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The mural making workshop I taught with Ash Pierce distilled into two minutes of creative explosions.

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Hide - Artsway Collaboration with Architecture Students Mon 28th April to Thu 1st MayWe were given four days to respond to the New Forest surrounding Sway in anticipation of an exhibition at the end of the week. We had to work in groups containing at least two people from both Fine Art and Architecture, and any materials we took from the forest had to be returned and no permanent harm done to the flora or fauna. We were introduced to the project by Mark Drury from SPUD and Stephen Turner of the Exbury Egg Project who were both very helpful in setting the tone for the collaborative works. I wrote a separate entry about Stephen Turner’s practice, particularly within the Egg, here.

After a fairly quick group brainstorm we all agreed on the fairly simple idea of framing the landscape from certain vantage points using branches taken from the forest floor. Here is the proposal we put forward at the first group presentation:

Natural Viewfinder is a project which aims to engage people with their surroundings and encourages them to actively seek out the best views possible by providing focal points. Our “picture frames”, made from the logs and branches found on the forest floor in the New Forest, are subtly hidden within their environments, only revealing themselves when viewed from a particular point. As you can see from our diagrams and trial frames, each edge of the frames is a separate component not attached to the others, but suspended individually and away from the others. We hope that by creating frames which only assemble when viewed from a single spot we will open people’s eyes to how rewarding exploring and discovering parts of the new forest can be, as opposed to just passively accepting what’s immediately apparent.

We first began our research by finding the natural frames within nature and making simple frames both suspended and on the ground. We found that while these frames looked quite quaint, they weren’t very engaging, so we began to experiment with suspending the individual edges separately, at different heights and distances apart. These were much more rewarding to create and forced the viewer to stand exactly where we wanted them to so that they saw the exact view we wanted them to see. The only problem we weren’t able to solve in the three days of practical work available to us was how to make the frames more permanent. We made them as easily as we could, mostly by hanging the sticks off branches using natural hooks in their anatomy or by laying them on the ground. These could be moved out of place quite easily and wouldn’t last very long, so ideally we would need to fix them in place using eco-friendly materials such as cotton thread/rope.

If we were to develop this idea further, we would create dozens of frames in multiple locations within the New Forest around the Sway area. We would also play around with scale to create various feelings of both intimacy and grandeur. We would use stronger materials and acquire the necessary equipment needed to install large-scale frames.

For the exhibition itself within the ArtSway gallery, we were able to use a projector and install a frame within the room for people to view and interact with (see images above). The projection showed a slide show of photographs of our trial frames, both simple and complex, as well as a brief summary of our proposal with an explanation of how we would develop the work. We also included a small map of the locations in which we had created frames. We suggested that the frame locations could form a trail which people would follow, making the frames easier to find. I think that, compared to some of the other pieces exhibited by other groups, our exhibit could have been a bit more coherent. I can imagine that people viewing our projection might not immediately associate the suspended frame and maps on the wall with it and vice-versa. But perhaps the fact that the link between the three parts isn’t immediately apparent complements the project quite well.

What I enjoyed most about this project was the collaborative aspect and getting to work with students from a more practically-minded course. I was very fortunate with the group I was in as everyone was happy to focus on working together on a relatively simple idea rather than risk conflict over a more complex project. As someone who rarely collaborates with other artists on a project, I was surprised to find that I actually enjoyed being able to task-share with others and rely on their support in order to complete the project. Luckily we had a solid body of people who turned up every day, but the problem with holding a workshop so far out of town is that a lot of people, mostly in other groups, didn’t bother coming in. So luckily I had reliable team members who committed to the four days and made valuable contributions.

I’m not sure that the project will have an impact on my practice beyond my new appreciation of the pros of collaborative work, though exhibiting in a gallery was good experience. However, learning about Stephen Turner’s practice and the way he welcomes solitude and complete immersion in his work has maybe inspired me to be less afraid of completely throwing myself into projects. I’m quite attracted to the idea of responding to an environment in which you are isolated and unaffected by any human interactions which might have otherwise swayed you to think or act a certain way. For example, when I was in Rome by myself, I was free to enjoy the art available to me without any thought to how I might have to behave with my friends and family there. It made the experience a lot more personal and precious to me.

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