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Making PROGRESS
Today I am going to try to add a picture to my blog. This will be a challenge for me, but I do have a friend visiting (I hope) who will help me through this. But just on the off chance that she can’t make it, here goes!
Naughty Mouse lurks in the detail!
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Finally, I know how to BLOG!
Wheweee! I now know that I wasn’t stupid about the blogging, just BLIND.
The menu bar is right at the top of my screen, which being a Mac, all the tab lines and catagories are on a grey bar which is EXACTLY the same colour as the Northings - My Account . . . etc. bar. No wonder I couldn’t see it until Sian talked me through it.
Drowning in leather samples, bits of experimental tooling, dying, braiding, fringing, etc. This is all very intense – actually a good thing that I have photos in three weeks and must have the new product ready for that. By the time of the exhibition, I will be totally relaxed! I am using some of the methods of The Artists Way by allowing myself to start the day with creative writing & drawing of new ideas that have germinated during sleep. It is such a challenge to create something totally new! The only reassuring thing is that I can see from the blogging community that there are lots of people out there who are still in love with books. All this I-Tab stuff is so depressing. Will pen and paper really be obsolete? I use it all day, every day, but am I just part of a dwindling minority? Are children who write and draw seen as being backwards by their peers?
Time for some digital Radio 7 to give a backround of fantasy while I play with more paper. Good to see the progress of you other three.
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Profile Statement
My work is created using both ceramic and bronze materials, work is either hand built or thrown using earthenware or porcelain clays, some pieces are formed using a selection of parts, which are then assembled by hand and fired up to temperatures of around 1100 degrees for earthenware and 1300 degrees for porcelain. My new work will attempts to combine both my ceramic and sculptural bronze portfolio by using a mix of both mediums within my forms.
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A Proper Job
The Orkney Ferry
Orkney has always been a place I hold dear and when we were planning a Makers’ Day that would bring together craftspeople from different areas of the Highlands and Islands I could think of nowhere better to hold it.
With the wonderful Pier Art Centre in Stromness, the range of craft studios, trails and shops as well as the consistently high standard of work, the landscape and heritage, I felt that makers could only go home inspired.
I also wanted makers to realise that location should be no deterrent to making and retailing and indeed, can be used as a selling point and should inspire your creating. The makers in Orkney have long proved this with a first class reputation for work that really takes advantage of the place that is their home.
With makers such as Jenna and Lizza Hume returning back to their roots on Westray (1 ½ hours by ferry from Kirkwall on a calm day) and building an internationally known company that really sells their location, I felt that by speaking with and visiting the islands our makers based in other areas would have no excuse to say that where they stay is holding them back!
Like all good plans, this one grew and we finally ended up with over 50 makers coming from the Highlands, Shetland, the Western Isles -as well as Orkney- to gather at the Pier and then disperse to workshops and shops all over the islands.
The weather proved a challenge as it can often do here, so gales and driving rain added an extra dimension to the ferry and plane travel of many of the participants!
Makers Days are all about networking or rather; catching up, exchanging ideas, making new friends and contacts, developing plans and this one was no exception – the noise level was particularly high and you could feel the buzz and excitement!
Many people work in isolation so events like this really help with connecting you to the wider craft community.
Being a maker in a remote area is essentially a life style choice with many parts making up the whole; family, animals, homes, community all having to fit in with the thing that really drives you -that all essential part that makes you tick and comes from your heart – creating your work.To be able to do that in a place that is truly Home is a privilege that many aspire to and the lucky ones can realise.
Eoin Leonard put it so well when he talked on the Makers Day, ‘after 27 years doing a so called ‘proper job’, I feel that this is really my first Proper Job and I want to do it for as long as I can!’ No talk of early retirement and pension plans for Eoin and his wife Jane, just the wish that they can continue doing what they love, in their home for as long as they are physically capable.Lizza Hume said something similar when she recalled a visitor who asked her why there were so many craftspeople in Orkney and they then suggested that perhaps it was because there was no ‘real jobs’here!
The makers we meet are certainly doing real and proper jobs and fitting them in with all the other things that make up their lives in a place that shapes and guides their choices and work.Many of us in the Highlands know only too well the difficulties and issues we have to face in choosing to live here – travel, weather, isolation to mention three!
After my 2 hours on a stormy ferry followed by 6 hours of night time driving to get home from Orkney, it is something I know only too well!
