Blog

2nd week of 2nd lockdown

Congregate for Culture

October saw a positive series of openings of Art galleries , Museums and even Theatres like the Birmingham Hippodrome creating reuse possibilities of their stages.( Van Gogh) Audiences ventured out of their lockdown safe cells to take in cultural offerings across the country. The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery opened the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition as well as upper galleries, shop and Edwardian Tea Room to socially distanced safe viewing. Visitors came in numbers to enjoy culture.

Sadly we are back in lockdown and cannot enjoy what is on offer. Perhaps the lockdown will be relaxed before Christmas and we can all congregate for culture.

academic activity

Writing continues with Pandemic aesthetics analysis and final corrections on a paper entitled DRAWING ED RUSCHA. Practice research continues between the studio in Moseley School of Art and the Print room in Birmingham School of Art and taking exciting new turns into the making of serigraphic film positives. With support from academic and technical staff investigations are broadening surface horizons for serigraphic drawing. The first portrait using a sanded surface has been taken another step forward into a unique ink image. A sweep with a small squeegee charged with gold ink on to a sheet of white cartridge paper is left to dry for two weeks. The ink hardened into surfaces that may be printed upon, even though the sweep’s edges stood proud from the paper. By positioning the gold arc under the silk screen the resultant print reflects the trajectory of the thumb of the subject. The illumination is intriguing. Under the dark ink the gold glows through, while on the white paper it moves between flat, bright, reflective gold to congealed reverse embossed ink, indicating the three dimensional quality of the action that has created it. The reverse emboss created a sweeping ridge that has taken the ink at a height giving a dark curve, with a secondary shadow glow.

The portrait has been shared with the unwitting subject Rashid Campbell. In lockdown he is in quarantine returning from supporting Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The portrait was shared over WhatsApp and initial feedback is very positive and we look forward to meeting n December 3rd to share the physical portrait.

Lest we forget

Covid App update

Fourth ONS Test Survey result: ‘Negative’.

There is a constant anxiety around Coronavirus and whether the sniffle, cough or tiredness is a sign of contracting it, so the Negative result is a relief. It is also positive to contribute to the data gathering to inform policies – we hope.

Thats it

lockdown is back

but more importantly

Breaking news

US Election -water torture

Before the result today its been a tough wait as America Decides. With unexpected welcome diversions.

Waking up for the first day of UK lockdown after late night watching of Joe Biden making a short presidential calming speech followed an hour later by President Donald J Trump making a pained press conference as he hangs on to the last vestiges of his presidency. He complained for 30 minutes about the electoral system. If this count is water torture for us it is driving him mad.

The morning Radio 4 today programme provides an update. Counting is making slow progress and adding to the drama. A US Correspondent gives his update and as he reports that the Trump’s lead in Georgia is being reduced hour by hour and has dropped from 3500 to 1200. The UK anchor interrupts: “As you speak the figures on the screen in front of me has dropped again. Its now 660.” This is real drama after a night of slow reduction and gains. A result and a desperately needed change in US populism and social division, may come through later today.

NESTFLIX

The report is followed by a feel good lockdown escape, a news item to counter Lockdown depression. A listener has found an uplifting lockdown diversion: the Mississippi Flyway website. She eulogised about the video site that had given her hope in these tough times. Flyway is a non profit volunteer managed service that tracks the birds and their family growth. It is a rich site with video of raptors looking after their eggs and young as they develop into nature and flight around the Mississippi river. Following links there are similar sites throughout the US. Instead of hearing the political divisions from Delaware, Michigan and Nevada each site celebrates groups of Americans looking after birds, rescuing them, saving them from extinction and bringing them back to the natural habitat from urban nests.

Flyway Kestrel

Flyway Kestrel eggs

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Meanwhile back on 24 hour rolling human news, masked and muffled reporters continue to drop the water on our locked down foreheads.

Family matters

Auntie Dylis is on the mend in West Wales. Slowly but surely the hip repair is taking shape and she is being helped by physiotherapists to get up and about. Many miles were travelled to arrive at a South Manchester autumnal park for brother and sister (and Mum and Dad) to meet safely before Lockdown.

academic activity

Writing continues and alongside practice research is taking new turns into the making of serigraphic film positives : sanded surfaces. This investigation is being undertaken between the studio in Moseley School of Art and the Print room in Birmingham School of Art.

Lest we forget

Covid App update

Third ONS Test Survey result: ‘Negative’ PHEW.

There is a constant anxiety around Coronavirus and whether the sniffle, cough or tiredness is a sign of contracting it, so the Negative result is a relief. It is also positive to contribute to the data gathering to inform policies – we hope.

Thats it

the clocks went back

and

Lockdown’s coming back

academic activity

Apologies the blog is suffering a tad with few original words as my literal efforts are focussed on academic work at the moment. In particular analysis of how digital aesthetics are changing in the pandemic. When I am confident of my position I will include here.

