A New Year

Coventry Cathedral

 

Grandfather- third from left

WW1 Storybox

Artists Books

2013 was a year of ups and downs for me; the hassle of clearing and leaving my Island studio after 20 years, the joy of having a small custom-built studio to the rear of our house, the hassle of getting my Evilution panels back from New York and a couple of falls which lost me a lot of time and then finally, the joy of discovering the exciting world of artists’ books - which became a high point to finish the year on. 

However, 2014, is likely to be my busiest and most exciting year since starting the Evilution Project; a year during which many events will  commemorate the outbreak of World War One. My grandfather and his brothers fought on the Western Front and Phase Two of my project, which I started last year, will focus on that period with paintings, constructions and poems.  I will be exhibiting the first of these works from 1st - 14th May at the Salthouse Gallery St Ives.

During the exhibition I will be creating a large triptych construction ( 5ft x 6ft ) in the gallery using paper pulp, barbed wire and various items of detritus of trench life This will be quite challenging particularly as, for the first time, I will be working in the public eye. However, interaction with gallery visitors, with their own family histories of that period, could be quite rewarding. 

The exhibition will include storyboxes; small framed construction / collages using ephemera and photographs from World War One with fragments of poetry.  I also plan to show some of the books I have been making over the last six months or so.   I should explain : artists’ books, are usually made in the studio and can take almost any shape or form - mine use the accordion format and consist mostly of my own hand-written poems on pages created by painting, collaging and printing There may also be some talks, films and/or poetry readings in the gallery during the exhibition.

In November I will also be having an exhibition of the storyboxes in Truro Cathedral during a special week of events commemorating the Armistice.

Sometime soon, three of the five construction/panels that were exhibited in Coventry  Cathedral and at Ground Zero New York, which I have renamed the Reconciliation Triptych, will enter the Cathedral’s permanent collection. In November they were also installed in St Mary’s Church Penzance for the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

I was recently interviewed by Radio Penwith for programme about the Evilution Project to be broadcast possibly this month. Although its a small local radio station, their broadcasts can be heard live anywhere at www.penwithradio.co.uk    There are a few other possibilities in the pipeline too so I will be putting out regular updates and information via  Facebook e-mail and post.