Lucy Harvey

Power Objects and Walking in Circles

2012-01-18T07:01:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas I took a rainy day trip to Scarborough to meet Ian Read from Scarborough Museums Trust to discuss a two day workshop and a exhibition accompanying their Fears, Foes and Faeries exhibition later this year. I visited the Trust's collection of charms and witchcraft objects accessioned by former curator William James Clarke, an associate of Edward Lovett whose collection, in part, held at Pitt Rivers Museum inspired so much of my MA work in 2008.

I have been trying to revisit power objects within a project ever since but I was worried I would be walking on already well trodden ground, but my visit to the museums store made me realise there was many facets yet to discover and new agendas to explore.

A small fraction of the William James Clarke collection I photographed at Scarborough Museums Trust below..

My work for Scarborough will be exhibited at Scarborough Art Gallery March 23 - September 30 and the workshop, which runs over 2 days, will be held on Saturday 12 and 26 May. I'm developing a series of charm making exercises with precious metal and found objects for the workshops and I've already found some really interesting (read: bonkers) materials to include.

Part of Edward Lovett's collection is being exhibited as part of Charmed Life at the Wellcome Collection where photography is strictly prohibited, hence the scrappy drawings and rabid notes. It turns out I've been on Lovett's tale for a while, another part of his collection is held at the small but beautifully formed Cumming Museum.
To add to all this I am taking part in an exhibition called Donning Oxford this summer, which will take inspiration from Pitt Rivers and their Sympathetic Magic collection. It's reassuring to know that as I bandy between inspirational collections I find common ground, unfinished threads and new avenues to make new work.

Charlie and friends

2012-01-09T05:06:00.000-08:00

Charlie's Pipe Dream, silver and found ceramics.

Charlie, Divination Pins and jewellery pieces are off for a short break at The Platform Gallery in Clitheroe from 21 January - 17 March. More information here, I will be running a found object workshop at the gallery on Saturday 26th February of which further detail will be available soon.

[Update] New newsletter with showcases for 2o12 here or click Exhibition 2012 on my blog header.

Workshops

2012-01-01T12:46:00.000-08:00

A couple of images here from two A-Level workshops I ran before the Christmas break working with porcelain and enamel, and the second with metal and mixed media. The arrangement above comes from a series of small scale dioramas I made with the students, dipping found organic forms in porcelain slip and framing them in slab built shadow boxes.

In December I worked with Jenny Walker on a jewellery workshop at Ruthin Craft Centre with 15 A-Level students taking part in the Raising the Bar programme in partnership with the Manchester School of Art. The programme offers selected students access to advanced techniques in applied art and design and engages them with contemporary practitioners. During the day we worked with wire, sheet and mixed media in response to selected objects by interrogating their aesthetic, sensory and thematic qualities and exaggerating and exploiting these in order to create new designs. The finished work by the students will go on exhibition at Ruthin Craft Centre later this year.
My teaching at Lincoln University on BA (Hons) Jewellery and Object has almost come to an end for the academic year, something that seems to have gone awfully quickly. The first year group have fearlessly accepted my brief to explore the idea of "chain" and I'm looking forward to seeing what they come back with when I see them next week.

In the forthcoming year I am running jewellery workshops for adults alongside showcases at Platform Gallery, Clitheroe, on Saturday 25th February, and at Scarborough Museums Trust on Saturday 12th and 26th May in response to their Fears, Foes and Faeries exhibition (but more about that later.)

The last year has certainly given me opportunity to develop my teaching experience and I'm looking forward to taking this further this year alongside a couple of the usual interesting (mad cap) projects. Thanks for following my blog in 2011, here's to the next 365 days.

My dad's camping kettle..

2011-11-30T14:03:00.000-08:00

..I can't believe I didn't post this up here but there are four things you should know about my father's camping kettle:

it was originally bright red
my parents forgot they'd put it on
my father replaced the melted plastic handle with this rather chic wood n' bolt addition
they retail at around £6.00

Past Imperfect

2011-11-26T14:54:00.001-08:00

stapled plate from the "make do" collection of Andrew Baseman

http://andrewbaseman.com/blog

Budapest

2011-11-20T12:10:00.000-08:00

Budapest Museum of Ethnography

Shows and Stockists

2011-11-16T08:01:00.000-08:00

A series of pieces will be on exhibition at Cupola Gallery from the 18th November until Sunday 15th January 2012. The opening is this Friday from 7.30pm..

Benjamin Lignel, Piece: Bracito de Oro 2011, Mixed media

I am also stocking the shop at Manchester Art Gallery from this Saturday onwards, launching alongside the Under that Cloud contemporary jewellery exhibition curated by Jo Bloxham. Under that Cloud runs until 15th April 2012 and my work will be in the shop indefinitely. Get yourself down there and have a butchers.

The Kindness of Strangers

2011-11-11T01:31:00.000-08:00

A visitor to Lustre last weekend gave me these beautiful objects and I made noises that were audible only to certain mammals. I was very touched. Selling aside, the highlight of most of the things I do is talking to people about collection and unravelling that desire to own objects. Even though I spend most of the time theorising on the appeal of objects like the ones above, their power to evoke an almost primal desire for ownership never wanes. For me and a few others anyway.

If you covet the above then you will also love http://www.marymaryquitecontrary.org.uk and http://www.obsessionistas.co.uk. The latter brought to my attention by my Hothouse buddy Jo Pond whose brush collection made me make similar noises http://www.obsessionistas.co.uk/collections/2011/11/4/brushes-0071.html

Portraits Ongoing

2011-11-02T07:28:00.001-07:00

Photograph by Sylvain Deleu, courtesy of Stella Harding

Portraits in the Making at Pitzhanger Manor London continues until November 12th so there's still time to catch the show before the work disperses between the 17 makers.

I've still been developing the figurative ceramic pieces from this enquiry for a few pieces of new work showcased at Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair and at Lustre this weekend, there's still a lot further to go with it though. Next year..

Work in Progress

2011-10-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2011

2011-10-26T03:34:00.000-07:00

This year I won the Best Northern Maker prize, awarded by Snug Gallery, so I'll be working on a showcase with them in the new year - more about that nearer the time! Up next is Lustre, running November 5 & 6th at Nottingham's Lakeside Arts Centre, hope to see you there.

The Art of the Potter

2011-10-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b016drl7/Ceramics_A_Fragile_History_The_Art_of_the_Potter/

This entire series is fantastic but this episode is utterly inspirational. Although it has reignited my anger and passion for function within small scale metal work which may or may not be a good thing as I move into a year shock full of selling opportunities. More on that later.

2011-10-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

Bit late but I like stories too.

Craftworks Revisited

2011-10-10T04:05:00.000-07:00

2011 has been incredibly hectic and it seems fitting that as it draws to an end I revisit the project from earlier this year for this year's concluding shows. I'm currently putting the finishing touches to a series of cobbled brooches in response to the research collated during the Craftworks project which are coming with me to Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair Manchester and Lustre Nottingham. Before that though I'm showing at the Festival of Crafts at Farnham Maltings alongside the work from the Making Surrey community residency I took part in this summer.

Portraits in the Making opened and I'm very proud of what we've achieved; the show offers a very honest portrayal of process and individual ideas around the meaning of making. It's on until the 12th November and there is an In Conversation event Thursday 20th October, more details over on our blog.

Beyond November I am looking forward to a break and a bit of time to reflect, and to see where I'm going and what I'm doing next year.

Making, making, making.

2011-10-02T02:23:00.000-07:00

Head down making, not much more to add really.

Control Through Making

2011-09-03T03:45:00.001-07:00

Control Through Making - Portraits in the Making

Newsletter for Autumn 2011

Opening 21st September 2011

2011-08-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

blog

twitter

facebook

Please join us for our Preview Evening on Tuesday 20th September where we will be joined by special guest Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director of the Crafts Council, who will be opening the show. The Preview starts at 6pm, we hope to see you there.

Events

Gallery tour, Saturday 8 October, 2pm

In Conversation, Thursday 20 October, 6pm

please call 020 8567 1227 or email pmgallery&house@ealing.gov.uk to reserve your place.

