Inspire 52 - Week 21. Making of 'Adventures Into The Monochronium'

Hello everyone ... what a week!

This blog has a different angle on it this week as something rather big happened. Adventures Into The Monochronium happened! A very intense week where a whole forest and mountain range were created!

This is my biggest solo exhibition to date and also features extracts from some of the collaborations that I have been working on since the beginning of this year. The exhibition will be growing and changing over the next 2 months as it gets worked into with illustrations, writing and performance emerging from the space - I'm really looking forward to this.

Adventures Into The Monochroniumm is a development from the first Monochronium exhibition which was a more studio style exhibition with comments saying it had a 'Warhol Factory' feel about it. This one is a real space to journey into and discover what my Monochronium is and also to discover what is is for you.

Two new installation pieces include The Paper Forest and The Ink Mountains. Both of these pieces blur illustration with performance and installation ... I will introduce these pieces later in Inspire 52 as they become worked into and documented in the exhibition.

The collaborations I have introduced act as accents to the exhibition theme and help describe the journey of my practice as well as that of The Monochronium.

My collaborations are with:

Hayley Potter, RCA MA, Illustrator Writer - Illustrative and explosive inking. Exploring how our styles merge as illustrators and writers, creating narratives from working on location in rural environments and the impact of water within our landscapes. Originals from £30

Debby Kirby, Silk Weaver - Merging the craft of silk weaving with illustration and story. The creation of an artist book 'The River Story'. The creation of a series of silk weaving pictures with collage, poetry and ink. The River Story book £12.50 art work from £95

Momo:tempo, Timo Peach Musician - I first approached Timo in order to lay down some of my poetry and stories with some background music ... before we knew it we had created a whole CD that takes you on a journey and back. I am very proud of this, it is my first CD and gives people who have been asking me to record my voice the opportunity to have a listen and enjoy the ride. The soundtrack accompanies the entire landscape of the 'Adventures' and features poetry made into songs and spoken word tracks that will make you feel the magic. CDs £10 accompanying Passport £5

Leoni Bullcock, Interior Architecture and Design 3rd year student at the Arts University College Bournemouth - The wardrobe studio/post office was embaced as the final big project with Leoni as I put a call out to collaborate in making a portable studio space that will give me a 'home' in Lighthouse in order to create work from. This is a piece that is a work of art in itself. It is a fully functional studio, post office and performance space.

Michele O'Brien, Theatre practitioner and storyteller - We have created a new fairytale that will be perfomed later in the year in the form of 2 shows, one for children 'The Girl and The Shoes' and one for adults 'Killer Heels'. We have started workshops with the public to create a collection of shoes that will form part of the set and exhibition to accompany the show - the shoes are indeed all black and white!!

Artwork available for sale from myself and Lighthouse ... I will also be launching an online shop soon, so I'll let you know about that too.

I will give more details of the collaborations over the next few weeks of Inspire 52 as the exhibition develops and grows

... In the meantime, here is the video diary from the set up week of the exhibition.

Adventures Into THE MONOCHRONIUM
26th May - 28th July 2012 (new extended date)
The Gallery, Lighthouse, Poole's Centre for The Arts.