Dragon Tree Installation at St.David's

It really is such a joy to watch people looking at your art installation and trying to work it out!

Dai Collage in Court!

If you want to turn heads, then get yourself a paper maché chum!
 

What a hoot! taking my installation into the Court House today ready for play tomorrow!

 

 

First off, getting him in and out of the car can

be a bit of a challenge!

 

And you have to hold him just right

so as not to drop him!

 

But with determination ...

And gritted teeth ...

 

He is safe and sound in The Court House

with the rest of the installation!

Wonderful sense of 'inside smiling'

looking at him from outside!

 

 

 

 

Can you spot my Alfred Hitchcock appearance

in this shot!

 

Can't wait til tomorrow when this room will be full at 4pm after the performance and film showings, for a book sharing, chat, cuppa and slice of bara brith ...

 

SEE YOU THERE!!!



Preparing for The Court House

 

 

 

Packing up Dai Collage and the whole Arts Installation today to take down to The Court House for Exhibition tomorrow as part of The Dragon Tree in St.David's Experience

 

I keep forgetting he's in the kitchen waiting for a lift down to St.David's so everytime I go in the kitchen, I almost jump out of my skin!

We've packed the van and the car ... then tonight we'll re-pack the van and the car for the equipment needed in The Cathedral tomorrow ... honestly, it take more time to pack up and unpack than it does to perform! But t'will all be worth it ... can't actually believe that at 12pm tomorrow I'll be singing The Dragon tree songs in such a beautiful space ...

See YOU there folks!

 

Another day in paradise ...

Another wonderful day at the Gallery today. There were 16 visitors yesterday to my arts installation during my 2 hours stint and 17 today. I'm quite taken aback by that, given the weather and it being mid-week. Most of the people today were people who volunteer at the Garden or staff, plus my lovely friend who appears in 2 of the film shoots for The Dragon Tree, Bob Edwards.

I talked to Bob about the wonderful NEW idea I have for the follow on book/installation ... but I won't share that with you until after the live performances of this tour. Needless to say, I'm really excited to be so inspired and Bob's knowledge of ... well, just about everything ... made the time whizz past. Thanks for coming to have a cuppa, poppet!

An older woman and her daughter came to the Gallery and asked me about the furniture used. It is all recycled, been given a new lease of life, lifted from dusty corners of skips or junk shops to be up-cycled into the beautiful Gallery.

The older woman told me about a sideboard of her great, great grandmother's, that now lives with her, but she couldn't get it into her house, so they had to split it in 2. When they did, they found newspaper clippings from many years gone by and one of the clippings was a piece about a family member. Like 'hidden treasure'. We talked about how exciting it was to imagine people in our family, whom we have never met, opening the cupbaords, their fingers holding the very same handles.

Our artefacts outlive us. To those who will look back at our time, yet never known us, these things will be how they try to define us ...

And that was the central to the conversation I had with Simon who is the Curator of the Garden. He came to see me and we had a wonderful chat.

He has only been at the Garden for 18 months and was curator at the Botanic Garden in the Isle of Wight for 24 years.

He told me about the AMAZINGLY exciting installations that he facilitated there. Like an Easter Islands head, a huge one, made from old cars, on the cliff top ... a field of huge outdoor candles, all lit one at a time in the darkenss to ambient music and then blown out by the wind, line by line ... Already he has planted new forests at the Garden, saplings that will tower for our children's, children to dance around one day.

How wonderful to have the time to share with people and hear their stories, inspired by what I have done, in my small way, at the Gallery.

Wonder who I'll meet tomorrow.

 

 

The Dragon Tree Arts Installation: A Very Personal Experience

 

 

 

Just wanted to give you a personal insight into my experience launching my exhibition yesterday.

 

When I went to the Cafe to have a cuppa, a woman came over to me and said,

 

'Excuxe me, are you the artist who did the installation in The Gallery?'

 

I felt humbled. My first reaction was to think that she was going to say she didn't like it. Then my next feeling was to reply,

 

'Er, well, I'm not really an artist, I'm er ... '

 

But I didn't. I sat up straight in my chair and smiled,

 

'Yes, my name's Cheryl Beer. How lovely to meet you.'

 

'Hello, I'm Janet. I hope I'm not interupting your break, it's just that I must ask you about the keys in your installation. The one glued onto the table. Did you choose it because it's a celtic design or because of the significance of the home?'

 

 

 

'That's a really interesting interpretation,' I replied, 'What made you think it was significant to the home?'

 

Janet shared her story:

 

'When I was a child, my mother always held tight to her keys. Back in those days, people didn't have very much and their keys must have meant the world to them. We called her 'The Jailor' because of her keys! She had a key to the loo, to the shed, to the back door and to the front door.My mother had her own house and not many people did and I always wonder if she held so tightly to her keys because she felt so proud of her home.'

 

 

 

 

'That's a beautiful story,' I replied.

 

I explained that the Dragon Tree live music, dance and film would be showing at the Garden next weekend on 26th January at 1pm and that the main character Dafydd, is on a quest to find himself.

