Music by Nicky Bendix; His music will be experienced in sound installations at Art Sanctuary - when it opens July 2011!
Greetings From Dreaming Winter Lady
Music by Nicky Bendix; His music will be experienced in sound installations at Art Sanctuary - when it opens July 2011!
They Tell Us Autumn's A-Comin'
On Wednesday afternoon, in a previously dull and damp underpass in Greenock, things were different. There was a warm glow of light, the bustle of people gathering, carols playing and festive cheer. The event was the official opening of the Westburn Underpass featuring our most recent work 3573 Oak Leaves.
As the more acute among us might have guessed, among other things, the artwork contains 3573 oak leaves (at least that is the total we got when we counted - we figured that anyone willing to count them all is welcome to correct us if we have it wrong!).
In our research for the project a few things caught our attention. The name Greenock among other things has become entangled with Green Oak (apparent folk etymology), this is something that is reflected in local shop and place names. The Westburn Underpass is the main pedestrian links from the bus station to the town centre. We wanted the artwork to reflect both the transient nature of the space as well as the deep rooted history in the town itself. And, as in much of our work, we wanted to reinforce a local sense of belonging and pride in place. This matched with carefully selected lighting solutions creates a space that is in the words of Reg Gove from Lightfolio "...a destination worthy of note rather than simply a transit space..."
"Great oaks from little acorns grow" 14th century proverb
As part of the project, we asked the people of Inverclyde to nominate 50 Local Heroes and the final list includes famous individuals from history to contemporary locals who are valued (from parents to painters). These names have been integrated into the artwork and form the acorns of our oak tree. Places are more than bricks and mortar and what makes a place "Great" is the people who live there.
Sophie Hearl with her Grandfathers medallion
The client, Riverside Inverclyde, put on a great opening event for all Local Heroes and contractors. Bubbly and some great food was provided for the group of 70 or so invited guests. The official opening was done by Provost Michael McCormick and the ribbon cut by Carrie Gibson (one of the Local Heroes and Everest Summiteer)
All our surviving Local Heroes were presented with a medallion by the Provost to match the embedded plaques in the ground or on the wall as a memento of the day.
A few big thanks need to be expressed to all who made this such a great project for us to be a part of.
Geoff Gregory of Riverside Inverclyde
Martin Tabor and Christine Schehle of architects LUC
Willie Meikle, Brian MacAlister & team at Landscapes and Contracts
Reg Gove and Ian Walker at Lightfolio
Adam Knight at Elektoled
Mike Marshall at Jet Cut
Jane Robinson at Cutting Technologies
Paul McAlindon & boys from Cutting Edge Fabrication
Duncan Macrae & Scott Aston of Aston Shotblasting
finally thanks also to Eric Forbes (Liason Officer) and all our Local Heroes!
Westburn Underpass before work began...
... and after!
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I'm up in the woods, I'm down on my mind.
Another few sneaky taster images from another wee project we are finishing tomorrow...chickens, eggs, deer - what is going on?!
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Bon Iver - Woods
Blood Bank EP (2009)
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Bon Iver - Woods
Blood Bank EP (2009)
I'm going underground...
It's all gone a bit manic over the last few weeks. The year is drawing to a close and, as well as frantically trying to get a few jobs complete, we are looking forward to the opening of the Westburn Road Underpass, in Greenock, tomorrow!
It's been a great project to work on and we'll give you the lowdown in the next wee while - with some images and maybe some video of the underpass (if we get the chance to film any...). In the meantime here are a few images of preparations for tomorrow night (see 4/10/10 post as well) - bet you are intrigued now!
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The Jam - Going Underground
Going Underground/Single (1980)
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It's been a great project to work on and we'll give you the lowdown in the next wee while - with some images and maybe some video of the underpass (if we get the chance to film any...). In the meantime here are a few images of preparations for tomorrow night (see 4/10/10 post as well) - bet you are intrigued now!
