Post 8 - April 2016
Walking continually along the National Park Boundary marked
on the map has given an opportunity to connect with the land in a stronger way. Originally I had intended to do the whole walk and sleep overnight but ,had to
walk ‘Terfyn y Twll’ in parts, due to
weather conditions ,time limitations etc. However, I started off at the exact
place where I had finished the last walk, as close to a circle as possible, of
course.
The boundary is fenced, most of the way, a sheep fence to
keep the stock in or out. This allows the SNP to impose grazing restrictions
within the park and to monitor the environmental impact on the land. Sheep are
the main animals on the hills of this area and, given the harsh weather
conditions, there were the inevitable bones! I have always been drawn to collecting bones,
and spent many hours drawing them. As a sculptor, I am particularly drawn to their
structure and form. The sheep bones that I collected were always picked clean
and washed and bleached by the rain and sun.
These found and
collected bones express the concept of ‘time’ and ‘place’ as much as the slate
which Richard Long used in his piece. They are a material that is undergoing a
process of change influenced by the environmental conditions albeit in a much
quicker time span.
My ninth and final circle in the series became the’ Bone
Circle’.
 |
| Circle 9 - Bones |
I return to my experience of
‘looking in ‘ (to the hole) created by the boundary line on the map
as I mentioned on my last blog and in particular to the ‘Fools Gold’, which I kept coming across in the slate.
 |
| Iron Pyrites in Slate |
The Iron Pyrites occurs as a complex cube crystal system, a
sulphide material which occurs in the metamorphic rock –slate. It’s minimal
forms were very much in line with the concepts I was following in my’ Cut Out’ Book series, and so both forms
and colour (from collected pigment) gave expression to another two small
concertina books.
 |
| Pyrite Vein 1 |
 |
| Pyrite Vein 2 |
I’m not sure at this stage how to bring all these small
walking books together but one idea is to photograph them and include them in
my Blaenau Ffestiniog Circles Book of collaborative walks which will include
the circular walks of my studio group. This is going to give me a lot more
work, but it might also be a way to change the process to one of a reflective
analysis of the walks and to make the decision to bring them to a conclusion.
We have a meeting this Weds; March 23rd so will discuss the
possible content and practical possibilities.
I have also returned to re -photograph all the installed
Circles in Plas Brondanw with the help of my daughter Lowri Pendrell who is a
photographer. They have been photographed as a series which has now been
concluded and I hope to be able to exhibit them as a grid of photographs
alongside one of the actual circles.
Deciding which of the Circles to install (should I get the
opportunity) is an interesting one as they are so different and, of course,
will have a different presence according to where they are placed. I find the
‘Boot Hill Circle’ one of the most poignant and re -looking at it made me think
of the importance of boots within my walking project and also at the decomposed
or burnt leather of which the Hill was formed and which I collected on that walk.
Boots and shoes have many cultural and superstitious
connections and recently whilst viewing an old house that was for sale, the
farmer showed me an old boot that he had found in the wall. These ‘concealed
shoes/boots’ were deliberately hidden in many old houses and people believed that
they were protective. It is a mysterious subject as no one knows exactly why,
but the fact that the boot or shoe was shaped as a ‘container’ (container of
the spirit) remains one of the strongest beliefs.
I decided to explore this open container form using some of
the materials of the walk, as a way of combining both concept and material and began by sifting the found leather and using
it as a surface material to make a leather vessel.
 |
| Leather from Boot Hill |
Plate 72
This was followed by the ‘Fools Gold’ vessel made of gold leaf,
its cargo being a piece of the found iron pyrites.
 |
| Leather and Fools Gold Vessels |
I had to include one of my peat vessels (made for one of the
circles) and also decided to use slate, not as a solid material but by sifting
the chips I found on the slate tips and using the resulting dust as a surface
skin as for the leather. This circle of vessels was clearly becoming an enquiry
not only into the collected material but the material that was found on the
surface and below the surface of the land.
 |
| Circle of Vessels |
I completed the
circle of 6 vessels using lead and copper as they were mined alongside the
slate quarries of this area.
Post 7 - December to January 2016
One of my challenges, working with larger scale
installations has been locating an
appropriate space, floor or otherwise, which is large enough to install and
photograph the work. I have in the past few years moved from a larger barn
studio, which I rented, to a smaller custom built wooden studio in my garden
.There are pluses and minuses to both and these characteristics can have an
impact on the work.
