Lancaster Guardian, Friday September 11 2009

Expressing Pride: Tent Donation

Throughout my exhibition in the shops, I have had regular visits from a group of participants who are homeless. They have been keenly engaged in the work and have made valuble contributions to the 'Beach in an Arcade' pebble painting installation. I am happy to announce that they will be collecting and keeping the Expressing Pride tent at the end of my exhibition. I feel that this will be a positive end/new beginning for my community based installation.

Painted Pebbles

Over the last few days at Mapped Festival, I have watched my collection of decorated pebbles grow. They look fantastic and yet again I find myself over whelmed by the creativity and imagination of the general public. It has been a fantastic experience to have the opportunity to share this creative experience with everyone who has entered my Expressing Pride shop. I found out this morning that I might be able to take over a shop space in Bristol when I move there at the weekend. The painted pebbles created in St.Nicholas' Arcade in Lancaster have inspired a new idea for my next endeavour. I hope to take the painted pebbles in a different and exciting new direction... watch this space.

Mapped Festival Opening Weekend

Mapped Festival is now in full swing across Lancaster, with 4 other visual artists: Carlos Franco, Lauren Miller, Carla Nizzola and Laura Stevens, we have transformed disused spaces in Lancaster town centre into a fantastic collection of contemporary art. I am extremely proud to be a part of Mapped Festival. Two excellent performances from David McBride and Chris Williams started the festival off on a fantastic start at the pre-view evening on Friday.

Both of my shops have had many visitors, many more than I had anticipated for the opening weekend. I am thrilled by the positive and creative response I have had to my interactive A Beach in an Arcade piece, where local people have been painting pebbles for the creation of a 'Lancastrian' beach.

Photographer Richard Davis managed to capture the essence of this piece in this photo:

The shops are a perfect venue for my work, capturing the interest of people passing by. I am also in love with the architecture surrounding the shops, which contribute beautifully to the "Brighton" and arcade theme in Expressing Pride.

Figuratively Speaking: The Frames

I have nearly completed the eight thinner frames for Figuratively Speaking, and the five large ones are in the early stages of development. This framing process has consumed me for the last few weeks. Each frame had to be hand-made, each side, shelf, partition, support and front piece cut individually to fit. I have 13 frames in total, with 10 shelves each and 1-2 partitions in each shelf. This has been a mammoth task but seeing the first 2 painted today has given me the motivation to complete the set.

Roughly 150 people have contributed and participated in Figuratively Speaking at different stages: the painting/decorating of the figures and the making of their "little worlds". I feel I owe it to the participants to show the full collection in a beautiful and impressive manner, thus I will continue to push ahead for the completion of the frames for Mapped Festival next Friday.