Morrab Library came to life. The Morrab Library is in the Morrab Gardens, amid the subtropical palm trees and plants that thrive in milder climates. Every writing desks upstairs faces the windows. The lush green colours of the foliage, the birdsong coming through the windows, and sea views make you want to dream and drift. It is a tranquil place, safe, warm and welcoming. Downstairs, the entrance, the reception and
Drum machine – Alzheimer’s and Lou’s voice
Drum machine, playing back audio recordings This patcher is not the prettiest looking drum machine, but it was fun to make. The work with my friend Lou does not always go according to plan. I often adapt the sessions depending on her energy levels and attention span. This time she was full of beans, and created some funny rhythmic vocal sounds, which I recorded and turned into a sequencer. The
Movement – synthesis – spectral drone
Movement to MIDI, using vst plug-in Spectral Drone Maker (by Michael Norris) Like in the previous post, Movement to MIDI, this patch translates image pixel data into MIDI notes.. The spectral drone maker manipulates the synthesised frequencies creating a stochastic composition.
Movement to MIDI – making music and Alzheimer’s
Mid December 2020 I was invited by a longstanding friend to work with her partner Lou. At the age of 60 she suffers from a rare type of Alzheimer’s which left her visually impaired and severely affected her speech. Music and gently moving to rhythms are the two things she enjoys most. Over the coming year I will be working with her to develop interactive musical instruments that work primarily
They must have descended into the darkness for a reason
They must have descended into the darkness for a reason. It’s a participatory universe, I once read, certainly when it comes to the world of the really small where the universe and the observer exist as a pair in a timeless creative embrace. This world moves and resonates. Light and sound have the same source – vibration. What happens when you, the observer, darken their world? Try it. Lower your
Cultivator Cornwall – Professional Development Grant
Over the past year my work has been moving away from drawing and painting towards interactive media, sound and small installations. The process seemed painfully slow as I wrestled with the technology, mainly through trial and error, to make this transition happen. In June 2020 I successfully applied for a development grant from Cultivator Cornwall. The funds I received helped me to learn more about the two pivotal components of
How to de-frame an image?
Thoughts about Artist Books and Animation I have been revisiting one of my hand-made books called Question of Practice. It was made in a time of transition when I started to reflect on time-based media and the performative quality of the moving image, especially the technique of stop-frame animation I was exploring at the time. As a visual artist my main medium was drawing, and to keep in line with
The Eye – or the Tao of Physics
The video animation is part of a piece called The Eye (2017) an assemblage made from the Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (part 1&2), a magnifying glass and a small two inch monitor. The weighty dictionary, protected by a slipcase, has seen better days. In the past a book with such impressive binding and the guilded letters must have radiated a kind of fresh and knowledgable authority, a