Good end to slash07 exhibition

In Hot Water © Sue White
It is good to be able to look at the positive side of life after so much that has happened in the last few weeks. I had the most wonderful end to the exhibition just a few minutes after the close of show I sold my second piece of work. A limited edition digital archive print titled 'In hot water' 1/100. It is so encouraging when someone relates to what you are trying to say through your work.
The first piece to be sold was on the same theme but in a different media of digital print on glass.

The piece came about as I was having a bath on a sunny afternoon, listening to BBC radio 4. One program ended and another started, it was on the advancing desertification in different areas of the world. As I lay there in a deep bath listening, playing with the patterns made by the reflections of my pink toenails, I realized the irony of the scene. It represented the pure luxury of having water to spare and power to heat it. The unthinking decadence of it seemed highlighted by my pink toenails and the shiny chrome as they gleamed in the sunlight. I hopped out to get my camera so I could capture the moment.

The second element in the image of the cracked earth came from a trip to the bird reserve at Holme on the north Norfolk coast. Seeing the dried pool brought back the bath experience and the image of a lone bath time yellow plastic duck sat on the cracked mud just sprung into my mind. A really strong dark image of loss, threat and vulnerability. The resulting image I produced when I got home can be seen at the very bottom of this blog site. It was a few months later that I thought to combine the two images to form 'In Hot Water'. I worked with a mix of digital photography, Photoshop and drawing to produce the image.

Lost (Pink) © Sue White
limited edition digital print on glass.

Inspiration on Eigg

I went away to the Isle of Eigg from May 9th to 27th. An inspirational place, with its wild landscape of rocky highlands, so different from Norfolk. We stayed in a croft house with no electricity, lit by gas lamps and candles.
The bird-life on the island is one of it's greatest draws. We had a corncrake calling day and night circling our cottage, who would never let itself be seen. It's call was accompanied during the day by ravens, cuckoos and sedge warblers, at night by the ghostly call of nesting shearwaters on the rock cliffs. Eigg was just the place to spend time working in more depth on my currant work on the form of birds and their feathers. The relationship between birds and wind turbines was also an issue on the island. Eigg is in the process of installing a electrical supply for the island powered by environmentally friendly sources, including three wind turbines. Through careful siting agreed with local wildlife experts they will be placed on a part of the island where conflict with bird activity will be minimal.
The first thing I felt drawn to do was to make a quill pen from a feather found on the beach. This seemed fitting not only for the low tech atmosphere of the croft house, but I also wanted to work in the most direct way with the subject of my study. I found the wing feather washed up on the beach, it was probably from a gull or a gannet. I have worked with metal nib pens for many years producing archaeological finds drawings, loving the directness and subtlety that can be archived in the quality of the line. Cutting the feather in to a nib was a lot harder than I have envisaged. The quill got shorter and shorter with each attempt, until on the fourth cut it worked. Not the finest of nibs but it was my own and it was a thrill to work with it. My first sketch made with it was of a seabird.

Submission for Norwich Fringe Festival

Wind Turbines Saints/Sinners

This is a mock up for a current work in progress for location in St Margaret's Church, Norwich. It is one of many site specific works I am working on at the moment.
It is constructed of white feathers suspended as a veil. The pattern reflects the three blades of a wind turbine and the grid they form on mass. The feather/blades represent the double edged sword dilemma of the wind turbine. The are many facets to this such as; a bird's feather is seen as a thing of beauty but the sight of a turbine blade
for many is ugly. Yet the shape of both is very similar as their functions are similar. Badly sited wind turbines kill and disturb birds, yet the main threat to bird life are the effects of global warming.
I like using the context of the church as this piece also recognizes the significance of the symbolism of three joined in the center as the sign of the Holy Trinity. Are wind turbines part of out salvation?

Other works I want to produce will introduce movement into the pieces. I have plans for a large scale hanging mobile. I hope I will have the chance to add some of my work to the art trail around the city.

Form/Function

I see the dominant “Spirit of the Age” as our awareness of global warming, and the struggle to come to terms with it. The icon of this for me is the large wind turbine. Wind farms are a growing and powerful presence in our land and seascapes. The range of reactions to them fascinates me, and the proposed locations for them always seem to be highly controversial. An offshore wind-farm of 30 turbines off of Cromer has consent and should be under construction shortly. A second larger offshore wind-farm of up to 108 turbines is planned off of Salthouse; it will be visible on clear days. The formation of the wind-farm will be a symmetrical grid of turbines forming a diamond or lozenge shape 12km long. There will be strong opposition as the area is of great importance to birdlife. Four birds species have been identified as at risk from fatal bird strike with the rotors, and the effect on the wider range of bird and sea life is unpredictable. It may also affect the local fishing industry. However as the RSPB state “If global warming is not halted it will be the greatest threat to biodiversity worldwide”. Creating a greener national electricity grid is an essential part of that process.

In my recent work I have been exploring some of these issues looking at contradictions between: strong resistance to change / urgent need for change, selfishness/sacrifice, winners/losers, saints/sinners, iconic Norfolk windmills (Cley) good/wind turbines bad. I find the form of the three blade rotors beautiful and the motion mesmerising. The form and function of a rotor blade is similar to that of a bird’s wing feather and the symbolism is powerful. The iconography of the pattern of three formed by the rotor blades and the hub has a deeper significance as the sign of the Holy Trinity, the magic pre-Christian Celtic symbol of the Triskele and the anti nuclear logo of CND.