleeves, she shuffles nearer to the tree, herself a smaller version. Ready now, the woman raises her arms above her head and settles into position, crows caw, a white dog looks and runs off.*The woman in the video is Roz Cran. Roz makes videos, objects, books, photographs, prints. Her work is complex and impossible to categorise or sum up with a few tidy words. It deals with those things in life which are not tidy. *"Tree" by Roz Cran, was filmed in Southwark Park for "Let's Riot", Cafe Gallery Projects, 2006 View the video at http://www.roz2.co.uk/ani09.htmlThe rest of this article will be posted on Projects Unedited in sections over the next few days. The project, Breaking Ground, is a partnership supported by a NAN New Collaborations Bursary (AN - The Artists Information Company). This article is part of the project. And the partners (Judith Alder and, Roz Cran) will develop a joint residency on an allotment. In addition they are collaborating in the organisation of BMPD (Blue Monkey Professional Development for Artists). The first BMPD event takes place in June 2007 in Eastbourne where they plan to arrange a year-long programme. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Roz Cran – Seeing Through The Eyes Of The OtherPART 2During the six years that I’ve know Roz, I have seen her make work which ranges from comforting and comfortable images of fairy cakes and hot water bottles, to unsettling videos of the artist as feral woman clad in leopard skin clothes, running wild; or as a white rabbit, ears flopping, reaching out to a distant Madonna. Is this the stuff of children’s dreams, or nightmares? These extremes demonstrate the range of themes which are central to Roz’s work and the friction which is present from the rubbing between domestic and wild, commonplace and fantastical, past and present. Roz’s interest in art developed indirectly from her commitment to feminism and her resulting experience of feminist art as a means of expression and communication. Her early work formed an examination of identity, especially women’s identity, often using images linked with the domestic, with women’s work, and the associated suppression of the wild. In the part of her work which Roz calls “Bringing to Light” she interrogates her own links with the past, through personal and family history. She explains how this work was born from an investigation of significant objects which carried a history, imprinted with emotions and stories from earlier generations. Using simple materials and techniques, Roz captures the essence of these objects and some of the meanings which adhere to them. “Bringing to Light” is full of images which seem to appear and disappear. Objects hover in a space which Roz has created from her own experience – from memory. The past and present intertwine as she works with processes and materials which have held a personal significance. Childhood pleasures such as pressing flowers and making books are relived in the production of new objects which create a common ground accessible to all.To be continued.The full version of this article can now be downloaded from http://www.judithalder-live.co.uk/project_new_devel.html ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Roz Cran - Seeing Through The Eyes Of The Other Part 3Enquiry motivates Roz's art. Her work is part of a process of exploration, of trying to make sense of the world. She treats it as an adventure, preferring to set up questions as starting points to explore, rather than providing answers. As Roz says, "Everything overlaps. Neither art nor life can be chopped into separate pieces. Both are messy and tangled. I will investigate some of the tangles."Roz is based in Brighton, having moved there at the beginning of her art "adventure", to take up a place on a BTEC Foundation course, followed by a Fine Art (Printmaking) BA at the University of Brighton, from which she graduated in 2003. She went on to study at The Royal College of Art, completing her MA in 2006. It was at the beginning of her time at the RCA when Roz, keen as ever to reach out for new knowledge, new skills, new experience, photographed herself reaching out to grasp an apple and then, fiercely, biting into it. The resulting image revealed a previously unseen ferocity, and prompted new ideas for making work which would feature Roz as the subject matter. She began to collect leopard skin clothes found in charity shops nearby and to wear them while setting out to explore what it might be like to be "wild". This was the beginning of a series of activities in which Roz would push her experience of life beyond the daily norm, adopting the identity of "leopard", or "rabbit", or later "stone" or "tree", experiencing for a short time, what it is to live as an other."Am I leopard? Am I lettuce? Am I bucket?What are we? What can we become?Are we animal, vegetable or mineral?Can we see through the eyes of the other?Can we cross borders and return?When I spent days making papier mache buckets did I become part-bucket? Was the bucket different?"** Quote from Roz's website - http://www.roz2.co.uk/To be continuedThe rest of this article will be posted on Projects Unedited in sections over the next few days. The project, Breaking Ground, is a partnership supported by a NAN New Collaborations Bursary (AN - The Artists Information Company). This article is part of the project. And the partners (Judith Alder and, Roz Cran) will develop a joint residency on an allotment. In addition they are collaborating in the organisation of BMPD (Blue Monkey Professional Development for Artists). The first BMPD event takes place in June 2007 in Eastbourne where they plan to arrange a year-long programme. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Roz Cran - Seeing Through The Eyes Of The Other Part 4 Perhaps, an introduction to Roz’s work should read “Roz Cran makes videos, objects, books, photographs, prints and live art.” How much of her work is now performance? Roz approaches her work by creating opportunities for “things” to happen. She follows her impulses to act out unlikely sequences of events often leading from one place and time to another, eventually culminating in a body of work which, almost accidentally it seems, is coherent, solid. For her, the question “where is the art?” is one that is often asked, and considered, carefully. Sometimes the boundaries are undefined as art and life merge; cooking for guests gradually extending into a ritual offering; a summer holiday becoming part of a pilgrimage to the Holy Wells of Ireland as “Holy Rabbit”. Many of her works develop through the creative positioning and re-positioning of images and objects; a playful experimentation with combinations – juxtaposing individual items of interest, which when placed together, suddenly reveal new meaning. Experimentation and “play” are key to Roz’s work – whether it be playing with materials, techniques, ideas, technology or her own identity. So too are humour and mischief, qualities which give the work a life of its own, perhaps rubbing the sharpest corners from some of the darker pieces.The final part of the article will be posted here later this week.The full version of the article "Roz Cran - Seeing Through The Eyes Of The Other" can be downloaded from http://www.judithalder-live.co.uk/project_new_devel.html... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Roz Cran - Seeing Through The Eyes Of The Other Part 5Roz's current work focuses on collaboration in various forms, continuing to strengthen the links between past and present. Her most recent work is titled "Collaboration", and through it she continues to draw upon family history. She has painstakingly traced the lines which form a series of drawings made by her grandfather, almost ritualistically repeating the movements and actions needed to create them. The process complete, Roz combines the traced images with her own photographs of "Holy Rabbit" and "Berlin Bee". The collaged photographs seem to form a portal through which Roz's characters can experience yet another dimension of existence.For the future, Roz is planning a new film piece to be based upon the first meeting of her grandparents by chance, whilst roller skating in Battersea Park. I will wait with interest to see what new dimensions Roz will visit during the making of this work, and look forward to the opportunity to share, through the work, a glimpse of whatever Roz sees as she looks at the world through the eyes of an other. As well as developing her individual work, Roz has embarked on a new venture - collaboration.  