Tracey Emin - on radio

Heard Tracey Emin talking about her work on radio this morning. Whatever you think of the quality of her work you have got to admit she is sincere about it and she connects with the public.

She's a strong woman and I have got a lot of time for her. And she is usisng her art to make serious social comments.

Her high public profile owes a lot to her communication skills - yet another example of how important it is for artists to be able to talk about their work. Gone are the days when you could sit back and say " I am an artist. The work speaks for itself."

Today art is about a lot more than selling decorative work to hang on walls.
If you want that then go to Ikea.

A-N interview on email

I mentioned to some friends that I was doing an email interview ( for A-N magazine) only for them to be very dismissal. They do them all the time. Seems these are common journalistic practise these days.

Interviews conducted over long boozy lunches have long been consigned to the history books but I had not appreciated how virtual interviews have become the norm.

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

Steamer Lane ( from left to right) David Martin, Alex MacCambley and Alan Forrester

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n


Time of our Lives…challenging perceptions of older people

We were just about to start filming the soft rock group Steamer Lane on Saturday in the middle of Stirling when they started: the South American pan pipers with all their amplifiers going full blast.
Try competing against that!

I had this tremendous sense of deja- vu. Ten years ago in my Degree show at Glasgow School of Art I had installed a sound installation “Duet” of birds singing and a cat purring. It was a lyrical piece and it was set up in the Loggia, top of the Macintosh building.

Suddenly from the “Hen Run” adjoining I hear shots. The student next to me had installed a Western style shooting gallery as his degree piece…. I had to find a new space sharpish.

Well, we did get the filming done, once the South American players stopped for an early afternoon siesta but this is one of the problems when you are working with sound and in a public space.

You have got to be prepared to think fast and find solutions.

Forth Valley Open Studios -brochures

Our brochures have arrived and they look fantastic. Committee members went away tonight armed with box loads of them. We have worked out a distribution list for the whole of the Forth Valley plus Edinburgh and Glasgow.

All studios will each receive 100 copies too so hopefully this will help raise awareness of our event and encourage visitors.

Now the publicity ....

Rosy Naylor of Platform Designs | Image | Artists talking | a-n

Rosy Naylor of Platform Designs | Image | Artists talking | a-n

this is our new poster to advertise our Open Studios event in June. It is with the printers and we hope to have it back along with the brochures by the end of next week.

Open Studios poster

New project - "Best of Times"

I thought it would be a good idea for this year 's Forth Valley Open Studios to give myself a project with a tight deadline. Well the deadline is certainly tight - it's only weeks away - because I have dithered about the best way of doing an " art and ageing" project.

So, I have decided on a blog that looks at the many positive ways that people these days approach this time of their lives often in ways that challenge the stereotyped images that surround the subject .
You have only got to open a newspaper to see the ageist language used : " oldies" " old folks" "old age pensioner ".

The blog "Best of Times" invites contributions from mature bloggers .
Also I am doing a photographic /video installation showing positive images of those who are 60+

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n

Diary of an artist writer online | Project blogs | Artists talking | a-n
Ernest Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea in this observatory/writing tower he built for himself next to his home in Havana.
Visitors are not allowed inside so I took this photo from the doorway while getting drenched in a tropical thunderstorm.

GMAC and Cafe Flickr

Just heard that Cafe Flickr, the monthly open cinema for new film makers run by Glasgow Media Access Centre in Glasgow has closed for at least six month.

GMAC has let the space out as offices!... seems they have got some serious financial problems.
In fact they have even let out their editing suites.

Travel blog- caribbean

Hi! Check out my new multi-media travel blog based on recent visit to the Caribbean.
I have used text photos and video. Bit of a struggle for a non-geek like myself but did manage it.
If I can anyone can ...

Ann's Caribbean travel blog

Why the peculiar name? As a child I was known as Titch and in the last year I have taken twittering under the name of Titchtwitter.
Thought you would like to know. Or maybe not...

Hope the link works. I am doing this on my iPad and it lacks some functions like being able to highlight sections and paste web links.
That said the iPad is the best gadget I have had for years . It allowed me to make an easy digital diary while in the Caribbean - bigger screen than an iPhone and not as heavy as a laptop. In fact the ideal travelling companion.

And I no longer have to carry books and magazines around . It's all online. In my handbag.

Video - Havana, Cuba

From hot to cold
Here's another piece of work based on my visit to Havana. This time I have mashed the video in my computer to create a film with a totally different feel.
Yet another experiment on my part.

guests.future.mov

Youtube link to Cuban dancers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAKnULKLstk


Still trying to figure out what it is about my work that suggests some folk may be upset by it. For months now when you google my Youtube channel it comes up with a warning.

What can I do about it? there's nothing there that could offend anyone.

Tropicanna nightclub- Havana

My channel on Youtube carries a warning that the site contains material which some people might find offensive.

I cannot figure out which videos they might be referring to since most of them are simple recordings of everyday events at which I happen to be present. The rest are either quirky or fall into the "arty" category.

This video, made on a recent visit to Cuba, was made using my new Flip camcorder which I bought online for less than a £100, its in high definition, dead easy to use, slips into my handbag but the sound quality is lousy.

Mexico- Mayan ruins

"The Waiting Game" - Tulum, Mexico
I took this photo on a recent visit to Mexico. It was terribly hot and it was the last photo I took at the end of a long and exhausting day exploring some Mayan ruins.

Only when looking through the files on my return did I realise that it had some unexpected qualities like the repetition of the curves of the iguana with that of the two figures and likewise the shadows replicated in both.

But it was the sense of something eerie and sinister about to happen that caught my eye.

Most of the stuff I shot in Mexico was video which turned out to be a disaster because I was using the much hyped Flip camcorder yes it is easy to use but it lacks a stabiliser and the sound quality is dreadful. Oh yes it is in HD and the colours are amazing.

Forth Valley Open Studios- Delta exhibition

We have has a meeting with Craig McKechnie, director of Delta studios and he has again very generously offered his studio space, one of the biggest exhibition spaces in Scotland , for our taster exhibition in June.

This allows members of the public to view work en masse from the studios before planning their itinerary .

Kissing stingrays in the Caribbean

Well, I guess I have been off line for a couple of weeks...touring the Caribbean and swimming with stingrays. Also popped into Mexico, St Lucia and Cuba.

Forth Valley Open Studios

drawn on my ipad using Brushes app


Last Saturday we held our first agm in the Smith museum and gallery in Stirling and we had a good response from the public.

A year ago Forth Valley Open Studios was just a bright idea …we had no database, no public money and a very tight deadline.
Just a bunch of enthusiastic and dedicated artists prepared to work their socks off.
The result? Last June 73 studios and over 100 artists participated in the first ever Open Studios nine-day event across the Forth Valley.

A subsequent survey revealed that it brought in over £44,000 to these studios.

Not bad for a first effort… now we are busy planning our second Open Studios for June 11- 19.

Our chair, Lys Hansen, pointed out that FVOS is now part of the cultural scene in the area.

Old media versus new media

view of Ben Ledi in the Trossachs from my kitchen window.

I despair of our local newspaper, the Stirling Observer.
It is read widely in the area so any coverage, however small, is welcome. Yes the reporter promised the paragraph I sent in on email about the agm of Forth Valley Open Studios which takes place this Saturday in the Smith Art gallery and Museum in Stirling would get in.

Open the paper this morning. Nothing.

Fortunately new media comes to the rescue. Have put it on Facebook, Twitter and emailed all artists on our data base.