I’m continuing to experiment shooting through glass.  The rain and light on the glass really enhances the feeling of being in the Lake District – the wind, rain and the movement of the trees.

The darker evenings do have some benefits – light becomes scarce but also does some unexpected things.

As a way of keeping up-to-date with DaveMD news via facebook I’ve just created a facebook artist page.

If you’d like to subscribe, just hit the ‘Like’ button on the Sidebar or visit Dave MD on facebook and do the same.

I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks working on the Ilse of Man last month.  I had some spare time to explore including an evening watching the Southern 100 bike race (pictured), fantastic but a little  scary!

I continue to explore the minimum use of colour to create create short atmospheric sequences.  The conditions on the top of Snaefell (the highest point on the island), were perfect, take a look at the images I’ve added to the Isle of Man gallery page.  You’re supposed to be able to see England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales from here!!

The REAL Bath Art Prize is part of this years Bath Fringe Visual Arts Festival (May 27 to June 12).  The deal is that once you register you get sent a random location to capture or create a piece reflecting the location.  I was given the Recycling Centre which I loved – here’s one of the images I took during my visit.

Number 40 is part of the SouthBank Arts Trail on 21+22 May in Southville+Bedminster, Bristol – always a brilliant weekend. As well as my own work the exhibition includes six other Bristol artists: Ruth Broadway (drawing); Hannah Hickman (photography); Stuart Low (glass and painting); Paul Brown (illustration); Hannah Broadway (illustration); and Steve Broadway (photography).

For more information: Number 40 @Southbank Arts Trail

Following March’s Rural Idyll 2 residency the resulting exhibition takes place every weekend throughout June 2011 between 11-5 at: Little Dodnash Farm, Bergholt Rd, Bentley, Suffolk IP9 2DQ.

Following the weeks residency I created two groups of work to be shown at the farm throughout June:

‘WOOD WORKINGS’
A constant theme of my work is the human interaction with landscape.  Whilst walking the woodlands that surround Little Dodnash Farm I became increasingly in awe of the trees, and fascinated by the process through which they are managed.  ‘Wood Workings’ documents the human relationship with the woodlands, and ultimately reflects on how; through domestic occupation and husbandry we leave a transitory mark on this environment.

See Gallery – Wood Workings for images from the collection.

’5 WORDS – SHADOWS ON A RURAL IDYLL’

Responding to the question – ‘give me 5 words that describe your feelings about living in a Rural Idyll’, the owner of Little Dodnash farm replied:

Solitude, Panic, Pleasure, Hardwork and Comfort.

’5 Words – shadows on a rural idyll’ uses these words as inspiration for a series of shadow based photo-ascetates constructed and photographed   at the farm during the residency in March. Through the use of Real-time graphical programming the photographs have subsequently been transformed into five animations (one for each word) and shown as a site-specific installation in the farms wood cutting yard.

It should be noted that although the inspiration for the piece sprang from the owner’s feelings about living in a rural idyll, its creation and ultimate presentation are based on my own responses to spending time at Little Dodnash Farm.  My main aim was to produce a piece that creates unity and provides equal weight to all five words, so giving us an insight into reality behind living in a Rural Idyll.

illuminate Longest Night

Just wrapping up my work on last December’s illuminate Longest Night, event, which kept me busy for the later part of 2010. Through illuminate I produce arts-based events that promote and reflect both the creativity and rich history of the area of South Bristol.  By engaging all communities illuminates aim is to generate interest and regeneration in the area.

Through using shop windows and disused properties to show work by nationally renowned Bristol based artists, illuminate hope to achieve two outcomes; i) to break down the barrier of getting people into traditional art galleries and ii) to give Bristol artists the opportunity to show in their home town.

ʻThe Longest Nightʼ built on the successful format of the illuminate ʻSpring Forwardʼ event by expanding into a five-day festive event that transform the lower end of North St into a festive spectacle with a series of shop windows created by Green Ginger, Kathy Hinde, Nathan Hughes, Luke Jerram and Joe Magee, plus a gallery/exhibition space and external projections by Ulf Pederson.

