Movement Caused by Rational Numbers

More photos on flickr

`Nous sommes tous de lopins et d`une contexture si informe et diverse, que chaque piece, chaque momant, faict son jeu. Et se trouve autant de difference de nous a nous mesmes, que de nous a autruy`.

We are all patchwork, and so shapeless and diverse in composition that each bit , each moment, plays its own game. And there is as much difference between us and ourselves as between us and others.

Michel de Montaigne.

These toys are used by Claire, a lovely lady. She has the constant flow and fluidity of movement that comes with dance training. When visiting ,we were introduced to these toys that are used to communicate with children in her therapy practice. I still have a functional and enjoyable relationship with all sorts of toys, some as props for my practice and some of a purely whimsical nature. As soon as the toys emerged from the tin where they lived, I was enchanted. The world should play more .

Perhaps every one is every thing.

Cada um de nos e varidos, e muintos, e uma prolixidade de si mesmos. Por isso aquele que despreza o ambiente nao e o mesmo que dele se alegra ou padece. Na vasta colonia do nosso ser ha gente de muitas especies, pesando e sentindo diferentemente.

Each of us is several, is many, is a profusion of selves. So that the self who distains his surroundingsis not the same as the self who suffers or takes joy in them. In the vast colony of our being are many species of people who think and feel in different ways.

Fernando Pessoa.

Solstice ,The Moon and a Dog.

Meg, alias Cheesely

From the front of the CD

In my workroom studio

All wrapped up.

I have been really busy and happy recently. The tree is surrounded in presents, waiting for the big event. I love Christmas, any excuse for a party. I have no belief in any organised religion, trying not to think of life in concepts of right or wrong. It is something I try to express in my work, an expansive evenness. Ultimately expressed as an isotropic universe.

Although, most unlike the privileged and subordanate thinking of Platonic philosophy that has informed so much of our Western thinking.

But any festival that lights up the long cold Welsh /British winter has got to be celebated long and hard.

It is also the time of the winter solstice. A celebration of the longest night of the year. After Chanuka and before Christmas. This year for solsitce my dear friends Helen and Pete have given me an amazing C.D. by a composer called `Moondog`. I have only heard one other C.D of his work and am impressed. A unique and complicated characture, who wrote amoungst many other works, a nine hour piece called `Cosmos`. Scored for one thousand musicians and singers, it has yet to be heard. Sounds like a fabulous idea, a work of infinite genius. Any one out there need something to do? Imagine the vastness and the volume.

The stunning Lab crossed retriever in the top picture, is Meg. (Who is knick- named Cheesely because she shows all her teeth in a huge cheesey grin when she see you.) She is an old dogfriend of mine, and came to visit for the day during the week. Sadly, Cheesely is really ill. It was a lovely day, but, even though we will have to say goodbye to her, shes doing really well at the moment. Even managed to chase a cat.

Dog love, Moondog ,dog friends.

Happy festive season to you all .

Ascetic Observances and Infinite Points

I love the woven mathematics involved in the seat of this peacock chair. Exactly the same principle of the spirograph toy I love to use in diagramatical drawings. A definition of the infinite , is to examine any point on a parabolic curve (made from straight lines), and find that there is no curve, only a sucssesion of straight lines that decrease in length. The same principle as the` how long is a piece of string `conundrum.

Infinite seating.

I Heard a programme on the radio, about Pythagoras this week. Now , there was a thinker . Or was there? There is no definite proof he ever existed. Supposedly born around 570 B.C., he left no mark or written word. But, his attributed teachings influenced Plato to such an extent as to be the foundation of all Western philosophy.

Famous for his geometric genius and for his teachings of sacred geometry I was delighted to learn about the records of a man who was a mathemetitian , scientist and mystic, but had no notion of the three being seperate. The men and women that joined the cult formed around his teachings believed that geometry , numbers, ratios, harmonics and proportions were the same thing as music, light and cosmology. That religion and science are inseperable.

He was perhaps, the first philosopher to associate music with mathematics, as he taught of the transference of musical notes into mathematical equation, and through the ` harmony of the spheres`, showed how the universe produces a symphony.

Now, I realise where Holst got his inspiration from.

Here is a link to other pictures on Flickr.

Uncommon Experiments in Communication

Inspired by a workshop at the Oriel Myrddin gallery a couple of weeks ago, I have been drawing in home made sketch books. These are photos of two of the results. There are some photographs of details on Flickr.

I attended another workshop at the gallery on Saturday. This was a whole different kettle of fish. It was a short story writing exercise, and a very new creative discipline for me.

I enjoy words. It is an essential part of my practice to play with vocabulary. The language of science is an inspiation to me . But finding your own language from another source of inspiration was a real challenge.

