Borrowing Nature ..

The long road project ...

I was eager to get involved in this project because I enjoy working with nature and walking, I wanted to take advantage of this great opportunity to learn from different areas of work and how to approach each of them.

 It was great learning to, instead of just glancing and shooting an image, to stop and listen to the different sounds around you or focusing on your footsteps in the dark, to guide you about, and not just relying on what you can see. Influenced by using our different senses from the workshops I wanted to not just take photographs to print on paper but to explore touch as well. Also, from learning about Tim Knowles and his work, I liked the idea of trying to get as much nature involved into my work rather than just documenting a place with an image. From this I spent the weekend shooting 35mm film black and white images and stealing various textured objects, these include, stones, fossil rocks, tree bark, wood cuttings and various different leaf types to print my final images onto. As I am going to print on textured objects I had to think carefully about the images I was taking and what would work best upon the surfaces, I decided to focus on pathways and how they are naturally framed by the trees ect, but also the odd random close up object like mushrooms ect, this all challenged me to think differently about what I was shooting and was a great experience to explore textures and patterns.

I enjoyed just going off and exploring in our own time, letting my feet lead me all over to discover new places and scenes. Ilam is a beautiful place and was a loverly place to explore. We walked all the way up Thorpe Cloud to see the gorgeous view from the top, whilst there I wrote down some of my feelings and thoughts. I tried to tap into all of the scences whilst shooting images so that I can remember them as a package. It was great to be out in the countryside with nature and relax, just to breath, small things that you do not normally think about.

Overall the weekend was a great experience to discover new ways of working and looking at things, the workshops taught us to look closer at the place around us and notice the smaller details. Ilam Hall was a perfect location as we had the freedom to go off and create our work with the use of rivers, hills, sheep, history, woods and walkways. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and all we learnt, I plan to go back and return the objects that I have borrowed as printing materials and leave them where I found them as finished pieces of artwork.

The long road project

The long road project has been an amazing experience. Being an animation student always working in a studio on photoshop started to close my mind off to other projects. This was a great opportunity to get me out of the studio. When I first heard about The Long road project I was unsure about whether my style of work would relate to Richard Long's documentary walks.
But when I started researching about Richard Long's practices I was inspired by his work and I started to generate a lot of ideas of what could be in exhibition at the Potteries Museum.
However, to create something animated was challenging. So I focused on the movement of water as well as looking at the scenery and how the weather and colour can change the atmosphere. Especially from Thorpe cloud when the sun came from beyond the clouds it was beautiful.  
Walking towards the bridge I never expected to see a rainbow so close though it only lasted a few seconds. I noticed while taking photos of the water throughout the weekend how the colour can change in the sunlight. While taking photos I had changed the effects to negative which created interesting colours and water patterns, while the sunlight was reflecting on the water there were different colours.

           

     

My Time On The Long Road Project So Far...

when I was told about the Long Road Project I felt so far out of my comfort zone, but I shouldn't of worried. Being on the long road project has been such an amazing experience. I have met so many wonderful creative people and I have acquired new skills over the short period of 3 days.

It has been the first time where I have come into a project with no clue what to do usually i would know at least the medium I would base my work with, however i was shown that you don't always need to have a clear idea of your work all the time and that has lead me to using new materials in my work for this project.

saying that before going on the retreat for this project the rest of the group and I researched Richard longs working methods and researched Ilam hall, the place we were at for the retreat. I recorded and documented so much from such a lovely place, it was a place that helped me develop my understanding of walking practice and Richard Long's methods.

The first day involved 4 workshops which for me got all of the people on the project working together and getting to know each other but at the same time learning a little bit about all of the different creative faculties involved in this project. I really enjoyed this day as it helped me think of different ways I could produce work and that doing something completely different to my own practice may be a good thing. Therefore on day 2 I created my own walk and planned what will be shown in the exhibition in February. when discussing my ideas I loved how I could have different inputs from everyone for me to consider.

The final day was actually quite a sombre affair as we had to leave this amazing experience, which im hoping shows through in my work! I am currently going through all of the documentation (sorry for no photographs!) and moulding my ideas with this. I hope I can achieve a really good interesting piece for the show as I think it will maybe surprise my peers that know my usual work.

I thoroughly enjoyed the retreat and getting to work with everyone on the project and i cant wait to finish this piece and see everyone's work in the exhibition space!!

