Ancient Scent

As summer draws to a close and Autumn has firmly set in I've looking back at all the things I've done and woweee has it been busy. August was especially packed. I had the Happy Tat sale which was a delight and then a mammoth car boot sale, and I'm now entering the new season feeling a whole lot lighter and brighter. 

 I've also been knee deep in preparations for Ancient Scent which is coming up at the beginning of October (7th-10th). We've had so many wonderful and fortuitous things happen around the project. The launch evening will take place on October 8th and will include a full programme of discussion, readings and performances. We're very lucky to have Richard Shillitoe and Marcus Williamson (both Ithell Colquhoun experts and enthusiasts) lending us some real deal Ithell Colquhoun's for the evening and holding a short discussion alongside member of Ancient Scent, Steve Patterson. 

About month ago my mum, Penny MacBeth, who is also a part of Ancient Scent, received a forwarded email through a curator and friend at Penlee House Gallery and Museum detailing that Peter Owen Press were soon to re-launch Ithell Colquhoun's two travelogues The Crying of the Wind and The Living Stones with a new foreword by Stewart Lee.  Penlee held the first retrospective of Colquhoun's work last January but weren't looking for any further Colquhoun events. After many emails, a trip to the Peter Owen offices and a few calls we arranged to also host the launch of the two books at our launch of the exhibition. It's incredibly exciting that the books will be re-launched, and we feel very honoured to have them present at our evening. The Living Stones is how I first discovered Colquhoun, through a dusty old copy from the library. It had me gripped from beginning to end, it is beautifully evocative depiction of Cornwall in the early-mid fifties and indeed it has much that we could learn from today in it. I think I've quoted this passage here before but it's still my absolute favourite, Ithell Colquhoun on fox hunting:

If I can explain my feeling on the subject of 'blood sports' without priggishness, I would say that the human race can never enjoy the freedom of the cosmos until it ceases to exploit the other races with which it must share it's life. In other words, you cannot count on benevolence in your surroundings unless you practice harmlessness yourself. (The Living Stones, 1957, p.119)

My own work for Ancient Scent has been progressing very well. I've spent lots of time in the studio immersed in my alter ego, Hector Nit's, World. This foamy, cavernous landscape will provide the backdrop for the animals I've made to stand against. 

I've been worrying a lot what I might wear for the evenings proceedings, I have grand plans for a watercoloured outfit. However, I did also just buy this magical Bella Freud suit from ebay and it might just be my favourite ensemble ever. It had its first outing to some old friends' wedding last weekend and it was a joy to wear. 

As well as making the rocky landscape I've been busy making t-shirts to sell. I'll probably put most of them up in my shop, Happy Tat, afterwards so I'll let you all know!

The final, and extremely delightful, piece of fortune that was handed to us was this beautiful photograph of Ithell taken by Alastair Thain in 1985. We received an email from the same curator at Penlee stating they'd found it just after a phone call we'd made about the exhibition to them... We'll now have it on show for the duration of the exhibition!

If you'd like to visit Ancient Scent, details are below. Anyone wishing to attend the launch party or interested in more information about the project/launch please email me.

Outfit Details

1990s pink velvet suit - Bella Freud via ebay

Cupie doll t-shirt - Meadham Kirchoff X Topshop 

Brogues - Nicole Farhi via charity shop

1950s pink velvet turban hat - vintage shop

Following the Ancient Scent

I've mentioned the project Ancient Scent very briefly in a couple of posts now. but I felt it was time to explore it in a little more depth (given that I'm spending a lot of time on it currently!) The project is a year long artist led series of sessions that will culminate in an exhibition in October. The sessions explore the methodology and surrealist techniques of the artist Ithell Colquhoun. In particular the methods that she mentioned in her 1949 essay Mantic Stain. Colquhoun lived in Cornwall from the 1950s until her death in 1988, first at Vow Cave in Lamorna and then later on in Stone Cross Cottage in Paul. Our project sessions all take place in Lamorna Village Hall, a mere 5 minutes from her little hut (which is now rather fancy....)

Ithell is/was an enormously intriguing character. I first encountered her work through her psychogeographical book The Living Stones - where she takes the reader on a walk through the Cornwall. Her writing is extremely evocative, she writes nature in the most enticing way, after reading it I was convinced I just wanted to give up modern life and step into a caravan buried somewhere in Lamorna Valley, wash in a stream and paint everyday (to be honest it still sounds pretty great...) If you can get your hands on it, and you are so inclined to read such things, definitely do - it was an extremely formative read for me (and I've subsequently re-read it twice). It's a fantastic picture of a very particular period but she was also extremely forward-thinking and I found myself nodding in agreement to many of the ideas she was putting forward, particularly note-worthy are her remarks on fox hunting in the chapter 'Hound-Voice' in which she follows a hunt through the valley:

If I can explain my feeling on the subject of 'blood sports' without priggishness, I would say that the human race can never enjoy the freedom of the cosmos until it ceases to exploit the other races with which it must share it's life. In other words, you cannot count on benevolence in your surroundings unless you practice harmlessness yourself. (The Living Stones, 1957, p.119)

I have to admit that her painting is much much less interesting to me. I find it a little clumsy and although I can completely admire and find interest in the place it was coming from, I don't generally like the final outcome. However, that is not to say I am not interested in it! I think she was enormously talented in so many ways, and another example of a woman who was quashed by her male contemporaries so really, to me at least, it doesn't matter if I don't like her work visually. I feel I've connected with her in so many other senses, she almost feels like a dear friend.