Installing and photographing the Circle Series have posed
such a challenge with the initial space
for exploring the concept being my living room floor .At the end of last year I
managed to arrange an opportunity to re-photograph the work, in Plas Brondanw,
the home of Clough Williams Ellis, which is near my studio. It stands empty at
the moment awaiting conversion to become a museum and art gallery and has
wonderful wooden floors.
The resulting photographs are not satisfactory but an
improvement in parts.
 |
| Circle 3 - Peat Boat Circle |
 |
| Circle 8-Terfyn y Twll-Boundary circle |
 |
| Circle 4 - Grass circle |
All are examples of the Circle installations placed within
the context of a room and window.
I also have others of just the circle on the floor. I took
the images in JPG format and therefore can only edit to a certain degree. Had I
photographed in a RAW format I could eliminate the reflected light from the
floor.
It was time for the Studio group which originated last
April to meet up again. Of the nine that came to my initial talk, approx 5 want
to continue as a group and take part in the intended collaborative Blaenau
Ffestiniog Circle Book .Meeting before Christmas was a challenge but despite
the fact that many couldn’t attend, it was very productive.
Here are examples of
feedback and contributions –
“Long invents walks to express an idea… [and] … sees man
through nature, and reminds us of his presence through his absence”.
Being part of Marged’s Blaenau Ffestiniog Circles group has
provided a rare opportunity to work alongside other artists and poets, in an
open exploration, sharing our working and thinking. I’m enjoying the
interaction of ideas and processes, responding to Long and Marged’s circles
work, and the connection to the Retake-Reinvent project as a whole. My response
so far has been to wander and wonder in circles within Blaenau Ffestiniog (as
part of the furniture*), seeking visual, auditory and physical traces of women,
past and present. It’s quite tricky because women are largely missing
from the history of Blaenau (and what is said of them is not at all
complimentary - “obsessed with furniture, finery and niknaks, poor cooks,
lacking in thrift"). It’s been a fun and interesting exploration so far.
The next step is to begin some conversational circles, starting with clues from
conversations I had during my circular wanderings.
* “A person or thing that has been somewhere so long as
to seem a permanent, unquestioned or invisible feature of the landscape” …
Lindsey
Colbourne - artist
Blaenau Circles
In the song "Solid Ground", Irish folk singer
Dolores Keane says, "You cannot own the land, the land owns you".
Collaborating with the artists involved in Marged's project, feels as though we
are each celebrating the ways in which the land has taken possession of us.
Sharing our practice and process is highlighting the intensely personal
relationship each of us has with the land - with what is on it and of it.
Together and alone, we are following threads - the journeys are mostly separate
yet powerfully inter connective. And, for me, it has meant a paradigm shift
regarding the concept of "going around in circles".
Jill Teague - writer
Jan 2016
And so another year begins. I look at my studio wall to
reflect on the project so far and it’s now full of maps.
 |
| Map of Circle Walk |
 |
| Detail of Map of Circle walks |
 |
| Map of walks along the Snowdonia National Park boundary |
I am reminded that my working process begins by marking a
circular walk on an OS map of the Blaenau Ffestiniog area with the intention of
walking within or on the boundary of that circle.
I returned to Long
and remembered reading the words of Anne Seymour in the book Richard Long
–Walking in Circles.
“A map is made so we can find our way from one place to
another whether in nature or in the mind, not only once, but again and again.
Maps record these visible and invisible paths which are created by various
kinds of touching…….
It is said that the brain works in terms of ratio and
proportion, in other words measurement To trace its relationship to nature and
reality the human body operates many simultaneous systems of measurement based
on the senses .The human body has always been both a system of measurement and
a map, both of without and within, a recorder of time and space….
-‘Page 8 Anne Seymour-Richard
Long’ Walking in Circles ‘
I also relooked at the book ‘The Map as Art’ – Katharine Harmon,
and am reminded that-
“Conventional maps can do no more than point the way to
unpredictable, individual experience, while artworks embody those experiences.”
Page 15 -The Map as Art-Katharine Harmon
I’m beginning to realize that all aspects of this
exploration are as equally important as each other. Everything I have done up
to now has been part of one piece of work .How do I bring it all together?