The Long Road Project

When I first heard about this retreat, I knew it was definitely something I wanted to be involved in. Having done quite a lot of research into Land Art, in particular looking at the artist Andy Goldsworthy, I had come across Richard Long's work and had some knowledge of what he was doing in his practice. The preparation for the retreat gave me a much deeper insight to how Long works in his practice, and the impact his work has had on the Land Art movement. Having been to Ilam and the surrounding areas before in the past, I was looking forward to documenting this area in an artistic way. Meeting everyone from the different courses was a great experience, everyone had a different viewpoint to bring and I felt that we all helped each other in some way to expand our work and ideas.

Usually I begin projects like this with an idea already in my mind about what I want to achieve or create, this time I couldn't come up with one definitive idea, so I decided to use the retreat to record the area around Ilam Hall in as much detail as I could. On our first exploratory walk, through Hinkley Wood, I was interested in this area because of it's SSSI status; the small and large leaved lime trees that grow in the area. Another place that really caught my interest was the fossil outcrop in the limestone hills near to Ilam Hall, about 15 minutes away across an open field. I visited the location every day and each day I spotted more and more varieties of fossils which I hadn't spotted previously.

The fossil outcrop during our first visit.

One thing I keep reflecting on in particular is the night walk, and although I still have some mixed feelings about the experience, I think that's what makes it stand out more in my mind. I initially had no intention of going along (due to fears of not being able to see where I'm putting my feet), but I went along in the end. I was panicking a lot during the beginning of the walk, but once my eyes adjusted, and with moral support and advice from members of the group (thank you!), I managed to relax a little and start to engage with the walk. I noticed how the ground felt underfoot; rocks, mud, slippery wet leaves and uneven ground stood out a lot more. The ridge and furrows in the field near the fossil outcrop felt much steeper than I remembered them during the day. Being extremely uncomfortable while on the walk, and reflecting on it after a night's sleep, I decided to go back to the same field and do a blind walk across the ridge and furrows again, using a scarf to blindfold myself. It links in with blind drawing and sculpture I created last year in my work, but was also a totally new way of working for me. 

 

During my blind walk, Vanessa documented it while Phil and Nick watched, you can see the ridge and furrows running across the field.

Looking through everything I collected, from plant specimens and rocks, to photographs, notes and drawings, I've had several new ideas that I didn't think of while I was there. Talking to everyone about their own interpretations of the area, especially those from other courses, it's expanded my own ideas of what my outcome from this retreat may be and how it may impact my future practice as well. I thoroughly enjoyed the retreat and would definitely do something like this again!

The Long Road Project

The Long Road Project has given me an excellent opportunity to take my practice further. I already work closely with maps and the walking practice, looking into how people move through different spaces. By being involved in this project and the residency has shown me different techniques from the four different course areas involved.

The four different courses taking part in this project gave the residency a completely different aspect to things I've taken part in before, I really enjoyed being able to interact with people from different disciplines, as we wouldn't usually have the opportunity to discuss ideas with each other.

Whilst at Ilam Park I focused a lot on the transition of light and sound of flowing water. I also took a lot of photographs of the changing sky, at the minute I'm unsure as to how these will become a final piece for the exhibition.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again soon, and I'm glad this only the beginning of the project. 

Post Weekend Interviews

A collection of brief one minute interviews with some of the artists taking part in the retreat. They were asked: What have you been doing? What have you been thinking? and What will you be taking away with you?

It's going to be a Long Road Ahead. (Ilam Hall Trip)

I had the great pleasure of going on a trip to Ilam Hall for the first time. I will be honest, I had no clue of what to expect from the trip, but it was worth it.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the amazing rural landscape around the estate. After the trip was over, I made a realization of how the national trust has preserved these rural landscapes and we showed feel lucky that these places are not diminished by the urban landscapes.

Over the weekend, I just wanted to wander around Ilam Hall and Dovedale and see the wonders of the landscape. As I did, I thought a lot about Richard Long methods and all I could think of was his written literature.  I liked how he would just use simple words to describe his journey or walk. I would write down in the sketchbook what I felt when I was walking around the area. And try and condense the literature into ONE LONG sentence.

But I thought, as an idea for the exhibit, that I would apply sound to give it meaning and life. This was inspired by the workshops on Friday, specifically Doug's workshop, of trying to listen to one sound and not be distracted by the surrounding sounds around me. From that I had taken away aspects of what I could use for the exhibit and how that will help with my idea. My idea will be very different to what I do in animation, and that is refreshing, very different, but fun  :)

I had two great memories from the trip. The first being the ping pong rally in the games rooms. That was a great way of getting to know everyone in the group and just having some fun. Plus, it was a great attempt to get a rally going, which at times worked.

