hayleysdream

2011-07-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

This town, is coming like a ghost town . . . .

This year is the 30th birthday of the song "Ghost Town" by the Specials a song that defined an era, it is one of my favourite songs by the specials and i thought i would shear this article and interview i stumbled across on the independent online.
check out the video after the article Iconic !

The Specials' biggest hit was eerily prophetic about inner-city malaise in Thatcherite Britain in 1981 - and went to number one just as rioting erupted throughout the nation. Hugh Montgomery charts the story behind the song, while Paul Bignell and Mike Higgins speak to the key players

Sunday, 3 July 2011

Strikers are taking to the streets. Youth unemployment is rife. The political and economic parallels between Britain in 2011 and 1981 may be self-evident, but musical reactions to today's tempestuous times are conspicuous by their scarcity. Thirty years ago, however, there was one anthem that defined that summer of discontent. On 11 July 1981, the Specials' "Ghost Town" hit the top of the charts, where it stayed for three weeks – the day before it reached No 1, rioting erupted across Britain. It was an elegiac portrait of the band's Coventry home town, but its message resonated far beyond the Midlands, chiming with a country feeling the bite of Thatcherite cuts and galvanised into unrest by April's Brixton riots. "Government leaving the youth on the shelf ... No job to be found in this country," Neville Staple and Terry Hall memorably sang to a backdrop of strident brass, haunted-house organ and loping bass, the groove's eerie Middle Eastern flavour as unsettling as the lyrics. Meanwhile, to compound the disquiet, the video offered a road trip through post-apocalyptically empty London streets.
The unrest contained within the song mirrored the band's own struggles. Formed in 1977, the group became pioneers of a cross-cultural sound that fused the languor of reggae music with the raw anger of punk. Meanwhile the founding by their chief songwriter, Jerry Dammers, of the 2 Tone Record label fermented the sound into a bona fide youth movement, snappily suited and multiracial. By 1981, however, and despite hits including "Gangsters" and "Too Much Too Young", they found themselves hobbled by internecine troubles, which came to a head just as "Ghost Town" peaked. Hall, Staple and Lynval Golding walked out on the group following an appearance on Top of the Pops.
Since then, the band has been through various incarnations and re-formations, though never achieving the same impact. In 2009 they embarked on a glowingly received 30th-anniversary reunion tour, but the hope of seeing the full, original line-up back together remains a distant one: Dammers and his former bandmates continue to be estranged. Their legacy, nevertheless, lives on, with the influence of their sound reaching far and wide, from Massive Attack to Lily Allen. Now here's hoping that some more acts see fit to pick up their political, as well as musical, mantle.
This town, is coming like a ghost town
All the clubs have been closed down
This place, is coming like a ghost town
Bands won't play no more
too much fighting on the dance floor
Do you remember the good old days before the ghost town?
We danced and sang, and the music played in a de boomtown
This town, is coming like a ghost town
Why must the youth fight against themselves?
Government leaving the youth on the shelf
This place, is coming like a ghost town
No job to be found in this country
Can't go on no more
The people getting angry
This town, is coming like a ghost town
This town, is coming like a ghost town
This town, is coming like a ghost town
This town, is coming like a ghost town
Jerry Dammers/2 Tone Records

Pauline Black: Lead singer of former 2 Tone band the Selecter
"It wasn't a surprise when it went to No 1 – most things 2 Tone became hits. 'Ghost Town' epitomised the 2 Tone idea that black and white can operate in the same unit and speak to the youth. And its sense of melancholy spoke clearly: there was [Operation] Swamp, the 'sus' laws, inner cities not functioning, racism dividing the working class. There was fighting at our gigs; there were lots of National Front people around. There was frustration about 2 Tone falling apart. We were 1970s bands in a time of two-man synth bands. The record companies were happy to leave 2 Tone's problems behind."
Pete Waterman: Former manager of the Specials
"I was the Specials' manager in 1978 and 1979, back when they were the Automatics: Neville and Lynval had been regulars at the Locarno [ballroom] where I was a DJ. Managing them was hard work: reggae was not supposed to be punk, and the industry didn't get it at first, but I knew they'd make it. 'Ghost Town' created a lot of resentment in Coventry at the time: there were outraged letters to the local paper saying 'Coventry isn't like that', which, of course, it bloody was! I remember if we put prices above 50p [at the Locarno], nobody would come in, because they couldn't afford it. Jerry's lyrics were modern poetry."
Tom Watson: Labour MP for West Bromwich East
"I was 14 years old – the summer after the notorious 1981 Tory budget. 'Ghost Town' spoke to me and every other teenage kid. I remember the school careers officer telling me that if I didn't smarten up I wouldn't get a job in the local carpet factory. My 'Ghost Town' was Kidderminster, but it could have been any Midlands town. We all wore our Fred Perrys and worshipped the Specials. A quarter of a century later, Conservative Sir Peter Tapsell said what Thatcher and Howe did in 1981 was 'financially and economically illiterate'. 'Fuck you,' I thought when the careers office door closed. I joined the Labour Party."
Les Black: Professor of sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London
"'Ghost Town' captures in minimal detail, but to profound effect, the urban decay of Britain in 1981. It is the death knell of industrial cities. It also showed, in the midst of this post-industrial world, a 2 Tone sensibility that drew on the rocksteady rhythms of Jamaican artists such as the Wailers, combined with the guitar-driven energy of punk. It is a record that so perfectly captured its moment that it became timeless. Little Richard's 'Lucille', released in 1957, has that quality, and the Sex Pistols' 'God Save the Queen' in 1977."
Paul Williams: Author of You're Wondering Now: A History of the Specials
"That 'Ghost Town' made it on to vinyl is an achievement, as it also encapsulates the violence and paranoia in the band. Jerry's a perfectionist and he wanted it done his way. The chorus was done in producer John Collins's flat in Tottenham Court Road in London. The music and backing tracks were done in Leamington Spa. The song was on a one-off EP, and never appeared on an album; that was the way they worked; they wanted to give good value. I saw them in Bridlington Spa: I was 13 and I remember all these giant skinheads. It was ferocious. But it made you dance. It made you think."
Alex Wheatle: Novelist
"I think I was in prison when it went to No 1, for affray during the Brixton riots. I was 18 that year, running sound systems. All my friends were unemployed. I was a reggae man – reggae addressed all kinds of problems. The risings in '81 were partly down to the dark lyrics of artists such as Peter Tosh, Dennis Brown, Barrington Levy. I thought the Specials were a bit tame. Then, all of a sudden, they were addressing my sort of issue. The lyrics of 'Ghost Town' are fantastic. I saw the Specials live two years ago; they rocked."Alex Wheatle's latest novel is 'Brenton Brown'
John Rivers: Recording engineer of 'Ghost Town'
"The recording of the three songs of the EP took about 10 days. I remember the producer, John Collins, making only one suggestion throughout the session, but he did do the mix, which is great. I had all the misery – there were problems with people being 'incapable'. I remember vividly that crazy vocal bit in the middle – when Jerry started humming that at us we thought he'd gone lunatic. But he was a determined man, and he was right. It's genius. And the flute part was recorded in the hall of my house. Horace [Panter], Brad [John Bradbury] and Lynval [Golding] were the greatest rhythm section I've worked with."
Jerry Dammers: Former Specials keyboardist and writer of 'Ghost Town'
"There was a riot in Brixton about a year before the record came out. I was writing the song partly about that. Also, Britain was falling apart. The car industry was closing down in Coventry. We were touring, so we saw a lot of it. Liverpool and Glasgow were particularly bad. The overall sense I wanted to convey was impending doom. There were weird, diminished chords: certain members of the band resented the song and wanted the simple chords they were used to playing on the first album. It's hard to explain how powerful it sounded. We had almost been written off and then 'Ghost Town' came out of the blue."
Horace Panter: Bass player in the Specials
"It was a reggae tune, but it had this kind of Middle Eastern melody on top of it. When it was released, Melody Maker thought it was great, but NME and Sounds thought it was not as good. It wasn't an instant hit – it was quite dark.
I'm thrilled that it was recorded in the small basement of a row of terrace houses in Leamington. It was around the time bands were going to Montserrat to record albums in 96-track studios. The Specials went to a little town in the Midlands and recorded on eight-track. The week after the song was released, there were riots and civil disobedience all over the country. It was a strange moment."
Simon Price: Rock critic, The Independent on Sunday
"Seventeen months separate the Specials' two No 1 singles, and a million musical miles. Their first, a live recording of 'Too Much Too Young', was essentially the Sex Pistols' 'Bodies' gone ska, but the intervening year saw the Specials ditch that punky-reggae template. Jerry Dammers experimented with lounge-noir on their second album, causing intra-band friction. 'Ghost Town' initiated a strand of spooked British pop that has lived on in Tricky and Portishead's trip-hop and the dubstep of Burial and James Blake.
Interviews by Mike Higgins, Paul Bignell and Hugh Montgomery; research by Alexandra Rucki

