One in Twelve: Steve Urquhart
24th September, 2022
Date: Friday 9th September 2022
What: One in Twelve: Sound installation Part of the b-side arts festival
Where: Portland Island, Dorset.
Curator & artist: Steve Urquhart
Location, Setting, Atmosphere:
Location
The Engine Shed Portland YOI
The Engine Shed is located on a piece of scrubland, separated from 2 sets of main buildings by dirt roads. It has 2 main spaces, one of which was split in 2 for the sound installation. In each of the two cavernous spaces there were: rocks taken from the Jurassic Park coast with evidence of fossilised remnants; loud speakers and Koestler Arts paintings and artefacts from prisons around the UK, either on easels or in a vitrine.
Entrance to the installation is via a short door with a high threshold so you have to lift your feet and bow your head at the same time. I am sure there was no intended significance to these two actions for the installation except to think that this is what those who came to work here had to do repeatedly.
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Seen on entering the building:
Setting:
The Engine Shed was apt because a shed is a place where you work with things that are broken; some mending is done; you tinker around with various tools to try to get things sorted; it's a noisy place - metal against metal- like many of the sounds in the installation; it can be a creative space; it's mainly where problems get sorted; the structure needs to be strong to support the work that goes on inside it; the space needs to be robust in order to accommodate the machinery / structures / activities that take place there. Much like what goes on in a prison, the support needs to be substantial.
The I beams (see below) with the iron oxide leaking from them to me were so poignant: the suffering me (I) is what prisons are all about .
Although the cavernous spaces were good in echoing the disorientation prisoners must feel when they enter a prison, as an exhibition, the sounds of the many visitors talking were one with the recordings - installation and audience became one. There must be a metaphor in there!
Atmosphere
The shed (and installation) is isolated as a structure - seemingly put in an available space - the isolation felt on the inside is echoed by the outside. Inside the cold, damp walls, even after a long, dry summer, evoke that cold and damp felt in most Victorian prisons today. The recordings reveal a conviviality amongst the prisoners as they play their instruments together or share some banter. The human spirit comes through transcending difficulties and suffering.
The place was not 'cleaned' for the occasion: dust, debris and plant life (nature) played their part in recreating episodes in the recordings: harmony & discordance in the lives of the prisoners - and their keepers.
3 stars: 1 wish:
*Sounds uniting prisoners with That the spotlights weren't so bright on the artwork
the audience at the installation. because they draw attention away from the sound installation
which is the focus of the exhibition.
*Aspects of the structure echo
aspects of prison life as reflected in the recording.
*The metaphor of the shed echoes the work that
goes on inside prisons for the benefit of the prisoners.
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The title is explained in the exhibition leaflet : one in twelve people on Portland Island is in custody.
Example of the work:
Highlights:
How well the recording sat in the setting - serendipitous or not.
How the recording blended with the ambient sounds creating a cohesive whole.
The bleeding, truncated I beam ends.
No attempt had been made to 'clean' the space up - time and nature were allowed to make their presence seen and felt.
Time and its passing were also evident in the fossils on the slabs taken from their Jurassic coast slumber. How deeply etched in their minds must be the time the men spent in prison.
That this installation, except for the title, is relevant to every prison in the UK.
What I took away with me about the work and about me:
Listening to the recordings reminded me of the artist's previous works "Doing Bird" made from HMP Perth . Their many layers - social, historical, musical and linguistic came to mind as soon as I heard the recordings of "One in Twelve" and propelled me to go and hear the recordings in situ.
Just as a landscape, without sound, is, for me, mostly a pretty picture, so too a sound in isolation is mostly noise = I need context, even with a wild imagination. Having posted that, I was gripped by the recordings from HMP Perth - but there was, I felt, more dialogue in that.
When I spoke to Steve about his choice of venue,(see email below) I realised that most of the connections I had made were serendipitous - Steve had not consciously chosen it for the bleeding, truncated I beams, or for the dust & debris, or for the metaphoric fixing function of the building. He felt that it was the right place to install his recordings - his intuitive choice had probably computed all this as he made his choice - just as I intuitively know that I have to take certain photos without realising why - until I see the image on the screen.
