Gordon Watt - Open Ground Glass Collective

Gabs and I got haircuts today...after 5 months of winter shag pileup...time to have a spring clean.
We also tottered along to meet Gordon Watt, Susie Hunt, Marga Schnell, Jane Frazer, Ian Frazer and Nicola Chambury about Gordon's recent proposal to get an artists collective on the go, based on skill sharing, and a strive to learn and push new technologies, individually and collectively. We started the session (in the art gallery cafe) with Gordon announcing his intentions, a desire to work with everyone (individually at first) to see where he could become more creative, through collaboration, and how his skills in glass work, could move our artworks into new territories. Since last semester's collaboration with Gordon, he's started thinking on a bigger scale of collaboration, which sounded exciting and potentially very helpful in all ways, exposure, critical analysis by peers, collective skill sharing, networking, etc. We all fired off "first ideas" about works we'd like to create, I obviously have the Leith Hall work to still complete with Gordon, of which I'll type about next. To sum it up, it's the start of something that could potentially be brilliant, if we all stay helpful, positive and open about our intentions. Transparency is key...just like glass!

The development of the Leith hall commission has been slow to none, as I've been concentrating on the white space project for room C3 in Gray's, but, now that next week is "my time", I've planned my calendar to focus on Gordon and I's commission. (I've also got a few websites (mortgage money) to get done too, but we're talking art here.....OK).

I'd been told that the development of projected works (my warfare Idea) was mooted due to technical aspects of the garden...I don't feel it's right to complain or push the point, so it's adapt and survive at the mo. I've recently been thinking along the lines of a more organic / plant based aspect to the work, much as Gordon had hoped for when we'd first talked about it. I'd recently watched programmes about the every increasingly important "global warming" (and climate change, they are becoming like house programmes...10 a penny). But, I'd been thinking about warming + ecology, and started on an idea of creating a glass radiator (more solar panel), which would be like a cast iron radiator, sitting in the gardens. I'd also want to have a physical track (snaking through the interior of the glass) where water can be pumped through the object, and warmed water sprays out (and waters the plants) as a sort of ornate water feature / irrigation system. It's wasteful in a way, why not just stick a hose in the garden? but that's part of the "comment" on the issues around climate change...heat, waste, misuse of water, convolution, apparent transparency (governmental) and fantasy (people denying it's happening / matters).

I'll scan in the sketches and upload them soon (tomorrow / Sunday).
off to see Jane Frazer about the NEOS / lim bul entry tomorrow, I'm going to check out her house for a potential site specific work...

listening to : M. Ward - Post War : dead brothers - day of the dead