Lamorna, for those of you who don't know it, is the most magical place. It's been home to countless artist's colonies beginning with Alfred Munnings, Laura and Harold Knight, and of course Lamorna Birch in the early 20th century. Since then it has been host to a revolving selection of painters/writers/poets & sculptors. The valley certainly has a mysterious draw, it's wonderfully wild, I love it. It's full to the brim with intriguing characters and the most breathtakingly beautiful scenery, and being in it's mists it's easy to see why it has pulled so many people in.

This weekend marked our second session for the project. This time we took a walk through the valley to experiment with Frottage - The Technique of taking of a rubbing from an uneven surface to provide random forms which can be interpreted and developed, and then worked with Collage.

We stopped along the way to take a few snaps. Again I'm wearing my new shirt/coat/dress, I haven't really taken it off since my last post! I was originally wearing turquoise jelly shoes but some sensible part of my brain decided I should change shoes incase it was muddy (this was the first sunny day in Cornwall for some time). It wasn't at all muddy and I really wish I'd not listened to the very small sensible bit of my brain as I'd of liked to paddle in the stream.

On our wander we stumbled on this free chair, shortly before this we had encountered a elf-like man who appeared from behind a bush. He was intrigued as to what we were doing (frottage!) and we explained. He was delightful, explaining that he was tending a garden, hacking at the brambles that appeared without fail each year. It wasn't until the end of our conversation that we realised he was holding an axe in his hand. That's Lamorna for you, wonderfully bizarre. 

After such a glorious day I felt extremely full of ideas and excitement to get started on some new work. I mentioned in my last post that I, along with the rest of the group, have taken an alter ego so below are some pictures of a piece Hector Nit is working on called Cryptic Colouration. Keep an eye on my instagram for more pictures/ videos of what Hector is up to.

 Outfit Details

Turquoise cotton shirt dress - Phool via a charity shop

Floral cotton trousers - Petticoat Lane Market

Cotton top - Buffalo Exchange Williamsburg

1960s cotton neckerchief - Vintage Kilo Sale

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Feeling Blue

It's been a while (nearly a whole month in fact) since I last graced this page. That's pretty pitiful but life has rather got in the way of late and if I'm honest I haven't felt all that enamoured with the idea of blogging recently. Other things have taken precedent. I touched on it in my last post but it seems I am less and less inclined to spend time prancing about in groovy ensembles for the camera. It's not that I don't wear them day to day - colour and pattern still very much rule my life but it does seem that my style has been morphing a little of late. I'm not sure if this is the advent of turning 26 in a few months time and feeling I have to rehearse the possibility of what it might mean to be an adult (and the wardrobe that will belong to my adult self) or the fact that a growing moth infestation has meant some of my most favoured pieces have had to be binned. Possibly the later as I've never much cared for age appropriate dressing. A new style of dressing is sometimes difficult when it comes to blogging... I feel I am gravitating away from the themed posts of the last few years into a new era. Although I may still theme outfits sometimes, I also might not. Either way I want this blog to always be a fun space and I don't want it to become one track in it's outlook so things will be changing over the coming months (for the better I hope!)

Now this ensemble... I purchased this blue shirt/dress/coat from the newest charity shop in town on it's grand opening day, I leapt towards it with great vigour. It was a little pricier than the usual items I purchase from chazzas however I knew when I saw it that it would become an instant staple. I love the cool waftiness of it and the colour is just magnificent. I also rather like that it's a bit French smock like in it's shape.

I've been painting a lot of late mostly towards Ancient Scent an exhibition to be held in Lamorna Village Hall in October. It'll be a culmination of several months of experimental workshops that we've been holding at the hall exploring automatic and surrealist techniques of the artist Ithell Colquhoun, who lived and worked in Lamorna from 1950s-1970s. There are 15 other artists taking part, and so far it's been the most uplifting and glorious experience. We've thus far had 2 sessions with the 3rd coming up in mid-April. I'll be posting a lot more about this project in the coming months but for now here's what Hector Nit (my alter-ego for this process) has been up to:

Hector is somewhat of a budding fossil hunter, an ametuer palentolgist and an all round celebrator of prehistoric beasts, plants and landscapes. His automatic drawings reveal wild animals of questionable origins and species long since extinct:

If you've not tried automatic drawing, it's enormously fun. Grab some paper and your favourite pen to draw with, close your eyes and clear your mind and draw. Open you eyes and see what you've jotted down, what can you see? Draw into the lines, dots, squiggles (or whatever mark has taken your fancy) to make an image. Try not to think to hard about what's on the page but go with first images that jump out at you.

Strange & Rare Specimen, acrylic, enamel and collage, 2016 

See below for my own rare specimen: Gremlina.

I'm off to London for the next few weeks so I'll see you all in April. I'm so excited about my trip as there are 101 good exhibitions on at the moment. Can't wait to see the Hilma af Klint at The Serpentine and the Marian Clayden at the FTM. I'm also going to see Hot Sugar play again which will be dreamy, I'm delightfully happy that his show coincided with my trip.

I'll let Hot Sugz play me out XO

Outfit Details

Blue cotton coat dress - Cancer Research charity shop

Floral trousers leggings (I refuse to use the term treggings) - Uniqlo

Poloneck t-shirt - Orla Kiely for Uniqlo

Turquoise high heeled jellies - JuJu Footwear

Faux fur hat - River Island