The project, Breaking Ground, is a partnership supported by a NAN New Collaborations Bursary (AN -  The Artists Information Company).  This article is part of the project.  And the partners (Judith Alder and, Roz Cran) will develop a joint residency on an allotment.  In addition they are collaborating in the organisation of BMPD (Blue Monkey Professional Development for Artists).  The firs tBMPD event takes place in June 2007 in Eastbourne where they plan to arrange a year-long programme.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Last Friday I visited Jane Ponsford of Papertrails, a fellow blogger on AN Projects Unedited. We had met at the AIR meeting at Fabrica in March when Judith and I did a short presentation about collaboration. I wanted to see Jane in residence in St. George's Church and took the opportunity to make paper at her workshop.We were able to have a brief talk before the workshop started and had lots to say to each other about residencies, collaboration and blogging. I made sheets of pure white paper and pressed them on shapes and words in and around the church. I found carved words, 'hope' and 'sorrow'.It was like meeting up with a colleague engaged in a parallel process. I invited Jane to our allotment residency in the Autumn. I look forward to continuing our conversation and to more collaborative links.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Judith Alder - Finding Her WayPart 1A copse of paper trees greets me as I enter the Blue Monkey Studio where artist Judith Alder works in Eastbourne. These trees are made from discarded ordnance survey maps, rolled, cut and soaked in woodstain. The trees stand three feet high, each tree stuck to the floor with plasticene. Another group of trees stands proud on the bench. These paper sculptures remind me of my Rupert Bear annuals – at the end of each story was a page of instructions on how to make a folded paper tree or ladder or boat. I want to play now, to cut my own trees. Judith uses these low-tech forms to make a paper landscape. Do they help her see the wood from the trees? She tells me she wants to find a way to present the trees for others to negotiate their own paths through the wood.A line of string falls from the ceiling and piles into a messy circle on the floor; a paper roll from a cash register hangs down and makes another pile. I see letraset numbers at intervals on the paper strip. These lengths of string and paper measure out Judith’s journey from home to studio.Judith is engaged in a mapping process. As she travels ‘round the houses’ she collects information and objects along her way and documents her path by slinging her camera over her shoulder and setting the timer to take a picture every minute. In exchange she leaves waymarks such as a pebble, a fircone or an arrow made of sticks along her route. She is investigating her back garden too. From photos of small sections 12 inches by 6 inches she is making a set of drawings half that size. She has to interpret the picture and use simple lines to denote plants, bricks, stones, features of these tiny landscapes. She is surveying small lands. Is this a way to orientate herself, a way to respond to and express her experience of being in the world? Can we see more too by looking at the work she shows us?The rest of this article will be posted on Projects Unedited in sections over the next few days. The complete article can be downloaded from: www.roz2.co.uk/news.html The project, Breaking Ground, is a partnership supported by a NAN New Collaborations Bursary (AN - The Artists Information Company). This article is part of the project. And the partners (Judith Alder and, Roz Cran) will develop a joint residency on an allotment. In addition they are collaborating in the organisation of BMPD (Blue Monkey Professional Development for Artists). The first BMPD event took place in June 2007 in Eastbourne where they plan to arrange a year-long programme.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Judith Alder - Finding Her WayPart 2This current investigative project has evolved from earlier work she began as an artist in residence for Watch This Space at Phoenix Studios, Brighton in 2005.  Four artists were chosen to set up their workspaces in the open studio so people could come and watch ‘the creative process’.  Judith’s method of investigation and documentation was highly suitable for this project.  She set up 10 large boards and made a series of mind maps detailing both her practical and thought processes as she worked.  She began to extend the maps from the boards onto the floor of the studio corridor and hall by means of trails of blue dots, yellow dashes, green stripes; when she encountered a radiator, a step, some other feature of this indoor land, she numbered it, found a way round it.  She draped cloth over some objects to create strange moors and hills.  A series of tracks lead round and through the space.  She took photos of these small indoor landscapes and produced long folded sheets, half-map, half-book.  Visitors followed the tracks she had laid out, they studied the work-boards, used the white stick and blacked-out spectacles that Judith had borrowed from the local Blind Association.  How did blind people find their way?  Might we learn different even fuller ways to find our way in the world using their tools?   Shortly after this residency Judith won an Art Plus Award for a proposal to develop ideas for a public art project “A Sense of Direction”.   She began 8 months’ work researching ideas for the project, working with groups from the Eastbourne Blind Society and the RNIB.  She documented the process and produced maps, photographs and drawings.To be continued... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Judith Alder - Finding Her WayPart 3Although not central to her practice, drawing has been an important part of Judith’s journey.  She is a skilled draughtsperson and is considering how best to use this skill in current projects.  She drew the insides of the packaged objects she made as part of The Discovery Room. This project was the culmination of three years training as a Fine Art Printmaker at the University of Brighton during which time she experimented with different media including handmade paper, book and box works, screenprinting and digital printing.            Part laboratory/part workspace, The Discovery Room, was built by Judith for her Final Degree Show.  Here she displayed a large whiteboard which detailed her previous experiments and a new board on which she documented the experiments that she undertook during the exhibition.  There were dossiers and catalogues of collected specimens, drawings and diagrams in the laboratory drawers and a series of xrays were displayed which revealed the contents of bandaged objects she had made.  These anatomical-like packages with names like ‘cyst’ and ‘constriction’ had been made in response to her study of Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks and drawings and her yearning to show, to open and yet to keep safe what is inside, the inner self, the secret/the secreted.  She was interested in Da Vinci’s ‘search for the soul’.  She investigated too the ‘stone of melancholy’ (1) and wondered about her mother’s struggle with depression.  Judith’s interest in medicine and science grew during her elder sister’s training as a radiographer.  As a child Judith visited the radiology department and became fascinated by xrays and all things medical.(1) Ian Hunt in Christine Borland: Selected Works 1990-1999: The Dead teach the living, Zurich: Migros Museum c2000 To be continued... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Judith Alder - Finding Her WayPart 4Revealing the inside on the outside is a theme Judith began during her early art training when she started to investigate the human body. In Body Texts she wrote people’s inner thoughts on the outer skin of a body; she made paper casts of body parts onto which inner juices appeared to seep out. She made books in which she displayed collected secrets and ‘things not said’. The Spectacular Bodies exhibition at Hayward Gallery, London 2000 was of great interest and influence. In the catalogue from this show I look at the raw emotion shown in Bernini’s Anima Dannata (Condemned Soul) 17th Century and in Marc Quinn’s Emotional Detox from the Seven Deadly Sins 1994/5 and although Judith’s work is less openly emotional, I sense her search for the source of feelings via her body explorations and her experiments.After completing her Honours Degree in 2003 Judith set up Blue Monkey Studio with 3 other graduates. Her first project 'Short Lives' was intensely personal. Both her parents had died in the previous two years. She chose to continue to experiment with and to document the growing of beans and peas in petrie dishes. She told me she wishes to give time to make sense of the death of her parents and to mark their loss. The opportunity to display this work at Stroud House Gallery, Gloucestershire brought this work to a successful conclusion.Judith is continuing her investigation of outer and inner spaces and she has been reading the journal of Christopher Columbus. She sees herself as an explorer, walking unknown lands. She makes fictional journeys through real and created landscapes in order to explore the territory both outside and inside our worlds. I wonder what she will discover.My own investigation of Judith’s work, a journey through her years as an artist, shows me that Judith is well on her way, walking purposefully down the roads she chooses. She opens to what she sees around her, sometimes decides to branch out and try a new path. Clearly she finds plenty to interest herself and us on her way. The complete article can be downloaded from: www.roz2.co.uk/news.html ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 AWARD FOR GOOSEBERRYMr. Worthy, my primary school headmaster, loved initiative. He used to make us spell the word. This is the spirit in which the Allotment Residency has been developed. I have taken the initiative again to create an Award Scheme for Vegetables and Fruit on the allotment.Gooseberries did extremely well this year. Many have gone into pies and fool. This gooseberry stands in for the others. It has been awarded Second Prize.First Prize went to the onions which were early, fat and juicy.We will be spending a preparation day on the allotment this week.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 COMMENDATIONRaspberries had two weeks of being top fruit and filled, along with strawberries and redcurrants, three delicious Summer Puddings. They have been HIGHLY COMMENDED. The last few berries have been rotting on the canes or devoured by snails.Strawberries and redcurrants did well and are over too until next Summer. One goes with the seasons on the allotment.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 PREPARATION DAY Roz & I have timetabled in three preparation days at the allotment to enable us to plan our residency. Today was the first of those days. It’s been difficult to decide how to approach the residency – whether to arrive with completely open minds, or to have a firm plan. The point of the residency is to “explore the possibility of producing a body of new work together, based upon existing common ground and interests” and we are keen to make a space where anything could happen, but think we will need a structure which will help us to focus. We have begun to develop a few ideas on which we can build and today we earmarked sites on the allotment where some of our activities can take place. We talked about what we think we are physically and practically capable of (…constructing a residence/shelter/shed – it seems essential if we are to work here for two weeks, but can we do it?) The first time I visited the allotment, I took compost from my garden as a gift and the allotment gave me spinach. Today I took a bouquet of long-stemmed chive flowers packed with seeds and the allotment gave me fresh lettuce for my lunch.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 One of the ideas to structure the work we do on the allotment residency is Art School. I took a blackboard and chaiks to the preparation day on Monday. After changing into my mortar board and gown I wrote the date and the weather - handwriting practice. Both of us are very organised people and working to a timetable, however loose, suits us. Judith noted that we have both used childhood themes in our art. I hated school when I was there. Now it seems quite attractive. A place to learn, to experiment, to make things... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 I met up with Ann Rapstoff on Friday as part of our research into collaborative work. Started a conversation about issues around working this way. Ann has worked in many combinations. We hope to arrange a meeting between Breaking Ground (Roz Cran and Judith Alder) and Kitchen Antics and Appliances (Ann Rapstoff and Barbara Dean and Hilary Kneale). There would be lots of criss crosses in such a conversation and I think many ideas may bounce from this meeting. We hope to get together in November. See www.kitchenanticsandappliances.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 We had a progress meeting yesterday. Up for discussion were plans for our next preparation day. We hope to realise 2 pieces - filming the burial of my typewriter, which has been planned for some time; and marking out a 3D plan of the shed with string and canes. A place to work in the dry and somewhere to display work is important for the residency. We are chasing up contacts to try and find a suitable shelter.Meanwhile normal harvesting continues. Potatoes, garlic and parsley are the crops of the day.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Laid out the polaroids that I found on the allotment a few months ago. There are 23 - tables, chairs, chests, whatnot table and paintings. The bluish green faded colours are beautiful. I hope by handling them, placing them, scanning them that ideas will arise of how to use them. They look like doll's furniture but they are full size antiques. I will show them to Judith again tomorrow as we have a preparation day on the allotment.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 ALLOTMENT DAY-TYPEWRITER BURIALOn Brighton beach 8 years ago when I was beginning my new life in art I found a rusty burned typewriter. It represented change and I made several pieces of work based on this typewriter. But it is ready to be buried on the Downs, ready for further change.Judith assisted with the photography and filming and we got some good shots. We went for a cuppa in the garden centre. I deleted some bad photos and inadvertently erased the whole memory card. And we could not find the other memory card full of the best ones. However after frantic searching we found it and retook the missing pictures.At the tail end of the day I helped Judith begin to construct a 3D shed using canes and string. She gained some useful experience and we plan to continue this next time.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Following our second preparation day, I put aside some time to go through all the photographs I’ve taken at the allotment so far, and to begin to make up a work book in which links might begin to appear.A couple of photographs have already prompted ideas in my mind. One seems particularly appropriate for our collaboration – “An extra pair of hands”, while a recurring theme, seen here in the image of the shopping trolley, is the constant exchange on the allotment between indoors and outdoors. This set me thinking of words which are common to both the context of cultivation and the domestic, with “beds” for growing vegetables, “carpets” of grass and “blankets” of blossom. Still of prime importance for the residency is providing ourselves with a shelter. The weather on Wednesday was perfect, but we can’t rely on that to continue, and we will need somewhere to store and look at work as we make it. We have had an offer of help to build a shelter and will be having a meeting to discuss it next week.