The 'White Building' Studio

 

This is the studio I will be busying in from January 2013. Martin Page, head of art & design at Truro College kindly offered me this space to mould, hammer, gouge and burn my words into an array of mediums for my exhibition.

Live footage will be available of me at work as the winter weeks turn into spring.

The vents that will take away the smoke!

 

 

 

 Car parks and distance landscapes...

 

 

 For more intricate application....

Interview at the 'Cornish Studies Library'

On Friday the 7th December I ventured out to interview Kim Cooper, Principal Library Officer of the Cornish Studies Library in Redruth. I'd already prepared my list of questions for Kim, and I had thought about sending them to her before hand, but like many of us who have a journalistic streak I felt sure the interview would be more substantial with a tad of the unexpected..

It didn't take both of us long to start weaving through the questions with some degree of professionalism. We delved into some of the more sensitive issues of being creative in Cornwall and the Celtic passions that eventually creep in to lots of resident artists work - including mine.

"Cornwall is marketed on its Heritage in lots of ways, but we also have to think of the now"

I can say whole heartily that the Cornish Studies Library is a place of immense necessity and a huge part of this is having the right team of people working there and being led by an individual that truly believes in the institution they manage...Kim is this individual.

"We can utilise this Heritage and events from the past to grab locals attention and say, look what else we've got to offer from the new blood of Cornwall"


This exhibition, to me, is worth more than just the room it will stand in; I want Kim to feel as proud as I do that I've taken poetry to an artistic level that will hopefully appeal to a much broader audience.
The Cornish Studies Library opens its doors, everyone is welcome and even if you've only just made the journey to collect a book on old Cornish recipes or to browse the shelves for a certain journal on an retired fishing fleet from Falmouth, surely a peer into the exhibition room to absorb a little poetry is an added experience to your day. 

"We need more support through linking ideas, bringing in writing on all levels"

You can view my list of questions for Kim by going to the 'Links' above.

Galavanting in the Gardens...

Last Friday I had the pleasure of joining Tom Scott with his new poetry venture for Trebah Gardens on the boarders of Falmouth. As part of a group of poets I was assigned by Tom a specific area of the gardens: the Mallard Pond and Bridge and briefed to reflect on a question accordingly.  A large troupe of student photographers from Falmouth Universities Marine and Natural History photography course were armed with various high tech equipment. They perused the gardens capturing the botanical delights still blooming in the cold watery sunlight, whilst us writers scribbled away with numb fingers.
We returned to the cafe to thaw out with hot drinks and a read through of some poems along the themes of questions regarding nature; our own ideas and rough notes were discussed and some interesting observations mulled over.
So now my job is to get my two final poems drafted and sent back to Tom for consideration. Any poems chosen will be displayed early next year complementing the selected photographs from the students.

The whole experience was joy, the freedom, the gardens mystical magic, the sharing of ideas and meeting some amazing writers...thank you Penelope Shuttle for making the day complete....

Finding my way....

All the chit chat rousing today's poets into action on-line I thought I'd test the water on 'Wattpad'. I've created a profile under the title "Fabular"and self published a poem called 'Avon Calling' follow link:  http://www.wattpad.com/9322475-avon-calling
With over 10 million viewers I'm hoping for some feedback; I might even slide in a couple of my exhibition pieces for a test run!
Margaret Atwood has published a collection of poems on this site so I was very impressed a small fry like myself could nestle in alongside such an accomplished icon.
Now it's just a matter of waiting...

 Dr. Seuss once wrote,

'You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
                                                               The Waiting Place...'


Seuss, Dr. 1957. Oh, The Places You'll Go, UK: HarperCollins Children's Books 1997

soggy world, dry humour

And more rain again and again and again. It hasn't dampened my spirits though and the writing is getting aggressive so much so that the poems I'm working on are cowering in the binding whilst a short story has been unleashed. It was the train journey on Friday that clinched it, my face and shoulder squashed against the window of the overcrowded carriage surfing its way to Plymouth. I just managed to crook my arm into an awkward writing position and scribbled away - the sentences on such a tilt I feared they would  slide off the page and I'd loose them under my seat.
Story is safe and dry; five pages of  something anyway which I will smarten up, but not too much. I think that all my work has raggy edges: whether the most delicate torn chiffon or a heavy tear across roughed up hessian the frayed strands wave about.
Took my bestest friend to see The Old Press Gallery on Saturday, he just happens to be my husband too; we have come up with the idea of trying out a three dimensional layout plan for the pieces in the exhibition, (think Grand Design architect style). This will enable everyone involved to have a hand in the visual impact process. Still waiting for news from the tree surgeon on my bark pieces, with all this wet weather I think we'll need a dry spell for this tricky separation process.
Next phase is lots of lists...sherry.....laughter

Wednesday...friendships and a certain library...

So here we go first post but definitely not the first day on the job. Lots of busy planning and organising has been going on behind the scenes and now I'm getting down to the fine art of controlling apprehensions. Thank goodness for the steady hand of friendship and a professional friendship at that. Over tepid tea and  toasted teacakes my wonderful mentor reassured me that I was on the right track but I now need to consider how to lay out my exhibition. So much to mull over and straight away I began thinking along the lines of a director - the camera  being the spectators eyes. How will visitors view my exhibition, what angles shall I use to stand, balance, wall hang and suspend my pieces? This has led me to reconsider how long I will need to 'create' the actual exhibition in the galleries before opening.
Money is very thin on the ground so gathering materials is still in fits and starts but the boxes are filling up slowly. I have also finalised the title of the exhibition; how I will execute the design and this will now be built and photographed over Christmas in order for the posters/flyer's/contact cards to be produced.
Finally whilst hanging out at Truro library (yes I often do this!) I came across a fantastic book on the origins of Conceptual Art Theory, Myth and Practice, sufficient to say I will be ordering this from my college library tomorrow as it will be a valuable asset regarding secondary source material for my final evaluation essay.

More news next Wednesday......