Mortar

A collection of brickwork images, taken from discarded newspapers and magazines, hand-stitched (entirely on public transport) to this.

Made for the Fifty Bees project. I explain more, here.

I have used ‘walls’ on account of my allocated bee nesting in soft mortar joints.

Information about the fifteen walls and photographers below.

This work will never be reproduced and sold in print form, by me or anyone else. If you would like to show it online, please contact me first. All photographers must be credited.

1. Harrow School wall. Founded in 1572. Former pupils include Churchill, Byron and Trollope. Image cut from the London Evening Standard, 21.2.18. Photograph by Daniel Lynch.

2. Salisbury wall. Site of a nerve-agent attack. Image cut from the Guardian, 22.3.18. Photograph by Peter Nicholls.

3. Pier wall, St. Andrews. Where students perform a ‘traditional walk’. Image cut from the Guardian, 16.3.18. Photograph by Jane Barlow.

4. Wall of Streatham And Clapham Preparatory School, London, where pupils dressed as inspirational female figures to mark International Women’s Day. Cut from the London Evening Standard, 8.3.18. Impressed to see all the girls get named. Photograph by Ian Jones.

5. Wall behind Gemma Arterton. Cut from Time Out London, 18-24th April 2017 (2426). Photograph by Andy Parsons.

6. Wall of Brat restaurant, London. ‘A-list fanbase’. Cut from the London Evening Standard, 21.3.18. Photograph by Nigel Howard.

7. Arch wall near Borough Market, London. James Cochran mural. Each heart pays tribute to a victim of the London Bridge terror attack. Cut from the London Evening Standard, 27.3.18. Photograph by Nigel Howard.

8. Wall behind Vicky McClure in Line Of Duty. Taken from an article accusing some drama schools of shutting out working class students, on account of the ‘ludicrous’ audition fees. Cut from i newspaper, 21.10.17. Photograph by Steffan Hill.

9. Wall of 10 Downing Street, 1979. Taken following Margaret Thatcher’s election as Britain’s first female prime minister. Cut from the Guardian, 9.4.13. Photographer uncredited.

Wall in Carnaby Street London, c1963. Cut from Time Out London, 29th March – 4th April 2016. Getty Images.

11. Wall of Windsor Castle. According to the London Evening Standard (29.3.18), 100,000 people are expected to visit Windsor for the royal wedding, and, an estimated £30m will be spent on security measures. They are worried that activists will ‘dress up as homeless people’ after a local Tory leader called for the police to ‘hide the homeless’ before the event. Photographer uncredited.

13. Wall of the Giraffe House, London Zoo. Cut from the Guardian, 20.3.18. Still trying to locate photographer.

13. Wall of the Switch House, Tate Modern, London. Cut from Time Out London, 13-19 December 2016 (2410). Photograph by Ed Marshall.

14. Wall of a house on Rue Gentil-Bernard, Paris. Where Yves Klein did his ‘Leap Into The Void’, 1960. Photo by Harry Shunk and János Kender. Cut from Time Out London, 23-29th February 2016 (2368).

15. Theresa May’s fake wall. Building a Britain fit for the future. Cut from the Guardian, 6.3.18. Photograph by Frank Augustein.

All of my work is numbered, this piece is 872.

Fifty Bees: The Interconnectedness Of All Things

Bees are amazing, unfortunately they are getting screwed.

I am honoured to have been selected for this year’s Fifty Bees project, brainchild of long-admired Lydia Needle.

Each of the fifty artists taking part is allocated a bee species (mine is Colletes Daviesanus), and asked to make an artwork in response. The brief is broad and relaxed, you can pretty much do anything.

Lydia has made the most exquisitely sculpted bees, to exhibit alongside each guest artwork, at Richard Jefferies Museum in June.

I am flailing around like a netted fish. Unbelievable I know, but it has only just dawned on me that my work does not do briefs (however broad) and deadlines. I am still stitching work I started thirty years ago.

I’d had the information for a good month, when panic set in. Having already looked through newspapers and magazines, to no avail,  for pictures of hogweed (my bee’s ‘food’) and the like, I ordered some Wild Flower books on Ebay. It felt wrong, but I felt desperate. The books were described as being in disrepair. They are not. I couldn’t bring myself to cut them up and took them to a charity shop.

Lydia, and my ‘beekeeper’ Joy, are not putting any pressure on me. They have total faith.

Anyway, when I wasn’t looking, I found a path. I’m using this. More to follow.

Raspberry Jam Bakes

Marks And Spencer Raspberry Jam Bakes box.

Found on Cameron Road, Bromley (29th October, 2017).

It was early, and I was walking to the train station, on my way to work.

The box was soggy as hell, but that colour…

My mother refers to it as ‘shocking pink’, which I’d never thought about until now.