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/ghost-town-the-song-that-defined-an-era-turns-30-2306003.html

2011-05-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

Tattoos and Illustration

I have been looking at some tattoos from the website http://weheartit.com/ that are more like illustration, i am thinking of getting a tattoo and this is just some ideas that i would go with. Plus the imagery from these photographs from "we heart it" are beautiful along with the striking Tattoo images.
I just need to work out which ones "i heart" the most for inspiration for my own designs for my own tattoo.

2011-05-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

Chantilly Lace

I have been sorting through some of my vintage lace and trimmings to sell on E-bay but i got carried away with making patterns with it all, there are just so many different varieties here are some of the patterns that i come up with and that i have logged.

Whilst i was sorting out my vast collection of vintage lace i could not get this song out of my head. . . . .

"Helllo Baaaaaabbbbbyyy!!!"

2011-05-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

Po Mizuho Ide

My Friend Po Is a Textile Designer Maker/Illustrator based in London, she has an irresistible enthusiasm for creating unique hand-made textiles, with a touch of quirkiness that makes people happy. She studied at the University College Falmouth and graduated in 2010 with a BA hons. Here are some of her creations :-

Check out her website !!!!

http://www.pomizuhoide.com/

2011-05-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

Photo Shoot

Photos of some of the jewellery i have made . . . with some help from my sister !

2011-05-01T16:19:00.000-07:00

REBEL REBEL!

On a day like today when the weather has been a bit gloomy music always helps and I always smile with David Bowie paying in the background, love him !!!

2011-04-27T01:49:00.000-07:00

Not A Cross Word!

here are some more makes that have been busy making, there are many more so look out for more post like these i will put more up soon x

2011-04-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

Frida Kahlo

I have this image of Frida Kahlo on my wall i just think that it is so beautiful and powerful, and the colours are just amazing.

One of my most Favourite Artist, Frida Kahlo is with out doubt an inspiring and extraordinary woman and artist. Her work is a representations of Experiences, feelings, frustrations and her making sense of the world. Her life throw so much at her most of which was challenging for her, but she always found strength in what she was faced with, and in tern created some of the most influential works of art.

"I don't paint dreams or nightmares.

I paint my own reality"

Frida Kahlo
(1907-1954)

"Born July 6, 1907 in the town of Coyoacán in Mexico, Frida Kahlo survived many difficult events in her life, including contracting polio as a child, a long recovery from a serious car accident, two failed marriages, and several miscarriages.

She used these experiences, combined with strong Mexican and Native American cultural influences, to create highly personal paintings. Kahlo used personal symbolism mixed with Surrealism to express her suffering through her work. A viewer might classify her paintings as Surrealism or Magic Realism, but she considered her art to be realistic"
Taken from http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/kahlo_frida.html

I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling.
Frida Kahlo

2011-04-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

Falmouth Vintage Flea Market

Here is just a snippet of some of the treats on offer at falmouth vintage Flea Market see if you can spot my stuff x

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=99068400013&ref=ts

Follow the Kitty Gubbins Blog too :-

http://kitty-gubbins.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=8

2011-04-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

Oh My Like Page on FaceBook !!!

feel free to click and like :-)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/HayleysDream/145784875479353

2011-03-27T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hand Made @ The Polly

I took part in the new event "Hand Made at the Polly" In Falmouth organised by Lulu Bee, here are some photos of the event . . . . . .

2011-03-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

Moustache & Games

here are some more makes of mine, Moustache and Games a bit of fun Jewellery, i have been collecting all different random bits and bobs here is what i turn them in to . . . . .

2011-02-06T14:15:00.000-08:00

Lets Up-Cycle

This is just some of the Jewellery i make from all weird and wonderful things i collect and find . . . . . . .

Plastic bags and beads turned in to a brooch . . . .. . . . .

Grasshopper Earrings . . . .. . . .

Man Up with toy solders you can wear as a badge or brooch . . . . .

Rawarrrrrr!! with colourful Dinosaur earrings . . . . .

Creepy but fun toy fly earrings . . . . . . . .

What used to be a note on the fridge could now be a wearable note or your initial with these letters which used to be fridge magnets now badges. . . . . .

Lets see what you could spell . . . . . . .

The small letters to what used to be fridge magnets are now earrings and colourful ones at that . . .

Stay tuned to see more of my makes . . . . . . I would love to know what you think . .. . . .

2011-01-16T14:08:00.001-08:00

songs for the soul

2011-01-11T15:13:00.000-08:00

I have not posted for a while but this will change. just wanted to wish a Happy new year to everyone, i know it is 11.1.11 but it is never too late to wish for a happy new year x

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2010-11-18T15:58:00.001-08:00

"In youth we learn; in age we understand"

Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

2010-11-18T15:20:00.001-08:00

"I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."

- Albert Einstein

2010-11-16T17:50:00.001-08:00

“There is no doubt that it is around the family and the home that all the greatest virtues, the most dominating virtues of human society, are created, strengthened and maintained” – Winston Churchi

2010-11-12T17:15:00.000-08:00

"If we knew each other's secrets, what comfort we would find."
— John Churton Collins

2010-11-04T18:04:00.001-07:00

Neuroscientist, Dr. R. Joseph > quotable quote

"...within the core of each of us is the child we once were. This child constitutes the foundation of what we have become, who we are, and what we will be."
— Neuroscientist, Dr. R. Joseph

2010-10-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."

Plato

2010-09-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

Oh Comely

Oh Comely is a magazine about people and their quirks and their creativity, rather than money and what it can buy. Personally when i found it it made my heart sing with joy that there was actually something like it!

It is Beautiful and inspiring, it makes me feel impelled to make and do creative things more, to talk about it and to appreciate other like minded people more that i do.

I advise anyone who wants to feel good when they open a magazine to get this one, it is packed full of wholesome goodness for our inner selves.

http://www.ohcomely.co.uk/about.php

2010-09-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

“You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him discover it in himself.”

Galileo Galilei quote

2010-09-06T06:09:00.000-07:00

The Medium is the Massage

The medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan, Quentin Fiore

I read this book for the first time on the weekend, i could not sleep at all on Saturday night so i picked up the first book from my book shelf that i had not yet read and it was "The Medium is the Massage" probably not the best book to read if you are finding it hard to sleep but never the less a brilliant read.It demonstrates how modern media is extensions of our human senses; they ground us in physicality, but expand our ability to perceive our world to an extent that would be impossible without the media. These extensions of perception contribute to McLuhan’s theory of the Global Village, which would bring humanity full circle to an industrial analogue of tribal mentality.

Personal i found some of the content hard to digest maybe as it was late in a Saturday night that i read the book but maybe because it really made me think about so many things. It is thought provoking on so many different levels.