The event is thought to have been a great success – a community celebration to brighten up the winter nights that despite the sub-zero conditions was enjoyed by all…

BV Studios is having its first Open Studios next month. The converted 30,000 square foot warehouse in Bedminster, Bristol houses around 80 artists (including myself) who work in a variety of media.

I’m in an upstairs Studio – number M3, so please come along and say hello.  I’ll have some  new work as well the odd bargain for sale.

Opening times:
Friday 19th November: 6pm – 9pm (party continues/drinks served till late)

Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st: 11am – 6pm

Free Entry, Food available throughout the event from Katie & Kim’s Kitchen. Teas and coffees from Daisy Rollo of CoffeeArabica available Saturday and Sunday.

Here’s a copy of my image ‘walk on water’ that won the public vote and prize at the recent phone-ography exhibition at Photographique’s Photo Gallery

You can see the results of some of my recent iphone experiments in the  Phone-ography exhibition at:

The Photo Gallery, Photographique  31 Baldwin Street
Bristol BS1 1RG

The exhibition runs from 2-20 October 2010.

This is the first open submission exhibition run by The Photo Gallery.

I’ve just returned from a two week holiday in Turkey. Gokceovacik is near the town of Gocek on the Aegean coast of Turkey. It’s a beautiful location up in the mountains which thankfully was slightly cooler than the crazy temperatures down on the coast – 35 degrees which is far too hot for me. I spent a fair amount of time thinking about and then photographing the ‘olive pickers house’ which was next door to where we stayed. The colours, location and atmosphere captured my imagination and I hope to print and exhibit a series of photographs at some point in the future.

I’ve recently traded my blackberry in for an iphone.  For a number of reasons this makes sense: I use a mac so everything syncs up easily, I needed a new ipod, the iphone is GPS enabled which is great for some future projects and also it has a 5 MP camera.  Of course it’s a lot of money which I can’t really justify at all!

I’ve started experimenting with the camera, here’s an example of an early idea of using it like a toy/plastic camera which I really like,

An overhaul of my site is long overdue.  I’ve spent the last month not only upgrading the WordPress code and the theme, but cataloguing my work.  The intention is to bring my my images and blog closer together.  More sets of images will appear over the next month and the site itself will evolve over the same period.

After years of thinking about it, wondering if I can afford or even deserve it I’ve just got the keys for a studio.  It’s in the BV Studios which is a brand new development of purpose-built artists’ studios in Philip Street, Bedminster, Bristol.  I have a portion of one of the mezzanine studios (pictured here), I just need to get some shelving, furniture and all my boxes of frames in and I’m sorted.  I’m really excited about this and hope it’ll give my practice an injection of energy it needs and help me move my career on to another level.

Just a quick update – I’m really enjoying being in the space, I’ve got shelves and furniture, so it’s down to work now!!

I’ve just added my details to Saatchi online.  He seems fairly successful in the art world! so I thought might as well take advantage of the huge amounts of online traffic that no-doubt surge through the site and generate some interest in my own work.

0k, so 2009 there’s a recession on with businesses folding left, right and centre.  Just the right time to get into retail then?  Well, that’s what I’ve done!  For a few months I’ve been a partner in Retro Collectables, a shop in Bedminster, Bristol.  We sell unique collectables from the 1950’s to the 1980’s and a range of retro inspired clothing & accessories, books, vinyl, artist made cards, prints and jewellery.  I’m in the shop two days a week and every other Saturday, so it’s a bit of a shock to the system.  For the most part it’s fun, especially buying the stock – particularly the vinyl and sourcing the artwork, but can get a bit boring sometimes when you don’t see a customer for hours! Still great oaks from little acorns grow, so it’s onwards and upwards…

I went to a fantastic wedding a few weeks ago at Banwell Castle in Somerset. More of a folly than a castle it was a beautiful atmospheric location.  Aside from the obligatory wedding shots of our friends Janine & Mick I spent some time capturing the other side of the castle – the quiet forgotten side.

