This page is an archive of the reflections I made while developing the project over 3 months
12th April
I finished a very creative day my making, eating and sharing this delicious velvety beetroot and coconut soup made with the ‘7 Prime Beetroots’ used in the Vito Acconci responses; art and food – the ultimate satisfaction.
21st April
Today I had a clandestine meeting with Rhys – at the ‘arch’ to pick up 2 oak trees for the hefty price of 50p.
I now have well over 180 cultural references from over 50 contributors and 7 creative response projects and 2 shooting up, so its all coming along very nicely!
22nd April
Four weeks into the project I have 4 rows of tiny little radish shoots being enjoyed by flea beetle, one lonely double carrot leaf, several potato plants that are continuously pushing through the soil despite my efforts to keep covering them with earth, a bucket full of potato plants, a pot of tiny scattered parsley shoots, 2 pots of tiny hair thin dill shoots, 4 pots of lettuce yet to reveal themselves.
So far I have made 3 animations about and with beetroots (not from my veg bed!) and 1 animation with 10 discarded radish shoots in response to Vito Acconci’s Transference Zone 1972 and his ‘7 prime people’, A sitting, watching and being with my plants performance in response to Marina Abramovic’s The Artist is Present, 2010 , A laying down, sleeping in my veg bed performance in response to Tilda Swinton and Cornelia Parker’s The Maybe, 1995, A 100 hour photographic/ shadow drawing project (to be continued) in response to Tom Friedman’s 1,000 hours of Staring, 1992 -97.
Perhaps I will do an an audio walk around my patio in response to A journey Around my Room by Xavier de Maitre, 1974 , a spinach leaf dance in response to Isolation by Joy Division, 1980 and a night in my bed outside in response to Bed Piece by Chris Burden, 1972….
I wonder what I will do in response to The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Julian Schnabel, 2007 or The Shining by Stanely Kubrick, 1980?
What ever unfolds I have committed to cultivating and attending to Seed Beds until there is such a time when it feels exhausted. I will tend to my plants, research my references and play freely, openly, spontaneously and carefully until…
I’ve been generating activity outside on my patio for about a month now, its been absolutely wonderful, I haven’t felt so free and creative since my ‘play’ time up on the Pumlumon plateau in the summer of 2015, during which time the crawling project Crossed Paths was born. I’ve just been running with possibles and maybe’s, letting things begin, enjoying the limitations, working with what I have to hand, allowing things to flow, seeing things through to some kind of completion and then posting things up on this website by way of marking the small endings. I’ve purposely practiced not over thinking, so playing without fear, judgement or anxiety of – is it good enough?, does it mean anything?, is it serious enough?, will people get it?, whats the point?, where is it all leading? does it fit with my previous or current practice? does it fulfil my ambitions? etc. I’ve been trusting, holding faith and having fun in the knowledge, that only experience can give you, that eventually something, some aspect of what I have been doing will raise its head above the rest and will grow to be the thing that I can take forward, further and deeper, until then I will continue to apply patience, commitment and consistency.
4th May
I think, today, I can sense that the ‘thing’ I might take forward might be the practice of ‘staring’. I can see that this could be a parallel activity to ‘crawling’, which has been my ‘serious’ practice for the last 4 years. Both are about paying attention, getting close, bearing witness, being, being down there in it and with it, and both are about experiencing something and somewhere from a different and new perspective. Staring and crawling – one is still, one is not, both are hard, awkward, uncomfortable, both take practice, both involve endurance, both are economical and environmental, like crawling, staring can also be about, will also be about ecology, landscape, body, performance and film.
Lets see..I think its going to be the 2 oak trees that bare the fruit..
6th May
A special day in the veg bed/patio today, the tasting of our first radish, a spinach leaf and dill with a little salt, and everything is growing so fast..
13th May
Its time…
Time to expose this intimate process, made in isolation, the students and I are preparing for our 24 hour live stream online exhibition
Its also time to pick and eat some of the spinach
I feel like a slightly anxious mother about both!
16th May
The Live stream online exhibition was amazing:
Highlights of the 24 hour live stream exhibition can be found on: https://www.twitch.tv/collections/P6CSsiCHDxZ6tQ
My live stream introduction to the Seed Beds project part one – https://www.twitch.tv/videos/625721952
My live stream introduction to the Seed Beds project part two – https://www.twitch.tv/videos/625739116
21st May
Its eating time – there is an abundance of spinach to eat, its sensational, it melts in the mouth, just perfect with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. I am a proud mother, this is a revelation to me, to eat seeds we planted, with no faith or expectation exactly 2 months ago is incredible, nothing short of a miracle.
2nd June
We are a bit early with the potatoes..I thought they were to be dug up when the plant flowers but my neighbour Graham was quick to inform me it is when the flowers die..but I’m very proud of my bounty today nonetheless
19th June
Looking back through this blog is already very moving, it is witness to my ideas, the projects, the plants, the flowers, the vegetables, the herbs and my hair all growing, and they are still all growing. Things were planted, things got made, got eaten, got tested out and got documented… it was a process..the sun was gorgeous, the quietness was exquisite, the intensity of the whole period was unique and unforgettable and thanks to this project and this blog it is held here in an archive.
It was fantastic working alongside the students, we developed a special bond during a special time, both are gone now, they have all moved on and away and the lockdown is gradually lifting, we are returning to a ‘new normal’. But this site is a testament to a very specific collective energy and drive between a group of creatives who needed to make meaning out of a period of time in which we were challenged. We were struck by an invisible global rapidly moving deadly virus, within a few days our lives changed drastically, we were shocked, stunned, scared and unhinged. This site saved us, I think quite literally, I think it saved me. I found a focus, I found an abundance of creativity, I found a strong link between my teaching and art practices and I found a new direction.
I hope my energy inspired the students as theirs did me.
It was a situation – specific Creative Arts collective.
And now it is a teaching tool.
