ARTS COUNCIL GRANT

I recently found out that I have been awarded an Arts Council Grant in order to help me realise The Show at Ryedale Folk Museum Gallery. The money is to help me experiment and develop my digital practice  on alternative surfaces. It is most appreciated as without it I wouldn't have had the chance to experiment and take my art away from 'what I know'.

A big thanks to Yvette Turnbull of Ryedale District Council,
and to Andy Dalton, Freelance Curator. for helping me with the bid.
it was a tough call, but ultimately, worth it.

OPENING MY EYES

Spent the day in Hull at various companies researching the various substrates that I'm planning to use for the future Exhibition at Ryedale Folk Museum Gallery.

Had a great meeting with Brian Campbell of W. Campbell Engineering who specialise in the Laser cutting of metals. I've designed and reduced some of my forms to their most basic shapes, almost like a logo or symbol, and I'm planning to have them laser cut out of alluminium. It was fascinating to see how my digital files can be translated and put through to the final cutter.


The big question is how thick, how heavy?


http://www.wcampbellengineering.co.uk

As my show is all about the proposed new motorway running through the heart of the North York Moors National Park, I've been planning to utilise the language of roadsigns. I've been looking at all sorts of different substrates, and one option I'm particularly keen to explore is the idea of print or sticking vinyls onto the highly reflective surfaces that are found on motorway signs. It's called 'Class 2 reflective'. And I now have a few companies lined up who can provide this service.

PAPER ROADS

I've recently been experimenting with paper cutting in an attempt to visualize the new Motorway over the moors.

It's all about the line. Photographing the forms has enabled me to abstract the shapes.

MEETING WITH RYEDALE FOLK MUSEUM

Had a great meeting with Andy Dalton & Sue Gough of Ryedale Folk Museum. Spent the morning measuring planning and discussing how best to use the space. Everything seems to be coming together.

The current exhibition kicks off the Print Season with some fine watercolours prints and drawings by Francis Nicholson, a Pickering born artist. b 1753. Hailed by his contemporaries as the' Father of Watercolour painting in this Country'.

Although the work looks very traditional it was cutting edge at the time.

http://thegalleryatryedalefolkmuseum.blogspot.co.uk

BRIEFING THE WRITER

Spent the day with Harriet Vyner at Rosedale.

She wrote the book Groovy Bob, and was Ghost writer for Jools Holland's Autobiography. I'm thrilled that she agreed to write for my forthcoming book which accompanies my exhibition at Hutton le Hole.

Harriet certainly knows about the art world, and has rubbed shoulders with the best of them. When we weren't chatting about that, I was trying to describe how I saw the motorway viaduct that would traverse the Rosedale Valley, and where the motorway service area would be sited.

The timescale is tight, but I'm confident it will be achieved, As a designer I've had shorter timetables.

Robert Fraser - taste-maker, hedonist, lousy businessman, promiscuous homosexual - was the celebrated art-dealer responsible for introducing the London art world to Peter Blake, Jim Dine, Richard Hamilton, Bridget Riley and Andy Warhol among others. In this exceptional biography, Harriet Vyner recreates not only an extraordinary, seminal figure but also an exciting and colourful era - 1960s London. Told through the voices of those who knew Fraser best - Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Kenneth Anger, Dennis Hopper and Vyner herself - Groovy Bob was acclaimed on first publication as a brilliant biography and a portrait of the most exhilarating period in post-war British social history.

http://www.faber.co.uk/work/groovy-bob/9780571205752

STARTING TO WRITE THE PUBLICATION

Spent the afternoon with Anna Kirk-Smith in her Studio in Bridlington discussing my publication, she's been on standby and is now ready to write a section for me. The publication is due to accompany my forthcoming show at Ryedale Folk Museum, later next month.

Educator, Artist, Writer & Vet, Ann is also somewhat of an authority in Natural History matters.

A1 (M) EASTERN GATEWAY

I've been spending the winter researching the subject of roads and motorways for a forthcoming solo exhibition at The Gallery at Ryedale Folk Museuem at the end of May.

I'm looking at the idea of a new Motorway linking The A1 (M) at Thirsk with Whitby.
My proposal is that it will cross the North York Moors National Park.

I heard Frank Skinner say this while he was doing a a walk and talk through the Tate for Radio 4


So besides driving the highways and byways of Britain, I've been reading J.G. Ballards Concrete Island, where he was trying to say something about the social isolation of modern, urban life.
This is due to be made into a film.
http://io9.com/5862919/first-look-at-christian-bales-dark-dystopian-movie-concrete-island

I've also been reading about and listening to Will Self's views on our Motorways, he sees the motorway service areas as "microcosms of Britishness" and how we are a motorway race, not an island race'.
http://www.common-ground.org.uk/2010/03/ecstatic-boredom