The Sitter

2011-07-16T05:32:00.000-07:00

http://portraitsinthemaking.wordpress.com

New News

2011-07-06T02:07:00.000-07:00

New newsletter with new things, here.

The Surreptitious Jeweller

2011-06-26T04:12:00.000-07:00

Alongside the new work for Portraits in the Making I've been getting my head down at the bench and making new jewellery pieces so I can expand my stockists and redevelop the collection for Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair and Lustre this autumn. I photograph all these pieces and then never seem to put them on my blog.

My jewellery is now available from the newly refurbished Designers Eclectic studio in Manchester Craft & Design Centre (first floor) as they start the ball rolling on a new range of selected makers. I've also been selected by curator Jo Bloxham for a new contemporary showcase at the Whitworth Art Gallery shop, starting on the 1st July to coincide with their events as part of the fantastic Manchester International Festival.

One of those events is Tony Oursler's Influence Machine, held in Whitworth Park (more info here) which was one of the main inspirations for my MA work in 2008 (despite only reading about it). I've also got a ticket for The Quay Brother's collaboration at Chethams School of Music, who have been a key influence since I turned up for my Art Foundation in 2003 and tried to make automata. I failed at mechanisms and I've not another chance to play with projection and animation since but would love to revisit it on a residency at some point in the future. Needless to say I am very, very excited about the festival.

Portraits in the Making

2011-06-25T06:25:00.000-07:00

Portraits in the Making is now up on London Design Festival listings featuring one of the new pieces I've made for the show. I'm returning to ceramics, using both found and cast fragments, but this time looking at repair and incorrect making. More about that now over on the PITM blog.

We have exciting news too. Clever Claire Moynihan and Clare O' Driscoll from the group worked tirelessly on our Arts Council funding application and yesterday we received the happy news that we'd been successful, which given the current climate, is no mean feat.

www.portraitsinthemaking.wordpress.com

Staring into the Abyss

2011-06-13T10:30:00.000-07:00

Nichitsu ghost town.

Making in Suburbia

2011-06-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

Dance Card 2011

2011-05-19T02:58:00.000-07:00

Constructions @ Divinity, Manchester Craft & Design Centre
14 May - 28 August 2011
link

Portraits in the Making @ Pitzhanger Manor House, Ealing
21 September - 12 November 2011
link

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Manchester
20 - 23 October 2011
link

Lustre Contemporary Craft @ Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham
5 + 6 November 2011
link

The 17 Hothouse 2010 makers and myself have begun to record our response to Pitzhanger Manor House and the concept of portraiture and process on our new blog.

www.portraitsinthemaking.wordpress.com

Restoration

2011-05-18T05:03:00.000-07:00

"Do not let us talk then of restoration. The thing is a Lie from beginning to end."

Ruskin

Repair

2011-05-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

Constructions @ MCDC

2011-05-11T11:53:00.000-07:00

One of the new pieces from the Craftworks project is part of the Constructions mini exhibition at Divinity Studio alongside Eve Redmond, Jane Dzisiewski, Carly Petitt-Taylor, Sadie Blythin and Janet Worrall from the 14th May to 28th August.

Creating, building, constructing. A unique exhibition highlighting different methods, techniques and processes used by some of Manchester's leading contemporary craftspeople.

More infomation here.

Constructions opens this Saturday alongside the launch for Clare Knox-Bentham's The Walking Dead installation in the Manchester Craft and Design Centre from 2-4pm. There will be drawing, weak alcohol, live music and our charming selves, please come over and say hello.

Frozen Charlottes

2011-05-09T08:36:00.000-07:00

Portraits

2011-04-14T03:52:00.000-07:00

Warstone Lane and Key Hill Cemetery Birmingham and Pitzhanger Manor, Ealing.

New Work - Cobbled

2011-04-13T03:39:00.000-07:00

Here are the two brooches completed off the back of the Craftworks project which I will be developing into a new jewellery collection for fairs and exhibition this autumn. This has marked a return to adornment within my responsive practice which came about naturally whilst exploring the function of the shoe, it's protection and repair.

In the meantime I am concentrating on a site specific response to Pitzhanger Manor and the John Soane Museum for a group show with the Crafts Council Hothouse 2010 makers this September. Very exciting. More about that later but you can read more about Hothouse and the other exhibitors here.

I really recommend the programme to any establishing makers out there, it's catapulted my practice into a proper creative business and has done wonders for my confidence and time management. The deadline for the 2011 programs is this Friday!

News and Stuff

2011-04-04T13:29:00.000-07:00

My sister (illustrator) found a funny Twitter entry about how illustrators only use social networking to tell one another how busy they are. I think it has a bit of truth in the wider creative on-line community.

So here we go.

My jewellery collection is now on exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park until the 1st of May and I had a lovely day out with the talented Jane Dzisiewski visiting the David Nash exhibition and delivering my work.

Jane also kindly re-photographed some of my work for my craft fair applications this year and I've been confirmed for Lustre in Nottingham this November. This will be the first time I've taken my show on the road which will be interesting as I'll be on public transport.. Time to upgrade my Morrissons shopper I think.

I was short-listed for the Jerwood Makers Open last month which was quite a big moment. Me and my Pitt Rivers project got probably as close to being funded as I'll probably get within today's financial climate. I am gutted to have not made the final four but when the timing is right I'm sure I'll have another chance to respond to the museum. You can read about the Body Arts Collection on their new website here.

This summer I'm taking up a twenty day artist residency in the Sandy Hill area of Farnham for the Making Surrey community project. I'm hoping to discover some interesting stories and sentimental objects from the residents from which to tailor workshops around. This is my first lead role as a community workshop facilitator which is both daunting and exciting. During my various projects last year it became apparent to me that I really enjoy talking to people and how it was strange that I was responding to human issues without actually engaging with living accounts. Roll on summer.

Craftworks

2011-03-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

Craftworks event tonight and tomorrow evening, 7 - 8.30 (details below). I have prepared all the materials for a drop in cobbling workshop and managed to complete two new jewellery pieces which I'm pretty excited about. Hopefully see you later..

I am also very excited about Sunday because it'll be my first day off in seven weeks. I'm looking forward to a slower pace and lighter workload for a little while!

Timpson, Stretford

2011-03-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

It would be difficult to research shoe repair without calling at Timpson who have built a retail empire around this service. The company began producing and selling shoes in 1865 and it has remained in the family ever since; their range of services now include watch and jewellery repairs, dry cleaning and key cutting to name but a few. (You can read the history of the company here.)

Timpson are also interesting because despite being a such a large company they have a fair few philanthropic ventures under their belt and operate a generous benefit scheme for employees which includes birthdays off, free holiday homes and bonuses. (You can read more about the colleague perks here.) I visited a lecture by James Timpson, managing director, last month where he discussed their employment of offenders and company policies for recruitment (and dismissal) which are based on personality rather than previous experience and skills. Almost all staff began as apprentices and the company employs an "upside down management" where store staff are in charge and management reports to them.

Refreshingly it seems that the company operates in a similar fashion to that of a small business but on a much larger scale and they don't appear to shy away from risk taking. It all sounded suspiciously positive so imagine my disappointment when Rory and Liam at Timpson in Stretford Mall (nee Arndale) were really happy to facilitate my deconstruction and over repair of a shoe yesterday morning.

I was surprised at how much equipment is in store with zip repair being the only service they send to their main office and factory. My preconceptions of the company using more machine processes than an independent repairer were also quashed as the hammers and lasts, which were kept in excellent condition still showed considerable use and age. Modern additions came in the form of the nail gun used alongside adhesives to attach new heels before their trimming and shaping on the shears and sanding belt which were all tidily housed in one big red work station.

According to James Timpson it takes three years to learn to repair shoes with the apprenticeship scheme and then on-site learning, of which Liam had completed the first two stages in his 18 months with the company. Rory and Liam's teamwork contrasted a fair bit with my visit to Geoff Swain's independent workshop last month. Essentially a one man operation, Geoff is working in to retirement with a huge wealth of skills and experience but without an apprentice to take over when he does decide to retire. As he intends to sell the business only time will tell if the premises will remain a cobblers when he does so.

