Pterodactyl

Tags

art, exhibition, feathers, found, installation, sculpture

Today I am busy writing about extraordinary artist Kate MccGwire who I am featuring as one of the twenty-eight sculptors in my new book on mixed-media sculpture.  MccGwire creates haunting curvaceous sculptures that are truly breath taking, and all are made with feathers, yes feathers. Visit her website to see how wonderful her work is – you will be astounded!  http://www.katemccgwire.com

 

Evacuate 

Site specific installation by Kate MccGwire at Tatton Park, Cheshire 2011

And so in line with all good researchers I looked at which artists had worked with this material before. (Regular readers of this blog will know I love feathers too, but tend to use the odd one sparingly in my work – almost too precious to use). Now I am a fan of German sculptor Rebecca Horn’s upside down piano since I saw it at Tate Modern many years ago – it really does make you question “is it safe to go underneath it?”

Anyway, her work with feathers turned into performance in the 1970 – 80s as a way of animating her sculptures. The work is strangely beguiling as she cocoons herself with wings and fans. But, the work that captured my ‘you don’t have to be crazy but it helps’ badge is the work shown here and to be really honest, I love it. How about you?

 

Heart of Darkness

Tags

art, carbon, China, death, environment, mining, photography, toxicology

Beautiful Dystopias Collection 2012-13

Alternative Perspectives     A collection pf photomontages developed harnessing the scanning electron microscope at the University of Central Lancashire, (during my residency there 2011-13), to create magnified images of objects, plants and creatures. These photographs form a foundation layer that is manipulated in Adobe Photoshop program, with the juxtaposing of additional imagery to make social commentary about the way we live and our relationship to the earth.

Alternative Perspectives: Heart of Darkness (foundation image of fragment of granite brought back from China)

Hidden remains break the surface to reveal the many lives lost whilst extracting precious metals, minerals and rare earth elements to feed our insatiable appetite for new technology and luxury consumer goods. Mining of these valuable minerals has an allure for the profiteer to pay scant attention to the health and welfare of its workforce.  Whilst the poor peoples ignore safety in preference to eking out a living, by digging with their rudimentary equipment, to find a few nuggets that will mean food on their tables.

Soil: an under-appreciated dynamic consortium of communities. Part 1?

Reblogged from Taking Science to the People:

Quick fact: the amount of data generated by analyzing the genetic make-up of 1 gram of soil would surpass the total for the entire Human Genome Project. That is because a gram of soil may contain between 2,000 and 18,000 different genomes comprised within roughly 40,000,000 to 2,000,000,000 bacteria cells (1) and (2). Soil; we all walk on it, but do we ever think about what might be lurking in it?

Read more… 671 more words

Soil - love it for all the right reasons

All our own realities

All our own realities

Is there a parallel universe?

Do you want to find out about other realities?

Arts Catalyst have organised this event for you.

Intellectual power

Tags

philosophy, power, research

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/14/oxford-university-takes-shell-funding

George is on excellent form here – worth two minutes of your time - please let me know what you think about his points.

EcoArts Australis Conference

Reblogged from PlanetCentric:

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Earlier this week, I attended a stimulating event - the EcoArts Australis Conference, held in Wollongong. EcoArts Australis is a new organisation based in Wollongong that aims to bring together environmental and arts practitioners to use the arts in creative ways to promote sustainability. The conference was their first significant event.

EcoArts Australis formed when environmental and arts practitioners came together to use the arts in creative ways to promote environmental sustainability.

Read more… 580 more words

Art and environment embraced down under

An Inside Look At The Science Of Eating Grass

Reblogged from Dinner Table Science:

Cows are cool.  And here is why.

They're not especially smart, or amazingly athletic, nor are they formidable predators or experts of camouflage.  Their main survival tactic is to be large and to move in groups.  But what's really cool about cows, is that they are ruminants.