The Jurassic coast slabs were a terrific sculptural element reenforcing not only the place, but also the solidity of the structure housing the sounds, helping the echoes to bounce off even more surfaces.
The Koestler Arts additions enhanced the lived environment of the prisoners, but I felt that the stark spotlights were too strong - there was too much emphasis on them.
Notes:
In my MA, which starts on 29th September 2022, I know I want to include sound as part of my work on the creativity of women prisoners, AND my seaweed cyanotypes. I just don't know how, yet. Steve and I have corresponded and agree that we must stay in touch.
In my MA, I also know that I want to have sculptural elements - again, I don't know how.
Next steps:
Start the MA in an attempt to mesh my 2 bodies of work and see what happens. The work should, at my current reconning include images, sculpture, sound and, possibly, some AI.
Stars:
5*
P.S. Steve and I have been corresponding and he reminded me of something I had forgotten:
Three Drops of Blood by Ingrid Pollard
1st October 2022
Name: Three Drops of Blood
Where: Thelma Hulbert Gallery Honiton, Devon
When: 28th September, 2022
Curator: Dr Ella S. Mills of talking on corners (https://www.talkingoncorners.co.uk)
Location. Setting. Atmosphere
Location of the gallery: Rural Devon. The seat of English lacemaking. Honiton has the lace museum and royal lace makers. Lace making history is still important in the area, with some lace makers who are renowned internationally e.g. Carol McFadzean. Pollard has long been interested in lace as a means of representation and illustration of the natural world. Traditionally, in Belgium, France and Honiton, whole families were involved in the industry. Honiton bobbin lace was introduced into England by Dutch refugees somewhere about 1568. The earliest mention of the lace is found in a pamphlet titled ‘View of Devon’ in 1620 that mentions ‘bone lace much in request, being made at Honiton and Bradnich’. Pollard did much of her research at the Devon and Exeter Institution in Exeter where she discovered the existence of about 30 volumes of illustrations of ferns, both from England and internationally, collected mostly by Victorians travelling. The detail in the botanical drawings and subsequently in the lace captured the relationship between the place, the culture and the environment thus making the lace very different from any other type that existed in France, Belgium or other parts of England. There were connections with Jamaica too. A particular man had committed a crime and was to be sent to prison. His sister pleaded with the authorities for him to be sent abroad rather than be imprisoned. He was sent to Jamaica and took with him some lace from Honiton which he sold and set up his own business. The local woman collecting information and data of the local flora, locally called ferny combes, describes the lands in almost poetic language. Pollard has included an extract in the exhibition:
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Setting in the gallery: The room is airy and the blinds are down to keep any direct sunlight out. The gentle hum of the air conditioner gives the space a solemnity it would not have without it, in my opinion. There are fewer items in the space than I had imagined. The pins which hold the paper items to the walls lighten the load of the works.
Atmosphere: reverential.
3 stars & 1 wish
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The variety of work
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The many ross-cultural, thematic, artistic threads
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The types of language: poetic, Jamaica Kincaid's texts, photography, lace making, woodworking.
1 wish:
Pollard says that touch is very important in the exhibition and in lacemaking. It would have been interesting to have included recordings the 'tells', those songs sung by those making the laces which were "unaccompanied counting songs and rhymes sung/chanted by young lacemakers, particularly used in the lace schools, when they are first being taught to make lace." There is a recording of lacemakers from Wiltshire singing their tells: VIDEO: LACE TELLS
Example of work:
Putting the fern and the lace maker's m
The image bearing the 3 drops of blood - of the title of the body of work. It is so called because of the superstition surrounding the almost invisibility of the seeds of the ferns. The superstition claimed that if the seeds were shot from an arrow in mid summer and 3 of them la
Anonymous portraits of Africans, whose voices were erased and derogatively described in colonial archives, are taken from antiquarian books, set on black fabric patterned with the white dots seen on the lace makers' pattern parchments, and allowed to come alive again.
In the exhibition, these portraits are the only pieces displayed in light boxes, giving them more prominence.
Highlights:
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The beautiful images of the ferns.
