On October 1st, 2011 two friends came to dinner. Ami is a musician and Didge is a studying at Plymouth College of Art.
We asked them to take part in our art-video project Contemporary Art in the Community. Both of them agreed and were happy to do so. It seems both of them are into art in a big way!
Here is our 3rd video in the series:
Contemporary Art in the Community #3/n
Kasia's Studio; The Haldon Hills, Devon, South West England
In which Ami realises that art shouldn't be about "cutting us off from the fabric of our life experience. Art is about coming up underneath our life experience, and lifting us up".
Here is the second video of the project Contemporary Art in the Community. We had an unexpected visit from Doreen on October 1st 2011. She is very much into art and she liked our idea. The video has been taken outside my studio on the Haldon Hills in Devon. In this video Doreen recognises Hell when she sees it, and feels herself drowning in a really stormy, turbulent sea in one of my paintings.
The idea of taking art to the community came from Jim (my partner). I think he was just bored with my constant monologue about contemporary art, or to be more accurate perhaps I should say modern contemporary art.
Tomorrow is Thursday 1st September and it's the launch of Devon Open Studios 2011!
It takes place at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter, Stocker Road, EX4 4QB between 2-9 PM. There will be speeches at 3pm, followed later by entertainment and of course the artist demonstrations. Several artists will present their art works, and one of them will be me. Refreshments will also be available. It's a great space, and we hope (the artists and the DOS organisation) it will be a great day, too. The studios themselves are open from 10 AM on Saturday 3rd for two weeks.
In an article about Devon Open Studios 2011 The Independent said:
Last year during the process of painting my Magnolia acrylics paintings I have been recorded myself. I made a short video document from the fragments I recorded. Every single artist has an own unique style of painting. Some love to paint when they are naked, some needs alcohol in their blood, while others prefer a good quality joint. I prefer listening to music and talking to myself. Dependent of the sort of art I create sometimes I sit, sometimes stay up, sometimes I run or walk around the work I create. Large abstract paintings or collages often lie on the floor or on the grass in the garden and I run as a crazy bull around them. From time to time I lie on the floor or kneel down.
I created a video/slideshow to present my art from the last two years. Paintings, collages, installations, small sculptures all created in Devon, in Dunchideock. And of course lots of nature, black swans, trees, a cat and nice music.
Interview by TV-Lolland, Denmark – 29 October 2010
I am having at the moment a group exhibition in Rødby, Denmark at Gallery Sigvardson. Till November, 14th.
It is a slightly weird place to present my art, and I still don't really know what I am doing there…but nevertheless you can see some of my paintings on their web site. http://www.sigvardson.com/exh_current.php
I learned to walk and I have walked
And I still walk…
Do I actually understand
How fortunate I am?
I can walk!
I can walk without help
And I walk using my own two legs
No prostheses, no walking stick
No artificial supports at all
Just my intention and my legs
My brain and my legs.
Usually I don’t think
About this fact, I don’t feel
This truth in such a way every day.
But it just so happens
That I am thinking about it now.
It seems so natural – walking.
Except in those moments when I see
David with his two prosthetic legs
And when I visit Ela
Her legs haven't moved for 15 years.
Then I feel how lucky I am.
I know I am independent
No diabetes and no MS
No accidents, no wars,
No natural disasters
I walk, I run, I jump, and
I trample on my left foot with my right foot
I move my body without begging for help
I can run away,
I can walk out whenever I wish.
Just a black swan phenomenon and
The unpredictability of luck.
It is the sensation
Of my fortunate perfection.
I am walking.
These are my feet.
