Image: Wind farm in the sun.

As an artist and a mother of a young child I am often looking for activities and places to go to keep the little monster happy and occupied. Apart from the usual places I tend to seek art related events for kids as well as not for kids. I’m happy to say that he is as familiar with museums and art centres as he is with the playground. And so on. But what I find when we are with other people who have no connection with the art world is that the way we play is somewhat different, as are the expectations. On our own, we tend to explore, dare, pervert meanings and uses of objects, reinterpret the things we see, make up stuff, get silly, and sometimes completely ignore the rules. But when we are with others I feel that we need to fall into tried and tested models of behaviour in order to fit in. And these models are themselves imposed by parents and social gender patterns. Boys playing football, girls dressing up as princesses and so on. I feel that as an artist I’m lucky to go beyond that, to have a different perception of how things can be experienced, or at least I hope I do. Kids are amazing in how they take on something and make it their own, sometimes in the most surprising ways, but I feel that their vision is often restrained by adult perceptions, prejudices and fears, and that’s the saddest thing.

Boilers with coal fire inside.

Left: Bomb. Right: Uncle Dan.

One morning on the way to the studio I stopped to make this short film with my iPod Touch. There’s something about that place that always makes me want to stop and get off my bike, just take the place in.

Spent Saturday afternoon assisting Lawrence in his new studio at Wysing. It was simultaneously a fantastic experience and a saddening one. I had the opportunity to work with a really interesting artist using clay, a material I’m not used to yet I really love. Yet, at the same time, I was in a place I have completely fallen in love with, and which strangely feels like home, but also where I was recently refused a space (understandably). All along I had this childlike eagerness, as if I half expected a fairy godmother to show up from nowhere and hand me a key, making everything alright. I have in the past been turned down for things which in the long run paved the way to better offerings, yet this time I really struggle to imagine how that could happen. But it’s cool, at least I had an afternoon.

Coming back to the studio this morning was like coming back to an old friend, considering that I’ve been listening to the Anna Karenina audiobook for almost 3 months. This morning it was particularly interesting, when Anna and Vronsky visited an artist studio in Italy and I could totally relate to the artist’s feelings and thoughts. Surprised me how well Tolstoy knew the artist’s mind.

a few days ago my website was hacked. as a result i have had to delete and re-install a lot of things. i took the opportunity to rethink the role of my website and blog and also to install a new style of page.
the conclusion i have come to is that i want to embrace the use of the internet and other digital tools in my work, blurring the boundaries between art, life and blogging.
this is the first day.