As for Timpson, despite having felt the pinch of the recession this transference of skills and the company's place on the high street is sustainable. Rory, who's been with the company for 6 years and manager of the Stretford store, can repair watches and jewellery too and I was pleased to spot a bit of syringe solder waiting besides a honeycomb block and butane hand torch by the watch repair area. Nearby is a computerised engraving machine and across the way was the milling machines for key cutting. By accumulating these craft processes the company have probably put a fair few independent traders out of business but they have the structure to sustain these skills and develop their place on the high street.

I'll update some more about what Rory and Liam let me get up to during my visit later, in the meantime here's another sample. I have a couple of final pieces to get on with this afternoon.

Official Craftworks Invitation and Blurb

2011-03-10T14:57:00.000-08:00

Craftworks

International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester

Friday 18th + Saturday 19th March

7.00 - 8.30pm

My recent project with the Library Theatre Company has responded to shoe repair and manufacture in Manchester past and present. The work culminates in two evening events which will showcase the research and response of myself alongside that of six other artists covering areas as diverse as home brewing, textiles, and the revival of letter press printing.

I will be exhibiting new work and holding a cobbling workshop responding to the processes used by independent and chain shoe repairers on our high street.

Responses will range from workshops to exhibits, recordings and performance; it'll certainly be unlike anything I've participated in before! To reserve a place (gratis) please contact Ashley Knowles on 0161 236 7110 or email a.knowles1@manchester.gov.uk. More information can be found at http://www.librarytheatre.com/project/craft-works

Stick it to the last

2011-03-02T14:05:00.000-08:00

It's just over 2 weeks until the Craftworks event and I've begun to develop the research into some samples combining leather generously donated by G. Swain with the riveting, eyeletting, stitching, shaping, tacking and nailing studied in hand made shoes.

All the details for the Craftworks evenings are now up on the Library Theatre website and you can reserve a place (for free) - click here.

If you read this and you're free please come along and if you know someone who might be interested do let them know. There's 6 other artists and the research and response to craft has been incredibly diverse and very exciting.

Craftworks

18 March - 19:00 - 20.30

19 March - 19.00 - 20.30

The International Anthony Burgess Foundation

3 Cambridge Street

Manchester

link

Cobbled Together

2011-03-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

Some old segs to prevent wear on the soles of boots bought from a chap on ebay (whose other items included this fabulous use of old corks, please see his selection of salt packets). They arrived like this and I almost didn't want to remove them from their selotaped display as it's so similar to the way I display my collections. It's a pleasing arrangement.

My favourite boots on the Backstreet Dentist shoot, 2009.

cob•bled cob•bling

Definition of COBBLE

transitive verb

1 : chiefly British : to mend or patch coarsely

2 : repair, make

3 : to make or put together roughly or hastily —often used with together or up

The cordwainer, or shoe maker, is often regarded in literature as a godly character with a good nature, and this role over time combined with that of the cobbler who was historically a repairer of shoes. It seems strange that the negative associations of cobbling came about given the importance of these trades in historic communities but it does highlight our perceptions of repair.

Before repair we accept that an object is no longer perfect but do we really believe that our belongings can truly be as good as new again? Is this perception not tainted by the knowledge of imperfection or does this in fact strengthen our relationship? My own beloved pair of boots have been through at least three repairs in the near six years I have owned them and I remember each time the sense of apprehension as I took them in. I scrutinised the repair work each time and regretted their age and unmendable wear, repair becomes a melancholy experience as we face the mortality of a functional and intimate object.

Still, it's a little unfair to blame the cobbler for the passing of time. They extend the wear and continue the legacy of our shoes with a skill which has outlasted the shoe makers. Their human interaction and intervention cannot be replaced by machines and their subjugation by a throw away society is their only threat.

Looking at repair more widely I have been asking people about shoe repair in the home and was surprised to learn how many people grew up with a steel last for this purpose in the home. Perhaps these heavy-handed DIY repairs didn't help much since the lacked the understanding of materials a long trained repairer would possess, sparking terms such as cobbled together and bodge job.

I find this kind of repair fascinating as it is not scared to show itself, much like the maker producing their legacy through the palpable form the repairer leaves their mark behind stating their presence. The more skilful the repair the more difficult to unravel this mark ..which is awfully modest of them I think.

Newsletter Spring 2011

2011-02-25T04:12:00.000-08:00

Download my current newsletter here.

Incredibly busy here, new blog post on Craftworks coming up this weekend!

Oh, and the Library Theatre page for Craftworks has been updated, take a look here.

Retired Objects and Postscript

2011-02-06T06:50:00.000-08:00

This weekend I've been drawing from these pieces of leather given to me by Geoff at the Shoe Repairs shop in Broadheath last week. Some pieces have never been used and date from the 40's but I am particularly fascinated with the worn soles I collected from the refuse which still feature the dirt collected during wear and signs of a crude removal to make way for a careful repair.

They embody both the narrative of the wearer and the repairer, similar to the archived shoes and boots from the Gallery of Costume. Both the worn soles and the shoes in the museum collection have ceased to be functional and the intimacy of our relationship with them is now retired to that of the artefact. In discarding or preserving these objects they become relics to the past and their interaction with the present is only through the imagination of the viewer.

In reworking these soles I hope to continue their journey, but perhaps with a postscript rather than a new chapter.

New Acquisitions

2011-02-06T06:32:00.000-08:00

These doll parts were part of a birthday present and I'm very excited by them. I particularly can not get over how much time has been invested into moulding the buttocks on the baby in the bonnet. Very strange.

I recognise this form but I can't place it (any suggestions gratefully received), found by the A6 in Disley.

G. Swain, Broadheath

2011-02-02T09:20:00.001-08:00

G. Swain

High Quality Shoe Repairs

Broadheath

Last week I visited this independent cobblers near Altrincham as part of the Library Theatre Company Craftworks project I'm currently working on. The shop is 115 years old and Geoff Swain has run his shoe repairs business from here for the last 37. Along the way he's accumulating a sizable collection of vintage shoe repairing equipment which he still uses on site.

Manual shoe stretcher

These two machines stitch leather soles to the shoe body from either below or above depending on the construction of the shoe, providing an visible stitch on the sole or embedded into it. Because of the machinery operated on site the Shoe Repair shop is technically termed a factory, although it seemed a far cry from the busy shoe factories you can read about at Working Class Movement Library.

Geoff at work.

Geoff is a one man operation, although his son calls in at the weekend to help with zip repairs, and he offers a bespoke repair service including vintage shoe repairs. He carries stocks of 1940s military surplus which he uses for contemporary heel repair as well as providing authentic repairs to individuals from re-enactment and historic societies. Once this box full of thick cuts of heel leather have run out there is no more and he will use a modern alternative which Geoff says, is not of the same quality.

To test the authenticity of leather put it to the lick test. Water will be absorbed by real leather rather than sit on the surface and evaporate. (Pass on that fun fact.) In these pieces you could make out the the structure of the hide such as the grain and texture of nerves and the tell tale signs here and there of veins.

Geoff talked to me about investing and taking care of a good quality pair of shoes, which seemed rather evident in the brightly polished leather brogues on the men's side of the shop but almost completely absent in the collection of cheap mass produced stiletto heels pointing at me from the ladies side. Re-heeling a pair of these costs almost as much as the original purchase which I imagine contributes a great deal to our contemporary throw away society.

According to Geoff, a pair of made to measure hand made shoes take 6 months to produce and cost upwards of £1500, which is a luxury not many people can afford. With the next price bracket coming in around £500 I couldn't help but think about how many of us prefer quantity over quality and how unshakable the temptation for 'more' is.

Geoff intends to carry on working into retirement age because he enjoys what he does, it keeps him busy and it pays well. He also kindly allowed me to rummage through his bins... more on that later.

Platt Hall Gallery of Costume

2011-01-21T10:43:00.000-08:00

I visited the Manchester Gallery of Costume on Wednesday to get a close up look at some of the old hand manufacturing techniques used in shoe making.

