Left Over String

British Art Show 7 workshop

2011-08-23T00:49:00.000-07:00

British Art Show 7 has been running in Glasgow 27 May to 21 August . On its last day I managed to get down to the city and joined a creative workshop/masterclass with one of the artists, Mick Peter, who lives and works in Glasgow and who had drawings in the GOMA show and sculpture in
CCA. He introduced his art and practice to us and then spent a few hours showing us how to use materials that he works with in his sculptures –alginate for mould making and jesmonite AC100 for
casting.

The timing, for me couldn’t have been better. Recently I have been thinking a lot about whether to introduce casting or cement to my practice . It’s hard one to call for me because the material is always one of the most significant facets of my sculpture so I’m not sure about using materials out of a packet - these materials don’t have the same significance or environmental language. But, on the other hand with a cast I could capture the nature of the material – obsess over it a bit more without worrying about its limitations, explore other directions. And I have wanted to look at taking some of my sculptures and covering them to change their nature again – I’d like to cover one of my ‘Seven Thunders’ in resin or cement. Last week, in Uist, I
visited an artist, Amanda Rae, and made my mind up that I needed to explore this once and for all. And so that’s how I found myself interested in the advertisement in artmag for this workshop - I phoned from Uist to booked it. Because I have no formal visual arts training,
and no prospect of ever getting it, I try to get the best tutoring I can from living (or dead) artists so, brilliant!, what more could you ask for than a day with one of the most remarkable modern artists in Britain.

So at the workshop I made this piece called ‘Meet me’. Wouldn’t win any prizes but it let me explore a few things Mick had referred to. Most of the figure is assembled out of bits of junk, plastic, polystyrene, metal, paper then painted with coloured jesmonite resin. The section with the heart on
it is resin cast from a wooden block and plastecine using aliginate and then cemented onto the rest using the coloured resin. Mick spoke about how he often paints his whole sculpture in a solid material to bring it into one cohesive piece. When I photographed it I wanted to
echo a drawing Mick had in GOMA. The drawing shows a failed sculpture against a geometric background. This intriguing process of making sculptures to draw, making drawings of planned sculptures, drawing failed sculptures came into conversations during the day. Anyway this
is my failed sculpture – not drawn, only photographed. Another thing Mick spoke about was the use of words or phrases in his work – particularly in his drawings – sometimes leaving uncertain the relationship between words and drawing, leaving the viewer guessing. I did carve ‘meet me’ into the wooden block before casting but the detail got lost – I think because I used too much and wrong type of paint to colour resin. But we learn from our mistakes

conflict drawing

2011-06-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been concentrating on drawing and have devised a new method of working. It involves a lot of drawing and rubbing out. I try to allow the internal energy evoked by this process to find its way onto the paper. This video shows me completing a drawing. Marks are made and rubbed out. My daughter tries to prevent the rubbing out with all her might. I try to persevere. The drawing is the result of an exhausting but non-aggressive collaboration - a conflict between my need to reform my mark and her will to keep what I have laid down. It is fun and a good way to shake off any mother-daughter tension if ever there was any - we laugh a lot while we make the drawing. The conflict is only allowed to happen when I am rubbing out, never when I am drawing. She places her hands on top of my right wrist so she can remove them and move away at any time she wants to. Sometimes life as an artist can be an exhausting conflict between marks you have made, marks you wish you hadn't made, your attempts to put right and the ongoing parallel pressures from outside. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miZEfKMIROg

Drawing Trip To The outer hebrides

2010-11-30T00:54:00.001-08:00

After returning from a short drawing trip to Lewis and Harris, new resolve to take up blogging again. Here are three poems I wrote during the trip as we stayed in a Gatliff hostel in Rhenigidale,a cliff-top bothy in Mangusta and a relatives home in Berneray, North Uist.

Rhenigidale

Lizzie lit a fire in the squirrell by way of announcing our arrival
And now, rally against the all too steep wind,
left below, a single malt moon.
Only to revolve and press the weight of heels on toes,
On our steep incline towards the sea and the waiting window.
I told you I could sense for a little while
One dreamed of traveller who may have rounded this epic bend or that
To face the rose or rowan
And trade german gun for Gatliff gate.

Mangustadh

A white wind blows from Rhenigidale to mangustadh,
And winters bitter whisper slips beneath her overcoats,
Who cares if the cattle are herded back into the steaming barn.
Or the cat curls asleep on the wrong side of the kitchen door.
He takes her, empty-handed, to the rough hewn bothy,
And tells fairy tales of funny murderers and cliff face dancers.
She thinks them all kind and generous,
but takes more care with the fragile eggs nestled in her palm.

