it seems to be in the post...

Two and a half weeks since the last post and trying to work out where the time has gone.

Mostly blowing and grinding, preparing frames, photographs, website and written work for a series of deadlines last week:

• A tutorial with both my supervisors seems to have gone well - I get the feeling they are happy to let me just get on with it. Which is sort of nice and sort of worrying.
• Installation of the latest work at the Ceramic Art London fair. Need to work out how to frame / mount them - rickety cast plaster rings is just not going to do it but I could not bear to grind flats on them just yet. While looking out over the valley beside a lichen-covered standing stone above Orchardleigh, a fellow student called to say that a woman was interested in buying the work. I asked if he could take a phone number so I could call back while I dithered. But within five minutes, Kevin sent a text to say she had gone. Hey Ho. 
• Meeting with the Czech glass expert / importer and gallerist Leo Duval. Nerve Wracking. He seemed to think the work was fine (phew) but wants to see bigger lumps on black shiny plinths so they make more impact and command higher prices. Feeling some resistance - but I know he has a point. 
• Hosted a tour and demo for the wonderful crystallographer Brian Sutton and his team. They seemed to enjoy it and we had a great time talking about all the parallels between their research and mine.  I think there is a real chance we might make some work together for Somerset House. How amazing will that be!
• And I finally made the birds for the Dublin Exhibition - compositions of branches and leaves on transparent acetate -assembled, they make pockets of absence: my experience of birds and of kindness is of a strange song falling gently through an invisible place if I can only stop long enough to hear it.

Plus a talk for the 'Ignite' programme at the RCA, the ArtNerds reading group, a fashion show at London Glassblowing, a boozy private view, dinner with Charlotte and Priscilla at the Chelsea Arts Club, a tutorial with the incredible glass caster Colin Reid, and a flying visit to Haslemere for my dear sister's birthday. Preparing also for a meeting with Paul Martin and his team at Bristol University to make fruit fly embryos and dividing cancer cells for their public engagement work.

I have been awarded a bursary to go to Corning in New York State this summer, joined the Badcox Dining Circle, been offered two more half days paid teaching at Bristol Royal Infirmary and invited to enjoy the pine groves of Porquerolles for a long weekend in April.

My aunt has finally found a house that will become her home, my little adopted sister is buying a place with her new old love and all their children, my god daughter's hair is almost down to her waist and my brother is safe and well after his op in Singapore.

At home in Frome at last - time to switch this thing off, pour myself a glass of something and light that fire

snow on snow on snow

A magical Sunday in Kent with friends and snow and roaring fires and delicious food. Plus a possible new commission for a window piece. Exciting. It was very hard to get back to work on Monday.

Feel as though there has been rather more heat than light this week - struggling to get down to any sort of systematic analysis or writing about the work and feeling increasingly anxious about it. Also failing to make the birds for the Dublin exhibition. Deadlines for both looming alarmingly.

But I did manage to polish up and photograph two pieces to enter the Biennale, and a promising hot shop session despite several of the embryos getting contaminated with fibre blanket. 

I also built a series of rigs / frames so that I can photograph the work properly over the weekend - hopefully the Hockney Gallery will be empty and I can set up the camera and tripod and work through all the variables to get a handle on which combination of fold and overlay give the greatest illusion of depth.

10.7 over 11 lines / cm @ 20cm

The problem is that, as well as the differences in apparent depth generated by variations in the frequency of lines, several other variables seem to affect the illusion of depth, creating an almost impossibly complex matrix - the distance and angle of the viewer relative to the object, the angle of the patterns themselves and the distance of the folded paper from the front sheet...

A tutorial with Colin Reid was inspiring and informative - particularly on how to use float glass to create controlled veils / inner 'walls' / spaces for the crystallography work. To Be Continued.

I managed at last to master the art of making a mold precise enough to cast the angled spaces that I need to create accurate optical effects: instead of trying to carve the angle in polystyrene or use the 'sledge' technique as I have done before, I created a frame using panels of glass hinged with gaffer tape. Owen kindly made some plugs of furnace glass yesterday. The kiln will go up tomorrow. I think this is going to work.

