'step in stone' continues to absorb me - not only in my role as curator and manager of the project, but also as a featured artist - taking most of my time and thoughts. Delving further into the quarries theme for the project, I've discovered that the earlier part of the Carboniferous period (Mississipian) has been coined the Age of Crinoids. Over 350 million years ago the Mendips were submerged under a warm, swampy sea, the Mendip Hills hadn't yet formed into a range of mountains - now substantially eroded back - and animal life comprised mainly of primitive reptiles, giant insects like dragonflies the size of seagulls, and a myriad of sea creatures such as echinoderms and corals. Crinoids (sea lilies) were abundant in thousands of varieties, showing huge morphological diversity. These fascinating ancient creatures look like exotic plant forms and many varieties still exist today. They cling to the bottom of the sea bed by long spiny stems, others are unstalked, have tentacle legs or long arms which enable them to drag themeselves along.
Fossils found in limestone rocks exposed in the quarries (often in now vertical old sea beds) brings into question our origin, distant past and future. Captivated, I have been imagining these other worlds. Following on from my post on convergent evolution, my work will focus on these and other similar forms as visual metaphors of complex primal systems in nature, universal forms which echo others, examples of fractal geometry and the interconnectedness of all things.
Each time I visit the quarries, often on dog walks, I feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of what they represent - the geology; how far back time goes; what extraordinary life forms exist now and in the past; how incredible and persistent nature is; how we are all linked; how insignificant we are as individuals, yet how we impact on our surroundings...
Representing step in stone, I launched an under 20 year olds' Sculpture Design Competition at Somerset Earth Science Centre a fortnight ago, and alongside other step in stone artists and Juliet Lawn from SESC, gave a slideshow/talk, with work on display to give young visitors inspiration for their designs. This competition is now online for entries at: Black Swan Arts. Last week Nick Weaver and I set up a stand for step in stone at Frome Town Councils's AGM. Having been funded by them we were asked to present our project to attendees. It was a full house - the energy in Frome seems infectious! This Wednesday (8th April) I'll be taking part as a speaker in a public discussion at Wells Museum about Public Art (7.30pm if you're interested in coming!)
I ran a wire workshop at the end of March via ArtsLink, which resulted in some great outcomes by participants. I have more workshops coming up and will also be running some during step in stone at SESC and Black Swan Arts (details of these will be posted soon).
Although there's still a lot to do, I'm looking forward to my forthcoming exhibitions this summer. Maureen Michaelson is representing me at GROW London and Hidden Garden Art Show this June and my biggest project to date step in stone starts in July.