A lot of links

The talk/lecture went well at Senate House and I am hoping to upload images and the video to my website shortly. It was great to meet the other artists involved as well as meeting the actor Anthony Shuster, who was taking a break from working for the last two years on Warhorse. There were many interesting questions at the end of the presentations too, which is always great to be part of. Here is a video clip and some photographs from the event.

This week I have made a drawing for a fundraiser at Transition Gallery which involves pagan ritual and references to horn dancers. The fete where these works will be on show is on March 18th, so run by if you can and make a bid.

I am now unpicking the final edit of the story from Liz Williams, who as ever, has made a beautiful and curious story around some ideas I have had for a film. I have put a call out for volunteers, so if you are interested in taking part them drop me a line at hayleylock1@gmail.com. I am hoping to drive up to North Norfolk in the next couple of weeks to hunt down relevant places to film. I have a good idea of where, so lets hope the churches around that area are just as enthusiastic.

I have as yet to pin down my ideas for Tainted Love, but I am sure it will not be far off. I am tied between my love of an object or a person, so I will need to wait and see which one wins.

In other news I am saddened to be leaving my Wysing studio at the end of this month. Unfortunately the costs of getting to and from can no longer be justified with the cut in my teaching hours and subsequent larger input I am putting into my practice. I have however almost secured a new studio not far from my home and with the current financial crisis I may have got myself a great deal, fingers crossed.

I managed last week to see some great shows both in and out of London. I particularly enjoyed Culpable Earth by Steven Claydon at Firstsite in Colchester. Great content, curatorship and interview by Andrea Cotton online

It is done. Alex and I finished the film a couple of days ago for Haunted Landscapes, the script is now tinkered with and complete and I have gone through everything as best I can. Now I just need to book my train.

Now its done, it feels much better, an obvious statement I realise, but an important step for me to grapple with my next project. Often, when I am accumulating ideas, images and texts it often gets to the point where the waters are so muddied I wonder if anything will ever be resolved and with the added stress of working with film for the first time, I am amazed that I have managed to get it done with days to spare. Couldn't have done it without the knowledge of Mr P.

My next task is to re-read properly the script for my first major film work and I am nervous. A much bigger project with a complex cast and multiple identities to grapple with as well as visiting and looking for venues that are appropriate whilst hiring actors to hold it all together. Oh lordie. I haven't been able to give it any time for fear of muddling it up with the Haunted Landscapes, but now the time is here.

Amidst this I have decided to move from my current studio to a location that is nearer to home in an attempt to be efficient with both my time and costings. I have not been able to concentrate on making a significant body of work outside of a project for the last year or so, and I will need to be nearer Norfolk for the next few months to get the next film in order, so mixed emotions about leaving Cambridge and moving studios back to Suffolk. Lets hope it works out.

So, head around a complex cast, I will hint at what happens over the next few weeks and I will maintain the drawings for Empire as I go..exciting times.

Does anyone have an eagle?

I have just returned from a week of teaching at West Dean College in West Sussex. This was the first of three pre-booked teaching sessions and I have to say I loved it. After the initial worries of knowing how the place works in terms of practicality, the 'where is?' and the 'this is what we are going to try to achieve' moments, I had a great week sharing knowledge with a diverse group of teachers, students, experimentalists and practitioners who made the whole experience really enjoyable. I am back in another month.
I am still finalising the last things for my talk at the end of the month having just prepped a talk for South Essex College on Monday. Its odd how things like presentations come in at the same time.
The filming is still taking shape with the great help of Alex Pearl, who has allowed me much time out of his practice to pursue the art of film making. I have realised that I have more confidence in being a director rather than a film maker, but we will just have to wait and see what happens in the end.
I am still drawing mostly, which has allowed me time to think about where my work is heading and I have to say that this is the most excited I have felt for a while although still following the free fall experience of making new work to tight deadlines to new audiences. Talking of which does anyone have an eagle?

I am currently writing the script and making new work for a presentation at The University of London at the end of the month. Using appropriated texts from three sources, I am weaving a new narrative that is suggestive of the complexities and subsequent breakdown within the mind of John Ruskin. I have employed an actor to read the narrative and will be showing a film and some stills between each reading.

Ruskin was a complex man, on the one hand he developed and maintained deep and complex thoughts, on the other he showed his frailties in babbling non- sensical text. The theme throughout will be based on the hauntings within his subconscious coming to the fore.

Because of my possible Ruskin haunting at Brantwood House in the summer when I stayed in the room that Ruskin had his most major breakdown where there was a true sense of the man himself being present, I have based the content on his relationship with his cousin Joan, his lectures to little girls about the value of crystals and crystalisation and the opaque referencing to fireflies that Ruskin taunts his audience in many of his written and oral pieces over time. I will include a number of objects, landscape and visual references to the content of these written works as well as include drawings, film and sound.

This is a new venture for me and a precursor to making a large film based piece later on in the spring. Lets hope it goes well.

In other matters, it was great to meet Margo Spiritus and Rebecca Wilson from Saatchi last week and was very flattered by their comments about my work overall. Both have been very supportive with features, comments and interviews other the last year and it was great to meet them both in person to say thank you.

I will be talking to BA students and staff at Southend College in a couple of weeks about my work (drop me a line if you want an invite) and it will be great to get back in touch with everyone from TAP and beyond.

Anyway enough chatter, I have a script to write..