"Media, by altering the environment, evoke in us unique rations of sense perceptions. the extension of any one sense alters the way we think and act the way we perceive the world.

when these change men change "

For me i would go back and read this book again parts of it for me seamed more important than others but i believe this might be because of where my head is at in terms of what i am doing or involved in at the time.

Defiantly a book to have on a shelf and go back to from time to time, what is spoke about in the book relates to so many different things and on so many levels, epic thought provoking and essential to a creative who wants to understand how we learn fit in and understand the world.

Taken from Amazon

"Well known for coining the term 'Global Village', Marshall McLuhan's thinking was, and still is, revolutionary. His theories, many of which are illustrated in this astonishing 'inventory of effects', force us to question how modes of communication have shaped society. This is an astonishing work by a truly astonishing man. The Penguin on Design series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision forever. This is one of four books in that series."

2010-09-06T04:53:00.000-07:00

The Wilderness Downtown

This is an amazing, an AMAZING Video from Arcade Fire its An interactive film by Chris Milk

Featuring “We Used To Wait”

http://www.arcadefire.com/wutw/

I used to write

I used to write letters

I used to sign my name

I used to sleep at night
Before the flashing lights settled deep in my brain
But by the time we met
The times had already changed
So I never wrote a letter
I never took my true heart
I never wrote it down
So when the lights cut out
I was left standing in the wilderness downtown

Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last

It seems strange
How we used to wait for letters to arrive
But what's stranger still
Is how something so small can keep you alive
We used to wait
We used to waste hours just walkin around
We used to wait
All those wasted lives in the wilderness downtown

Ooooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came
Ooooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came
Ooooo we used to wait
Still moving through the pain

I'm gonna write a letter to my true love
I'm gonna sign my name
Like a patient on a table
I Wanna walk again
Gonna move through the pain

Now our lives are changing fast
Hope that something pure can last

Ooooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came
Ooooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came
Ooooo we used to wait
Still moving through the pain

We used to wait for it
Now we're screaming
Sing the chorus again

I used to wait for it
Hear my voice screaming
Sing the chorus again

Wait for i

this is my film that i created with my address !
http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/#42+moorland+view+newton+abbot+devon+tq12+4ep

this was the first postcard that i did for the video . . . .

this was the second post card that i did for the video . . . . .

Create your own video here !!!!!!!

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

2010-09-06T03:05:00.000-07:00

What's your ID ?

I had a quick flick through this months ID magazine, i used to love this magazine I don't know what happened i just stopped buying it and i don't know why? i still have all the back issues that i bought. Having a flick through reminded me of how i used to be inspired by the topics and photography printed in the magazine .

This months ID magazine is 30 years old!!!

taken from the website:-
http://www.i-donline.com/i-spy/30th-birthday-issue

"Over 300 issues and for 30 years, this August marks the anniversary celebration of i-D. Welcome to the funhouse where through Pre-Fall, Fall and Winter issues, the past, present and future stars stand under the umbrella of THEN, NOW and NEXT!"

'with more names than you can shake a bag of monkeys at, we have brains, beauty and the downright gorgeous, back-to-back-to-back in our non-stop birthday festivities. From rapstars to trapstars, supers to trannies, we conducted a 3 week celebratory photoshoot at Somerset House collaborating with Nick Knight to document the turn of the decade. From cover to cover, the portraits will run throughout the THEN Pre-Fall issue. Almost 200 people took part in the breathtaking project, including The XX, Phoebe Philo, Sir Paul Smith, Florence Welch, Vivienne Westwood, Lara Stone, Pink and Gareth Pugh. Shot entirely in black and white this will be a collectors issue of the future and an important marker in time – made even more spectacular with our three amazing cover stars; Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Lady Gaga."

“30 years – whoosh, more than an instant in i-D’s lifeline - it’s a generation. Three decades to be celebrated and contained in this special issue. The whole issue was created by Nick Knight 200 portraits that SHOWstudio made at the close of 2009 in Somerset House - once the home of British passports, now the central location for British Fashion Week. Nick’s celebration of identity was also a commemorative project inspired by the 5th birthday issue of i-D, where 100 portraits were featured in The Grown Up Issue. 25 years on, the gallery selection grew to 200. Happy birthday!” Terry Jones, Editor-in-Chief, i-D

2010-09-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

Robots (not) In Disguise

It was my little sisters 16th birthday not so long ago, and i decided to get creative with her gifts, she has a robot obsession at the moment so i decided to go on that with creating something.

I first went around Falmouth town looking for something robot inspired so i popped in to the "here and now" gallery shop to see what they had to offer then wondered around to other smaller shops to find anything robot!

So i found her this beautiful collectors robot that she can wind up and it walks and moves, and it comes in it very own retro box i think it is wicked for her. . .

the front .. .

I then thought it might be a good idea to play with the robot idea and work on designing a t-shirt for her i know hoe she love all things a bit different and she loves fashion so maybe i could come u wit a t-shirt design that she would approve of . . .. . . this is what the out come was !

the back .

I then worked on just a plain design for a red t-shirt this is what i came up with . . .

2010-09-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

ZINE @ The Custard Factory

Just a reminder about the amazing Zine festival that is taking place at the Custard Factory in Birmingham . . . . . Opens tomorrow!

i have two postcards there at the postcard exhibition so if you have chance go along and take a look.

Urban Outfitters / Framers @ Custard Factory

5-7 Corporation Street, B2 4LP / Custard Factory, Digbeth

Birmingham, United Kingdom

Take a look at the website for more details

http://www.birminghamzinefestival.com/

or find us on facebook

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104056762967490&ref=ts

also check out the venue hosting the event;- "The Custard Factory"

in Birmingham

http://www.custardfactory.co.uk/

2010-08-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

Birmingham Zine Festival

Here is the designs for my entries to the Birmingham zine festival, i decided to work with my wrong had illustrations, i did a few designs before hand and then picked my favourites for the postcards, what do you think. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .?

http://www.birminghamzinefestival.com/

2010-08-16T05:13:00.000-07:00

I spent my last change on a strip of photos !

I was Stumbling the other day on stumbledupon, i try not to do it that often as it is so addictive, i don't normally post much that i find but this i just have to.

It is a website with an application to take traditional (well as much as they can be done digitally) photo booth photos, that makes the sounds and the flash and well i thought it was just wonderful had so much fun for all of half an hour until i realised that i was by myself and that it would be much more fun with others to do.

I sent it to my younger sisters to play with and take photos together, think they found it funny, it was good for them as all three of them are on summer holidays so time spent doing that was time not nagging my mum ;-)

so if you have a spear five minuets and you want to do something a bit fun cheek it out!

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1TbgtG/laphotocabine.com/

2010-08-16T04:52:00.000-07:00

Birmingham Zine Festival

Not long ago i found this mail art exhibition that asks for people from all over to take part and create a postcard to display at the exhibition which is part of a festival "The Birmingham Zine Festival".
I should have posted this sooner but have not had much time to blog. . . . but that will change!!

"The Birmingham Zine Festival will feature a wide range of self-published books, comics and magazines. We'll also be showcasing a selection of artwork from artists connected to the alternative press. If you’d like any additional information about our events, get in contact!"

You are invited to take part in our exhibition of postcards, where each postcard will be a unique work of art. At the end of the exhibition, all of the postcards will be randomly ‘swapped’ and you’ll receive someone else’s original artwork in the mail – yours to keep!

To take part in the exhibition, send us a message with your name and address. When you receive your postcard, just follow these simple instructions:

Create your own unique artwork on the blank side of the postcard. There’s no theme so feel free to submit whatever you like.
Write a message on the reverse, leaving the address space blank (we’ll fill that in later!)
Mail the postcard back to us in the envelope provided, along with your name, address and website details.

That’s it – we’ll do the rest! All of the postcards will be exhibited at The Framers Gallery in Birmingham as part of the Birmingham Zine Festival.

