Sneak peek: Lochgilphead Map Drawing

Here's a sneak peek at a new map drawing I've been working on lately. It's taking a while and I like it that way, it gives me time to really connect and enjoy the process, feel the map, be in that zone of just me and a pen working away to complete a decision, a goal which is all at once important and ridiculous. Don't you just love contradictions?

To See: Interactive exhbitions

Here's a couple of exhibitons I want to go see and participate in! 'Of all the people in all the world' is an exhibition of people statistics which are visually represented by rice- one grain of rice=one person. People will be measuring out statistics daily so they will be constantly changing, and you can submit your own here for consideration. I submitted this one: UK women in parliament: 143 it's quite shocking how low it is considering there are 650 altogether. When is change going to arrive? The exhibiton is on Gallery Oldham until 28th September 2010.

I also really want to see Recorders: Rafael Lozano-Hemmer which includes 7 interactive installations which hear and feel the actions of people around them, so visitors to the exhibition are literally creating and influencing the works which cannot exist without them. Can't wait to experience this, it's on at Manchester Art Gallery until 30th January 2011, if you can't get there I'm going to write my first exhibition review of it here, so keep your eyes peeled on my blog!

Positive Posters

Here's my idea for the Positive Posters Project, this year's theme is the 'A glass half full' I thought I'd keep it simple and use the negative and positive symbols. Just by turning a negative around, looking at things from a different angle, by thinking half full, you can change them into positives! Submissions close on the 10th September and the winner will have there poster put up all around Melbourne, Australia.

Shackleton & Picasso

Last week I went to Liverpool for the day to see the Picasso exhibition and while there I popped into the Maritime Museum and there was a exhibition of photographs by James Francis Hurley of Shackleton's Endurance expedition. These were amazing and the story was brought to life, here's a quick summary of it: In 1914 Shackleton and his crew set out to be the first to cross the Antarctic continent but their ship got trapped in the ice and was stuck their for ten months, she was slowly crushed and sank, leaving them on the ice. Surviving in thin tents and shooting their dogs and even the ships cat 'Mrs Chippy' for food they had to wait for the ice to melt, and after two failed attempts to march to land, a group finally set off in the lifeboats to Elephant Island. Leaving most of the men here Shackleton and 5 of the best seamen went further on to South Georgia Island and marched over mountains to remote whaling stations where help was finally sought but couldn't reach the island until 4 months later when everyone was rescued! An incredible story of survival and incredibley recorded through beautiful photographs and film. Go see it it's on tilll January 2011.

(all images from Liverpool Museums)

The Picasso: Peace & Freedom exhibition on the other hand while having some great individual works, still lifes and vaeritas' and my favourite dove line drawings, the whole theme of the exhibition was very forced and not really relevant to a lot of the works.

(image from tate)

No Women No Peace

'Women are a prime target in conflicts across the world. Yet when it comes to building peace, women are excluded from the table. That's not only bad for women it's bad for peace. You can't build peace leaving half the people out.'

So runs the situation for the poster competition for the new campaign 'No Women No Peace' which is being launched in October. The world in 2010 isn't so advanced as it's made out to be, we've still got a long way to go and I fear sometimes we'll never get there, I hope upon hope that peace will exist for everyone someday.