ARTISTS TALKING

# 68 [15 May 2008]

Part Two, continued from yesterday.

At each location I gathered something that grew there in abundance; that seemed to characterise that place. Luckily I was able to find something different for each ... and then, at the next place I made a four-letter word using the plant material. Each word would have some relevance to the place where I found myself or how I was feeling at that moment. So, like last year's action where I took earth or water from one crossing-point and tipped it out at the next, it made a strong link around the boundary.  I found after the first day that I wasn't convinced that this idea was really working, but kept going with it as it's probably better to judge its validity later on. Even if it doesn't work as 14 photographs forming a 'boundary', some of the individual ones are quite nice I think. Others feel somewhat contrived - sometimes it was difficult to find an appropriate word with just four letters in it.

Thinking more about words, I decided to do something with runes. This is very pertinent to Norfolk as an eastern county. It's often forgotten how strong the Scandinavian/Germanic heritage would still have been - both in place names and probably something more intangible - in medieval times. So, at each crossing-place I drew a rune marked on a stone from a special bag, and placed it on the puddle of beer in a seemingly-significant ritual action. Then I scratched the same rune in the earth of that place.

Lots to do at each crossing-point; lots of scrabbling about in bicycle panniers for the equipment; cold fingers yesterday that eventually rebelled, but on reflection it was worth it, definitely. It both feels like the end and not the end at all, as there is A LOT to do to actually make something of all the stuff I've collected along the way. Not to mention a final edition of Kalender. 

www.world-tree.co.uk/festial

imogenashwin[at]yahoo[dot]co[dot]uk 

# 67 [14 May 2008]

The last festival of my medieval year has happened! It was Trevor's idea to repeat the first festival again at the end of the project, and I was very happy with the prospect. For one thing, Rogationtide is a three day event so there's plenty of time to really get into it. It's a significant commitment of  energy too, but the rewards include an enormous feeling of achievement - and masses of material to work with later.  Plus, I enjoy working with Trevor. He was magnificent! All the documentary photographs and video are his - I just had the ideas and performed them.

It was fascinating to see the differences in the landscape from last year. 'You can never step into the same river twice' said Heroclitis, and how right he was. Rogationtide fell earlier this year as it's linked to Easter, but the differences in vegetation and feel of the various locations seemed to go deeper than that, and not only because of the vagaries of the weather.

The first day was gorgeous sunshine, the second was kinda on and off, ending up quite chilly, and the third was sunny again, though incredibly windy.

Deciding what to do at each of the 14 crossing-points this time, I knew I wanted to incorporate sound, words, ritual activity and an action that involved taking something from one crossing-point and doing something with it at the next. 

So, at each site, I played a note on my treble recorder. There were 15 of these (including the first crossing-point twice to seal the circle at the end), and this lent itself to travelling up the octave and back down again, finishing with the note I started with. I'm hoping to edit the result into a video. I chose a recorder as it's related to medieval instruments and also I liked the idea of 'charming the fields' like the Pied Piper. I held the note for as long as I had enough breath to do so, so the video will amount to 15 of my breaths.

Then there was the ritual pouring of a mugful of Festial Ale at each crossing-point. This looks quite strange in the video footage. I hope it evokes libations and other kinds of territorial marking(!). When it came to the last pouring the mark of the first was still visible on the road, and it felt very good to be able to hit the same spot.

# 66 [2 May 2008]

It seems an incredibly short time since I was collecting the Palm Sunday Kalender last Friday, but I found myself at the printers again after work today, collecting the Easter edition. I like its egg yolk yellow cover, and the printing itself is better this time, too!

As for the content, well, as I remarked wistfully last time, it was great being at art school and getting that critical feedback. Any students out there, I would definitely advise you to make the most of it as you'll probably miss it afterwards.

Anyway, there's little time for critical reflection right now as the time for double helpings of rubberstamping, putting as yet non-existent free gifts into bags, stapling, guillotining and inserting flyers draws nigh. Not to mention mailing out the 30 copies of each to press and gallery contacts.