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 I love the shabbiness of allotments. Nevertheless I felt weeds and grass had got out of hand on our preparation day. Thus I took the strimmer and spade to prepare the allotment for the residency proper which starts in a few weeks' time. It looks much better for its late summer clean.I took the opportunity for a lesson and examined the leaves of the vegetables and fruit bushes. Spent a happy hour printing from these.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 With the time we’ve set aside for the allotment residency drawing nearer, the issue of a shelter has grown more urgent. Out of the blue I received a call from Simon Barker, an architect based in Eastbourne, offering to join us to help build a shelter. Simon has a long standing interest in the evolution of improvised buildings such as those found on allotments or developed on PlotLands. We met with Simon yesterday and talked about ways we could work together to build a structure on the allotment using found and recycled materials. We talked about what the shelter will need to provide for us, and how we can make it into something more than just a shed – could it have another function or in some way be a place of transformation, somewhere that offers “a new view”? A telescope? A cinema? A schoolroom? And we talked about the work of Folke Köbberling and Martin Kaltwasser who mount installations and interventions in urban space, building structures from found and re-appropriated materials. Simon will visit the allotment and we will all start gathering materials ready for a weekend of building at the beginning of October.http://www.barkershorten.com ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 OUTSIDE BATHROOMJudith's thoughts about bringing the inside outside made me realise we have 3 baths on the allotment, only one with taps. I went up to take a closer look at them. They are used as water butts now. Jeannie, my co-allotmenteer and I throw in comfrey as it enriches the water and helps the vegetables grow. Washing in rainwater is supposed to be good for your skin, to make your skin soft. I think I will try it. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Our final preparation day is on Wednesday. We will do a final survey and set up arrangements for starting the Residency proper next week - exciting. We will invite Simon over so he can see the allotment "in person". I went up last week to measure the allotment in bodylengths. This was inspired by finding out that the plots used to be measured in rods or perches or poles. All these are the same length i.e. roughly 5.5 yards. This is equivalent to 11 cubits, 5.0292 metres, 16.5 feet. 4 rods make a chain. One source says a standard allotment is 10 poles (10 x 30 yards or 9 x 27 metres). Roughly 300 square yards. But this does not add up. I must measure my allotment. Remember those old exercise books with all these measurements on the back.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 On our last preparation day 3 weeks ago, using canes lashed together with string, I tried to make a 3D drawing of the shelter we hope to build. The result was a wonky bamboo frame which wouldn't stay upright long enough to support the outline of a roof, a strong reminder of the need to develop my design and construction skills. Last week I visited the Eden Project and was pleased to be able to take a close up look at a very solid bamboo construction together with information on various ways of using bamboo to build strong frames, walls, floors, roofs and screening panels.Also at the Eden Project were wall paintings by two "vegetalistas" from Peru depicting the intertwined relationship between people and nature.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 LAST PREPARATION DAYWe have had our last prep. day. We hauled pallets from the garden centre car park - they may be the start of our shelter which we will build next week. However we decided to put up a white gazebo on Monday 1 October, the First Day of our Residency - so that we have immediate shelter from rain and a place to lay out materials.I have become interested in the original measures used to lay out allotment plots - rods, poles, perches - all these measure the same i.e. approximately 5.5 yards. Many old measures came from using the body like a ruler: a cubit is the average length from finger tip to elbow; hands are still used to measure horses. A foot needs no explanation. I decided to measure my allotment with my body. I loved lying face down on the grass and earth, like kissing my allotment. The plot is 12 bodylengths long by 4 bodylengths wide. Crops were also used to measure: 3 barleycorns = 1 inch. I used runner beans grown this summer: the plot is 110 runner beans long by 47 runner beans wide.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 ANOTHER PRIZE AWARDEDAutumn has arrived on the allotment. Leaves, flowers, vegetables are dying back. The juice is retreating into the earth. I was struck by the beauty of some deaths. The dead heads of the artichoke stand proud, strong, brown. I have one more prize to award. The MERIT goes to this dead artichoke head. This one has to represent the team of heads. I remember the brightness of their purple hair in mid Summer. But their silvery brown crowns stand up straight and true.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 CHECKING MY BOUNDARIESMy recent work has been concerned with location and locating oneself; finding one's place. A little while ago I worked on a project in which I was looking at strategies which blind and visually impaired people use to locate themeselves, to get a sense of the space which they are in. One blind person explained to me that to understand an indoor space, she liked to walk the length and breadth of the room, touching each wall to "feel" the space.On Wednesday I walked the boundaries of the allotment, feeling the extent of our space, marking the boundaries with string looped around tall canes. Remarkably, the perimeter of the allotment was exactly equivalent to one whole ball of string.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 I've just eaten the allotment. It is inside me. For supper I had mash made from the last of the potatoes, greens: spinach, curly jack, sorrel and oriental greens, and a yellow courgette.As well as providing food for the stomach the allotment gives food for thinking, food for feeling. It is an open space apart from the day to day. On my visit today I thought about the 2 weeks' residency to come. I looked with slightly different eyes at the grass, the earth and the sky - I stared at them. I looked at the water in the baths and the metal of the empty wheelbarrow. I decided I will start each day of the residency by standing and staring. I will see what happens, what I notice, what I think. What I noticed today was the clover. There is a mass of three-leaf clovers. I love them. There is no need to search for a four-leaf clover, all the luck you need is here.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Two Artists in Residence on an Allotment - Day 1 - Rain, rain, rain. London and Southeast England: Cloudy, with a little more rain or drizzle for most. This Evening and Tonight: Cloudy skies generally, with outbreaks of drizzle and mainly light rain. Low cloud will give mist and fog over the hills but it will be mild.Tuesday: A good deal of cloud, with a little light rain or drizzle in places. A few brighter spells may develop here and there in the afternoon.Outlook for Wednesday to Friday: Mostly cloudy again on Wednesday, with some rain likely later. Cloud and patchy rain slowly clearing during Thursday. Mainly fine on Friday.Despite the weather today I collected leaves from the allotment and we made:over 50 printssome drawingstea and coffeesome wet puddles on the floor... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 LAST THINGS FIRST Despite my lucky 3 leaf clover it teamed with rain. Rain I wished for over the summer to swell the vegetables arrived today. Plans turned back to front - we worked inside on the kitchen table, printed leaves, made invitations for 'allotmenta', the Open Day - our last event became our first. We had a drawing lesson - drew nasturtiums picked from the allotment yesterday. Five things I noticed: 1. Ridges on the old runner bean reminded me of ridges left by the sea on sand. 2. Hollyhock leaf had 13 little round holes in it. 3. Nasturtium flowers have a pointed tail running down behind. 4. The veins on nasturtium leaves join up and form small five-sided figures. 5. Snails eat curly jack leaves between the veins, leaving a lacy pattern. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 GREEN WHITE CUBEOn a mild grey morning we struggled with metal tubes and flapping plastic and succeeded in creating a dry area to make and display - our own white cube. The second thing I noticed as I stared was this mullein covered in raindrops, a rose opening to the day. At the end of the afternoon I made a posy for the teacher.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 DAY 2 - MAPPINGTasks:mark out the individual plots on the allotment with string identify which plots are Jeannie's and which are Roz'sdraw a plan, marking the plots A - K47 canes used47 blue flags to mark them 5 balls of string Outlook for Thursday to Saturday: Generally dry, bright or sunny spells by day but with patchy mist and fog at night. Rather warm.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 SITTING STILL AND RUNNING ABOUTAn onion head nodded and waved as I sat and stared today. At first I did not see but I stayed, looked longer and saw them: nestled inside among the seeds were small snails - lots of them. A ladybird came stepping quickly over the round seeds, seven black spots on her back. An abundance of circular shapes on the allotment. The last lesson was PE. Certainly I was in need of exercise. How many hop, skip and jumps does the allotment measure?... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 DAY 3 - SEEDS16 varieties of seed heads and pods collected.2 green Grasshoppers1 brown Shield Bug Petrie dishes positioned in zones A, F, J, K and I:1. In bath2. Under canes3. In plant pot4. Under Cow Parsley5. Under Love-in-a-mist6. In basket on trolley7. Among Nasturtiums8. Next to compost bin9. Under runner beans Thursday: After a rather cloudy morning the cloud is expected to thin and break and it will become much brighter than of late with sunny spells developing by the afternoon.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 DAY 4 – COLLECTION (cont’d) Collected 30 varieties of seed Antirrhinum Artichoke Beetroot Bindweed Comfrey Coriander Evening Primrose Gladiolus Golden Rod Green Alkanet Hollyhock Iris Lavender Lupin Marigold Mullein Nasturtium Onion Oregano Pine Poppy Rose Sunflower Sweet Pea Tansy and 5 varieties yet to be identified. Worked with Roz to make stem prints. FRIDAY: Studio-bound to catch up on admin and studio work.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 HALF TERMOne crow sat on top of the elder and called to another perched on a lamppost. Lots of birdsong on this damp dewy morning.After our conflab, the sun came out and we printed stems together.Simon turned up as we were eating a late lunch and we discussed shelters. We collected seeds and started the seed table.Halfway through the residency and time to start 100 lines.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 AWAY DAYWent to work yesterday, it seemed odd not to be on the allotment and to chalk up the date, weather and lesson. Spent the evening sorting, grouping, deleting photos.The stem prints are dry enough to cut into strips this morning. Time to pause and consider. I think about the aims of the residency: to look, to learn and to see what it is like working in residence. I notice how my love of the allotment has grown. Another aim is to find out about collaboration; to see how Judith and I can work together; does the allotment collaborate?I realise that despite measuring the allotment in runner beans, bodylengths, carrots and courgettes, I have no idea of the length and width of the allotment in standard measurements of feet, yards, metres. What I remember is lying on the damp grass, the smell of the freshly pulled carrot and how the runner bean turned as I measured.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 OPEN DAY  We have set a date for our Open Day and have been finalising our invitations, though it seems that our printed cards will not be of much use now because of the postal strike. We will have to send most of our invitations by e-mail.Although time is rushing by, it is exciting to have an event to work towards.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 HOMEWORK As well as sorting out our invitations, the weekend break has allowed a little time for trying out ideas. I have sorted out my seedsmade packets for themthought about how to make a seed cataloguecovered a plant pot with thistle seeds ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 SUNDAYNipped Jeannie up to the allotment to get spinach and picked greens for supper.Laid out the stem prints and they looked like sewing/sowing. This links with the seed collection and the seed table/seed pot. There is a seeding embroidery stitch. Will concentrate on stitches this week.I wonder what will arise from the discipline of working on the plot; of the daily observation sessions and the plant drawing.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 SCHOOL AGAINWe are gaining a rhythm together. Our discussions bear fruit. The invitations are ready; most have been sent by email because of the postal strike. But people can pick up a souvenir card at the Open Day on Tuesday 16th.The Seed Table is complete and is stored against the rain predicted for tomorrow. Needlework on the timetable: I practised seeding stitch and stem stitch.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 DAY 6  Today: A cloudy start with outbreaks of rain. The rain becoming heavy and persistent at times, especially over eastern parts, but it should ease in the west later in the afternoon. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 TABLESRain yesterday meant a day to stay indoors, sort through material and data, and begin to put it into some sort of order. Also a good opportunity to identify areas where more information is needed.Weather forecast good for the rest of the week.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 SEWINGStitches. Lots of the names link with the allotment: seeding, snail trail, stem, thorn, lazy daisy, fern. Our roots are in the land and being here day after day brings this to mind. My head rings with the intertwining of ourselves and what we call nature (as if we were apart from the natural world): the names of stitches, the tree of life, wallpaper patterns, trunk and branches of trees in roofs and structures of buildings. I am drawing on the blackboard better. I drew stitches on canvas today.Trillions of seeds are ripening. Judith is collecting and counting them.Tonight I will make a seed cake.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 1. SKY DIARY Record the changing sky at intervals throughout the day.Log pictures in a Sky Diary. 2. ALLOTMENT WORDS breeze rustle spikes cool tangle earth drops dig grow green red rust autumn bob struggle weed push skeleton stick seed strong survive eat lace pebble... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 I LOVE MY ALLOTMENTA rope joined me to the mullein.We used garden canes to knit the string used in the survey of beds.I slept next to the currant bush and kissed the love-in-a-mist.Judith sewed me to the sunflower.And we ate slices of seed cake for lunch.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 STAND BACK AND LOOKHave we seen things differently on the allotment?Have we made a kind of home?Are we collaborators?May the seeds grow?Which stalks of the new work will develop?Have we been back to school?Have I learned anything?Am I daft?... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 OPEN DAY TOMORROW - TUESDAY 16 OCTOBERWe became attuned to the weather on the allotment residency. Open Day tomorrow may have to adapt to rain. Sent emergency email asking people to phone if it is raining. Our photos are stuck in the mail. But all other preparations are in hand. Seed cakes made. Exercise books stacked. Lessons marked.