I love this excerpt from a poem by Andrew Greig, as it seems to sum it all up, especially after spending time in Orkney.
Orkney/This Life
This is where I want to live, close to where the heart gives out, ruined, perfected, an empty arch against the sky
where birds fly through instead of prayers
while in Hoy Sound the ferry’s engines thrum
this life this life this life.Pamela Conacher
29th September 2009
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Stitching Together
Studio Seven
At the beginning of August I travelled to Stroud on the edge of the Cotswolds to meet with the Director of the highly regarded Stroud International Textile Festival, Lizzi Walton as well as members of several groups in the area.
The landscape is very different from the Highlands but we have a lot in common including issues around rural isolation, strong textile traditions and their makers struggle as ours do to raise the profile of their work, get new audiences and keep inspired.Their Textile festival is a wonderful example of what can be achieved when a group takes a germ of an idea and runs with it.
Now moving into its fourth year, the festival encompasses an ambitious and inspirational programme of events to do with all things textiles – many of them not as you would imagine! When they first started the festival they got a lot of stick from traditional groups saying – ‘this is not textiles!’ So it has been a struggle to get people to understand that they are trying to demonstrate that textiles are not just textiles as we usually think of them and to engage with new and diverse audiences. This year a member of one of the groups that was upset about the first festival said – ‘I get it now!’
From small but very ambitious beginnings, the festival now attracts over 12,000 visitors from all over the world and transforming this small town over a period of 21days in May with a heady mix of exhibitions, talks, music, performance, residencies, circus, debate and with work from jewellers, basket makers as well as textile makers from woven to printed and everything in-between!
One of the most inventive translations of ‘textiles’ comes from a group of 7 textile artists who have combined their talents as makers to take their work to a new audience through performance. Studio Seven combines textiles, dance and sound and the work is performed in stunning locations from buildings to gardens with each work responding to the location and having an interactive audience participation element. You need to be there to really understand how the journey from a flat pattern to a finished garment can be a transformed into a something so innovative!
The way that this group work together, pool ideas and skills, think creatively and then create an event that is so far reaching in its appeal that it pushes the boundaries of all their combined talents is a real inspiration.
From Stroud, Lizzi took me to visit the Gloucestershire Guild of Craftsmen annual show. Alongside their own show they had a curated exhibition of work from invited makers and artists. This was a wonderful way to combine both inspirational work from new people and work from the guild members. One part of the show really appealed to me – delicious lunches and cakes made by members of the group and served with beautiful ceramics, woven napkins, wooden bowls and interesting staff who really know the work on display – they make it!
The festival, exhibition and the diverse programme demonstrates what can be achieved when you really think about how to get a new audience and how to make your group a success, when you take a small idea and then build on it.
The leadership and vision of Lizzi must go a long way to pulling it all together but the work achieved here left me inspired, enthused and even more determined to ensure that our makers continue to make things happen in our own small part of the country!
Pamela Conacher , 5 August 2009
Links:
www.stroudinternationaltextiles.org.uk
www.studio-seven.net
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Collect at the Saatchi Gallery
Saatchi Gallery
I always look forward to visiting Collect – ‘the international art fair for contemporary objects’- in London. For the past 5 years it has been held at the V&A and at the beginning of the year, around the end of January.
There were many positives to this timing and location, not least the fact that when you got tired of looking at contemporary work or just needed a change of scene you could go and wander around the wonderful and inspiring galleries of the V&A and put all you had seen in context – a real pleasure when you have travelled all the way from the Highlands!
But times and needs change and this year the Crafts Council made the decision to relocate Collect to the Saatchi Gallery and to hold the event in mid May. I understand there were several reasons for this, not least the raised profile the event would achieve by taking over the wonderful space at the gallery and to capitalise on the its reputation for showing contemporary international work.
From a practical point of view, May seemed an easier time to visit as I have memories of delayed trains, snow and gales from previous visits – although it was a very inspiring way to set you up for a new year!
So it was with some reservations that I headed to Chelsea on a lovely sunny May morning. It is always takes a while to get your bearings when visiting a show like this and I found the layout and map slightly confusing, however I persevered and wandered through the three floors – my end aim was to find the Craftscotland stand and some friendly faces! As luck would have it they were in the top floor so that meant many flights of stairs and a very hot location for the girls manning the stand. However, I did think that each stand had much more space than before and once you had done your initial recky it was fairly easy to find stands – and the stair climbing keeps you fit! It did not feel as busy as usual but this may well have been due to the layout – I will be interested to see the how the attendance figures and sales compare to previous years.