The workshop was led by writer Dan Anthony, who adapted a very popular teen series on the television called `Tracey Beaker `. His love of books and the language in them was infectious, and I enjoyed the pasages he read to us.It was fun to analyise the impressions the exerts made, we were encouraged to give our own critique.

I struggled with composing my own story. I felt more exposed by my own ideas, than in any other creative media I have tried. It was even more complicated than painting! I was a little surprised at the result of my writing, and a little embarassed. It was extremely interesting to be so far out of my own comfort zone. Having said that it was a most enjoyable day, and we celebrated our fiction debuts with mince pies and mulled wine in the gallery shop afterwards. But, it took me ages to be able to speak again. How strange.

Lucky Number Thirteen.

I have mentioned that I am member number thirteen of Fibre Art Wales. They are a most pro-active and energetic bunch of creative lovelies. The newest show I am involved with is``Fibre Voices`, at the Ceredigion musuem, Aberystwyth (thats Aber- ist- with, with as in pith).

I like being in a group. I am quite gregarious, communication and participation are research for my practice. It`s all about interconnection.The standard of work from the other members is fantastic and inspirational.

I am truely `made up` to be accepted as this years new recrute. ` Made up`, more London slang? You can take the girl out of London, But you can`t take London out of the girl. I have just been down to the Big Smoke for a family visit as well. Pictures, as usual on Flickr. A visit to see my nephews always injects colour and energy into my life.

Back to the show at the museum. It is beautifully hung with an escalating narrative in the relationship between each piece. The room is light, even on a rainy December afternoon, and friendly. I arrived a little late for the talk on December 4th, but was just in time to be able to talk about my own piece.

Being a new member,this was a great opportunity to look at some of the other members practices. I had to borrow Jakes camera to take some pictures, as I forgot mine. I will post the rest of the photos on Flickr when I retreive them.

Thanks to all concerned, especially Alison, for all her hard work.

While speaking about`The fabric of the Universe`, I refered to the Issac Newton quote ` ... standing on the shoulders of giants...` applying it to the history of textile. From the discovery of natural fibres for binding, the industrial and creative history of the human use of textile is dramatic and magical, steeped in legend, suffering and achievement.

Germaine Greer recently reffered to aspects of decorative textile as `heroic pointlessness...`in an article from the guardian newspaper. Stupid Moo. Creativity is not about what appears to be superficial, or on the surface, physically or mentally. Its a spiritual journey, which is a complicated pattern of deconstruction and assembly. But, I expect she knows that , Greer always tries to be a bit contraversial.

Standard Model Insomnia

Ceiling in the Camden Centre, London

Large Hadron Collider ,Cern

Celing St. Pancras Station.London.

I see geometry and it sees me.
I wonder how many other poor (tierd) soles lie awake at night and consider the standard model. The current full moon in Cancer, keeps me awake with deep thoughts and a strange stomach. That reminds me of the Joni Mitchell song that begins

`Born with the moon in Cancer,

Choose her a name that she`ll answer to...`

I am not a follower of the Zodiac, but I believe in everything.

Speculating in the wee small hours, If the Hadron collider does its stuff , the missing gaps in the currently accepted table of sub atomic particles will be completed . First ,hopefully with observations of evidence to support super symetry theory. Then perhaps a place for dark matter, Higgs energy and the Higgs boson. Then maybe, maybe, maybe, String Theory... huzzah huzzah my favorite. Real Science crochet. If not then what.

The search must go on, for an explanation, for a description, for reasons. You can search for science or for God, you will find what you are looking for. When you decide you have found it , I suppose. Otherwise, we must consider the infinite nature of all things.

How long is a piece of string?

The Visible Condition

Soon to be the man.

Mind my Nails

Tiffany Oben is the only person I know who spent an hour on the empty plinth in Trafalgar square in London. As part of the Anthony Gormley project` One and Other`, Tiff, went up as a woman and came down a man. An Initiation right in a London stylee. A Cold and exposeive way of investigating the subjectivity of the outward apperance of gender.

Not having anything to do with the human condition running through in my head most of the time, it took a bit of explanation and disscussion to understand what was going on and why. I`m still not one hundred per cent. But I admire her intellegence and her courage in taking a BA on, as well as being a mother to three and coping admirably with her, er... unique partner(!)

Round at Laura, (her sister in laws) home in the woods , we helped out with another part of her brief. To find volunteers and ask them to suggest to gender opposites, from which she can transform from one to the other. The volounteer had to dress and undress Tiff without assistance or objection from the model. Lauras genius challenged Tiff with two` towny chavs `.

The evening was chav-tastic fun. I`m still not convinsed by the `subjectivity of gender` thing. It is a huge topic. But the execution of this project is immaculte, original and engaging.

Tiff emerges as a perfect blank canvas for characture examination, with RADA standard acting abilities. Good luck to her with the rest of the brief. I am trying to think of a couple of lightly suspects for another event.