Workshop in Pictures

Yesterdays a.m.  cob  workshop:

Kids chilling out having learnt to play Omali – a game played all over Africa.

The original œuvre footprint painting is up

The original œuvre footprint painting is up, and looks well with the two other larger mixing pit paintings.

Oeuvre is a noun denoting a man-made object

Synonym body of work; oeuvre; work

A recipe for success?

Question.

What do you get when you put:

four helpers,

300 Oxfam books,

250 pairs of shoes,

2 four foot square paintings, and one smaller.

Bubblewrap,

pallets,

a giant TV screen,

white paint, green and fired bricks.

Lights,

tracing paper,

water,

paper plates,

glasses,

sand,

plastic sheeting and

tool boxes galore.

Answer; a party!

£1 for fish and Chips!

We setting up crew were needing a lunch break, and suddenly felt like we were in a time warp when we found a chip shop in down town Caldmore (pronounced Karma) the area the Chameleon Gallery is in Walsall,selling fish and chips so cheap. £3.50 is the normal price pretty much every where else. They were delicious. Come to the show and i’ll point you in the right direction!

world wide œuvre

There has been a lovely response to my idea of the carbon neutral artwork, which I posted on this blog, and emailed to friends and contacts – its about to be posted it on facebook too. The work has a name now; world wide œuvre.

Images of completed ones and messages promising to do them, are beginning to arrive from Australia, Mali, USA, London – Greenwich Meridian, and many in Shropshire.

Its growing.

I Have an Idea

I have an idea i hope you can help me with for an artwork. It involves you spending five minutes in the next few days doing it, which i hope you will find rather fun.

First find a piece of earth this can be absolutely anywhere, and in bare feet, walk in an egg shaped spiral, starting at the middle. It really doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect. Please simply record the place, what the ground was; sand, turf, rock; time it was made, etc. If you have a camera, use it if you like, though its not essential. Feed back to me when you have done it, by text, email, whatever. Have fun!

Disaster

Desperately sad after the news that Seydou, my Dogon guest has been refused his entry visa. The UK immigration service is bolting its doors firmly against anyone Muslim, anyone African and anyone black, but especially anyone who is all of those. I guess this is not news.

Does our government really represent our views on immigration – aren’t they being swayed by tabloid headlines? – taking too much of a belt and braces approach.

THIS MAN IN NOT A TERRORIST! He is a beautiful human being who could have helped some of us open a door to another way of being. He had no intention of staying here; he loves his family, his job and his country far too much.

We are both terribly disappointed, and angry. It’s hard not to be. It’s so easy for us, Brits to move around the world. To get into Mali, I just have to turn up and pay on the door. For him to do the Visa application he had to travel to Senegal – for two days by coach, to Dakar and back and on the coach overnight, suffer banditry – at gun point in Senegal. Everyone on the coach was robbed of mobiles and cash – thankfully not papers supporting his visa application - all to have his ‘biometrics’ done – finger print scan, and digital photo. No interview, no conversation. Then a three page rejection letter. The form might just as well have said

Application for a Visa to visit England? FUCK OFF!

Like Cycling up a Mountain in Third Gear

My leg muscles have decided that mixing the terracotta cob is like cycling up a mountain in third gear… very achy today.
Gave myself the afternoon to read inspiring articles in Resurgence Magazine, while basking in this lovely autumn light.
Feel recharged, refreshed and reinvigorated.
At home: Came home to find a semi completed book sculpture dominating my sitting room, so will continue with that and not think too much anymore about ethics, philosophy, and environmentalism…actually that’s not possible. Need a rough book count so know how many books to ask for from Walsall Oxfam. I’m loving this practice version of Drink Deep – it’s full of art books I’ve inherited and esoteric books on Feng Shui, reflexology, colour healing, sacred sites, etc. It’s a self portrait. I may just have to keep it here forever!

Blessed be.
W

Studio News

Two mountains of cob made…but first had fun with Sarah my first technician ever, creating a mixing pit painting. We went round and round treading and mixing together the clay, sawdust and straw. Then, not getting it dirty (hah!), we carried it through the door into Ruth Gibson’s studio to dry. I carried on working until I was on my knees, literally.

Got another recycled terracotta based batch mixed and a white clay + money + hemp mix done by hand instead of foot, then Ruth arrived and needed her space! So that mixing circle painting is back in mine again now. Not even sure where I’m going to paint the larger canvas when I do it.

Got the enormous soaking bins outside filled with the hard dry clay again. Ruth and I recycle her old waste clay, by wetting it down, I love that about clay, you can endlessly recycle it, till it’s fired that is.

Going to move the making to home for next few days so things have a better chance of drying, with the wood burner constantly on.
Blessed be.
W

Meetings in the Middle of Somewhere

My show called ‘Meetings in the Middle of Somewhere’ is part of Black History Month, and is a response to travelling for two months in Mali, West Africa, studying the incredible mud architecture and meeting Mali’s unique mix of Muslims and Animists, in the Tuareg, Dogon, and Bambara tribes.

The show is open from Wednesday October 28^th – November 4th at Walsall’s Chameleon Gallery. 10.30-5.00pm daily.

Increasingly my art works are of a temporary but giant nature. I will be showing some mass recycling artworks and some experiments combining earth, recycled and waste materials. My ultimate goal is to design and produce large scale, long lasting, but low carbon-emitting work. The Arts Councils support is enabling me to do the research I need, at a time when we need answers to the climate challenge. It’s a very exciting time for me.

There will be free workshops, suitable for all ages.

Please ring 07866 007454 to reserve your place

The Big Draw, Drop in Drawing Weds 28^th pm only, Fri 30^th, Sat 31^st& Nov 1^st 11 – 4.30pm

With past winner of Big Draw’s ‘Drawing Inspiration Award’ 2000, expect different ways to draw with Environmental Artist, Wren Miller.

Hands to Earth Friday 30th October
Hands-on workshop creating sculptural forms from mud -the oldest eco building material

With Environmental Artist, Wren Miller 10.30-12.30pm & 2.00-4.00pm

Rattle your Bones, Halloween Drumming Saturday 31st October

Drum Workshop with West African Master Drummer, Jahman Sillah.

11.00-11.45am, 12.15- 1pm, & 2pm – 2.45pm

Day of the Dogon Dead Sunday 1st November 
Dogon stories around death, funerals and the walking dead, death rituals explained by a Malian Dogon Guide, Seydou.

11.00-11.45am & 2pm – 2.45pm

The Chameleon Gallery, 23-25 Sandwell Street, Walsall. WS1 3DR. Telephone 01922 646724

Can I meet the climate challenge?

After visiting the incredible mud architecture of Mali in West Africa I believe that we can learn from Africa and adapt techniques to our climate and situation, saving heat loss, money and carbon emission.

The Met Office is now forecasting that without severe cuts in our carbon emissions, we will see a four degree rise in our temperatures by 2060.

Climate Change on this scale creates urgent challenges. I am looking to find materials that can be used to make sculptures and buildings that won’t emit so much carbon. Brick, concrete and cement take an enormous amount of energy to produce and so they are very high contributors to carbon emissions.

Mud was used in Britain and Europe for centuries. The fashion for brick is roughly 250 years old. Many old buildings in Europe, especially Devon, are made from cob; a sand, clay, straw and water mix, made into unfired bricks or cobs. These are similar ingredients to bricks but un-fired, so less carbon emitting.

I have just started 18 months of Arts Council England funded research and development, seeking for new materials to build and inspire with. I am beginning a range of experiments and eco encounters to blog, feed and share.