Helen D Blackbird | Artwork

Christmas pressie creations

2012-01-06T10:55:00.000-08:00

I've obviously been off work over Christmas, however, I still made these Borges inspired plant pots for little sister's Christmas pressie:

Text is from "The Garden Of Forking Paths"

Sticking things to pots is my attempt at Grayson Perry - style creations.

This birdhouse was given Gaston Bachelard quotes for little sister's fiance's Christmas pressie. They've just bought a house together, so hoping these make useful but arty additions to the house!

I was pleasantly surprised that Apparatjik uploaded "Don't Eat Brian Sewell's Banana", but what amused me more was that it received 160 listens in 6 days!

Since then, I have uploaded a track called "Blackbirdmon", which is a version of Gzmo with Olivier Messiaen's Chants d'oiseux as performed and recorded live in Lincoln Cathedral by Charles Matthews for Frequency Festival back in October, and which I edited in Garageband. It's currently on page 2 in the link, but may move as more tracks are uploaded.

I'm working on something new at the moment for them, and plan to continue the animation next week.

Sheep, dreams, animation and sound art

2011-12-16T03:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was disappointed to discover I hadn't been successful with the Bend In The River commission. However, feedback was that the curators liked something better. So my career balances on the whims of curators' preferences. Saying that makes it sound even more ephemeral than ever, but having attended the AIR Insights curator's talk at Surface gallery recently, I know what I mean! I will apply again another time, and go and see this work they liked better when it's shown in March.

I have other projects to do, and am making an animation for a competition deadline in February. The set is coming together, but have run out of resources for the time being. So leaving it until after Christmas.

This is for Sheep Stings and Harryhausen animation competitions respectively. I plan to make a simple stop motion animation, referring to basic animations I used to make during my college days instead of doing the work set by tutors!

Meanwhile, I couldn't resist becoming involved in Apparatjik's new project
An invitation to create sound art or attempt to become some kind of pop/rock star by remixing their album would be better if Magne didn't make it sound as though he wanted "fans" to work for free while they all sit around drinking glogg. But then, they've already put a lot of effort into creating the stems and given them freely for us to play with, Apparatjik is truly a situationist attempt to break the normal paradigms between musicians and "fans", whether that's in an economic or creative sense, either way, it seems something is happening, and it isn't as if we get nothing in return for contributing to their projects. We get free music created by them, and being able to input into the creative process of such high profile musicians, as an artist myself, is a creative exchange with merit.
I love working with them, but I did point out the irony of asking us to work for free while he (Magne) has been hanging around with Damien Hirst! I don't have the funds to go to Oslo to attend the private views at his gallery that I've been invited to.

I would LOVE to see Magne's current show at Stolper and Friends. It's called "Echo" and looks really good.

Apparatjik are planning to tour again next year - London is on the list, and London is easier to get to than some of their European venues, so hoping to meet with them and share ideas to work together properly.

And what was I inspired to create??
Well, it so happened that my cousin has lived in Denmark for a year now, and seemed to miss English eccentricity to the point of sharing on Facebook a link to the Sewell Sampler, with snippets of Brian Sewell, the art critic recently mocked by Vic Reeves during the Turner Prize.

So I have created this bit of mischief:

Which has made Apparatjik's Don't Eat The Whole Banana rather more fun!

I do plan to create something properly. Have a play with sound art. The animation might need a soundtrack anyway ;-)

God jul and Merry Christmas, see you in 2012!

2011-12-07T02:06:00.001-08:00

I've been busy with a number of things, mainly being distracted by invitations for events and discussions! I've been to Nottingham for an AIR Insights meeting, then an EMVAN drop in session, andI was recently invited to talk at AIRTIME at Lincoln University.I had to leave early, as my son was having his braces fitted at the dentist!Between all of this, I've been trying to organise things that seem to be taking a lot longer than I'd like.I wrote a proposal for Bend In The River and sent that, to do animation in X Church, but have no idea when I'll find out if I was successful, and it'd be useful, because there are a wealth of animation competitions out there that make me want to do animation again!It's like some kind of instinctive urge, and I have no idea where it comes from, other than some really dodgy stop-motion experiments we did when I was 17!Yesterday there was a HarryHausen competition in my inbox, then Tessa Farmer's animation at the exhibition A Blind Python With Jewelled Eyes has made me really want to get on with making animation again:

2011-11-25T13:59:00.000-08:00

I didn't get around to illustrating Borges further, as I was invited to some events for Frequency Digital Arts Festival, for which I've blogged here and here.

I've also been busy organising other things, and was accepted for Cash For The Community funding, so I've been promoting this.

This week I attended an AIR Insights event at Surface gallery in Nottingham, went to look at a potential empty shops space and discuss plans for that, and applied for Bend In The River for a new animation project, all the while following up trying to source funding for the Apparatjik project.

So I've obviously been busy, and my inspiration for illustrating Borges has given way to an offer of a free stall in the indoor market for the Christmas Market, and catching up with people again now that I have a new phone. Well, not new. I bought a handset and have a SIM only contract for a fiver a month, with the lovely Virgin mobile so back to normality as we get the court case going against Orange.

Steep Hill has been awarded the best street in the UK accolade, so I've been doodling it for new Christmas card designs.
Next week I've been invited to AIRTIME at University, and an EMVAN meeting amid preparations for the Christmas Market.

distractions

2011-10-11T06:22:00.000-07:00

Despite my best intentions to follow up my Borges work with illustrations, I stupidly looked at Twitter and spotted an animation award asking for submissions, and found myself inspired to work on that instead. My ability to focus is subverted by the Orange fiasco, which has been ticking away in the background for nearly a year now, but which didn't raise it's ugly head until recently. It's causing a great deal of stress, added to which, with eldest son having embarked upon his G.C.S.E's and the passive stress I'm getting from that means that most of the time I spend convincing myself that the squirly stomach will go away, and that I'm not pregnant!!
Laugh you might, but once I thought I was erroneously putting on weight, went to the doctor's to discover I was 5 months' pregnant. Experience (and stress) makes me slightly paranoid about these things occasionally. Considering I do not currently have a boyfriend, and spend most of my time avoiding the lustful advances of men (!) it isn't feasible I could be anything of the sort.
Needless to say, the good news is that Ofcom are taking customer complaints seriously, and I hope that soon there will be a resolution to this issue, and that I'll receive compensation for the time and stress of dealing with them.

I sent a formal complaint 2 weeks ago, which Orange haven't replied to, yet they continue to send me bills for a service I'm now no longer able to use.
As soon as this is over, I'll be going back to Virgin and will never take out a phone contract with Orange again.

In other news, I'm working towards initiating artist-led projects for the LAN in Empty Shops spaces, and it's looking positive, but will know more next month.

Orange / Excell / Ofcom scam

2011-10-06T04:20:00.000-07:00

I'm unfortunately engaged in a dispute with the corrupt mobile phone company Orange.

In August 2010 I was tricked into a cashback redemption contract via a company called Excell Communications, which went into administration in Dec 2010, and which no longer exists, leaving me with an extortionate contract that Orange refuse to nullify.

I was assured by Excell Communications that I would pay £15 a month, but have in fact had to pay £25 a month and more since the company went into administration. Worse than this, my time is being wasted by having to scan in bills to send to a company called Midland, who have been paying the cashback amounts... until now. What I wasn't aware of, and what wasn't explained to me, was that I have 12 months left of this no longer valid "contract" for which I'm expected to foot the bill to the tune of £62 - £63 per month. I wasn't made aware that the cashback arrangement was only for 12 months.

I obviously don't have that level of income to pay for this, so I have no intention of paying any more money to Orange, and will outline how corrupt their company is to be working with cashback merchants such as Excell Communications.

I've contacted Ofcom, but I've learnt that Ofcom are in cahoots with Orange, in order to make a lot of money causing people to go into debt this way, and doing nothing to help people that have fallen foul of these conmen.

I used to get briefs from Orange during my degree, so I did what any good illustrator does, and illustrated the situation as accurately as possible.

I should point out that Orange have already taken down other people's blogs for speaking the truth about this issue, so if Orange wish to silence me, I will not be bullied into taking down my own blog. If Orange co-operate and the matter is resolved without any more corporate greed or gaslighting, then all vexations will be removed, but until then, I will continue to fight as is my human right to speak the truth.

If Orange pass on my details to a debt collection agency, then this image will be put up for auction on Ebay, where a large proportion of people will see what a greedy company they are.

illustrative experiments

2011-10-03T04:39:00.000-07:00

I've decided that the first thing to work on for Borges illustrative work is a book cover illo.

So I wanted to draw elements from his narratives to give an impression of Borges' writings. The Penguin copy I have mainly consists of a 1930s style black and white image of a group of identical men standing with their backs to the viewer, all looking at a white square on a wall.

It does have a nice silvery background for the text at the bottom and the back, but Borges writes about mirrors, time, God, encyclopaedias, paradoxes, it's very Doctor Who, and there needs to be a sense of the futurism and postmodernism of his writing.

Google "hexagonal labyrinths" and most that come up are actually octagonal.

It took me ages to construct this labyrinth, but it works. There's one true path to the central hexagon, all other paths are false. It isn't like other simple labyrinths, where it's really just one path. The spider's web design seemed obvious; why no one has invented a labyrinth based on that before is odd. Etched into silver card it shares the beauty, delicacy and intricacy of its design, with a slightly space age edge.