I return to the map of the national park boundary line .I
still have one part of the boundary to walk, along the ridge of Moel Penamnen
and Moel Fras and am unsure as yet if I will walk it or not. It might be an
interesting decision not to complete the circle and explore what this means?
In the meantime I am
exploring the physical experience of looking in and looking out of the boundary
line .Looking into ( the’ twll’) the area
around the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog with its grey slate quarries and tips of
slate waste.
 |
| National park boundary line cut as defined in 1951 over map 1919 |
Much of what I see, around the town, is the inside of the
mountains (quarry waste), the invisible made visible.
Walking amongst this quarry waste, the inside of the mountains, I come across some Iron Pyrites (Fools Gold) which has always fascinated me. Seeing it here within the context of all this grey waste , the name Fools Gold takes on a rather poignant metaphorical connotation and on which I shall return to.
Before ending this post, my small books exploring
the ‘cutout’ continue, with an exploration of the lakes and the layers of
slate, using blue pastel and found slate powder.
Post 6 November 2015
Went to see the Richard Long exhibition ‘Time and Space ‘in
the Arnolfini Bristol.
 |
| Journal Page |
I found the text works particularly interesting. The earlier
text works were mainly focused on actual,
physical activities-‘real stones, real time, real actions’. His use of language
in later works moves away from pure descriptive to something that is more
poetic, reminiscent of the Japanese Haiku style. It becomes a way of looking at
the physical world in a deeper sense. As a retrospective it also reconnected me
with the old alongside the new.
Returning to the studio and to the walk I referred to in blog 5 –walking the
boundary of the National Park around Blaenau Ffestiniog. I decided to make a series
of walks as following the boundary line was more complex than I had considered.
It ended up in 7 walks of various lengths to cover the whole boundary, ending
and starting in the same place .I walked miles! Have called the series’ Terfyn y Twll’-Boundary
of the Hole.
 |
| Journal pages with jigsaw of walks and studio |
I’m not going to document all the walks here but have done
so in my journal. Here is an example of the thinking process behind some of the
work and its development.
Journal page of-walk 2 –Terfyn y Twll from Bwlch y Rhosydd to the Crimea Pass
 |
| Walk 2: Terfyn y Twll |
First small book that was done in situ and its development
to -
 |
| Cut Out Boundary Book |
As the walk was Terfyn y Twll,I decided to work with the
hole, the cutout.
I also decided to simplify the forms even further into
geometric shapes, e.g. the grey slate tip alongside the green mountain became
the two triangles. The boundary goes right through these triangles, the slate
tip not being included but the green mountain is within the boundary. Walking
through these two echoing shapes started my thought process of what is in and
what is out of the National Park and to approach it as a cutout.
Journal page of walk 3 –from The Crimea Pass to Moel
Penamnen
A fourth book made in 4 parts using collected peat, and red
copper pigment. Here are a couple of pages.
Cut out Twin Peaks
Cut out red Bog Grass
I also increased the scale of some of these cut out forms, making larger drawings with peat.
 |
| Cut Out Peat Drawings |
I am still working with the material from Terfyn y Twll.
On walk 5 from Foel Fras through old Cwt y Bugail quarry to
Cwm Teigl I came across a ’Found Circle’
which will be part of my Circle series.
Imprint Circle
Trying to tie all these walks together as one’ Circle’ work
has been challenging.
I had however been collecting earth, found and discarded
objects on each of the walks .They became the constant of the circle and I kept
them in small glass jars.
Placing these small collecting pots next to each other in a
circle gave the result I was looking for.
Terfyn Y Twll Circle
The overall focus is not so much on what the glasses
‘contain’ as the fact that they all contain and reflect the light. Collectively, they communicate a quality that is expressive of both inside and outside as
well as the main element of all the walks-water.
Post 5 - September 2015
“If you make work about land you are making a political
statement as well as an aesthetic one”
Chris Drury
This quote of Chris Drury’s is becoming more evident in my work .Spending an extended time in this area has broadened my enquiry
into the historical ,socio-economic and political elements that have created
such a landscape.
This however is an element that doesn’t come into Richard Long’s
work, his ideas are about time and space in a broader context and his
interaction and engagement purely with land and Nature. A part of me is
fighting the political element raised .
