Gee How Quaint

Homage to Trinity Car Park

This is my homage to Trinity Car Park, Gateshead.  That looming, glorious, grotesque, exquisite beast of The North.  This work was created for the Mail Art exhibition which I believe is to be displayed at the The Spider and Fly Shop.  To be honest, I don't even know if this is going to make it to the actual exhibition.  And if they don't receive it by post tomorrow then all of this has been in vain, because I will have missed the deadline.  Well.  No.  Not really.  I had a lot of fun creating this.  If anything, this has given me an idea for work I need to create for an exhibition in Twickenham later this year. 

As you can see by the dates on the artwork, the car park is due for demolishing, complete demolishing, throughout the next several weeks.  For the people that have lived in its shadow, I think this is a welcome change.  For the people that viewed it from across the river, having it stare at us from the other horizon, well, I think the feelings are mixed.  When I lived in Newcastle, my first reaction was to cower in its wake.  But then.  Well.  Something happened.  I think I fell a little bit in love with it.  I started creating artworks based on this structure (www.cassandraharrison.co.uk) and I even grew to admire it.

So now it's coming down.  I think it's a shame.  But I guess it doesn't really matter, the opinion of some girl  living in Edinburgh.  I just can't imagine that what is going in it's place will have such a bold personality.

Maker Faire Newcastle 2010

Maker Faire is lurking just around the corner and this little Gocco user is making plans, plans, plans for the new and improved Gocco demo at this year's event. 

Enter stage left...Gocco Retrofit and Alternatives!  You may be asking yourself just about now 'what the heck does that mean?!'  I will tell you what the heck it does mean.  It means seeing new and interesting ways to keep the Gocco lovin' alive.  The little Gocco users of the world are feeling rather sad for themselves and their plastic little marvels of easy printmaking and delight as Riso is no longer making the printers, the inks, the screens, the bulbs.  What's a little Gocco printmaker to do?

My demo is hopefully an answer to that most serious of questions.  Alternative inks, alternative 'machines' and make your own screens.  Unfortunately, the bulbs and screen mesh are still necessary even for these alternatives, but there are still a myriad of things to learn and do with Gocco.

As part of my demonstration, I will be inviting members of the public to create screens and print on a community project I have lovingly named 'Dog Park.'  Want to see it, get involved or simply covet my Gocco printers?  Make plans to attend the Maker Faire in Newcastle!

Maker Faire Newcastle

Recruiting members for Newcastle Craft Mafia!!!

Doing someting creative, arty, crafty in the Newcastle upon Tyne area?  Why not join the family:

www.newcastlecraftmafia.com

The Late Shows are on this weekend!

 

If you have not experienced the Late Shows in Newcastle and Gateshead, then you are missing out on a spectacular treat.  From 7pm until 11pm the galleries fling open wide their pearly doors, inviting the public to step inside.  It isn't just about milling about a gallery at a time when it is usually closed.  Galleries put on great shows with live entertainment, make events, crafty fairs and also create interactive art events.  It's all such a lot of fun.  Fun for families. Fun for non families.  There is such a lot to do.

On Friday I will be smiling out from behind my Gee How Quaint and art-type stall, listening to Lindy Jazz music at The Art Works Galleries.  Saturday night I shall hop about town to see what there is to see at the other galleries.  I am hoping to end the night with my glowstick at the doors of WHQ.

For more info, go here

The Sage, Gateshead

 

Recently,  I have been commissioned to do an artwork based on the The Sage, Gateshead. It is remarkable to behold from any angle, but finding the right one to represent in an artwork is a bit of a trick.  If my view is straight to the side, I risk making it look like a beheaded and betailed catepillar.  If I catch it on either end, then I lose the easy undulations.

This is a tricky one, to be sure.  I think the reason the other building artworks work is due to the constrast of hard edges and soft textures of the material. I may need to change my focus for this one.  Don't worry.  I'm not defeated...just currently perplexed.

Break on Through

 

After days of fog and cloud and rain, the sun did shine...for 30 seconds.  I captured this incredible event right outside my window.

Maker Faire Newcastle: Robots, Knitted Monsters, Mechanical Horses...OH MY!

 

 

This moves, whinnies and breaths fire.  (This caption is for the above photo, not the below photo.  I do not do any of these things).

 

(Good God, I am terribly un-photogenic.  Do I look this cheesy in real life???)

This last weekend the town of Newcastle was a-buzz and a-twitter with the sounds of technology being played with and spoken of in great awe.  Semaphore typing on a screen.  Want a ride on a motorized skateboard?  What about scanning a textile monster and creating music by doing so.  There was so much to see and do at the Maker Faire that I felt like I was missing out on a lot of the fun. 

But not all of it.  I was lucky enough to have a stand at the fair.  I was slotted in alongside two other crafters.  And although I initially feared that my pretty arty bits and knicker bags might look a bit incongruous with the fire breathing horse I believe that by virtue of showing off my Gocco printer, I too belonged in that Show and Tell of Science activities.  Hopefully next year's event will have more crafty people.

I am so pleased with the turn out.  Thousands came to do and see and play.  It was such a fantastic weekend. 

Mentos and Coke

 

My introduction to the Science Fair and Maker Faire began with a bang.  Mentos and Coke does a big fountain make.  This demo was at the Centre for Life and gosh darn it if my camera ran out of batteries before I could click the big finale.  This is Fritz and ? (Fritz sticking in my brain because the name is just so dandy) from Maine demonstrating the trick of 6 mentos touching fizzy Diet Coke.  It ended with great gusto as 20 bottles exploded the brown bubbly 20 metres into the air.

There is much to see and do in Newcastle in the next seven days.  Follow this link to enlightenment. 

I rode in Yoko Ono's coffin car

 

 

As a birthday present to myself, I booked a friend and I to ride around in Yoko Ono's coffin car.  No.  She isn't dead.  This is just an extension of her artfulness.  And to be honest, I don't 'get' it, however, the experience of being driven around the city in a Daimler hearse was both interesting and informative.  Our driver shared local trivia with us.  Although, I do think Adrienne won in the trivia stakes as she shared with us an interesting fact about how people move in crowds.

A: In a 'V' shape.  Like ducks.  So, if you were to stand at the top of Grey Street and watch a crowd of people, the naturally form a 'V' shape.  Now you too have learned something interesting today.

Want to book your own coffin car journey?  Click on this and make it happen.

Walk about Durham

 

My new year began with a walk around the cathedral city of Durham. The weather was damp and cold but somehow exactly what was needed to clear my head from the previous night's festivities.  The path we took looped around the city centre, through fields and university property then dragged us up onto the hill where the massive cathedral overlooks the comings and goings of the people below it. 

Good times.  Good food.  And now I feel healthy and full of life and excitement about the promising months ahead.