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 LAST DAY - FIRST SEEDS SOWNI can't believe it's taken me this long to actually sow some real seeds! Although the last few days have been busy with preparations for Open Day, I've been anxious to move on with some of the ideas which are rapidly developing. Throughout the residency I have been repeatedly returning to ideas about the relationship between indoors and outdoors, as well as issues of control and order and the often idealised view of nature.Yesterday I continued my experiments, sowing some fast germinating seeds in my petrie dishes on a base of moist furnishing fabric.Open Day tomorrow: Tuesday - Heavy, persistent rain will affect southern England and much of Wales for much of the day. Elsewhere, sunny spells, scattered showers in the northwest. Winds easing and feeling a little cooler.Oh well.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 OPEN DAY TODAYWe put up the gazebo in teaming rain. It began to clear half an hour before opening time and we rushed to set things out. The crow cawed as soon as I put up my board. We welcomed a good bunch of people who responded to the work. Useful comments and I learned you cannot see a laptop outside.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 ONE VISITOR TO ALLOTMENTA SAYS: 'Really enjoyed the Open Day. These things I loved, just being there with all the mix of still-growing/dying/dead things around in a frame of mind that allowed letting them be as they are rather than (as one does in ones own garden) fretting about tidying, planting, sowing, not allowing weeds to get a grip etc. The weather and the top of the downs. Your drawings, the snail shells on sticks (pour encourager les autres), the table of stuck, arrested seeds, the poppy seedhead drawn in poppy seeds, the sense of community with everyone eating seedcake and enjoying the collection of material in the shelter, the humour creeping in in all sorts of ways, Roz sewn to a leaf, the picture frame/cold frame. The sense of movement and life, so different from your average gallery, snails, seagulls, crows, clouds, whatever the caterpillars are on the cabbages, cabbage whites? The mixture of information , observation and whimsy.'... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 REPORT ON BREAKING GROUND We reviewed BREAKING GROUND together yesterday and filled in our report form for the NAN New Collaborations Bursary. We found that we have been able to work together in a fruitful partnership and that we have achieved what we set out to do: find out if we can work together; try out being in residence on a site; make some new work. We realised that BREAKING GROUND has become a wider-ranging and longer-term project. We have been in touch with the University of Brighton re developing some of our ideas in print. We plan to transpose the work indoors and try it out in a Project Space and move towards a future exhibition. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 SOUVENIR SEEDSWe have made a series of Souvenir Seed packets. Each contains one bean seed.We will send these to people who were unable to come to Allotmenta, the Open Day in October and those who have expressed interest in BREAKING GROUND and the allotment residency.Currently we are developing work started during the residency.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 MEETING AT UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON We had a meeting with Head of Painting and Lecturer from Printmaking last week re the possibility of being Artists in Residence in the Printmaking Department. Discussions went well and they seem very interested and see the benefits for the students. All to be confirmed in the next week or so. Exciting to be taking Breaking Ground forward by testing and turning ideas using screen print techniques and maybe etching. We will give talks and tutorials in return for use of the facilities. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 SOUVENIR SEED SOWING INSTRUCTIONSIf you have received a Souvenir Seed from us, here are some sowing hints. This runner bean, Wisley Magic, can be sown indoors from mid April in a pot of seed compost and sealed inside a plastic bag until it germinates and gradually acclimatise it to outdoors when frost has stopped. Or sow it outdoors when the soil has warmed from early May.Do send us pictures of the planting and the growing as Breaking Ground is an ongoing project and we would love to know how these beans fare.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 STAGE 2 BREAKING GROUNDDuring our meetings about funding applications it has become clear that we have started on Stage 2 of BREAKING GROUND.  This will comprise the Residency at the University of Brighton Printmaking Department for the month of February 2008, producing a book about Stage 1, bringing the project indoors and using 3 Project Rooms along the South Coast as a Platform for testing out the transfer and development of the work inside. This is an exciting and challenging position to have moved into.  Lots of work ahead, but with clear purpose.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 NEW LUCK NEW YEARI took 5 plastic bags of rotting vegetable peelings up to the allotment for the compost heap.  I put the mouldy old bags into an empty black bag and picked up litter blown over the beds by the winter winds.  At the bottom of the allotment I saw a rectangular scrap and bent to pick it up.  I could not believe my eyes - it was a polaroid photo of  a chest of drawers.  Where had it come from and how had it blown up now?  I had gathered the first polaroid picture of furniture in February 2007 at the beginning of this project.  And continued to find the rest of a small collection of 23 photos over the next few weeks.Here was another, months later, at the beginning of 2008 and the start of Stage 2 of BREAKING GROUND.  The fates are with us.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 SOURCEPart of the polaroid mystery is solved.  I found another photo and another and followed them back to Ken's blind shed (it has no door).  There was a stack of them by the wall. On the grass lay a panel blown off the shed.  Photos were stuck in rows on this.  I took photos of it but wondered who had put these polaroids on the panel, when and for what purpose.  More questions.   ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Last Monday Roz & I visited the print workshops at the University of Brighton in preparation for our residency there. We met with technicians Ray Dennis and Wayne Case and Ray gave us a walk-round “refresher” of the workshop areas. Although it’s nearly five years since I used the screen-printing workshops, it still seemed very familiar and I came away with a sense of anticipation and excitement about the prospect of a month in such a productive environment. Our residency at the University begins on the 4th February. We’ll be developing our ideas for Breaking Ground through printmaking and, as Artists in Residence will be giving talks and tutorials to students. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 Day 1 of our residency at the University of Brighton The start of an exciting month when we will be working in the printmaking workshops at the university! We spent most of the day today with Ray Dennis who re-introduced us to screen printing. Roz had developed some drawings of birds which she wanted to print, so we slowly but surely went through the process of making up a photographic stencil and printing from it. By the end of the day it all seemed familiar again – despite the fact that it is nearly five years since I last made a screenprint! I’m interested in pursuing ideas from the allotment about “Finding one’s place” & want to continue to explore ideas about mapping, measuring & marking territory. I marked a boundary around myself and my locker. Tomorrow I’ll start printing. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 FIRST DAYThis morning I felt apprehensive as I packed my bag for the First Day - we are two Artists in Residence again - this time in Fine Art Printmaking at the University of Brighton.  