Having been involved in organising the South Bank Arts Trail for five years, I have been looking for a ways to develop new community arts based events.  The big difference being that I’d like to retain more creative control, be funded to do it and be able to pay artists to be involved. Jess Wright was in a similar situation, having run the South Bristol Business Awards for two years she was looking for a new challenge.  We share the same aims but come from different backgrounds:art and business. Seven months ago Jess and I started working on a new project called illuminate. Illuminate aims to produce arts-based events that promote and reflect both the creativity and rich history of South Bristol. Key elements of illuminate projects will be the use of disused properties to show art/moving image work, to reflect the community and history they are set in and to involve key creative organisations in the city of Bristol.

illuminates long-term aim is to produce a festive Christmas event that would transform multiple disused shops on North/East St by using projected films/light/artists installations. We will be piloting the illuminate concept at the end of March with Spring Forward, an event partnered with the Knowle West Media Centre and Picture This:

The weekend of March 27 to 29 will see two empty shops – numbers 26 and 28 in Bedminster’s North Street  – playing host to illuminate’s first event ‘Spring Forward’. Number 26 will feature a series of projected films made by Bristol based artists alongside an exhibition in the empty property (no.28) next door. The exhibition celebrates the past and present of Bedminster’s retail history.

For more information see the illuminate web site

I spent an hour or so in the Robinson building at the top of East St the other day.  The old paper bag factory and one-time home for local artists is being turned into apartments.  I managed to catch it before completion, in a state of flux which is how I like it.  The shot here was taken on the scaffolding looking down towards Dame Emily Park.

  I spent some time this summer creating a mediascape for the Sweet History? project. The project run by the Architecture Centre in Bristol aims to make information about the heritage built environment of Bristol interesting and accessible to young people and lifelong learners. It explored the impact of the sugar and slave trade on the heritage built environment of Bristol, and enabled young people from the Archimedia group (Knowle West Media Centre) to create a host of digital media on the subject.

Using the young people’s audiovisual content as a starting point a website, a trail map and finally the mediascape have been built  introducing 23 landmark buildings and houses linked to 18th century Bristol and the triangular trades of sugar, slaves and tobacco.

For information and downloads visit www.sweethistory.org

My friend artist Tony Eastman has been collecting tiger related memorabilia for many years.  He shares his passion for all things tiger with anyone interested in tigers; collecting; art or purely having a curious mind.  In the past he has shown his collection in his garden shed, complete with curator/guide in costume, but time was right to get with the 21st century.  A web site has now been built, of which I had some input (mainly photographing the collection). The site tigermuseum.com does a great job of showcasing the collection and sharing Tony’s magpie like approach to collecting and enthusiasm for life in general.

I suppose in a month or so we’ll forget the lack of sun this summer?  Actually I don’t really get on in the heat and like the slate grey skies, but I like to feel I’ve had a summer.  This picture was taken in August at a disused airfield in Pembrokeshire – it ticked all the boxes for me, although this tyre sculpture or race track as some describe it did elude to recent human activity..

Had a fantastic time working at WOMAD at the new site in Wiltshire. Working on a music related event really brought back the buzz I remember from years ago, and even the weather did the right thing making it a sun-baked festival like the ones from the past. I didn’t have much time for photography, but as always the flags made a big impact, so here they are.

First trip out with a new camera (Canon 40d), bought after months of deliberation. I love buildings whose original purpose seems to have long since gone, and who have almost become part of the landscape. I took a series of photographs in Norfolk around old air force buildings, hoping to capture some of the aura they obviously have. Some are good, some could be better – I need time to get to know the camera, but am happy with the first results.

This is the closest I come to figurative work!

