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Day 15: 16th August 2022
I’m actually writing this on the way home from day 15; we have a quick turnaround this evening as Ben and I are going to London for a private view at the IMT Gallery in Bethnal Green. I have some of my hybrid pieces, Stomata, in a group show entitled Naturally Non Binary. I’ll post…
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Day 14: 13th August 2022
It’s the end of week 3 already! Today felt quiet and unofficial. Laura, the centre director, and Barbara were not there; there was only a steward in the morning (the afternoon steward was stuck in her motor home somewhere near the M4), so the place was closed to the public in the afternoon; and there…
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Day 13: 12 August 2022
Today was workshop day. This was my child-friendly version of posthumanism: There were some images of Edward Lear’s strange botany, as well as weird fish (the BLOBFISH!) and fungi and flowers etc.. About 10 people came, children and adults, and everyone got stuck in despite the heat. Here are some photographs from the morning, which…
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Day 12: 11th August 2022
Today was a little paradoxical: on one hand, I made many social connections, as I always do at Courtyard, with people seeming to be drawn there; and on the other, the nodes or synapses that I was creating, by slotting together the snakey tendrils and interconnecting them to the taproots, kept collapsing soggily. This was…
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Day 11: 10th August 2022
Barbara and I started the day by moving out extraneous furniture and clutter – a few plinths, a table, and lots of unused or no-longer-needed materials, which went into the boot of my car. This gave me space to think about and create connections. Terry’s Double got incorporated into a liana-like cable. Alex came and…
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Day 10 with comments enabled!
Today was distinguished by the visit of my university friend Terry, who came to see what I was up to and stayed to cover some balloons. He attempted what has never been done before with balloons and cardboard-mâché: The Double. Chris and Barbara were there too; Chris helped me to install the fourth large taproot…
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Day 10: 9th August 2022
Today was distinguished by the visit of my university friend Terry, who came to see what I was up to and stayed to cover some balloons. He attempted what has never been done before with balloons and cardboard-mâché: The Double. Chris and Barbara were there too; Chris helped me to install the fourth large taproot…
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Day 9: 6th August 2022
Having sworn I’d never work with balloons again, I came in today armed with two innovations which were going to make it possible. One was HiFloat, with which you coat the inside of balloons before inflating them, prolonging their life (thanks Debbie!) and the other was the most highly rated balloon in the world –…
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Day 8: 5th August 2022
Apologies for the two email alerts yesterday – I realised that the first had somehow missed out loads of information. I don’t know how it happened, because I don’t really understand technology! It was another quiet day at work, although there were a few passing visitors. One said that this was a rootscape, which I…
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Day 7: 4th August 2022
I said goodbye to our willow tree before I left this morning. The tree people were already milling around in their high viz jackets, and heavy machinery was beginning to rev up. It was a quiet day at Courtyard Arts today; no classes going on, and only a few passing visitors. Working outside in the…