In August I set off on a very long walk (of 9 hours) Walk 11
–Crimea Circle to explore the area of land to the North of Blaenau Ffestiniog.
As I mentioned earlier, I do want there to be a
collaborative element within this project and despite there being nine interested
from the studio group, only Jan could join on this walk (maybe she lived to
regret it! ) On a walk of this length the ideas develop through the physical
process of walking. The mind gradually quietens and the feet take over,
particularly if the terrain is challenging (as this was).
Walk 11- Crimea Circle.
The small books I have been making of each walk exist as a
more conceptual or poetic way of recording the experience. Some of the text is
descriptive but I am also exploring ways with words of relating to the landscape
in a deeper way. Will re look at Basho’s Haiku Poetry and ‘His Narrow Road to
the Deep North’.
This particular walk (walk 11 –Crimea Circle) became one
that focused on time and space, with water and light becoming the predominant
qualities. The clarity of reflection in the numerous lakes gave the landscape
more of a physical depth, their reflections displaced the solidity of the
landscape and fragmented the walk, giving an alternative narrative of movement
through the landscape.
It was with these
concepts in mind that I explored using mirrors within the next Circle series
–
Circle 7.
Circle 7- Crimea Glass Circle.
Initially I kept to
the same format/scale /location of the other circles (floor of the house) but
it didn’t work very well .The idea was to use the reflective quality to mirror
the environment in which they are placed which when they were placed outside, began to work.
I realize I was
stepping into Robert Smithson and territory I hadn’t intended to explore
(i.e. including manmade objects) but a path that arose from
the actual walk.
Here is a quote from one of his essays “Incidents of
mirror-Travel in the Yucatan 1969”
“I’m using the mirror because the mirror in a sense is both
the physical mirror and the reflection: the mirror as a concept and
abstraction; then the mirror as fact within the mirror of the concept”Selected Interviews with Robert Smithson
–Fragments of conversation-Edited by William C . Lipke
Returning to Walk 5 – Cwt y Bugail Quarry and the film that Jan Woods did as a
documentary record of the walk. She has now edited it into a short 5 min film.
Originally she wanted to include the image of’ Blaenau
Ffestiniog Circle’ by Richard Long as a context for the walk but, even as an
image within my journal, we hit up against copyright issues. So, back to the drawing
board, we are considering describing the image instead.
At the beginning of this blog I mentioned the political issue....According to the National Park website, when the boundary of the Park was drawn up in 1950, it –
“did not satisfy the criteria of exceptional natural beauty”
My initial response came out as a concept of defining the
boundary as the edge of a hole-and decided to name the series of walks -Terfyn
y Twll-Boundary of the Hole.
My next step is to walk the boundary as close as possible to
the map definition .It will have to be done in sections as its quite a large
area, so find out how I get on, on my next blog post.
I revisited the Peat Circle experiments I did earlier on and
decided to include it as one of my circle series.
Circle 8 – Peat Boundary Circle
Post 4
May/June 2015
The weather has become wintry again with snow on high
ground, limiting the walks I had planned. Currently reading ‘On –Walking’ by
Phil Smith which gives a very different perspective on walking, highly recommended.
Phil Smith is a performer, writer, artist-researcher and academic.
I focus instead on working with the mountain grasses I have
collected on previous Blaenau walks and explore the contrasting qualities
created by bundling them together.
 |
| Grass Bundles |
Interesting to explore the rigidity of this white, mountain
grass which looks so soft in its natural location. It appears to dominate the
higher landscapes at this time of the year.
Working on Circle 4 I chose to explore a decagon circular
form that echoes the manmade straight edges of these quarried lands, the human intervention,
buildings, railways etc.
 |
| Circle 5 Straight Grass |
As a contrast, Circle 6 focuses on the soft qualities of the
red brown bog grass. This grows only in this peat bog area and it was the
material that influenced the iron bundles in Circle 2.This grass is rather
tough and wiry but I wanted to convey the lightness and airiness that is also
associated with the peat bogs.
 |
| Circle 6 - Grass |
This exploration of opposites is a theme that occurs
throughout my practice.
Slate, which is at
the heart of this enquiry, begins its life as a layer of soft sediment and with
time and compression ends up as the hard material it is today.
What about my walks?
