Today was very busy from the beginning. Ditty Dokter and Simon Harmer performed in the space and four student groups attended sessions throughout the day in addition to members of the public visiting the show.

Ditty began with a wonderful storytelling session. She explained how my interest in the Selkie tales corresponded to her own connection to landscape, story and identity.
Ditty is Dutch and comes from an opposite landscape to myself – the flatland’s and delta plain rather than mountains and seashore. The Netherlands, although reclaimed from the sea, have no equivalent Selkie or animal/human shape-shifters legends. But Ditty found and told chilling tales of the ‘White Women’ who rise from the mists that cling to the land. This seemed very fitting for a drawing in light. As she spoke either myself or a student drew her movement and eerie white lines wrapped themselves around her.

To draw Simon step dancing I had to reposition the projector, tipping it down to focus on his feet. This produced some problems with the projection shifting between vertical and horizontal. The eye and the hand compensate for the disparities.

Simon and I gave an initial talk describing what we were doing – the context, aims and techniques. In doing so we realized there were some important parallels – the necessity to work between technique and improvisation, to develop a necessary skill base and body co-ordination. Once more the students and myself alternated drawing Simon as he danced.

After the student group sessions were complete I worked with some of the other visitors to the show. Both adults and children were keen to perform and try the technique of drawing at the easel with the video projection. I handed out drawing boards, paper and pencils and invited viewers to participate. Encouraged to draw, focusing on looking at and drawing movement, most people joined in. This last part of the day was a lively, social event.

Dafydd Wyn Roberts  sang songs written by Howie Phillips. He sang Drifting Away, Comfort and Happiness, Wounded in Love, Blindside and Tears. Although I only drew Dafydd’s movement, the recognizable image of man and guitar is discernible in the final drawings. The acoustics were quite good in the gallery and drew in students and visitors to listen and watch. Dafydd also performed some scenes from the late Mark Ryan’s play Sean Tyrone. Drawing the music was intense, because the songs are relatively short, but as I have found with drawing musicians before – some of the movements become repetitive and the focus of attention tends to be around the face and the hands. While drawing Dafydd as he performed scenes from the play was more unpredictable, and used the space more. Therefore, the drawings are less readable or recognizable in a figurative sense.

In the afternoon a group of student volunteers joined me to assist in running a short taster workshop with a group from Canolfan Padarn. We had a great afternoon playing with possibilities in the projection. I loved the drawings the participants produced and by the end of the session Eddie was improvising on the piano while David and Chris drew the music together onto a collaborative drawing. Their work was interactive and inspirational, they seemed to have fun while also taking the task seriously. Their drawings displayed a good variety of marks and their observational skills improved as the session went on.

The private view was a lively and well attended event – although I didn’t manage to photograph the crowds. I handed my camera to friends and asked them to record the event for me since I was drawing. You can see some of the images below.
Eileen Adams gave a speech to open the show.
Ben March and Will Mahon played Irish music for me and I drew their movements in a live demonstration of the video projection drawing technique. Apart from two short breaks, the musicians played and I drew most of the evening. I was surprised by the sustained interest in the demonstration.
There was a steady stream of people all evening as they toured the various spaces in the show.
Later on Arts 4 Wellbeing practitioners Mike and Sarah volunteered to try the drawing technique for themselves. While they drew and moved I manipulated the projected image through the video mixer and Mike declared he ‘wanted one’.
People also took the opportunity to complete the ‘map’ response forms for me, which will form part of my research.

The first part of the morning was quiet so I experimented with drawing into the video from day 1 of Lynne singing and Annie playing piano and flute.
Then Eirini (MA student) came in and we discussed her experience of drawing using the video projection on day 2. She had some frustrations, which came about because I placed the emphasis on observational drawing. Eirini prefers a different approach to mark making.
I invited her to have another go and suggested that this time she used her usual approach of gestural improvisations to music. While she drew I manipulated the projected image with the video mixer and it proved a fruitful experiment.
In the afternoon Annie returned to play the flute, piano and to sing for me again. As I was drawing several visitors came in to the space to view the work in progress.

Although there were no performers booked in today people flowed in and out of the space.

In the morning I talked to Dr Harry Hauser’s writing group about my experience of writing the text panels for the exhibitions. They were enthusiastic, asked questions and offered suggestions.

