Goole Museum

I'm please to say that the tour of Textures of Spurn has been extended to include Goole Museum for the first part of 2014.  The work is now on show there until 11th March.

collecting

I returned to Spurn last week to collect the two large Spurn Cloths from the lighthouse.  I was actually a bit nervous about going back: this really was the end of my official time here.  Out on the dunes autumn is evident.

Inside the lighthouse Spurn Cloth #2 was beautifully lit in the autumn sunshine.

and up in the lamp room Cloth #1 still looked quite at home.  I wonder how the colours have faded with almost a month in direct sunlight.  There must have been some change; a mellowing.   But the strong prints look much the same.  Any change that there has been is just part of the life of these pieces. 

I took the cloths down, packed them away and left the lighthouse as I'd found it 6 months ago.
 

saying goodbye

It has taken me all week to recover from last weekend - I've been in a bit of a daze.  The exhibition weekend went so well and exceeded expectations on various levels.  We had 700 visitors over the three days, which was fantastic.  Many had traveled quite a distance to see the work.  Family and friends came from London, Cheshire, Bolton, Grimsby, Bradford, Leeds and elsewhere.  People I don't know came from Peterborough, Boston, Buxton... and many from south of the Humber and from York.  It was really quite overwelming to find so many people had made such an effort to get there.  There were also many who were just visiting Spurn anyway and came in to see the lighthouse.  Hopefully some of these were pleasantly surprised at what they found inside.

The space worked really well and I'm so glad that I used each level in different ways.  It made for a journey of discovery as you climbed up all those steps.  It is only when people actually start to come into the space do you find whether it has been successful and whether people will react how you've imagined they might.

There were many lovely comments about my work and it confirmed for me that I'd managed to capture something of the place in what I produced.  The book was a big hit.  This is available directly from me at £10 (+ £3 p&p).  Just send me an email to request one. 

Of course this isn't the end.  Although I've handed back the key to the lighthouse and my residency is over the project continues for another year with the work traveling to various galleries in the region.  The first of these is South Square next week (link on the right).

So as well as recovering and unpacking and generally adjusting to the real world again I've been preparing for the next exhibition.  Each venue will be different and will show a different selection of the work.  The lighthouse is unique and was such a special (as well as challenging) space to show it in.  It belongs there.  However, I am looking forward to seeing it elsewhere.  There isn't space for the two big Spurn Cloths at South Square so in order to represent these large textile works in the smaller venue I have made three small Spurn Cloths.  I'll show images of these later.

So this blog will continue as the work travels and develops. Don't go away...   

all set

Everything is in place and ready for the exhibition opening today.  We're open from 11 to 5 today, Saturday and Sunday. 

autumnal tint

I arrived on Spurn yesterday and have the next few days to prepare for the exhibition.  It's amazing how quickly things change.  When I was last here, only three weeks ago, there was a hint of autumn in the colours of vegetation.  This week it feels decidedly autumnal.  There are wonderful bright berries on the sea buckthorn as well as on hawthorn and lovely hips on the various roses.  An evening walk was full of warm light on the grasses and seed heads along the estuary and clear views coupled with a spectacular sunset.

There are particularly high tides early this week and therefore there is the threat of a wash-over on the road.  So far the weather looks to be such that this may not happen as the wind, although strong, is south westerly.  There are lots of white horses on the Humber but the sea level isn't affected enough to wash right over, at least it didn't yesterday.

I had a session with a photographer yesterday for a press article and then some time with Gavin, a film maker who will be the next artist in residence at Spurn. He is making a film about the different people that come to Spurn.  It's lovely to have a little involvement in the next project to happen here.

This morning I had the task of cleaning the lighthouse.  I started at the top and swept all the way to the bottom, six floors in all (I keep meaning to count those steps - there are a lot!).  It was a dirty job and I needed a good shower afterwards.  It isn't exactly clean and I probably raised as much dust as I collected but at least all the loose stuff that accumulates has been cleared up.  I can start setting things up tomorrow, once the dust has settled.

