Collaborations
Intro
I find co-production, the making of relationship with other people or things, helps to shape and frame my work. Perhaps more importantly, these moments help me grow up! When we come into relationship with others, and their thoughts and practices, as long as we remain flexible like clay, we can help shape each other’s work into forms we may not have known were possible. Here are the collaborations I have been engaged in.
Intro
I find co-production, the making of relationship with other people or things, helps to shape and frame my work. Perhaps more importantly, these moments help me grow up! When we come into relationship with others, and their thoughts and practices, as long as we remain flexible like clay, we can help shape each other’s work into forms we may not have known were possible. Here are the collaborations I have been engaged in.
Radio interview on field visit
Helen Millican (BBC Radio Cumbria) joined me in a remote disused mining tunnel to record the ambient sounds of the sites I had chosen to work in, and to help me explore verbally, aspects of the practice I was developing. Click here to listen. It was only through responding to her questioning and observations that I began to solidify, for the first time, some of my main interests and motivations around painting. Up to that point, I had been slightly at sea with the remote interactions of zoom, but this physical meeting brought me back home to painting these local mines.
Helen Millican (BBC Radio Cumbria) joined me in a remote disused mining tunnel to record the ambient sounds of the sites I had chosen to work in, and to help me explore verbally, aspects of the practice I was developing. Click here to listen. It was only through responding to her questioning and observations that I began to solidify, for the first time, some of my main interests and motivations around painting. Up to that point, I had been slightly at sea with the remote interactions of zoom, but this physical meeting brought me back home to painting these local mines.
The show- (Un)settled
It took many weeks for the 5 of us on MFA1 to find commonalities in our work. I slipped into facilitator role, which I realised can soon become a slightly tyrannical role if not tempered by others kind enough to stand their ground. Ro gently guided me out of my facilitator/admin tick-boxy role, and into a role of a creative person on a journey with other creative people. This felt lovely. In the short weeks that the 5 of us have had together in the studio, very special bonds have been made. Cao was bursting with enthusiasm, Megan with great incisiveness, Helen with both incisiveness and energy, and Ro with a steadiness and thoughtfulness. They had given me a space to play, physically and metaphorically. The frame of (un)settled captured our joint sense of taking risks and charting new territories.
It took many weeks for the 5 of us on MFA1 to find commonalities in our work. I slipped into facilitator role, which I realised can soon become a slightly tyrannical role if not tempered by others kind enough to stand their ground. Ro gently guided me out of my facilitator/admin tick-boxy role, and into a role of a creative person on a journey with other creative people. This felt lovely. In the short weeks that the 5 of us have had together in the studio, very special bonds have been made. Cao was bursting with enthusiasm, Megan with great incisiveness, Helen with both incisiveness and energy, and Ro with a steadiness and thoughtfulness. They had given me a space to play, physically and metaphorically. The frame of (un)settled captured our joint sense of taking risks and charting new territories.
Light, Turner, Boym and Tate Conservation research
In the weeks running up to the installation, I had been working away on my own in the quarry and in my home studio. I wanted to keep falling more deeply into relationship with the subject matter, with the freezing spectral flooded quarry; the absorbing facets of light; Turner’s enigmatic archive whose hidden layers Tate continues to peel back; and with Svetlana Boym’s poignant summaries of the cultural shifts of our time. All this was perhaps too much inside my body and my mind, and I had moments of loneliness/meaninglessness along with moments of exhilaration.
In the weeks running up to the installation, I had been working away on my own in the quarry and in my home studio. I wanted to keep falling more deeply into relationship with the subject matter, with the freezing spectral flooded quarry; the absorbing facets of light; Turner’s enigmatic archive whose hidden layers Tate continues to peel back; and with Svetlana Boym’s poignant summaries of the cultural shifts of our time. All this was perhaps too much inside my body and my mind, and I had moments of loneliness/meaninglessness along with moments of exhilaration.