Berneray

If I was a braver man, I would grow vegetables.
My leeks would wave at passers-by
And my sprouts would wink at the girls on their way to church,
Not for me the island fair and its home baking stall
I would walk eight miles or more in the snow
And risk life and swollen limb but never leave you in the lusrh.

If I was a dare-devil, I would eat only vegetables
And take my medicine like a man.
I would train the devil dog who barked at you when you passed,
And people would wonder why it was that I became
The kind of man who grows vegetables

First Attempts at Stonework

2010-01-29T15:22:00.000-08:00

So, I've fisihed my first three stone sculptures and I'm happy with what I have felt and learned so far. Stone is a beautiful material - it is chock a block full of its own energy and half the pleasure of working with it just now is getting to know the stone a bit better.
here are my first three pieces. Torso is a reworking of my first carving that I made on the PVAF weekend course.

It is limestone. The stone feels fleshy and waxy when I work with it and the figure seems to pull itself out from under my chisel.
The other two are stones taken from a lime quary near Fortwilliam. The Fortwilliam stone is strange and unpredictable and not atall stable. I'm sure an experienced stone sculptor would be horrified. Its inclined to splinter and sheer away - especially when the frost gets to it - and I don't think it will age too well. But i like it for its quirkiness and the patterns and flaws in it.

The head is "Mairi" and the odd-shaped piece is "When You Kiss me". This second pice was quite challenging and cost me two broken chisels. As the sun moves into position, it shnies through a hole in the piece and is reflected by a piece of mirror imbedded in the stone. I worry that, for me, the piece is not aesthetic enough and I can tell that friends visiting me prefer the other two pieces but it is this slightly ugly piece that excites me for now
I've looked at some of the rocks on the beaches but they are mostly granite and quartz and not any use. Its strange being back on the beach looking for stones this time. I think I need to get some advice.

PVAF

2009-10-06T02:08:00.001-07:00

Sometimes we need, as artists, to take on a new material if only to satisfy a curiosity. I've been feeling lately like I wanted to try working with stone - I wanted to do something,in terms of sculpture, that was as far away from the string as possible. i wanted to eat into the material instead of modeling it. I wanted to use something that was permananent and fundamental and traditional for a change. So I went to Perth this weekend to do a stone carving course run by Susheila Jamieson http://www.rachan.co.uk/content/susheila.htm as part of the Perth Visual Arts Forum http://www.pvaf.org.uk . It was great - we worked with limestone which was not too hard to work ith - but not too soft either. I made this piece. It was strange to find how easy it was to find the form within the stone - I had thought that I would never be ablt to do that - that it would be lost to me but it wasn't - it was there and all I had to do was move the rest of the stne out of the way. I think I'll get some tools and spend a little time exploring stone some more. Suisheila who took the workshop was an absolute pleasure to be with and i wish I had had some more time to learn from her. It was a great opportunity from PVAF - there were other courses options during the weekend - paper casting and transformation of material looked particularly good.

Dorian Gray

2009-10-06T00:47:00.000-07:00

I saw Mathew Bourne's Dorian Gray at The Theatre Royal Glasgow on Wednesday - it was brilliant and dark and loaded with sexy freedom - I think Oscar Wilde must be blushing or giggling in his grave.

Cryptic Night at CCA

2009-10-02T01:10:00.000-07:00

Apparently, the first Thursday of the month is Cryptic Night at CCA Glasgow which is good because I was in Glasgow this Thursday. This month Gail Sneddons performance installation and video work was beautiful, stunning and strangely moving. Using darness and light beams she created spaces and dimensions that weren't there before and swung me from a comfortable space here to a lonely, uneasy space there.

Project Darkness, by Gail Sneddon from Cryptic on Vimeo.

