Installed

Ross Costigan's photograph of the installed work.

Installation in Courthouse

  Today was the second day of the installation by 'Nail to Nail' of my work in the Courthouse.

Its fantastic to see this project in the space it was made for.  The building is beautiful and eco friendly with geo-thermal heating.

We finished today with the sculpture in place, leaving the string to be cut to correct level in the morning. Everything was locked up when Alan saw a swallow flying through the building. The building was reopened and eventually the swallow left (it must have some form of radar to find the door) after a discussion about bird droppings and whether the bird would peck at the fleece. Not good for my blood pressure and definitely not in my job spec!

Easter

Today we bagged, weighed and untangled all the pieces. There was lots of help from people home for holidays including Richard and Omar.

Health & Safety

I received my Health & Safety Statement today. Interesting document which was obviously taken very seriously, looking at these photos of me tied up and Sarah up a ladder untieing knots.....mine apparently.

Cristina ties up all the spare fibre into beautiful little bundles.

Seriously though I have a fantastic Health & Safety Document if anyone wants to read it.

Rain

Richard, Liam, Daniel and Martin put up scaffolding to thread heads onto. I managed to get a photo here of Richard but the others were wearing hoodies!

On the way home, stuck again at the train tracks I photographed the rain on the window.......must be school holidays.

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day.......the Stringing goes on and on and on..... but there were some highlights today. A visit from Roger and his mobile phone....a major unravelling of a knot which I have to take full blame for....a visit from Nail to Nail (obviously a highlight) to look at how the work will be hung in the Courthouse.....more stringing.....

Courthouse

The stringing continues....actually this blog could probably stay on stringing for the forseeable future.....the highlight today was a visit from my friends Elma and Cathy. So good to see them and all the right things said by them!

Courthouse

Sarah's Grandad Charles skyped us from Manchester today to see how we are hanging the heads and to talk through the technical issues involved in doing it. I think he is happy with what we have come up with!

Courthouse

We were given a new handle for needles today made by James Carroll. It feels good and is giving Charlie's handles a close run.

We also had loads of visitors today including in the photo my Mum and niece Katie who has been accepted to Glasgow Art College. (Totally jealous....would love to go there!)

Courthouse

Sarah and Roger hung the first head today in Studio 2. They were able to hang it through a balcony in the studio. It gives an idea of the height and how well the fibre hangs. It also shows where the points of hanging are. The other heads are photographed waiting, having already had their fibre attached.

Thank you to all who offered suggestions and theories on how to hang the heads. Some of them include Ken, Martin, Howard, Sheila................

Patrick's Day

Worked a half day on the project today and then went to see the parade in Kilkenny. The photos included here are of 3 amazing projects/iniatives happening in Kilkenny. The first is boarding made for the day by local artists. The second are heads made by students/artists in KCAT and the last two projects are women from the 5-6 Women's Project in Kilkenny.

Courthouse

These photos show how the bases are being stitched with a curved needle which works between each stitch and is then pulled out with a pliers.

Courthouse

Today I learnt how to do a cat's cradle. Its way harder than I thought and mainly I ended up in tangles. I love the idea that this game is around for ever.

The photos also show plasters on my fingers which I am using to try and protect them while I am sewing!

Courthouse

Jennie Castle is busy organising all her images and paper work for her exhibition in Berlin. Check out her link (on the right) here to see what she is doing. She is showing off her cool drawing facility on her computer. (I want one)

I spent a second day stringing. My hands have loads of cuts and they ache but there is very little sympathy.....more like disinterest.....I need some union reps!

Courthouse

Today I started the stringing of fibre to the heads (photos include detail & process). Its great to get this far and the resolution to getting a needle with an eye large enough for the fibre was solved by using a feeder thread.

As the sun sets the studio is washed in the most amazing light. Sarah photographed her shadow this evening to get this amazing shadow photograph.

The final photo is on the drive home from the studio waiting for the Waterford train to pass.

Courthouse

Sarah spent the day Ghostbusting, sorry Fireproofing the fibre today. Sarah stated 'best day working on the project for so far' ....outside in neon orange competing with the sun.