Cameraless animation film strips

Over the past few weeks I have been working directly onto 16mm film strips to create a number of loops to be fed into the 16mm projector and projected as cameraless animations.



It is an incredibly time consuming process, but I really enjoy the hands on nature of this type of work, and am looking forward to seeing the outcome.

I find it very exciting to see the resulting projections as there are always unexpected elements.

Yesterday I went to Hands on Film Lab in Carliol House at The NewBridge Project to finish off the film loops and have a go at viewing them on the 16mm projector.



Lots of the film strips that I have been working with have been cut into and other layers of colour added. I have secured these using clear tape. The result is that many of the sprocket holes (the little square holes which run along the top and bottom of a 16mm film) have been covered. The sprocket holes are needed so that the teeth on the projector hook into the film. I use the splicing machine to punch the holes back into the film. The machine is set up to correspond with the spacing of the sprockets and so I align the tape along the machine to correspond to where the sprockets should be, and then press down on the handle to punch holes back into the film strip.



I then use the splicer to connect the two ends of the tape to form a loop that can be threaded into the projector.

BBC Arts Digital features designer Gabriella Marcella, Director of RISOTTO

BBC Arts Digital has created a series of short films focusing on specialist artists and craftspeople. 

The second episode in the series features Gabriella Marcella, a designer and Director of RISOTTO, Scotland’s leading risograph print specialist, and stationery company. 

Set up in 2012, RISOTTO produces creative print for a range of clients – from leading art organisations to bands and brands, quickly and sustainably.

Risograph printing is similar to screen-printing, using rich spot colours and stencils to create tactile and vibrant prints, affordably and with little impact to the environment.

I've had things printed at RISOTTO in the past, and they are great! As you will see from the clip below, Gabriella is really knowledgeable and her helpful and friendly approach makes RISOTTO an excellent company to work with.

Check out the RISOTTO website here

https://www.risottostudio.com/

The Creative Cycle

Thanks to Veronica Dearly who created the above and proved to me that I am not alone with my feelings of self doubt! 

To see more of Veronica's work please visit

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfF27cQD9li/?taken-by=veronicadearly

https://www.veronicadearly.com/

WRITE Festival at The Word

The preview of my solo exhibition will take place at The Word, South Shields on Thursday 10th May and will continue until the 21st June 2018. It will coincide with the WRITE Festival which returns to The Word between 12th - 25th May 2018.

"After a fantastic first year, the second WRITE Festival boasts an even bigger programme of events for people of all ages to enjoy!

WRITE Festival celebrates writing in all its forms and this year, with more than 40 events spread over 2 weeks, you will be able to enjoy writing workshops, performances, comedy, storytelling, poetry slams, a silent book disco, a murder mystery night and more.

Make sure to book your tickets early to avoid disappointment!"


Here are a few examples of what is to come.

POETRY SLAM WORKSHOPS WITH JENNI PASCOE

"Join multiple slam winning poet Jenni Pascoe as she eases you through the process of creating your own poems, guides you through performance techniques, and prepares you to take part in WRITE Festival’s very own poetry slam."

WRITING OTHER WORLDS – CUCKOO YOUNG WRITERS

"Led by a professional writer and supported by group leader, Lisa Burns, the group will take pen to paper to write other worlds, create a parallel universe and to explore the extraterrestrial."


AN INTRODUCTION TO SELF-PUBLISHING

"Graeme Wilkinson, author, artist, musician and graphic designer, from Sixth Element Publishing will run this friendly and informal workshop.

He will cover topics including how to write, self-edit and revise your final manuscript, the production process of typesetting, proofreading and print, as well as the all-important issues of distribution, sales and marketing."


GETTING YOUR VOICE HEARD – INPRESS DAY

This session explores the increasingly diverse number of ways to get our voices heard, both through utilising new technology and grass roots print movements.

From self-publishing zines to submitting poems to anthologies, there have never been more creative ways to get your work out there and start on the track to publishing success.

To see the full programme of events please visit

http://theworduk.org/whats-on/

Tones, Drones and Arpeggios : The Magic of Minimalism - Episode 2 - New York

In this episode Charles Hazlewood meets Philip Glass and Steve Reich.

"Across the 1960s these New Yorkers added new orchestral dimensions to compositions based on repetition, transcendence and new technology, and broke into the mainstream in the following decade. Charles explores how breakthrough techniques Reich first explored on tape were transposed for orchestral performance. Glass's experiments with repetitive structures, along with his innovative work in opera - Einstein on the Beach - revealed new possibilities for classical music.

The episode includes excerpts from minimalist pieces, including Reich's Variations for Winds, Strings and Keyboards performed by the Army of Generals orchestra. Charles Hazlewood's All Stars Collective performs part of Mike Oldfield's minimalist-inspired Tubular Bells.



The key attributes of minimalism, its reliance on repetition, its mesmerizing transcendent qualities and innovative use of technology are also discussed with broadcaster and writer Tom Service; director of music at the Southbank Centre, Gillian Moore; composers Laurie Spiegel, Nico Muhly, Julia Wolfe, Max Richter and Bryce Dessner; and musicians Jarvis Cocker and Adrian Utley."


