03/07/2009 by James.

giving twitter a bit of a go if you fancy looking me up… jamesaldridge4

and if you wonder why… so did I but I thought I’d try it and see. Let me know if you’re on there too.

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03/07/2009 by James.

I was in London again this week, looking at an MA at The Institute of Education, and while I was there I called into The British Museum. I love the way that a museum can re-inspire me with an object from the past or another culture.This time I was soon excited again at the thought of getting going with my wearable pieces, adapted from clothing and adorned with finds, words and images from my walks and travels.

In parallel with this other body related work, I’ve also started work on the Mencap commission, a piece of work that will be included in the ‘Dia de los Muertos’ exhibition I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this blog. I’m creating a celebration of my nephew Albert who died a few years ago, working onto a shirt with images and objects linked with Albert’s life; my memories of and relationship with him.

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25/06/2009 by James.

The Message (image below) will be on show next month as one of the shortlisted works for The Evolver Prize 2009.

The exhibition can be seen at The Dorset County Museum in Dorchester from Saturday 4th July to 19th July, from 10 to 5 p.m. There is no charge to enter the exhibition.

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24/06/2009 by James.

I’ve been exploring how to share my work and as usual have documented my experiments…some of these images may in fact form a final piece, or they may lead to me developing new work with new ways of getting my work more widely viewed.

I am interested in how my work can act as a kind of sign or shrine, a public offering of where and who I am, and a place to interconnect with others, a kind of crossroads or a marker of where I’ve been, and a place for you to pause along your own path. This way it’s not a precious one way thing, it’s an offered experience in neutral territory.

In looking at how to share my work in ways that aren’t limited to a gallery space, I’m not rejecting that option, but hoping to just widen the ways in which the individual side of my practice can feed directly into the environments and communities in which I live and work… adding 2D pieces to community noticeboards, strapping objects to lamp-posts, leaving adapted books in shops or libraries…. leaving work to be taken, defaced or decayed.

I am still absorbed by the idea of pieces that I’ve made being worn as well, maintaining a direct bodily connection with the work, and exploring the role of cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary practices as a means of blurring perceptual boundaries and encouraging our acceptance of more holistic realities.

Its the process of creating and reflecting, exploring and learning that excites and feeds me; the chance of making unexpected connections with others through new work and the new ways of sharing that work.

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24/06/2009 by James.

I didn’t manage to spot any Bustards this week when I went up on Salisbury Plain for some peace and quiet, although by the number of camouflaged birdwatchers loitering behind the bushes I was probably within metres of them - maybe next time when its back to being just me in the wide open space with the butterflies, skylarks and roe deer.

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18/06/2009 by James.

I’m back in Wiltshire after my time in Dorset and London, catching up on my own work and planning new projects with different partners. Here’s some of the work from the last few days, first off the children from Symmondsbury School in Dorset and their work reflecting on the visit to the Denhay Dairy Farm.

My time working at Little Ilford School in Newham, East London was inspiring and life affirming… the year 9 students that I was working with were a great group of young people, exploring the issues and horrors of the holocaust, and creating a tree of hope in relief for the wall of their drama studio. The tree was constructed and woven in relief onto painted canvas, with symbols of hope, peace and inclusion hung as leaves, fruit and birds from it.

The last image isn’t so great as my camera started to play up, but you get the idea of how the separate parts come together to form the whole, group piece at the end.

For more information on The Bow Arts Trust who set up the project in partnership with the school, go to www.bowarts.org

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10/06/2009 by James.

Its been a varied week this week, from a visit to Denhay Farm in rural Dorset with a group of local Year 1 school children, to a meeting to plan a sculpture project reflecting on the horrors of the Holocaust and the hopes for the future of a group of year 9 students from Newham in East London.

In addition I’ve had the confirmation that I’ll be contributing as a visiting lecturer to the Postgraduate Certificate in Community Arts and Media Professional Practice (CAMPP for short) at UWE - the pilot of the course runs this summer for a September start.

The Dorset project is being organised through a partnership between DepARTure (www.dorsetforyou.com/index.jsp?articleid=2624) and the Dorset AONB. I’ll be working with the children again this Friday in school, drawing from our experiences at the farm and reflecting on the interconnected nature of food, farming and wildlife within this beautiful area.

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02/06/2009 by James.

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01/06/2009 by James.

My work has reached a point where my experiments with 2D collages and textile pieces are branching back out into more 3D work… I want to look at adapting more objects; recycling packaging and collecting together found materials, to create pieces that make their material reality accessible and continuous with those objects more easily seen as ‘natural’.

This morning I’ve been experimenting with stitching through a foil container onto wool blanket and collected treasures from my wanders through the forest and local charity shops…

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01/06/2009 by James.

The second day of the Salisbury Arts Festival/Museum workshops was an afternoon with 8 to 12 year olds and their parents… a chance for older children to design, construct and decorate bird sculptures - a workshop inspired by the impending departure of the museum’s natural history collection to new homes.

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