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Sometimes - when new ideas dry
up, it seems there's nothing you can do but sit quietly somewhere and wait !. But when your time is up facing that blank page,
I've found that a complete change of suroundings is more often than not, enough to Kick Start
that stalled imagination !.
But watch out when the batteries are recharged, and when like buses they arrive in three's, you must organise the juggling
act with adaquate time set aside for each if you don't want to lose one.
To strike while the iron is hot is a sure way of capturing
each of these ideas, even when several are queuing for your attention at once, in this case your Skech Pad - Note
Pad will be your greatest ally, making detailed notes and descriptions is a quick and easy way of recording your ideas while
they are fresh and new, so by inviting them into your note pad as a deliberate first stage, you can refare
to them later - and have some fun.
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Recycled Pulp Card - Without any formal training
in Sculpture, I drifted in to my own style from simple beginnings using inexpensive recycled pulp card, Creating small
4 inch figures which where easily glued together, my confidence grew and consequently so to did the figures
I wished to make.
Eventually the range of figures covered anything from the 4 inch
figures at the outset, to a 10ft cielling hazard for which a wooden support frame was
necessary, this achievement helped my basic understanding of the creative process, and went partway
towards developing, for me, a mind set in which I now believe that almost anything is possible, and if it isn't
I should just go ahead and do it anyway.
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A critical point ! - With some
exceptions, I've noticed from the side lines, the `Art world' indulging in their own
self centred fancies, which in my opinion, has resulted in art works being produced and exhibited in
a `blinkered' fashion, the consequences of this `none all inclusive' approach, I believe,
has left the Artistic interests of young people and children in particular, over looked and under represented in that
great `ARTS FOR ALL' shop window, if the hungry minds of children are to be pressed up against the glass, Then the ART WORLD'`
SHOULD SET THEIR STALL ACCORDINGLY !.
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Almost Made The Big Time . the Web
Blossoms above
where just unlucky, the two foot diameter flower head
templates, had been made in recycled pulp card, and
their production in steel plate had all but been given the
GREEN light, when, just as I finallized a
method of spray
painting the individual flower head parts, a period of
adverse weather conditions culminating in galeforce winds,
scuppered the whole idea. I believed at the time, and
still
do, that having a fifteen foot high bouquet of multicoloured
almost cartoonish flowers springing up in the forecourt of
the Peoples Centre Gallery in Liverpool, (albeit very much
prone to a passing cyclone) would have been just
sensational with its oversized ticket attached,
congratulating L'pool on becoming the European
Capital Of Culture, written large and fancy.
But with an unpredictable mother nature
blowing like a big bad wolf. It was felt by everyone
involved that the risk of having someone crushed by a
large steel plate flower was simply far to great.
So due to the rough time the Web Blossoms have had, I
thought it only fair to shoehorn them slap bang
in the
middle of the ROUGH PAGE, were it's only the page
that gets rough, and crushing is strictly prohibited.!
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How Curious When Scaling Up !
Is it just me, or do others also find the effects of scaling up most curious ? For
example I was quite happy with the proportions of my first sculpture in a structural theme, SYMBOL OF UNITY, It stood just under ten foot tall or 3m, by seventeen inches or 43 cm
, Its proportions as it stood in my living room where just perfect .
But suddenly it dawned on me, that when its scaled up to the intended height of thirty foot, it may not
look the same, after all multiplying something three times while you remain the same old you, there had to be
a different perspective where breaking your neck looking upward would figure large in the equation.
SKETCH PAD PROOF
And there it was, little me with a sixteen inch collar at ninety degrees, with a symbol of unity that tappered off skyward
to infinity, the detail, the shape, the effect, all obscure and
not what I had in mind.
It was then that I knew alteration to its width would have to take place in order to try and retain the effect
that I once had before it took off through the ceiling. suggestions or comments to: E-mail info' below.
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Ideas Behind The Sculptures
Running to save the world in particular, had a massively grand plan, which came to me on the eve
of the sculptures conception, It reads
like a David and Golieth battle, sort of,- between the people and
the politicians of the world. The sculpture was to symbolise an
international movement in which volunteers in every country around the world would simultaneously
complete a world wide annual RUN.
Its aim
To show the politicians of the world who are running for their political careers,
that the people whom they represent, or not as the case may be, are
here, same time same place each year Running to Save the World until
the
job is done. I still think it could make a difference, with the added pressure, a politician for instance,
might find it easier to put through numerous unpopular measures needed to curb the countries pollution levels
for example, it would certainly be an up hill climb to get the world on your side, but I'd rather climb
that hill while it's still there. How about you?,
if you can help, or have an opinion. E-mail me- info' at foot of page. (there's an industrial
revolution going on in China and India the likes the
world has never seen), the situation is critical. How much later in the day
must it get before pulling on your trainers?
