sophykingart

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Looking at the messages that builders leave for each other during deconstruction (’LEAVE UP’ and ‘NIBBLE....NIBBLE’) I’m thinking about what else the buildings themselves might be trying to tell us....

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More Manchester REgeneration

Begging to be left up....(it wasn’t)

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Etching and Gold Leaf

This etching Regen 2 has been developing over time.  Layers have been building up, of concrete, structure, plants and finally the gold leaf.  It stems from the work I did in I-Park with concrete and gold leaf.  I’m finally ready to print an edition ready for the PROOF print show @kosmonautmcr in April

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Gold/Moss/Concrete

More material experiments.  Concrete and moss, this time adding gold leaf to the mix.  I love the interplay of these materials, the tension between natural and manmade, and the contrast of the ‘value’ we place upon them.  There’s a contradiction which interests me in using such unsustainable materials as concrete and gold alongside moss.

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Experiments with moss, concrete and paper

Playing around with materials, and getting into the making groove. 

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Residents(Residence)

Collaborative project with the Landscape Architect Dorothy Bothwell

This project is part of a conceptual series of habitat enrichment interventions at the I-Park Foundation

The sculptural form of the incubator cages (in this case a tower) protect young native beneficial plants.  As the form breaks down, the plants take over and begin to colonise the site, improving biodiversity.

In this case the introduced plant is the Marginal Wood Fern, Dryopteris marginalis.  The project can be expanded to take on different typologies; meadow and marshland as well as, in this case, woodland. 

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Installation No 2 

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Project No 1 Completed

Rehabit is my first project to be completed here at I-Park, it’s been an immensely productive time for me.  In this piece recycled doors are cut into letters and covered in moss.  The site is a vernal pool and as the doors slowly rot down they form a new habitat for the moss, fueling a cycle of growth and decay.

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Strands of work

An investigation of growth and decay and transformative processes has resulted in several strands of work emerging.  I am taking photos to show the changes in the park as autumn arrives.  The full on colour has been knocked back by a destructive Gypsy Moth infestation this summer. 

I’m using gold leaf and moss to alter some cast-off concrete hemispheres.

I’m also working on a piece in the woods made out of recycled doors and moss (concept drawing below).  The title, Rehabilitation, refers to the function of the moss taking over and breaking down the doors, to the work that I-Park are doing on the land, and to the role of the residency as a place of retreat for artists.  There is a natural cycle going on in the work, but the shortening of the word to REHAB brings a more urban connotation to mind. 

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I-Park Residency 12th Oct

Mapping the trees around the clearing I like.  Director of I-Park, Ralph Crispino Jr is happy for me to use this spot.  The sense of a protective circle makes me think of offerings.  I’ve found some concrete semi-spheres which are almost like cups on the Junk Trail, so I’ll maybe use these.

A mini-project idea....

In the dry river bed behind the Red Barn. I’m imagining a golden rock tumbling down the moss-covered rock in the bed, representing water ending the drought.  The whole area’s suffered from drought and a Gypsy Moth infestation which wreaked havoc, especially on the oak trees.

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I-Park Residency Day 6

A bird walk to start off the day.  Lovely twitchers from the local Audobon Society.  So interesting, the same same but different birds and their names.  The twitchers translate the bird calls; “Theif, theif!” or “Peabody, peabody”  They don’t really sound anything like the calls but capture the rhythm I guess.

I made a sketch of a planting idea, I’m collaborating with Landscape Architect Dorothy Bothwell, in response to a work about invasive plants by Bob Chaplin.  The idea is to introduce Invitee plants to inhabit the area.  There are two sites we have in mind; a scrubby field to introduce meadow plants, and a monoculture valley of ferns to introduce another native fern.

I also spent time in a spot I’ve found, walking a spiral, clearing brush and drawing.

Watched pond skaters.

Communed with chipmunks.

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I’m back in the workshop, making the most of the bit of time between the kids going back to school and the start of my residency at the I-Park in Connecticut in October.

I’m looking at the prints I’ve done at Hot Bed Press, and the photos that I’m moved to take when I’m out and about.

What is it that draws me to these half-built/half-destroyed, seemingly unloved buildings and spaces.  Is it the decay, or the promise of growth?  Maybe it’s their skeletal qualities,  you can see right into these spaces, how they are made, what their underlying structure is.  Is it death or regrowth? Am I looking for fundamental qualities?  And what can I make of the fact that these places are all uninhabited.  Am I trying to find ways to inhabit the space? Or do I like them for their lack of humans?

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Installation Day!

Exciting!

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The gull animation updated

A friend suggested I should put in the tap-dance that gulls do to charm worms to the surface. It fitted in well with the idea of the estuary as a sort of service station along the migration routes so I gave it a go.

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More animation for Birds of Passage

This is my impression of the pink-footed geese taking off.  They seem to struggle to get into the air, it reminds me of the experience of flying in dreams.

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And now to make him move. I'm stupidly excited by this.

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Working on Content - Birds of Passage

My starting point was a drawing of a gull from the Ribble Estuary (note to self - must figure out what sort of a gull it was!)

Next step was to transfer my drawing into an LED drawing.  The process was like turning a drawing into a retro pixellated game.