However I walked home with a smile.   I enjoyed today.  I printed 3 layers of 'the missing birds'.  There are few birds on the allotment.  I am looking for them. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 DAY 2 Made my first prints today using a screen-printing technique I hadn’t used before. I wanted to do a quick mental re-cap of my thoughts & ideas about the work we’d made on the allotment. So working directly onto the screen, first I made lists of “Allotment Words” and “More Allotment Words” – a sort of brain-storming session, printing the lists from the screen with transparent printing medium. Then, still working directly onto the screen with water soluble crayons and pencils, I began to try to transform my thoughts into quick & spontaneous drawings – a new way of working for me. Predictably, the process of printing began to get the creative juices flowing. Now I’m making plans for tomorrow. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 SECOND DAYMore layers added to the bird prints, more browns too.  The thrush looks rather angry. Some on paper but also printed the pair of yellowhammer and thrush outlines onto thin canvas.  The plan to is cut them out, sew them together using thorn stitch and stuff them with allotment leaves, dead stems or sheep wool - people grazed their sheep on Tenantry Down before the allotments were laid out. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 THIRD DAYSpent the morning cutting paper to size, taping the photostencil window to the right size, setting up registrations - then I began to print grey backgrounds, large and small.  The light cartridge paper stuck, but the heavy canaletto paper worked well.  Now I have 7 large and 14 small backgrounds to print on next Monday.Began to draft out some of the things I want to print:  names of vegetable seeds.  Who named a climbing French bean 'District Nurse' or a pea as 'Gravedigger' ? How were those names handed down? Who wrote them down? ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 TO SEE A PROJECT SPACE Roz & I travelled to Portsmouth & Southampton on Friday. We went to the Aspex Gallery for a 1-2-1 with Sarah Palmer to talk about our BMPD professional development project, then we went on to see the Millais Project Space at Southampton Solent University. We wanted to look at the space to see if it might be a suitable venue for the next stage of Breaking Ground, where we plan to work in three different project spaces along the south coast for a week in each space, inviting selected artists and arts professionals from each area for a private viewing and a discussion about the work we make at the end of each week. PREPARATIONS This evening I’m preparing for another day’s printmaking in Brighton tomorrow. I’ve got a stencil ready to print from – an outline plan of the allotment showing the “boundaries” which were understood, but in reality, almost invisible. More and more, the focus of the work I’m making is on the relationships which became important during the allotment residency, and the territorial issues which I was interested in as a visitor feeling the need to make a space for myself which would be my “safe base”. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 PRINTMAKING - DAY 4Back in the print workshop today I've been printing a plan of the allotment showing its "boundaries" and the layout of the beds and paths. Of course, anyone who knows allotments will realise that this is not as simple as it sounds since allotment boundaries are often more "understood" than defined.I've printed quite a number of the plans and will use them as a structure to work on to, recording some of the processes and activities which I actually carried out on the allotment.Allotment - "a portion or thing allotted; a share granted."Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 BAD DAYToday everything went wrong.  I stayed late on Monday setting things up - cutting paper, taping the screen, ready to go when I got in today.  However my first print went wrong, the tape lifted giving a curvy line where it should have been straight.  Washed off and tried again.  The paper stuck to screen.  Washed off.  Next black streaks appeared.  I gave up.  Turned the power hose on the screen and washed off the stencil.  Started a new photostencil to have easy straight lines.  Off to the dentist in the afternoon.  Work meeting tomorrow, so not back at the screenbed until Thursday.Stuffed a thrush with dead stems and moss - see image. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTIONI was beginning to feel I was going through the motions - days of printing so far had resulted in stiff and formal plans of the allotment, but I didn't really feel that anything was "happening". Perservering, I made up a stencil of "footprints" and printed up a muddy trail around the allotment plan, negotiating the carefully marked out plots.Then, as I always do, I tried printing them on to a piece of blank paper, moving the paper in & out of registration, printing & over-printing & watching as my print appeared. The new print seems to move the work on beyond the allotment itself and link to the broader themes within my work, considering invisible, implied or understood boundaries, territory, paths and passages. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 MORE BACKGROUNDSSpent ages setting up to print more backgrounds.  Still getting small smears in the ink but some of them are ok.  Want to finish some of these first ideas in a day or two and spend the last week trying out something new. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 SEED NAMESBeen fascinated with the names given to vegetable seeds - they speak of close relationships with growing, of history, of handing on and handing down, of people and their experience on allotments over generations.  The names are so different from the plain name, the official name, the latin botanical name. Have screenprinted selected seed names for tomatoes, peas, broad beans, leeks, dwarf runner beans, climbing French beans, carrots.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 ABSCESSBeen away, absent, from the University Residency with a tooth abscess.  I looked abscess up: from the latin for going away, separating.  Absent is also from latin but from a dfferent root: to be away, not present.Looked up the latin for the vegetable names:  tomato is Solanum lycopersicum; leek is Allium porrum; pea is Pisum sativum.  All this reminds me of school again, roots of words, latin lessons; and of The School for Artists that we constructed on the Allotment Residency. School has framed my life- born in a school, can't seem to leave school, always want to learn more.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 In some ways it has been a frustrating week. Haven't really managed to get into a rythm. Couldn't get in to the Uni versity for three continuous days due to other commitments, and my focus and train of thought has been fragmented - and it shows. On Monday I was keen to develop my ideas for footprint tracks and trails, but that didn't seem as fruitful as I'd hoped. The image of my inky screen seems the most interesting thing I've produced! ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 PUBLIC SPACE, PRIVATE SPACE, SHARED SPACEAfter the earlier frustrations of foot-print-making this week I decided to leave that line of enquiry for a little while & focus on something new. For some time now we have been thinking about developing our ideas around the notion of building a shelter, somewhere which can be "A Space For Two Artists" during the next phase of our Breaking Ground project. I decided to think about this by drawing & started to make lots of little images around this idea. Next week I'll try printing them & see what happens.