06/12/2010 by James.

From December 2010 I will no longer be adding to this blog but will be blogging from a new site at -

www.jamesaldridge-artist/blog

You can continue to visit here for information on past projects, but please update your bookmarks or sign up for email updates to keep up to date with my new blog.

Both my website addresses will remain the same -

http://www.jamesaldridge-artist.co.uk

http://www.creative-ecology.co.uk

Posted in Art & Disabiltiy, other art, Museums & Galleries, Learning/Teaching, College Lake Residency, events, environmental issues, Blogroll, 5x5x5=creativity, me & my work, projects, Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »

17/11/2010 by James.

Yesterday saw the launch of the four installations at College lake, and a great morning it was too. Lovely to be able to share our finished work after beavering away on it these past few months.

I thought I’d add some images of the other three artists’ work here now that I’ve had a chance to see it first hand. Before I start, here’s a nice photo of the four of us outside one of the hides -

First up is Martin Prothero -

‘Martin Prothero is an artist exploring our human relationship with the natural world. He does this by totally immersing himself in a place: living in one location to fully experience it as an integral part of the natural ecology, not as a human visitor’

These slightly blurry images don’t really do the work justice, but hopefully give an idea of what Martin has installed in his hides - glass plates which have been covered in carbon and then left for animals to walk across and leave their marks - beautiful.

This one is patterned with hundreds of little mouse prints

Insect and Badger Prints

Lynda Cornwell’s work (www.lyndacornwell.co.uk) at College Lake explores the way that birds see, using paintings of ultraviolet markings to show details that are not normally visible to the human eye, and prismatic film on the hide’s windows that illuminate these markings with rainbows.

The rainbows also followed me out of the hide and onto the nettles outside when I  opened the door - I think Lynda’s research and the resulting installation is a really interesting example of art/science crossover.

And the last of the other three artists is Stu McLellan (www.stumclellan.co.uk) -

“I’m a painter, illustrator and creative workshop leader, with a whole lot of other experience in between, including therapeutic horticulture, stints in offices and warehouses, on an organic farm, volunteering in an ecohome and sitting in a toll booth between England and Wales - some of which were opportunities for doodling on an unprecedented scale. “

Stu’s installation uses hand drawn imagery in a graphic novel style to explore the past, present and future of the reserve, adding detail, visual interest and humour to the inside and outside of the hide.

Outside… and inside

 I love these little details

And then there is me, I’ve put plenty of images of my work in progress as the project went along, but here’s some of it in situ and being interacted with by everyone at the launch event.

I’m sure you’ve got the message by now, its a lovely mix of work, responding to the same environment in very different ways.

And apparently its not going to stop there either. Alistair from Outdoor Culture, who put the project together, is going to be working with a photographer and a poet to create a publication from their creative response to the reserve, so keep an eye out for that too - www.outdoorculture.com

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08/11/2010 by James.

My migration panels onto vintage maps are now back from the framers and looking good. Its always hard to tell how successful a piece of work is when its been right under your nose for a while, so its good to get things out of the studio for a while and see them with a fresh eye again.

The finished installation will consist of these two panels on a left hand wall as you enter the hide, and then the four pieces made from vintage luggage (see last post) on a longer wall around the corner, fixed opposite the viewing slots that look out over the lake - echoing the openings in the hide wall and offering another viewing experience.

I’ll add some photos of it all together once I’ve installed it all on Wed/Thurs. Its been a long and challenging process but a really interesting and enjoyable one too, from site visits, to research and reading, meeting staff, working with local children, sourcing the right pieces from junk-shops and online and then bringing it all together in a way that I hope speaks of journeys in time and across continents.

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29/10/2010 by James.

Here’s few photos of my artwork in progress for the College Lake bird-hide installation.

These photos show the display-case constructions that I’ve made from vintage luggage, using imagery of the reserve’s industrial past alongside illustrations and objects relating to the species that live there now.

I’m installing these four adapted suitcases and two large map-based ieces in a couple of weeks, so more pics to come of the complete installation - exciting!

The four artists installations are going to be launched on the 16th November, and will be open to the public from then on, so not long to wait to see everything up and running.

The other three artists, with links to their own websites are - Martin Prothero, Linda Cornwell and Stu McLellan.

Here’s a bit more information via Alistair from Outdoor Culture -

Our artists and two hundred children have transformed the interiors of four bird hides into works of art that reflect and enhance their setting and purpose.  This is functioning environmental art re-imagined for the 2010s..

James Aldridge brings together found objects, historical data, vintage luggage and manipulated maps to explore bird migration and industrial heritage.

Martin Prothero creates new work by enabling the plants and animals of the reserve to draw directly in the soil and represent themselves as art.

