Printed off the text pieces and while sticking them onto the studio wall an inspirational spark flew my way...yahay!

I'd rolled them up to make transporting on the train (when it runs!) easier. When stuck on the wall a curvature occurred so the words were within the curve of paper, and slightly concealed. These were then removed from the wall and stood on the floor...

I imagined them then in plywood...then with the conservation scare I considered using ash http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/enjoying/ashdiebackfeature.aspx

Ash structures with text inside, initially thought of a piece representing the recent news but...what the text would read still needs to be considered. It may be topical...it may  be something quite different.....

Enjoying the relationships between each object.

'box, witness evidence, spade, counting cloth, typewriter', 2012

words/flux

I am now at a point. A point at which I am feeling as though I need to set off on a new path of work...having gathered knowledge along the way of my working practice.

I was expecting a more intense relationship with the matter that I have returned to the studio..but I feel it is necessary to keep it as found. At this time it feels as though the work is approaching a time of hibernation...unless that is simply how I am feeling!! No doubt I will return to it at a later time, but for now...it needs to rest.

Having had some severe gales in the West country the art event sadly had to be cancelled for its second weekend. http://www.artecology.co.uk/page4.php?ImageGalleryPage=2 That's the unpredictability of nature! 

Sunday afternoon I went to collect the remains of the clay work. I was surprised to see it was still very much in tact...it was no longer peaked as before...the centre had sunken slightly. The top surface had become a softened, plasticised form but beneath this some of the pellets were still very much in tact...in the sense of an ant hill...it served its purpose. 

It was brought home in the large plastic box that the pellets had originally been taken up in. 

I have been thinking of how I may take this further. 

I have built a sculptural piece...images to follow (I left my camera usb lead at home so unable to upload images at this time...grrr!). Within this piece there is ...... 

'box, witness evidence, spade, counting cloth, typewriter.'

This is a new direction for me to take within my practice...the using of found/used objects within a documented way.




I have attached feedback from the Curator, Karen Pearson.

I have recently curated a group exhibition of 10 artist’s work set up as an art trail on a site managed by Natural England in South Devon.  The artists were invited because of their current practice looking at the natural environment and our relationships and interventions with it.  The event ‘Assemblage: narratives in a managed landscape’ was successful and well-received.

Mandy’s work was a very strong piece and a direct response to the location itself.  She spent time both with the team that manage the site and on-site too.  I was interested in how she chose to work with the very conspicuous and active ant colonies and her use of how the ants live and operate around the labour-intensive management of their space and lives.  The use of the words gleaned from her research and visits and how they became something else but still of the site and that they took on the personalities and behaviours of the colonies were an integral part of the work.  Mandy’s persistence and resilience in creating thousands of words needed to form a colony echoed the ant’s own qualities.

Although I curated the event, the artists were able to input their thoughts on where they preferred their work to go. I know that Mandy had some concerns about the location of the and whether the surroundings were detrimental to it.  We also had some extreme weather that tested most of the exhibits.  I felt that the siting of the work was successful; set back from the path but accessible to enable the interactive element of the piece.  The audience engaged with the work collecting words and moving them into paths and piles; continuing the narratives of an ant colony.  The weather accentuated the balance between the seen and unseen, the protected and protection that supports the work’s responsiveness to its subject.

www.artecology.co.uk

www.karen-pearson.com

2 text pieces created....... Natures conception 

                                       Natures death 


These will be available to purchase......

http://www.plymouthartfair.com

The pellets have been exposed to horrendous weather this week....ahhh perfect!!

Have been working on other material until the time comes to recollect - Sunday afternoon.

A couple of video sketches have been made, as well as a video text piece. There is also the Plymouth Art Fair in December so I am busy preparing work to be submitted for that...again based around this project: using the text to tell a narrative, similar to a Berlin piece I made with Suzanne Martin in 2010 The Secret Lives of Others, 2010
This will be presented as an A1 mounted piece.

Witness.

The table on which the pellets were rolled became a witness to the process...apologies for poor quality image taken with my phone!

http://www.artinfo.com/photo-galleries/slideshow-see-the-coal-themed-manifesta-9?image=3

http://www.inglebygallery.com/exhibitions/cornelia-parker-marcel-broodthaers/

This week begins a time for research, reflection and consideration. I am without material, or rather I am disallowing myself materials, so I can be quite open before retrieving what is remaining of the word colony.

Sketching time.....

Opening day for the art event at Yarner Woods. There has been some lovely feedback and it's great to see some interactivity to the work. The pellets are now climbing the tree and also have made a trail from Word Colony to the near by ant hill. Falling leaves are interacting with the work as is moisture in the air. I look forward to returning in a weeks time to collect the remains...

Having a technical problem with display of previous comments...hmmm...

Well, today was set up day...which bizarrely felt almost...unnecessary; unnecessary for myself as the artist. It has become more and more apparent that the work has been very much concerned with process. The process of gathering material, in the form of a response to my relationship to the woodland. The act of reproduction, of an industrious act during the creation of the worded pellets. The actual installation and the work feels 'safe' - this displeases me. I like an edge. This has most likely come to be as a feeling of needing to be safe amongst the general public as supposed to those who may visit a gallery and therefore are prepared for something a little less safe.

The 2nd Phase completed...the 3rd Phase is to follow on collection of whatever matter remains. The work will no longer continue to stand as Word Colony, 2012. It now stands within the woodland in a state of flux...

So Monday's count was in excess of 500...560 to be precise.
Tuesday's count was 460.
Today's count came to 540.....and that is how it shall remain...no more clay and today was the deadline for production as I need the clay to dry off before it is to be installed in the woods on Friday.

I have been concerned by the work becoming damaged in the woodlands and therefore rendered it useless before that process was given an opportunity to commence. However, listening to Carl's talk yesterday (Carl Slater, Director of KARST Plymouth) helped me to realise that this doesn't have to mean the end to this work and that documentation of the work itself can be strong as a piece in itself. Also, what is to remain at the end of the event has a validity in its own right. Carl has helped me realise a confidence in allowing this to occur. This can be further explored...be it pellets or mush!

The process has been relevant to this work. The methods of process and the learning that has come to be as a result of a happening process. A system has been developed to assist in the progress of the work as there has been a tight deadline to meet. However, research has allowed me to discover Boetti whose works related to time wastage and order and disorder. http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/alighiero-boetti-game-plan.

There are no decisions now as to how to take this work on further...initially I intended on the gathered video footage but now I shall wait to see what happens with the pellets.

Looking at text within art practice..in this case also combined with environmental art....In the Cloud, Richard Long, 1991.

The World has been empty since the Romans, Ian Hamilton Finlay, 1985.