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 THINKING THROUGH PRINTINGI am finding thinking through printing an interesting process, and one which perhaps I should do more of. Its benefits are something to do with the combination of decision-making which has to be done in order to get anything on to paper at all, and the changes which occur through the printing process.Been  thinking broadly today about how Roz & I can tackle this idea of a constructed "Space for Two Artists". We'll have to use simple, low-tech methods, because neither of us are particularly technically minded. Ray was talking about Japanese paper making today, and the Japanese use of architectural paper screens...food for thought.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 PRESENTI have been absent for a month.  Now back in the world of the well. I have prints to finish, thoughts and threads to pick up - time to start sewing/sowing again.   Broad bean and runner bean seeds are sprouting.  Seed potatoes and onion sets are waiting for a sunny day to be planted.   I have to arrange a couple of days to complete my residency at the University, do some tutorials and a presentation.      Talking to a visitor at our Open Studios about the emphasis in our culture on the visual, made me think about listening to the allotment.  Traffic noise, the occasional squawk from a crow, the wind blowing dried stems, fork against chalk.  What is the language for sound?  Onomatopoeic, metaphor, synonym... squawk, whistle, whisper, clink, hum....  Can listening open us to a wider experience of a place, a different feel.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 TALK ABOUT THE WORKWe had a meeting to start planning our talk for Talk About the Work at Claremont Studios, Hastings later in April.We will focus on our collaborative partnership in Breaking Ground and see if we can widen our understanding of the way we work together/alongside and take this forwards into Stage 2 of the project.  We will invite the audience to collaborate with us for the evening and open a conversation about the work and the partnership and artistic collaboration. We have had a break while concentrating on other projects and it will be interesting to see where we stand in relation to the allotment and taking the work indoors to develop in Project Rooms.  It is sunny today and I will go to the allotment and take an April picture for this blog. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 BACK AT THE UNIVERSITY RESIDENCYToday I went back to finish my prints for the Residency at the University of Brighton.  Did a complete screen from start to finish.   Cleaning off, coating, exposing, washing out, drying, onto the screen table, printing each of the stitches onto the vegetable names I printed in February, washed the screen off.These sowings/sewings are in black and brown.  Tomorrow I hope to do another screen using green on black.Jiggered. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 COMPLETED SERIES OF PRINTSGreen did not work and I went back to brown.  Had to work on an unfamiliar table and the 'snap' was all wrong.  After a time of things going wrong, I began to get a rhythm again and completed the series of 'allotment sewings'.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 TUTORIALSToday I did some tutorials with the printmaking students - enjoyed this in spite of having a heavy cold.  First years are preparing for their Exhibition on Monday and third years getting ready for the Final Show.  I noticed how as you look critically at someone else's work and comment, you learn to look better and clarify something in your own mind or identify a muddle.  Again I notice that if you help students to articulate their thoughts and feelings about the work and making the work, they find something out.  It mirrors my counselling work.One student is unsure where to begin again.  I draw her attention to another blog on AN - "You can go anywhere from anywhere" Jane Ponsford's new project, a quote from Anni Albers.  See her post 17 March for link to yet another blog and text. I collected my finished prints and cleared out my plan drawer and locker.Arranged a date for our talk on Breaking Ground - 2 weeks today. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 TALKPhotographed my prints ready to become slides for the 2 presentations I am starting to build for the Talks in 10 days' time.The first is on Breaking Ground and collaboration.  The second is for the printmaking students.  Duncan Bullen, the tutor, has asked that we talk too about how we have made artist lives for ourselves after graduating from Brighton.I will design and email a poster for him to put on the noticeboard next. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 COLLABORATIONStruggling with making slides for the powerpoint and thinking about the collaboration - how we started out and how it developed.  The good points and how it helped us work.  How we worked alongside each other.  Side by side.  Assistance.  Discussion.  Meetings always turned something up, pushed on our ideas.  Looked forward to meetings and seeing what would come out of it.  A pairing, like my seed names and nature stitches, overlapping, layering, producing textures. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 LOOKING FORWARD - LOOKING BACKWith two talks to plan this week about our collaboration, this seems like a good opportunity to review what we have done so far and begin to make firm plans for our project space work in the coming months. While choosing images for my slideshow, I came across a series of drawings which I did soon after arriving back in the studio from the allotment. I had been sorting out my collection of seeds  and  planted some  quick sprouting varieties in the studio. I observed their progress daily, and documented their progress in drawings for a while.I was interested in how my old life drawing skills seemed appropriate in representing these contorted little bodies.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 BEAN - WISLEY MAGICAmanda Champness has sent some photos of her magic bean, the souvenir seed from Breaking Ground.  The shooting bean is growing leaves now.  I am sure she is going to keep us abreast of its progress. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 MORE BEANSMore bean photos have arrived.  This time from Germany - Frankfurt an der Oder - from Wiebke and Benno Tetzlaff - we visited each other last summer:Dear Roz, It will work :-  Though the weather has been awful this spring Benno did it.  He planted the magic bean.  You can see it on the photos.  Now we ( sorry he) will look after it, water it and take some more pictures for you. The sunshine will help, I hope so.  In summer we will have a huge bean. Come here and see! ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 TALK ABOUT THE WORK - CLAREMONT STUDIO, HASTINGSWe talked about Collaboration at the TATW last night.  We had planned our talks separately without consultation for the first time.  Each of us presented our view of working together and asked for comments and responses from the artists who had come.  We wanted to notice what we had gained, and what we had lost from working together on Breaking Ground.  To consider how we work alongside each other.  To wonder whether we could adapt, improve, do it better for Stage 2 of the project.We had some interesting and challenging feedback.  One person saw the working pattern as 'very female', 'no conflict'.  Someone suggested swapping a piece of work and the other person responding, making something with that piece.For me it clarified the way I want to explore relationships and the avenues I do not wish to go down.Annabel Tilley who organises TATW took some photos of the evening.  Esther Appleyard introduced and managed the evening. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/385051 WE DID ANOTHER TALK TODAYWe did another talk (or two talks) today at the University of Brighton Printmaking Department. This was part of our Residency.  In addition to using the screenprinting facilities we have given student tutorials and this presentation.  We focussed on How to create an Life in Art after University.  Each of us showed slides and talked for half an hour about how we had made an art life - the different mix of activities from applying to funding, creating residencies, getting awards, further study, leading workshops, making work and working in other jobs for money. There were lots of questions after and as always you learn so much from putting toge