So today i am taking some time to come up with some ideas i want to send on my postcard for the exhibition so stay tuned for the finished piece which will need to be done soon to send off in time :-)

Exciting!!!!!

http://www.birminghamzinefestival.com/

2010-07-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

Sticks and Stones

Sticks and stones
may break my bones
But words can
never hurt me.

Words! Words! I'm so sick of words!
I get words all day through;
First from him, now from you! Is that all you blighters can do?
Don't talk of stars Burning above; If you're in love,
Show me! Tell me no dreams
Filled with desire. If you're on fire,
Show me!

--Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady

2010-07-24T07:03:00.000-07:00

Stringer Bessant

I recently went to a "Stringer Bessant" gig, the gig was to promote the debut album "YARD" on the 12.07.10, Gary and Jack From reef have made an incredible record and the gig was amazing the sound raw and the words from the heart.

I really enjoyed it, was not strange one bit that the two people performing in-front of me were from one of my favourite bands from my youth.

It was a refreshing sound, and beautifully performed.

there face book page:
http://www.facebook.com/StringerBessant?v=wall

2010-07-24T06:48:00.000-07:00

Blue Sky and Fluffy Clouds

I have recently been looking more to the sky's, i have been so intrigued by the shapes and colours that our skys can create here are some of my photos i have colected so far!

2010-07-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

A Beautiful Day at St Ives

It was recently my birthday and i was taken to St Ives in cornwall for the day, i have lived in cornwall now for three years but it was my first time visiting.

I loved every minuet of it, we walked through the town, and went to the TATE gallery, took photos and had some beautiful food and wine in a wonderful seafood restaurant.

The cornish postcard stand "love it"

Seagulls! i find them so fascinating and funny birds but i really don't like it when i am trying to eat a cornish pasty and they sit and watch you, this one was posing.

The weather was really extreme it was real cornish weather turning from beautiful blue sky and fluffy clods to stormy and raining. but i love that.

When the weather was good-IT was GOOD! look how beautiful the sea is looks tropical makes me want to jump in.

The TATE exhibition was brilliant, we went to see the "Lilt Van Der Stokker" "No Big Deal Thing" A bold, colourful works that are represented in a disarmingly unashamed and exuberant way, with ideas of beauty, love, relationships, family and the everyday. Playing on stereotypical femininity, she challenges and engages with legacies of feminism exploring ideas often thought of as forbidden in contemporary art.

Her demure medium: coloured-pencil drawings on A4 paper which she scales up and paints directly onto the walls of the gallery.

She challenges the idea the "grand" and the "serious" and in the process asks the question "just what is a fitting subject for a work of art"

http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/exhibitions/vanderstokker/default.shtm

http://www.galerievangelder.com/artists/stokker2.html

here are some examples of her work taken from the "Galerie Vangelder" website

http://www.galerievangelder.com/artists/stokker2.html

2010-07-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

Sisters & PhotoShoots

when I was back home I did some photo shoots with my sisters it was so much fun and got lots of amazing photos of my beautiful sisters here are some of the finished and edited photos from what i call the

"DaisyBlue series"

All photos are copyright to Hayley Holden 2010

All photos are copyright to Hayley Holden 2010

All photos are copyright to Hayley Holden 2010

2010-07-11T06:22:00.000-07:00

Some laughs, some cry's and a good home cooked meal that's all it takes

Some well needed time has been spent with my family . . . it has been such a long time since i have gone home and spent some quality time with my folks and my sisters who i love dearly i also got to see one of my brothers Simon who makes me laugh a lot he is such a kid at heart and makes me act the same when i am around him. And altho i never got to see my other brother peter i did speak to him on the phone as we redecorated his room and i found lots of his things which i boxed up..... lots of trips down memory lane, lots of laughs and some cry's but all for the good. . . . . . . .

lots of time spent with this beautiful little girl who teaches me so much more about the world I love her so much my little sister Miss Molly Witham, she reminds me just how beautiful the world is and the many possibilities, she reminds me how each of my sisters made me see this.

I have a beautiful and amazing family who I love so very much x

2010-06-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

"How to be and Explorer of the World"

I had a train journey to go on so i stopped off at the hear and now gallery were i bought this book. I read it all and started a sketch book as i was so inspired by the prompts the book has. This book is just so refreshing i feel it just the best way to remind us how to reconnect with the world and be inspired and creative. I advise anyone to own it.

"Artists and scientists analyse the world around them in surprisingly similar ways - by observing, collecting, documenting, analysing and comparing. In this captivating guided journal, readers are encouraged to explore their world as both artists and scientists. Smith sets the reader the mission of documenting and observing the world around them as if they've never seen it before - taking notes and collecting things they find on their travels. With a series of interactive prompts and a beautiful hand-illustrated two-colour package, readers will love exploring this gorgeous book."

2010-06-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

"A beautiful day for a Picnic"

. . . . .well a beautiful night as well and it was a BBQ we had under the stars with football on the beach, cards and camping, for Mr Ciaran McEntee's Birthday, with Kim and Mark woods (AKA Woodsy) the sun was amazing hot too, we laughed and joked and stayed up chatting about all things serious and funny too.

2010-05-14T03:55:00.000-07:00

Amy Goodwin

My Friend Amy has made this wonderful website for her illustration and i think it is just beautiful, i think the use of flat bright colour is fun and constructed in a playful way that makes me feel happy.

http://www.amygoodwinillustration.com/Sketchbook.html

also check out her blog

Amys Blog

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5750254874438150133

2010-05-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

Remember this!

it is Important for us all to remember

http://vi.sualize.us/

2010-05-04T02:13:00.000-07:00

Polaroid

My photos turned into Polaroid's

I had to put this up, i have turned my photos into Polaroid, i found this app for my mac and i love the effect it has have a look and see what you think !!

2010-03-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

Painting Pebbles

This is the images from the workshop i did with the children at the "Colourful women's Network" where i collected lots of different types of pebbles and took them along for the children to decorate.
The them of the pebbles was "Things" and "Creatures" with goggly eyes and funny faces this is what they created.

And they all did a fantastic job! so proud of them and love the out come.

2010-03-11T10:54:00.000-08:00

Walking down by the sea

I went for a stroll along the beaches near where i live mainly to collect pebbles for a workshop i want to to do with the group that i work with called "The colourful women's network". . . . .

here are some of the photos that i took on that beautiful day.

2010-01-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Losers

I have posted items on this topic before and have always gone back to it, I own the book and the film and think that they are brilliant, inspireing and creative.

The Beautiful losers collective has had such an impact on the comunities and people that they work with I find this inspireing and warm.

The Website and Blog

http://www.beautifullosers.com

I have found that the workshops they were doing so inspiring, engaging with the community, children and people of all ages. . . . . .

all images taken from the website. . . . http://www.beautifullosers.com/

2010-01-12T09:26:00.000-08:00

Anis Mojgani performing "Shake the Dust"

Take a look at his Blog/on-line journal it is captivating . . . . . . . . . . http://mojgani.livejournal.com/

2010-01-12T07:58:00.000-08:00

I found this Blog today I think it is just wonderful . . . . .Amazing!

I WROTE THIS FOR YOU

please take a look at it

http://pleasefindthis.blogspot.com/

POP UP !

2010-01-12T06:29:00.000-08:00

The POP UP Generation

"I was reading about Pop Up restaurants, "Picture the scene: you're going out to eat at one of London's hippest new restaurants. You've dressed up and are ready for a night of intimate fine dining – trouble is, first you've got to find the place and unlike Covent Garden, there are no helpful tourist signs in the maze of quiet residential streets in Kilburn, Dalston or Brixton."

