What does 'state of readiness' mean?

readiness n, being ready
ready a, fit or available for action or use; willing; about or inclined to do something; quick.
state n, mode of being, with regard to characteristics or circumstances.

I am available for action, willing and inclined, but ready?
Concrete, fixed and immobile, cold and still.
Waiting.

art-work-sport (2) + studio meeting

I've just got back from another circuit training session, my dad said that it looked like it was hard work for me. Thanks dad.

This evenings thoughts:

• pat pat pat - the sound of pacing feet on the gym floor (like marching?)
• pace and rhythm - how this changes over time
• moving forward as a line, as we run the "shuttles" across the length of the sports hall (this made me think of some Hamish Fulton walks that i participated in a few weeks ago)
• collective - working together, collective energy
• achievement
• medal - to award achievement, war medals / sports medals, styling, colour etc

I think that i need to expand my experience of these tiring and rhythmic activities, i can sense a session in front of a Davina McCall fitness dvd ahead of me.

Yesterday the Norwich based members of the group met at Helen and Tim's studio at Outpost Studios (i have complete studio envy now, it was so warm!). We went over our funding applications, its all do-able, especially between us but will require a lot of focus and forward planning. It was nice to see the other artists, in a slightly more informal setting - we always progress a lot when we are together.

Juliet - im very excited to see your commissioned Gainsborough, brilliant idea, and how exciting to get it in the post!

Sam Epps 25.03.2010

Gainsborough from China has arrived!

The Gainsborough piece I ordered from China arrived on Friday- after a full week of work, barely had the energy to open the parcel- phew- imagine if I'd painted it too?! My studio is also up and running- warmer weather has helped immensly. Planning on going back to felixstowe over easter hols to do some drawing/photography.

Met a couple of old family friends this weekend with helen- they'll be coming to the private view-they live in Felixstowe and one of their son's is currently working in Jakarta. He'll be back over the summer so may make it their too- great

Juliet's Proposal

Landguard Fort Proposal

The Gainsborough painting of Landguard Fort, became a starting point for this project. I lived in Felixstowe as a child between the ages of 8 and 11 and flew kites and walked on the sand dunes that Gainsborough had recorded in his landscape piece. Revisiting Landguard, I was immediately struck with how dominant the vast container port is next to the diminutive Fort and fragile, protected beauty of the dunes.

I decided to explore the relationship between the three elements of the Fort, Port and Painting. By considering the active role the port plays in the British economy, the reliance on goods manufactured elsewhere and the trading links that have been established between countries, I proposed to produce a piece of work which engaged with this process.

Gainsborough was commissioned to produce his painting of the Fort in xxx by Phillip Thickness, the then Governor of the Fort. His piece captures a moment in time, the Fort employed in defending the country from invasion, at the ready, sited on the mouth of the estuary. Today, the fort is redundant, an historical site of interest, tourist location, and at times, ghost hunter and re-enactor riddled. The port continues to develop on its door step.

I decided to commission my own version of the fort, via the internet and email, commissioning Gainsborough’s piece to be reproduced in China and shipped back to the UK. I will mark a designated spot within the dunes, as close a vantage point as possible, to where Gainsborough stood and painted, and invite visitors to the show to walk from the Fort to the location to produce their own painting. I will also invite the Felixstowe Artists who have a Gallery on the seafront to participate in painting that particular vantage point and possibly exhibiting their work in their own gallery at the same time.

While waiting for the arrival of this piece, I would collect my own impressions and memories of Felixstowe using a variety of methods including pinhole photography, digital photography, drawings and watercolour, recorded over a period of time. These images I would then reconfigure, cut, collage and reassemble to produce a series of twelve images. Inspired by the very positive calendar of Felixstowe I bought in the Tourist Information Office, I will arrange the pieces within a calendar format. I also intend to approach the Information Office to display work there parallel to the exhibition and creating a link between the town and the Fort.

Work Produced for Exhibition shall include:
1 commissioned painting from China of Gainsborough’s landscape painting.
Site marker and invitation to walk to Gainsborough’s vantage point and paint own landscape.
Series of 12 assembled/collaged pieces in a calendar format to be displayed in Tourist information office and/or possibly Fort.
Possible link exhibition of local artists’ landscape paintings produced from Gainsborough’s perspective.

My continuing art-work-sport debate

I have just got back from circuit training, my first session in 4 weeks. (ouch)
It is one of the few times mid-week that my brain can switch into "art mode" because im usually busy worrying about other stuff - but sport is great for creativity, my mind can wander.


We did high knees, heel kicks, gecko press ups, superman, squat thrusts, double squats, 100's, star jumps, ski jumps, compass jumps, shuttles, press ups, ab crunches, skipping, saddle jumps and spotty dogs. Kim shouted these instructions at us above the pulsing 90's dance music.

