Two lovely things seen today

1. A 4-ish year old boy, holding onto the lead of his sheepdog. Mum 10 steps away and urging the dog to walk- dog is wondering why the little boy is walking him, not the mum, and is stood still. Mum plays game where she walks a bit (boy wines a bit) then turns around and slaps her thighs, tells the dog to come, in high-pitched dog voice. Dog gallops on (boy hysterically laughing) and repeat. Little kids look so cute taking care of their pets, and the dog was so puzzled. Mum was laughing hard. I told her it was cutr, she commented on the dog i was walking, we smiled and parted. Heart warming!

2. The mum’s daughter is walking another 10 steps ahead! Both hands lazily above her head, pointing roughly at the pelican crossing’s flashing light, nodding her head and bringing her arms down slightly each time the light blinks. Nearly walks into a
Grown man whilst doing this, and doesn’t notice; she is in a daze. The man laughs and smiles at me laughing.

Both these sights and interactions spoke strongly to me today. I couldn’t stop grinning. Talk more and smile more to people on the street! it makes you feel good.

Peter Combe’s ‘Pink Interference’ and Rivane Neuenschwander’s ‘I Wish Your Wish’

Peter Combe, Pink Interference, 32″ x 39″, mixed media, 2009. ‘Artwork created from thousands of shredded Architect/Designer size household paint swatches in ordered/random placement.’

To me, this is perfect. The colour – a mix of sickly sweet and delicious – all mixed together, erratically but completely organised neatly, rows and grids, staggered and making the diagonal line in the lower half. How I want to touch it, would it feel like one of those butcher’s curtains? A piece of art where it’s so delicate, it’s only attached at one point, each paper could easily be torn.

This piece seems very similar to Rivane Neuenschwander’s ‘I Wish Your Wish’ where ribbons are silkscreened with one of 60 wishes left by previous viewers. Visitors can take a ribbon to take home, from a hole in the wall, in return for writing their own wish on a slip of paper and inserting it (in the ribbon’s place) into one of 10,296 small holes within the walls.

Rivane Neuenschwander, I Wish Your Wish, 2003. Silkscreen on fabric ribbons, dimensions variable. Installation view, St. Louis Art Museum.

“Rivane Neuenschwander is like a conductor of invisible orchestras: she engages external forces to make ephemeral art with sensuality and rigour but also with the lightest possible touch.

‘Ethereal materialism’

Secondary Stories (2006) consisted of brightly coloured tissue-paper circles of varying sizes that were blown by fans inside a false ceiling made of translucent plastic, creating kaleidoscopic compositions as they drifted about.

A lingering resonance that was hard to shake.” Kristin M. Jones (Frieze.com)

Drops of water, bubbles, sprocket holes, hole-punched confetti, eggs, moons, constellations, and cascading zeros all play a role, sometimes as soundtracks or symbols of fragility. Much of her oeuvre is also about measuring passing time: calendars, both marking the past and rushing to the future.

Her maps, whether tracking visitors’ paths through the exhibition or presenting the blurred boundaries of those exposed to the elements during the rainy season are about creating new geographies for new explorations. New Museum.org

Peter Combe’s Blog,

Peter Combe’s Twitter

An Article about Rivane Neuenschwander’s exhibition ‘A Day Like Any Other’ which contained ‘I Wish Your Wish’

Pica – an appetite for substances non-nutritive

Pica is a medical disorder characterized by an appetite for substances largely non-nutritive. The name of the condition originates from the Latin word for magpie, a bird that is reputed to eat almost anything. Pica is seen in all ages, particularly in pregnant women, small children, and those with developmental disabilities.

metal, clay, coal, sand, dirt, soil, feces, chalk, pens and pencils, paper, batteries, spoons, toothbrushes, soap, mucus, latex gloves, ash, gum, lip balm, contact lenses, tacks and other office supplies.

Pica is more common in women and children. In addition to poisoning, there is also a risk of gastro-intestinal obstruction or tearing in the stomach. Another risk of dirt-eating is the possible ingestion of animal feces and accompanying parasites.

Picture – 1,446 items swallowed by a patient and removed from her intestines and stomach. She died during surgery from bleeding caused by 453 nails, 42 screws, safety pins, spoon tops, and salt and pepper shaker tops.

Tim Knowles and drawing on trees

I am always inspired by process. This combined with an ‘absence of artist’ is what compels me to make art. One of my favorite artists is Tim Knowles. I wrote a chapter about him in my dissertation (titled ‘Absent Artists and Performing Materials’)

“Tim Knowles is plotting the winds. His artwork relies on the force of nature to create his artwork. In his Tree Drawings, different species of trees are creating marks on paper from the pens tied to them due to the movement of the wind. ‘Weeping Willow on Circular Panel’ (2005) uses one hundred pens and draws on a five-meter circular MDF disk, which is separated into ten segments after the completion of the drawing. ‘Four Panel Weeping Willow’ is also separated: four segments drawn from fifty pens attached to the weeping willow tree.”

Throughout all my years of admiring what Tim does, I have never tried a tree drawing myself. A couple of weeks ago Lucy, Orlagh and I had a go at it. We tried two methods – one is making a big pen out of a massive tree branch, and the second was to hold the paper up against a pen-holding branch and let the tree draw.

I realise that tree drawings take a lot of patience – especially if you’re holding the paper up for the tree. once i get myself a big box or an easel, I’ll get some proper drawings done

There’s more information specifically on his Tree Drawings here. As well as Tree Drawings, Tim also created Vehicle Motion Drawings, Postal Works and Balloon Drawings, amongst other projects.

Beautiful Graphs

Lucy Duggan found this article in The Times Magazine, written by Jonathan Richards. You can view the full article by clicking here, it’s about the popularity of different baby names, but I was just amazes by the beauty of these graphs. I wrote to Mr. Richards and he told me about the graphs:

“The Baby Name graphs were of a type known as a Stacked Area graph.

It’s actually a relatively rudimentary graph type. You use it when
you’re trying to how the share of a given set of fields changes over
time. You’ll find it as one of the charting options in Excel, among
other programs.“

Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain

I love the film Amélie, It’s so heart-warming and romantic. It’s about time I watched it again I think. When I was about fourteen I made a zine, and this was a page in it – all the notes I made whilst watching Amélie; everyone’s likes and dislikes and other little lists. Click on it to see it bigger.

George Bernard Shaw quote

“This is the true joy in life: Being used for a purpose recognised by yourself as a mighty one, being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”