We have had a months rain in the last 24 hours and that can sometimes cause problems. The marshes near us are tidal and when the tide is high and there has been a lot of rain, that is when the trouble starts.
This StillWalk video shows the marshes after a spring tide. You can’t avoid the traffic on this walk but it doesn’t stop the birds calling and has never spoilt my enjoyment of the walk.
By the time I took these photos on my iPhone on my way back home from Coedbach Park the Blackbirds had stopped singing to each other.
Unique circumstances – I am sorry I didn’t record them – there are so many of them in the park and the breeze was blowing the sound of motorway traffic out to sea so it could hardly be heard at all – like I always say, “the circumstances of what we see and here are always unique to the time and place!”
Last Sunday morning it was wet but not enough to stop me going for a walk through the woods. It is a mixed, managed wood with the deciduous trees being higher up on the hill and the coniferous lining the main footpath.
I took the high path for my walk and whilst the soft ground underfoot was in keeping with the soft texture of the sounds around me, one of the most enjoyable (apart from the birds) was the changing sound of the wind as I moved from the deciduous area to the coniferous. You may think it is quite subtle or that it is just the wind rising, but in fact it is the change to the coniferous foliage that has caused the change in the sound. This takes place around the 3:44 mark in what is a 5+ minute recording.
Look at the photos and then play the sound clip and close your eyes to be taken there! Enjoy 🙂
The final shots of the Galloway sunset from the StillWalk “Coastal Walk, Evening” which you can see on the Spring Walks page.
The sounds are as important as the images as with all the StillWalks – relax and enjoy 🙂
The images are available to buy at PhotoShelter
So, back to the canvas, or at least, the place from which that “Metallic Canvas” came – the old burnt out freezer that provided me with so much colour and texture for my camera and sound for my recorder. I said that I would try and explain my interest in metal and my weird liking for the sounds it can make and these are the clues.
Over this last week I have shown something of the ways in which I have used metal in my work but perhaps I have not explained why I use and like it.
Synesthesia – This is not how I would describe my visual, aural or linguistic experience of the world. However, from the moment I started tapestry weaving at college many years ago, I was excited by the touch and texture of the materials I handled.
It took many years of weaving to reach a level of expertise with which I was happy and confident. A part of this development was my deepening understanding of how my body, my fingers, interacted with the structure of warp and weft. For many years I used strong bold colours and blends in my tapestries and this too helped me to gain a clearer understanding of how colour interacts in different ways in different circumstances. Tapestry weaving is unique in its absorption and reflection of light – hence its generosity with colour.
These things are key to my approach to photography, sound recording, StillWalks and my “Interventions”. I have carried out workshops in the past where I have asked people to close their eyes and listen to the sound of an instrument or an everyday kitchen object and think about what colour the sound might be or what it would feel like if they could touch the sound as it travels through the air around them. Music, too, is often described in terms of colour, texture and form. This is not synesthesia, I do not see numbers as colours or whatever the crossover of senses might be for an individual experiencing synesthesia.
I find the relationship of one sense to another exciting and I am thinking more and more these days in terms of how everything in this world is interconnected in one way or another. The texture and colour of an old burnt out freezer relates precisely to what has happened (or been done) to it. The sounds it makes in this state are unique to its condition and the circumstances of the space that it occupies.
Sounds are very important to me and whilst it may just be a matter of personal taste in the end, the fact that I like those (some would say harsh) sounds that metal can make, is relevant to StillWalks. I specifically do not like the soft, ethereal music that is so often used on meditation disks and it is this fact that led me to explore field recording and its use in StillWalks. The sounds in StillWalks are unique to the time and place of the walk, and the photography, and therefore, what you hear in each walk is entirely the result of the conditions at the time.
I find it fascinating how little these conditions need to change in order to create a different sound – it may be wind strength and direction or simply atmospheric pressure, time of day or year or how many people, birds and other creatures are around . . . and those thing too, only exist as they do because of the conditions and circumstances at any given time and place.
Everything is interconnected and it is this that I try to impart to project participants when out in the field. How we interact with our surroundings has an influence on everything that is a part of those surroundings and as a species that is in the privileged position of being able to make conscious choices about what we do and how we act in relation to everything (and everyone) around us, we have a responsibility to consider the effect we have on all those things to which we are connected directly or indirectly.
Oh dear, now I’m getting preachy – sorry about that folks 🙂 Comments welcome!
Suffice it to say that it is the colours and textures both visually and aurally that attracts me to metal. This says nothing of the symbolism that it can have in different forms and conditions, but that is something that perhaps should be left to the audience to interpret.
Working in digital print was, perhaps, a natural outcome of the fact that during the design and weave projects I ran with schools, I discovered that I was able to help teachers with some of the problems they had with their PCs when ICT (Information Communication Technology) was being pushed in the curriculum.
I bought a second hand Apple LC III computer in the early 1990’s and a new and exciting world opened up to me. To cut a long story short, it wasn’t long before I was running interactive digital media projects in combination with design and weave. These included communal large scale digital prints. This was something I had built up some skill with over a period of time and training as well as through liaison with printers.
The barbs kept coming back and in these two giclée prints on canvas, I was aiming to bring together a number of different thematic strands I have worked with over the years. Interpretation of the image and its different elements is entirely open.
These works are available for sale. There is only one other print of “Waves” and “Waves 2” is entirely unique. Anyone interested should contact me.
You can find further information on school projects and much more at Design Fibre ICT
“Waves” 95 x 125 cms Giclee print on canvas
“Waves” detail
“Waves 2” 100 x 130 cms giclee print on canvas
The theme of “Conflict” in my work began to broaden over the years. My two previous posts (Dialogue and The Conflict of Working with Metal) illustrated my work as it related to a specific situation, that of the troubles and peace talks in Northern Ireland at the turn of the century.
The conflict in this piece is more personal and more general. The barbs still represent conflict but relate more now to the world stage rather than just Northern Ireland.
By now I have also become more interested in the physically contrasting textures of the two materials, metal and wool, and how they interact. The pattern in the weave relates to the paper prints you sometimes see of DNA and it is this that relates to the personal element of conflict.
People often ask whether the barbs were inserted during the process of weaving or pushed through afterwards . . . it was the former. The barbs would significantly have damaged the weave if they had been inserted afterwards and, yes, there is blood as well as “sweat and tears” in this as well as other tapestries I have made. Don’t be concerned though, they were only minor scratches (for the most part) and a few rips in clothing!
This work is available for sale – anyone interested should contact me.
“Conflicting Arguments” 85 x 120 x 10 cms
“Conflicting Arguments” 85 x 120 x 10 cms
“Conflicting Arguments” – detail
The effects of yesterdays dreich morning can be seen in that old freezer I have been photographing recently. The wet metal reflects the weather we had at the start of the day which created new colours and patterns only seen in these conditions.
And the sounds this can make? I continued working with them and here are a couple of experimental mixes. Next week I will try to explain some of my use of metal . . . watch this space!
You can click the mp3 files below or play the SoundCloud files which only appear on the blog page, not in an email. Ideally you would listen to these through headphone but it’s no big deal.
Same environment, different viewpoint