I’ve just produced the postcard above. It’s a collage of 24 of my images to promote exhibitions and generally give people an idea of the range of work I produce. It’s proved popular; with some people wanting to see other collections presented in the same way?

In an effort to make this blog work I’ve imported some posts from my old blogger site and am going to try and post every week, mmm sounds a bit rash!

what a great city..

I’ve been so busy this summer with having a good time, and then starting doing some teaching at UWE that my website and blog have really suffered. Most of all I blame Facebook for this, as any spare moment I seem to spend checking it, rather than in more creative pursuits. My new years resolution is to post thoughts and photos much more regularly – we shall see!!

How to sell work over the Internet is a not easy. I’ve tried various options over the last couple of years, with very little success it must be said.

1. I used my site as an on-line image gallery, which looked good, but because it was hand-crafted in Dreamweaver was quite labour intensive to keep up-to-date.

2. I then discovered blogging and on-line artist galleries and signed up with isendyouthis.com this is a really well run on-line art gallery, but not really ideal for selling different sized images/finishes of photography prints.

3. Gallery 2C in Bristol were interested in my work, so I went through a lengthy process of selecting a range of work and uploading it to their site. Nothing sold, so I’ve recently pruned the selection so the body of work relates to macro textures and graphics based images. The jury’s out, so I’ll see how it goes. I replaced the isendyouthis link with Gallery 2C on my site.

4. After discussions with isendyouthis I decided to change the work on the site so that it is distinct from Gallery 2C. It has much more an art feel to it, and includes work I have exhibited and reflects the direction my work is heading in. I reinsated the isendyouthis link on my site!

so…. low and behold I got an email at the beginning of the week from someone wanting to buy £1600 of work. Wow I thought, all my time on the web has finally paid off. After a couple of days of email conversations I received a cheque for £2,750 (more than I asked for). However, some things did not really add up, and the whole thing seemed rather fishy. I talked to other local artists and it appears that quite a few SBA members have been caught up in this, a Nigerian scam based in Manchester. The long shot being that the guy invoices you for the balance to cover the overpayment. Luckily nobody I know has been caught out.

So it’s back to the drawing board.

Hewlett Packard have recently launched a new version of their Mediascape software and an accompanying website where the software and Mediascapes can be downloaded. Along with other artists myself and Paul Matson were commissioned to create a Mediascape using photography as the starting point. The piece had to be non location specific which meant that its content had to be generic in nature and the overall concept one that everyone could relate to. Paul and I chose to work with an underwater theme. Our aim was to create a Mediascape experience that would be instinctively recognisable by many people, and would require little explanation on how to use it.

The piece is not meant to be a ‘realistic’ diving simulator, but through the use of sound and image provide the participant with a taster of what the actual experience might bring. Simple animated slideshows suggest movement, while the sound complements and suggests potential diving scenarios. Scubascape is not competitive and contains no gaming element; it’s about immersing yourself in the audio/visual experience, exploring the four different dives and having fun.

Although the initial version of Scubascape was designed, built and tested in central Bristol, a portable version is also available so the piece can be experienced anywhere. Scubascape can be downloaded from the mscapers website: Scubascape

Last year as part of the Southbank-Bristol Arts trail we (the SBA) facilitated the collaborative ‘shoebox project’, whereby SBA members/artists, friends and family and local school children were asked to use an empty shoe box to appropriate/create a piece of art. The uptake was fantastic with an amazing range of work created.

As Chair of the SBA I wanted to continue this collaborative approach and facilitate more projects as part of this years Southbank-Bristol Arts Week (12-19 May 2007). In partnership with Tony Eastman I devised two projects with a similar ethos. Here is a summary of the project briefs:

Message on a Bottle invited Southbank artists and friends of all ages to make a work of art that sent a message from our own community to friends, family or the world at large: by taking a bottle (or bottles) as a starting point, everyone was asked to construct a positive message they wished to send by using any medium or combination of mediums (i.e. paint, enamel, collage, papier mache, sound – you name it!) The ‘bottle messages’ (signed or unsigned – it’s your choice) were installed in St Paul’s Church and unless otherwise indicated included in a silent auction to raise funds for the SBA.

