Tainted Love, ROAM and a hint of violence

I have finally finished work for Tainted Love which is a touring show travelling to London, Coventry and Herefordshire this summer. I have agonised over this one, with wrestling with illness and juggling silly things that have taken an inordinate amount of time to tie together. Feeling on the whole a lot better the work has resulted in making 5 x A2 sized pieces, 2 paintings and 7 small works on paper. I have added drawing and symbolic gestures that have tied researching Aleister Crowley, his muse Laylah and Stindhal's Theory of Crystalization. See the link to my work as well as the work of others here Tainted Love. Overall I am pleased but may add more objects as the show moves on.

Catching up today with admin I am about to embark on concluding my research for the film as well as working on another piece that looks at control and behaviour. I am also making new drawings for another project working with another artist. ROAM continues it quest to amalgamate the work of 7 artists and we now have a website that it live where you can follow my filmic ideas with others works that will accumulate to be shown at Aid and Abet in September http://roamcollective.com/

This will take me over the summer to complete and hopefully will be enjoyable now that I have settled in at my new studio managing to get there every day, even if it is to contemplate and reflect on things past.

Settling down

I have just got back from a weeks work at West Dean feeling despondent with teaching and grey and sombre in mood. It has been weeks since I have been active regarding making work of any worth and now with a doctors diagnosis I have at least got an understanding of why I have been inactive. Now waiting for further results I have had my first productive day working in my new studio on new ideas as well as modes of working and things are moving steadily forward in terms of production.
I have so much to do regarding studies, research, three shows, drawings and films that I have been in a state of paralysis for a while and now, with a week ahead with no particular commitments I am attempting to crack on.
I have been reading a lot and am making slow tentative moves back to painting and I hope to have my visuals ready in terms of film direction in parallel. I am working on things for three shows in upcoming months, all of which have a lot to do with darkness of thought and violent acts in a romantic context. Likewise, the film and further works are to reenact behavioural acts that are centred around psychoanalytical theory, literature and gaps in memory and thought.

Spring leap

I have decided to leap from my studio at Wysing to a new one nearer home. With the costs of travelling rising and with what seems like a busy-ish time in terms of making work, it has been a hard decision to make but no doubt a sensible one financially. I am now residing in an outlandishly large old paint workshop which has been empty for almost two years and so I have been scrubbing and slapping white emulsion over the walls for the last couple of weeks. That said, I have now more or less managed to condense what was two ineffectual working studio spaces (one too far away and one at home as well) into one large fully functioning work space. I have a few more trips of things to take in terms of materials but other than that I am done.

And so, on to work things. I haven't been that productive overall. I am working on the last module for an MA which will be finishing in July and contemplating my navel with ideas to run with regarding work for Tainted Love. I have researched the questionable relationship between a significant cultural figure and his muse and so next comes the work. I have no idea where its heading , but that is usually a good thing in terms of enjoyment.

I am heading up to North Norfolk in a couple of weeks to discover places to film. This is, as ever, ongoing and due to my move has been put on hold slightly. That said, I have sourced a potential film maker or two, got a couple of volunteer prop makers and even had a proposal from a composer, so its looking exciting. I just need actors. It is my intention to wrestle with the storyboarding and overall look now, before I go ahead and arrange dates. The project fits into a larger collective concept and I have been busy taking the role of marketing guru liaising with the very efficient project manager/curator and things are finally getting off the ground. We should be potentially live in the next week or so, so more on that later...

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..