Parking, texts and busses

It is such a privilege to have work installed. I am really delighted that the latest text piece has been adopted by Cambridge County Council Transport Department as a permanent artwork. The whole work has been taken from its original locations in the town and can be read as one piece, a sort of "Welcome to Cambridge" text. It is located at the Trumpington Park and Ride just outside the city.

 

The whole piece reads: this way for rippled hills and ripe, bursting fields blue sky and dressed stone formality. Dipped anthracite clouds poised to varnish. Domestic housing, waving effervescent flowers, pensive dogs and green flag grass. Quiet walls and walked stone lead to hidden squares and bursts of persistent lawn. 

It is the experience of 24 hours in Cambridge from the the viewpoint of a visitor. Many thanks to the Park and Ride team for installing this text and for their support in the process and of course thank you also to Text and Context Cambridge for inviting me to participate without them none of this would have been realised. 

lines out of context

Organizing things from a distance can be complicated. This Cambridge project is more fun when I am there to talk to people in person. Fortunately I have a whole support team (they deserve lots of thanks) all is starting to take a definite form and if the original plan is not working then the back-up one will.

I have been testing laminated signs in the studio to see how long they will stay fixed up to windows with tiny suction cups. This job really does lead to new worlds, I had no idea how sophisticated the manufacture of the suction cup is. It makes me realise how important it is to appreciate the little details. The smallest of things may take years to design and perfect.

Recently I was lucky enough to be in a location where I could spontaneously create and install a text piece. It would disappear in a few minutes of brushing or light rain. Leaving no trace is part of what I do, having fun while doing it, makes my job worthwhile.

 

Rock pools: lines out of context

 

 

...and tree shadows smile

new context

For a brief period of 24 hours I was in Cambridge on a site visit for a text installation I am making there. I travelled cross-country from Oxford to Cambridge with the bus. It was fascinating to travel through the English landscape after so recently being in Canada. The changes are subtle and the countryside is devoted to agriculture. The fields change in size and by the time I reached Cambridge they were huge and ripening.

The bus travelled slowly from one conurbation to the next, stopping in adorable stone villages and huge new towns like Milton Keynes. Agriculture filled the void between developments. The skies are huge and seem to grow as the hills lower and turn to ripples on the horizon.

It became a study of blossoming cloud and chasing thunderstorms. Two days of finding rain and running for shelter in the city and watching more of the same from the bus window.

Countryside from the bus

Snatches of views

Cambridgeshire

the road

This had been the first time I had traveled so widely in Newfoundland and Labrador. I am beginning to appreciate its size. Driving was such an experience. There was only one moose moment when a teenager ambled over the Trans Canada highway in front of me and was having too much fun on this asphalt thing to move away for some time.   

Sometimes the only way to fully understand a landscape is to move within it. I have seen so much road and so many trees. I've driven through strange boreal forest and arctic tundra. Landscapes supporting the thinest of berry bogs and raw moonlike rocks. 

the road along the bay of Islands

Bay of Islands 2

RV for two with trailed car

I am fascinated by the way other people travel. This RV was for only two and the car was trailed from the back.

bend in the road 

Newfoundland has so many long and straight roads.

Terracotta meets pink granite

I can't begin to describe how much I loved Labrador. To start with I found one of my favourite types of rock outcrop: made of pink granite.

pink granite coast

Red Bay was one of the most moving and powerful places I had seen. The Basque Whalers apparently concentrated their work on Saddle Island and there are remains of "try-works" (whale oil ovens) everywhere on the sheltered side of this tiny island. It is industry on a huge scale for the 16th century. 

remains of Basque terracotta tiles on Saddle Island from a roof of a caved in building  

The same terracotta tiles appear in Pasaia and other Basque ports. I am fascinated by the tangible link. The ties to history are so clear.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I loved the contemporary culture too. People were so amazingly friendly and prepared to work with me.  I grew extremely fond of curious objects. Looking at everything with new eyes, I had never seen so many manufactured products with geographical directions on them or relishing their location. The water came from True North, the laundry liquid was from Down East, I washed my hands with North Woods soap. We drank bottled iceberg water called 80 degrees North (L'Eau d'Iceberg) but my favourite one of all so forgive the product placement was the soap called Kiss My Face. It's sold by American importers but I love the name.

True North Water

 

traveling through Basque Newfoundland

From New York to St. John's Newfoundland. There is a energy in the city, the harbour works late, the lights are on all night. The influence of oil money shows.

The harbour at night

 From there to Port Rexton to begin the Newfoundland travels.

Port Rexton

I crossed from one side of the island to the other. We saw so many trees and long straight roads slicing through forests and bouncing over hills. For moments, hours or days I would stop to study Basque ports en route. The Basque presence in Newfoundland and Labrador is visible, I started to become adept at recognizing good natural harbours and deep anchorages.

Port au Choix-one of the Basque ports.

green, dusty and traveling

Returned from Newfoundland and Labrador, it was absolutely amazing trip. I was researching the Basque (whaling) ports and looking at rocks as always.

This whole trip can can best be described as a journey of traveling. I started in Connecticut with very dear friends (trying desperately to return to the human state post jet lag). I then travelled to New York for 24 intense hours before reaching Ottawa by plane.

road / pavement crossing in Danbury from the bus to New York City

Outside Manhattan

I have been using my phone camera as a notebook, for a visual diary of these travels. New York was hot and dusty but now has a familiarity to it.

gorgeous orange school buses

Times Square

The ultimate NYC experience: Times Square at night. I am somewhat allergic to crowds but the wonderment of brightly-coloured lights supersedes that. I grew up in a village without pavements and street lights, the inner child in me sees the fairy lights...