Inspire 52 - Week 24. The Ink Mountains and Reflections

2 weeks to go until I'm half way though Inspire 52!! OMG can I believe it? Indeed I cannot! How to make half a year go by really quickly ... embark on a crazy art project which makes you count down the weeks ... oh, there is method in the madness somewhere ... I promise!
So what's going on this week?

Well I be damned ... it's still black and white guys!

Last week I gave a little insight into The Paper Forest and this week I am going to reveal more about The Ink Mountains ... of course I am not going to give away all the secrets of these places, as it is up to you to discover and make of it what you will.

After the exhaustion of last week where I couldn't even decide if I was going to have green or jasmin tea - I have come out of the ink pot ready to splatter lines, dots and marks on lovely white paper once again, all in the name of art - Love it ...

I went back into the exhibition on Wednesday this week and started to immerse myself in the exploration of The Ink Mountains. It's an unusual feeling when you put only the beginning of a work of art on show at the private view, knowing it's only the beginning of a piece and in time it will evolve with time spent working live on it in the exhibition ... a little risky you may think ... but risk is all part of the adventure... And so I began ...

The Ink Mountains were born ... before the ink ... in their purest form...

glass - water

fragility - flow

paper - ink

landscape - voyage

shadows - reflections

self - truth

The Ink Mountains

 

Just one drop falling

falling

falling

Frozen in time on the top of the mountain

One drop

One drop of time to take the path

One drop of a moment to make it last

Cast in glass

A fragile course

To find the way deep into the source.

Search for the answer and follow the clue

Just one drop falling will follow you.

Search for the answer it wont look for you

Follow the inked path in black inky blue.

 

Just one drop

Falling

Calling the clues

Into the Ink Mountains,

The figures defuse

Just one drop

recalling the words

Of eagling birds

falling and soaring

above in the sky

Over the Ink Mountains

Frozen in time

Into the depths and far beyond

A place you never told me I could go on,

This path wove a treadmill beneath my feet,

And the words of the forest began to speak.

'Dance with us, we'll show you the way'.

Over the mountains and far away...

                                                                             Hazel Evans 2012

The Ink Mountains - track no.7

from the CD soundtrack Adventures Into The Monochronium

What does it really mean to me?

First of all I love The Ink Mountains, they are so photogenic, magical, serene and dreamy. The are so naturally black and white it's amazing. No photoshop needed! I love the way this piece has evolved organically through the time of devising my exhibition.

Originally I wanted to do a performance piece with jars of water and ink and didn't really know more than that; creating performative illustration as the ink suspends in the water in slowly moving illustrations as it falls to the bottom of the glass. I then came accross these jars and a glass pig from about 5 different stands on one day a t a car boot sale. When I got home I placed them all in a line on the mantlepiece and thus the mountains were born. The glass pig is a new character in the scenario whose voyage I am illustrating and writing, and this will be defined as the piece still continues to grow. By the end of the exhibition, I am hoping to have the story complete.

The Ink Mountains for me are another representation of my journey. A journey of discovery through fragility and strength, coming out of the valleys to conquer the peaks and learning to face the weather. I used to live in the Alps in France - I think somewhere in this piece is an acknowledgement of my journey to find a way out of being lost in the mountains as well as an understanding of where I have come from and who I am today. Following my truth, dancing into my shadow and following the path that feels right.

The more I work into this piece the more the story reveals itself to me ... The story is not over yet ...

 

Adventures Into The Monochronium

26th May - 28th July 2012

The Gallery Lighthouse Poole

 

Exhibition soundtrack available

Poems and songs performed by Hazel Evans with music by Momo:tempo

www.hazelevans.co.uk - online shop coming soon

www.momotempo.co.uk

 

Inspire 52 - Week 23. The Paper Forest and The Meaning of Life

I must be honest with you ... This week I have been completely exhausted. It is like a the big come down after the final curtain call, only weirder because it's actually only just begun! But I think achieving the conception and delivery of Adventures Into The Monochronium exhibition was a pretty big thing for me ... My friend said it was like giving birth! I guess in some kind of way it was; I have given every spare ounce of energy to this piece of work and put glimpses of my soul out there to the world, so yes, I can say... I do feel proud of what I have achieved in this exhibition.

 

 

This is a journey that I thought would mainly be an artistic demonstration for the viewer, but is actually absorbing me... I am on this journey ... this is me ... my life. Along the way I am revealing new layers to myself and I guess this is what part of The Paper Forest is about... journey, discovery and finding meaning in one's life ... a purpose.

 

 

Trees thin and tall reaching into the sky

 

 

For many years I have struggled with my sense of purpose, trying to conform to the guidelines society has set out for us all, but never really quite 'getting it'...

 

 

Blackness transcribbling words on trees

 

 

...My sister had a child just over 2 years ago, just after my niece was born and I was holding her in my arms, my sister asked if I now felt that I wanted a baby. I didn't. Her question helped me turn a page in my 'purpose book'. Her purpose was to be a mother physically to her own child ... this is the most important thing for her to achieve in her life, what makes her get up in the morning and give meaning to her being ... for me ... the most important thing I can nurture is my art - It is my purpose.