"Fictions" Exhibition

2011-09-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

Helen Dearnley

Labyrinths 2011

“Fictions”

18 September – 24September Gallery @ St. Martin’s, Lincoln

This new body of work marks a departure from previous themes in my art practice, an instinctive move towards more sculptural and architectural work illustrating the writings of Jorge Luis Borges. My conscience wrestles with the fact that I initially intended to create a series of illustrations, so the work is a memory expressed sculpturally, as sculptural illustrations. Illustrations will develop from this work.

From the Garden Of Forking Paths, I have expanded upon the original text to incorporate personal memories of feeling at the moment my father died, that I was transported to the Pavilion Of The Limpid Solitude, which became a greenhouse, a labyrinth, a memory and an encyclopaedia.

My earliest memory of Dad is as perspicuous as the glass panes of the veridian pavilion in which it resides, running through seemingly endless greenhouses as darkness pursued seditiously through those vast steel and kryptonite prisms.

The greenhouses were composed of an indefinite and perhaps infinite forest of steel and glass, each rectangle multiplying the perception of space by its repetition, with beds of plants growing within, and interspersed with irrigation channels that broke up the consistency of the horticultural flower beds, where growth is perpetually illuminated by the twilight of the next greenhouse. I inferred from the greenhouses that they were infinite, those glass cathedrals of Mother Nature’s son.

Works

All prints are digital imagery on mirror board with foil

“Fauna Of Mirrors” and “Funes The Memorious” 2011

“The Pavilion Of The Limpid Solitude” 2011 Mixed media

“The Garden Of Forking Paths” 2011 Found objects

“Fauna Of Mirrors” 2011 Foil, Chinese lantern, text from Jorge Luis Borges

“Funes The Memorious” 2011 Foil, rebound book

“The Alicanto” 2011 Found objects

Helen Dearnley 2011 character from "The Garden Of Forking Paths"

Helen Dearnley 2011

"Funes The Memorious"

Digital print on mirror board

Helen Dearnley 2011

"The Fauna Of Mirrors"

Digital print on mirror board

Helen Dearnley 2011

"The Pavilion Of The Limpid Solitude"

Found objects

Helen Dearnley 2011 character from "The Garden Of Forking Paths"

Helen Dearnley 2011 Untitled

Helen Dearnley 2011

"The Fauna Of Mirrors"

Sculpture

"...the Fish was a shifting and shining creature that nobody had ever caught but that many had said they had glimpsed in the depths of mirrors." Jorge Luis Borges "The Book Of Imaginary Beings"

Helen Dearnley 2011

Untitled

Found objects

Helen Dearnley 2011

"The Pavilion Of The Limpid Solitude"

Found objects

Helen Dearnley 2011

"Funes The Memorious"

Found object - reappropriated diary

Helen Dearnley 2011

"Alicanto"

Mixed media

Holidays, Research trips, and upcoming Fictions exhibition

2011-09-12T03:39:00.000-07:00

It's been some time since my last exhibition, and I realised I hadn't blogged since then. I've been busy applying for various art events without much success, and it saddens me that these events are promoted as hosting very talented artists, but as I'm never included, that makes me think this is untrue, which is a negative thing. So I keep quiet, rather than post negative experiences, and wait for something more positive to happen.

The main problem I seem to have is having very ambitious ideas for work that require more funding than is available.

I feel that I possess a wealth of creativity and artistic expression just waiting to be discovered, that needs investment to make it all a reality.

I've been off work over the summer holidays concentrating on my other full time but otherwise unpaid job of being a single parent. I've had the expense of brand new school uniform, as the school has gone to an academy, which is Kafkaesque for making parents spend what savings they've made not on a holiday, but yet more school stuff.

The most I could stretch to in this age of austerity, or as I call it: government sanctioned financial abuse, was a trip to London to see the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion designed by Peter Zumthor http://www.serpentinegallery.org/architecture/

The above photograph was expertly taken by my son Brett,
aged 12

The Pavilion was recommended by Apparatjik via twitter/Facebook, and I also visited the gallery to see

Michelangelo Pistoletto
The Mirror of Judgement

which runs until 17th September.

It was the pavilion that inspired me, as I'd been busy in my studio creating work for the upcoming LAN "Fictions" exhibition this September, for which I wanted to move away from previous work and illustrate the writings and theories of Jorge Luis Borges.

However, I've found myself making small scale sculptures, and in particular, the Pavilion Of The Limpid Solitude, which is from the essay The Garden Of Forking Paths.

For this, I imagined the pavilion as a greenhouse, a book, a labyrinth, and a memory.

However, I did intend to create a series of illustrations, but my concentration has lost focus due to a dispute I'm unfortunately engaged with with the mobile phone company Orange.

I'm considering whether to include this in the exhibition, in the same way that Tracey Emin showed her "Bed" after being asked to exhibit work and being ill. Barbara Walker made work to highlight how her son kept being stopped and searched by police for what she thought were racial motives, so this kind of work can have a powerful effect. It isn't what I intended to exhibit at all, and I'm not entirely sure whether I should give Orange or any of these companies associated the publicity, but I am being adversely affected by it, so I wish to make my opinion clear.

How To Build A Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later (Flow My Tears, A-ha)

2011-07-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

The exhibition entitled "How To Build A Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later (Flow My Tears, A-ha)", Alley Cafe, Nottingham, 2nd June - 4th July 2011

Entitled "How To Build A Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later
(Flow My Tears, A-ha)".
I've been invited to exhibit work for an exhibition at Alley Cafe in Nottingham
for 1 month. This will be retrospective work of my A-ha-themed illustrations.
The title relates to the science fiction author Philip K. Dick, who recounts in the
essay entitled "How To Build A Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later"
how he wrote a novel "Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said" in which he later
"met" in real life characters from this novel, and how he recounted the story to
a priest, the priest told him that his coincidental experiences were exactly the
same as in the Book Of Acts in the Bible. http://deoxy.org/pkd_how2build.htm

In my work, this relates to my experiences of collaborating with, and encounters
with Norwegian band A-ha.
In his novel "Flow My Tears", a celebrity wakes up to find he is completely
unknown to the outside world...
There are several layers of simulacra contained therefore within this, following
from research for my degree show. I keep thinking that my A-ha related work
will finish, (especially now they've finally retired) but similarly strange
coincidences keep occurring to me since I started illustrating their comic book
world.

The cafe will hopefully invoke the spirit of the original Take On Me video, and
work will be for sale.

Feedback from the guys at Page45 comic shop in Nottingham was that the comic was funny, which is good, because that was its intention.

Other feedback has been that the comic is high quality print, and comments included from Facebook above. The comic is available to purchase from me at £3 plus p&p, contact me if you'd like a copy.
It is available to view only online here.

2011-05-25T07:15:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited to say that I have copies of my comic "The Unreal God And Aspects Of His Non-existent Universe" updated for 2011 and will be available for sale at Alley Cafe, Nottingham @ £2.60 a copy :-)

How Bazaar!

2011-05-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

The Alley Cafe show is looming, so I hoped to raise some funding at the Engine Shed on Saturday for How Bazaar!! Here is my stall:

Made some sales to keep me in tea (!) Not quite as much as I'd hoped, but it was fun, and for a good cause!!

No sign of any celebrities, apart from a Christer Karlsson lookalike.

S02011 Festival Skegness

2011-05-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I frantically wrote a proposal for SO Festival in Skegness and was successful!! http://skegnessinternational.com/

So I will go to Skeggy to discuss this with the organisers on Tuesday with a vague idea of having an I Scream Van based on Edvard Munch's "Skrik". I like the idea of juxtaposing English seaside kitsch with Nordic darkedged gothic noir.
Because it's Lincolnshire this will most likely be made out of straw.....

Not entirely sure yet!! But I'm quite excited!

Upcoming Solo show!!

2011-04-21T02:56:00.000-07:00

Please go to this link and support my upcoming solo show!! http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/investment/helen-dearnley-solo-art-exhibition-160

The more funding raised, the better this will be!!
The lovely Jimmy Gnecco said he hopes to drop by if he's in town!!

Here is the Facebook page with further details: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=189276964442849&ref=ts

UnCut Conference and Lego Light Space Modulator for Apparatjik

2011-04-03T16:38:00.000-07:00

I've just finished reading The Yellow House by Martin Gayford, which made me Google Earth Arles and want to go there.

I've not been as productive lately. I had to move house. Being a single parent is becoming impossible lately, never mind trying to get some art work done.
Basically, it's the government and their particularly nasty ways of persecuting me for doing the job of two parents at the same time whilst developing a career.

I recently attending the UnCut Conference at MadLab in Manchester:
http://madlab.org.uk/content/the-uncut-society-an-unconference-event-and-workshop/
Here I speak about how the cuts are affecting me as an artist and single parent:
http://www.merzman.co.uk/artsagainstthecu.html

I also took the trouble to make this ad: http://www.tuc60seconds.org.uk/2011/03/14/821/
because I'm keen to challenge what I see as direct financial abuse.

Despite their efforts, I have managed to have work exhibited in Berlin, which I would feel more pleased about if I could've gone to see it, but here it is:

My set on flickr is here.