 

 

printing

Time marches on and deadlines are getting tighter.  The little book I'm publishing to document my residency is almost ready for the printers thanks to the wonderful Ruth.  In between entertaining holidaying children I've managed to get a batch of rust prints over-printed with collagraphs that will hopefully dry in time to get to the framers...

 

Meanwhile, I'm waiting to hear when the BBC Look North feature will be aired (in the eastern part of the region I understand) and when the article in the Journal Magazine (a publication in Hull) will be out...

testing

With less than a month to go before the residency exhibition things are coming together.  I've spent today testing out how things look in the different spaces in the lighthouse.  As an exhibition space it is pretty challenging: there are low light levels in most rooms; floors and surfaces are dirty; and there are a lot of steps!  By exhibiting work at the top of the building (where the light is better) you are expecting visitors to invest in the effort required to walk up all those steps.  Hopefully the promise of the view from the top is enough to encourage people to make that investment!  Lower down, where it is gloomy, even on a bright day, there is a risk that work will just not have an impact at all.  There is a lot to consider in trying to create an exhibition that will be successful for the viewer.

I was also interviewed today for BBC Look North, which was fun.  We recorded sequences on the top of the dunes, in the lighthouse and up on the balcony at the top.  The feature should go out sometime next week in the eastern part of the region.  The weather was good to us, with bright sunshine while the crew were there.  

Later things got very hazy and strange light joined rumbles of thunder before some rain.

to the point

I had a very enthusiastic audience for my talk 'To the point' this afternoon.  We just managed to squeeze everyone into my studio here amongst all the fabric and samples.  It was lovely to meet some new people (and see some familiar faces) and share what I'm doing with such an appreciative bunch.  There was even a 'Blue Peter' moment where I unwrapped a bundle of silk wrapped round a piece of rusty metal, accompanied by suitable expressions of delight at the marks that were being revealed.

let the stitching commence

I started stitching this morning.  I have rather a lot of it to do.  Of course I knew this, but it is only in actually starting the process and spending a good part of today on it that it is clear just how long it will take me to do it all!

The stitches serve two purposes: they fix the silk pieces to the felt and they add texture and marks to those already in the silk.  They can help to blend the different pieces together and accentuate certain areas.  I am purposefully keeping some of the creases in the silk as the reflective qualities of these are what give a similar feel to the reflection of water and wet sand.  My stitches can help to fix these in place and add reflective qualities of their own.  In placing the stitches I am responding to the marks on the silk, using the boundaries of colour already there and thinking about how material is sorted and arranged on the beach.

residency number two

I'm spending this week at Farfield Mill in Cumbria.  I am artist in residence here during that time.  Yes I know, surely I can't be 'in residence' in two places at once... But I've brought a bit of Spurn here with me (images, sketches, notes, memories) and I am very much there in spirit.  I am using this week to work in a concentrated way on my two big textile pieces, currently called Spurn cloth #1 and Spurn cloth #2... these unromantic titles may change with time but for now they will do.


I have a clean, light space here where I can spread out and work away from the distractions of my home studio.  It would be tricky to do this in the lighthouse and while I work here I have people popping in to see what I'm doing so I can tell a different bunch of people about the project.

My first job yesterday, after unpacking my things, was to lay out the roll of felt In using as the base for cloth #1.  This is industrial wool felt and will give a strong but flexible base to the piece that is beautiful to stitch into.  My roomy studio floor was perfect for laying it out, measuring and cutting it to the size I need.  I could then start to arrange my dyed silk on top of it.  There then followed a great deal of fiddling, moving, rearranging, considering etc. until I was happy with the arrangement.
 

I could then begin to pin the pieces in place.  This cloth is to hang in the lamp room in the lighthouse, where there is good light and visitors will be able to see the detail of the surface very close.  There is a suggestion of a horizon and this work will almost be reflecting back the 360 degree view you get from the top of the lighthouse.  But I'm not trying to represent it directly, rather I aim to capture something of the changing tones and marks in sky, sea and sand.

I will be giving an illustrated talk here at Farfield Mill on Friday at 2pm, all about the project. 

 

marks on silk

As well as the fabric wrappings that I left at Spurn to gather marks from the groynes, I have also made bundles at home with rusty things collected on the beach.  These are all unwrapped now.  The silk practically glows with reflected light and the prints are a curious mix of subtle and strong.