I was really drawn to the irregularity and crudeness of these nails in the heels and clog soles.. which is a signature of the initial production but in many examples they show a later addition, here and there, through repair. Through this process the object is imbued with a further narrative and the legacy of the repairer is left behind accompanying that of the maker and the owner.

The nail or tack is an interesting object in this context as it's not often associated with protection or bodily contact. I'm also fascinated with the many different materials used to make these old shoes: leather, wood, brass, iron, cotton, rubber. Many components.

Craftworks

2011-01-21T10:17:00.000-08:00

Discovered at the Working Class Movement Library, Salford.

Poster image courtesy of the WCML.

Craftworks

What does role does craftsmanship play in contemporary Manchester?

What does craft mean to us now in our everyday lives?

Seven local artists will work as creative researchers to try and find answers to these questions within our local communities. They will then work to develop creative and interactive ways that they can share their learning at two events that will take place at the Anthony Burgess Foundation, Manchester, 18th and 19th March 2011.

[Link]

I'm currently researching shoe manufacture and repair past and present for a body of new work in collaboration with the Library Theatre, Manchester. I am looking to meet with anyone who may have worked in this industry previously and I'm hoping to engage with individuals who work within shoe repair today. Please get in touch if you know of someone who'd like to share these experiences with me!

Keep those March dates free, it will be an exciting event and you're very much invited.

Website Update

2011-01-15T04:56:00.001-08:00

My website has been updated and now includes an online store for all your found object jewellery needs.

Also have updated the sculptural galleries and had a bit of an all round re-jig.

Jewellery

2011-01-14T04:21:00.000-08:00

I've been sketching some new ideas for a figurative jewellery collection which is exciting me a fair bit. I have a showcase at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in March so hoping to whip it into shape for then.

My relationship with jewellery over the last three years has been fairly up and down but I think I've found my peace with it, for the time being at least.

Commission

2011-01-05T05:51:00.001-08:00

Here's some images recording compositions of a few keepsakes from a customer for a new jewellery piece. I really enjoy doing work like this. I love the tiny book, it's filled with little sepia postcards featuring a church and a mineral pool.

Ol' Willie

2011-01-05T02:51:00.000-08:00

I finally remembered to photograph the pieces I made in response to Williamson's Tunnels for the Squaremile show at the Bridewell Gallery in Liverpool last October. The use of soil carries on some notions I had to abandon on my MA due to time restrictions, it would be nice to carry on that exploration now but I'm embarking on a new research project with the Library Theatre Company called 'Craftworks'. Another time.

Also, last chance to catch my installation at the Hancock Museum this week as part of the Gallery of Wonder. Past Present Perfect at Manchester Craft and Design Centre and the jewellery showcase at Manchester Visitors Centre continue until the end of January, and Re-make/Re-model at NGC (now with jewellery showcase in the Shop) continues until 27th February.

[Just updated the Project list with Language of Birds.]

Holiday Blogging

2011-01-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

Best Greater Manchester Maker Showcase

2010-11-27T04:36:00.000-08:00

My jewellery collection is on display at Manchester Visitors Information Centre and The Manchester Store in the Trafford Centre until January alongside the work of Sarah Thirlwell as part of the Best Greater Manchester Maker prize from the GNCCF. Please have a look if you're passing.

Newsletter Winter 2010

2010-11-21T11:10:00.000-08:00

Click to download my new newsletter.

Also got myself a proffesional Facebook page so I don't have to share terribly unprofessional drunk photos of myself with the social networking world any longer - feel free to add!

Gallery of Wonder

2010-11-21T04:53:00.001-08:00

Gallery of Wonder

Hancock Museum, Newcastle
16 November - 7 January 2011

www.galleryofwonder.co.uk

Mad busy week so failed to come over here and come and write about installing my work in the Gallery of Wonder cabinet at the Hancock Museum last Monday. I am thrilled. The cabinet has a selection of pieces from the Science and Superstition and The Backstreet Dentist collection, as well as some pieces from my MA which have never been publicly exhibited. I responded to the exhibiting methods of the museum and produced some new stands in wood and wire for my work which is an idea I want to develop in the new year.

I've written up my tuppence worth on the instigation of wonder which you can read up here, otherwise here's a little snippet:

"As objects enter the museum environment their function transforms from the physical to the emotional, and they now function solely as instigators of wonder. The viewer’s relationship with an ancient exhibit is purely in the mind and in removing the physical interaction with this object we are invited to explore the many other narrative facets of the form."

Buy one get one for the price of a metro ticket: you might be interested to know that the work I made with Nulife Glass is on show at the National Glass Centre until the 27th February which makes a 20 minute trip over to Sunderland from Newcastle worth your while, fact fans.

New Work (and lots of it)

2010-11-11T07:13:00.000-08:00

In lieu of a proper post with thoughts and feelings, here are some cold hard facts. Please enjoy the pictures.

Ol' Willie

new experimental pieces responding to Williamson's Tunnels, Liverpool

SEE IT: Squaremile @ The Bridewell Gallery, Liverpool

28 October - 28 November 2010

link

Hooks

shell, steel, copper, nylon, lead shot

newly commissioned pieces for Manchester Craft and Design Centre

SEE IT: Past Present Perfect @Manchester Craft and Design Centre

27 November - 29 January 2011

and also:

The Grosvenor Museum, Chester

13 November - 29 January 2011

link

Language of Birds

glass, lead, silver, copper, cork

September 2010 - newly commissioned work in collaboration with Nulife Glass

SEE IT: Re-make/Re-model

National Glass Centre, Sunderland

14 October - 27 February 2011

link

And finally, this coming Monday I'm installing a mixed series of my work in the Great North Museum in Newcastle. I'm very excited, it's a solo cabinet in the Egyptian gallery all to myself and I'll be placing my pieces there in response to the role that the unknown plays in creation of wonder. It's a public installation so if you're passing come in and see what I'm up to.

So those details are:

Gallery of Wonder

Hancock Museum, Newcastle

15 November - 7 January 2011

link

I think Tuesday might be the first day since I started out that I'll have no boxes of work littering my workspace, they'll all be out on parade.

GNCCF

2010-10-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

Here's my stand at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair from the weekend. I won awards for Best New Maker and Best Greater Manchester Maker which bestows me with £400 of time with GNCCF's accountant and a showcase with Marketing Manchester in their new Tourist Information centres! Thanks to those who made it over and said hello.
I met some fascinating people and sold a fair few pieces of jewellery despite the world ceasing to spin last Wednesday. I came home with some wisdom teeth for a commission piece and I've had a few days off this week which have been blooming fantastic.

Going to battle my inbox and then make pieces for the Manchester Craft and Design commission today. It feels like a new start.

This evening Squaremile at the Bridewell Gallery, Liverpool, opens and runs until the 28th November. Details here.

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2010

2010-10-16T13:38:00.001-07:00

Images of new jewellery pieces up on my website - click HERE to see.

Yesterday was the last workshop day for me before the Great Northern fair next week. I've just got to prepare my stand now and cut out my tiny price lables. I'm really looking forward to it!

And if you'd dozed off, those details again:
The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair at Spinningfields will take place
from Friday, October 22 – Sunday, October 24, 2010
at Pavilion in Spinningfields, Hardman Boulevard, off Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3AQ.
For further information visit www.greatnorthernevents.co.uk

Re-make/Re-model @ National Glass Centre, Sunderland

2010-10-13T23:00:00.000-07:00

Getting Out

2010-10-12T14:54:00.000-07:00

Dirt and Damage

2010-10-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

Happy stumblings upon in the virtual library.

Squaremile @ Bridewell Gallery, Liverpool

2010-10-08T04:46:00.000-07:00

Hogarth etched subscription ticket, 1761

I'm cracking on with some pieces for the Liverpool Independents Biennial at The Bridewell Gallery for the Squaremile show which opens on the 28th October. The work picks up on urban myths and takes from where the Backstreet Dentist work left off. I've really been inspired by a little book of Hogarth prints lent to me a few weeks ago, the "statues moulder into worth" quote above could not ring any truer.