Things popping up

Things have gotten busy.
Firstly, I forgot to mention all the hard work that Alex (Pearl) put in to get Caddington up and running. He lovingly painted the trompe l'oeil around the door of which I am particularly proud.

Last week's review of (NTWB) Telling: Caddington Hall was a fantastic surprise. As usual, I was expecting to have to get a magnifying glass out to find it but I was absolutely stunned to see it take up 3/4 of a page. So stunned in fact that I immediately shut the paper without reading and got out the cafetiere to arm me with my usual caffeine intake before doing anything else. In reading, I appreciated its careful and beautifully written prose. I have already thanked Zoe Pilger for this fantastic opportunity to get a review in the National Press.

Onto other things. I am currently working on some pieces for a presentation to be hosted at the University of London at the end of February and I am in need of getting the text ready asap, so that it makes some kind of opaque sense to me. Maybe tomorrow.

I am still waiting for Liz's story and the glass for new work as well as hearing back about the filming. The film is going ahead, I just don't know when and where.

Next week is the last week and chance to catch Caddington Hall and the works at a la ronde and then (NTWB) Telling will be over.

I have a couple of other talks/lectures to prepare for too as February has suddenly filled up with lots of new and exciting opportunities. I am also teaching for the first time at West Dean College in the half term and I am particularly interested in looking more at the fascinating contents of the house after I stayed over last weekend for a tutor seminar. I will be part of a 'paper' week, so we will have to see how that maps out. I am expecting it to be pretty intense but I am looking forward to the new teaching challenge.

I am continuing to work on my new Empire works, but this appears to be sporadic at best with all of these other things popping up.

Piddling on the topiary and tippexed eyebrows (Now that would be) telling

So (NTWB) Telling: Caddington Hall PV went well. It was pleasantly busy from around 5.30pm starting with a visit from the next door neighbours of the gallery space who brought along their charming rescue dog who I instantly fell in love with. One moments panic was when the dog particularly looked keen to cock his leg up to urinate over the topiary but thanks to the eagle eyed owners of the beautiful hound, all was saved.

A while before I had arrived at the space to mop floors and tidy but Cathy had pre-empted this chore as she explained that someone from the Independent was paying a visit to chat about the show and look at the work. This, as promised happened and I was introduced to the lovely Zoe Pilger, who I later found out to be studying for her Phd at Goldsmiths on Romance; so this show was of particular interest to her of course. I saw her return later to be part of the PV, which was very nice indeed.

Many guests travelled from near and wide and I was flattered that so many of them had turned out on such a dark, chilly night but it all added to the fun and I met several people that I had only known previously through the internet, a nice addition. I found myself at one point particularly attracted to Paul Kindersley's eyebrows which he promised were not painted with Tippex as I has previously thought but instead were safely embellished with left over makeup from friends that had historically stayed over at his flat. What a relief!

So all was well, my tunes from love story, romantic harp ensembles, Klaus Nomi and Barry White entertained us through the evening and the candles that burnt so brightly were so efficient there wasn't even a drip spilled as we had hoped. I was impressed by the question posed by Cathy Lomax. Just where did all that wax go then?

Onto other news. I have been approached by a film company this week to make a film about me and my work (more on that at a later date) and I have arranged for some more hand made convex glass to be made. I have been writing all this week on and off which has swallowed up a lot of my time but I will be keen to get back to things properly very soon.

And so I wait nervously to see the review in the Independent tomorrow, maybe I will get my new pencils out in anticipation?

In my head

Tomorrow I head to London for the PV of NTWBT Caddington Hall at Transition Gallery
http://transitiongallery.co.uk/htmlpages/telling.html
Firstly I hope to catch a couple of shows before I head over to tweak, polish and mop. I am eternally grateful to Catherine and Alex Pearl for helping me out last week otherwise the preparation would still be happening. I hope people can come as there are a lot of things out there opening on that night and it will probably mean another trip up soon to catch the things I miss.

New work is accumulating again, which is good but a practical nightmare. I have currently in my small home studio the work from the four past shows until I can get to Wysing to drop it all off and reassemble the disorder. So, it is here, in cramped conditions (a slight understatement) that I am attempting to write and work on new ideas which are centred around drawing, watercolours and small experimental collages.

I am planning to contact a man in Worcester about making more glass for me as the obsessive nature of my personality wants more.

The story for my film project is growing nicely with Liz sending me a rough synopsis earlier this week. I hope the process isnt too painful for her as I am really excited about it all so far. Until I get it in its completeness I am unable to visualise how I will attempt to direct it, but I cant wait until I do as it should be great fun!

I am experimenting with sound again, which will be part of the empire project and I have spent many hours working things out in my head. I should also be starting work for a travelling show in May in the next week or so, the images are not yet there but the materials are, so it will mean more experimental stuff to play with.

It was nice to hear this week that Ceri Hand Gallery will be showing some of my work from her inaugural show in a vitrine at what will be the last show at her gallery in Liverpool. Very sad news for Liverpool indeed, but exciting for the artists she represents and for the future of the gallery. I wish her well with everything and in a really selfish way I am quite pleased as it means that I will be able to get see more on the shows on a regular basis. I would have loved to have been at the PV tonight but with the opening of CH tomorrow night, this will be impossible. If you get the chance, see Henny Acloques show there 'Lugar De culto', which runs until 25th Feb http://cerihand.co.uk/