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The Jam - Going Underground
Going Underground/Single (1980)
The Enchanted Forest; 12 Paintings in Progress - 1-6 Tone Aanderaa Painting Inspired by Nicky Bendix' Music
'CELTIC TWILIGHT'
'THE HEART REMEMBERS'
'PARTING WITH THE ELVES'
'FOREST COUNCIL'
'MESSAGE AT NIGHT'
'THE LONG WAIT'
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'THE HEART REMEMBERS'
'PARTING WITH THE ELVES'
'FOREST COUNCIL'
'MESSAGE AT NIGHT'
'THE LONG WAIT'
Art Artists Blogs beginning with Q
...I can change, I can change. If it helps you fall in love
Another recently finished project that we completed the beginning of November. We spent a few days with Libby, Chic and the gang at J12 in Glasgow working on a wall for their youth centre drop-in.
The starting point for this was about 6 months ago with a discussion with the group about what they would like on their wall and the idea of revolution and change was settled on. Using themes of old Communist propaganda we came up with this design.
Incorporating the kids themselves into the image ( a recurring theme in community projects!) was a lot of fun - one of the kids dogs appeared and we even snuck in a chicken...
Libby said "Everyone loves the wall, lots of “Wows” when people go through for the first time. Thank-you again for all your work, especially the way way you were with the kids"
Also repeated the hand motif from Re-Imagining The Centre
The text that runs along the top is Hebrew and is a tattoo on the Chic's forearm. It means "Change is Possible" - can't argue with that.
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LCD Soundsystem - I Can Change
This Is Happening (2010)
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The starting point for this was about 6 months ago with a discussion with the group about what they would like on their wall and the idea of revolution and change was settled on. Using themes of old Communist propaganda we came up with this design.
Incorporating the kids themselves into the image ( a recurring theme in community projects!) was a lot of fun - one of the kids dogs appeared and we even snuck in a chicken...
Libby said "Everyone loves the wall, lots of “Wows” when people go through for the first time. Thank-you again for all your work, especially the way way you were with the kids"
Also repeated the hand motif from Re-Imagining The Centre
The text that runs along the top is Hebrew and is a tattoo on the Chic's forearm. It means "Change is Possible" - can't argue with that.
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LCD Soundsystem - I Can Change
This Is Happening (2010)
Hey Jonny I've got faith in ya man...
More posts to come in the next week, but thought we should specifically welcome our newest team member - Jonny Sherlock joined us a month ago and this has been our first week in our new temporary office together. A Highland lad, Jonny has been taken on as Project Manager. Hopefully this will take some of the pressure off us in terms of office management and give us more time for badger related activities
In Jonny's own words he brings "another dimension to DUFI". Actually thats not Jonny's words but rather those nice chaps from the Prodigy (see below...)
A lot seems to be happening all the time and we are going to spend some time trying desperately to get up to date with our news and then be more regular in our musings.
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The Killers - Uncle Jonny
Sam's Town (2006)
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In Jonny's own words he brings "another dimension to DUFI". Actually thats not Jonny's words but rather those nice chaps from the Prodigy (see below...)
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The Killers - Uncle Jonny
Sam's Town (2006)
Everybody’s got something to hide except for me and my monkey
We are a fair bit behind in terms of updates to work we have done but here is another new entry that shows the finished work at Broxburn swimming pool. (There are also more great images on the Shale People site). This job presented us with some new challenges and allowed us to look at the way we represented the work slightly differently. Instead of "fighting" with the brick pattern we decided to use that as a series of guides to work in. This is now the largest piece we have done (if the 4 bits of wall are taken together is a bit bigger than Jesus!) Our colour pallette was picked to reflect the two locations and think it is sympathetic to both the building itself and the environment that surrounds it.
This was completed over 5 days of mixed weather at the end of September with help from the pupils at Broxburn Academy. They really go stuck in and were a valuable asset as we worked hard through sun, rain and wind!