This is dining out with a difference – underground, "pop-up" restaurants in private homes are the latest foodie fad to hit London. From creative cuisine in Kilburn at MsMarmiteLover's The Underground Restaurant to nine-course vegetarian Japanese eating on slouchy sofas in Horton Jupiter's beatnik flat, called The Secret Ingredient, in east London, guerrilla dining is at the cutting edge of eating out, provided you can find the location in the first place. Even celebrities and famous restaurants are getting in on the act, with Jo Wood opening her home to paying guests and Mosimann's launching a pop-up restaurant on the bank of the Thames during the Henley Regatta. By their very nature you won't find any neon signs or overt advertising for these gigs – it's all done by word of mouth and the internet.

"Everyone back to mine: Pop-up restaurants in private homes are the latest foodie fad"

This got me thinking what else have I seen or heard about that has the same idea as "POP UP" resturant and what other "POP UP" activities can be taylurd in to the new "POP UP" generation ?

POP UP Gallery's

Do it yourself: pop-up galleries

Even with a limited budget, it’s remarkably easy to set up your own space

"A former Italian restaurant in the heart of London's Covent Garden has become the latest venue for a "pop-up" contemporary art gallery"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8130731.stm

Impromptu exhibitions have been opening all over the capital city, as artists make the most of a glut of empty commercial property during the recession. I have noticed more so than ever the amount of empty space and unused shops around the streets of Falmouth, more so now that ever! is there any way of making something such as the "POP UP" idea work in Falmouth? I have come across the idea of a pop up Vintage Flea market which impressed me. I feel that this will be an area that I might look in to some more, the idea that nearly anything can be a "Pop Up" and put anywhere inspires me, I have been also thinking lately of ways to get my work out there some more maybe his could be a start ? I also love the idea of a collective coming together to do something like this. . . . . . .

We only have to acknowledge the empty spaces that the chain Woolworth have left, now wouldn't that just be brilliant if something popped up in an old Woolworth near you ?

"Pick 'n' mix art: Woolworths returns as pop-up gallery"

"Woolworths has been all over the news today, thanks to the fact the much-missed stores are making their comeback on the internet. But that doesn't solve the problem of what to do with all those disused stores that are currently littering London's high streets. Many have been turned into pound shops, one in Camden briefly became a squat but many have simply been left empty and abandoned. . . . . . .

http://www.timeout.com/london/big-smoke/blog/8051/Pick-n-mix_art-Woolworths_returns_as_pop-up_gallery.html

.

"What resources do you need to start up a contemporary art gallery in London? You must have inexhaustible reserves of energy, a large helping of missionary zeal, and a healthy dose of chutzpah. A network of friends willing to help out on a voluntary basis probably helps. Surprisingly, though, you don’t need much money."

please read on about this at http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Do-it-yourself-pop-up-galleries%20/19611

GIGANTIC

2010-01-12T05:10:00.000-08:00

GIGANTIC

"when it comes to family and relationship's there are no small surprises"

I bought this film in December last year and have not got around to watching it till just recently, it is a amazing such a beautiful film.

The film is about a guy "Brian"(played by pall Dano) who is working for this high end Swedish mattress store searching for his place in the world. unfulfilled by his work he spends a good portion of his day pursuing his goal of someday adopting a baby from china. Then one day the lovely Harriet Lolly nicknamed Happy (played by Zoe Deschanel) comes in to his store and falls asleep on one of his beds, one of which her farther is buying for his bad back. Brian has to contend with her farther All Lolly (Played by John Goodman) an art-collecting loud mouth with a bad back and deep pockets in order to win her hear.
The story is about the anxiety that comes along when two poeple with crazy family's collide unexpectedly and fall for each other.

This is a story that displays all the things that is never perfect when falling in love with some one unexpectedly, which makes it perfect. The film shows how sometimes when everything seems so complicated, confusing and lost that we can still find love, sometimes something can happen that makes it all seam just fine, and things start to fit. even if you fell like you have made a GIGANTIC mess out of everything, its never that bad!

This is the GIGANTIC Movie Blog, interesting to have a read through on some of the entries

http://giganticthemovie.wordpress.com/

The GIGANTIC Movie Website

http://www.thegiganticmovie.com/home.html

2010-01-08T05:54:00.000-08:00

The Year Starts with:

Cold

"It is ok to feel this icy cold weather, embrace it as it is forced upon us and feel heat from the warmth of the heart." HH

Ice

"Ice, everywhere right now and so cold I don't want to go out, but from inside you look out at everything that is ice, as it glistens like stars on the ground in daylight" HH

Snow

"I laugh at how this country deals with snow, we have had so much warning for weeks and yet no one is prepared. . . . .and I think to some extent it is because of the potability of having a "SNOW DAY!" it is strange it disrupts everything but yet it makes everyone smile and act like children, snow makes people happy" HH

New Starts

"Nobody can go back in time and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending, I put lots of things off always till tomorrow but it gets me no where, I cant go back but I can go forward and I have started sorting all the things I said I would a long time a go and I feel good for it!" HH

Lots of Thoughts

"I am going to try my best to write down thoughts and ideas and not let them take over my head, I forget the bad good ones and always get bogged down with the bad ones so now it is time to process all these thoughts in a Positive way" HH

And a Lot of washing to clean

the journey to the laundrette was like an adventure, back pack, boats on, gloves, hat scarf, and a big smile on face. I woke up at the crack of dawn, there was no snow at this point, it was a cold night. But an hour in to me being awake the heavens opened and released Narnia on to Falmouth.

Here are some of the photos I took on my phone;

2010-01-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

One of my "Christmas Movies"

Son of Rambow

Over Christmas I spent a few days with my family, one of the presents that my sister had was the film Son Rambow. I watched it with my two younger sisters, the best way to watch this for me as we laughed and cried together.

This is such a funny film a charming film of two young and lonely boys who together decide to film their own version of the Rambow film. In many ways this film is a coming of age movie.
Sometimes you want to laugh out loud and other times you are moved to tears.

One thing that I found so beautiful was how one of the boys in the film would carry around a book everywhere with him. It was a Bible but the book had been covered on every page with illustrations, of thoughts and things of the young boy, things which he would make sense of through drawing it and putting it on to paper.

2010-01-05T06:38:00.000-08:00

New year

So Christmas and New Year has been and gone and I have not posted much on her for a while, so much has been happing since i have finished the MA. . . . . life sometimes can just take over what is important.
So what is important??

These have been the questions that I have been asking myself for the last few months, what is important, what do I want to do, where do I want to be, how do I get there.

WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY ?????????

"Happiness is the delicate balance of what one is and what one has. . . . . ."

"Happiness is not the Destination but the Journey"

work shops

2009-12-08T03:39:00.000-08:00

Work Shops

I have been recently doing workshops with women and children at Pentreth as part of the colourful womens network. I have been volentering with this group for a while, I started when i finished my MA and have been doing at least one workshop a week ever since.

"Pentreath is a charity offering training, work experience and employment opportunities to people in Cornwall who are recovering from mental ill health. "

as I have been so busy with the workshops I have neglected putting posts up on my blog about what I have been doing since my MA show. . . . . .

so I am going to try and catch up with that today

2009-11-10T10:32:00.000-08:00

A walk along the beach

Today I thought that would go for a walk so I desicdeed to go to the beach, I needed so air and needed to collect some things for a workshop plus I always feel inspired when I go to the beach.

It was cold and the sea was so noisy today

The weather was such a mix of beautiful sunshine and thundery spells

Massive clouds would roll in from nowhere and it would make you feel like they had sunk up on you

When the clouds were so dark on side and bright another it had a sense of stormmy atmosphere

but it was ok it was so nice to get some fresh air into my lungs today , I walked up and down the beach serching for pebbles and stones for one of my workshops, hardly anyone was around it was strange.

Here are some of my findings

All The Things I Have Overcome & All the things I Am Yet To Learn

2009-11-10T10:17:00.000-08:00

"All The Things that I have Overcome" & "All the Things I Am Yet To Learn"

I have been scanning the massive amount of Tags that were added to the installation of the MA exhibition. it is overwhelming just how many I had added to the massive amounts that were already sent to me through the internet. this is just a few pages of scanned Tags I will up load different ones every now and then.