In other news, I have a solo show coming up in June, here are the details: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=189276964442849&ref=ts

http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/apparatjik/with/5573870843/

A-ha Conference and Exhibition, Oslo Norway, October 2010

2010-11-30T04:53:00.000-08:00

I was awarded funding to attend the Conference Living a Boy's Adventure Tale:
musical interactions in the decades of postmodernism
and Exhibition

Hunting High and Low: 25 years with a-ha / A-ha gjennom 25 ar

Exhibition / Utstilling October 20, 2010 - January 29, 2011

National Library of Norway

http://www.nb.no/a-ha/index.php
http://www.listento.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2010082508413580133669
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=351926746024

Myself and colleague Laura Cotton outside the biblioteket i Oslo

Having the opportunity to meet my good friend Pal H Christiansen on his home turf in Oslo, he told me that Morten's brother was there, and sure enough, I took a moment to introduce myself to him and share some publishing insights with him.

Myself and Hakon Harket, yes, I really am small!

I also spent some time with Jan Omdahl, to discuss his book "The Swing Of Things" from which I quoted for my dissertation back in 2007-8. His updated version for A-ha's retirement no longer contains some of the quotes I initially referred to, as it's been edited to include more recent information to make it more up to date.

Jan said that out of all the people in the room, he probably knew the least about A-ha - this coming from a Norwegian journalist that has spent considerable time working with the band, and recounts his time with them in Brazil during the height of their 1991 epic Rock In Rio gig.

I noticed the juxtaposition of the Swing Of Things book next to a book with Michel Foucault in it.

Then Magne's Mum recommended the hardback edition - we'd met her in the Ladies' earlier, she has a wicked sense of humour, she was "cleaning" some water, very tongue-in-cheek - so now we know where Magne gets it from! A formidable woman, she brought Magne up by herself following the tragic death of his father when he was five years old.
So I have a lot of admiration and respect for her, absolutely love Magne's Mum!

Magne Furuholmen's lovely Mum!

Jorun Bogeberg of Oslo Blues Club performing his own version of "October" and other A-ha tracks.

Last minute preparation for the exhibition opening

Myself and fellow fans - I'm wearing the t-shirt with the quote from Pal Waaktaar Savoy "I get pissed off and frustrated when people only talk about 'Take On Me'. It was just an honest, catchy little thing".
http://www.redbubble.com/people/blackbird76/t-shirts/3629824-3-pissed-off-pal

Original Michael Patterson illustrations for Take On Me

Morten's original wrist straps from the 1980s

Morten's brother (on the left!) listening to the A-ha music archive. He was listening to "Maybe Maybe" !!

No expense spared, our hotel was the Radisson Blu Scandinavia

Summit 21 Bar @ The Radisson. We met 3 rich French oil prospectors (from Total) who bought our drinks for us!! :-D One of them comes from a region of France where Laura's friend lives; serendipity.

My comic "The Unreal God And Aspects Of His Non- Existent Universe" exhibited in Hard Rock Cafe, Oslo. How existential is that? Unfortunately, no hand emerged from here, it was in Germany at the time!

Visit Peace - The Nobel Centre view from the Radisson Blu Scandinavia

Kendell Geers work outside the Nobel Peace Centre (reminds me of Bruce Naumann.... but still effective!)

I made a wish and stuck it on Dumbledor's bedroom curtain @ The Nobel Peace Centre, Oslo. A month later that wish came true!! I finally met Morten in Sheffield!! See previous blog :-)

William Kentridge animation @ the Nobel Peace Centre

An Apparatjik type device!

Couldn't visit Oslo and not go to see Skrik :-) @ Munch Museet

I loved Munch's way of painting Norwegian landscapes, some of his work draws from Van Gogh, but the landscape of Norway obviously differs greatly from Van Gogh's south of France, and Munch endows his work with a unique Nordic edge.

Friedrich Nietsche showing Munch's early expressionist influence. Warning, this man will mess with your head!

We also went to see this utstilling:
http://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/filestore/Utstillinger_2010/Take_me_to_your_leader/Tekster/TMTYLbrosjyreweb.pdf

but couldn't take any photos because of Imperial Forces.....

It snowed in Oslo in October, not as much as there is now, it seems I brought this weather back with me in time for A-ha's UK leg of the tour :-)

If you ever stay at the Radisson in Oslo, this lovely man will serve you frokost every morning!

Who wants a ride on the Moods Of Norway tractor? :-D

Thanks to Chris for uploading this footage:

How embarrassing! :-D

Nottingham exhibition / Sheffield 2010

2010-11-28T04:40:00.000-08:00

I successfully exhibited some work in Nottingham as part of the British Art Show 2010, at Notts Trent Arena, a situationist and existential exhibition of a banner at A-ha's last ever farewell gig in Nottingham went very well indeed!

Not only was it appreciated by Magne (well, why wouldn't it!) but it was relayed on screen during "Hunting High And Low" and therefore visible to the entire auditorium. You can see this briefly during this footage:

The banner reads "A-ha thankyou for 25 years, with love from all the fans" i Norsk, and it brings my work full circle, from the day back in Liverpool 2006, when I first exhibited a banner for my 30th birthday wish, which was really to meet Morten - well, a couple of days after the Nottingham exhibition in Sheffield, 2010, that wish finally came true...... after existing in A-ha's comic book world for 4 years, the moment finally arrived when Morten became very real, with suitably Scandinavian weather especially for him!

I feel very very lucky, jammy and honoured to have finally stalked the poor man to death (!) but if I'd caught the train home and missed him, I would've missed my last chance to have this photo taken for the most existential illustration ever.

Illustration copyright the artist 2010

Morten is now the proud owner of a copy of my original comic, created for my degree show 2008, based on Take On Me and entitled "The Unreal God And Aspects Of His Non-Existent Universe" it is available to view online here: http://takeonmevshelendblackbird.blogspot.com/

Gallery Girl

2010-08-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

I've just read Wendy Holden's Gallery Girl, as I saw her talking about it and saw that it was about the art world, and she had a rather large pair of pants, so that swung it.
Not my usual type of thing, a bit too "chick lit" for my liking, a bit "soapy" and far too much pointless sex babble, I guess designed to appeal to a certain market, but nonetheless, my familiarity with the locations, language, connections and types of event kept my interest, especially as I was a Plinther, and there was a nod to that. The usual Whistler vs Ruskin arguments relating to art were highlighted by the scope and scale of artist characters. By the end, parts started to mirror my own life, so for that reason it's good, although I've yet to reach the same conclusion as the book, which finished very abruptly.

A very perspicuous plotline that gained momentum towards the end, but came as no surprise.
It's definitely worth a read, especially as insight for non-artists.

Alice In Disneyland final animation and exhibition

2010-05-08T00:17:00.000-07:00

Alice In Disneyland animation by Helen Dearnley projected @ Lincoln Central Library 4th - 7th May 2010

Original animation footage (unlooped)

Alice In Disneyland animation by Helen Dearnley 2010 Still from animation

Alex Pearl - Study For The Invisible Girl - still

The Shrinking Box - Gail Young 2010
inset: Study For The Invisible Girl - Alex Pearl 2006

Drawings by Kate Lucas

Maddy Richardson

Matt Leo Dunton
Hollie In Celebrityland 2010

Susan Baker-Mathieson

Lizzy Mason Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Kate Lucas

Kate Lucas

2010-04-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

I've been extraordinarily busy lately getting back on track.
The animation is now almost ready for exhibition, although I have a slight issue with the timing that I will check up on tomorrow.

The animation will be exhibited as part of Alice In Disneyland exhibition at Lincoln Central Library - see flyer for details.
We held a mini version recently at The Terrace, Lincoln, which went very well indeed - all information and feedback is available here: http://sites.google.com/site/lincolnartistnetwork/projects

Once the exhibition at the library is finished, I plan to make another animation for this competition http://a-ha.com/news/articles/20257/ to be exhibited at a gig near me :-)

2010-03-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

I finally went in on Friday to have a short tutorial for After Effects, so that I know how to put the animation together in different software to what I'm used to.
It's much better being able to use the University imacs than my old mac that won't do anything that I want it to!
And the animation is fairly straightforward (fingers crossed!) I've just been busy organising all the files and checking everything.

I'm going away over Easter (shh! Don't tell the kids!) - a free holiday to the Isle Of Wight courtesy The Young Victoria to visit Albert Cottage Hotel and Osbourne House for a real royal treat! I've been looking forward to this since January, and it'll be good to go and see whether Queen Victoria really was a non-prude as we're now being told. "With all these nudes around, she must've been fairly confident about her body" I seem to remember an ad saying. No more than say, Prince Albert I'd guess....
Do men suddenly need empowerment projected onto them the minute they step inside the Cistine Chapel, with all those male nudes around? Somehow I don't think so. But there is a stupid myth around that the Victorians were "prudes". Usually propagated by the sex industry for no good reason at all. Obviously, The Young Victoria challenges that notion, as it should.

For Mother's Day, Brett contributed some pocket money towards Natasha Walters "Living Dolls: The Return Of Sexism", so feminist issues have been on my mind again. Not that this will be addressed overtly in my work.

LAN members are wishing to hold a small exhibition at The Terrace upon my return. I really don't have time to organise this myself, as it's too short notice, and I have enough to do. So I'm leaving it up to them to organise.