I ventured out on May
12th towards the Crimea Pass just above Blaenau, planning to do
quite a long walk along the high ridges that form the crest of the Gloddfa
Ganol mines.
As I hit the peak of Moel Dyrnogydd my feet went from under
me with the force of the wind and I crawled away from the edge heading down for
some shelter. Cold wind and rain meant that I had to shelter in one of the
quarry ruins to eat my lunch. Now I know why its called the Crimea! Although I
have since found out that there was a pub there called the Crimea which housed
a number of Russian internees who built the stone walls on those exposed
mountains.
Feeling rather frustrated but happy to be sheltered I
started to notice the amount of lichen on the rocks all around, an oasis in the
bleakness.
My hands were too cold to do much drawing so I captured the
miniature colorful maps with photographs. My walk became very inward and the
remainder of my time was spent following the contours of these circles on the
rocks.
Heading for home feeling colder than I had done all winter I
noticed as I came down once more towards the Crimea a circle of brown (peat?)
and remembered that I had seen it before and wondered what it was, why there
was nothing growing on it?
I was too cold to take a look but returned the next day.
I return, to this-
I couldn’t resist bringing some back to the studio.
Plates35/36
 |
| Collections from Boot Hill |
 |
| Steel heel and sole caps - buckles, nails and hobnails |
They became Circle 6 – Boot Circle.
 |
| Circle 6 - Boot Circle |
These remains have given me echoing thoughts of Auschwitz
and the parallels with quarry men’s boots. They have made me reflect on the
nature of walking now, as a pleasurable activity compared to the lives of these
soldiers and miners.
I spent some time handling and drawing them for my small
book and it felt very poignant. I feel as if there is much more work to be done
on these found pieces.
Plate 38
 |
| Walk 10 Boot Circle |
The second group visit took place on June 19th
with 2 more, Lindsey and Ruth joining us.
Some of the original group had been on their own walks and
had documented and created work based on the walk. They shared their
experiences with the group and we had many interesting discussions resulting
from this. The aim is to collate the documented walks into a book as part of my
Dispersed Collection Series.
Interesting that many
of them were interested in the inhabitants of Blaenau Ffestiniog and the cycle
of their lives – the cultural links with the landscape - which is an area I
haven’t explored as yet.
We discussed the potential of doing a combined walk and
arranged to meet on August 5th in Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Post 3 – April 2015
My main focus this month has been on Material in particular the peat which I
collected from Rhosydd bog on 25/03/15 and has been drying in my studio ever
since.
I began experimenting both in 2D and 3D:
I began by working on paper both in the journal
and in a larger drawing (which is in progress) .
I found that there were subtle differences
in colour and texture according to location.
 |
| Peat circle drawing |
I worked one layer upon another exploring
the contrasting qualities of lightness and fluidity on paper as opposed to the
density and darkness of the material in solid form. This is ongoing, left for
now as I am not sure how or if to push it further.
 |
| Peat Circle |
Experimental piece, working with peat as a
material within a contained boundary of a circle of garden earth.
Although this was a quick response to an
idea, it was a strong statement on boundaries, isolation and had a political
statement over and above the material.
It would be interesting to explore this
idea on a larger scale in a gallery.
The physical handling and manipulation of
material plays an important part in my working process. The following
installation explores the way the material contains the circle as a void.
 |
| Peat and acrylic |
 |
| Peat and Scar Circles. Peat, acrylic, felt and thread |
I enjoy working in this intuitive way. Most
of the works are documented photographically and dismantled.
However, the main reason I was drawn to
collect peat was as a material to explore form and to use within the context of
my Blaenau Ffestiniog Circle Series.
I
might have mentioned my experimental
processes of working peat in past blogs,
but if not, just to reaffirm that this process has been going on in the background with some degree
of success.
I have cast 28 small peat boats to date
and, as with the other circles, installed them on my living room floor.
This circle would benefit by being bigger
in scale and will need more boats cast to explore the concentric circle as 3
lines instead of 2 as shown. So, for now will continue the process of casting
more peat boats and install to document again later.
Just to reflect on the use of ritual boats
as subject matter. I was particularly inspired by the Viking Ship Museum in
Oslo whilst being filmed for a
documentary on my working process for S4C in 2006 .Most of these boats had been unearthed and preserved in peat bogs.
