And what did you there?

I have been to London, I didn't see the Queen, but I have been quite busy...

I'm coming towards the finish of my 2-year Masters course. It's been an opportunity to have my work robustly tested by a cohort of other students and lecturers from around the world. The idea is, you all agree to appraise each other’s work against international scientific and cultural trends and exemplars. This helps you fine tune your work and keep it relevant. 
 
The key thing about a course of this kind, is it’s going to hurt (but in an enjoyable way)! You don’t have to change what you do, you're simply making sure that what you’re making is the best version. The Masters measures how far you have travelled on this journey, how much you have tested yourself; but you ultimately decide how to measure what is 'best'.
 
So, anyway...
 
I’ve continued with community art projects...
Working with the Kirkgate Centre in Cockermouth and their communities. While I will be bringing in skills to share with these communities, I’m trying to emphasise the exchange of ideas, and un-earthing of skills local to their area, such as dyeing.

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Also, ​I’m moving into Makers Mill!!!!
 
I can’t wait. It’s such a beautiful place, situated on the banks of the river Greta in Keswick.
I’ll be preparing lots of gorgeous work for sale, ranging from £200 upwards and inviting commissions of all kinds. I still regularly make papercasts of Indian temples similar to the one I made on the BBC programme...

​and I’ve also developed some new figurative pieces based on people’s old photos and memories. 

​I will also be making time for private tutoring at the Makers Mill. More details will be coming soon! 
 
And finally, the journeys into the underworld...

​I’m developing some work that is slightly more ambiguous, but maybe still beautiful.  This will be inspired by all those journeys down into disused mines, into the past. There’s something rather impossible about trying to communicate even one aspect of the experience of being in these mines, of the lives of miners. But the impossibility is attractive – it feels like one of those out-of-reach ideas on the distant horizon. 

I’ve been making small ‘samplers’ of painted and sewn gestures on canvas that remind me of the mines. The machines looming out of the shadows, the sludge of sediment and mud. I'm also thinking about how this work might be curated in the future, what lighting, what space...

I'll let you know when my degree show is coming up at Gallery North, and when I'm ready to launch at the Makers Mill. All for now.