2009-11-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

Arts for Health

I have been looking in to different ways arts crafts and creativity can help improve health and well being for all types of people. this is one of the organisations that has inspired me. please take a look.

"Creative activity has been proven to have tangible effects on physical health, increase self-esteem, provide a sense of purpose, develop social skills, help community integration and improve quality of life. Creative application of the arts can also dramatically improve the environments within which health and social care are delivered, bringing wide ranging benefits to those using them."

taken from the website

http://www.artsforhealthcornwall.org.uk/

2009-10-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

My Final MA Show

Design Contemporary Crafts 2009

2009-10-12T10:07:00.000-07:00

Post card ideas for the final MA show

2009-10-12T09:41:00.000-07:00

"For all the things that I have overcome"

"For all the things that I am yet to learn"

I started to transfer all the things that I had listed on to tags that I had to had to hand, and signing them and dating them. I liked the idea of having them all on bits of string, on lots of different lengths of string, on different size and coloured tags. And having then all mixed up so that the viewer the reader has to read them and engage with the information that is front of them.

so I made some mock up ideas of how I could display them, so that I could come up with ideas for post cards as well.

2009-10-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

"For all that I have over come"

"For what I am yet to learn"

As part of my work for my MA i was thinking about all the things which i have over come and all the things that i am yet to learn. I have been inspired by the types of people that I have meet over the last few months, they things which they have all over come and how simple things in life seam more important some times.
I just started to jot down all the things that i feel i have over come and all the things that I am yet to learn in to a sketch book. I wanted to show it some how at my MA exhibition and I wanted other to get involved also, so I decided to send a e-mail to all the people that i know:

"hello all

I am currently putting together a exhibition of all my MA work

One of my Pieces is designed for people to add to it, half of it is called;

"For all the things I have over come"

and the other part is called;

"For all the things I have yet to learn"

I was wondering if you would all be able to send me a response to both of these statements and as many different responses as you like. they can be as small things or big life changing things, they can be personal, or not so personal but they all have to be about you!
such as

"I have over come my broken wrist"

"I am yet to learn to drive"
"I am yet to learn to let things go"

If you would respond to this I would be so grateful and happy, I have already listed many of my own and I am preparing them to go in to the exhibition piece.

each quote will be wrote down on a tag and hung with all the others, I will credit you all and photograph the final piece and up date it on to my blog.

if you wish to keep this private then i will not put your name on the quote.

i will look forward to hearing back from you all x
And please feel free to attend the exhibition if you can if not i will post all photos on my bog
Thank You

Hayley"

It was amazing and the response was just brilliant, and at some points over whelming, I started recording them all in the same sketch book along side my own people are still telling me all the things that they have over come and what they are yet to learn.

Now I was just left with how I would display it in my end of MA show. . . . . . .

2009-09-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Respect festival

This is some of the photos from the day of the respect festiival, starting with the fesival in the park and then with a parade through the town showing off all that was made and everyone who took part in the day.

2009-08-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

Respect Festival Cornwall Community work

I was introduced by chance one day to a group of women who are currently working on the organisation of respect Festival who were part of the colourful woman's network.

They were looking for someone to help with creative ideas generating for the respect festival and workshops for the festival. I was asked to join the group and communicate with the members of the group craft ideas, creative ideas and design ideas as well as come up with workshops for a youth group in Newquay, as well as doing photography for the lead up to the festival and photography on the day.

They wanted me to come up with an idea for documenting the work that they did in workshops and for the festival.
I was also asked to design the logo for the colourful woman’s network, who were part of the group. They wanted something that represented diversity and that represented colourful women, in discussions we came up with the idea of using a rainbow effect for the women symbols. Keeping it bright and bold with the text colourful women’s network on it.
Here are the first ideas that I came up with:-

This is idea 1

This is idea2

This is idea 3

And here are the final ideas, which the group went with:-

Hands of Respect!

Other ideas for the lead up to the festival were to create flags and banners with the youth group, craft stand, art work for the festival day its self, art and craft sales, and so on.

One project that I thought would be good fro the youth group to get involved with was to make flags and bunting to go up at the festival with the letters that spell out respect festival. And to make Flags, which stand up right in the ground, that has their own versions of what respect should look like.
For the day its self the group asked for craft workshops, which the public can all get involved in. I came up with the idea of little flags which people will draw around there own had and decorate it in a way that represents themselves and then put it on a stick to make a flag that then can be taken through the town on the parade.

The Cornwall Respect Festival is a one day festival to celebrate the multi-cultural aspects of life here in Cornwall.
Cornwall Respect wishes to acknowledge the many different cultures in our area. We are committed to using the arts to celebrate diversity, and as a way of raising awareness of, and challenging prejudice.
This year’s festival will be held in Truro on the 29th of August. It will start at 10am in Victoria Park, followed by a carnival procession through the streets to Lemon Quay where there will be entertainment.
When we first sent out the details of this year’s festival we proposed that we would have a ticketed event to round off the day.
However thanks to endless begging, borrowing, and heartstring pulling. I am more than happy to announce that this year’s festival will now be absolutely free, yep that’s right FREE. So here is the line-up for the evening’s entertainment on Lemon Quay.

www.legendlive.co.uk

www.myspace.com/legendlive

Baka Beyond

www.bakabeyond.net

The Harpaphonics Ensemble www.grissanderson.com/nyckelharpa.html

Kernow vibration
www.myspace.com/jahkernow

There are two licensed bars, and food & market stalls.

Because the event is absolutely FREE, I believe that this has provided us a great opportunity to raise some money for a worthy cause.

I am happy to announce that all donations this year will go directly to ‘Shelter Box’
In Victoria Gardens there will be music, stalls, theatre, information, face & henna painting, artwork, and much more at Victoria Park. This part of the event will be alcohol free, and family focused. There will also various workshops including;

Drum workshop

Belly dancing workshop

World dance workshop

Children’s marquee

BME health marquee

T’ai chi workshop

There will be a reggae sound-system, food stalls, film show, circus performers, live entertainment, DJ’s, Dance, pleasant surprises, and much more.

One thing has not changed, the Respect Festival still believe’s in saying no to racism, bigotry, and segregation; And yes to love, understanding, and acceptance.

Many of us who are a part of, or work with the many diverse communities here in Cornwall, often witness the emotional distress and consequences of racism, prejudice, and discrimination. This can at times overshadow the vibrant, exciting, and rewarding experiences that come from living in a multi-cultural society. We hope that the annual Cornwall Respect Festival will provide all of us from the youngest to the eldest with an opportunity to celebrate, talk, laugh, dance, and generally have fun together.

Cornwall respect believes that throughout the process and organisation of this festival it is vital to engage with young people. As well as offering a chance to showcase local talent, we hope to offer young people a chance to shadow the organisers, media, bands, and so on.

At the moment we are running a design a logo for respect competition and any young person, school, youth group etc. We will also be working with schools. We hope to offer workshops in theatre, costume & musical instrument making, and dance.
Please contact me for further details

Most importantly it is not too late to be involved with, what is rapidly growing into the largest multicultural celebratory event in Cornwall this year.

It is of the highest importance to us that the festival is an inclusive event. We would welcome any ideas, and input that you may care to offer. Whether as an individual, community, organisation, institution, agency, school or college, trader, business, club, society, all are welcome.

So say no to racism, bigotry, and segregation; And yes to love, understanding, and acceptance by celebrating with us.

2009-08-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

DOTT Cornwall

Not that long ago I was invited to attend the DOTT Cornwall talk by the people who organise the project. I found it really intresting wiht the way that they comunicate with poepole and comunities about design.

Dott (Designs of the time) is a national programme devised by the Design Council. It aims to encourage the best use of design to drive new thinking and ideas that produce innovative solutions to complex problems and help make the UK a more competitive, creative and Sustainable nation.