But my favourite memory is taking a hike to Cloud Thorpe (or, as I called it, the lonely mountain) When i was at the top, I could not ignore the amazing view that i saw. I can describe it in one word... #dynamic.

That's one view from the top of the hill.

This is the whole view.

Overall, I enjoyed the trip. It was sad to leave, but I've learnt a lot and taken away a lot. Thank you for the opportunity Anna. :)

Long Road Retreat

The retreat was really fun!
One of the main aspects that I really enjoyed was the workshops on the day of arrival. This was a great way of learning which department does what, meeting new people and the many interesting ways that we could collaborate and share ideas. Definatly a great ice-breaker!
As the weekend went on it was really good to be able to see nature in a different way, being in the city most of the time made me in some respect ignorant to nature and needing to look closely at how it develops and what out there has a great connection to art!
Doing research into Richard Long before going to Ilam provided me with a foundation to which grew throughout the weekend giving me new ideas into my own practice as well as the exhibition.
It was sad to leave as I had loads of fun! getting to know how everyone works gives me excitement to apply and experiment within my own practice.
Good job team!

Ilam Park.

During our visit to Ilam I took on board Richard longs methods of working - walking. I thought it was really great how we had specific time set out for us to experience the world around us, to walk and pay attention more than you would in everyday life. I personally payed specific attention to the textures all around me and I got some great photographs and rubbings - I spent some of my time taking rubbings of the textures I found and noting down and taking note of what the object was, on some I also wrote down what I could hear and how I felt, this was in response to the work shops we did at the beginning of the retreat.
I feel that I got a lot from the retreat, meeting new people, experiencing the world the way others choose too, and I got a lot of material to work with for the exhibition we're taking part in but also my own studio practice, I found a lot of the things we did related to my own work in some way, especially the theme of journeys.
The night time walk we did was also a great experience, even though I was reluctant to go at first but I'm glad I did go, because yet again we were looking at the world in a completely different way than we usually do, I found that in the day I never really payed much attention to the terrain on the field where the fossils were, but at night time when you couldn't see the terrain you could feel it more and I got a real sense of how steep and uneven the ground was just by using my feet instead of my eyes for once.
Overall I really enjoyed the retreat and learning about other disciplines and I would defiantly do it all over again.  

On the Retreat

Today is day two of the retreat, so far we have walked a lot and recorded a lot.
Day One: on arrival we immediately began to orientate ourselves with a series of workshops in the morning:

The first was a talk walk, where each person took a turn to lead the group for one minute: describing what was happening.

Then we met Zoe Steven's from the National Trust, who told us some of Ilam's tales and histories.

Next was a group drawing/animation exercise, where in a circle drawings were made of the 360 degree view, to be made into an animation later.

Then a listening exercise, to focus on the difference between listening and hearing, trying to listen for different distances, and noticing the change in sound.

Finally for the morning, a talk on artist's books, and how to gather content for the show, and possibilities for what to collect and make.

All that in one morning.

For the afternoon, we returned to the classroom, where Tim Knowles gave a talk about his practice, and in particular where walking sits, before heading out on a group walk: where each of us aimed to record or approach the walk in a different way.

We started off all together, but soon everyone was spread out recording their own journey.

We ended with a conversation about where ideas were heading, what was standing out, and what we were noticing.

Day Two started bright and early with discussion on what we would each spend the morning doing: some group walks were established, some individual exploring activity, and some wandering.

In the afternoon, groups of 3 students and 1 staff member discussed ideas, how to move them on, and what needed to be done today, and tomorrow to maximise time here.

This evening we will be going on a night walk together.

Preparations for the Retreat

This week 15 students and 4 staff from Staffordshire University will embark on a retreat in the Peak District for a weekend of walking, exploring, looking and responding - considering the landscape and the work of important British Artist Richard Long.
This project is funded through the Tate Artists Rooms programme, and also by Staffordshire University.

Prior to going on the trip, students have taken part in an introductory session, setting out a starting point for looking at Long's work, and exploring the impact that Long has had on contemporary practice and practitioners from the 4 subject areas which the students are studying: Animation, Fine Art, Music Technology and Photography.

We will be accompanied on the trip by artist Tim Knowles whose work often involves walking.
The retreat will be 3 intensive days of looking, walking, thinking, experiencing and then responding and documenting - with a view to create interventions and collect materials for an exhibition early in 2014.

The students and staff will use this space to record their findings and explorations.