I wanted to recreate my peat boats as unearthed
objects.
The documentary called –“Chwarae Chwiw a
Danedd Dad” can be viewed on the Director- Eilir Pierce’s website www.pbshowfolio/eilirpierce
Returning to the’ Blaenau Ffestiniog
circular walks’, I have been considering a way of collaborating
or in fact, collating a collection of walks around Blaenau Ffestiniog that are
not my own.
This idea expands my previous concept of
Dispersed Collections (mentioned in Blog 1) and includes both walking and
collection as a working process.
On the 21st of the month I have
organized a studio visit for a group of
interested participants - 6 in total and will discuss this idea with them.
I have only been able to do 3 shorter walks
this month with my studio as starting point – all in the direction of Blaenau
Ffestiniog.
Walk 7 –A walk that crosses many streams
Walk 8-A walk to greet the Atlantic Low.
Walk 9 –Walk through a changed landscape.
All have been documented in small books and
in the journal.
Studio Visit – April 20th 2015
The visit went very well and generated a
lively dialogue and engagement with the project.
The groups were all interested in the
creative process but not all within the visual arts, one participant was a
writer who works with the land and uses walking as a creative process.
We discussed the concepts, techniques,
historical and theoretical research connected to Richard Long, Land Art and my
chosen work. They were able to view the journal, small books and the documented
installations .I would have chosen to install at least one of the Circle Series
for them to view but there wasn’t enough space.
The suggestion that we collaborate and
create a ‘Collection of Walks’ was well received, working within the premise of
the location, each participant to document a circular walk of their own choice
within the mapped area ,with the
possible aim of collating them with a small
published book .
We plan to meet again on June 19th
to share the experience and documentation of these walks and experiences.
Post 2 – March 2015
For the past year I have been working on a flotilla of small boats as a connection to the land on which I live and the studio in which I work. I am thrown back into this as I walk and collect slate waste for my first circle .All of the slate quarried in these mines was taken down the mountain and sent all over the world by ships/boats from the nearby harbour of Porthmadog.
Keeping to Long’s process of the ‘found object’, I
collected( on walk3) slate pieces of all sizes and brought them back to my studio. I also incidentally found
two lengths of rusty cable buried on the slate tip which found their way into
my rucksack.
Returning to the studio to work with the slate pieces in an intuitive way.
I
explored the open form of a circle on the studio floor to the scale of approx 2
mtrs .
Relating a small piece to a larger piece
seemed to work well but I didn’t want them to represent boats literally.
I had also on the last walk, noticed the
amount of lead mines that are combined within the slate quarries and researched
the mining of lead and its history within this area with thoughts about
bringing it in somehow to this project.
I
have worked with lead in the past but not cast from it, so working on a small
scale in the garden I experimented with pouring lead from a tin into the most
basic of cuttlefish moulds formed as small boats. The resulting lead boats were
combined with the installed slate boats to complete Circle 1.
I am limited by the space I have in
studio and house to photograph an installed piece so these images are done as a
quick record not an ideal photograph of the work.
As I was in material mode I decided to
explore the potential of the collected rusty iron cable and found that it fell
to pieces in my hands (with a bit of twisting). I was able to separate the
single strands and they reminded me of the brown/red grass growing on the bog
lands. I had collected a sample on my
last walk and decided to tie the iron strands together in a similar way.
The other material I want to explore at
this stage, which is strongly connected to the land walked is peat. Firstly I
had to collect some, which is not easy.
Walk
4 - 16/3/15—A circular walk to the peat bog of
Rhosydd from Tanygrisiau , on to Cwmorthin and back to Tanygrisiau.
This ‘Peat Book’ was just the beginning of a response to peat which I will return to in my next blog post.
It was a good week weather and time wise
so I decided to take the opportunity to get out and walk. I found myself
rereading parts of books about walking such as ‘Wanderlust’ by Rebecca Solnit
and in particular her response to
Richard Long’s work .She writes:-
“Long’s art is austere ,almost silent
,and entirely new in its emphasis on the walk itself as having shape, and this
is less a cultural legacy than a creative assessment……
The simple gesture of walking can tie
the walker to the surface of the earth, can measure the route as the route
measures the walker, can draw on a grand
scale almost without leaving a trace…….”
Page 272. The Shape of the Walk –Rebecca
Solnit’ Wanderlust’.