The pieces for Re-make/Re-model at the National Glass Centre are boxed and awaiting the courier. I'm looking forwards to a day out in Newcastle next week and of course to the private view; I'm a big fan of Ruth Claxton's work so I'm very much looking forward to seeing the rest of the show.
I need to turn my attention to tying up ends for Great Northern, of which there are only 12 days to go!

Lucy talks about herself in third person.

2010-10-06T13:32:00.001-07:00

These are some of the accompanying samples for my new three part series which will be shown at the National Glass Centre next week. It's been a very challenging project, which will be of great long term benefit to me but just at the moment, I'm relieved to have finished.

I wrote a little blurb about the work for the Nulife Glass website which simply describes what I have done without stopping off at every tiny nuance of my interests. I thought I would share.

Harvey was commissioned by National Glass Centre, Sunderland, to produce a new series of work for an exhibition titled Re-Make/ Re-Model. She worked with Nulife Glass to create artefacts which attempted to recombine the lead and the glass using jewellery processes, precious metals and found objects. The work combines slumped frit with cast lead forms inspired by the alchemical relationship between the two materials and the extraction process at Nulife.

Language of Birds explores the narrative symbolism and ambiguity of these materials and presents viewers with a three dimensional metaphor of the journey and its aspirations.

Images coming soon. There is also a Facebook event page which can be found here. It would be nice to see you at the private view!

Today was a good day

2010-09-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

Creative block finally dissolved and I had a very happy workshop day.

2010-09-27T03:18:00.000-07:00

Since there is so much going on this autumn I decided the only sensible thing to do was to spend some of my valuable time learning how to design and upload a newsletter. It does look nice and it is very informative. Please download it, print it, blutak it to your bedroom wall.

Lucy's Newsletter for Autumn 2010

Moving again.

2010-09-27T00:23:00.000-07:00

Puffer

2010-09-21T05:33:00.000-07:00

A little space for my pursuits at the back of Nulife Glass.

The Great Work

2010-09-21T02:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was back at Nulife Glass where they've kindly provided a bench for me to make the piece for the Re-Make/Re-Model exhibition. I recommenced my quest to recombine lead and glass, pouring and shaping the lead over the glass in forms inspired by symbolism taken from alchemical paintings and etchings.

Experimenting with lead and glass, two new materials to me, alone has really been a challenge. Exploring their qualities and limitations became conflicted by the time frame for the project and I found myself in a stubborn creative block. It takes a while to admit to yourself that the block is your fault and that you've been too proud to retreat but after spending a few more days on it I finally convince myself that material experimentation is never going to be my be all and end all. I am back to the drawing board.

So I feel as if I have wasted time but in doing so I realise that my experiments have in a way emulated the tireless work of the alchemists and the challenge has given me so much to reflect on. Part of my attraction to the alchemists is the fruitless labour of their experiments juxtaposed with the great internal journey of the work. The Great Work, Philosopher's Stone: was it to turn lead into gold or was it a quest to attain internal enlightenment?
I always refer to my enquiry based projects as a journey.

This project is different because material experimentation is not often part of my contextual research. In trying to combine these materials I've explored my own alchemical language and have a genuine need to communicate an aim. All the ground work for the piece is now there, I just need to accept that it takes time for me to assemble it. I'm looking forward to returning to my sketchbook.

Craft Rally

2010-09-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

Just joined Craft Rally, come over and be my friend:
http://www.craftrally.org.uk/profile/LucyElsieHarvey

I had a bit of a tough sketchbooking session with my work with Nulife Glass this afternoon after a bit of design neglect. I'm a great believer in the internal tutorial so two columns titled 'Problem' and 'Solution' later and I figured out the final outcome for the project. Sadly I had really wanted to bring in cast glass forms to the project but time is short so maybe another time. More about where I'm going with the work soon, I've got a lot to do for my next visit to Nulife on Monday.

Duality : Re-make/Re-model progress

2010-09-10T07:25:00.000-07:00

Slumped Nulife glass

"Smiths were the creators of both beautiful objects and objects of death and destruction. They were both revered as civilising heroes and as agents of the dark forces. This dual aspect was to be inherited by the alchemists."

Alchemy, Sean Martin

The pieces I'm making with Nulife Glass really have to be the most process led body of work I've done for a good while. I'm really finding the making and experimental approach to new materials has a strong discourse with my research into alchemists. My brain seems to have selectively switched off and although I have a narrative framework to work within I am working more intuitively than I ever have.

The idea of all things coming from the one and bringing polar opposites together is fascinating me.

News & Upcoming Exhibitions

2010-09-10T07:23:00.000-07:00

James Beighton, curator at Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art (mima), kindly selected my work for a new line of contemporary jewellery for The Art Fund. The Fund are stocking two of my Elsie Owl jewellery pieces in their gift catalogue and on their online shop, which can be found here http://shop.artfund.org

I'm going to be very busy making and exhibiting new work this autumn, please come and see what I've been up to. I always need friends at private views and there's a good chance there'll be a few liquid refreshments about (which I will need by the end of October).

Re-make/Re-model
National Glass Centre, Sunderland
14 October - 27 February 2011
link

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair
Spinningfields, Manchester
21 - 24 October 2010
link

Squaremile
The Bridewell Gallery, Liverpool
28 October - 28 November 2010
link

NICE Festival
Manchester Craft and Design Centre & The Grosvenor Museum, Chester
13 November - 29 January 2011
link

Gallery of Wonder
Hancock Museum, Newcastle
15 November - 7 January 2011
link

Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair 2010

2010-09-01T07:18:00.000-07:00

Now in its third year, the contemporary craft buying event will feature over 150 designer-makers in ceramics, jewellery, textiles, glass, furniture, wood, metal, paper and more.. Visitors can spend the day in a relaxed yet stimulating atmosphere, chat to the makers and find out the story behind the work.
Set in a pavilion in the Spinningfields district of Manchester, in the heart of the city centre, the event was established to introduce contemporary craft to a Northern audience. The event has gone from strength to strength and 6,400 people visited the show in 2009.
Building on the success of previous years, Angela Mann and Ann-Marie Franey, the organizers have added some exciting new features to this years’ show in the form of:
‘Great Northern Graduates’: an area of the show which showcases the best from this year’s creative degree courses. The place in the North to see ‘the ones to watch’
and
Jewellery-making workshops with Magpie Arts.
Workshop bookings: www.greatnorthernevents.co.uk/workshops .
The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair at Spinningfields will take place
from Friday, October 22 – Sunday, October 24, 2010
at Pavilion in Spinningfields, Hardman Boulevard, off Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3AQ.
For further information visit www.greatnorthernevents.co.uk
Admission on door: £6 (£5 concession)

And just look at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair's beautiful new website, it's stunning:
www.greatnorthernevents.co.uk

It's now just over six weeks until the GNCCF and I've already finished my core stock which is astonishing frankly. It's quite a contrast to last year's frantic late night jewellery making antics so hopefully I'll make more sense when you come and chat to me on my stall. I'm on stand 65 which is directly opposite the entrance so you can't miss me!

Newborough Forest

2010-09-01T05:49:00.000-07:00

Williamson's Tunnels, Liverpool

2010-08-23T08:02:00.000-07:00

Info & info.

Bridewell Studios, Liverpool

2010-08-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

T abitha Kyoko Moses has invited me to take part in a group show at Bridewell Studios in Liverpool in October. The show invites non-members to respond to the mile area around Bridewell and I've selected the Williamson Tunnels. The exhibition runs from 28th October to November, I'm very honoured as Tabitha's a huge inspiration. Her artist talk at MMU during the final year of my BA pretty much sealed the deal on deciding to do an MA.

Manchester and Salford Junction Canal Tunnel, 1839

2010-08-23T01:56:00.001-07:00

Central Foundations, Commissioned by Urbis for the exhibition Reality Hack: Hidden Manchester© Andrew Brooks/Urbis 2008 www.andrewbrooksphotography.com

The tour guide told us the obligatory ghostly encounter down in the tunnels which hailed from a psychic explorer who visited the tunnels a few years ago. The psychic said she saw a chap in a flat cap walking a few feet above the ground (where the tow path would have been when the canal was in use) who had died whilst working along the canal. He was lonely and missed his family apparently.