Dispute with Odeon

2010-03-10T13:46:00.000-08:00

We were all preparing for the upcoming exhibition, and I was panicking because I hadn't got any where near the animation studio to create the actual animation, and we only had a couple of weeks left to create work. So I booked youngest son into Kids Club for half term, but couldn't get in to do any work because I didn't receive any reply from the animation dept...
then son was ill.
Also, this didn't bother me as much as the fact that the Odeon decided they weren't going to show Alice In Wonderland due to a dispute with Disney over the DVD release.
So the exhibition, and subsequently my modus operandi for working, were all ruined. I sank into despair.
Then I had a phonecall to say that Alice In Wonderland was on again, but by then I was utterly fed up and through discussions with LAN colleagues, they all agreed that they weren't happy with the way Odeon handled this.
But they were keen to continue to exhibit the work they've made. So we're planning a new Alice In Wonderland exhibition, with Lincoln Central Library booked for May and potential to exhibit elsewhere.
This has given me time to re-apply for a new ACE grant, and I don't mind the extra time this allows to work on the animation.
I hope to get in tomorrow to work out times to go in and start creating this from next week.

Here is what Jean Baudrillard has to say about Disneyland:

a simulation of the third order:

"Disneyland exists in order to hide that it is the "real" country, all of "real" America that is Disneyland.
.... Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real, whereas all of Los Angeles and the America that surrounds it are no longer real, but belong to the hyperreal order of the simulation."

"The imaginary of Disneyland is neither true or false, it is a deterrence machine set up in order to make us believe that adults are elsewhere, in the "real" world, and to conceal the fact that true childishness is everywhere - that it is the adults themselves who come here to act the child in order to foster illusions as to their real childishness."

"Disneyland: a space of the regeneration of the imaginary as waste-treatment plants are elsewhere, and even here.
Everywhere today one must recycle waste, and the dreams, the phantasms, the historical, the fairylike, legendary imaginary of children and adults is a waste product, the first great toxic excrement of a hyperreal civilisation."

Excerpts from Simulacra And Simulations

2010-02-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

2010-02-10T05:52:00.000-08:00

This image is an experiment for the "set" version - am toying with whether to include the sequence where Morten's hand appears, but not sure if this would require too much work at this stage. I have built a 30cm square "set" which needs finishing touches and is still in development.

Mirror Nijinsky Sequence

Preliminary sketches - rabbit character development.

White Rabbit sequence "down the rabbit hole" - simple animation sequence where the rabbit shrinks (relates to Drink Me).

An early doodle

Alice In Wonderland animation work

2010-01-27T14:34:00.000-08:00

I've not blogged for a while, work for Alice has been sidetracked by other things, admin for the LAN, an A-ha gig / exhibition in November, the LAN Christmas Market, then a whole series of unfortunate events occurred. Some financial difficulties were only compounded by the sudden death of my father just before Christmas 2009. However the exhibition is ongoing and is now picking up momentum, I have work in sketchbook, and need to start the animation now my ideas have finalised into something definitive. The A-ha gig in November provided some intriguing research material. It took place on Nov 4th, the same date as when Through The Looking Glass is set.
Having read "Alice In Wonderland" on the tube and worked in my sketchbook on the journey to London, editing rabbits into the Take On me video, this became the central concept, cemented by the fact that 2010 is A-ha's final tour.
I also came across a rabbit sculpture near The Mall galleries, which I have since discovered was by Barry Flanagan. In particular, his "Mirror Nijinsky" sculptures seemed to me to evoke the White Rabbit in The Matrix, and also a metaphor for Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

"Mirror Nijinsky" - Barry Flanagan

Below you can see how I adapted the sculpture to become the White Rabbit character for my animation - the White Rabbit has a kung fu element of Neo in the Matrix - I like that dynamic.

The animation is constructed of four frames. Each frame will have a different simple animation in, with re-appropriated imagery from the Take On Me video. I'm waiting to find out whether I can access a projector to display the animation in the cinema space. I plan to make a 3D "set" version of a scene from the animation to exhibit. For this, I'm interested in the scene when Morten's hand appears out of the comic and the girl is drawn into the comic world - that relates directly to Alice In Wonderland, when she goes down the rabbit hole.
I do plan to make these available as DVDs and upload onto Youtube, but ideally want to project the animation onto the 3D "set" or onto the wall.
Each animation sequence will be very simple animation - for one sequence, it will be the two rabbits in a "bullet time" motion, where the camera pans around the TOM frames.

Alice In Wonderland exhibition

2009-10-22T06:35:00.000-07:00

As well as being an artist, an illustrator and a lone parent, I've set up the Lincoln Artist's Network as a group for graduate talent and artists in Lincoln, funded by a bursary via Enterprise Inc at Sparkhouse Studios.

The LAN has been slow to get going, partly due to delays with the Summer Holidays and funding, but we exhibited work for the Summer Gala alongside my own Lady Of Shalott work, and we're now working on an Alice In Wonderland themed exhibition to exhibit in collaboration with Lincoln Odeon for the release of the Tim Burton film in March 2010.

I am in the process of creating a proposal for new work for this, work which will draw from the Lady Of Shalott, and will no doubt involve animating dolls.

I've been accepted onto the AA2A scheme at University, which means I can access facilities such as using the imacs and Flash for animation, sewing machines, and I receive a small payment to cover materials and/or childcare.

It will enable the LAN to have a continued presence at Greestone again, although I do attend the artist's talks at The Collection which are organised for lectures anyway ;-)

Purchasing work

2009-08-23T02:57:00.000-07:00

A range of my work is now available to purchase here:
http://www.redbubble.com/people/blackbird76

Including prints, cards, posters and t-shirts. Lady Of Shalott cards are available to buy here - I will upload some more, so keep an eye on this link!

The Lady of Shalott @ Lincoln Summer Gala

2009-07-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

If you were at the Lincoln Summer Gala, you may have spotted some of these mirrors around the Brayford Pool.

"Down she came and found a boat
Beneath a willow left afloat,
And round about the prow she wrote
'The Lady of Shalott."

"I am half - sick of shadows" said The Lady of Shalott @ Odeon cinema, Brayford Pool, Lincoln

"For ere she reach'd upon the tide
The first house by the water-side,
Singing in her song she died,
The Lady of Shalott."

" And sometimes thro' the mirror blue
The knights come riding two and two:
She hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott."

"And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott."

The Lady Of Shalott Rose @ the University of Lincoln, courtesy of the Tennyson Society - rather fitting to the poem, the flowers are dying.....

"Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott."

Always look carefully around the city of Lincoln, you may find The Lady Of Shalott in places other than The Collection art gallery ;-) They are not graffiti, (they are temporary and easily removed) they are not random, they are works of contemporary art designed to encourage you to appreciate art in unusual places, to look for poetry amongst the everyday banality of the cityscape. If you see them around, please do photograph them and send them!! I may continue to create and install more Lady of Shalott mirrors in future.....

dolls and mirrors

2009-07-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

For the Summer Gala, the mirrors (that is the mirrors with text from The Lady of Shalott shown previously in this blog) will be installed around the Brayford Pool area, the dressing table with mirror will be a focus point for the installation, upon which to exhibit the doll and related work (which I'm currently working on).

It should link The Lady of Shalott with The Cupboard Project, for which there's a meeting next Tuesday at Grove Tea Rooms on Steep Hill for members of the Lincoln Artist's Network who will be taking part in The Cupboard Project.

I wasn't impressed with the Artist's Market. No one actually bought anything. No one seems to realise that they're getting some nifty fine art for a fraction of the cost it's actually worth! I made the grand profit of £1 for the second one last Sunday, and have now decided that Artist's Markets are not my cup of tea unless promoting LAN activities.
Besides, I was selling work for far less than its market value if it was sold through a gallery or accepted by Illustration agents for publication. I'm going to submit one of the pieces for the AOI Images 34 competition instead!

I did come up with the adaptation of making the mirrors double-sided, with the quotes written backwards one side, and normal the other.

Mirrors

2009-06-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

I've been nonchalantly researching mirrors, as I work on various things, the notion of the mirror is an integral part of the story of The Lady of Shalott.
In medieval times mirrors were made from highly polished stone, usually formed from volcanic deposits such as obsidian.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/online_tours/museum_and_exhibition/a_kind_of_magic/obsidian_mirror.aspx
I do love a bit of Tezcatlipocl - aka The Smoking Mirror...

An obsidian mirror is associated with witchcraft, so why is The Lady of Shalott not depicted as a witch?
Contrasted against the Victorian process of creating mirrors with a layer of silver on glass, then adapted to aluminium that forms contemporary mirrors.

What is interesting is that I've been playing with broken mirrors. Not ones that I've broken, no, pieces of broken mirror found. Apparently I should grind the mirrors up should they have stolen my soul!

Of course, at one stage I did write on my own camera "The Lady of Shalott" in reference to the fact that she sees the world through a mirror.
How mirrors are used in telescopes - Sir Lancelot at one point is described as a bearded meteor blazing a trail,
" The gemmy bridle glitter'd free,
Like to some branch of stars we see
Hung in the golden Galaxy. "

So I started to think of Lancelot as a constellation seen through a telescope. And his horse, a Trojan horse....
thinking of the phallic symbol of the telescope..... http://www.galeriepieceunique.com/infoframes/kusama5.htm
Wondering how I can represent that with Sarah Lucas in mind but moving on from the level of tabloid satirical critique.

Borges.

The Lady of Shalott / Brothers Quay

2009-06-20T03:25:00.000-07:00

Last night I was tinkering around in my studio; I have made a boat for the Lady of Shalott, which still needs finishing elements, but is otherwise taking shape.

The Lady of Shalott doll doesn't stand up. She has articulated wired arms and legs, and sits nicely, but she has no means of support when standing unless I prop her up with a support of some kind.