 

 

The Paper Forest spoke softly to me

And asked me to write my story

 

 

And now is the time for me to write my story, the places I have been and the places I will go. The journey, the discoveries the sense of direction and the being lost on a path ... finding the path ... Untold stories in the folds and curls of white paper ... pictures speaking words and words making images ... The Paper Forest is my story, but it is also yours.

 

The Paper Forest

By Hazel Evans

I stumbled on the crumples that drew me in

taken by the forest and absorbed within

Trees thin and tall reaching into the sky

Thin tall trees speaking tales in time

Enveloping twisting and churning out

Spouting secret stories were all about

Illuminating shapes and scribing sounds

Murmuring roots from the undergrounds

Wonder away, wonder away

Wonder away, drift away,

Deep into the Paper Forest

And play

Whiteness dancing the whispering breeze

Blackness transcribbling words on trees

The Paper Forest spoke softly to me

And asked me to write my story

So I walked the path kissed by leaves

Drawings sang and caressed my sleeves

Dancing into the pictures and the light

Shadows emerged smiling bright

Wonder away, wonder away,

As the trees lead the way

Deep into the Paper Forest

To play

Adventures Into The Monochronium

26th May - 28th July 2012

The Gallery Lighthouse Poole

Exhibition soundtrack available

Poems and songs performed by Hazel Evans with music by Momo:tempo

www.hazelevans.co.uk - online shop coming soon

www.momotempo.co.uk

----------------------------------------------------------

The Paper Forest is sponsored by CCM till rolls. The Wardrobe Post Office is sponsored by Dorset Reclaim.

Inspire 52 - Week 22. Introducing The Holiday Makers

At the end of April, I set out on a birthday trip with my housemate, wearing our newly acquired vintage dresses, for afternoon tea ...

... after some editing and with the onset of Trip 2 having taken place today to celebrate the Jubilee weekend, we have compiled, edited, trimmed and spruced Trip 1. The Wuthering Scone, ready for publishing...

...this is what happened

The Holiday Makers

Trip 1. The Wuthering Scone

When the weather is rainy on your holiday,

There are plenty of things to do inside.

Like afternoon tea and champagne I must say,

And watching the windy wuthering tide.

On a jolly vacation you don't need the sun,

Its important in England to simply have tea.

Enjoy fine cakes and a belly warming bun,

Keeps you grounded and safe from the sea.

So where are we from and where do we go,

Saucers of languages from far and wide.

Embracing the change with motions in flow,

And tea cups of weather in our stride.

By Hazel Evans and Marketa S.



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.

Inspire 52 - Week 20. Passport To Your Imagination

I have not been sleeping very much these last couple of nights due to getting stuff done, and yes, stuff is indeed getting done! One more sleep to go until I start working on putting up the exhibition tomorrow in Lighthouse, Poole. Yippie! I suppose the official phrase would be 'I'm going to hang my exhibition tomorrow', but given that some of the main features of my exhibition involve things like a wardrobe installation, an album and United Kingdom of The Monochronium passports, not much 'hanging' is going to be going on - and as for The Paper Forest, well I like to think of it more as 'growing my exhibition'! The only hanging I will be doing, is hanging around having a cup of green tea whilst waiting for the paint to dry, as we partake in step one tomorrow of preparing the gallery walls and plinths.

So given that I need to get some sleep and there are only 45 minutes left of week 20, I need to get a groove on and tell you what happened this week.

Well, as with last week, this week has been pretty full on and so much art I don't know where to begin so I will choose just one thing ... soemthing very exciting ... the passports arrived this week! Yes, now it's becoming more real than ever and I now can welcome the public to get a passport to adventure into The Monochronium exhibition, as well as discovering it as a pathway to their imagination.

I also took the opportunity to be inspired by a new piece that I have created for the exhibition - The Ink Mountains.

There is indeed a beautiful song, poem, story, performance and installation that are part of this piece of work, but this wasn't enough for me! So I illustrated it too, and not just one picture, oh no - 2! And in order to share the love I cut it up and packaged it up into 12 unique passport packages for the first 12 lucky purchasers to get theri hands on at the private view of the exhibition on the 30th May. This whole adventure is becoming rather epic! But loving it ... sorry if I am blabbering on, I am feeling rather delerious, but trying to hold it together ... I have a feeling that as soon as I have finiched this I will shut my eyes and conk out right away ...where was I, oh yes ... Here's what happened ...

The Ink Mountains

Just one drop falling

falling

falling

Frozen in time on the top of the mountain

One drop

One drop of time to take the path

One drop of a moment to make it last

Cast in glass

A fragile course

To find the way deep into the source.

Search for the answer and follow the clue

Just one drop falling will follow you.

Search for the answer it wont look for you

Follow the inked path in black inky blue.