Although I thoroughly appreciate and enjoy the music of Steve Reich and Philip Glass, as well as La Monte Young and Terry Riley, whom were featured in episode 1, I am disappointed at the lack of recognition for female musicians who made a vital contribution to the minimalist genre. 

Thanks to my incredibly knowledgeable and talented friend Jez, for alerting me to a series of posts highlighting some of the names & influences that have been overlooked in this series:

http://treasure-hiding.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/here-in-uk-bbc-is-screening-series-on.html

http://treasure-hiding.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/ahead-of-episode-2-of-tones-drones-and.html

http://treasure-hiding.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/following-on-from-two-recent-posts.html

Drone Ensemble record Friction Drums

Over the past couple of months I have been working with the Drone Ensemble on some audio for my forthcoming exhibition at The Word, South Shields. We have recorded some vocal experiments and have been using a limited selection of instruments. I have chosen to focus on the friction drums to produce a constant background hum sound that I think relates to the notion of hearing a relentless voices or voices. 

With practice, Ben has mastered the technique of playing the friction drums in a way that eliminates any slapping or wavering as the players hands move from the end of the dowel, off the dowel and to the other end of the dowel nearest the drum. This week we focused on achieving some high quality recordings of a range of the friction drums played in different combinations. I will then layer these and edit them with my other recordings to form the audio part of my installation.

Tones, Drones and Arpeggios : The Magic of Minimalism - Episode 1 - California

"In this episode Charles Hazlewood tracks down the pioneers of minimalism, which began on America's west coast in the 1950s. Describing them as 'prophets without honour', Charles explores La Monte Young's groundbreaking experiments with musical form that included notes held for exceptionally long periods of time, and drones inspired by Eastern classical music and Hindustani singer Pandit Pran Nath.

La Monte Young

He drives out into the Californian countryside to the ranch of Terry Riley and discusses the musician's revolutionary experiments with tape recording looping and phasing, along with early synthesizer sound. The episode includes excerpts from key early minimalist pieces, including Riley's now famous In C, performed by Charles Hazlewood's All Stars Collective and detailed workshopping by Hazlewood where pieces are deconstructed musically.

Terry Riley

The key attributes of minimalism, its reliance on repetition, its mesmerizing transcendent qualities and innovative use of technology are also discussed with broadcaster and writer Tom Service; Gillian Moore, Director of Music at the Southbank Centre; composers Morton Subotnick, Max Richter and Bryce Dessner, and musicians Jarvis Cocker and Adrian Utley."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b09tbh10/tones-drones-and-arpeggios-the-magic-of-minimalism-series-1-1-california

Basic Income is coming to Scotland – Margaret Gilmour

The current exhibition at The NewBridge Project:Gateshead is 'Between Eating and Sleeping', by Toby Phips Lloyd. As part of his interactive exhibition, which explores public attitudes towards work (paid and unpaid labour), how free-time is valued, and potential futures of work, including policies like Universal Basic Income, Lloyd has programmed a number of related events. The first of these events was a screening of 'Basic Income is coming to Scotland' by Margaret Gilmour which I attended last night.

'Phillippe Van Parijs, describes Basic Income as “… an income paid unconditionally to individuals regardless of their family or household relationships, regardless of other incomes, and regardless of their past, present, or future employment status.” [1]

This concept has been presented as a possible solution to many of the problems that society faces today, and has gained support from both sides of the political spectrum.

The Scottish government announced in 2017 that it will commit to funding the first Basic Income trials in the UK. Four thousand people will be selected across four council areas to take part in the trials. These will be Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife and North Ayrshire. The trials are expected to begin within the next 18 months.

Margaret Gilmour, Broadcast Journalist and Mum to two girls, travelled to Finland to find out how the recipients of basic income's lives have changed since receiving the payment, and to see if they had any advice for Scotland's pilot. Her resulting documentary outlines the arguments for Basic Income and interviews participants taking part in the current trials in Finland.

The screening was followed by a discussion about the potential benefits or pitfalls if Basic Income was implemented in the North East of England, and which other policies such as social housing reforms would need to the put in place for it to be successful.

- Would this be a way to achieve ecological justice?

- Is giving money to the already wealthy morally right?

- Would it improve working conditions?

- Would it encourage a move to a more balanced lifestyle?

- Would it foster a more community-led society?

- Is it a way of valuing unpaid labour such as childcare?

- Would it encourage a change in attitudes towards voluntary work?

Vocal work with Sarah Grundy and her loop pedal

In addition to working with the Drone Ensemble on some audio to my forthcoming exhibition at The Word, I am collaborating with Sarah Grundy. Sarah is an interdisciplinary artist who works in sound, performance, theatre, and music. The majority of her work looks to worldmaking – creating an idealised alternative for living in or dealing with society. She is also part of ‘The Anima Collective’ who explore the potential of the voice through singing. Sarah also performs with Edwin Li as Leroy McSex in the musical, drag duo Shirley Mann and Leroy McSex.

Sarah and I had spoken about the work a few weeks ago, and we both agreed that using the loop pedal with Sarah's voice could be a good way to achieve the layering of voices that I want to create. When we met today I gave her a sheet with words on that she could use to play around with.