So I found an old mirror frame, for a small bathroom mirror, in which the mirror itself fell out ages ago. I have taken the doll out of the box to experiment with ways of photographing her on location around the city.

She is now stepping through the mirror frame, upon which I was thinking of attaching more broken mirror shards for that Lady of Shalott drama!

I awoke this morning and was looking at her in the studio, looking like something from the Brothers Quay, and figuring out in my head how to animate her. She firstly needs more heads, and I lament not making her original head detachable so that I can change them for animation purposes. I may adapt her for that reason, but I don't like the idea of messing with the original (and finished) doll.
So I think I'll eventually start to make extra heads and then decide later.

This is inspirational:

I want to have her on my dressing table, in a sewing box, with cotton reels and pincushions, as she is her own tapestry, being a doll and all.... dolls and mirrors.

I wanted to create Brothers Quay type animations during my degree, but never had the time or the technical knowhow to really do it justice.

I'm thinking of The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer as a reference for exhibiting the Lady of Shalott doll for a Brothers Quay style installation at the Summer Gala...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QH3sjd3wgo

Lincoln Artist's Market

2009-06-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

I will be selling a range of work at Lincoln Artist's Market on Sunday 28th June 2009.

Some of the work is illustration, including cards and paintings, and some is related to The Lady Of Shalott, ie mirrors with quotes on (written backwards) and of course I would hope to receive commissions for Lady of Shalott dolls.
The last artist's market was at the end of May, so I have images from that.

The Lady of Shalott doll will be displayed for commissions.

This weekend and next week early, I hope to take the Lady of Shalott doll on location around Lincoln.

2009-06-13T02:16:00.000-07:00

As well as considering The Lady of Shalott, I have been working on optimising my website. And I decided to test whether my metatags are working.
I was also trying to equate in my mind the work I'm doing now with my previous work based on A-ha's Take On Me video.
At first it felt or seemed as though I'm going for a complete departure from it, but fundamentally the philosophy is still the same.

Whilst checking my metatags I came across this piece of Hindu philosophy:
http://www.saibaba.ws/articles/fromtheunreal.htm

I'm reflecting on my old installation, but also thinking about how it relates to this new work, and philosophically, The Lady of Shalott follows the same train of thought that links Dostoyevsky to Baudrillard, Borges, Philip K Dick, and seemingly all religious theological query.
Fascinating link with the mirror of Maya :-)

The Lady of Shalott

2009-06-05T01:03:00.000-07:00

The return of the dolls!
The Lady of Shalott is the subject for my latest doll creation.
The Lady of Shalott forms part of a series of events surrounding the 200th anniversary of the birth of Alfred Lord Tennyson, who wrote the poem The Lady of Shalott. This doll and related works create a discourse with the painting by John William Waterhouse currently on loan at The Collection in Lincoln.

"I am half - sick of shadows" said The Lady of Shalott

The Lady of Shalott can only view the world through a mirror, and as such follows on from part of my fine art theory relating to Baudrillard's simulacra and simulations. She is like Neo, trapped in The Matrix, until she DOES look at Lancelot for real and the mirror shatters, bringing a mysterious "curse" upon her. The poem contains many, many levels, regarding Lancelot's many suitors, unrequited love, terminal illness, drugs, medieval aspects of feminism, sex and the possibility that it refers to deadly STDs, the Victorian mindset regarding death and mourning, Neo Platonism and what Borges says about mirrors being monstrous etc.

These mirrors were made with quotes from the Tennyson poem printed backwards (can only be seen through a mirror) and installed in appropriate locations around the city of Lincoln. The Lady of Shalott is located very much locally to Lincoln, which would historically have been an island within the fen landscape, the hill with the castle at the top providing the "four gray walls and four gray towers" inhabited perhaps by the Lady of Shalott.
The Brayford Pool with its barges reflects aspects of the poem succinctly.

"From The bank and from the river,
he flashed into the crystal mirror,
'Tirra Lirra', by the river,
Sang Sir Lancelot"

"And sometimes through the mirror blue,
The knights come riding two and two,
she hath no loyal knight and true,
The Lady of Shalott"

"And moving thro' a mirror clear,
that hangs before her all the year,
shadows of the world appear"

I am planning to continue this installation for the Summer Gala, July 18, 2009, located around Brayford Waterfront in Lincoln. I'm thinking of including the Lady of Shalott doll somehow, and to re-install these mirrors around the Brayford Waterfront and beyond, to form an art installation that hopefully will enthrall and excite visitors, especially those who are aware of the Lady of Shalott work currently exhibiting in The Collection.

I am also wishing to gain commissions for Lady of Shalott dolls at the next Lincoln Artist market, Steep Hill, 28th June 2009.

The Unreal God And Aspects Of His Non-existent Universe

2009-01-14T05:46:00.000-08:00

I've been busy working on the Doll Proposal for some time, and engaging in business discussions. This week I'm going for a briefing to help the artist John Newling with his installation at The Collection.

Today I entered a story on the Tate Modern website for something that directly relates to my installation.

If you have googled The Unreal God And Aspects Of His Non-Existent Universe, it directs here, however, my Degree Show blog is also available here:

http://www.a-n.co.uk/degrees_unedited/projects/single/421025

These blogs merely document the process of creating the work, and are now obsolete; all my finished work, images of the installation and further information,is on my website www.helendblackbird.co.uk

Coldplay Lost video competition

2008-12-01T01:26:00.000-08:00

I finally finished my entry for Coldplay's Lost video competition.

It would have all been hand rendered had I had more time, so I cheated and rotoscoped it digitally. It still took a lot of work....

I'm actually quite pleased with it :-)

Take On Me

2008-11-17T08:32:00.000-08:00

I have decided to make something else relating to A-ha's Take On Me comic book imagery.....

I can't say any more than that, as I am mulling over all the ideas, but aside from attempting to rotoscope a video for Coldplay's Lost competition, which will now star my son, I am trying to work out how to create a very special sketchbook for artists, illustrators, animators, students and musicians, and anyone who likes the Take On Me video.....

Like those doodle books you get for kids in galleries, only this one will be better ;-)

Well OK, the idea for a Take On Me style comic sketchbook is mine, I concocted it, and if anyone tries to plagiarise that idea, I will send Morten round to bore them with his theories of Nothing..........

Basically it's an excuse to self publish my own sketchbook.

I've just gotta work out how to get away with it.... ;-)

2008-11-12T01:49:00.001-08:00

It's all been very quiet for a few months... I finally got my website up. You can visit it here: www.helendblackbird.co.uk

I've been focussed more on my a-n blog, as it keeps being publicised online and in their magazine, which is all very helpful, as I've had no luck finding any opportunities, either as an artist, illustrator, or merely a part time job to support my practice.

I've had to find a babysitter in case I need one, as I've been missing some opportunities due to lack of childcare (and the fact that some employers are not open to family friendly working practices)

I can work from 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. Possibly till 5.00p.m. but only part time. No evenings or weekends, as there is no childcare for that time.

Meanwhile, I've been doing the odd bit of work, nothing special, just ticking over really while I figure out the best career plan.

Post Degree Blues

2008-07-15T12:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it's so busy in here I could just die of excitement!

I have put on two degree shows now, this fine art one, and another one for my Illustration work. My Illustration blog is http://blackbirds-birdhouse.blogspot.com
Lately my Illustration work has taken over. I have graduated with an upper 2:1, so I'm really pleased with that, and it seems I make a pretty good illustrator.
Last week I went to London to exhibit my work at New Designers. I've spent the past few weeks preparing some work for that and trying to get my website finished. The website is something that I need to spend time on still.
But I've been rushing around London sorting out membership with the A.O.I. and chatting to a guy from the BBC, who wanted to know if we'd be interested in doing Flash animations...
It's been 2 months since I finished University, and I haven't had any opportunities yet, although I've been busy getting my myspace page up to date in case anyone checks the links on my business cards, I've been keeping a sketchbook, although it was my intention to draw something every day, I've had other stuff to sort out - bills to pay, hostels to book, travel to arrange, all the time trying to get commissions as an illustrator.
I wasted far too much time trying to get a part time job so that I don't have to rely on benefits. Nothing was coming up; no one replied to my applications, and I was just wasting my time with that, it was getting me down.
So I decided to concentrate on New Designers as a potential career opportunity, and am busy following up some leads from that.
I managed to go to the White Cube gallery in Hoxton Square to see Ernesto Caivano's exhibition: http://www.whitecube.com/exhibitions/ernesto_caivano/
This is AMAZING!

In other news, my Degree Show blog on a-n has been quoted profusely by Andrew Bryant in this month's a-n magazine!
Pretty good publicity I hope :-)

Degree Show preview

2008-05-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

After spending most of last week setting up and preparing my Illustration Degree Show ready for assessment yesterday, last Friday was the preview of my Fine Art Degree Show, The Unreal God And Aspects of His Non-Existent Universe, as part of the University of Lincoln Degree Show thisisit08.
I made a comic style comments book to go in it, and left to get ready and pick my children up from school, and as such I was running slightly late to meet the curator. But nevertheless, she had some positive comments to make about my installation, especially how it worked juxtaposed next to my colleagues' installation in the adjacent room.
I received positive comments from people who actually went in and "read" the comic itself, and all my worries that people wouldn't be able to see it the way I intended have been allayed by the response I've received so far!
So I will share some pictures here, and then I will share my Illustration Show as well - I have pictures of how it is currently, awaiting assessment.

Excitement!