Oh well, at least the two issues can be mailed out in one envelope.

www.world-tree.co.uk/festial 

# 65 [29 April 2008]

All went to plan and I collected Kalender on Friday afternoon. After several rather dark issues (I mean in the sense of printing darker than was planned rather than any analysis of their content!) the Palm Sunday Kalender is almost unfeasibly light. It's nice that the publication is meant to reference cheapo fanzines and crappy parish magazines - so, no problem.

Although the print quality leaves something to be desired, I'm quite excited by the potential in the collages I'm starting to develop, even though I go through bouts of self-doubt about them. Those art school crits were useful!  But anyway, now that the images exist I can always go back to them once the madness of the Kalender schedule is a thing of the past. And madness it is.

Despite saying in my last post that the weekend would be spent rubberstamping and stapling, in fact none of that has even started and I have so far failed to source the sugar flowers I'm committed to providing as the 'free gift'.

On a more positive note, somehow the Easter edition is practically ready to pdf for the printer ... how did that happen??  Probably ia combination of the recent pritt stick frenzy, Trevor nobly documenting a new performance to make a photo-story for the centre spread, and spending the whole day and part of the evening yesterday on those 'final details'....

Oh yes, I don't think I mentioned that the Palm Sunday Kalender is now online -

www.world-tree.co.uk/festial 

# 64 [24 April 2008]

I feel as if I've been writing about this Palm Sunday kalender for weeks - and probably have! But at last all is ready for the printers, and I hope to be able to collect the 180 finished copies tomorrow afternoon. 

Meanwhile, I've been getting on with the Easter edition ... and the pritt stick has come out again.

Also, it seemed like a good idea to put a flyer for the exhibition that will follow my Gresham's residency this Autumn into each copy of Kalender. The mentors would be proud! Anyway, that was put together this morning with Trevor's help so we're on track for another feverish bout of rubberstamping and free gift attachment this weekend. Never a dull moment. 

www.world-tree.co.uk/festial

# 63 [20 April 2008]

Today was the day I intended to 'quickly' put the little finishing details to the Palm Sunday Kalender -  but my, what a long time those little details take! The problem was that there were still a few pages to resolve and I felt that the remaining unused images were a bit staid and repetitive of what had gone before.

So I've been making collages! Real collages with scissors and pritt stick and I've really enjoyed doing it. I think I'll continue with this technique as a way of exploring the material from Kalender once my medieval year is over. And that won't be all that long now.

Sometimes it does feel difficult to keep up my initial enthusiasm for the project over such a long period of time. I admit I haven't retained the resolve to keep pushing away at promotion and trying to keep the project in the public eye, especially locally where I really haven't encountered very much interest in what I'm doing (with the exception, I must quickly say, of my lovely new friend Kay from Wood Dalling who is a fantastic source of support and encouragement).

But I'm managing to keep focussed on producing Kalender, and I'm starting work on a proposal for the solo exhibition within the Eastern Region that I need to secure as one of the conditions under which I received my Grants for the Art award. Indeed, the funding won't be forthcoming until I receive the offer of such an exhibition, so I'd better get on with it!

# 62 [16 April 2008]

I realise I haven't recorded the fact that Easter 'happened'! It was always going to be a challenge to work with two festivals that were only a week apart, but Easter was so huge in the medieval mindset that it seemed to be a must from the very beginning.

In fact, as a festival to interpret in my own way it wasn't as easy as I had  imagined. Yes, my research confirms that there would have been a lot of weird (to our eyes) stuff going on at St Andrew's and emotions would certainly have been running high, but I didn't want to get caught up in the Christian devotional frenzy as such. Nor did I feel it was enough to go with the Spring equinox pagan festival thing - a bit obvious, maybe. So????

Well, all I did on the day (Saturday 5 April by the Julian calendar) was to have one of my 'seeing what happens' sessions up at the church. But I did take some eggs with me... I think that whatever theme or feeling is going to emerge will (hopefully) become apparent as I start to put Kalender together. 