Lynda Cornwell illuminates the ultraviolet markings of local birds and insects with shifting rainbows of white light reflected from the sun.

Stu McLellan plays with the format of the graphic novel to portray his hide as a portal to a surreal and surprising universe.

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19/10/2010 by James.

I’ve been busy creating small ‘vitrines’ from old suitcases recently, as part of my installation at College Lake along with three other artists commissioned by Outdoor Culture.

I’m going to be installing the work at the start of November, alongside large map-based panels that are currently at the framers and which were inspired by migratory birds, so not long to wait until the installations are open to the public!

Here’s a few photos of work in progress to give you a taster, combining archive photographs of the lake’s industrial past as a working quarry, images of wildlife found on-site, and found objects relevant to the reserve.

They are still a bit rough, and need a bit of working on, but I think they are progressing nicely.

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18/10/2010 by James.

I’ll be showing two pieces at BANA’s (Bath Area Network for Artists) New View group exhibition next month, Field and Snail, both framed mixed-media work, and both for sale.

New View will run from Friday 29th October to Saturday 6th November, and is open from 11.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.

The show will be held at Bath Artists Studios Gallery, see here for how to get there.

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08/10/2010 by James.

The second two days of sessions at College Lake with Reception children from Ashmead School took place this week, with each group of children showing very different approaches to exploring and making sense of the different environments at the College Lake reserve.

There was still a real fascination with the tracks and footprints left in the wet mud by people, animals and cars/tractors, and some children used found charcoal to make marks, but this time there was also more imaginative play about who or what lived at the reserve, and how they got there.

For instance, the old broom inside the reconstructed charcoal burner’s hut sparked tales of flying witches, and sticks became flying machines and fishing rods, whilst a wooden den in the woods was a school room for one little boy.

There was also more focus on seeking out and naming birds, listening to bird calls, and talking about the formations that they flew or swam in.

What we’ve done since, is to draw from our notes, photos and memories of the visits; the teachers sharing their insight on the children’s behaviour with me, and how being at College Lake has supported or altered particular behaviours, and me explaining my own interest in particular children’s ways of working, and how these relate to work I’ve done elsewhere or other areas of my practice.

On Monday I’m heading back to school to run the first of three days of sessions with two smaller groups, giving us a chance to follow those children’s fascinations to a greater depth, and translate some of the excitement and magic into the school’s own grounds.

We’ll be reflecting with the children using photographs taken by us and them, and offering a chance to use mark-making, sticking and construction, as one teacher suggested, to enable the children to share their thoughts and ideas in ways other than verbally.

We’ll also be exploring the school’s own fields and trees in similar ways to those used on our College Lake visits.

Its going to give me an opportunity to get to know individual children a lot better, and for us as a team to plan and provide them with new opportunities for the last two days of the project, that meet their needs more closely and support them to develop their own means of learning and exploring within the context of their own local environment.

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07/09/2010 by James.

A few thoughts today about living-art, art/horticulture, and the old chestnut, what makes ‘art’ art anyway?

Its part of a continuing focus for me, at what point does an artist (me) working in another context become something else? Because I am working for someone else and fulfilling their agenda, does that mean I lose my identity as an artist? When does socially engaged practice in education become teaching? When does ecological art become horticulture, forestry or environmental science?

It seems to me that a lot of the most exciting artwork runs the risk of being mis-identified and ignored by the art community, and that we as artists run the risk of limiting ourselves by worrying about going too far away from whats accepted as art and so losing acceptance or visibility. So artists scuttle back to the art world after a foray into education, ecology, etc, often failing to embed their practice within these sectors to promote permanent positive change.

When I’m talking about all this by the way, I’m including myself in it, and am exploring thoughts or ideas rather than making judgements.

I’m really interested in how artists can, and whether they need to, remain ‘artists’ whilst working within the social realm, and if they do, whether this re-inforces the idea of art being somehow separate from society, in a bubble of slight uselessness, optional and easy to put away again when funding gets tight. Or (and this is my preferred option), if it promotes and celebrates the idea of artists as positively fuctioning members of society with a key role to play within it.

I made some jam a couple of days ago, for the first time ever. I felt really excited to have gone for a walk, picked some damsons from a hedge (remaining trees from vanished orchards that used to cover the fields at the base of the downs), brought them home, and made jam.

I felt so inspired that I had followed a process that combined walking in and learning about landscape and nature, that I had done something practical and physical, that I had made use of a free and sustainable resource, and that at the end of the day I had ended up with a very tasty end product.

Now that combines most of my interests and passions, and I’m sure would make a great creative learning / foraging / cooking project, but is it art? Does it matter?