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The variety and richness of the pieces.
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The poetry of the language used by 'ferny combes' because it highlights the beauty of every day language.
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How humble and unpretentious it is.
What I took away with me about the work & about me:
How can an African portrait found in an antiquarian book, an illustration of a fern, a contemporary photograph of a fern, lace and collectors' boxes go together and make a coherent exhibition? They all tell multiple stories by bringing together artefacts made by exceedingly skilful people like lace maker Carol Macfadzean and bark book maker Malcolm Robertson, and fern illustrator 'Ferny Combe'.
This encourages me to use archives - so far I have relied on books and journals almost exclusively - what Pollard found in the archives of the Devon & Exeter Institution allowed her to bring incredible depth to her work which also made the exhibition richer and more nuanced than if she had stuck to ferns and lace.
I don't have to make everything myself for an exhibition, I can collaborate with specialists in their craft to achieve an outcome which is polished.
Notes:
I wonder how many visitors to the exhibition wonder at the prominence of the African portraits? The portraits of Africans are given prominence by being the only pieces displayed in light boxes. This gives the work a different emphasis not immediately evident in the connection between the lace and the ferns and one I would not have made had I not read and re-read the book I bought about it in the shop. The portraits are a reference to a colonial past which is implied in the church link with the 3 drops of blood and colonialism. In the book accompanying the exhibition, Pollard references the scientific record keeping she had seen in the Devon and Exeter Institution archives: "those early scientists had some peculiar endeavour. they were weighed down by imperialism, colonialism, particular attitudes, and a link to the church. like the seeds, these imaginary seeds from the ferns, a lot of that was linked to the church …"
Next steps:
Investigate the archives in the Justice Museum in Nottingham particularly the material linked to the exhibition they had 'Dancing, Singing, Washing' from several years ago.
References:
https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Honiton-Lace/
https://www.huguenotsociety.org.uk/history.html
Mills, Ella,S.(2022) Ingrid Pollard Three Drops of Blood. Talking on Corners.
9th March 2023
MA Field trip
WILL CRUICKSHANK – THREE MOONS
Exeter Phoenix Gallery
Curator: ?
The Space: 2 white cubes housing free standing, wall mounted pieces and 1 object on a white plinth, reminiscent of spinning and the fabric world. The white background gives the pieces an airy feeling giving the pieces space to be themselves. The guide who led us through the exhibition was clear in stating that the exhibition is open to everyone who walks through the doors - there is no entry fee.
Examples of the work:
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Highlights of the work :
*. Cruickshank enjoys making the machines that produce his work and repurposes, adapts old machines to create new ones to do his bidding. The videos of his process are pieces of performance art in themselves so it becomes clear that the process is very much part of his art.
*. The colours are very reminiscent of Brixham, his home town. They are bright and remind me of the fishermen's cottages visible from out at sea and inland.
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What I took away with me about the work and about me:
*. I don't see the purpose of reinventing the wheel- metaphorically speaking or literally.
*. I don't know why it's called Three Moons unless it refers to the time it took him to make the work on show.
* I appreciate the fact that he is exposing his MO and making it part of the objects but he needs to present his machines as his artwork too.
*. He is very aware of the materials he uses - which is important.
*. there is cohesion in the geometric shapes he makes whether they are free standing or against a wall or on a plinth.
Notes:
The work is very interesting in its simplicity coming from a complexity of production.
The engineering of the work supports was clean.
Good use of recycled yarn and structures and making tools.
9th March 2023
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Field Trip
RAMM
Exeter
Curators: Lara Goodband and ?
Exhibition: Earth Spells: Witches of the Anthropocene
Artists:Caroline Achaintre, Emma Hart, Kris Lemsalu, Mercedes Mühleisen, Grace Ndiritu, Florence Peake, Kiki Smith, and Lucy Stein
Exhibition space: The entire first floor of the new build.
Atmosphere: The sheer volume of work from all theses artists made the space feel crammed. Smith had an entire wall of her work, Lucy Stein had walls and floor space of hers. I found this overbearing. I liked what seemed to be rubbings of tree trunk cross sections by Smith. I realised after seeing the etchings that I have Illy espresso coffee cups of Kiki Smith which are nothing like the rather dark work representing her here.