Dott is based on the principle that innovation thrives on the creativity of many. It is a programme, which brings people together with designers to identify, and then create practical solutions to the issues which affect their lives and environment.

Cornwall is on its own ambitious trajectory. With the goal of establishing a more knowledge-based economy, Cornwall is ideally placed to both benefit from and to inspire a Dott programme. Dott Cornwall would be built on the interplay between creativity, community and innovation and would help Cornwall find a new way to develop sustainable solutions to its social, environmental and economic issues.

How does DOTT work?

People of Cornwall. It will work alongside existing initiatives and add value to projects in a number of ways. The Dott Cornwall Partnership has agreed these initial aims: How does Dott work? Dott is developed with host partner organizations to respond directly to the region’s own priorities and challenges. Content is shaped with a local programme team, exploring links with existing initiatives and projects.

Design teams work with local people to co-design the programme’s projects, drawing on a range of design tools to analyses and understand the community’s issues. Then they use visualization and prototyping skills to generate ideas and solutions.

To effect cultural change in the way organisations approach Where has Dott been tried? The first Dott happened in the North East. Around 200,000 people, including 16,000 school children, were either directly involved or experienced the activities in some way. Citizens acted both as clients and co-designers of sustainable solutions in areas such as rural transport, health, energy and food. The resulting projects delivered long-term benefits. To find out more about Dott 07 go to

www.dott07.com

t

2009-08-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

Serendipity

"Is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely unrelated"

The word has been imported into many other languages (Portuguese "serendipicidade" or "serendipidade"; French "sérendipicité" or "sérendipité" but also heureux hasard, "fortunate chance"; Italian "serendipità"; Dutch "serendipiteit"; German "Serendipität;" Swedish, Danish and Norwegian "serendipitet"; Romanian "serendipitate"; Spanish "serendipia"

2009-08-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

Post Secrets

After posting a Blog on post secrets I thought that I would post some more post secrets on here as I think they are so inspiring, and an encouraged way to deal with things which have not been dealt with or secrets that haunt you or play in the deepest depths of your mind. I think that the whole idea is a way forward for us all.

It all Started when Frank Warren set out with an idea for community art project, “Post Secrets” initiallyit began as a commission for art installation in 2004, But has since turned into a full-time career for him.

In November 2004 he printed 3,000 postcards inviting people to share a secret, something that was true, some thing that they had never told anyone, and post it back. After several weeks he stopped passing them out but the secrets kept coming back.

This idea become his project and in turn captured the world’s imagination. The instructions were simple,
but the results were extraordinary.

He began posting the postcards on a web blog, the secrets were both provocative and profound, the cards them selves become works of art. To this day he has thousands upon thousands of
“Post secrets” sent to him, which he has exhibited and had it made into books

Home-made postcards made from cardboard, old photographs, wedding invitations, and other personal items artfully decorated arrived from all over the world, with secrets written in all languages.

The extraordinary collection brings together a selection of bits of strangers personalities.
Collectively it exposes individual yet personal human emotions.

"It touches on every aspect of the human experience"

The idea was personal to him; he was struggling with secrets in his own life and used the project to allow him to reflect with parts of the past that he had been hiding from

This made me think of how an initial idea can change dramatically, how personality and experience reflects within the reasons for a design and how the response can change outcomes entirely.

He quotes ;

“Maybe growing up I felt that my family had some hidden, deep, dark secret that I never found out about, and now
as an adult, I’m trying to search for this possible secret –whatever that might be. I don’t know. My background is in business. I have no artistic training or education and sometimes I feel like this project kind of found me. I really don’t have a good explanation as to why I am doing it. I feel like I’m on this journey that’s very gratifying.”

This inspires me because it has come from a conceptual idea which turned in to a collective collaboration of everyone’s personal life experiences,which in turn allowed him to map and plan his subject terrain creating a serendipity that almost goes full circle

The demise of the commons

He has turned the concept of normality which is common in society into something questionable.
Using the concept of Art/design, Abnormality is more prominent in personal experiences of different individuals.

"Design is a form of
expression of an individuals personality"

Some times the initial idea can be quite different to the end result

Frank Warren personal experience was What influenced his initial idea Using the ‘imperfect’ personality (personal experiences) of other individuals to ‘comfort’ his own ‘imperfections’ Within the collection are his own “Post Secrets” but nobody knows what they are.

I personally found it a knowledgeable way of communicating individual thought patterns, shearing, “secrets” of his own personality but at the same time showing the changing thought patterns of society as a whole.

2009-08-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

Design as Art

How do we see the world around us? The Penguin on Design series includes the works of creative thinkers whose writings on art, design and the media have changed our vision forever. Bruno Munari was among the most inspirational designers of all time, described by Picasso as ‘the new Leonardo’. Munari insisted that design be beautiful, functional and accessible, and this enlightening and highly entertaining book sets out his ideas about visual, graphic and industrial design and the role it plays in the objects we use everyday. Lamps, road signs, typography, posters, children’s books, advertising, cars and chairs – these are just some of the subjects to which he turns his illuminating gaze.

Bruno Munari was an Italian artist and designer, who contributed in many fields of both visual (paint, scultpture, film, industrial design, graphics) and non-visual arts (literature, poetry.)

Summer Schools

2009-08-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

Summer Schools Doodles

Her are the creative table coverings that the groups decorated with allsorts of notes drawings and doodles, they took on a life of there own.

I could see this type of doodles transformed in to some sort of stitching or cut up in to different sized squares and framed as an exhibition in its self. I loved theses table coverings it gave the students chance to draw and writ what ever they liked with no restrictions on content and it just took on a life of its own and got them communicating with each other in a different way.

It made me think of Thomas Campbell and his work;

Thomas Campbell

http://www.thomascampbell-art.com/

I found that it reminded me of the film and book "Beautiful Losers"

Most of the work in this exhibition catalog is not beautiful by traditional standards. Nor can its makers, artists whose work is now displayed in museums and top galleries around the world, really be considered losers. Yet the loosely affiliated group of skateboarding and punk music aficionados represented in this book seems to have a considerable amount of cachet invested in their outsider status, their ability to see the beauty in being a "loser." Many of the painters, photographers and cartoonists in this book appear to be taking a cue from the most famous insider/outsider of them all, Andy Warhol: witness Harmony Korine’s photo-collage of a disaffected Macauley Culkin, Terry Richardson’s photo of a young man sitting on a toilet or a scarf design by Mike Mills titled "Fight Against the Rising Tide of Conformity." The artists consume popular culture and then spit it back out in a highly personalized form to express their alienation from the usual boogeymen (suburbia, capitalism, middle-class middlebrow culture). Bucking the traditional art school route, these self-taught artists prefer a more laid-back, "D.I.Y." ("do it yourself") attitude. This approach involves doodling, spreading graffiti and taking snapshots of their friends naked. The book’s accompanying essays narrate the development of these street culture artists with an absurdly exacting level of detail, the kind usually reserved for the lives of geniuses who’ve been dead for at least 10, maybe even 20 years. And while the book is excellently produced and the works in it are a lot of fun, it’s hard not to wonder if these artists enjoy posing as outsiders a little too much, especially given their newfound success. 200 color & 200 b/w illus.

Work Experience, and Workshops

2009-08-23T11:27:00.000-07:00

Post Your Future

One last thing that I asked the groups to do was to right a post card to them self 's, about their stay with summer schools.

"This post card is for you to illustrate what it is that you have most enjoyed about your stay here at Falmouth over the last week. And to explain what you would like to achieve in the future, this can be as outrageous or simple as you like

Make the post card as decorative and interesting as you can, and in a way that represents you."

I was inspired by the pronominal "post secrets" project

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/

Post secrets all Started when Frank Warren set out with an idea for community art project, “Post Secrets” initially it began as a commission for art installation in 2004, But has since turned nto a full-time career for him.

