Day four: Printmaking at Takahuhti I wish I could lie in. I wish I could rest as Naoise does, heavy, deep, relaxed. Perhaps al parents sleep lightly, especially when staying somewhere strange and unfamiliar. I feel very safe here, its quiet. Still silence can be unnerving. I lock the doors. I lock out the brown …read more
Day three: Studio / Tampere Art Museum The yellow buttermilk house cuddles me with wooden warmth. Upstairs the children’s feet dance on the floorboards. Its getting later and later and Naoise has got a second wind and is playing with the wooden train set in the studio. He slept in until 11am this morning and …read more
Day Two- Helsinki to Takahuhti 8pm (Naoise watching “Puss In Boots”) Coffee was very much needed this morning. Coffee as thick as tar, twice. Naoise wasn’t impressed with the Finnish cuisine and turned his nose up at the cheese, rice and pastry fancy thingy. I wasn’t impressed by the middle aged english man who seemed …read more
Day One: Manchester- Helsinki Waiting for the plane we met a kind older Finnish woman, she saved my seat for me in the waiting area whilst we went to the loo. The flight was easy. Blue blue sky scrapes. We both read our books. It was peaceful. A family next to us. A two year …read more
For the last seven years since my second son was born, life has been very localised and I have lost a lot of my confidence. I make art work at home and at the studio whilst the children are at school. I have managed to find occasional paid work as a freelance artist, but money …read more
I have been reading The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. Its a book about an elderly artist and her six-year-old grand-daughter spending a summer together on an island in the gulf of Finland. I was drawn to reading this book as I can see many parallels between the book and the residency that I am …read more
Me and Naoise had a conversation about what defines a collaboration. We both wrote down our ideas on paper. I liked that Naoise enjoyed making dots around his words and used the whole space of the paper rather than writing a formal list. Naoise definition of collaboration Fun, Sprising (Surprising), Shoir Ideeers (Share Ideas), Play, …read more
In preparation for Finland me and Naoise have been developing our collaborative drawing practice. We have been working at home on the table in our front room using cheap A4 office paper and felt tip pens . We begin by making none representational marks and then copy and mimic what each other is doing. We …read more
At my recent open studio in Hebden Bridge in July, I asked the public for advice, suggestions and parenting strategies about how to go about making this residency child led. Suggestions and advice that I received from a retired primary school teacher and an artist: Do not dominate Control expectations Be quiet. Give a child …read more
I had some fun, handwriting a letter of introduction to Saara and her family who I am planning to meet up with whilst in Tampere. I wrote the letter in Finnish, by using an online translator. It was an interesting exercise, I had to re-write some sentences and words that became lost in translation. I …read more
When Nicola met up with us at our home for a planning meeting in June, she suggested that Naoise might want her to take something of his to Finland with her in July. A thing that Naoise could find when he arrived at the Takahunti Artcenter in September. This was a really thoughtful and …read more
A friend of mine Catherine Putz invited me to her home in Hebden Bridge and told me stories about her experiences of living and working in Tampere teaching English as a Foreign Language in 1979. She kindly showed me her photograph albums and leant me some books about Finland, including a 1970’s tourist guide to …read more