“Let’s do something nice today” for “Get On Board 50”
Something nice happened today: “Get On Board 50” went up at Studio 36.
Exhibition/Installation
“Think chair” for “Get On Board 39”
When I responded to an invitation to ‘think chair’, Studio 36 published it.
“#NoticingNature”
10 October is World Mental Health Day. During the preceding two weeks I practised Noticing Nature from the Greater Good in Action website.
“2x2xAI”
Artificial imagination of two trees in the style of
“Climate Blocks” for “Get On Board 16”
Studio 36 has a wonderful noticeboard out front, hosting a continually changing series of shows of work by local artists. For Board 16 the wider Studio 36 community was invited to submit work relating to climate change.
“1×1”
Studies of colour, form and pattern that are below, around and above me.
“Paper Promises” for “Moths to a Flame”
I hope that at COP26 world leaders will hammer out a deal that will save our life support system. I hope that out of the darkness of despair, we can extend our wings and find our way to the light.
Prayer installations
As part of starting a new blog devoted to prayer and spiritual life, I have moved over the material on related installations.
Experimenting for “Moths to a Flame”
The amazingly creative Chloe Uden from Art and Energy has made oak gall ink, so I attempted watercolour for the first time, and a Great Oak Beauty moth.
Fracted / Emerging
#ice #crystals #fractals #window #sky #monastery #gate #bars #tunnel #amphitheatre #grass #bowl #blue #green #light #dark #2×2 #patterns
“2×2”
Studies of form and pattern, inside and out, natural and artifical, found and artefact.
“Minecraft Climate Quest” at the ExIST STEAMM Show
This was an opportunity for me to pilot my latest work, with some interesting outcomes and lessons!!
“The lady’s not for Turnip” by Victoria Cindy Feet
My fourth and absolutely my last attempt for Turnip Prize glory. Although you never know. After all, the Tories shouldn’t have a monopoly on U-turns, flip-flops, deceiving the voters, or otherwise go against their word.
“Climate Questing in Minecraft”
In which the UK Climate Projections 2018 meet Minecraft and “The Warlock of Firetop Mountain”.
“Live the questions now” at the Wellcome Centre, Exeter
I teach a Medical Humanities unit to fourth year students at Exeter Medical School, using conceptual art as a way in. I arranged this exhibition of the work produced by the 2018/19 cohort.
“Listening to Silent Spring” at Mikrofest
Mikrofest was a free mini festival to launch Kaleider’s new home. I took the opportunity to trial an installation of “Listening to Silent Spring” in a couple of bird boxes in the building.
“Angel of the SW”
Set on a high point within Ludwell Valley Park, Exeter, the Angel’s weathered steel reflects the rust-red warmth of the local stone. It serves as a focus and an anchor, helping to tether us and give us a sense of place in an ephemeral and rapidly changing world.
“Elsewhere”
Not far from Land’s End, there is a small south-facing bay comprising St Loy’s Cove and Paynter’s Cove. Not many years ago, storms washed up a large chunk of metal onto the top of the beach. Now, it has been resettled to the M5 Services at Junction 30.
“Turn IP” by The Swede
After complete and utter failure in 2016 and 2017, here is my third and possibly my last attempt for Turnip Prize glory.
“Listening to Silent Spring” audio
“Listening to Silent Spring” is a piece of sound art, based on a listening walk around east Exeter on the 50th anniversary of publication of “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson. The sounds I noted became the script for the piece. The work is mostly silence, which allows the listener to become aware of their own ambient soundtrack.
“Q is for Quarries”
“Q is for Quarries” is an A-Z trail that allows people to discover the distinctive Heavitree Stone used to build the red skeleton of Exeter.
“Heavitree Stone Regular”
Steven Bramble designed the alphabet. I turned it into the font used on all the Heavitree Quarry Trails outputs. I’ve made it available to download it for your own use too.
“See Exeter by Minecraft” at the AWEsome Art Fair
“See Exeter by Minecraft” is a series of old-style railway posters and a postcard, created for the utterly imaginary St Loyes Tourist Board. A second postcard was created for the equally fictitious St Loyes Education Board, and a very one-off poster for the totally fabricated St Loyes Astrophysics Board.
“Minecraft my home”
“Minecraft my home” is a re-creation of St Loyes as a world in the Minecraft game. The Minecraft world lets residents explore their neighbourhood in a new way and imagine new possibilities for it.
“What three words…?”