Jing screen grab...

Also resolved the problem of how to create a secure online format for the thesis / content - a combination of the RCA folio space with Vimeo and Flickr accounts for the video and photographic content. Rodrigo also tracked down a piece of software called Jing that makes it possible to create videos of activity on screen - so I can capture / save the steps involved in creating models in Rhino as a tailored tutorial that I can revisit and share in the future. Now just need to work out the structure for the blog and start putting stuff into it...

Got the go-ahead to make the drosophilia embryos for the University of Bristol team - KT has agreed to take the lead on that - she is so talented and kind - so looking forward to working with her.

desk top...

Failed to sort out the pension debacle, fix computer or do any laundry... but did get out for a quick swim four times ;-)

Home James!




 

Speed not haste?

Pondering another full week from the computer room overlooking the Albert Hall. My laptop has caught some sort of virus - the hard drive is corrupted and crashes at random - and will not back up. Have decided not to turn it on until I have found someone to open the bonnet and take a look.

Monday - early train to see David at the Quest Gallery in Bath who was as encouraging as ever. A philip. To Bristol to buy a UV light to display Heike's magic rare earth glass, and some New Shoes before a lively and potentially very productive conversation with the PhD student Becky Jones at Bristol University and the head of her lab, Professor Paul Scott. As well as the public engagement illustrations that I had discussed with Becky when we last met, Paul seems keen to commission some glass models of the bugs and structures that his lab are investigating. They are both so passionate, creative and articulate about what they do it would be a real pleasure to work with them. We briefly ran through a spreadsheet of costs for Becky's public engagement illustrations. She seemed a bit taken aback and I wished I had waited to find out how much budget they have to work with and not been so specific about hours / rates et al. I would be surprised if it goes any further - we shall see. Following conversations with KT, I have now sent a budget to Paul about his bugs taking a more 'strategic' approach, giving ranges rather than final figures and hope this will work better.

Then home to Frome, meeting with Clive and his daughter, Lucy, to talk about a birthday commission that Sonja and I are making together. I blathered and twittered far too much- wish I had found out more about Lucy - she seems lovely. Pit stop for a cup of tea and final packing at home before heading over to KT's place to load the kind Karen's car with great boxes of glass, odd bits of clothing and my filthy bike. Unloaded in a frozen London dreaming of tea and a shower and a big deep bed to realise that I could not find my keys. Anywhere. The Jermeys were so incredibly kind - already in bed, Michael came to the door in his dressing gown to let me in.

Tuesday sandblasting and laundry. Wednesday glassblowing (magic!) and a tutorial with Simon with his valuable 'product' perspective - how to increase the impact of the work without increasing the size of individual components - perhaps through repetition / multiples?  Definitely Not Glue.

Also prepared metal templates and first plaster cast for a series of prisms - have been pondering the modernist idea of the ideal form and planning ahead for the conversation with the crystallographer in a couple of weeks and experiments with prisms so far have made magical patterns and shadows. KT's kind gift of optical Phillips glass will be perfect.  Tutorial / coffee with Alison, debating the problem of writing about making in a way that is neither purely technical or purely philosophical and the need to Get On with it. Have set a deadline for a chapter two weeks hence. Then dinner with Alison and her lovely gentle pianist friend Andy. Again feel I talked much too much and would like to have found out more about them. HeyHo.

Thursday, glorious sunshine and impossibly slow progress making casting molds, hands swollen and aching with the sense of lots of tiny cuts on every finger. Lots of emails, a fascinating lecture by Charles Jencks and, glory be, a Swim!

Today started with a puncture which scuppered my hopes of going for a swim. But proud to find that I did have all the kit to fix it and it seems to be holding up. To Battersea for a day on the basics of film run by Stuart Croft and Sara Lucas. Both so generous and professional. I came away dreaming of making a 16mm film for the Sardinia exhibition, casting shadows to create space. And a tutorial with Annie at lunchtime. Thoughtful. I must contact Magnus and ask him to make some proper frames for me.

The book on Rosalind Franklin arrived. I think I shall head home to bed for a read!