Wake-up Call

2009-09-22T10:40:00.001-07:00

At first, Monday night seemed much like any other September night
in Ardfern. The wind drove the rain down the empty street and
buffeted against the door of the red telephone box. A pair of dogs
circled each other near the pub. Inside the pub, a barmaid polished the
glasses as the clock ticked noisily on the wall. Nothing much was happening. But
then, out of the shadows, forty or fifty people arrived with pots and
pans and drums and fog horns. Over the next five minutes, cold
was forgotten as children and adults worked to make as much noise as
possible. They needed to make a lot of noise because their wake-up
cal had to reach all the way from this tiny west-coast village to
London and to sound the alarm in advance of a meeting of world leaders meeting
in New York (September 22). Scotland already has a world
leading climate change bill but this event was part of a global wake
up call to governments all over the world to urge them to secure a
fair, ambitious and binding treaty when they meet in Copenhagen for the
Climate Change Summit 2009. In 134 countries, from Argentina to
Zimbabwe, millions of people took part and Ardfern was on the map. A few polite phone calls to our government
leaders backed up the message and some photos were taken. As one local noted
“If we don’t tell our leaders what we want and what is important to us, then we
can’t complain when they get it wrong.” After five minutes of noise, as
quickly as they had arrived, the wake-up callers left, the dogs
trotted back into the puddles and the wet wind blew through the
echoes: the clock was still ticking. Had anything changed? Most definitely yes.
The children were now wide
awake and had sent an unmistakable message to our leaders for a fair
climate treaty.
photo: John Revie

This week and the object;

2009-07-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

Wednesday - Preview of an ARTMAPargyll exhibition in Kilmartin House http://www.artmapargyll.com/ Each member was resticted to a 20X20cm format. My little oil painting was called "Vitus' Dance". Twenty six artists - twenty six little art objects. As I reflect on the event I think of the changing role of the object in art history - first art as a means to demonstrate ownership of objects ( of wealth and property) then art as a means to own beautiful and valuable objects (art pieces used as investment) and now, increasingly, the object disappears - replaced, instead, by the process.

It may be fine, now and again, to produce a little object for an exhibition, and it may be fine to produce a few souvenirs for buying during the open weekend in August - but, these are not steps forward for me.

Friday - Performance at Dunollie Castle. An exhausting but very rewarding piece of walking theatre that took us through some stunning views and moving history. The cast acted out scenes from the MacDougall history book and involved the audience as we rambled around this stunning site. Finally, we arrive at the castle on the hill where, on a postage stamp of land, we remember old conversations that may have taken place and old feet that may have walked right where we stand . http://www.dunollie.org/

Sunday - Return of the pieces from "There Is A Tide" to my studio and the arrival of a nice review - see my other blog http://thereisatideexhibition.blogspot.com/

lastnight - we went to see Andy Goldsworthy's film "River and Tides" in the little cinema in Oban. This is a beautiful and inspiring film and makes me think about my own art - about its strengths and its weaknesses - about the the importance of time and the elements on the materials I am using - about nature - about aesthetics - about transcience and capturing the moment http://www.riversandtides.co.uk/

Today - Sculpture Garden afternoon at Dunollie - this has been a a very happy collaborative excercise with three genuine and talented artists and friends - each producing a piece of work as a reponse to this amazing time for this amazing place.

and finally, to top it all, I meet Lizzie in Oban together with her sketchbook from the Hebrides - she has been running and sketching - she wants to run more and sketch more- perhaps through all the islands - I hope she does and I know that she cannot sustain this forever - time is important - together these two activities become a process as transient as Goldsworthy's leaves in the stream. Her sketchbook is beautiful. She is a remarkable contemporary artist http://www.lizzierose.com/. Perhaps both of us could learn somthing from Goldsworthy's documentation techniques.

the white sand and the wind and the machair. The poppies will be blooming now and the corncrakes will be crying - maybe we'll go back soon

2009-07-16T04:05:00.000-07:00

I’ve been working lately with a couple of artists to set up a sculpture garden in the grounds of Dunollie House in Oban. If you don’t know the history of Dunollie Castle,it’s worth having a look at the website –www.dunollie.com.
The place is heaving with atmosphere. The air is thick with something unspecific but very tangible – I think its nature but I also think its possibly human history too. When I visited the site for the first time in late spring, I was surprised to feel so moved by it – because history is really not something that usually concerns me.
There is a little wooded area beneath the old house with a group of huge trees that almost form a circle. It would become the Dunollie Sculpture Garden. The undergrowth was littered with broken twigs and pieces of bark and moss and bluebells and toads. It seemed a shame to disturb it after all this time and the work we have done to form the garden has been as gentle as possible.
Once we planned the layout, the staff at the house cleared a lot and we spent a day or two moving things into place.
The sculptures are placed in a circular format too. This is to echo the group of trees and also to make a reference to a object which is central to Dunollies’s story – the Brooch of Lorne – snatched from the breast of a fleeing Robert The Bruce and held, on and off, by the MacDougalls of Dunollie. There is an open air performance in the grounds 17th July – 23rd Huly called “The Hidden Jewel” that explores this story .
I started to work on two pieces for the garden – although I knew we would only use one.
The first was made of scraps of metal. I wanted to start to viualise the brooch splitting apart and becoming human – perhaps a metal warrior but something I had heard about Dunollies history made me think that they at a some point ( urged by a woman figure - a wife of the chief perhaps) had tired of fighting and had strove for peaceful domesticity – no, the brooch was not becoming a warrior – the warrior was becoming a brooch.
The second piece that I worked on was a string figure. He would be a mixture of male youth and gentle feminism he would represent The MacDougall. He would hold something in his hand – perhaps the brooch, perhaps the future. He would stand like a classical figure yet be composed of humble stuff.

