Planting the Dragon Tree: Wall Art

 

What an incredible day!!

It's very hard to explain what it feels like when an idea turns into a plan and then happens!

 

 

Today, Artist Lloyd Roberts came to The National Botanic Garden of Wales. I had sent him the design brief for The Dragon Tree.

He started mapping out his design based on my brief on the Education Room walls in The Great Glasshouse. He's such a good sport! You'll notice I made him do the entire 8 hour shoot dressed in the key costume links of our Dafydd character! Hat, scarf and braces!

 

 

Darren Boxer and Susan Plant set up the lighting and the camera to take what will be 25 images a second to condense the whole day into 6 minutes of time lapse film to be used in the final production with my other films.

 

 

 

20 children arrived with their teachers: 10 from Bigyn Primary and 10 from Johnstown Primary School.

 

 

We divided into teams and the children set to work filling in the allocated coloured spaces on the wall.

 

 

After they had left, Lloyd did all the outlining and final touches

 

 

We had barely time to think as the caretaker needed to lock up so we cleaned up and skidaddled out of there in the stillness of the dark night.

WOWZERS!!!!!

MASSIVE thankyou's

The National Botanic Garden of Wales

Lloyd Roberts

Darren Boxer

Susan Plant

Bigyn Primary School

Johnstown Primary School

The Arts Council of Wales for my Individual Mainline Grant enabling the whole happening

... But  you know what ... thank you to ME!! Yes, little old me, for pulling it off.


 

 

And tonight, I will fall fast asleep very quickly... and dream about a little girl from nowhere who today had the design brief of her new production planted as a seed to grow on the walls deep inside The Great Glasshouse of The National Botanic Garden of Wales and that makes me smile, it makes me proud, it makes me take a sharp intake of breath, it makes me pleased that I am me!

 

Compiling!

After hours and hours and days and days and weeks of compiling, re-compiling, finalising and starting again ... we finally have the end versions of ALL the soundtracks!!!! HOORAH!!!!!

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!

 

 

 

Wall Art Spray at National Botanic Garden of Wales

 

Photograph by Darren Boxer

Darren Boxer is making a time lapse film for me of a Wall Art Spray of The Dragon tree that I have commissioned with the grant from Lloyd Roberts who is a GENIUS artsit. I have organised for children to come from 2 local primary schools to help with the spray. It is taking place in the Education Room at The National Botanic Garden of Wales in The Great Glasshouse, which makes me very happy in my soul!

 

I am planting my Dragon Tree in my favourite place. A place that has had such an impact on me over the last 2 years. It feels very special indeed.

 

Darren is making a time lapse film of the spray for me which will be last in the series of films. Am so chuffed. He's been a real support throughout Fusion Inspire, taking wonderful photographs of castles on the coastline for the track 600 Castles.

 Artist Lloyd Roberts at work

Darren & I did a creative exchange. He made a time lapse film of the arrival of The Ghost Forest at The Garden and I composed the music for the film for him, recording and performing it in my studio ... and in exchange he is doing the time lapse film for me. Thank you so much Darren.

Creative Exchange is such an important survival technique in difficult times, but I have always worked like this. It develops life long collaborations and friendships. As a freelance self employed person, it can be isolating sometimes so working with the same group of people over the years gives one a sense of team, family, sharing of like minds, community and joy.

 

Many thanks to

The National Botanic Garden of Wales