Elsewhere: Messages

Messages
2020
Elsewhere, The Stove Network, Dumfries
Photo credit: Kirsten McEwan

As we all know 2020 has been a bit of a bonkers year. There have been huge challenges for us all but there have also been opportunities. One of the challenges for me (not actually covid related) has been finding the time/reason to write about my work. It's something I've really missed the past couple of years but there is, of course, a way to fix this; i.e. to do some writing. 

Messages
2020
Elsewhere, The Stove Network, Dumfries
Photo credit: Kirsten McEwan

One of the most exciting things I've been involved with this year is The Stove Network's Elsewhere project. This grew from their Homegrown project (which I was also part of with my Feathers of Hope) and is also part of their Atlas Pandemica project. 

Messages
2020
Elsewhere, The Stove Network, Dumfries
Photo credit: Kirsten McEwan

It's exciting for a number of reasons; firstly it's a really interesting project, secondly it's been a great opportunity to get involved in my local arts community and thirdly it involved actual real life happenings! In previous years that might not have been quite such a big deal but this year having the opportunity to show physical work in a physical space and to be involved in an actual event with actual people attending has been something quite extraordinary. 

Messages
2020
Elsewhere, The Stove Network, Dumfries
Photo credit: Kirsten McEwan

For my part in the Elsewhere project I was commissioned to create a piece of work that could be displayed in Dumfries town centre. I wanted to develop some of the ideas I'd started playing with during my Feathers of Hope micro commission and I wanted to look at ways of sharing our thoughts and feelings about the unprecedented times we were living in. One of the options for display was to use an empty shop window and I was really keen to explore this offer. During lock down our town centres became very different places; at once familiar yet changed and strange, an echo of so many elements of our lives this year. 

Making envelopes!

At the time I was also developing an online sketchbook making course (which is now available if you fancy making your own books) and I was making a lot of envelopes. This inspired me to come up with the idea of an installation of envelopes, combined with my drawn feathers. 

Drawing on my envelopes

I wanted to use envelopes and feathers for both practical and conceptual reasons. Envelopes are used to carry messages, to communicate ideas, thoughts, dreams, secrets and feelings. Envelope can also mean to wrap and protect and I like this dual meaning. I wanted to explore how we felt, our hopes and dreams at this strange time but I was also very aware how fragile these thoughts and dreams can be, how in need they are of protection. Similarly; the feathers represent us and our hopes and dreams, they are both delicate and strong. 

Some of my envelopes

To emphasise this duality of strength and delicacy, familiar and strange, I chose to work with tracing paper to make my envelopes. The transparent material allows us to see inside the envelopes, to see what secrets they might contain. The envelopes both protect and reveal their contents. Some of the envelopes were empty, some had feathers drawn inside them, some contained drawings of feathers and a couple contained actual feathers. 

Installation day

I love working with transparent materials, I love the delicacy and the ethereality of transparent materials. I wanted my installation to have a feeling of almost not being there, being something intangible, as our hopes and dreams often are. As much as I love them, the big downside to working with transparent materials is that being see through they're difficult to see and really difficult to photograph! Luckily for me Kirstin McEwan took some excellent phots and has kindly allowed me to use some of them.

Installing

My work was installed in an empty shop window in Dumfries town centre. I don't think I've ever enjoyed installing a piece of work so much! After months of cancellations and uncertainty it felt so exciting to be working in a space that wasn't in my house and I loved seeing people stop and watch what we were doing as the envelopes went up. It was also nerve wracking as I had an idea in my head of what it would look like but until the work goes up you never know if it's actually going to work! I was lucky to have lots of help and encouragement from Katie Anderson at The Stove and again, being able to work alongside another person was such a good feeling. The piece even made it into the local press!

My installation was just one part of the Elsewhere project and in mid November The Stove held an 'Elsewhere' event where work from the project was displayed in vennels and other spaces in Dumfries town centre over two consecutive evenings. My envelopes were hung in The Stove Cafe and I loved the way they became more and more difficult to see as the cafe windows steamed up on those cold nights. 