2008-05-08T14:58:00.000-07:00

[8 May 2008]
I have finally printed the actual comic! I'm so happy to have that finished! I was going to print several copies, but now time is running out I'm just glad to have one finished comic to go in the installation to make it complete!

Everything else is back on track, but I still have a lot to do and today I had to clear out my Illustration studio. It feels sad to know I'll be leaving soon, but at the same time I'm getting quite excited and will be glad to graduate.
Just to backtrack a bit here's what else I've been up to:

[2 May 2008]
I've finally started to set up my space now, although this was hindered slightly by the fact that Channel Four were filming an advert for the University in the gallery for a while, and the place was awash with media people and equipment!
Now that I don't seem to have any other unnecessary distractions I feel quite excited at the prospect of my show - positive comments from people have helped!
I wasted a day attempting to print my comic onto newsprint through a laserjet printer and have since considered other options, but at least my comic is finished ready for printing, so that's satisfying!
Yesterday I foolishly thought that helping to self publish the Illustration catalogue would only take up a small amount of time.... but I have finished my dolls (whoops - shouldn't mention illustration work here!!) and am addicted to photoshopping a storyboard for a potential Brothers Quay style animation.
The dolls I have been making are to illustrate Black Jack Davey, a folk rock song by Steeleye Span... that's another story, but once I've set up my Fine Art show, I will also be exhibiting my Illustration work a week later!!
As a joint honours student I had the choice to exhibit at one show or the other, or both; the other joint students are doing both shows as well, so we're in it together. I know how Clark Kent feels now......!
The bad news is that A-ha themselves will not be able to attend my Degree Show, as they will be busy preparing for a gig at the Royal Albert Hall - I sent an invite to Morten's management via Facebook, but they declined. I'm sure they would've accepted if it wasn't for such bad timing ;-)

[25 April 2008]
I'm getting really stressed out about the space for my installation, as I had tried to plan it so it would be straightforward, but the disappointment of having not secured the space I ideally had in mind is causing far more potential problems than I had hoped for.
I've been thinking about how to print my comic book and have decided that screen printing it is going to be too much kerfuffle and it'll be easier to just print it on newsprint through the printer in the faculty of Illustration.
I've been working hard to get my Illustration work finished so that I can concentrate on setting up my Fine Art show. Being a joint honours student has its benefits and its drawbacks.
But most of my drawbacks last week were caused by my boiler packing in.
I wasted so much time waiting for the gas man to come and fix it, plus the stress of not having heating or hot water for myself and my children for a whole week, that I haven't even begun to think about the logistics of building a room for my installation, so the repercussions of that are manifold.

[3 April 2008]
Today the spaces we have been allocated for the degree show have been announced on the noticeboard. I haven't succeeded in securing the space I ideally wanted, and have spent some time today trying to figure out how I can set up my installation in a room that will require a lot more work.... hmph!
I've collected my sketchbook so I can carry on with my comic book work, and I've been trying to figure out the best option for my webcast, and it's all very slow, and not only that, I had to go to the local gallery to go and watch some performance art by some colleagues, which was all very interesting, but I'd rather hide away and get on with work. I'm avoiding University tomorrow for this reason, that every time I go there, there is some distraction, however I'll have to go out in the afternoon to avoid the disturbances of the gas man.
I went to see my son play in the school band this evening. I rather enjoyed it actually, made a nice change, as I generally don't have a social life anymore....!

2008-03-26T13:52:00.000-07:00

This is the working front cover for the comic book.
An opportunity has arisen for a potential exhibition as a separate body of work, so I've been busy making a proposal for the interest of Magne Furuholmen and Paul Stolper gallery.

Several pages for the comic book have been created, but are in the process of being adjusted to fit an evolving storyboard.
I will upload images when they've been converted to jpegs, but because they're still in the process of editing, they remain as photoshop files which I'm working on. It means that I can't really upload any images of the work in progress.

Also, the last tutorial I had has made everything feel completely futile for me right now. I'm on my Easter break. I'm getting work ready for Art Practice And Professional Context submission - more faffing about instead of doing actual work.

I got more useful advice speaking to an illustration tutor about the way the comic book will look; currently it looks a lot like a graphic novel. I wouldn't mind, but it needs to look like a comic, so I need to source some appropriate paper to print onto.

I have re-instated my a-n blog in the Degrees Unedited section. I copied the best bits of this blog over ;-)
I'm in the process of working out how to set up this webcast. It seems fairly straightforward.

my a-n blog

2008-02-27T13:06:00.000-08:00

I have subscribed to a_n the artist's newsletter, and as such, I planned to upload a blog on their page.
This I did, but because I have already got this one, I temporarily posted a link to this one, until I had time to make another one for that.
I have been sent an email telling me that they have unpublished it, because they don't allow links to existing blogs.
This is a damn cheek, considering that I have to pay to subscribe to a_n, yet I can post links and whatever else I like on here totally free, so I'm not impressed with that elitism there....

Mini Curatorial project

2008-02-22T10:02:00.001-08:00

I am conducting a mini curatorial project to see how my final show will work. It's not easy considering that I have a lot of work to do for my comic book and I'm still not getting enough time to spend actually making it...

Friday 15th Feb

2008-02-15T09:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I dreamed myself alive again..... typical.

The question is: is this guy Steve Barron, the director, about to smash the comic book window????

Who is this mystery man???

strike

2008-02-07T10:16:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling completely depressed after a busy (but fruitful) week getting loads of inspiration for my illustration work, but it seems that inspiration has left the building as far as this project is going this week. I am sick to the back teeth of filling out forms instead of just getting on with it. I know that on Monday I will have to have my work photographed for the Degree Show catalogue, and I know that photos will be of the drawings I did last semester, which seem to bear little resemblance to what I envisage will become of my installation.
I don't like to be in my studio at Greestone at the moment; there are always far too many distractions, and my heart is in my illustration work at the moment. I need time to breathe, and to rid myself of what seems like completely contradictory advice. Last week I felt there was a clear path ahead, but now things have started to go into the realms of complete confusion, and I'd rather not go there.

One positive thing to have come out of today, that I will probably appreciate more next week than I do right now, is that I saw a guy making an animation in the computer room that was similar to my original one, so I asked him what he was up to. I told him that I'd done something similar before, and offered some advice. He had seen my work in my studio, and commented that he thought a guy had done it.
To me this is a compliment, because I am resenting deeply any kind of perception that my work has been made by a "screaming fan", or has anything to do with that, and all people keep telling me is that I SHOULD be doing that, and I just can't see it, I can't take that seriously, but I suppose that's the point... anyway, I'm glad he thought that, as it appeals to the rebellious tomboy in me ;-)
The poor guy seemed to be having no luck figuring out how to do what he wanted to do, and I could've offered more help, but I decided to go and leave the Valentines cards that I made for Illustration there and go home early, so that I can stay at home and possibly work out my storyboards properly on my own tomorrow.
I'm going on strike!

20:39
OK! I think I have finally cracked it ;-)
I couldn't sleep at all last night, so I kept reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, a book that appeared in a blog written by Magne last month, that subsequently disappeared... there was a long list of recommendations, but knowing that my work has been about time, this one struck a chord, as I suspect Magne may well have known... Art! Time! Coincidence! Birds and Borges - everything I was missing is only fully realised now that I've finished the book (that's what I was doing to take my mind off my seeming lack of inspiration!). I've just read the last few chapters, and towards the end it appeared; each chapter is dated, with the ages that the characters Clare and Henry are at the time, there appeared a chapter "Saturday, July 12th, 2008"
This date will be my 32nd birthday, which coincides with the fact that the faculty of Illustration have booked a space for us to exhibit at New Designers in London - therefore I was planning to celebrate my birthday that weekend in London.... I have informed Magne via his myspace of this, informally invited him to come and see my work, I am considering the same for my Fine Art Degree Show - A-ha will be in London for the weekend after the Fine Art Degree Show, so they could possibly have time to come and see my work. Last week I wrote a question for Magne in a forum in which questions are being chosen for the man himself to answer... these will be chosen tomorrow! I have invited Morten, Magne and Pal to the degree show.... I may have to rephrase the question in light of my epiphany....
Today, John and I were discussing the banner I took to the Liverpool gig in 2006. The conversation confused me in my bewildered and sleep deprived state, but now everything is clear..... the banner expresses my wish, a wish that still remains unfulfilled - if the guys could make it to the degree show, it would be a work of GENIUS! Mags is a genius!
I have also figured out that I don't need to worry about storyboards! What was I thinking!! All I need to do, is to carry on the way I was working before, only document what has happened so far, and make up what happens next (ie if A-ha actually show up at the Degree Show, or if I meet them at New Designers...)
The strike is off! I have work to do tomorrow!

This is a copy of the banner I took to Liverpool

This is what I did to it, to bring it up to date following my revelation, however, I'm also in the process of editing the comic book images that I used if they will fit in the made up version I'm making... the text is so small and lengthy that it couldn't really be read if this was a banner at a gig. Which is interesting.... this won't be for a gig, it will be for a gallery. I might change the text later though, it depends what people say about it.

Take Me On

2008-02-01T03:15:00.000-08:00

I recently had a dream that a secret admirer gave me a hug to show me his love. The Take On Me video is a love story.... I am wondering if my version could be a love story of my own; to include the real man of my dreams - who is he? Will it come true??? Will my own love story come true the way that Morten and Bunty's did (even though she left him for Billy Idol; we will be berating that issue later, the cheating little ***!)
Currently robbing screen grabs from the TOM video and working out a storyboard - I need to run this by someone....
I may need an "actor" to play the part of my love interest... but the idea would need to include some way of involving A-ha again.... hmm
I think I will do a couple of storyboards and see which one works... he he!

