Ooooh, the lovely artcornwall website has another review that includes reflections on yours truly's participation in the Embark ferry show in May this year. Thanks Rupert!! It does of course include reviews of the other artists' shows, I guess I should just mention that!!!
Well, my exhibition on the King Harry Ferry is over and Alessandra Ausenda's has gone up in its place, but today saw the real end of the project for me. I was lucky enough to run a workshop for 7 - 8 year olds in the most idyllic surroundings you can imagine. To get to Higher Trevaster Farm you wend your way down a long, long winding track bordered on both sides by hedgerows full of gorgeous summer flowers. At the end of the track the view opens out across the creek, then you notice the beautifully converted barn with a picturesque cottage garden full of foxgloves and delphiniums. At that point I realised the farm is the end of the road and this is where I'd be spending the day! Unusually it was gloriously sunny - all day!!! The picture above shows where the children and I made plaster reliefs from things we scavenged from the nearby hedgerows. They had a great time, but unfortunately I didn't get to see their finished reliefs because the plaster wasn't dry. I promised to drop them off at the school with the clay still attached so that the children had the excitement of 'unwrapping' them themselves.
It seems odd that it's all over, and a bit sad. Still I learnt something interesting about my show from a friend the other day...she was at a boat party (dressed as Marilyn Monroe) and a couple of people who knew about the exhibition said that some people had refused to go on the ferry because my work was on it, preferring to drive miles out of the way instead! I love it!
Yep, I got another 15 minutes of fame today! Apparently my work on the King Harry Ferry has been causing a bit of "controversy", which I was blissfully unaware of until last night when I was asked if I would talk to Westcountry TV this morning to discuss it! Aside from the fact that some people just don't want to look at portrayals of dead and decaying birds on their short journey across the water ("where have the nice landscape photographs gone?"), there have been questions as to whether the content is suitable for children... I was bemused by this since my own lovely son can't contain his excitement whenever he finds another poor specimen for me to draw, or drown in wax.
Seeing the images again today I can see why people were making some disgruntled noises, but they just have to look around them to see death and decay in the hedgerows they drive beside everyday - if only they'd take the time to look. And I guess that's the point: we just don't look. In fact we probably turn away. I doubt that anyone in a museum looking at a Baroque painting of a hunting scene or piles of game birds in the pantry would give it a second thought; they'd probably be waxing lyrical about how fantastically rendered the decaying flesh was . So why the concern over my drawings I wondered. I think it's probably got as much to do with the context in which they're shown as anything else. First of all they're a captive audience - they didn't choose to go on the ferry to look at art, it just happens to be there; loads of the ferry goers will be holiday makers too, so they're probably more interested in 'pretty pictures' than anyone else, and will complain when they don't get them (my assumption!) and finally I think people are just too plain conservative and don't want to look at anything that they might actually have to think about - and these drawings make them confront that, which I think is a good thing. And so does the owner of the ferry company apparently: asked if they would prefer the exhibition to be taken down he said "no, art is about creating debate". A man after my own heart!
The interview is planned to go out on Westcountry news at 11 and 6 o'clock tomorrow with opinion from ferry-goers and the ferry company too. (There may be some difficulty seeing it in the Falmouth area though as the town receives the Plymouth signal!!)
Typically, since it's been dry here for weeks, the rain poured down yesterday - yesterday being the day earmarked to install my work for the Embark series on the King Harry Ferry. It was feeling like one of those days, the sort where I listen to Laura Cantrell's 2 Seconds and burst in to tears for no apparent reason (sad to say that really happened). But by 4.30 it had all but stopped and out came the sunshine; it was cold in the shade though, waiting for the ferry to come in. A couple of hours later, after some splendid team-work from Matt Pontin and Paul Chaney, the work was stuck to the walls and that was that. Sorted.
I need some time to reflect on it and how it looks in that environment before I pass any comments. I plan to go back and have another look at it soon though and will let you know what I think. It'll be good just to people-watch for a while and see how others react to it - there were a few appreciative murmurs when it was being installed, which was encouraging - if unexpected!
There are more pictures of the individual images on my website on the following page http://www.stephanieboon.co.uk/html/portfolio_pages/embark.htm.
I plan to go and check out the first exhibition in the next couple of days and will let you know what it's like; my own work goes on board on the 1st May...
As usual! Well, I've decided on 10 images for the Embark ferry show - and here's one of them (below, of course). To see the rest you'll have to get on the ferry in May or take a look at my website after Easter. (I won't have time to load them until then.) I managed to get a series of 6 new drawings made that I'm reasonably happy with, but it was like pulling teeth. Is it just me that seems to have a manic burst of energy and confidence at the eleventh hour? It has to be said that this confidence wouldn't have come without the support and encouragement of some very special, generous friends, so a big, big thank you to you!
