20 August 1999

>Hi ju,

Thanks for the e mail, seems like you're doing a lot of thinking.

Well, off and on!

>l am lying awake with images floating around my mind. I've got a book called Alone of all her sex by Marina Walker that you might find interesting, a lot of my work in the third year at college was based around this book. I'll send it to you.      

Thanks, I'll look forward to it.

>After a talk with Tim I'm a little more together about plans of action, maybe not outcomes, but it's a start.

I think that the outcome necessarily arises from the process, doesn't it?

>The idea that we talk around ideas, that words create pictures or forms and that forms create words, until hopefully something tangible comes from it all.

I'm sure that it will . . .

>l keep thinking Haiku poetry, with floating words painting pictures in your head. 

I don't know much Haiku - anything you'd recommend?

>By the way did l tell you that l do Tai Chi too, but not regularly.

I'm not a very regular practitioner myself - and thus am still only a beginner after eight years. The most that I've ever enjoyed doing Tai Chi was on the beach in Cornwall, surrounded by rocks and next to the waves - I could never get into practising in a public park, but this was quite private and quite fabulous.

>Do you have the capacity and time to create images based on ones in the Mount Grace booklet ? I'd be interested in seeing a large spiral superimposed  across the cloister area.

I don't know - I'll think about it. I'm still looking at your images and will send more thoughts on them soon - in the meantime, as I said before, is there anything that you can say about them to me? (BTW, has Tim shown you how to get a copy of my message onscreen so that you can reply directly as I am doing, rather than printing them off and then writing something separate?)

I like the idea of us making work from natural materials on site, and then my photographing the results at the end and perhaps manipulating those. I prefer the idea of making several things in different places to making just one, and that way there would be something complete to see fairly quickly. Another thing I liked was the idea of using sound in some way - I'm very interested in ambient sound, and like the idea of making something from natural materials that will make a noise in the wind.

>I'll try and find out more about the Carthusians, and get back to you soon.      

I presume Tim has sent you the same joke as me about their daily schedule? I think that I'm going to artwork a copy up and put it up in my studio - if so I'll send you a copy.

>I'm off on a sort of holiday now, we're going to the Whitby folk festival for a week, my partner sells pots there so it's work as well.

That sounds like fun. My significant ex's mother was very involved in the folk dance and music movement when she was alive, and some of my friends are today, although I've never had any contact with it myself.

>But like you l do love the sea and feel more in touch with myself and my world beside it.

I miss the ocean so much at the moment; I haven't spent any real time on the coast for three years. I've got a number of the photos that I took on the beach in Cornwall up around the house (they're in the Photo Gallery on my website), and am planning to put up more when I can afford to print them as posters. And, as I've said already, I've got a number of my Welsh photographs up. Apart from that I can only dream . . .

>Whitby is famous for its fossils, I'll try and find some for you.

That would be wonderful. I have a collection of stones and fossils next to my bed, mostly ones I've found myself but also gifts from friends. I recently got a great mouse mat for my studio (actually it's supposed to be a dining mat, but it's faster than the rubber ones), which is basically just a photograph of pebbles.

>Just for background info. my partner's off to live in Scotland at the end of October, hopefully with me and my youngest daughter to follow next summer. We are hoping to live on a small Island, called Shapinsay off of Orkney.

That sounds wonderful . . .

>His leaving and thinking of the changes is causing me anxiety at the mo which in my case is little sleep, loss of appetite and weight and tiredness.

I'm not surprised. Still, it sounds like a good idea to send him off on his own to check it out, and only go there yourself if it all works out!

>This project is a good way of using my brain on more positive things.      

It's about the most escapist thing that I'm doing at the moment too!

>Do continue to send messages, they will be given to me. You did say that you were going away yourself, could you confirm the dates.

So far as I know, the last week in September, but I'll have a laptop with me so some communication should still be possible.

>It looks like l will be going over to the priory about three days a week. the exhibition starts on Saturday the 11th of September, so I'll be around from then.

Okay - we can plan things more closely when you're there and have the computer up and running onsite.

>l think initially l will need to be seen as doing something tangible. So I'll go and sketch and take photos to begin with. Is there any areas you would like to know more about or have photos of ?  

Only the ones that I've told you about, although more questions may come to me. I found your description of the weather etc very evocative too, so those impressions are also good to have. Describing the textures of materials would also be helpful.

Perhaps we should start by deciding what sites to use, and then see what we think would work there? If things take longer than we anticipate and we don't fill them all, it won't matter if we prioritise them first.

>The computer  from the office here will be set up at the priory, and l will have a room to work in . The public will have some access, but l can call the tune. I don't mind some interactive stuff, it'll help the boredom and be challenging.

It will be interesting to see what feedback we get from the website as well, including ideas.

>I always find it amazing how you can come up with ideas, or bluffs when you are put on the spot.      

LOL :) That's certainly true! I also think that talking about work helps to increase your own awareness of what you're doing, as opposed to working instinctively. That's what I've found over the summer, anyway, from talking about the Cyborg site at a number of conferences. It was interesting, too, how different things came up with different audiences (I did the Performance Studies International, the International Interdisciplinary Conference on Women and Health and the Women's Studies Network Conferences).

Have a great time in Whitby!

All best wishes

ju90

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