Perhaps I need to investigate the symbolism of the designs more - could they have something to do with witches?
"Throughout her expansive interdisciplinary practice, Kiki Smith considers elemental forces such as sex, death, regeneration, and the natural world. Her practice has encompassed printmaking, photography, drawing, textile, stained glass, and sculpture. Over the years, Smith’s motifs have included animals, female figures, and celestial bodies. (https://www.artsy.net/artwork/kiki-smith-butterfly)"
Do all witches practice magic as well as having all the other attributes?
In the interpretation blurb, Smith has tackled subjects like regeneration, and of the possibilities of resurrection - both very strong Christian elements. I like her reference to our symbiotic relationship to nature both on earth and in the wider universe - but I could not read that in her work.
My fascination with lichen immediately drew me to Peake's ceramics - their flatness represents layer upon layer of history.
Notes:
It was only when I was writing up the exhibition review that I could reflect on what I had / had not seen. At the time I was so overwhelmed by the quantity of work that I could not think - my brain space was taken up by images - hundreds of them. I dismissed so much of what was there - the main piece which features in their publicity sheets left me stone cold - how cow / horse mandibles could be seen as a vagina I will never understand, but it does grab your attention. That's probably why it was used as the publicity image. The witch's cauldron seems a throwback to children's fairy tales; the fire flames reminiscent of tales told with malicious intent - reminiscent of the witches' trials in the 17th C. The witches from Bideford were charged and hanged based on hearsay within 10 days of their trial.
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What I took away with me about the work and about my work:
It probably covered the topic of witches and spells well - I don't know. What a pity that it did not cover the relationship that Exeter has with witches - "The Devon Witches. In memory of Temperance Lloyd, Susannah Edwards, Mary Trembles, of Bideford, died 1682, Alice Molland, died 1685, the last people in England to be executed for witchcraft, tried here & hanged at Heavitree. In the hope of an end to persecution and intolerance."(https://exetercivicsociety.org.uk/plaques/devon-witches/)
Nowhere, that I saw, is the exhibition's particular take on 'the Anthropocene' explained or clarified. Is it there to baffle the crowds? There are so many interpretations of it that, together with the amassed items, visitors can't help but be confused at the end of their visit, in my opinion.
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My work at the moment questions how aware we are of the needs of other worlds around us - in particular animal, plant and mineral worlds that we cannot see like underwater habitats. If we are so destructive of the worlds we can see and do nothing about them, how much worse is our negligence of worlds we cannot see yet which play a strong role in our survival?
Practices evident in the exhibition in my perception did not make me think about how we are harming the world or how we should relate to it in order to improve the chances of survival of all the species on it & not just of our own.
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The biggest impact that this has had on my practice is to seriously consider the number of items I put in my show - but then again, I too can justify how I curate the show!
9th March 2023
Field trip
The Phoenix
Exeter
A chat with ex-Plymouth Uni MAFA student Adam Garratt
I was amazed at how easily Adam could talk about his print work and installations. He recycles material and uses it to print on for all his work.
My thoughts:
What if we all recycled our 'unwanted' art work so that other artists could use it for their work? There was an uncomfortable silence in the room. Nobody said they thought it was a good idea.
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Adam also spoke about the importance of working with other artists. I spoke about the isolation I had felt after my latest degree and wondered how artists keep up with the dominant thoughts. I came out and suddenly discovered that everyone is talking about new materialisms which is playing a huge part in my practice. I don't know why Anya freaked out but she did. Have I hit a nerve? I will have to ask her when / if we meet again - teaching staff strikes permitting.
Adam showed us a slide on sculpture which really appealed to me:
It appealed to me because at the moment all my work comes from a place of ignorance, a position of unfamiliarity, intuitive, playful with discovery an expected outcome "irrespective of the scale of the work".
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I could see that this applies, in part, to the work of Will Cruickshank on display downstairs. Except that the main part of Will's work is in his process = "bedrock of the making process." I have only just put this all together.