[Info]

Ballyliffin

2010-08-23T01:54:00.000-07:00

On re-making

2010-08-23T01:17:00.000-07:00

"The staff or sceptre is the emblem of power; the bishop has his pastoral staff, and the magician the enchanted wand with which he rules nature, the elements and the beings of darkness"

Gillot de Givry, Witchcraft, Magic and Alchemy

In re-making I unearth what draws certain objects to certain purposes in my work. My Divination Pins are communication devices in the way that objects of age are inherently narrative but also in a playful esoteric sense. I elevate the objects into the celebratory form of the pin as if their placement here will unleash or harness a power from the object.
It takes a fair while for these objects to be selected for the pins, only certain forms will do. It was only last week in making more Pins that I began to realise the forms either point up or down as if to receive or transmit information. A communication with some divine source. Although the maker never believed in anything of the sort which surely makes me a fraud?

Summer Holidays

2010-08-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit too busy doing to come here and reflect and document and now I don't know where to start. I'll begin with the ultimate purpose of all the doing I suppose.

The lead and glass pieces with Nulife Glass will be exhibited at the National Glass Centre, 14th October - 27 February in a show titled, Re-make/Re-model. Then it's the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair from the 21-24th October where I'll be showcasing Elsie Owl Adornment alongside the Aberystwyth Primitive pieces. Beyond that I also have three other exhibitions and two involve making new work, more about that later.
I need to type it all out so that it sinks in.

The Hothouse programme so far has covered a vast amount of ground which, alongside making for the GNCCF and Re-make/Re-model, has given me a lot to think about. In fact, planning and doing have taken over. We covered time management and prioritisation which has begun to drastically alter the way that I work; my to do list has moved into my diary and is composed of activities which I am now flying through at an alarming rate. This time last year I was working on Nobelini and by the time I went back to working three to four days a week I still had no jewellery stock for Great Northern. I spent the next six weeks working like an absolute maniac and it was horrible.

Now I have "STUDIO" written on days in the diary; this week and next week have "STUDIO" scrawled across the entire page with the exception of last Tuesday which had "LIBRARY" modestly scribbled in. After that I'm back to juggling part-time work and creative practice so we shall see how my new found organisation fares but I'm confident I can keep the balance right. Besides, the home based studio is making me a little stir crazy now so I'll be glad to see people.

At last week's Hothouse session we picked objects from the Crafts Council's handling collection and displays for evaluation and I was drawn particularly to this piece of text by Laurence Kavanagh on a four part series of ceramic helmets by Mo Jupp.

Apart from it being thematically similar to my enquiry I was interested in how a fine art practitioner talked about craft objects. To me it seems to be a much more emotive response on making as a vehicle to communicate rather than techniques used to produce a piece of work.

We have four more Hothouse sessions in September.

Experiments

2010-08-06T04:18:00.000-07:00

I spent yesterday at Nulife Glass playing with molten lead and pieces of glass from Candice-Elena's pebble collection. The glass I'll be using the final pieces will be from their furnace and is a opaque grey rather than the green but I needed to know if it would shatter from the heat of the lead. Next I'm going to have a go at slumping some of their recycled glass in a kiln so we shall see where that leads. Very pleased with where this is going.

I've also clicked into making for the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, I have a time table this year so we won't be having a repeat of last year's mad dash panic.

Forgotten MA work

2010-08-03T01:31:00.001-07:00

During the move I found these lockets from my MA in a box of forgotten test pieces. They were in response to research into the Black Death and the superstitions which arose during that time.

2010-08-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

Piles

2010-07-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hothouse : Sketchbooking

2010-07-26T01:54:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday I went to the induction session at Central Saint Martin’s Innovation Centre for the Craft Council’s Hothouse programme. The course is being run by the Palmer Hamilton Partnership, Sarah Palmer and Paulene Hamilton, who are awesome, and I’ll be popping down to London every week or so up to September to absorb as much of their expertise as humanly possible.

Part of the course involves keeping a developmental sketchbook in order to document all aspects of the programme and give us a space to reflect and respond. Since blogging is the most consistent part of my creative records I’ll be writing up the programme here. Writing on here is a good habit to have since it forces me to articulate all my big and small ideas, ramblings and rants, and as a few snippets of news, outside of my head in a vaguely chronological order.

Sarah showed us some of her sketchbooks which document her walks to inspire a more organic approach to sketch booking. I find this intuitive mark making really terrifying normally because I’m more interested in encapsulating multi-faceted narratives rather than colour and form. It is something I’ve associated with the awkward sensation of being trapped in a studio, with a tutor circa 4 years ago, being forced against my will to produce squiggles on paper which I have no relationship to whatsoever.

But now I’m now my own tutor and nobody out there is forcing me to do anything, which can make my creative development pretty unchallenging and safe solutions have a tendency to flood back time and time again. I’ve always envied those sketchbooks with all the marks and squiggles anyway, to me it’s always seemed like the unconscious mind mulling over all the inspiration and producing an output which will later make sense. My problem is that I tend to want some sense right away, be it a few quotes or a photo of an object, but there is then a cognitive process that takes some time before the output arrives in the form of a design or a test piece.

After playing with the molten lead last week it occurred to me that I really could do with both inputs – contextual background and visual experimentation. So I got my inks out.

I’m trying to get my head around the paintings and prints in Alchemy and Mysticism alongside this. I'm attracted to the futility and misguided belief of these exquisitively crafted images, but also by the obsessive desire to communicate an obscure and ambiguous language through constantly changing symbols. Experimenting with the inks yesterday felt like I was trying to communicate something but the language hadn't been finalised just yet, just trying to vaguely orchestrate variables without the pressure of producing something coherant and real. That part will come later on once I start to weave all the input together.

Aberystwyth Corner

2010-07-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

The exhibition at Aberystwyth Arts Centre ended last week so I thought I'd post another couple of photos of my corner. I was really very proud of it.

Drawing in Lead (and glass)

2010-07-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

Last week I visited Nulife Glass in Irlam to see their recycling processes for a responsive piece I’ve been invited to make for an exhibition called Re-Make/Re-Model at the National Glass Centre in October. Nulife extract the lead from the cathode ray tubes inside TV and computer screens which leaves them with a stream of molten glass coming out of one end of the furnace and lead from the other. It was mesmerising to watch.

I took some lead away with me and one of the glass pebbles that Candice-Elena from Nulife had produced straight from the furnace’s flow of molten glass. I’m so excited about exploring lead and beginning to combine glass with metal in a more alchemical manner, mimicing and managing more organic processes. I spent an hour drawing with molten lead today, which again, was a much more organic way to start developing work than I’m normally used to.

"Where ever we have spoken openly we have said nothing. But where we have written something in code and in pictures we have concealed the truth." - Rosarium Philosophorum

Candice-Elena also curated a show a few years ago called Wearing Glass http://www.wearingglass.com, I love these pieces by Evert Nijland.

More pictures less writing

2010-07-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

Drawers

2010-07-05T10:36:00.000-07:00

Jewellery, Coming out and Departures at MMU

2010-07-03T02:51:00.000-07:00

Too much time away from the workbench lately but I'm back making now for the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair in October. I'm really enjoying redeveloping the one off found object jewellery pieces but this means that the fishing hooks I was playing with post residency are on the back burner. I'm constantly battling time but after the run up to last year's fair (where I started making in September!) I'm prioritising the bulk work.

I'm still building my website which is going to profile both my art enquiry and the Elsie Owl jewellery work. I keep thinking of it as coming clean which shouldn't be the case really, I put the work under a separate name purely to test the market and to set myself strict parameters to operate within. Now I've established these the separate name becomes rather irrelevant but still I'm a bit nervous. I always wished to straddle the boarder between craft and fine art and the profiling of commoditised work, jewellery, is a bit taboo with the later market.

