Lines meeting 12.X.2016
The Wee Red seems an appropriately subterranean setting for a musical accompaniment to this Lines research presentation.
There is NO speech, but there are six slides during this performance of East Coast Line. This instrumental piece was inspired by a journey from Kings Cross St Pancras to Edinburgh Waverley: the rail-link between two capital cities. On the station map, there are circular dots along the route, representing stations from North to South, like beads on a thread. But this tune really concerns the final stretch of the journey:
•Newcastle •Morpeth •Alnmouth •Berwick-upon-Tweed •Dunbar •Edinburgh.
Following the edge of land and sea, there is a steady rhythm of visual and aural incident as well as a succession of stops and starts. Viewed through the insulated window of a train compartment, these are framed perspectives and indentations within the topography of the English & Scottish border-lands.
The melody moves between three octaves in the scale of G major and the guitar is tuned to Open G, with harmonics struck at various intervals.
[East Cost Line was played at Jonny Hannah’s Mermaid Cabaret at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and at the ECA symposium, Shaping the View with Plume of Feathers and the Folklore Tapes.]
Slides
1: There is NO speech . . .
2: Line . . .
3: A Prayer in Spring by Robert Frost – Folio Society
The Nightingale by John Clare – BBC Wildlife
4: Bewick’s Swan – Jonathan Cape
Swallow & Dyke – Jonathan Cape
Lapwing – Jonathan Cape
A Bend in the River – Mr & Mrs Andrew Clements
Curlew – Magnus & Veronica Linklater’s Riemore map
Barn Owl border design – Jonathan Cape
5: Research . . .
6: The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away – Radio Times
Print-runs:
Folio Society: 6000
BBC Wildlife Magazine: 50,000
Jonathan Cape: 5000
Radio Times: 750,000
Chambers Dictionary:
Line – lin, n. a thread, string, cord, rope, esp. one for fishing, sounding, hanging clothes, or guidance: that which has length without breadth or thickness (math): a long narrow mark: a streak, stroke or narrow stripe: draughtsmanship: a row of printed or written characters, ships, soldiers, etc.: a verse, such as is usu. written in one row: a series or succession, as of progeny: a service of ships, buses, etc. or a company running them: a course, route, system: a railway or a tramway track or route: a stretch or route of telegraph, telephone, or power wires or cables: a connection by telephone: an order given to an agent for goods: such goods received: trade in, or the stock on hand of, any particular goods: a lineament: a rank: a short letter or note: a wrinkle: a trench: limit: method : policy: a rule or canon: (with the; often cap.)the equator: lineage: direction: occupation: course: province or sphere of life, interest, or taste: regular army: line of battle: an old measurement, the twelfth part of an inch: relevant information (coll.): glib talk (slang): in TV, the path traversed by the electron beam or scanning spot in moving once from side to side (horizontal scanning) or from top to bottom (vertical scanning) of the picture: a queue (U.S.)
RESEARCH
• From my perspective, research means seeking and finding out about the subject; exploration, improvisation, experimentation.
• Embedded in this definition is the collection, documentation, and notation and of material so that it may be legible and useful.
• Research encapsulates an exploration of complex intellectual, visual and philosophical aspects of experience.
• Within my own practice, this is directed towards art education & art practice in the creation of hand-made images & objects.
• Such outputs are widely disseminated through publishing, design, teaching, research events and exhibitions. Such is their ‘impact’.
• This research practice includes technical and philosophical explorations of materials and methods of making.