I then drew Bruce who was on a break from his Life Long Learning session. He told us about his own artwork as I drew him. I explained I would only draw his movement and followed him with a line as he walked and talked in the space. He was very entertaining. At the end of the drawing he looked at the projection and declared – ‘Well, it doesn’t look like me!’ However, he came back at lunchtime to collect his drawing once the ink had dried and promised to come back to view the exhibition.

During the quiet periods I drew into a video of my interview with Phil Steadman (author of ‘Vermeer’s Camera’). I didn’t expect to end up with a figurative image drawing Phil’s movements, but I did. I was intrigued to notice how much I was drawn to his eyes movement, just as much as the mouth. Drawing only his movements made be appreciate how expressive his face is as he speaks.

I notice that dense and repeated movements in some subjects generate semi-figurative images. Is this visual evidence that the essence of our being – energy – is all there is? Do the drawings show that matter is only dense energy?

A mature student dropped in to say hello and reminded me that she had participated in one of my drawing workshops about 14 years ago at Oriel Davies in Newtown. Since then Mo has done her BA and MA in Fine Art and has just started her practice based PhD part-time. It was lovely to see her again.

In the afternoon two MA students joined me in the space. Kim drew me drawing her in the projection. Then Eirini joined us and drew into a video of Russian musician Eva.

Later, Kim brought in her two children Seren and Dylan. They had a great time playing with drawing and moving in the projection. They especially enjoyed the ‘colourise’ option on the video mixer.

Hello Maria

Thank you for a truly stunning experience, which left me learning about your theories the whole day. It brought together what I thought were disparate ideas into a cohesive whole. I believe everyone who visits this show will leave with a different experience – there is so much there.

Theory was evident everywhere, from written statements to visual proof – interspersed photographs and narrative to sound tracks of your voice explaining on various headsets. And the videos of the different groups you worked with backing up the theory.

The Selkie room was another world.  Moving images of water and seals shining through suspended animal skins in each of the four corners, set to a backdrop of oceanic sounds.

The ink drawings in the main room, some on animal skins (vellum), were fascinating and compelling. The area with three different video’s and sound tracks were brought together with huge natural wood blocks with animal skins (sheep) thrown over.

Attention to detail – from clip boards with maps of the exhibition to make notes on for every visitor to the hand made visitors book; the careful placement of photographs and artworks interspersed with stones from the beach – each small part making a difference.

The Energy Gift Exchange room with its programme of events demonstrates clearly how your theory of combining technology with observational drawing works.  Technology is used here in a way that I think must be unique.  It did not ‘over do’ its place in the exhibition but added another dimension. It was integral to the work.

In the afternoon two musicians performed for you – it was magical and the resultant drawings, which form your half of the exchange from one performer to another, produced a ‘hard copy’ of the memorable event.

Sourcing the technology and artifacts to create this show on a limited budget must have been a huge challenge. The result is a show that could grace any gallery, anywhere.

I hope you get the number of visitors that you deserve. I’m sure that this work will equal and possibly surpass anything I will be seeing at the Venice Bienniale next month.

Jane Chapman BA (Hons) Fine Art

Shedding Skins - Energy Exchange day one - drawing Jane do yoga

Three participants came today and the time flew by. I did three drawings of Jane Chapman doing yoga and then asked if she would like to try drawing herself. Jane was able to draw into the video of herself doing yoga. You could also see the projection drawing I had been doing and her hand drawing was overlaid. It was like watching a simultaneous duet and trio.

Annie Suganami played piano, flute and sang and I drew between her movements and the sounds. I become very aware of my decision making process of drawing using the video projection technique process , which helps to focus my mark making.

Lynne Denman arrived and sang duets with Annie, then sang the Selkie song she had composed for me solo. I projected video footage of the sea over her as she sang.

Visitors came and went as we worked. The entrance to the Demonstration space is quite narrow and I hope this doesn’t put people off from entering the space.

Although the gift exchange entails that the a drawing is gifted to the performers, all three offered for their choice of drawing to remain in the show until I have an opportunity to document them. So for the moment they are up on the wall and if you visit the show on Wednesday or Friday this week, you will have the chance to view them.