But right now I'm still finishing off the Palm Sunday edition ... nearly there though! 

# 61 [8 April 2008]

Typical! I was determined (but evidently not determined enough) to write something here on 3 April 2008, as that was the date in 2007 that I started this blog. I can hardly believe it. And now it's the 8th....

Anyway, on Thursday, which happened to be 3 April, I was out having a look at a new art space in King's Lynn: Greyfriars Art Space. Set up as a not-for-profit organisation by two West Norfolk 2007 Fine Art graduates  it looks good and its presence is a welcome boost to the Eastern area, which is somewhat impoverished when it comes to non-commercial galleries. Greyfriars consists of studios and a gallery, with the idea that studio rental will cover the cost of running the building so that shows don't have to be *commercial* but can be selected on other criteria. That's what we like to hear!  Clare and Jill, co-founders of Greyfrairs, have really done their homework and the frontage has the restrained appearance of a good, small London gallery. 

Clare had phoned initially to ask whether I'd like to show some work in a group show there in June and suggested I go and take a look at the space. I'm looking forward to participating. The show comes a month after the formal part of Festial comes to an end - finishing, as it began, with Rogationtide in May - and will be a good way of ensuring I actually start making some work afterwards.

# 60 [31 March 2008]

On Saturday it was Palm Sunday. Well, Julian calendar style, that is. For a change, I'd had a chance to get some ideas together beforehand, but still on the day wanted to spend some time up at the church alone 'seeing what happened'.

It was a beautiful morning, which made me far too blase about getting up to the church while the sun was still shining. By the time I got up there with my camera it was nearly lunchtime and the sun wasn't quite what it had been a few hours before. Still, I had a wander and a think and took some photographs. It was getting colder by the minute, so I photographed the raucous rooks circling their nests and went home.

Shortly afterwards, I returned to St Andrew's with Trevor who had agreed to act as documentary-maker and camera man. Among other things, we bore with us a video camera on a very long stick. Quick, get round the side of the church before anyone thinks we're doing something weird, I said, before realising that this wasn't exactly in the spirit of inclusive artistic performance.

By now, the wind was pretty strong, and buffeted the camera as I 'processed' three times around the churchyard with it. There was no way of telling what was being captured, but the lack of control was intentional. Then I processed again inside the church with my camera-on-a-stick, covering the nave and aisles in both directions. This time I didn't have the excuse that the wind was nearly blowing me over, but things were still quite wobbly, and again, I didn't know what I was getting. I hoped there would be a closer view of the strange stone creatures, but unfortunately my stick wasn't long enough.

Then, I did a performance, filmed by Trevor, in which I made an equal-armed cross of willow, and wound wool around to make an amulet during three repetitions of a piece of music on a flute of willow wood. It was an incredibly meditative undertaking, and meditative was also the word Trevor used to describe how it felt to video the performance.

What was it all about? It's always difficult to know how much to explain! But it was all based on research into the ways that medieval people may well have marked Palm Sunday in that very space. A meditation on that.

# 59 [25 March 2008]

I got the residency I applied for! 

Three weeks in the art department of a renowned public school about 12 miles away (unlike the pupils I won't be 'living in') followed by a solo exhibition in the school's gallery, 'The Nicholson Gallery'.

I visited the department today, and it's a real art department, messy and  smelling of oil paint. Daunting but I'm up for it, definitely. And won't the mentors be pleased! I've said I'd like to spend time experimenting with printmaking using ideas and imagery generated by my Festial project, and specifically the twelve issues (if all goes to plan) of Kalender. 

The students' work around the place was truly impressive, but based mainly around traditional painting and drawing. Before I left, having been offered the post, I felt I needed to confirm with the Head of Art that it was OK that painting and drawing are hardly strengths of mine. It's ideas that I get excited by. Luckily, he reassured me that it would be counterproductive if the artist in residence was just like the other art staff there.

So that's all right, then.