This idea become his project and in turn captured the world’s imagination.
The instructions were simple, but the results were extraordinary.

He began posting the postcards on a web blog, the secrets were both provocative and profound, the cards them selves become works of art. To this day he has thousands upon thousands of “Post secrets” sent to him, which he has exhibited and had it made into books.

Work Experience, and Workshops

2009-08-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

VJ ing Workshop for summer schools

VJ ing workshop The term "video jockey" is a derivative of the term "disc jockey", "DJ" (deejay) as used in radio. The term was popularised in the 1980s by the music teliveishion network MTV.

A VJ is a Performance artist who creates moving visual art (often video) on large displays or screens, often at events such as concerts , nightclubs and music festivals, and usually in conjunction with other performance art. This results in a live, Multimedia performance that can include music, actors or dancers as well as live and pre-recorded video

All the students were shown a documentary on V J ing and was shown exactly what and how to create a image and a set. They were split up in to small groups some did some dance workshops to be projected in to the visuals and other controlled the music and the visuals from the VJ ing desk.

Work Experience, and Workshops

2009-08-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

Hands of knowledge

Hands of knowledge are simple, on a piece of paper draw around your hands. In the inside of the hands write and draw all things which are important to you, things that you know, and things that you like. This could be anything such as, your favourite game, place, person, lesson, music, possession. It could be things which you are good at, things that you have learnt, important people such as friends or family, or someone famous; so everything about you now. Then on the out side all the things which you would like to achieve, this could be as extreme as becoming an astronaut, swimming around the world or even just as simple as coming back here next year. Decorate and colour them to illustrate you and who you are, write enough to show who you are now and what you would like to achieve in the future.

Work Experience, and Workshops

2009-08-22T03:40:00.000-07:00

Pinhole Workshop for Summer Schools

I Planed and took a pinhole workshop for the summer schools groups on different weeks, part of this was to show the students how to make a makeshift dark room with the environment we had.
As the students were staying in halls accommodation we had a couple of spare rooms which I transformed in to a dark room. I felt this was important to do for the students to see just how an easy it is to create photographic images the original way with out the use of digital technology.

So. . . . I took a room and blacked out the window with black out material, each room has an on suite so I used that as the was room.
Once the room is fully blacked out I then put the portable red light it it, this was the safe light.
On the desk in the room I set up the DEV STOP and FIX chemicals in the trays and labelled them with extra tray's to take the photographs to wash.
The rooms were big enough for the whole group to fit in and load up each pinhole camera with the paper which was useful as well as for them all to develop the images.

once the room was set you and the students were shown how it was done and I had explained how to use the chemicals and the dark room we then had to make the pinhole cameras.
I had previously mad an example of a pinhole camera and had collected a variety of matirials and containers for them to make a camera each.

we had a selection of small box's and large box's and different sized drinks cans and circular containers.

I was impressed with the neatness of the pinhole cameras that were made by the summer school students.

I was also excited by the imaginative and effective images that they created, the workshop went on longer than anticipated as the students were enjoying it so much.

here are some pinhole images from all the workshops;

Work Experience, and Workshops

2009-08-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

Filming and documenting the summer schools experience

As part of the whole experience the students get to create their own film which they have to writ and film all them selvfs. Part of the filming is to document the activities they take part in and part of that filming is done by staff like myself HA!

This was brilliant to learn, I feel that I learnt so much and if I had not have taken part in summer schools then I wouldn't have learnt so much of theses things. I did quite a bit of filming through the whole summer school experience and i really enjoyed it as well as learning how to edit and what goes in to putting together film and sound, and learning how to put together a live script and film and capture it all on DVD.

Work Experience, and Workshops

2009-08-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

Documenting their week's with SLR Cameras
Summer Schools workshops

All the students on summer schools were inducted on film SLR cameras so that they could document the week from there own point of view. It was interesting as so many had never even seen a camara like this as they were used to cameras on their phones or digital cameras. One student asked me how to look at the photo she had just taken on the camera which was odd to me but just shown how new technology is growing so fast.
Ever student each week was issued with a SLR camera each with black and whit film to document their time at summer school. They were all shown how to load up their campers with the black and white film, they were shown how to work out the light meters, so they can get the light right in the photos for both inside and out side.

Some of the student brought their own digital cameras to take photos of the week .

My job through the week was to make sure they new what they were doing with the cameras showing them different ways of taking photos, i also had a digital camera which was documenting everything.
I allowed each student chance to help take photos with a digital, one of the projects I set them was movement photography her is one of the photographs taken by one of the students that represents movement.

2009-08-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

“I heard a great story recently, I love telling it, of a little girl who was in a drawing lesson, she was 6 and she was at the back, drawing, and the teacher said this little girl hardly paid attention, and in this drawing lesson she did. The teacher was fascinated and she went over to her and she said, "What are you drawing?" and the girl said, "I'm drawing a picture of God." And the teacher said, "But nobody knows what God looks like." And the girl said, "They will in a minute."”
Sir Ken Robinson

2009-08-21T13:42:00.001-07:00

Biological Weathering/Growth/Human Nature

Things that grow in the cracks in the garden at 20 Norfolk road, I have always been inspired by the way things grow and where things can grow. The fact that a seed can fly miles away from where it original was and find a crack a bit of water and something to hold on to and then grow. . . . . . . .Well this just fascinates me, I always connect it with situations with experiences that have happened to me or other people. Connecting the fact we as humans grow every single day, might not be in an obvious sense but we over come so much the equivalents of "concrete's", "suffecation", "Restriction" we face it all the time but these things which stand in our way make way for something stronger.
we can all grow no matter what just like these plants, we can push through anything.. . . .

2009-08-21T13:20:00.001-07:00

The Nostalgia of 20 Norfolk Road

Here are yet more photos of Norfolk road, this is the out houses and garage, with crazy paint effects and amazing colours on the metal work.

hayleysdream

Moustache & Games

"In youth we learn; in age we understand"

Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach

Neuroscientist, Dr. R. Joseph > quotable quote

POP UP !

This got me thinking what else have I seen or heard about that has the same idea as "POP UP" resturant and what other "POP UP" activities can be taylurd in to the new "POP UP" generation ?

POP UP Gallery's

Do it yourself: pop-up galleries

Even with a limited budget, it’s remarkably easy to set up your own space

"A former Italian restaurant in the heart of London's Covent Garden has become the latest venue for a "pop-up" contemporary art gallery"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts_and_culture/8130731.stm

We only have to acknowledge the empty spaces that the chain Woolworth have left, now wouldn't that just be brilliant if something popped up in an old Woolworth near you ?

"Pick 'n' mix art: Woolworths returns as pop-up gallery"

http://www.timeout.com/london/big-smoke/blog/8051/Pick-n-mix_art-Woolworths_returns_as_pop-up_gallery.html

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please read on about this at http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Do-it-yourself-pop-up-galleries%20/19611

GIGANTIC

work shops

All The Things I Have Overcome & All the things I Am Yet To Learn

www.legendlive.co.uk

www.myspace.com/legendlive

Baka Beyond

www.bakabeyond.net

The Harpaphonics Ensemble www.grissanderson.com/nyckelharpa.html

Kernow vibration www.myspace.com/jahkernow

Drum workshop

Belly dancing workshop

World dance workshop

Children’s marquee

BME health marquee

T’ai chi workshop

So say no to racism, bigotry, and segregation; And yes to love, understanding, and acceptance by celebrating with us.

DOTT Cornwall

Not that long ago I was invited to attend the DOTT Cornwall talk by the people who organise the project. I found it really intresting wiht the way that they comunicate with poepole and comunities about design.

t

Summer Schools

Work Experience, and Workshops

Work Experience, and Workshops

Work Experience, and Workshops

Work Experience, and Workshops

Work Experience, and Workshops

Work Experience, and Workshops

Kernow vibration
www.myspace.com/jahkernow