But at least I'm coming to terms with the conflict between work with a focus on commercial accessibility and a creative enquiry. Attending the first installment of the Craft Council's Hothouse course the other week really brought home how important it is for me to develop a sustainable business. Making and selling is never going to be the focus 100% as I still want to include residencies, project funding and teaching but it needs to be a significant part if I ever want to move away from bread and butter part time jobs. I'm still working it all out. All answers on a post card to the usual address please!

I went to the Departures symposium at MMU last week which was organised by the students of the MA Textiles course and wrote a lot of notes. Tabitha Kyoko Moses and Rozanne Hawksley were on the bill and since they're two of my favourite artists I was a pretty eager beaver on the front row. Jill Townsley gave me a lot to think about, some of it chiming in with market musings as she opted for a academic and non commercial route but mostly I was inspired by her manipulation of materials and uses of systems. She discussed Plato banishing the poets, representation and mimesis, which is my new favourite word.

Nature creates similarities. One need only think of mimicry. The highest capacity for producing similarities, however, is man’s. His gift of seeing resemblances is nothing other than a rudiment of the powerful compulsion in former times to become and behave like something else. Perhaps there is none of his higher functions in which his mimetic faculty does not play a decisive role.
--- Walter Benjamin, "On the Mimetic Faculty" 1933

I went to a lunchtime lecture by Tabitha Moses when I was in the final year of the BA and practically everything she spoke about rang true to me and where I was going with my own work. Last week she mentioned the need for authenticity to her narratives which she takes from both found artefacts and real people. This got me thinking about how I find it difficult to react to real people and historic truths but instead react generally to desires, whittling down a few details until an ambiguous character appears. The figure is always there really but the story is undefined.

I asked my younger sister Anna, who was one of my monsters for the Backstreet Dentist work and an excellent creative writer (with a love of horror.. runs in the family), if she'd be interested in writing a short piece on urban myth for an exhibition idea I've had. I mentioned her reacting to the Backstreet Dentist work but on reflection I think a direct narrative would undermine the ambiguities. There's many other exciting things to explore on the peripheral.

Anyway, it was really good to talk to Tabitha and I got a copy of her catalogue from the Lost and the Found exhibition she had at Bolton Museum in 2007 which is bloody brilliant. She really just hits it on the head.
I never realised how raw Rozanne Hawksley's work was, I barely wrote anything down but I could have listened to her all day. She spoke so personally, it was really refreshing. There's a fantastic video of her in her studio up on Culture Colony, just look at her studio!

Right, I need to get on with making.

Aberystwyth Artist Blog

2010-07-03T02:20:00.000-07:00

www.aberartists.blogspot.com

Ta da, please add and follow the Aberystwyth Arts Centre Artist in Residence Blog! The current artists in residence are Annabelle Shelton and Priya Chohan and they'll be logging their residency here. I have written a summary of my residency and a run down of the fantastic exhibition we have there until the 14th July but I will scour my brain for other fun facts from my three months in Aber. Perhaps my infamous Foodie Guide to Aberystwyth will make the cut for online delectation.

I'm also trying out Twitter and so far I've managed to avoid navel gazing but why not add me there, I might let my guard down.

5 at Aberystwyth Arts Centre

2010-06-19T07:17:00.000-07:00

5 is on until the 14th July at Aberystwyth Arts Centre

I was over in Aber again on Thursday for the opening event for 5 at Aberystwyth Arts Centre and artist talks by Annabelle Shelton (who I did a show with in Milton Keynes last year) and Priya Chohan who are the current artists in residence at the centre and exhibited in 5. The other artists in the show are Ralph Colmar and my residency pal Katherine Sullivan who is fast becoming my art hero (even if she now drives a Focus). I had a fantastic evening and the talks gave me a lot to think about, I'm also massively excited about having my work in a space like this alongside such outstanding work... and my own big name sign. I resisted standing beneath it pulling a thumbs up, but only just.

In other news, I'm starting the Crafts Council's Hothouse scheme next week with a business day in Farnham on Friday. I think it's the right time to start looking at what I do and thinking about how I can do what I do in the long term without all the juggling of several bread and butter jobs. Let's hope they can whip me into shape.

Email down.

2010-06-14T23:44:00.000-07:00

Lucy at lucyharvey.co.uk is gone, my new email address is mail at lucyelsieharvey.com. New website coming when I have a moment!

Aberystwyth and GCSE Exhibitions

2010-06-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

Overtime art technician duty at the school has taken over my week but the GCSE exhibition's now finished in time for moderation. I don't want to see any strips of black card, Copydex, staples or panel pins for some time.. and one of the ancient kilns with student work inside has gone kaput and can't reach temperature so I've got to sort that out on Friday. Hope it's not disastrous.

Zoe James knows what I mean as she was nice enough to cover for me at the school when I was off on my residency and now she's joined the Craft League of Part Time Art Technicians (members: me and her) with a job at another school. She makes lovely spoons and runs jewellery workshops in Manchester.

Tomorrow I'm going to Aberystwyth for the day to install my residency work in the main gallery alongside four other residency artists from the last year (including Katherine, my residency partner). I'm also taking a selection of the objects I collected on the res to show alongside my pieces. I'm quite excited about this since I've never so expansively exhibited the inspiration behind the work before.
The private view is on Thursday 17th and includes an artist talk by the current artist in residents; more info here.

Trying to bring a new website together amongst all of this, I'm very much looking forward to next week when I can get back to the bench and the laptop. Roll on, roll on.

Hooks

2010-05-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

Emotional Involvement

2010-05-25T10:07:00.001-07:00

I am well settled in the new flat now and my work room is a fantastic luxury; I've been making jewellery pieces and I'm really excited about developing the collection. To celebrate my new workroom I bought myself a fabulous new filing cabinet which I organised into ceramics, glass, metal, natural, mammal and man made. They're contradictory but I know what I mean; I wish that when I opened the mammal drawer a whole menagerie would flutter out of me but unfortunately it's a more like a coop of dead parts.
Talking of which, I had an epic crisis of confidence yesterday which was probably not helped by being cooped up in the house all day making. I can't seem to get this balance right; I've now got 2-3 precious days a week to make but the solitude is sending me a bit doolally. I need to get out for a little bit at least, I'm even threatening to start jogging.

A confirmation email going amiss sent me over the edge for the evening but I blew off some steam and I'm back on the horse again. The good news is that I'll be holding a stall at the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair again this autumn; I'm really looking forward to it. I'm also building the collection up so I can finally start contacting galleries about stocking my work.. finally.

Collect, Cuming Museum and The British Museum

2010-05-17T05:58:00.000-07:00

Ingjerd Hanevold at Kunst1

Last time I went to Collect, two years ago, I was pretty angry about the function of jewellery so I buggered off early to go to a museum, which was a fairly ignorant view in hindsight. This time around I scribbled names down and studied techniques; tutoring at MMU has completely renewed my interest in jewellery. And following on from my musing about subjectivity in my last post, my favourite exhibit was Ingjerd Hanevold's wall mounted multiples.. which could be brooches on reflection. Found objects, black, multiples, will I ever get bored of this?

Since it was the Culture24 late night museum night we went over to Cuming Museum which was tiny but jammed full of superstitious and fake objects (tick the fraudulence box). The fakes were made by Billy and Charley and I'm obsessing over the story. There's an article about them here.

There was also some fishing hooks and equipment from the South Pacific and later I found some more in the British Museum in the Wellcome Trust Gallery with some spiritual figures and guides. So I'm going to carry on with the work from my residency with a wider look at museum artifacts and belief. I had a lot of ideas about wrapping that never materialised and I'm really inspired by the diversity in form in these hooks.
I've finished all my writing for the time being so I can finally get back to my sketchbook and bench with all this, how exciting.