'Messages' installed in The Stove Cafe

Mr. Stitches and I really enjoyed exploring the town and discovering the other artworks on that cold November evening, being relatively new to the area it felt like an adventure going into tiny vennels we'd have missed otherwise. We felt that we got to know the town and it's artists a bit better and it helped us feel more a part of that community. 

Work by Simon Lidwell

This sense of community and involvement is one of the things I've enjoyed most about being part of this project. It's helped me feel connected and a part of the artistic community. Throughout the ethos has been supportive and encouraging and I hope that I will continue to be involved and part of this community. 

Feathers of Hope: Homegrown Commission

Day 1 Hope for Clean Air
Pen on handmade paper

In the ongoing roller-coaster of emotions and experiences that is the 2020 Covid-19 crisis there are lots of glimmers of hope and positivity. Over the 10 years I've been writing this blog one of the recurring themes has been "and I would like more time for my own practice." Be careful what you wish for! In truth though the past few weeks have offered me the chance to really focus on my practice and I'm very grateful for that. I've also been finding new ways for me and my work to 'get out there,' mostly in a digital rather than a physical sense of course! In this post I'm going to share one of the ways I've been sharing my work.

Day 2. Hope for Kindness
Pen on tracing paper

The Stove Network is an artist-led organisation based in Dumfries and they believe that the creative community can and should play a key role in the development of the region. One of the ways they have been supporting their members during the pandemic is to offer micro commissions as part of their 'Homegrown' project. The key tenets of this project are open-heartedness, solidarity, perseverance and insight. The micro commissions are for small week long projects that embrace one or more of these ideas.

Day 3. Hope for Inventiveness
Coloured pencil on inside of an old envelope

I was really excited to be selected for one of these commissions for my 'Feathers of Hope' project. It was a simple idea; each day for a week I would draw a feather and share it along with one of my hopes for the future that will come after this pandemic. I've been spending a lot of time thinking about how we have the opportunity to create a fairer, happier society and so this project was a good way to focus some of those thoughts. The feathers and hopes were then shared on The Stove Network's Facebook and Instagram pages each day.

Day 4. Hope for Art Education

I was also excited about the opportunity to share work with people in my local area. As we're relatively new to the region I'm still finding my way around and it's great having organisations such as The Stove Network to help get to know what's going on. Even though we didn't move far last year we did move to a new region and indeed a new country and so it takes time to get to know what's going on and the people involved. Everyone I've come across has been so friendly and helpful and the positive arts scene in Dumfries and Galloway was one of the factors in deciding to move.

Day 5. Hope for Food Origin Awareness
Free motion embroidery on rust dyed silk organza

Taking part in this project has been such a positive experience for me. As well as being a good confidence boost it's introduced me to lots of other wonderful creatives and helped me feel more a part of my local arts community. It's also given me a good 'daily focus' and I found I very much looked forward to creating the drawings each day. Having a reason to give myself that time to be creative each day was very beneficial and led to lots of other work in the studio too, more about that another time maybe!

Day 6. Hope for Nature
Ballpoint pen on reverse of gold paper

As part of the commission I was also asked to create a short video about my practice. I'm not really that technically minded and have a fairly limited idea of what I'm doing when it comes to making videos and so on but one of the good (if also rather stressful) things about the current crisis is that it has forced me to learn how to do things. I now have a slightly less shaky grasp of video making and sound recording. These are really useful skills and as I'd been thinking about creating some online courses before the pandemic anyway I hope they're going to stand me in good stead! Making the video was also a good opportunity to think about my practice and what the really important bits are that I want to share with people.

Day 7. Hope for Positive Changes
Pen, chalk and pastel on coloured paper

As usual I've not written the post I intended; I was going to write about the actual work and the hopes for the future but writing this post has been a good opportunity to reflect on the experience as a whole so I'm going to hope (see what I did there) that the work speaks for itself and I also hope that you've enjoyed it!