As well as the 11 Scottish makers represented by Craftscotland, there were 7 shown at the Scottish Gallery and a further 5 with Contemporary Applied Arts, Bishopsland, Electrum and the Lesley Graze Gallery – I am sure this must be a record!
On the Craftscotland stand, I was particularly pleased to see Beth Legg’s new work inspired by her exchange residency in Nova Scotia (organised through the Highland Council). It was also good to see how makers work had developed over the years and how well regarded our makers are. Geoffrey Mann’s work was shortlisted for the Art Fund which was a first for Craftscotland. Tina did a wonderful job organising the stand and I was particularly impressed by the ingenious cabinets she commissioned for displaying jewellery!
However, one of the best parts about Collect is seeing how our work sits on the international stage and also allowing you the opportunity to get an overview of global crafts in one space. A couple of my favourite galleries were missing this year – Australian Contemporary and Ruthin Craft Centre- but there were some new faces like the Craft Council of Ireland National Craft Gallery. There is work from all over the world with Scandinavia having a particularly strong presence especially with showing jewellery.
One thing I always do is to ask myself which work I would love to take home with me and usually it comes down to wood or textiles. This year, I fell for some exquisite bowls created by Christian Burchard turned in Pacific madrone burl, a wood that apparently changes as it dries, finding its own form. Interestingly, Burchard studied Fine Art followed by furniture making then wood turning and was born in Germany but has lived in the USA since 1978. He is represented by Sarah Myerscough Fine Art who specialise in museum quality turned and craved wood by international renowned artists. This includes a favourite from previous years – Philip Moulthrop whose work was also at SOFA.
I then passed the stand showing Danish ceramics – the Cultural Connections CC Gallery- and fell for a beautiful Mediterranean blue coiled bowl by Alev Siesbye. As both pieces were in the thousands of pounds range unfortunately I left empty handed! And I always want a Sara Brennan tapestry!
The show was shorted in length this year too and ran for three days. I was there on the first day so it was difficult to gauge how many sales would be made. Certainly, Craftscotland had several red dots in place already and hopefully the buyers will continue the trend that I noticed at SOFA of purchasing art instead of shares.
So my final thoughts: mixed on the venue as it was confusing and I felt that stands on the top and first floor would not get the same attention as you are confused when you come in and exhausted by the top floor- and I do like going to the V&A and never managed it this time!A note on the catalogue – this year it is a real coffee table book, bound with fabric, colour co-ordinated pages and stunning images. Something to treasure and worth the £20 to purchase!
The work on show was inspirational and it is so good to see the best contemporary work, to see the different aesthetic for each country and to realise that craft of the highest level is being created by people with a real passion for what they do despite all the obstacles in their way and the constant struggle to have craft recognised as a serious contender in the art world. A show like this reaffirms that Craft really can take its rightful place.
Pamela Conacher
19/5/09Links:
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HI-Arts invasion of Mull
Frock Coat by Isle of Mull Weavers
In the depth of winter, we planned a Makers Day with An Tobar on Mull.
May would be lovely we agreed, as we battled against snow and gales and thought of spring, sunshine and calm seas! Little did we know that the Highland weather would do us proud, and yesterday we once more faced snow, gales and disrupted ferries!
Not deterred, over 35 makers gathered in the comfortable surroundings of AnTobar and enjoyed a day of good company, delicious food, inspiring stories and enough information to keep everybody planning and thinking for many weeks to come.
Mull has been a popular destination for HI-Arts staff this year. Indeed, if you have not been to Mull enquiries are made to your holiday plans with ‘are you going to Mull then?’ On Thursday both Avril and myself were there, John Saich came along as he is writing a feature for the website and Fiona Fisher just happened to be there on holiday with her parents so, in exchange for her lunch, she helped out – and on the drive in I passed Iain in the Screen Machine!
This group approach obviously worked as participants at the makers day were left in no doubt as to what and who HI-Arts are – and putting faces to names always helps!
Our Makers Days are a great opportunity for people who live in isolation and rarely meet up to do the all important networking – or blethering! I think we will need to extend our lunch break to two hours as the noise level just keeps on rising as people find out what friends and colleagues have been up to. I always think that this is really the essence of what the days are about and love it when people get back and let me know that, without the opportunity, they would never have heard about this exhibition, that supplier and a new retail outlet!