Tatton Biennial

2010-05-16T02:51:00.000-07:00

Oona Grimes, Tony Grisoni and Sophie Lascelles

Me and Jenny visited the Tatton Biennial last weekend, which was particularly interesting because we viewed what appeared to be a lot of London white cube gallery style fine art through the eyes of craft makers. I couldn't really see how some of the pieces were specifically responsive to the identity of the estate which makes it difficult to see how the project will engage with general visitors.
Whilst children ran towards all the installations with excitement we overheard a lot of parents discouraging them and hurrying them past it, with one remarking, "It's a piece of art darling" as she maneuvered her daughter away from Kate MccGwire's piece.
Trying communicate a response with people, mostly families, who visit National Trust houses for the day relies on accessibility but there was a sense of exclusivity about the selection. If the aim is to attract already enlightened art followers to the estate then that goal will be achieved but if there was any desire to engage with a new audience then a fuller picture needs to be offered. It's not about dumbing it down but it is about acknowledging and approaching other preconceptions about art through a perceivable link to what they actually came to see, the house and the park.

Rant over, aside from that the Biennial's a fantastic thing and there's even a free bus that runs from the Cornerhouse every weekend to pick up and drop off arty types. Oona Grimes, Tony Grisoni and Sophie Lascelles were hugely responsive and offered visitors a glimpse of the development and research which goes a long way to bridge those suspicions towards art. Ryan Gander's work was similarly faceted with a series of hoax artifacts that carved a new fantasy tale for the estate, there was something eerie and mischievous about the combination of taxidermy, photography, carving and gift shop pieces. I wish that Jamie Shovlin's shed had been turned on but I'll be back for that. Helen Maurer's ghostly glass installation was a fantastic and evocative use of shadow and material although the concept behind the piece seemed a bit off kilter with the spectacle.

Kate MccGwire, Evacuate

Kate MccGwire's piece blew me away in both it's concept, creation and intense presence. It's a readily accessible response to the greed and mass of the working 18th century kitchen and a perfect balance of beauty and horror. Stunning on first glance, then bloated and repulsive; I almost expected it to moan it was so potent. It's certainly not something visitors should not be hurrying past because it's art and it's 'not for them'.

The measure of refinement in execution between fine art and craft practices is fascinating me; responses which are a long time in the thinking and a short period in the making, against the craft obsession with a justified and perfect execution over conceptual development. I know I lie more towards the former, and it is equally justified, but then when confronted by rash execution I feel conflicted. Perhaps like visitors confronted with art they don't understand.

My craft background probably makes me a little too preoccupied with materials and execution and my own aesthetic and conceptual taste cloud my perception. I realised on leaving that the pieces that spoke to me were the ones which ticked my favourite boxes of absent presence, natural history, fraudulence, and the uncanny. I wonder if the uncomfortable sensation that accompanies this work makes it more accessible to general visitors. And since one man's rubbish is another man's treasure I wonder if a fan of the brightly coloured conceptual white cube work thought my favourites were reflective nonsense.

Paperwork

2010-05-07T02:22:00.000-07:00

Applications are taking over my life, I'm really itching to make but all my free time's being eaten by writing. I really need to get back into reading as I'm feeling a little uninspired at the moment, I'm tempted to pick up where I left off on my MA book list. Pretty unbelievable it's taken me a year and a half to summon the courage to return to it (residency reading excluded) but oh well.

I'm going to the Tatton Park Biennial over the weekend though which will hopefully have some nice site specific works to inspire me. I wrote them a lovely proposal for the emerging open call last year which wasn't successful; it was about gardeners and their equipment, I'd still love to do the project somewhere in the future.

Onwards.

Peaks and Troughs

2010-04-26T06:38:00.001-07:00

I'm slowly rebuilding a collection of Divination Pins, it appears some of the objects in my collection can never be anything other than one of these pins whilst others would never work. It's a silent dialogue between myself and the object about something difficult to articulate.

The bad news is I was unsuccessful with my grant application for the Pitt Rivers project this time around which takes me back to the drawing board a fair old amount. Once I get a bit more detailed feedback from ACE I'll have a bit more of an idea of my next move but currently feeling in need of a bit of mentoring and not sure who to call. I'm regretting the decision to not apply to Craft Council's Hot House scheme somewhat.

Inside the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter

I made a return trip to Birmingham last week with the students from MMU which was very pleasant. The itinerary included Susan Collis's solo show at IKON gallery, the Staffordshire Hoard at Birmingham Museum, and the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter which, despite being a 10 minute walk from me during my MA in Brum, had previously evaded me. All massively inspirational so go if you can.

Susan Collis at IKON

I first saw Susan Collis' work at Out of the Ordinary at the V&A where it was somewhat overshadowed by Topologies by Anne Wilson but the idea had a lasting impression. The installation in IKON worked so much better; I'm really inspired by her use of the gallery space as a conceptual vehicle. The staple's were definitely my favourite aspect; but when so many of MMU students (including myself) are engaged with the enigmatic values of objects and materials I couldn't help but think the hallmarks preached to the converted.

The Staffordshire Hoard is mind blowing. The workmanship of the pieces is still evident after all this time which, contrasted against the ripped and mangled metal, makes for a pretty potent legacy of the violence and chaos, theft and civil unrest. This mangled cross has made my week..

It doesn't look like much right now but the mangled cross chimed with some ideas I had about simplifying the designs for Nobelini and I have made myself a minute prototype which moves towards the stamping processes evident in the manufacture of standard plastic I.D. bracelets. I could also do with some advice on this project really about exhibiting, must find a cleverbod to pick brains soon.

I accompanied the school on a year 8 trip to the Darwin exhibition at Manchester Museum, there's some nice natural history displays out which would have driven me wild a few years ago but sadly I think I've hit saturation point for dead butterflies. Thankfully the kids hadn't and one of them wrote on his evaluation sheet something to the effect of 'I loved the museum and I want to stay forever'. That's what we're talking about!

Made in the North East

2010-04-18T04:42:00.000-07:00

I've finished the pieces for Made in the North East now so they'll be on their way back to the National Glass Centre next week. They'll be available to buy online soon and there will be an exhibition later in the year.

Nobelini : Moving On

2010-04-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

I need more museum trips in my life; absolutely loved the silver collection at the V&A last week although it seemed to other visitors found the new jewellery gallery more exciting than I did. I have a turbulent relationship with jewellery really.

Whilst I was down in London I met up with Dr. Veena and Brona from the Nobelini collaboration to discuss developing the Moving On proposal. We've had some financial backing offered to us which opens up the idea to a much wider audience. The project was difficult for me to be content with since we couldn't do issues justice in the time for the competition deadline so I didn't anticipate it going any further but it turns out to be a beginning. I'm really chuffed; we'll start figuring out our next move soon.
Also I should find out about my other funding application for Pitt Rivers next week. The uncertainty makes me feel a bit helpless but I'm excited none the less.

Lost and Found

2010-04-09T01:28:00.000-07:00

The initial thrill of spotting a little head or tooth peeking up at you from the ground in freshly ploughed farmers fields is followed by the collection and ownership. Picking the object up inspires a little burst of narrative information laced with the melancholy of the lost and the found; making the hunt so addictive.

Yesterday I finally got round to cleaning off my finds from my dig the other week; revealing these minute details is another miniature voyage of discovery in itself. And although they are now found their story will never be complete and was lost well before they made the field.

The big bad wolf in Grandma's dress is probably one of my all time favourite finds.

Woolworths

2010-04-03T05:34:00.000-07:00

W001worths Sale of The Century 2009 is very exciting indeed.

Peeking : Montmartre Cemetery

2010-04-02T07:27:00.001-07:00

I am fond of small dark places.

MiNE final visit

2010-04-02T05:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my final day working with Brian and Norman at Wearside Glass; thanks to them I managed to take an idea from development to finalisation incredibly quickly. Above are the images from that process. I now have a desk full of multiples to bring together for the project and hopefully they'll be on their way back to Sunderland within the next couple of weeks.

Brian and Norman are also the cleverbods behind Luke Jerram's viral glass sculptures which are travelling the globe currently [link]. Norman told me that he was asked to go to an opening where their handy work was placed between a Picasso and a Gormley but he turned it down because it was time he could spend making and because that kind of thing didn't impress him.

Wearside Glass produce small sculptures of ships, teddy bears and suchlike, run bead making and torch glass workshops, whilst offering repair and replacement services for scientific glass and equipment. Previously they worked for Pyrex, knocking out test tubes in factory lines, before the industry folded. Norman reckons their studio in the NGC is the best gig they've had.