I am planning two large textile pieces for my exhibition, as well as a series of prints on paper.  In terms of a space for showing art the lighthouse is pretty challenging: it is large (!) and there are generally low light levels.  This means that the subtle shades and natural tones that I am drawn to working in won't have much of an impact.  So I must bear this in mind when preparing work to go in the various rooms.  The one space that does have good natural light is the lamp room and this is flooded with it, even on a cloudy day.  I am going to make the most of that and am planning one of my large pieces for this space, where the viewer will be able to see the work very close and in good light.

I will be using the silk that I've dyed using rust and tea and making a kind of art quilt.  I'm going to start putting this together and working on it in earnest next week, when I'm at Farfield Mill.  The painted sketches I did last weekend will help guide me when putting this together and I'm really looking forward to having the space to spread my fabrics out and start fitting them together.

publicity

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, hosts and supporters of my project, have issued my press release on their website here.  And I'm in the Hull Daily Mail today!  If anyone has a paper copy they can send me let me know.

collecting textures

Another grey day and lots of layers are needed to keep out the relentless wind.  But at least it's dry. 

The space I set up yesterday on the second floor of the lighthouse (in front of the big window in the middle) has been really useful as a place to spread things out and do some experiments in wet media.  The room is painted black, as is the room below.  I'm not sure what the significance of the darkness is.  It has a large window which gives enough light to work by.

I decided on Friday's drive over here that this trip must be about collecting textures.  So that is what I've tried to concentrate on.  I've drawn a lot, using pens and charcoal when I'm outside and started to play with making marks from some rusty metal found on the beach.  I tried working on a larger scale yesterday but nothing seemed to work so I've gone back to working on small sketchbook pages, removed carefully from the book to work on so that I can put them back together once things have dried.

interesting find

I came across the blog of Annemarie Tickle recently and have started corresponding with her.  Her work is based on the landscape of Spurn and particularly the view across the Humber to the south bank.  We share common interests and we hope to meet up when I'm next at Spurn.  

Friday 20th April

I drove over to Spurn last Friday, a typical April day with dramatic grey clouds, bright bits in between and the threat of a heavy shower at any time.  After Hull the landscape is very like that of North Lincolnshire, where I grew up: flat fields, ditches with stands of reed, fields of yellow oil seed rape starting to dominate with their loud yellow.  This all feels familiar and relatively stable (apart from the changing weather).  

Once on the peninsular things are in constant flux: tides, weather, exposure, light levels, visibility.  The view is constantly changing because of all these things, but there is always big sky and a wide horizon all around.

The view across the Humber forms a kind of arc of land, as if looking across a lake, with the north bank merging in the distance to the south bank of the estuary.  Across the water are Grimsby, Cleethorpes and the Humber bank industries, which become a string of twinkling lights at night.  Ships come and go all the time, up and down the estuary and out in the North Sea. 

The curve of the peninsular is very apparent at the northern end of it, so rather than looking down the spine of the spit you look across water or sand to the point and the lighthouse in the distance (it's about 3.5 miles long).

I have almost 2 hours walking on a small section of the western shore.  There is so much to take my attention and I don't know quite what to settle on so I decide to draw whatever catches my eye, try things out and not worry about the results.  I have to find a way into things, find a pattern of recording that is appropriate and fits with the ever-changing conditions.  The elements govern everything here.  Plans have to be flexible.

I find that about 2 hours outside in one go is enough, less if the weather is unkind.  To be able to retreat to the car or the Bird Observatory for a warm drink, some note taking and then a change of location or direction is necessary.  
  

 
I got really absorbed in drawing sand patterns; sketched bits and pieces on the tide line; made rubbings of a wooden groyne; picked up small items of washed up rubbish that could be used for printing; noted where there were pockets of rusty metal (dyeing potential), drift wood and cockle shells; so much potential everywhere.  Lots of thinking, planning and note taking.  My first couple of visits must be about absorbing the place, understanding how to work here and finding that potential.  Only after this period of discovery can I make some decisions about what I want to concentrate on and make the focus of my work here.