“They will discover out of the ordinary
things the meaning of ordinariness. They will not try to make them
extraordinary but will only state their real meaning. But out of this they will
devise the extraordinary”.
Having used text in most of my small
books I decided to explore the way it
relates to the shape of the walk and looked at the work of Hamish Fulton, who
in his early years often walked with Long.
Decided to make a simple book with
single words both Welsh and English within a circular form and learnt a lot
about the patterns that emerge from repeating a word, quite a revelation but
interesting nonetheless. I might consider increasing the scale and using a
single image. I wanted to keep the process open and intuitive but the tightness
of this small scale began to feel rather precious and I became aware of the
inconsistency of my writing.
There was however an intimacy about this
small scale that I took further using the images I took of colored lichen along
the walk.
As a small aside from this I decided on 20/03/15 to do
Walk 6
Morning walk to the eclipse over Blaenau
Ffestiniog
Night walk to the super moon over
Blaenau Ffestiniog.
A bilingual exploration of text and form, which was fun.
Working Process Begins
January 2015
My decision has been made. There are so
many ideas behind the Richard Long’s work- ‘Blaenau Ffestiniog Circle ‘that
excite me and which I am curious to take further.
Here
are a number of reasons why I chose this work:-
1. It is a sculpture that addresses not
only Material and Form but also Place.
2. It reflects Long’s physical and mental
engagement with the landscape.
3. An essential part of the working process
takes place outside, on the land.
4. The physicality of the work.
5. The context of the Place, which is geographically
close to where I live and work.
6. The working process is intuitive and of
the present moment. The work is simple in the sense of not taking long to make.
7. The Minimal concept of the Circle - an
archetypal form, formally, culturally and historically.
8. Am drawn to the title as a concept
–Blaenau Ffestiniog Circle.
9. The material of the piece –Slate.
10. Made of ‘found ‘collected objects.
11. Wales as a source of inspiration for
artists.
12. The work made me ‘feel’ before I
‘thought’.
I began by researching Richard Long’s work
further in a number of relevant books .I found the book- Richard Long –Walking
in Circles –Anthony d’Offay Gallery one of the most interesting.
Plate 2 – Richard Long- research book
I decided to approach my work along two
paths.
One, by exploring the physical area of
Blaenau Ffestiniog,in particular the
quarry land between the town and the place where I live. The OS map
below covers the area.
Plate 3 – Map of Blaenau Ffestiniog (c) Contains OS data © Crown copyright
I also began to research the slate quarry
industry of the town and found this old map and Key to Slate quarries useful in
the book ‘Slate-from Blaenau Ffestiniog’ by J.G.Isherwood.
Plate 4 –Slate Quarry Map.
Following the concept of Richard Long I aim
to walk in the landscape as near as possible to the radius of a circle as drawn
on a map. The site itself becomes the process. The defined circles will be
linked to the slate quarries and the town, exploring the title of the work.
I am
not sure of the number of walks as yet; this will clarify as the work
progresses. Each walk will be intuitive and follow the structure, as much as
possible, of the circle chosen. I aim to document each walk in a small book
which I will take with me.
Walk 1-Jan 26th 2015 –Quarry Circle
Plate 5/6 Walk 1-Small book details.
These walks will be reflected on both in
journal and blog as they progress. I feel at this point that I just need to get
out there and walk. The book contain an essence of the walk.
Walk
2 -Jan 31 Circle to Cwt y Bugail Quarry
This walk had to be aborted due to blizzard
conditions. When my footsteps disappeared behind me in the snow ,I knew it was
time to turn back. I will attempt again in better conditions.
Walk 3-Studio to Blaenau Ffestiniog Circle.
I aim to continue with these walks
throughout the next few months and will post the results of the process as I go
along.
Alongside this walking process I will now
focus on the material of Richard Long’s work –Slate. This will be my other
intended ‘path’ influenced by his work.
The working process of concertina books, gives me hope of moving forward with my own present work based on a poem. I can take each of my daily sketch-book pages and make a small concertina book, exploring slightly new perspectives such as changing light, just looking at vegetation, then concentrating on underlying rock formation). Each concertina book can have a line of the poem as the day's brief. Your process and blog is most helpful. Thanks. From Sarah Whiteside.
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