Alison Critchlow and Mark Gibbs
I started this MFA with the desire to reach out to wider networks, but was aware that ‘the local’ is still key to my practice, as I have become invested in the communities and environment around me. I have now teamed up with two other artists who have lived in Cumbria for decades similar to me. We are 2 painters and a mixed media artist. We all draw inspiration from nature, from embodied making, and intellectual rigour. We have been writing mock reviews and proposals about our own and each other’s work, preparing ourselves for a show or residency which would bridge the national context with the local. We are learning to think more carefully about what we do, our next steps, and why our work might be relevant.
I started this MFA with the desire to reach out to wider networks, but was aware that ‘the local’ is still key to my practice, as I have become invested in the communities and environment around me. I have now teamed up with two other artists who have lived in Cumbria for decades similar to me. We are 2 painters and a mixed media artist. We all draw inspiration from nature, from embodied making, and intellectual rigour. We have been writing mock reviews and proposals about our own and each other’s work, preparing ourselves for a show or residency which would bridge the national context with the local. We are learning to think more carefully about what we do, our next steps, and why our work might be relevant.
Polish wood sculptor Anya Mikolajczyk
We were paired through a penpals exchange between Castlefield Gallery and Europia arts. Through sharing gifts and hand-written letters, I have learnt a new sense of self-acceptance, and willingness to not be afraid to express myself.
We were paired through a penpals exchange between Castlefield Gallery and Europia arts. Through sharing gifts and hand-written letters, I have learnt a new sense of self-acceptance, and willingness to not be afraid to express myself.
BRE
Family day
I have been humbled and refreshed by the Baltic team, who were clearly grappling with uncertainties caused by the pandemic, but who stayed flexible and open to create new possibilities. I learnt about how my community skills and experience could still be relevant. As Ro and I developed the social narrative for the Family Day, through mapping key aspects of the journey along the river path, I found in them, a friend and colleague who I admired and trusted.
Waiting (weighting) symposium
It seemed an unusual challenge, the attempt to find a convergence of themes between our practices and the research threads of the Baltic. I think we succeeded in the end, but perhaps we weren’t able to flex our risk-taking sides to their limits due to the finite outcomes expected, not by the MFA programme, but our own expectations of a collaboration with a high-profile venue. Again, myself and Chris Partridge, slipped into a facilitator role, setting up meetings and google docs to allow others to play into the development of a concept. As the deadlines came along, I then took on a key coordination role, finding 2 speakers for the panel, and helping to devise a shape to the event etc, and in the absence of any other volunteer, I agreed to make the film. I took on a large load, much of which I remain excited about. Reaching out to Hannabiell, the composer/musician was a wonderful experience. However, there is something I need to learn around feeling ok about how the ‘weight’ of responsibility is shared, and my own impatience around ‘waiting’ which leads me to take on unnecessary loads. Again, wisely, Ro, became an invaluable anchor as I bobbed about with my misgivings. Big thanks to her and also to Andrea and the MFA staff for their huge positivity.
Family day
I have been humbled and refreshed by the Baltic team, who were clearly grappling with uncertainties caused by the pandemic, but who stayed flexible and open to create new possibilities. I learnt about how my community skills and experience could still be relevant. As Ro and I developed the social narrative for the Family Day, through mapping key aspects of the journey along the river path, I found in them, a friend and colleague who I admired and trusted.
Waiting (weighting) symposium
It seemed an unusual challenge, the attempt to find a convergence of themes between our practices and the research threads of the Baltic. I think we succeeded in the end, but perhaps we weren’t able to flex our risk-taking sides to their limits due to the finite outcomes expected, not by the MFA programme, but our own expectations of a collaboration with a high-profile venue. Again, myself and Chris Partridge, slipped into a facilitator role, setting up meetings and google docs to allow others to play into the development of a concept. As the deadlines came along, I then took on a key coordination role, finding 2 speakers for the panel, and helping to devise a shape to the event etc, and in the absence of any other volunteer, I agreed to make the film. I took on a large load, much of which I remain excited about. Reaching out to Hannabiell, the composer/musician was a wonderful experience. However, there is something I need to learn around feeling ok about how the ‘weight’ of responsibility is shared, and my own impatience around ‘waiting’ which leads me to take on unnecessary loads. Again, wisely, Ro, became an invaluable anchor as I bobbed about with my misgivings. Big thanks to her and also to Andrea and the MFA staff for their huge positivity.