The name of the piece is "Unconditional"
We finished setting up on Tuesday this week. The sculptures can be seen during the Walking Theatre Production 18pm 17th July to 23rd July and in the afternoon of Saturday 18th July 2-4pm and Tuesday 21st July 2-4pm.

Torso Final Photos

2009-06-02T14:54:00.000-07:00

I finished the torso and took it to a Makers day organisedby Hi-arts and AnTobar - A photographer was there who took photos of artists work for a good price. His name was Derek Prescott - he sent the CD with the images on to me this week - Iam please - only wish I had taken along more pieces for him to work wuth - but then, we got a half-hour slot with him so perhaps one pice was enough. here are two of my favourite - I think I'll make a postcard out of one of them.

the photographers website is http://www.derekprescott.co.uk/

Torso

2009-04-25T16:54:00.000-07:00

working on a new sculpture - I have taken some photos as it takes form to try to document my work

Land Squared

2009-04-10T05:06:00.000-07:00

Land2 symposium on Mull was very interesting. Makes me wonder. Most of the speakers talk about engaging with the landscape and with its history - not a about engaging with a the viewer/observer/audience. "You can't guarantee that you have someone looking at or buying your work" says one contributor when I ask. I can't deny that these are artists and that they are making art - An Tobars main gallery is full of their beautiful work - the result of a field trip to Mull where each artist has used the surrounding landscape as a point of reference or in some cases as a source for their art pieces. You may not be able to guarantee an intelligent observer but don't we need to anticipate one and for that matter do we need to be conscious of our anticipation?

Auto Film #1

2009-03-31T15:19:00.000-07:00

This week, I decide to enter the Saatchi submityourart search. To enter I need to send in three or four photos and a video showing me. I decide to make a short auto-film. I use a canon PowerShot camera that a friend lends to me. I load the film clips on to my P.C. using picassa then export them into Windows Movie Maker. In Movie maker you can build up a story board with your clips and cut the parts of the clips you want to keep and control the transition between one clip and another and lots more. I think I'll make more films - but, I need to save up to buy my own camera first. Here is my auto-film#1.

2009-03-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

Ultra Red

On Saturday, I headed for the Instal09 Experimental Music festival in Glasgow. While I was putting the "There Is A Tide" exhibition together, I started to experiment with sound as part of the work. Thought it would be good to develop this more and see what other artists were doing. I got it all very wrong.
In the CCA, Ultra Red was hosting a Symposium. In the hall, groups of people were sitting round tables discussing, in depth, a social text before writing things on flipcharts. Supervisors dressed in black, Assylum Seekers, young men and women with ideals written across faces and Tshirts, synical teachers, some more people, some middle class, some working class, some classless, I think, and me . The text was overly complex and outrageous in sections. The whole thing seemd like an extreme art installation, It seemd like a dreadful experiment, Why didn't I leave? I don't know. Anyway, we talked all day, talked a lot about not wanting to talk - about wanting to listen. The assylum seekers had come there with acute needs; I only came looking for a bit of education. I felt alienated and yet on the other hand I met some remarkably beautful, wise and kind people among the participants. I feel truly priveledged to have met them. But, where was the activism? The Friere Document said we needed to mix action with reflection. Was that a load of Bullshit or what? I Don't know - Do you know?
One thing I did notice was the emphasis on gathering together valuable problem solving information from people and not just giving information out in a teachery sort of way to the people. This was interesting because it echoed ideas from the WEB 2.0 workshop that HIE hosted in Oban earlier this month. In this workshop the two tutors pointed to ways of involving the public in your website and even in allowing the public , "The Tribe"as they called it, to forge your brand by their oppinions.
As an artist, should I try to produce what people want to see should I not say anything until I say what people want to hear? How would I find that out and why would I do it?
I feel I am standing in rubble.

Left Over String - First Blog

2009-03-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

This is my new Blog Site
My name is Clare McNiven
I am a Sculptress. I am an artist. I live for beauty.
I want to expore the potential of new materials to be formed into pieces of beauty.Everything, for me, is potential media for my art work - Your comments are treasured