Our Argyll day really was inspirational as our range of speakers brought home what it is to be a maker and live in this area – and why, despite the odds, we keep on doing it!
Two talks by representatives of Art Map Argyll and Cowal Open Studios started the day off on a really positive note and is was so good to see groups using their own initiative and skills to really make a difference with very little outside intervention.
Mhairi Killin’s very moving talk about how her life came full circle and brought her back to weaving silver and metal on Iona was a fitting end to the first half of the day.
A practical workshop about setting up a website from Nicola Henderson followed the very tasty lunch and many participants benefited from hearing about how to successfully sell online.
Alex from Mull Weavers really inspired us all by showing how chance meetings and journeys can lead to great things – and he had us all wanting to save up our money and buy a gorgeous coat made from organic tweed!(please see photo above)
On the ferry back both Avril and I felt that the day was a tremendous success and the combination of wonderful surroundings, positive people- and Mull- was a winner! We will be back – and more than likely for our holidays too!
Pamela
8th May 2009Links:
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The Highlands in NYC
Norma Morgan with one of her paintings
When I was a girl growing up in Arisaig, a friend of my mothers came to stay. Norma Morgan was an artist from NYC who was on a sabbatical to the UK as she was fascinated by moors and mountains and wanted to spend time painting in the Highlands. As you can imagine, she was an exotic visitor and caused quite a stir in our wee Highland village!
She stayed for about a year and our spare room was turned into her studio – she was one of those people who, on reflection, influence a child’s life and I remember being amazed that a women could live independently by painting and go off and have adventures!
Over the ensuing years she has always kept in contact with my mother and Norma’s Christmas card and letter filled with news about another life in New York is always exciting to receive.
Yesterday I was so delighted to spend time with her again – the first time since I was a 10 year old! We sat in her communal garden under the magnolia tree thousands of miles from the Highlands and reminsced about her year with my family.
She is elderly now but still filled with enthusiasm for life and goes off camping in the mountains (using the same tent she had when she stayed with us!), plays music, paints and exhibits. She has a studio three hours away in Woodstock and visits when she can but has her 98 year old mother to care for so that is not so easy now. In her apartment were many of the paintings and etchings that she created in the Highlands – her work is either in oils and very large or small scale etchings. She does not like to sell her big work but has many pieces in collections all over the world including the V&A and Glasgow Museum.
Norma and her mother live a very simple life and I found the contrast between their apartment filled with paintings in progress and everyday life so different from the apartment that we went to for the reception on Thursday night!
Ethel her mother, is now in wheelchair and nearly blind but had an amazing life as a couturier, milliner and latterly as a writer and singer. Both women seem so happy and content with their lot in life and echoed the words of the Japanese jeweller, Reiko Ishiyama whose studio we visited the previous evening – to be an woman and artist in NYC is great as you can be who you want to here and nobody judges you. Ethel’s parting words to me were to live as long as I could because life is so wonderful!
The visit was such a good way to complete my trip here and perhaps is an example of how international exchanges can have such long lasting benefits and can affect the lives of people in so many ways.
It was lovely for both Norma and myself to see how her decision to come to the Highlands all those years ago had brought me back to see her and how my life had been influenced by seeing how she lived hers and how her life was changed by her time with us. She said she thinks of Arisaig every day of her life.
Pamela
19 April 2009 -
I think I am having a dream!
After being overwhelmed by SOFA on Wednesday evening it was great to return yesterday and actually meet some of the makers and talk to people involved. We still came to the conclusion that the European and Japanese work stands out and when I discussed this with Americans later they said they reckon it is because we have much more support for our makers – the Arts and Crafts Councils, Art schools and generally much more respect for Craft as an art form. I headed off for a meeting at the American Crafts Council in the afternoon and (after a very scary ride in a yellow cab and a panic about wondering where I was!) was made so welcome by Monica Hampton. She was really impressed by the HI-Arts website and what we do – I gave her a guided tour!
Much discussion followed on ways we could work together and we both felt that this was the beginning of joint working and that there is so much we could both gain by this.
Another quick taxi to change and then a real treat. We had been invited to the home of Bill and Laura Paulson for a reception to find out a bit more about the Pentland School of Crafts.