I'm away for Easter at 8am tomorrow morning and I've still got to burn all the images to disc, write a statement and find an errant cat who's supposed to be going to the cattery tomorrow, but seems to have done a runner... It's getting on for 2am and I still haven't checked my tickets, passport and the like, so I guess I should go and get some sleep before I have to get up at the crack of dawn to do all these things!
Happy Easter!!!
I did the Blackcap last night. I like playing with the words. The text sometimes describes the birds' calls and the little sayings and words I add are like songs I used to hear us call to each other, especially as teenagers. I also like the way that we have to label and classify things, and some of the labels I've applied are obviously labels that we give each other (I bet there isn't a red-head in the land that wasn't called Duracell at school - I know I was). I also like the contrast between the full-colour live bird and the black and white dead one that I've drawn - I wonder which looks more life-like.
For your perusal... A couple of drawings I'm working on a the moment: I think they might stay that way. My head is finally buzzing with ideas (with just a couple of days to go, naturally) and I'm not sure these are hitting the nail on the head.
Right, that's it. Break over, I'd better go and get on with it...
Follow the 'Embark Project' link below for more posts on this subject.
A couple more sketches I did this afternoon. Note: not a good idea to draw in the fading light, if you look at the bottom image from left to right you can tell which birds were drawn as the light went out! They look like they're made of wood; I like that. My eyes ached. Listened to Michael Nyman's spectacular After Extra Time in the studio this afternoon. How can you be inspired to write such an amazing piece of music by football?!!!!
On to the 'real' drawings over the weekend. The last couple of days of drawing have given me some ideas and at least I know what I'm going to do now, just need to try it out and see if I can get it to work the way I envisage it... Better get cracking, I have to get the finished drawings to the Embark organisers by then end of next week!
Follow the 'Embark Project' link below for other related posts.
I've made these sketches over the last few days. Drawings like this are a way for me to really look at the subject and understand it before I go on and make 'proper drawings'! At this stage I think I need to understand it far more than I do at the moment... it's so hard not to make the owl look fluffy and cuddly even though it's dead as a dodo.
Follow the 'Embark Project' link below to find more related posts.
Look what I found this morning when I was out cycling. Isn't he beautiful? I think he may become the focus of the drawings I'm going to make for Embark...
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After a considerable amount of procrastination this morning the studio is finally tidy enough to be able to do some work on Embark. Noticed an abundance of blue bottles buzzing around in there though... hmmm. Maybe I'll work outside this afternoon instead.
Follow the 'embark project' link below to find other related posts.
Beginning to feel slightly anxious and a bit panicky about the Embark commission (yes, it's a commission - I discovered there's some payment for the exhibition: an added bonus!)... It feels like time is continuing to tick away very rapidly, to when I have to have everything ready to go to print (end of this month), and I haven't made a start yet. So I decided that today would be my first proper project day and went for a walk round Trelissick to the ferry. I also planned to tidy up my studio so that I can do some work...
As you can see I haven't got very far with that bit yet, it's still looking like the beginnings of a Baconesque pit!
I did find some interesting source material on the walk though, washed up on the beach...
And made a few notes...
Checked out the available 'wall' space...
And had a cup of coffee and some shortbread at the NT cafe (of course) whilst gathering my thoughts. (No picture of that though!)
Also decided that I'm going to keep an AN project blog (Artist's Information Company - link on the left under art info), so when I've set it up I'll put a link to it here. Meanwhile I'd better go and tidy the studio and find somewhere I can put those bird wings that won't stink out the entire house...
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For once our postman, Brian, brought me a letter yesterday that I was actually happy to receive. He must've been making up for last week when he brought me the inevitable "thanks but no thanks" letter from the Bolwick Hall Residency I mentioned in a previous post... :(
Anyway, I digress; yesterday Brian brought me a letter from CAN Project. A very nice letter. They liked a proposal I sent them for Embark: Ferry Art and my work's going to be included in their programme of shows. I was over the moon! Between April and October seven artists will be showing work on the King Harry Ferry. For those of you that have been to Cornwall and have used the ferry near Trelisick across to the Roseland, and are thinking "does she mean that King Harry Ferry?", yes I do - it's that ferry! The show will be running as part of the Fal River Festival and "will address the environmental, social and economical issues within the Cornish region". There might be some digital works included, but several will be utilising "15 metres of waterproof self-adhesive banner mateial", which will be stuck to the outside of the ferry and seen for miles! I thought it was a great idea.
My work will be shown in May and the proposal I put forward features...you can probably guess...BIRDS! (Of the non-living variety.) I'm really excited about it!
I'll keep you up to date with how it goes...
Link to post about Bolwick Hall residency programme: Narrative Self: May I stir your tea for you madam?
Follow the 'embark project' link below to find other posts on this subject.