I'm also considering using some screen grabs from Magne F's webcast last week, in which he performed a live online painting performance (with no one to hold the ladder whenever he went up it, which made me want to climb in the screen and berate him for Health and Safety issues...)
Missed the best bits due to a tutorial, but luckily I have some images I could use.... the idea being that I have something relevant to what they're doing now in the storyboard...

The Cupboard Of Curiosities Exhibition

2008-01-31T11:23:00.000-08:00

The Cupboard of Curiosities

I am taking part in an exhibition with a group of talented artists at the Greestone Gallery. As mentioned previously, this is a retrospective piece which includes Perfectus Pupae et Hominis Cicatricosus (Latin: Perfect Dolls and Scarred Human Beings) 2005
(for further details, see "Retrospective Work" http://blackbird-retrospectivework.blogspot.com/)

Opening is 2.00p.m. on Wednesday 13th February at Greestone Gallery, refreshments will be served.
Continuing from 10.00 to 4.00p.m. daily until 25 March Monday to Friday.

Related links:
http://www.lanarts.com/?q=node/898

http://www.richarddonkin.com/blog/2006/12/cupboard-love.html
http://www.hwebdesign.co.uk/blog/2005/12/cupboard-love.html

For more on this quote: "storage is like great sex" : http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/property/today-its-all-about-cupboard-love-510628.html

Tutorials 22nd and 24th Jan

2008-01-25T06:29:00.000-08:00

The start of a new semester, and after a trip to New York to visit the studio of the artist Luca Buvoli, a tutorial with the artist Jordan McKenzie produced some interesting conclusions.
His recommendation was to create work based on A-ha, and to edit the artist into the Take On Me video.
This was also insisted in a second tutorial with another lecturer, who said the same.
I would never have taken such a suggestion seriously, however, references to Baudrillard were used to verify the seriousness of this suggestion.
I concede that this idea would be interesting as an artist creating a piece involving collaborations with the band themselves; it has Las Meninas references....
Such hard work *sighs*

2008-01-12T06:22:00.000-08:00

For taking part in Magne Furuholmen's Scrabble exhibition (also known as "Mange Magne") last Autumn (see below) the artist has been bestowed with a personally signed letter from Mags in gratitude for the contribution, and also a limited edition CD of the sound part of the installation. The artist reserves the right to play the CD to subdue boring conversations at will.
Collaborations with Magne are ongoing.

2007-12-14T01:46:00.000-08:00

a sketch of the "real world" outside the studio window....

Tutorial 10th December

2007-12-11T11:29:00.000-08:00

I had a brief tutorial with Medina, who seemed to think of it as being an installation, which I see it becoming actually. However, she also suggested something to do with mapping thoughts, pins and string, and when I say I don't want my work to be giving out signals of obsessiveness, people usually mention Isaac's loft in Heroes, with all that string and newspaper cuttings etc, so if it starts turning out like that I'm in trouble....!

No, I was writing in my dissertation a reference to the window, or "mirror" in Take On Me" where the girl has already gone into the comic book realm, but still appears as real....

in the precession of the simulacrum, she represents the viewer, who is also drawn into that world... this was with reference to Velazquez' Las Meninas, that the painting is viewed from the perspective of the subjects, the king and queen, who appear as reflections in a mirror. I was thinking of the frame in the Take On Me video that they dance in front of as being like that mirror.... so I had this idea of building that frame in my studio, so that whoever enters the space immediately becomes involved in the video; the unreal becomes real. I also came across a drawing of the view outside the studio window, that I did and never used.
I think that would be excellent juxtaposed with the other work, because in that image the real world outside the studio becomes part of this comic book world.

I am in the process of preparing everything for assessment, and as such I will not create any more work, unless I have time to draw some more aspects of the "real" world to add to that drawing... but I am considering how it will be presented in the space.

artists talk Jamie Shovlin

2007-12-07T14:48:00.001-08:00

Before I didn't upload all of my work...

I've been trying to read The Order Of Things - Michel Foucault, but have been distracted by Mr. Merzbau himself causing me an unnecessary amount of anguish.
Yesterday, Jamie Shovlin very kindly came to tell us about his work, which had some very striking resemblances to my practice in many strange ways ;-)
Here is some info about him:
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article1955829.ece
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/artnow/jamieshovlin/default.shtm

He made me think of Gerard Byrne and Foucault, which is probably not a good thing to do simultaneously....

So, the images above are of the beginning of The Sun Always Shines On TV video, which concluded the narrative from Take On Me, culminating in the moment when Morten Harket turns back into a comic book character, and disappears into his comic book world.
I was considering continuing the story where it left off (and turned into a Cathedral full of mannequins!) - to continue the comic book imagery.

Shovlin's made up German rock band is probably about as amusing as this idea.
However, I'm not sure at this stage whether to completely make something up, to include real events that happened to A-ha / Morten Harket after Take On Me, or to do what John suggested and edit the actual Take On Me video itself, adding my own elements to it. It has been suggested to me *NOTE* THIS WASN'T MY IDEA! that I edit myself into the video.
I did that FOR A JOKE when I bought an original promo version of the Take On Me single from ebay, which has the actual comic book in it (I've never seen another one since, so it was lucky I got that.)
Yeah, I was messing about, taking the p*** by editing myself into the comic but I doubt I'd do that seriously (even though Mags gave it the thumbs up!)

Having said that, A-ha themselves edited themselves into Morten Skallerud's "A Year Along An Abandoned Road" for Lifelines.... and I've always wanted to go to Norway.... Shovlin might be on to something with his fake American sojourn.....

I have been shooing this idea away like an annoying fly; that I could add what I was doing at the same time, adding onto the end of the Take On Me video a reconstruction of my actual childhood around the age of 10 as a "Meanwhile"...
This was when I decided I wanted to be an artist. Then later this parallel narrative would culminate in the actual Take On Me promo single that Pal signed for me - that was when my world and A-ha's world collided...

I think I need to take a rolled up newspaper to that idea as well. It isn't funny enough.

It has been suggested that because I've stuck pictures to the wall, it looks like an "obsession".
It's an art studio.... that's what artists do.
They're not staying like that, they're probably going to become part of a comic book, but anyway here are some thoughts on that notion:

:-P

Group tutorial 28th Nov 2007

2007-11-28T14:11:00.000-08:00

I wanted to know what other people thought of these images, whether it comes across as some kind of Pop Art (Warhol) or some obsessive fan, because that is not what this work is about. I didn't receive enough feedback to gauge whether anyone was receiving erroneous "screaming teenage fan" ideas from it, because I am aware how it could be construed that way; this artist was too young to have posters of any one band all over the wall. Sorry to dispel that misinterpretation, but I've never been any good at obsessions.
Reference: http://www.eyestorm.com/artists/profile/Vic_Reeves.html

I was merely playing around with the images, doodling, and as I was doodling images of Morten Harket I was simultaneously doodling whatever thoughts were in my head. Considering I was writing my dissertation simultaneously, the theories I am researching are foremost in my mind.
I wasn't planning on continuing along the Take On Me/ A-ha direction; I was using it as a vehicle to develop further ideas from, however, when I thought about it and discussed it in relation to Baudrillard, I started to receive positive feedback that dispelled any concerns I had that it would end up looking like some kind of obsession.

"The Unreal God And The Aspects Of His Non-Existent Universe" was a Gnostic text that Philip K. Dick came across, the concept of which made him laugh.

Borges - A New Refutation of Time

The general consensus was that there is something more going on with my work, although it's taking its time to develop, however, I have limited time to work on this at present.

If anyone has any further thoughts on this, please feel free to leave a comment, thank you.

Current Fine Art Practice

2007-11-23T16:40:00.001-08:00

I am currently working on a fine art project, which is taking more time to realise.
Following from previous animation work, with reference to Gerard Byrne's "1984 And Beyond" video work at the Irish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and in a similar vein to Candice Breitz's Re-animations, I began reconstructing a narrative based around A-ha's 1986 music video Take On Me, in which the fictional realm of the iconic music video is conflated with quotes that the band members themselves have said in interviews, Morten's own philosophy, and references to Baudrillard and Philip K Dick.
Recent images of the band are being redrawn in the same style of drawing as Michael Patterson's animation, although they are not rotoscoped in the same way. Rotoscoped animation is a technique of drawing over live film footage, considered by many - including the artist Luca Buvoli who used the technique in his video "Velocity Zero - Aphasia" - as cheating, despite being used to spectacular effect in the examples I have referred to. So the drawings, these re-animations exist now, in 2007, therefore changing the temporal dynamic of what is perceived by many as an iconic 1980s music video. This is also in context with band member Morten Harket's own existential philosophy: "There is no Birth, Life, Death - Existence, it's all the same thing. There is only Now"

scene in Waking Life in which Richard Linklater appears and describes Philip K. Dick's theory

Jeff Ayeroff, Steve Barron, and Michael Patterson showing how the Take On Me video was created.
Bunty dumped Morten shortly afterwards for Billy Idol (A-ha.com) This kind of information will be added retrospectively to images from the video.