Just one drop

Falling

Calling the clues

Into the Ink Mountains,

The figures defuse

Just one drop

recalling the words

Of eagling birds

falling and soaring

above in the sky

Over the Ink Mountains

Frozen in time

Into the depths and far beyond

A place you never told me I could go on,

This path wove a treadmill beneath my feet,

And the words of the forest began to speak.

'Dance with us, we'll show you the way'.

Over the mountains and far away... 

11.52pm - Only just made it ... right I'm off to bed, another busy week ahead ... over and out. 

Inspire 52 - Week 19. A Week In The Life

Wow, what a week. It's all going a bit mental at the moment, collaborations ahoy all in preparation for my upcoming exhibition, 'Adventures Into The Monochronium'. I am lost with what's going on for Inspire 52 because I seem to be oozing creativity in every direction! So the best I can do for this week is give a breakdown of where it's all been at ... bear with me guys, I'm preparing for quite a mammoth exhibition so ... things on Inspire 52 are going to be a bit crazy for a few weeks ...

Without going into much detail, here is a brief outline of the week ...

Monday 7th May
- All day Street Art performances in Poole Street Arts Festival - The Ticket Office
- Work on the new jewellery collection for the upcoming exhibition

 

        Photograph by Howard Shepherd

Tuesday 8th May
- Work at a contemporary Craft gallery
- Freelance work on Festival coordination

Wednesday 9th May
- Studio session with Momo, working on the soundtrack album for 'Adventures Into The Monochronium'.
- Ordering merchandise for the exhibition and prep for collaboration with an illustrator
- Freelance work on Festival coordination
- Visit to photographer to document art work
- Yoga  

Thursday 10th May
- Travel to Taunton to work in a collaborative exhibition 'Cultivate 2', created work in response to and in collaboration with a student's art work from Berlin, Germany.
- ordered badges for exhibition
- Art work for front and back cover collaboration with a silk weaver - pictures and artist illustrated books with poetic story.

Friday 11th May
- Training at the gym
- Freelance work on Festival coordination
- collection of item from 'Wardrobe home' from the Arts University - Collaboration with Interior Design Student
- preparation for collaborative project workshop with a storyteller/Theatre practitioner
- Studio session with Momo, working on the soundtrack album for 'Adventures Into The Monochronium'.

Photograph collage by Leoni Bullcock

Saturday 12th May
- All day public workshop - the first phase of new collaborative project with a storyteller/Theatre practitioner 'In Your Shoes' for the new fairy tales 'La Fille et Les Chaussures' and 'Killer Heels'
- Drive to yogic retreat - Dance

Sunday 13th May
- Rest and chill until 8pm
- admin work in the evening

 

Photograph by Howard Shepherd

 
So all in all a very busy week, and more of that to come next week ... I am just loving being absorbed in my art, this is where I am meant to be, it is all becoming so much more real and continues to reveal more levels to me constantly ... it's an amazing journey.

Inspire 52 - Week 18. The Ticket Office

Hello Peeps!

Time is getting on, where is the white rabbit?

I can hardly keep up with myself as we come racing into May. What's ahead is all very exciting and I find myself in a constant state of edginess between utter excitement and wonder at how on earth I am going to pull this all off! I am sure I will, always manage it somehow ... and then I'll sit back on my park bench in The Paper Forest in June with a mini cup of Guiness, absorbed into The Monochronium and ponder black and white thoughts of loveliness as I gaze into the stars ... I guess you'll just have to come to the exhibition to see what I'm on about ... or indeed, I am sure I will be blogging about it too.

So what's going on this week? Well next Monday (Bank Holiday Monday) I will be performing a new performance piece as part of Poole Street Arts Festival - The Ticket Office.

You will be able to come and pick up a ticket and get it stamped in exchange for expressions of your imagination as to what imaginary sport you would like to take part in or see at the Black and White (Monochronium) Olympics. So this week I have been ticketting ... and here it is ...

Click on the images to enlarge



Sorry I can't stop too long this week ... still got work to do tonight ... but I hope you have enjoyed the poem, are continuing to enjoy the Inspire 52 ride, I certainly am, it keeps me on my toes, may need to buy some pointy ballet shoes soon!

Until next week ... prepare yourselves for this!...

Following the success of Hazel Evans' début solo exhibition, The Monochronium in October 2011, as Lighthouse's first ever Resident Visual Artist, Hazel now takes us further into the experience of her art practice with Adventures Into The Monochronium.

Adventures Into The Monochronium is set to be an extraordinary creative experience that will lead you into a multi sensory voyage into the surreal black and white world of Hazel's Monochronium. You will be able to journey into a Paper Forest, visit the Ink Mountains and experience The Wardrobe Studio where you can obtain a passport to The Kingdom of The Monochronium. You will also be able to watch Hazel and other artists create new works of art in her ever evolving developmental exhibition over six weeks.

Hazel will be featuring collaborations with Illustrator and writer Hayley Potter MA RCA with live explosive art with an entire wall of paper and ink, Silk Weaver Debby Kirby with woven illustrated pictures and artist books, and Musician Timo Peach from Momo Tempo with a soundtrack to accompany the entire exhibition and guide you through the gallery space.