PARK

Image © Nicola Atkinson Does Fly

Clock People (Public Art Gathering)

Four Art Events from November 07 – March 08 for the people of Abbeyview.
People attending these events will experience various ideas on the notion and definition of public art, with a chance to freely discuss their opinions. Each of the evenings’ discussions will be annotated and, as a conclusion to the exercise, form a report to determine the future of Public art in Abbeyview.

The events promise to be an all round exciting experience, with a strong visual and audio backdrop to inspire and provoke opinion. All members of the community are welcome. All members of the community are welcome. Refreshments will be served. See the posters displayed around Abbeyview for info.

Thursday 29th November @ 7pm
Abbeyview Community Centre
THEME: The Importance of Time.

Nicola Atkinson Does Fly shall co-host the first event with John Cavanagh. John has created music under the name Phosphene since 2000. For the last decade and a half he has work for BBC Radio
Scotland, all the BBC networks from 1-5 and World Service/Radio International. He currently purveys twisted pop radio programmes to listeners in Latvia and New Zealand from a cellar in Pollokshields. Nicola will introduce her working practices and John will read stories by Phillip Miller, written especially for this event.

K & K FACTORS

QUICK ART

A R.A.D.A.R Moment

Last week I met with Alan Grieve to record him performing the stories he had written about time. After they were recorded we sensed that something was missing in the experience. We needed some space from the performance so it was off to the chip shop, because I just love the chips in Abbeyview, since we were hungry. We found ourselves sat at the top of the stairs that lead down to Tweed Street. It was a sunny day in October and Alan was telling me about his memories of the Abbeyview chip shop, since he is from the area. It was fresh, funny and spontaneous and after I had recorded it I suggested if Alan could write the story on the pavement, which he did with much passion. A couple walked by and the man said “What is this? I might get chalk on my feet and ruin my carpet.. and I could sue you! And who gave you permission to do that?" Then seconds later a man across the road, who was just about to wash his car, said “You are not going to leave that!" The fact that we were going to wait for the rain didn't appeal to him so he gave us a hose and Alan washed it off. That was the quickest piece of public art that Alan & I have created! Through talking a bit more to the man with the hose we found out that he was quite interested in art and asked him about showing public art, such as the chalked pavement, in Abbeyview. He recounted to us the habitual vandalism to his car, saying that any permanent piece would certainly receive the same attention. It would seem that temporary public art is very effective in Abbeyview given that the immediate interaction of passers-by and that the element of deterioration would be removed from the equation if one wished. This half hour piece of art is a true Random And Dynamic Art Risk, giving us the first successful R.A.D.A.R project. (The Fly)


K&K Factors Project update. Nicola has completed half of the drawings create in ink and Sophia has finished hers in America. Woodmill High School students dropped by the shop with Jackie Powton Art Teacher to purchase and draw an object from the shop, starting the next part of the project.


Curiosity Cabinet continues it tour arriving next at Fife Contemporary Art & Craft in the St Andrews Town Foyer, the Town Hall, Queen's Garden, St Andrews. It will be there from 8th December 2007- 30th January 2008.


The 'Artist in Abbeyview Steering Group' met to discuss the art projects. They had Ben Spencer, cultural broker and contributor to the SEE EYE March Event, as guest to guide them with future planning.

Nicola also gave presentation to Scottish Forum Against Poverty Meeting at the Dunfermline City Chambers on Friday, below.



Photogarphs © Nicola Atkinson Does Fly

AUTHOR ! AUTHOR !!

I was asked this week what my role is as Artist in Abbeyview – and what is my role with the the other artists involved? It got me thinking, where does the trail of an idea or artwork start from? Is the idea of ownership important?

After working as a curator & director at a gallery space in Glasgow called Bulkhead 1997– 2001 and receiving the NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) fellowship 2002 – 2005 I decided that I would work in collaboration with fellow artists. This moulded the way in which I set up my time in Abbeyview by inviting 8 people to think with me collectively, forming the SEE EYE artwork in March. In the remaining time until March ‘08 I have set up several artworks with 10 other artists, using ideas born of my observations of and access to Abbeyview, as well as my interests in general. I feel that to break down the idea ‘tree’ of each artwork would be a distraction from the outcome, but I think it might be of interest to discuss who is the author of an artwork.


The Tweed Street idea came to me while travelling from Dunfermline centre to Abbeyview on the bus, on which I have a view of people lives through their front windows. After meeting with Marisa Privitera I thought it would be good to have her energy focused on meeting people and have her photograph the people’s windows. It develop as she responded to Abbeyview by photographing the people on the street and buses. After her photographs were finished I started to wonder how best to show these works. I decided it would be good to show them like ‘Lost Cat Posters” on the Tweed Street. The context is very much part of this work.


This brings me to the development of the R.A.D.A.R. (Random And Dynamic Art Risks) artworks, to create unforeseen happenings. This was set up to challenge myself and the artists about place, public and collaboration.

Sophia Pankenier’s RADAR artwork ideas can be found in our past blogs. Last week Sophia completed her drawings in New York where she is living at the moment. I initially introduced Sophia to the local Abbeyview hardware shop K&K Factors and came up with setting up a hand-drawn shop in her New York apartment, far away from Abbeyview. It was only last week when I received her lovely drawings that I realised my fascination with K&K Factors shop in Abbeyview was not complete, thus the idea started to grow. I purchased 14 objects and decided to draw them and display the images in the shop. You will be able to see them from 19th November 2007. These will be for sale at the same price as the objects were purchased for. Both our drawings will be produced in a limited edition 32 page book, of only 100 printed. These will be available from 19th November 2007 in various locations around Abbeyview.



Students at Woodmill High School will create a follow up to the K&K Factors shop artwork, in response to this, also drawing objects from the shop and selling them for the same price. The artwork asks the question “What is the price of art?”.



These are only a few examples of my working practice. In these artworks we become jointly the author, my role as artist might be the starting point but in the end the outcome is most importantly a collective one. (The Fly)


Photographs © Nicola Atkinson Does Fly