Live images of A-ha appeared as a new version of the Take On Me video during their most recent gig in Kiel, Germany, September 2007

Merely by drawing an image from the Take On Me video now, in my studio, this alters the whole context of the images.
The quote is from a recent interview with Morten Harket in Jan Omdahl's The Swing Of Things: Twenty Years With A-ha, 2004

Excerpts from Waking Life

Blackbird's illustration work: http://blackbirds-birdhouse.blogspot.com/

Previous Fine Art Practice

2007-11-22T02:34:00.000-08:00

The Norwegian artist and musician Magne Furuholmen (also of A-ha) invited his myspace friends to collaborate with him to create a series of dolls of him for an exhibition in Norway:

"Manga Magne" doll
cotton, wadding, wire, wool, denim
Two of two dolls I made for Magne Furuholmen's art exhibition at Sørlandets Kunstmuseum in Kristiansand, Norway, during August - September 2007
"Manga Magne" was inspired by a photo of Mags wearing a kimono. He has fully articulated fingers so he can do karate.
He was exhibited in Greestone gallery before appearing with 98 other dolls as part of Magne's installation "Mange Magne" (Norwegian - Many Magne) in Kristiansand, Norway.
The dolls formed an installation in response to an existing painting by the Norwegian artist Leonard Rickhard, entitled "Tired Model Airplane Builder II". There was also a sound part to it, consisting of the dolls "voices".

"Minor Magne" doll
approx 12cms polymer clay, fabric, plastic, wadding, wire, acrylic
One of two dolls I made for Magne Furuholmen's art exhibition at Sørlandets Kunstmuseum in Kristiansand, Norway, during August - September 2007
"Minor Magne" is based on Mags from the Minor Earth Major Sky video. The space suits were the same ones used for the film Apollo 13. During a press conference, Magne decided to demonstrate the ease with which to go to the toilet in the suits, so I had to make adjustments to the rear of the suit.
http://www.a-ha.com/cparticle7840-417.html
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=26829
http://www.magnef.net/dolls/

A series of coincidences stemmed from an animation that I made in the same style of drawing as A-ha's Take On Me video. At the same time, Richard Linklater released the film A Scanner Darkly, which was made in verisimilitude rotoscoped animation. I also became inspired by his 2001 film Waking Life, A-ha as a band had new material, although they had seemingly disappeared since I was a girl in the 1980s, and the first animation I made was based on these influences and the philosophies behind them, this animation was part of a larger installation in which I was interested in the way that in Waking Life, the first scene is almost the same as the last scene, which I interpreted to mean that everything that happens in the whole film takes place in one instance, the same way that when you wake up and fall asleep, you seemingly dream for hours, yet only a short time passes before you awaken again. The blackbird represents the liminal realm between waking and sleeping, four and twenty blackbirds are twenty four hours in the day.

This was intended to be projected inside a birdbox, however, technical difficulties meant it was displayed on a monitor as a looped animation, along with a flicker book version.

Still images from video and animation were juxtaposed onto pages from a book about birds in order to create a part video / part animated flicker book.
Additional stills were mounted on the wall as part of the installation.

Fine Art Proposal
Synopsis
“Exodus”
The Exodus proposal is to make a full scale replica of Lincoln Cathedral out of haystacks, or straw bales to be more accurate.

Like Archigram and Superstudio, both architectural 1960’s / 70’s art collectives, I give free reign to my imagination, and it isn’t necessarily meant to be completely serious. Art should be fun!

Project Narrative
The idea for “Exodus” comes from an album cover for the 1970’s folk rock band Steeleye Span. The band is significant with Lincolnshire folk history. John "Steeleye" Span was a waggoner from Horkstow Grange in North Lincolnshire; the name of the band derives from a legend about a fight he was involved in with John Bowlin.
Their album “Commoner’s Crown” depicts a crown made of straw, which inspired the idea to make a Cathedral out of straw, because of the interesting analogies between the Cathedral and the surrounding farmland; the Cathedral being the highest object in Lincolnshire, seen for miles around, and the flatness of fenland fields.

The straw bales that will create the structure come from the harvested crop that is one of the main sources of income for people living in the fens; the fens being largely used for agriculture and farming.
As such, the location of this piece is considered to be in a field, far out from the Cathedral itself out in the fens, and possibly Horkstow Grange itself.

Because of the scale of the sculpture, and for safety reasons, it will be a solid sculpture, not accessible internally. This is integral, as it is a work of art, not an actual building.

The accessible nature of straw means that people unfamiliar with the building process can now participate in it. One of the biggest attributes of straw bale building is its capacity for creative fun. Building with bales can be inspiring and transformative, and not something to do alone.

Strawbale buildings were first constructed in the USA in the late 1800s, when baling machines were invented. There are about 70 straw buildings in the UK at the present time, with full planning permission and building regulation approval.

Straw is currently produced surplus to requirements. It is regarded as a waste product, and a bale costs on average £1.50 delivered or 40p from the field.

A bale of straw left out in the field and exposed to rain becomes water saturated and is too heavy to lift. To prevent this, the bales would need to be raised off the ground with a sacrificial layer of bales, and the rest stacked with a roof of thatch over the top.

For this work I will require:
• volunteer workers to help construct the building,
• the use of a farmer’s field / land in which to construct the sculpture
• Roughly 94.936 straw bales with which to construct the sculpture
• collaboration with architects and construction companies to work out construction methods and costs, health and safety issues
• collaboration with farmers for use of land / materials / agricultural equipment

This is a community project, involving collaboration with architects, construction companies, farmers, and volunteers from the community to help build the sculpture. Fellow art students would form a core of volunteers, and also other artists and anyone interested in taking part in building a giant straw Cathedral.
I wish for all who would be involved in constructing this sculpture to enjoy participating in the building process, as building with straw is meant to be fun!!

Having no experience of large scale sculpture this is entirely experimental, although my family were arable farmers, and this work follows on from “Literal Space”, a piece of sculpture inspired by Anthony Gormley.

I do not have any preconceptions of what people may think of the work; I’m interested to find out responses to this work.

Process

Lincoln Cathedral Dimensions – floor to roof capacity 150,000 cubic metres.
1 straw bale = approx 157.50cm2 (1.58m2)
Total amount of straw bales required: 94,936

Budget

1 straw bale = approx 157.50cm2
Cost of bales = 40p from field (£1.50 delivered)
Total bales required = 94,936
Total cost of bales = £37,9744 - £142,404

Approx cost of scaffolding £0.5 million

Health and Safety

I had considered the possibility of disposing of the sculpture by burning it (Antony Gormley burnt his junk man sculpture), however, the bales would need to be coated in fire retardant, and I’ve been informed that it’s illegal to burn anything on farms. It would be wrong anyway.
The bales could be recycled after use, another use of straw is for making paper, so that could be a potential possibility.

Appendix

http://www.strawbalefutures.org.uk/
http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=156582&command=displayContent&sourceNode=156408&contentPK=15943994&folderPk=87028&pNodeId=156139
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw
http://www.edenproject.com/about/1594.html
www.antonygormley.com
http://www.designmuseum.org/design/superstudio
http://www.designmuseum.org/design/archigram
http://www.lincolncathedral.com/
http://www.locallife.co.uk/scunthorpe/crops3.asp?pageno=1
http://beehive.thisisgrimsby.co.uk/default.asp?WCI=SiteHome&ID=9182&PageID=51246
http://www.rilmac.co.uk/s-eg.php
J.M.Davey & Son
The Grange,
Horkstow,
Barton-on-Humber
North Lincolnshire
DN18 6BL

Successes

This proposal was successful, as I wrote to Mr. Davey, the owner of Horkstow Grange, and he was very interested in the proposal; he sent me an enthusiastic reply, adding further suggestions.
I also made the local paper with a story (and my photo) appearing in the Lincolnshire Echo.

Helen D Blackbird | Artwork

Christmas pressie creations

Sheep, dreams, animation and sound art

distractions

Orange / Excell / Ofcom scam

illustrative experiments

"Fictions" Exhibition

Holidays, Research trips, and upcoming Fictions exhibition

Michelangelo Pistoletto The Mirror of Judgement

How To Build A Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later (Flow My Tears, A-ha)

How Bazaar!

S02011 Festival Skegness

Upcoming Solo show!!

UnCut Conference and Lego Light Space Modulator for Apparatjik

A-ha Conference and Exhibition, Oslo Norway, October 2010

Hunting High and Low: 25 years with a-ha / A-ha gjennom 25 ar

Exhibition / Utstilling October 20, 2010 - January 29, 2011

National Library of Norway

Nottingham exhibition / Sheffield 2010

Gallery Girl

Alice In Disneyland final animation and exhibition

Dispute with Odeon

Alice In Wonderland animation work

Alice In Wonderland exhibition

Purchasing work

The Lady of Shalott @ Lincoln Summer Gala

dolls and mirrors

Mirrors

The Lady of Shalott / Brothers Quay

Lincoln Artist's Market

The Lady of Shalott

The Unreal God And Aspects Of His Non-existent Universe

Coldplay Lost video competition

Take On Me

Post Degree Blues

Degree Show preview

Excitement!

my a-n blog

Mini Curatorial project

Friday 15th Feb

strike

Take Me On

The Cupboard Of Curiosities Exhibition

Tutorials 22nd and 24th Jan

Tutorial 10th December

artists talk Jamie Shovlin

Group tutorial 28th Nov 2007

Current Fine Art Practice

Previous Fine Art Practice

Michelangelo Pistoletto
The Mirror of Judgement