I guess it matters because I need to know where to talk about it, who might fund it, who else is doing similar work. Growing plants, foraging for wild food, and following fruit/vegetables from field to plate is a really valuable learning experience, and one that many people never experience.

I’ve planted trees with people, gone for walks with people, had conversations and danced with people, and that’s all been part of my art, so why not cooking, foraging, gardening and eating?

I guess what I’m looking for is a balance. I want to embed art within ecosystems and communities, but I want to hang on to an identity of being slightly separate. I want time to wander, make and think, to step outside of systems and then sneak back in again.

I guess I want to have my art and eat it (sometimes).

A couple of interesting links on artists & organisations working in the areas of art / horticulture / food…

EastFeast - http://www.eastfeast.co.uk

Avant Gardening - http://www.avantgardening.org

Any more you’d recommend having a look at? please add them as comments, thanks.

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01/09/2010 by James.

I thought I’d share some work i n progress using leaves from Westonbirt Arboretum and a couple of botanical gardens in Cornwall.

I’m always picking up bits and pieces wherever I go, a leaf here, a rusty cog there, its something I’ve done my whole life, and I find it very satisfying when they all come together to make artworks, like miniature versions of the world.

When I was a child I had loads of collections - feathers, fossils, matchboxes and coins, crystals and seedpods, like my own private museum.

These days I still gather them and dot them about my house or stitch and bind them together, but I’m also working with and for museums, using my knowledge of how searching and discovering in creative ways can really foster a love of learning, and of our natural and cultural heritage.

I guess what it does is to give people what can often be a rare chance to see the world for themselves, taking time to notice what’s important to them, and the beauty and preciousness of everyday ‘treasures’.

Tomorrow I’m back at College Lake with Foundation Stage teachers from Ashmead School, planning sessions for Reception age children to explore and discover the site with me.

I also heard today that the Search Museum in Gosport has got funding from Renaissance South East’s as part of Green SLIME (Science Learning in Museum Education), to employ me to work with them and a local school, developing a resource supporting other schools to use creative ways to learn about biodiversity.

And in amongst all this I’ve been researching bird migration for my own artwork at College Lake, with the aim of sharing with visitors how this little oasis near Tring is just one piece of the very large ecological puzzle that its bird visitors need to survive.

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18/08/2010 by James.

I know its not January, but with the new academic year starting, and my work needing to fit with the school year more and more, this year I’ve kept most of August aside to get things done that I never have time for, and feel like things are just about to kick off again at the start of term.

Its been great to be able to step of the treadmill of work and get my websites updated, visit museums and galleries that I’ve been meaning to for a while, carry out research for my installation at College Lake, and generally reflect on everything that’s happened so far this year, and all that I need to plan and prepare for in the Autumn.

Its meant that I have spent a lot more time than normal staring at a computer screen, writing c.v’s, making the creative ecology site more user friendly, and getting slightly obsessed with twitter.

As someone who can feel fairly isolated by being based in rural Wiltshire, I’ve found twitter invaluable for keeping up to date with what everyone in the arts, heritage and environmental worlds is up to, making really interesting new contacts and being signposted to useful documents and events.

But I remembered this morning that another thing I was aiming to do this Summer was to actually switch the computer off and give myself some time out, exploring my local patch. It was a beautiful morning and just what I needed, getting up above everything, with a breeze blowing, a pregrine turning and swooping to avoid mobbing crows, and butterflies all around me on the downland flowers.

I try to keep a balance in my work life, and that’s not easy when you’re fascinated by the relationship between so many things. Yes I love to go out walking and quiet peaceful time in the hills or woods, and to make things in a quiet, meditative sort of way, but I also love the buzz of a stimulating conference, a meeting with like-minded, passionate people, and travelling around the country making new connections and sharing ideas.

And most of all I love to combine the different strands together. Its been great to have a few weeks to get things up to date, to visit the new Ashmolean in Oxford, and discover for myself the Sir John Soane’s treasure packed rooms, but I’m itching to get back out and be working alongside the children again, sharing my passion for the outdoors.

So, tomorrow I’m heading to Bristol for a meeting with English Heritage about developing the family backpack project for the Stonehenge landscape, and will pop in to see the Art From The New World exhibition at Bristol’s Museum & Art Gallery that I’ve heard so much about (on twitter…). I’m also talking to another museum about working together to create a teacher’s resource on exploring biodiversity creatively, and on the 2nd September I’m meeting with staff from Ashmead School in Aylesbury to plan an exciting creative outdoor learning project as part of my residency at College Lake.

So, its all go again, exploring, making, sharing and learning, all mixed up together, and I can’t wait.

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