Friday 30 October 2015

The Travels of the Toucher

8 page publication, with texts and images, edition of 50


On a wet and windy day, they journeyed out to Tigh na Cailleach, home of the Old Woman of the Glen, just before she withdrew into her shelter for winter. They were not sure what they might find, or what to do when they got there. They were walking a path that had been walked for thousands of years. They were hopeful that they would make their destination on time, and fearful of regret, lest they should have to turn back. It was not that time or nature were against them; it was simply that the elements continued, and would continue interminably, before them, after them and in spite of them. The night was drawing closer with every step further into the heart of the glen. Colours were changing to soft and rusty ochres, greens and bluey-greys. The form of the land was becoming gentler and more rounded. The deep, broad loch had now tapered off into a trickling stream; yet the wind raged on, and the rain beat with a stinging patter against their faces.



 



photography leslie-jones

Helleristningane Clay

Excerpt from sound installation, component of The Travels of the Toucher, 2015.


Blue sack, concealing Helleristningane Clay sound installation, component of Two Poke Holes and the Art of the Toucher, 2015. Photo by Leslie Jones.

Interview with Edinburgh Scupture Workshop

Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop: You have written about your interest in creation stories and the origins of the creative drive. What has been the starting point for making during your time on residency at the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop?

Dillan & Eleanor: The very first thing we did was to make two armholes in a card board box, and put it over our head while modelling some clay, one box each and one lump of clay each. We didn’t have any idea for how it should turn out, it was just a way of exploring the material, and how to begin making something before an idea has formulated.

ESW: During your time here you have made further constructions with similar armholes that obstruct your reach and sight, prioritising a tactile encounter with lumps of clay. When you have finished working into the clay, taken the box off your head or walked around the screen, and seen what you have made, what do you do next?

D&E: That is a key question - what now? Where is the work? There is some thing like a performance in the making and something like a sculpture left over after that, but we felt that neither was really it, or that the work is somewhere in-between those things. So to answer the question: We weren’t really sure what to do next, because we weren’t really sure what we had done with the clay or what it was. We tried different things - writing and drawing, building up and breaking down the clay. We had a similar experience when we went on our trip to see the ancient sites. We didn’t really know what to do when we got there, and we didn’t really understand what they were, or even why we were there.

ESW: You have been writing about the sculptural experiments as a way to reflect upon them. Can you talk about how your writing functions within your practice and how it affects the decisions about the rest of the work you make in photography, film, drawing and with sound? Do you see writing as a way to negotiate the un knowns that arise in the making process?

D&E: It might not reveal what is unknown, but it can help to give clarity to those ideas or feelings that one is aware of when making the work, but that just pass fleetingly through the mind at the time, and may even seem inconsequential. It’s also a way to explore somebody else’s work – to really pay attention to what you are looking at and your response to that. It’s an attempt to focus on your encounter with the work, rather than what you think it ought to be about. As with all the other material we work with, such as photography, writing feeds back into what we are doing, as something to reflect upon, and as an element to combine with other things. It’s all potential matter for the constellation of stuff that makes up the work.

Thursday 29 October 2015

Two Poke Holes and the Art of the Toucher

An exhibition at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop at the end of our residency.  The work produced for the exhibition has been kindly funded by Det Norske Kulturrådet/The Norwegian Arts Council.

Wednesday 28 October 2015

Two Poke Holes and the Art of the Toucher




Two paintings (acrylic on paper) with two carved turnips and a ceramic object, from the exhibition Two Poke Holes and the Art of the Toucher at Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop

Sunday 25 October 2015