What three words…? is an online tool that captures in a simple way what places mean to people. It is aimed at encouraging people to pay attention to place. Between January and March 2018, I used it as a way of gathering insights into people’s views of St Loyes as a place to live and/or work.
“Ceci n’est pas une neep” by Meg Reet
I should have been mowing the lawn, but instead I created my entry for the 2017 Turnip Prize. Early viewers of the work immediately grasped the referencing of Magritte and its significance, which prompted a vibrant cultural debate.
Roll up! Roll up to the Art Vending Machine!
The Art Vending Machine is a fun installation that sells playing card-sized art to the regular punter. “Green|Blue: Drop Slow Tears”, the mini mirror tears, are one of eleven different multiples during the 2017/18 season.
“Green|Blue” at Greenbelt
I had a wonderful time showing Green|Blue at Greenbelt… mostly! It just wouldn’t be the same if I wasn’t cursing how complicated and time-consuming it is to set up my art stuff, especially when I only had 3-6pm on a Sunday afternoon to set up, show, and take down.
“Green|Blue: Future Shock” video at Fringe Arts Bath
Now that my Cathedral show and “Primordial Soup” at Fringe Arts Bath are over, here is the two minute video I created for the latter and included in the former.
“Green|Blue: Exe” in “The Observatory” exhibition
“Green|Blue: Exe” is showing in “The Observatory: perspectives on landscape, society and spirit” in Exeter University Forum. It’s on until Sunday 18th June, and open 10am-5pm each day.
Selected work at “Makers of the Multiverse”
Spacex commissioned Juneau Projects to create “Makers of the Multiverse”, presenting work as multiples, by multiple artists, for the duration of Art Week Exeter and beyond.
“Green|Blue” in Exeter Cathedral
After Art Week Exeter, I had a week to turn around and prep the next outing for “Green|Blue”. And it was my most high profile yet: a solo show in the Cathedral! Featuring work previously shown at Dartington Garden Room Gallery, work coming up at Fringe Arts Bath, and new “Patternings”.
“Green|Blue: Exe” at the AWEsome Art Fair
One of the brill things happening during Art Week Exeter 2017 was the AWEsome Art Show featuring work by most of the participating artists.
Clare’s Open Studio
For Art Week Exeter, I thought I’d open my newly-painted garage studio up to the world. Complete with kettle and lots of cake. It was a chance to show some of my work since 2014, and to ask for ideas for art in St Loyes.
“Green|Blue” in the Dartington Garden Room Gallery
The Garden Room Gallery is a lovely space for a show, just down the hill from the main buildings on the Dartington Hall estate. It was a first opportunity to show my new framing of “Green|Blue”, together with “Drop Slow Tears”.
“Little colouring books” in the “Kuuki” exhibition
“Kuuki : the things we take for granted, but cannot live without” is a response to climate change and other environmental concerns, and a statement on the desperate need for social change.
“Little colouring book: Winter Blues” in the “Artist Toys” exhibition
The idea for the “Little colouring books” originated partly in the games I made for my “Particulart: Up in the Air” show. It seemed a natural progession to create more playful engagement with climate change. Although the maps are of the UK, they can be applied elsewhere, and I am very happy that they have made their way to other lands.
“That’s a Turnip for the Books?!”
In 2007, the Turnip Prize disqualified Banksy from competition for “trying too hard”. In 2016, I think I probably tried too hard.
“Ghost Bees” in the “Dark Art” exhibition
Five of the eight “Ghost Bees” I knitted for TRAIL and three of Cleo’s four remained at the end of the summer. My five are currently appearing in a gem of an exhibition at the Barnfield Theatre.
“Particulart: Up in the Air” pop-up at the Fun Palace
“Fun Palaces is a movement campaigning for culture by, for and with all – with a firm belief that community belongs at the core of all culture – and an annual weekend of events… Everyone an Artist, Everyone a Scientist.”
“Little colouring book: Winter Blues” in the “Toying With Art” exhibition
It’s a toy shop that isn’t a toy shop, full of toys that aren’t toys.
“Particulart: Up in the Air” pop-up at Greenbelt
I was at the Greenbelt Festival over the August bank holiday. As part of a fantastic weekend, I gave a Pecha Kucha talk about my art work, and “Particulart: Up in the Air” popped up in the Allotment Gallery.
“Ghost Bees” at Teignmouth Recycled Art in the Landscape
This summer, if you happen to be wandering along the Teignmouth sea-front, you will happen across twelve “Ghost Bees” hovering in the flower bed between Pavilions and Pier.
