Routes River Rail

Art project in a day...

 

Art project in a day plan...

 

The rules!

Here is my plan for tomorrow. Don't know if you'll quite be as able to read it as easily as me, but I thought all this typing looks pretty boring so for a change I thought I'd put my hand written version on the screen. Voila!

Come rain, sleet or snow; I will be attempting this tomorrow. Should be fun. Naturally, you can expect to see the fruits of my labour here as always asap.

Overwhelming 'holy' postcard!

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Aloha from Gina! (not in photo)

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The postcard saga continues...

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Letter and postcard from Liz Fathers. Thank you.

Google Image Result for http://l.yimg.com/a/feeds/us/grn/Green_Graffiti/2740880670103830173S600x600

Google Image Result for http://l.yimg.com/a/feeds/us/grn/Green_Graffiti/2740880670103830173S600x600

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?img...

Andy Kondratowicz's art project that replaces our everyday black bin bags with polka dot pink ones.

I was just having a look around on the net for creative alternatives for public waste, bins etc. and I found this. It is debatable whether having a pink polka dot rubbish bag would make us throw less away, but it would also make us notice how much we throw away and in turn maybe it would then make us decrease our waste. I am not so sure on colourful bin bags as the way forward, but I wonder if a similar project could happen with recycle bins???

Evaluation of the project so far (from a learning point of view)

Evaluation of project thus far:

I think that the RRR project is a very complex and vast project in the sense it has to cover a large area of the developments, consultation and geography of the river corridor itself. This has meant that there are numerous threads to follow in terms of documenting, researching, and producing work. Whilst on one hand this has been incredibly over-whelming it has also made it a very rich, diverse and exciting challenge that is constantly forcing me to push my practice and think in a very different mindset to that I was previously used to. To elaborate, I am having to think a lot more about working to a brief, making sure that the project, despite it many threads, keeps a clear focus on the overall aim of connectivity, way finding and place making (with the river always being at the very heart of what we do). Sue has been prolific in keeping this very clear and reminds me and perhaps, I feel, reaffirms to herself that we are not market researchers and we are looking for creative alternatives and ideas. This juxtapostion has been particularly challenging as there is a fine balance between being creative enough but not so 'zany' that those creative acts aren't grounded in research or knowledge which comes from the, if you like, more marketing side of the consultation. Its difficult.

Currently I am looking into the public art code and trying to 'make sense' of it and draw out poignant pieces that can help me have a more credible knowledge for the symposium. I have really enjoyed the dialogue and conversations I have had with people on this project; anglers, Friends of French Weir, artists, students etc. This has been really interesting. At the moment the only thing I feel is maybe more difficult on the project is not having enough time to produce my own work in response to what I've found. Me and Sue have talked about this, and I know it’s a natural thing that there is never enough time and I hope to start making some things soon now. Optimistically I think it will be good practice for me to have to make a few really good, sound, pertinent works in a short space of time, however at the same time it is frustrating as I feel I have to compromise what I would really like to do given more time.

I think that the project has potential to be a lot bigger than it has been allowed time for, absolutely. So far it really has been quite mind blowing and has opened up a whole new area of art practice I was previously unfamiliar with. What is really great is the fact that my knowledge and enthusiasm for it is being passed on to students at scat, artists and friends whom I talk to and is a positive thing for them as well which I think should be very encouraging. I sincerely hope that my energy and efforts have contributed sufficiently on the project so far too.

How cool are these?

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I will be adding to this as I find more, but here are some examples of clever works of art in public spaces.

Just take a look at Max Ernst.

 

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Mike West suggested to look at this sculpture by Max Ernst which is also a seat. Functional and art at the same time.

Merci Angela!

Great! Thanks to Angela who gave me these photos of some creative seating, bins and stuff (stuff being the roadside bollard type things in the second picture) in the South of France. I'm pretty sure she's not French though incase you wondered. These are some really nice examples of how boring stuff, like dustbins and benches can be made into more creative or in some cases sculptural works. A lot of people who we have spoke to so far have mentioned that they like 'public art' that is both practical and functional as well as visually interesting. Well, here you go.

This is the start of me gathering some case studies and examples of other public art projects (hopefully some more local ones too) and art that we could use to inspire our own ideas for the 'Routes, river, rail' project.

Your postcards from 'I love Taunton' happening

At the event at Waterstones there were postcards for customers to fill in. They had a choice of four questions;

What is the most inspiring thing about Taunton?

What do you love about Taunton?

How do you feel about the river?

What is the most depressing thing about Taunton?

The kids table had blank postcards with the instructions to create a postcard for Taunton on.

These are their responses. The question they answered is on the back but I will let you make up your own minds as to what answer went with which question. What do you think?