During my year of DYCP in 2023, it became clear to me that I needed to update and refresh how I presented the work I’ve been involved in. Thanks to a collaboration with Leanda Ryan – someone I’ve worked with on numerous websites, including cambridgerules1848.com – I’m delighted to have a new virtual space to which I can add work, that now allows filtering by project and topic.
Going forward, I will also be adding book design work that I complete for other artists, galleries and institutions, as I bring the other strand of my worklife’s history ‘Axis’ to a close and focus on my studio practice.
Axis Projects Publishing will now be incorporated into this site and will continue to be serviced and developed here. We are just finalising how the e-commerce aspect of that will function, but books can still be purchased here until that switches over shortly.
Extremely pleased to say I am the lucky recipient of an Arts Council England ‘Develop Your Creative Practice’ (DYCP) grant for 2023.
DYCP will allow me to explore a more experimental output to my practice: combining new research, mentoring & practical skills. I’ll develop inclusive analogue & digital approaches to visual storytelling & establish a network of national & international partners for future collaborations, building strategies to support the sustainability of my long-term practice.
Focused on my interest in place, memory & the messages from a WWI postcard collection, I’ll undertake a residency in the French town of Grandpré, Ardennes to test new approaches within collaborative engagement. I’ll experiment with live performance, audio & film installations & how these can build potential for digital storytelling platforms in future projects. Documentation will be disseminated digitally & via pop-up installations for feedback/critique to help build an important legacy for future social art projects.
I’ll research my core themes, including visits to archive La Contemporaine, Paris; Anti-war Museum, Berlin & Postcards for Peace. Dr Corinne Painter (Intercultural Studies Lecturer, Leeds University), Lara-Marie Hägerling, (Technische Universität Braunschweig) & Prof Matthew Jefferies (Programme Director German Studies, Manchester University) will provide translation expertise and cultural context to increase the conceptual rigour & build relationships for future commissions.
I’ll complete training in virtual platform storytelling & coding: audio production & editing; video techniques, editing & integration. Mark Devereux Projects will provide mentoring to reflect on my practice development, build plans for future projects & establish a strategy for new opportunities.
Last Sunday I was commissioned by Mid Pennine Arts to make a series of portraits of Clarion cyclists as they converged on the last Clarion House just north of Nelson in Lancashire. The weather held fair and it was a privilege to photograph over 90 cyclists who celebrated Clarion Sunday. Many of these riders have contributed data of their journeys. In some instances they also photographed or filmed their rides for me to look at and consider for the limited edition bookwork I am now making. All participants will be included and many contributed their thoughts on the importance of the Clarion’s cultural heritage. This commission is part of Pendle Radicals, a wider look at radical thinkers and activists who have shaped not only the local landscape but the nation. I was also commissioned to mark these people and their importance with a series of stone etched panels. The Clarion panel is at the bottom of these images from the day.
As a devotee of cycling culture and fashion, I designed a special musette for each cyclist, with the declaration #I_Am_Clarion emblazoned on it – filled with Clarion and Pendle Radicals goodies. Now I will begin to reflect on the day, process the portraits and produce a lasting document celebrating the Clarion cycling movement and its Socialist roots – to be added to the musette! As the beautiful banner says ‘Fellowship is Life’, ‘Socialism the Hope of the World’.
Pleased to say I am taking part in studiobook {online} 2021. This is an artist professional development course coordinated by Mark Devereaux Projects. More details here of the artists and the scheme.
My #I_Am_Clarion commission comes under the umbrella project ‘Pendle Radicals’ by Mid Pennine Arts, check out the beautiful etched stone panels I created for the wider project which feature in this episode of Songs of Praise.
The panels were etched for us by Scribblestone near Halifax, who worked on my previous Cambridge Rules 1848 commission. Using a warm local stone to reflect the environment they are set in, they mark key locations that are touched by Radical Thinkers from Pendle’s past.
I believe I get a small walk on part, but haven’t seen the rushes so can’t confirm this!
Pendle Radicals will be airing on Sunday 12th Sept at 1.45pm on BBC One and will be available to watch online afterwards @ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000zp4l
We are reaching the point in the project where the final stone will be installed in Egypt and the book can be printed and published. There will be more images and announcements about this shortly.
This image shows the extent of the publication, 800pp in 32pp sections. It will be exposed bound, so I’ve been experimenting with adding details to the sections that can be read once bound. It will be a miniature scale version of the sculpture with a sleeve. Here, the sections have been squeezed between two pieces of sample stone for the sculpture.