 

The keys represent him looking outside of himself for the answers but at the end of the story, he finds the key to his quest was inside him all along.

 

'Oh wow, that sounds fabulous, I must try to make it along. I hope you didn't mind me coming to ask you, it's just that I walked out of the Gallery and I couldn't stop thinking about that key.'

 

She left saying goodbye and as I turned back round to face Jeff, who was sat opposite me, I had tears in my eyes. I realised, in that moment, that's what art does, it makes people think. They relate it to their own life and their own experience.

 

And what Janet doesn't know, is that in her kind words, in the sharing of her story and feelings that day, she made me feel like an artist.

 

 

 

 

 

When I went back to the Gallery, I took one of the keys from the box and put it in my pocket to give to her if I saw her again during the day. But I didn't. So Janet's key is still with me and will no doubt feature in the next production.

 

I hope she and YOU can make it along next Saturday.

Dai Collage is installed!

 

 

 

My Dragon Tree Arts Installation is in

 

The Gallery

at

The National Botanic Garden of Wales!

 

 

 

 

First, we had to dig the car and van out of the snow! Then Dai sat with me in my car!

We turned a few heads on the way there!

 

 

 

 

 

But once we got to The Gallery

Dai Collage felt right at home!

 

 

 

 

It was so lovely because lots of people popped in to offer encouragement and watch us setting up including Rosie the Director of the Garden who kindly came and gave her support too.

 

 

 

 

I'm going to go in everyday this week to turn the welsh language spoken word and music on,  also the TV with Maggie Hampton's sign language ... oh and to light the ocean candles ...

 

So if you fancy popping up to The Gallery for a chat about The Dragon Tree I'll be around most days between 11am and 12pm.

 

 

Prep for Installation!

 

All the elements of my Arts Installtion for The Dragon Tree are now in the kitchen waiting to be loaded into the van and car. We weren't due to set up the installation until tomorrow but we've had SNOW, and lots of it!

 

 I live in quite a rural area, on a big hill, so it's going to be a challenge getting out of the village but once we get on the main road we should be ok.

 

 

 

 

I rang the Garden yesterday and they said that they were still open and intended to run the weekend ... they have a Woodcraft Event there and people have been able to get in from as far away as Sheffield ... we're only 15 miles away so we should be ok! Have dug out my wellies and shovel!

 

So, at 3pm today we'll be toddling off through the ice and snow and by 5pm Dai Collage and all the gubbings will be set up in the beautiful Gallery at The National Botanic Garden of Wales.

 

I want to set it up as if Dai were sitting in his 'lounge through the ages' with an old radiogram case from the 1920's, a dansette from the 50's and a TV from the 90's ...

 

 

 

 

 

Coming out of the holes in Dai Collage's stomache will be music written by me and performed by Amanda Painting, Jeff Beer & Me with welsh language translations of the lurics by Ceri Wyn Jones read by Delyth & Paul Byrne ...

 

Within the installation will be 'ocean inspired' candles burning, so that as you approach him you can smell the sea.

 

On the TV I have put the sign language films I made with Maggie Hampton as theya re very beautiful and our character Guinivere Goddess of All Mermiads is kinf od based on Maggie's role within Disability Arts Cymru: holding the space and supporting people to be empowered to find their own quest.

 

Will take pics as we're setting up so you can see how it goes ... got to admit, I am actually more nervous than excited!

Tabl Wyneb Glas

 

Been in the studio today for a 12 hour stint editing but our system is so old it's all real time ...

 

So in the slots where I was waiting for the technical stuff to do its thang .. helped by Engineer Exta-ordinaire Jeff Beer, I decided to make my Mr Blue Face Table ...

Tabl Wyneb Glas

 

 

I had a thought in my head that I needed a table in the Bi Lingual Arts Installation Exhibition where I could put my journals, and a Visitors Book to record who has seen the exhibition and for comments.

 

 

As luck would have it, I picked  up an old coffee table in the second hand shop for a fiver!

 

 

 

I was at a car boot sale and I found a damaged copy of Under Milk Wood

 

So I had this idea to make a Tabl Wyneb Glas ...

The table represents the song Mr Blueface about The Dylan Thomas Trail

 

I scored the table, using upva and water.

 

It's lifted a bit but after about 5 coats

it seems to be sticking ok.

 

 

So then I printed out my lyrics to Mr Blueface that have been kindly translated for me by Chaired and Crowned Bard, Ceri Wyn Jones ...

 

And have put the welsh on one side of parcel tags ... And english on the other

 

I'm going to hang these on the bars under the table .. thinking I'll use blue ribbon of different lengths. This will then link to my song Dance of the Ribbons, along with the ribbon stick that Dai Collage will be holding, made from a piece of drift wood ... and red ribbon to represent

a dragon's tongue.

 

I can't tell you what good fun it is and how soul lifting it is, having the time to make things for my own production. Having a grant from The Arts Council of Wales gives me this time out from my community arts work and enables me to apply all the things I use to engage others ...

to engage myself!