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The Slinkwalkers - first came about in late 2006,
when, after
an exhibition at the Peoples Centre Gallery, were I showed my Symbol
Of Unity and Shapes Up Five,
The Opertunity to produce a Sculpture for the Galleries forecort in 2008 was Sprung- after picking myself
up, I hit
the sketch pad, and came up with three great ideas, but with
a tight deadline I had to settle for just the one, and so using a wooden frame and recycled pulp card,
the Slinkwalkers a 'new species', where born.
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Many thanks to- Phil, Jim and Mat for their professional
input during the transformation of the Slink's, and to the director of the Peoples Gallery John Fillis for all his help and
support, and to Pauline Rowe of North End Writers for her patience and encouragement, and to family advisors San and
Lyn and Den and Bren.
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The arts didn't cross my mind at all !
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About four years old, it was all I could do to keep
sight of my mum, for if I couldn't see her, then I'd lost her. So given the priorities it's hardly surprising that the `Arts'
didn't stand a chance.
Then strangely in 2002, I found I could only `crawl'
with thin wooden frame cardboard and glue, then later `walk' with plywood panel pins and even more glue, until now I'm finally
`running' ironically with Slinkwalkers without the glue, in triplicate and in Steel...Phew !
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Born at an early age. I grew
up suddenly here in my home town Liverpool, since junior school, I've always had an eye for the `Arts', the other one joins
in too if it's exceptional. And like many others my point of view on what makes Art, is an unqualified and personal
one. I hope that young people especially children,will find my work interesting and imaginative enough
to stave off the yawns of boredom. warning! some recent work
dosn't have a deep meaning, so watch out when you go looking for it, and trip up over a
Big chunk of fun!
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A favourite subject of mine in secondary
school, was practical drawing as they called it back then, there was something about the way
lines and angles could make up shapes and give perspective, that before long it became my favourite subject. It's
strange then, I should have left it a whopping 45 years before making the connection between it and Art, I
suppose getting on with life can be
a Whoppingly big distraction. !
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The cat and mouse photo' shoot -using cartoon
figures, is an attempt to show how gentle natural enemies can sometimes be.
With two seperate plinths, one has to reach out from its own space in an effort to cause mischief with the other.
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A working system in balance
Through trial and error I took a journey, and arrived at a place where the creative process could flow without
interruption and free from backing up, driven by Ideas of sculptural design, I quickly found the
speed at which new ideas dropped from the sky, just couldn't be matched by the slow moving solid timber in
front of me, its slowness was bringing my new found art world to a grinding halt.
IDEAS, backed up until they couldn't be expressed.
Frustrated, I sort out new and different pieces to the jigsaw which would fit the speed criteria, and
allow my ideas to be physically expressed on arrival without delay, how cool is that, this then allowed sufficient reflection
time in which to review what I had in front of me, and whether it worked or not.
At last there was a better way.
Frustration became a thing of the past and progress began, I had changed the working approach to one where
the end product wouldn't be achieved in a single attempt, but would arrive at the end of
two separate stages with certainty.
The method I used to make a Birch plywood Sculpture.
Began first by taking the idea to sketch pad then to construction, but the build wouldn't be started using Birch
plywood, it would be recycled pulp card cut out to shape using adaquate cutters,
and stapled in position sometimes glued where necessary, to a 12mm square thin wooden frame, which was sometimes built in
advance or just added to the build piece by piece as necessary. this construction would then be the template
for the final Birch plywood Sculpture.
The speed at which the pulp card could be assembled, meant I could think my Ideas through in a constructive
way without holdups, with free time to welcome new ideas over a cup of tea, and why not, while viewing the work so far
from different stand points in a visual thought conversation, which I suppose is how
most people reach that place where they can say more or less they're happy with what they've got
so far.
Template creativity + Final Sculpture production.
The battle to create a physical representation of an idea, had been won by first putting the ideas to work
on a quick build template, and any mistakes made during this stage that caused wastage,
where not costly or difficult to remove and redo. With the template finished and complete, while mindful changes where not
allowed beyond this point, further observations would take place, from below looking upwards from above looking downwards
and from front, back and sides, this observation would last for a few days to a week while getting on with my usual daily reutine,
until I was happy it was a true representation of what I had in mind.
Final Build. Had different enjoyable aspects and with mental
tasks that where less demanding, there where many questions I'd become used to such as, what shape should I make
it,? how wide,? how tall,? how should I build it,? But these questions had already been answered during the Template
build and where not now required. The final build that lay ahead was an exercise in copying every single detail
of the template, which allowed me the time and space using Birch Plywood to
simply build a sculpture.......From one I'd prepared earlier.!
- I don't suppose I'll ever live it down.-
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SHAPES UP 5
For me was a turning point in structural design, it explored the amalgamation of shapes, five to be exact.
As it progressed it began to evolve taking me in new directions, and proved to be pure fun in the process.
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