Hold Still portraits expand across the country

Good that Hold Still expands from digital to community: https://www.npg.org.uk/hold-still/hold-still-community-exhibition/

The UK-wide exhibition, supported by the Co-op, has been created to share the images with as many people as possible across the UK and sees the final 100 portraits go on display in local communities for up to four weeks from 20 October 2020.

Portraits are appearing on walls across the country. Check out: Melanie, March 2020 by Johannah Churchill recreated as a hand-painted mural in Manchester’s Northern Quarter  by mural painter Peter Barber.

COMMUNITY EXHIBITION

The photographs feature on 400 outdoor posters at 112 locations in over 80 towns, cities and communities. The images can be seen in high streets, on buildings and bus stops, and on a special mural in Manchester’s Northern Quarter and a takeover of billboards outside Waterloo station in South London.

Curated groups of portraits are displayed in cities such as Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and London. Many of the portraits are also on display individually in the local communities where entrants are from ranging from Belfast, Liverpool and Southampton to Blaenau Ffestiniog in Gwynedd, Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire, Knypersley in Staffordshire Moorlands and Thorpe Audlin in West Yorkshire. You can also see a selection of works on special community screens in 1,600 Co-op food stores across the UK.

Family matters

Auntie Dylis is on the mend in West Wales. Slowly but surely the hip repair is taking shape. Young Finn is happy as Larry after last week’s hospitalisation. Parents are relieved and carving pumpkins.

The Scottish relies are fed up that no ‘Guising’ will take place this Halloween. Guising definition: the Scottish practice or custom of disguising oneself in fancy dress, often with a mask, and visiting people’s houses, esp at Halloween.

Sad Farewell to the Dude

A portrait

A portrait made and shared this week, from a meeting with main man Dan Alexander from the time when getting the BackIn film programme for Black talented filmmakers underway 3 years ago, with Punch. Dan has spearheaded BackIn. Check it out, and the alumni that have come through in style

Lest we forget

Covid App update

Second ONS Test Survey result: ‘Negative’ PHEW.

There is a constant anxiety around Coronavirus and whether the sniffle, cough or tiredness is a sign of contracting it, so the Negative result is a relief. It is also positive to contribute to the data gathering to inform policies – we hope.

Thats it

the clocks go back

what’s the difference

20×20 prints in 2020

HotBed Press in Manchester request 20x20cm from a broad range of printmakers annually. The printers in Birmingham School of Art usually manage a group of 20 submissions, but in covid times we mustered 5. But they were five good ones!

The virus or the experience of the it feature in the prints that were all made in lockdown: woodblock, lino, etching, hand coloured and inkjet. Each artist looks forward to receiving the box similar to the one pictured with a random selection of prints from all submissions.

Family matters

While in isolation this weekend in Birmingham, the oldest member of our family who lives alone in West Wales fell and broke her hip. She pressed her ‘panic’ button and was promptly taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital. The family whats app became the conduit for keeping up to date with her care, hip pinning operation and first steps of recovery. With Wales under severe lockdown, including any travel from outside her borders no visiting was possible. This morning she is thankfully recovering steadily surrounded by mail ordered flowers.

On Saturday morning the youngest member of the family, a 6 month old boy began coughing and struggling for breath. His parents, new to this role in life ,were frightened for him and rang the emergency NHS line. An ambulance was dispatched to take them to hospital where there was great concern for his health. He was fitted with a Cpap (strong oxygen machine) wrapped round his head and connected into his mouth, and wired up for tracking progress of his lung function. A frightening sight for his parents and whats app watchers. He has his own whats app group since his conception as his family is spread around the UK and Canada. The channel was active all night with reports of progress and avoidance of being taken into ICU. This was the Sunday when British Summertime pushed the clocks back by one hour. Throughout Sunday hourly blood reports tracked the up turn in his oxygen levels. Evening came and to the relief of all whats app group members he was taken off the oxygen machine and allowed to breathe unaided. In Covid times digital comms can keep families in touch, through thick and thin.

Hold Still -Thank You NHS

https://www.npg.org.uk/hold-still/

Hold Still is an ambitious community project to create a unique collective portrait of the UK during lockdown. We invited people of all ages to submit a photographic portrait, taken in a six-week period during May and June, focussed on three core themes – Helpers and Heroes, Your New Normal and Acts of Kindness.  Over 31,000 submissions were received from across the country, with entrants ranging from 4 to 75 years-old. From these, a panel of judges selected 100 portraits, assessing the images on the emotions and experiences they conveyed.

A selection panel, including The Duchess of Cambridge, National Portrait Gallery Director Nicholas Cullinan, the author and broadcaster Lemn Sissay, the Chief Nursing Officer for England Ruth May, and award-winning photographer Maryam Wahid, met via a video call in July 2020 and undertook the challenging process of selecting 100 portraits for the exhibition.

Covid App update

First ONS Test Survey result: ‘Inconclusive’

Lest we forget

Thats it