In her usual remarkable way, she soon began to thread words together and create some rhythmic patterns and harmonies, exemplified through the use of the loop pedal. We made a great start, and are to continue with developing this piece.

BITTER/SWEET Install - Day 3

On arrival at the gallery, I was delighted to see that the second coat of paint that I had applied last night to 3 of the colours had really made a difference in terms of the depth of the colours. 

Emily started to paint the areas on the left side of the wall with teal while Liam and I masked out the rest of the design on the right side of the wall.

The taping of the design is very time consuming, and one needs to plan and be systematic in the order of painting so as not to paint two colours that are directly next to each other.

With two coats of paint on the vast majority of the wall on which the lettering was to go over, we made a start on mapping out the text, first using the thicker tape, and then completing each letter with the thinner tape. 

As I left for my return train back to Newcastle in the evening, I was really pleased with the work, but disappointed that I had run out of time to complete everything. There are a few elements that still need to be done. I feel very fortunate that the curators, Liam and Emily are going to follow my instructions to finish the work. As they have been assisting with the execution of the wall painting over the three day install, I am confident that they know what they are doing and will do a remarkable job at the final touches.

I will post more images once the exhibition has opened but I do not want to reveal too much now, and spoil the surprise for those who are able to visit the exhibition. 

BITTER/SWEET Install - Day 2

On my second day of install for BITTER/SWEET, the forthcoming group exhibition at Assembly House, Leeds I was fortunate enough to have assistance from both the curators, Liam McCabe and Emily Garvey.

As Liam and I aligned the projector so that the left half of the design fitted with the right half of the design, Emily cracked on with applying the next colour of paint; powder grey.

Once the projection was aligned, Liam and I marked out the right side of the design on the wall using masking tape.

Frustratingly, we could not completely match the design to the wall, and so I made a few adjustments to the design .

Once the vast majority of the straight edged shapes had been masked and were being painted, I turned my focus to the curved shapes in the design. I found the curved parts around the oval shape particularly challenging because of the large scale and the fact that this area of the design is near the top of the wall, and so involved me working at height and at a difficult angle.

By the time I had completed the curves, some of the other areas of paint had dried and so in the evening I painted a second coat on these areas.

BITTER/SWEET Install Day 1

I left snowy Newcastle this morning and made my way by train down to Leeds where I was met at the station by Liam McCabe, the co-curator of BITTER/SWEET, the forthcoming group exhibition at Assembly House that I am exhibiting in (see http://helenshaddock.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/invitation-to-bittersweet-exhibition.html for more details).

We then caught the train to Burley Park and walked to Assembly House near Armley Mills. 



After a quick tour of the open plan studios we began to set up in the gallery space. Our first task was to project the design of the wall painting onto the wall to be painted. 



The wall that I am using is over 8 metres long, and unfortunately the projector could not get far enough away from the wall to be able to fit all the design on the wall, so we had to split it in half and ensure that they joined up correctly.

We met our first problem when we switched on the projector and it would not connect to the computer. After a lot of fiddling, Liam decided that the only option was for him to go back to his house and pick up some alternative cables. Thankfully the replacement cables did the trick and we began to mask out the design on the wall.



The rest of the day was spent painting and trying to keep relatively warm by working in close proximity to the heater!

You're Doing It Wrong - Work - BBC Radio 4

In this series "Adam Buxton takes a sideways look at some of our confusing modern ideas." The first episode is about work. 

"Is the idea of a 'dream job' - one that inspires and fulfills us and makes our lives worth living - really possible? Or idealistic nonsense designed to make you feel guiltier, work harder, and complain less? Can we really be happy at work and should we be?

These days it's not enough just to turn up, work hard and bring home a wage; we should all be following our passions, chasing that dream job, and waking up every morning raring to get to the office. If your job is tedious, you hate your boss, and Monday mornings make you want to cry, it's probably YOUR FAULT for not being ambitious enough."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09snrb7

Buxton reveals that people working from home are said to be happier than those who go elsewhere to work. This is linked to having more control when working at home. But it does not necessarily mean that less work is done or that workers are less productive. In fact, research shows that people who work at home are more likely to work earlier, work later and overwork.

I can see that this is certainly a tendency of mine, but wonder how much of that is due to the type of work that I do. I enjoy being an artist and it is an important part of me. Would I be so driven and have the urge to reply to that last email late at night if I was not so passionate about what I do?

He discusses the problems of creative work and says that there are two ways to go about it

1. Have a non-creative job that pays the bills and then do the creative work in the evening

2. Get a job that pays you to be creative

I think there is an alternative, and that is the method that I choose. I have a part time job at a Library that helps pay the bills and provides me with some of the things I need from a job e.g. security, a routine, colleagues to be friends, a means of escape from my creative work. This part time job allows me to spend the rest of my time being a self employed artist. So I get the benefit of both worlds. I'm not saying that it is the perfect balance, but what is? One always needs more time, a pay rise and so on, but to be honest, I am pretty happy with the situation at the moment and long may that continue.

Invitation to BITTER/SWEET exhibition, Assembly House, Leeds