My Pecha Kucha Presentation:[googleapps domain="docs" dir="presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQYh_7uhKiDJTb0kQHGvYNcagyjvtWpjPvZblWTM2Z5JnHtAF3YnFl9IGePpDYdwQ7p7QtUAsC-Mtx9/embed" query="start=true&loop=true&delayms=15000" width="960" height="569" /] the pecha kucha - original images and patterns created using photographs taken during the break - an insight to my mind. the swirling and geometric thinking. Below you will find a brief explanation of the activities, the original photographs and the patterns created from them that were included in my presentation.I began with organisation: I colour-coded my bookcase. As you can see, at this point we hadn't mounted our artwork yet either.
Next on the list of winter break activities was to clean and organise my at home studio space. (it no longer looks like this, but it was nice while the tidiness lasted!
We had a winter concert at school, it's my daughters first year at nursery so lots of milestones, I know we have lots more winter concerts to come. We both felt the need to dress in the appropriate colours.
The day after this Maraya Art Centre in Sharjah had a private view of the Timo Nasseri show, curated by Laura Metzler. Hi work is meticulous and beautiful, a display of patience and time.
The work above is the artists, as is the square crop below, the 'flower' pattern is my patterning of the cropped image.
The exhibition included a room sized installation of mirror pieces laid out in a repeating geometric pattern. I was reflected in the work, the theme that reoccured in the other exhibitions I viewed, it felt poignant to actually see myself in the work I could relate to, finding comfort in the methodological and repeating works.
On the same day, after a coffee with artist friends and w wander around the souq, I broke off from them and viewed part of the Hassan Sharif Retrospective by the Sharjah Art Foundation in their Bait Al Serkal location. Time was running out to complete the school pick up so it was a short visit. I loved that most of these pieces had sketches accompanying them, showing how they were to be installed in to the spaces... these exact spaces as the artist had planned a show before his death.
I managed another trip to Sharjah the following week, which is unheard of for me, Sharjah has notorious traffic. The day was gloriously gloomy and moody, it rained while I was there and I absolutely loved it. On average we get around 3 days of rain a year, although that seems to be growing with the cloud seeding taking place, but thats another story. Hassan Sharifs Retrospective is monumental, taking on 6 gallery spaces in Sharjah Art Foundation as well as the Bait Al Serkal space. The pattern I created from the crop of one of Sharif's pieces is incredible, I plan to make this. My husband is an expert in knots and my fibre/weaving background should make this accomplishable.
From the Hassan Sharif Retrospective I moved on to Sharjah Art Museum to view the Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, a lot of the artists were on site so it was nice to meet them and have a chat.
I spoke at length to the lovely Natalie Fisher (Artweave Originals) about her half cross stitch pieces, the labour intensive nature of textile art, and the hours that were displayed on the walls.
While catching up with a friend for lunch it rained, for a moment it felt like a european climate. I actually had an excuse to wear my boots and a hat!
We went back to sunshine the next day. The new neighbour we now live in has a totally different colour to the built up marina, it much warmer and less grey. There seems to be more tonal contrasts with the sky, but a lot more harmony between the dwellings. This is my neighbours house taken from the steps to my front door.
The chilly nights mean that we have an excuse to use the fire pit, my husband knows my love of pattern and found one with these hole punched sides.
On christmas eve we made an exciting trip to the snow... indoor as Ski Dubai. Father Christmas/Santa (depending on your preference) was in residence. This year they had made a gorgeous winter wonderland with so many lights and christmas trees. It was a little overwhelming... and slippery which is how this image came to be!
We had a quiet christmas of just the 3 of us at home. This was the first year that our 3yr old really understood the concept of christmas, the stories, the presents etc. It was lovely to see her excitement when she realised Santa had been.
As soon as Christmas was over I set to work in the back yard and painted our boundary wall. We live on a 4 villa compound and have an L-shaped property that neatly slots on to the back of the bigger houses. The space is great (compared to the tiny balconies we are used to) but it was very 'beige' due to the looming houses we look on to.
After finishing the wall on New Year's Eve, we celebrated with the neighbours, watching the light show from Burj Khalifa out the front and then making a made dash to our roof to watch the fireworks of Burj Al Arab.
School runs began almost immediately as my daughter wanted to be a part of the winter camp they provided. Winter mornings here have beautiful cloud formations to collect.
Later on in the break I chose unleash my inner Flâneuse (for a great article about that here), I took to my neighbourhood on foot to room the sandy thoroughfares between the villas and streets.
Unfortunately the winter break came to an end with some slightly uncomfortable changes to our home life, I'm sure ti will end up being a mere 'blip' in the grand scheme of things. I chose to deal with it how I always to, making patterns and binding books. My sketchbook has been getting overburdened by scraps of paper and photocopies so I began to collate and bind to find some calm in the storm.