This was no peanuts and warm white wine event – staff took our coats and we were whisked by lift to their penthouse apartment overlooking the river. Nibbles of mini hamburgers, sushi and other delights awaited us and a home that was unlike any other we had seen.
As we watched the sun go down over the skyline from the roof garden we indeed felt that we would wake up today and think we had dreamt it all! I felt so privileged to get a glimpse of this other world and to speak with people whose life revolves in a completely different way to mine.I have persuaded at least two collectors to come to the Highlands to see what our makers do so I think I earned my wine!
Our final event was a wonderful meal with a group of invited curators and people from the crafts scene. It seemed like our first really proper meal as there were vegetables, fruit and smaller portions. I sat beside a lovely girl whose job it is to go shopping for collectors and buy up new work for them! I have invited her to visit us too and made the rash promise that there would be no midges!
So to today and another hectic schedule beginning with a visit to MAD ( Museum of Art and Design) and discussions with staff followed by studio visits. Tonight is a ‘free’ evening so we are debating where to go – a show, meal..or even just bed and sleep! I will let you know tomorrow!!
Pamela
17 April 2009, New York -
First we take Manhattan!
Work by an American Maker
Before I went on my travels, my son took it upon himself to organise my MP3 player – alphabetically, by genre and with a special section of music for New York! The one song that keeps playing through my head so far is Leonard Cohen’s ‘First we take Manhattan’… So – we are doing just that!
After a lunch that left us all with plates that looked like they had not been touched even though we could all eat no more, we set off to explore galleries and exhibitions.
Manhattan is fairly simple to navigate as it is all based on grids (just like Glasgow!) and everything seems to be within walking distance. However, our feet and legs tell us today that we must have walked miles! Some of us went to MOMA and came away overwhelmed by the crowds and have decided to try when it it quieter – I have seen very little sign of a financial downturn here but perhaps that is just where we are situated. Talking with people, they say that instead of shares the wealthy are investing in art works. Indeed there was a rash of red dots appearing on work at SOFA – many in the $40,000 + range!
The SOFA reception was amazing – so many people in incredible clothes and you could nearly smell the wealth. We wandered in a daze clutching champagne and kept being stopped in our tracks by the sheer bad taste, garish colours and size of some of the American work (and many if them had red dots and huge price tags) – it was very difficult to not just concentrate on them! The American aesthetic is so different from the European and indeed Japanese. Our work stood out in with it’s beautifully executed craftsmanship, design and quality. It was hard not to compare a perfect work by Alison Kinnaird at $18,000 dollars with a ceramic figure decorated with wool that had been badly glued on (yes, you heard me right!) by Michael Lucero at $40,000!
However, that was first impressions and we did find some gems in amongst the more obvious work. I am really looking forward to today when we go back to have a proper look, get a guided tour and a chance to talk to people as well as attend some lectures.
After that, I am off to meet Monica Hampton at the American Crafts Council to talk to her about their Searchlight mentoring scheme – amongst other things. Hopefully, I will take away some ideas for our plans! Then it’s on to The Pentland School of Craft Artists Reception at the home of Bill and Laura Paulson followed by our group dinner with invited curators and artists! Luckily the sun is shining and I had a few hours sleep last night!
One really important part of a trip like this is having the opportunity to spend time with colleagues who are as passionate about crafts as you are. The discussions that follow events, the planning of new projects and the sharing of ideas are invaluable and if that involves a trip to the top of the Rockefeller Tower for cocktails all the better! The views last night were stunning and I was fine if I didn’t look down!
Now it’s on to take on today’s experiences! I’ll be reporting back later.
Pamela
16 April 2009, New York
Topics
Blogroll
- Bishoplands Educational Trust
- Craft Council
- Craftspace
- Dovecot Studios
- Handmade and Fortnum and Mason
- Innovative Crafts
- Stroud International Textile Festival
- Taking Time
Crafts Links
- Bishoplands Educational Trust
- Craft Council
- CraftScotland
- Craftspace
- Dovecot Studios
- HI-Arts Crafts Development
- HI-Arts Making Progress Mentoring Scheme
- Innovative Crafts
- Stroud International Textile Festival
- Taking Time
- www.text-isles.com
Northings
Sian Jamieson
Pamela Conacher
Avril Souter
laura west
Daniel Kavanagh
jendeschenes
lucywoodley
Northings
mplanterose