“Particulart: Exhausted” at Oxford Festival of Arts
The overall aim of Particulart is to engage people with environmental and social issues and challenge the status quo through the power of knitting, science, and public art. In addition, “Exhausted” aimed to promote public awareness and provoke reflection on urban air quality, through a quirky display enabling playful interaction. It appeared at “Test Drive the Future”, an exhibition of electric vehicles, that will help solve the problem of air pollution.
“Particulart: Greenhouse Effect” at Low Carbon Oxford Week
The overall aim of Particulart is to engage people with environmental and social issues and challenge the status quo through the power of knitting, science, and public art. In addition, “Greenhouse Effect” aimed to promote public awareness and provoke reflection on climate change and the underlying science, through appealing to different ways of accessing information – words and numbers, sight and touch – and enabling playful interaction.
“Freefall Climate Graffiti” at Exeter Phoenix
The visible results of Freefall Climate Graffiti at the Exeter Phoenix will be ephemeral. Have a drink in the café outside seating area, and ponder the graffiti climate maps of the UK, before they’re painted over. Help yourself from, and add to, the woolly wall. Pick up a booklet about the project from the Phoenix box office.
Repainting Exeter Phoenix’s graffiti wall with UK Climate Projections, with Miss*C and the Freefall Youth Group.
“Particulart: Up in the Air” pop-up at TEDxExeter
Clare was honoured to be able to show Particulart at TEDxExeter 2016, in between a nice lot of Particulart-relevant talks(!) such as Danny Dorling on different ways of mapping the world, Alan Smith on how statistics are about Us, and the video of Al Gore’s latest TED talk on climate change.
“Particulart: Up in the Air” pop-up at WAM Fest
That’s nothing to do with the 1980s pop group, but the Festival of Weather, Art and Music. The 2016 event was all about “Extreme Weather and You”, and there were loads of activities on the programme, from print-making to climate roulette.
“Particulart: Up in the Air” pop-up in Exeter Cathedral
The Holy Ground service happens once a month in Exeter Cathedral. The evenings very often engage in social issues, which is why this December it was held to coincide with the Paris climate negotiations, and why the “Up in the Air” pop-up made a special appearance.
“Particulart: Up in the Air” video in Exeter Cathedral
Exeter Cathedral is hosting an “Up in the Air” video installation for the duration of the Paris climate negotiations. I’m proud that it is part of ArtCOP21, the global climate art festival.
“Particulart: Up in the Air” pop-up at Relight My Fire
“Up in the Air” popped up for a second time at the Relight My Fire festival of energy and the arts run by RegenSW. Indoors this time, and slimmed down without roof or games area. It just about fit in the space.
“Particulart: Ozone Day”
Released on Ozone Day 2015, knitted representations of the three main stratospheric ozone depletion equations: the breakdown of CFC-11 in sunlight releasing a chlorine atom, and the cycle of ozone destruction catalysed by this chlorine.
“Particulart: Up in the Air” pop-up at Exeter Green Fair
Exeter Green Fair on 5 September saw the debut of my new “Up in the Air” pop-up. Under a blue gazebo (the sky), I suspended eight pale blue hula hoops (clouds), and from these the eight greenhouse gases.
“Particulart: Up in the Air” in the Glorious Art House
The overall aim of Particulart is to engage people with environmental and social issues and challenge the status quo through the power of knitting, science, and public art. In addition, “Up in the Air” aimed to promote public awareness and provoke reflection on climate change and the underlying science, through appealing to different ways of accessing information – words and numbers, sight and touch – and enabling playful interaction.
“Touch:Triptych” in the Exeter Community Centre Summer Exhibition
My first piece in my first exhibition! The three panels of Touch:Triptych together for the first time.
“Particulart: A Stitch in Time” in Bristol Cathedral
During Lent 2015 – 18 February to 4 April – the Church of England in the South West ran a Carbon Fast. It was 40 days to reflect on how we affect our planet and consider what we can do to reduce our carbon footprint. “A Stitch in Time” ran roughly concurrently, showing 3D knitted representations of a series of greenhouse gases that are implicated in climate change.
“Particulart” in the Real Food café
The original “Particulart” was a collaboration between Clare Bryden and Diana Moore, exhibiting in the Exeter Real Food café during autumn 2014. Knitting and emitting particles was our way of telling other people about the Exeter Incinerator and its potential impacts.