A ruminant is a mammal that eats only plants (an herbivore) and manages to get enough nutrients out of these plants by digesting them multiple times.

Read more… 579 more words

No, no, no! I have nothing against the moo, and yes they are very clever in their food processing abilities to a point, but we have too many of them, because we are too greedy for the produce they give us. This leads to huge amounts amounts of methane entering the atmosphere and contributing to green house gasses. We all need to eat less cow and value them more. A farmer friend of mine confided in me one day that over the decades cows have generally increased in size by 50% leading them to experience new problems with their legs because they carry so much weight - just like like we do when we get fat.

Combing the Earth One Genome at a Time: In Pursuit of "The Next Big Thing" in Sustainability

Reblogged from Taking Science to the People:

There is one thing that can be said about scientists: they're never satisfied...thankfully. Observation and curiosity leave them on a never-ending quest to understand Mother Nature and improve humanity. One great example of this is the field of alternative energy science. Through the efforts of the Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs) and Joint Genome Institute within the U.S. Department of Energy…

Read more… 319 more words

Bacteria can save the world and your energy bill?

Genius Loci

Tags

art, drawing and photography research, education, environment, fly, inspiration, microscope, nature, philosophy, photography, quotes

“Critical art is an art that aims to produce a new perception of the world, and therefore to create a commitment to its transformation. This schema, very simple in appearance, is actually the conjunction of three processes: first, the production of a sensory form of ‘strangeness’; second, the development of an awareness of the reason for that strangeness and third, a mobilization of individuals as a result of that awareness.”
― Jacques Rancière, Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics

New work – Genius Loci

This digital photomontage takes the image of a fly’s compound eye, magnified 150 times, I photographed this using a scanning electron microscope.  Inserted ‘inside’ the eye is  a window of an old farm building that intrigued me with its dark interior and a small rectangle of light on the opposite wall.  It an image of hope.

What do you see?

Memo to WWF: Destroying rainforests and peatland for palm oil is not “sustainable”

Reblogged from Climate Connections:

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By Chris Lang, May 14, 2013. Source: redd-monitor

WWF loves “sustainability”. With “sustainability”, there’s no need to address over-consumption, or the never-ending growth of capitalist expansion. Consumption can increase, as long as it’s “sustainable”.

Palm oil plantations destroying vast areas of rainforest? No problem. Here comes “sustainable” palm oil. In 2001, WWF started discussions with palm oil companies and industry bodies.

Read more… 544 more words

Madness, misunderstanding and misuse - getting it wrong though trying to get it right - WWF

O is for ?

Reblogged from Exploring The Invisible:

 

A microbiological O. I asked a question of the Earth, this is her reply

What would be your reply? Mine is something like "Oh no!" and "Oh wow - amazing" at the same time - confused as ever.

Preoccupation

Tags

art, communication, computers, hidden impacts, inspiration, moss, nature, philosophy, photography, quotes, science

“To communicate is to be alive, to be active, in relation with others…For communication is essentially an interchange, a question and a reply, an action and a reaction between an individual and the environment in which he lives.”

Maurice Fabre      A History of Communications

Our preoccupation with computer technology creates a symbiotic relationship that endorses a dependence on staying in touch by harnessing electronic media as the vehicle – but is this preference an opt-out or opt-in for meaningful dialogue?  Text messaging, emails, blogging, social networking using Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin etc all require writing and yet our literacy standards are going down – is the power of the written word changing to mere elemental levels?

Does the sequestration of  technology limit our ability to communicate with our environment and therefore inhibit our understanding of the natural and untamed? The irony of posting this on my blog is not lost on me but the query is a genuine one for a dialogue on the subject – what do you think?

The image below was taken of a fragment of moss using a scanning electron microscope at the University of Central Lancashire during my residency there. The digital montage features computer mice collaged onto the photograph to mimic the seed pods growing out of the plant.

The work was shown as a research drawing for my Beautiful Dystopias exhibition in Preston last month.