The changing rhythm of our bodies is interesting to me, and that we are all performing the same actions more or less in sync. sometimes less is more interesting actually. Circuit training is an activity with no set outcome, but it is preparation for something else where these skills can be put to use. sometimes we are moving a lot, and other times we have to hold very still. I can see a lot of similarities here with my proposed work for Landguard.

I also feel like re-considering yoga - for the stillness aspect.
And the coloured markings on the sports hall floor were really catching my attention.

I'll sleep well tonight.
Sam Epps 18.03.10

Proposal

I propose to concentrate on specific concepts/notions of Defence and Protection referencing military and civil defence. The proposed works will engage directly with the fundamental reasons for the establishment of the Fort and the Geneva Conventions.
Both of which were set up as a means of Defence and Protection, both have been through processes of amendment owing to the changing nature of military warfare.
The Fort as it stands now no longer serves its original purpose and I wish to beg the same question of the Geneva Conventions [1].
With two outcomes;
• a public performance (with the possibility of audience participation) during the exhibition opening.
• a static art work that will be exhibited within the gallery space for the duration of the exhibition.

Both of the works will have an underlying educational and informative content in their final outcome, with the idea of providing the viewing public an abstract arena in which to ponder social, political and emotional spheres of thought both past and present.


The Works: Anarchy of Silence.
1. Public Live Performance (with the possibility of audience participation)
The performance will be divided in to 3 routines, the last of which is open to audience participation.
• Routine 1: Dressed as a construction worker - overalls – hard hat and armed with a tool box I will proceed to mark out on the floor with chalk and red tape the progressive form of the Fort [2], up until its current shape; pentagonal.

• Routine 2: Shedding the construction workers overalls and hat, revealing clothes of a Diplomat / bureaucrat and replacing the toolbox with a brief case stamped; ‘Important Document’ I will extract from the brief case one by one the individual protocols of the Geneva Conventions 1 - 5 and place them in neat stacks on the corresponding 5 ‘Bastions’ of the Forts pentagonal [3], form.

• Routine 3: Removing the Diplomat / bureaucrats clothes and brief case leaving me wearing black leggings and long sleeved black top, I will cover my head and face (suggesting anonymity), I will bring to the centre of the pentagonal fort form a paper shredder. Then in their individual sections I will begin to shred the pages of the Geneva Conventions, inviting the audience/public to partake in the process. The neat stacks of paper will be replaced by piles of shredded paper.
__________________________________________________________________________

2. Static Art Work (gallery exhibition)
A video Installation: to be shown for the duration of the exhibition.

• I propose to stage the above performance prior to the exhibition here in Finland at a chosen site that is as close in its topical and physical aesthetics as to that of Landguard Fort.
• Choice of site for performance in Finland; Suomenlinna [4],meaning ‘Sea Fortress’.
• This performance will then be videoed/filmed and documented and made ready to be presented during the exhibition. The pre-enactment of this performance allows me the opportunity to make a trail run, work out its length in time and through viewing be able to examine any possible problems or faults.

So there it is, I am actually beginning to get over my fear of a possible live performance and feel a wee tingle of excitement.

Edwina 18.03

oil to dry

There- managed to sign in...blogger numero 3. Looking forward to the next crit- sans Caroline perhaps- just to see how ideas are developing- the last held at laura's house was great- productive, constructive and friendly.

My comissioned painting of gainsborough's vantage of landguard is finished! It'll be sent as soon as the paint is dry enough- hopefully to arrive later this week or early the next one...I ordered it in January and it has felt like a long time coming...we shall see!

Other things to get interested about include the Felixstowe 'art on the prom'...Felixstroll 2010...

Signing off now- lessons await Juliet

AM I BECOMING A RADIO ENTHUSIAST RATHER THAN AN ARTIST??

Am up a gum tree at the moment with any proposed works am awaiting a eureka moment.. is it going to arrive? Have now discussed my project with various odd bods am hoping someone will come forward to help with the intricacies of writing a c.d. Sara

Removed from Reality

Thanks for setting this blog up, Sam. I am intrigued by your proposal- and totally up for participating in a military game!

My work is usually based on women so my contribution to State of Readiness is going to be based on the idea of waiting, at home, for the worst news. Being so separate from what is actually going on involves a lot of imagination, and is based almost entirely on newspapers, tv or movies. The individual experience is fictional in the mind of those waiting at home, until a letter or telephone call. Even then, one cannot step into another's shoes.

So I am planning to create an image that will be removed from reality several times. I haven't yet decided on the content of the image, but I plan to print said photograph, then scan it and project it. I will then photograph the projection with a pinhole camera (here's where it gets tricky!) using a large-format negative, and then print from that negative onto a piece of transparent material. The final piece should look very surreal- a snapshot of a snapshot, seen through different lenses. Using a combination of old and new techniques should also give it a timeless feel.

I'd quite like the final piece to blow around in the wind a bit, so how and where I mount it will be essential.

I will post again on here once I decide on an image.
Diane www.dianearcher.co.uk

SCAN

We were successful in our application for a SCAN grant from Suffolk Coastal, hurray!