ARTISTS TALKING

# 164 [28 September 2008]

I am building my first web site around a Paolozzi Masterclass I attended years ago at Edinburgh College of Art.

We were required to keep a diary of the 10 day course and recently I re-read it and was surprised how relevant it all was  so decided it would be a useful project for my first ever web-site.

This is a bit of light relief from writing up The Children of Craig-y-nos" book.  People keep emailing me asking for the publication date. Trouble is there is such a vast amount of material to go through - 150 interviews- that I need time just to get a bit of a distance form it and re-think the structure. 

# 163 [18 September 2008]

I have just added another video to my video blog -www.annshaw@blogspot.com ( but this link doesn't work!!!!)

Unfortunately neither does  this site does  support video links to Youtube.

To view go to  the video blog through my other web site: www.annshaw.net

It's called "Bark in the Park" and deals with cloning ....

# 162 [13 September 2008]

The exhibition closed in Swansea with over 700 people signing the Visitors Book.  It seems it was a cathartic experience for many with lots of hugs, tears and kisses as whole families visited it to not only find past members of their families and to piece together this missing part of their own heritage but also to find closure.

# 161 [3 September 2008]

"The Children of Craig-y-nos" exhibition will end this Sunday, September 7th.

It's been up for two and a half months and has proved to be very popular.  An added bonus is that we have had one former nurse from the hospital invigilating every Friday and Saturday and this gave a personal touch, especially for ex-patients wanting to talk about their experiences. Also, some ex-patients  helped out too.

BBC Radio Wales carried a half hour programme last Sunday on the "History of TB in Wales".   They interviewed several people from our project. I was asked initially to take part in the programme but it meant doing it through the Glasgow studio "down the line" and I thought it better to let the community speak for itself.

Those interviewed came over brilliantly.

Craig-y-nos Castle have been speaking to Dr Carole Reeves offering the castle for the book launch.  Three possible dates in March  have been pencilled it. The final decision has yet to be made.

# 160 [17 August 2008]

Just heard that Swansea exhibition to be extended by another month due to popular demand.

Also, - this is incredible- Dr Reeves has been approached by a top London literary agency.  Watch this space.....

The first major draft of the book ( my section ) is complete and I am taking a rest from it , giving the project a bit of breathing space, and returned to making some more internet films.

 Uploaded to Youtube yesterday Stone Circle, made at last week's Pittenween Arts Festival. 

# 159 [3 August 2008]

It is clear that having ex-patients or a former staff member in attendance at the exhibition adds greatly to the whole experience.

I am having very good reports back of audience participation not only from the local community from young schoolchildren to their grandparents but also the many foreigners who are visiting Swansea.

This week Pam Hamer , an ex-child patient from the late 1940s said she never stopped talking to people all day.

They were  fascinated to be able to speak to someone about the photographic exhibition. 

One of  Pamela's stories is that she woke up one night on the castle  balcony, where the children slept outdoors all year round, to find a rat in her bed.

 She screamed, and screamed and the night nurse said:

"It is only Joey, the pet rat come to say good-night to you!" 

# 158 [10 July 2008]

How do you judge whether an exhibition is successful?

Well, one criteria is to look at the Visitors Book. How many people have signed it?

In less than a week over 100 people have written in the one for the Children of Craig-y-nos exhibition in Swansea museum.

This is yet more evidence, if it was still needed, that the project has touched the heart of the community, for it has opened up a subject, once taboo, dealing with nearly 40 years of lost Welsh history, how children were locked away.

# 157 [2 July 2008]

Roy Harry cut the ribbon yesterday morning in Swansea museum officially opening The Children of Craig-y-nos exhibition.

An ex-patient himself  he made a very moving speech and dedicated the exhibition to those children who never made it- "the lost children of Craig-y-nos".

It reduced one museum official to tears. 

# 156 [30 June 2008]

Reason for absence : I've gone down with shingles ( and yes thanks I am recovering!)  we have just had our garden, along with four others in the area, open to the public to raise money for charities which has meant an inordinate amount of time spent out there . (The garden includes sculptures ,my own and commissioned, text art and sound installations and yes I am influenced by Ian `Hamilton Finlay's garden which is about 40 miles away).

The photograhic exhibition Children of Craig-y-nos opens tomorrow in Swansea museum.  This exhibition nearly didnt happen....three weeks ago we learnt that the exhibition curator had gone off on holiday and left no instructions/information about it. 

Then a member of staff recalled seeing the archive boxes in the cellar...

Fortunately Dr Carole Reeves, the historian from The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College London, was able to go to Wales and sort it out. She spent yesterday mounting the exhibition with the help of others involved in this community based project.

Tomorrow morning it opens officially for two months. 

# 155 [17 June 2008]

My video  "Dreams and Conflicts" which I uploaded to Youtube a year ago has suddenly started to generate a wealth of comments - for no apparent reason!

<a href="http://uk.youtube.com/user/annshaw"> Venice Biennale</a> 

 I made it from "mashing "images  taken from the Venice Biennale 2003.

Here's some of the comments: 

ArseBottom 

Mytholgys time lapse into todays world

DbOt456 (

It's like an acid trip one time......cool video!

adaminho1994 (

#########

miihq (

scary... :s

ben401334 (

woow beastality

lostsoul343 

I don't think that word means what you think it means....

ben401334 (

sure lol

danoFlow 

lol indeed

dizydaisy 

creepy

Moou93 

very scary! =(

DanskWolf (

uuhi... i think this creatures are a kind of cute^^

vintagecries (

why do people post these videos,,, with no explanation

schlow09 

bucause there is no one single explanation, its open to the interpretation of each individual

Joeylovesrice 

I think this dude is possessed...seriously.

TheGreatVax 

1:54 is fake, its also able to find in wikipedia, that fake was made to scare people away from genetic tests!

that rat-hybrid thingy, i dont know but it seems to be fake too

bradondo  

How can a work of art be fake (unless a forgery of another's work)? These are pieces from a bi-annual art show! The pig sculpture may have originated as what you say, but in the context of art there can be nothing "fake." Besides, Wikipedia is notorious for inaccurate information. Somebody may have seen the thing at an art show, snapped a picture of it then made up a story to post. I'm not saying this is what happened, but Wikipedia is a first source, not a conclusive source.