We also have to extend a huge thanks to recent art school graduate Dani-Louise Smith who really was a big help over the week and really seemed to enjoy working in a new medium - we look forward to seeing some of her new work with spraypaint!
Thanks again to Shirley-Anne Murdoch of Artichange who organised this. As usual her organisation made everything go smoothly - right down to the official photocall on the last day when we had local MP Graeme Morrice, SNP Councillor and Artichange member Janet Campbell, Academy Teacher Claire Anderson and Business Development officer Laura Machnik all joining us together with some of the pupils and the fabulous Betty Glenn (nee Curran) who really didn't look like she was old enough to be our Gala Queen from 1953! Amazing how all that came to light over the course of the week and we are obviously delighted that someone recognised her from the artwork - all we have to wait for now is someone to recognise our Quoit playing miner from early last century...
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It's electric, YEAH!
Q: What do you do when kids are defacing an electric substation?
A: Get big kids to come and graffiti it!
Here is one we finished in the summer but somehow did not get a blog up about it. We worked with The Calman Trust and Scottish & Southern Energy and some of the pupils of Inverness Royal Academy, to inject a bit of colour into an otherwise dull substation. Here are a few images for you...
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How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?!
In September we had a great week painting in Broxburn. The two paintings we created were part of the project Shale People.
A big thank you to: Shirley-Anne Murdoch, of artichange, for organising and managing the whole project; the students from Broxburn Academy; and a big thank you to artist Dani Louise Smith for all her help on site.
We will explain more later, and upload more photos, but for the moment here is a little taster.
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Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2 - Education)
The Wall (1979)
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A big thank you to: Shirley-Anne Murdoch, of artichange, for organising and managing the whole project; the students from Broxburn Academy; and a big thank you to artist Dani Louise Smith for all her help on site.
We will explain more later, and upload more photos, but for the moment here is a little taster.
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Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2 - Education)
The Wall (1979)
Breathe keep breathing, I can't do this alone
Earlier this year we promised to upload the film that we produced called Barron Taylor's Street. The film is based on a piece of music by Calamatuer.
Here it is. Enjoy!
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Here it is. Enjoy!
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These are all Artists Blogs beginning with K
Blogs beginning with the letter K
- http://kestrelart.wordpress.com
- http://www.karensblog.com/
- http://kemstudios.blogspot.com/
- http://kaikriye.blogspot.com/
- http://www.kim-creatingspace.blogspot.com/
- http://www.korbelfinearts.blogspot.com/
- http://www.katjohnston.com/
- http://www.klbaileyart.com/
- http://www.karaboulden.blogspot.com/
- http://kat-vanka.blogspot.com/
- http://katiesstudio.blogspot.com/
- http://kerriebwrye.blogspot.com
There are stories in the soil
Well, we are busy working on a new installation in Greenock. Autumn is here and leaves are starting to fall. Here is a foretaste of things to come...
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I'm stuck in Folsom Prison, and time keeps draggin' on,
Fin has been spending some time in jail recently – not staying, only passing through (contrary to some rumours that might be circulating) while working on a project with the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in HMP Open Estate Castle Huntly. Using pinhole photography both inside and outside of the prison setting, Fin is working with offenders to produce a body of work for inclusion in a major exhibition due to be shown November 2010. His last visit took place on Monday and all images for inclusion in the exhibition have been selected by the participants so its now just time to put it all together.
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School’s out for summer...
Cauldeen Road Primary was completed earlier this year and we were delighted to work on this with Richard Jack from Highland Council and the pupils and staff of the school. A big thanks to everyone who helped us with this and also to the headteacher George Glass for his willingness to involve the pupils of the school.
A new colour scheme and exterior/interior graphics were devised that highlight the ethos of the school. Being stuck up a cherry-picker with an 8ft x 4ft stencil in a howling gale in November was pretty scary (ask Al…) but we got there!
The school refurbishment was officially recognized earlier this year to coincide with its 40th Anniversary. It's just taken us this long to get there and take some pics to put up here. Will try to be more on the ball!
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