Seaside, Cities and Sandwiches – a ‘ReCollection’ offered the chance to share holiday memories and see them incorporated into an audio photographic collage at the Grant Bradley Gallery: Choose an old photograph that records one of your most memorable holiday experiences and be prepared to record a short description of the experience.

Spring is almost here, and with the longer days and more light I’ve been taking shots containing a bit more colour. I like the dark atmospheric shots, but am pleased to have re-discovered a lighter side. I took some time out a couple of weeks ago to visit Avonmouth, not a place normally associated with day trips! but for anyone with an eye for a picture it’s pretty inspiring. I’ve also changed the banner image on www.davemd.co.uk to reflect the change in season.

Bristol stories is a collaboration between the Watershed and Bristol Museums to develop digital content for the new Museum of Bristol, due to open in 2009. Bristol Stories is based on the blueprint devised by Joe Lambert at the Centre for Digital Storytelling in California. The process enables people to ‘use digital media to tell meaningful stories from their life’.

I recently took part in a four day course to learn how to create stories based around the theme of travel, and enable the participants to facilitate Digital Storytelling workshops themselves (something I hope to do). My film ‘space boy’ uses photographs from my childhood, some sounds and images (copyright free) and my own recorded narrative.

The image above (yes, it’s me) is from the film which can be seen here: Space Boy

I’ve been taking more sea and skyscapes, where sea and sky almost become one. The shots are almost devoid of colour and display a dreamlike quality. I am particularly happy with these and feel at last that I may be developing my own style with consistency which I am keen to develop and happy to show. I will be printing (24 x 20) and dry-mounting a series of images to submit to galleries early in 2007.

I’ve been experimenting with landscape, particularly that almost devoid of colour. People have mentioned there is a echo of Gerhard Richter’s work in these photographs, so I’ve been doing a bit of research. I must say I’m flattered by any similarity!

I had a weekend away with some friends on the Somerset Levels last weekend. The bleak landscape had a real impact on the photographs I took, infusing them with a real sense of gloom almost in the style of Don McCullin who lives in the area. This one however is lighter in mood and more the direction I’d like to take my landscape work.

The Southbank Arts Trail now in its fourth year continues to be a very inclusive event attracting school children, professional artists and first timers in equal measure. The event celebrates the creativity in the neighbourhoods of Southville, Bedminster and Ashton and aims through art & performance to bring people together, let them express themselves and have fun.

As Chair of Southbank-Bristol Arts (the organisers of the Arts Trail) I was keen to present a selection of the 180 artists who exhibited in over 50 venues at this years trail and to distil the quality and diversity into one group exhibition. It took a lot of planning, but thanks to the hard work of my co-curators Janine Partington and Abbie Jenkins from the Grant Bradley Gallery the exhibition looks great and has been well received by the artists and public alike.

This exhibition runs from 9 November 2006 until 11 January 2007 at the Grant Bradley Gallery, Bedminster Bristol.

‘imagined narratives #1‘ was shown as part of this years Southbank Arts Trail. It is an exploration in creating narrative from a set of seemingly un-related images.

Each person had their own idea of what the story might be; there was no right or wrong. Peoples ideas varied wildly, some stories filled with joy, others covering darker ground.

I would like to extend the work by providing postcards for the participants to send their feedback. Peoples stories could then be posted on the web thus extending the interactive nature of the piece.

DMD May’2006

‘here nor there’ is a locative art walk inspired by the Situationist ‘dérive’ or randomly motivated walk. Essentially about walking and discovery the piece allows you to wander freely in the area between the churches of St Paul’s Southville, St Mary’s Redcliffe and Bristol Cathedral, and whilst doing so rediscover images and sounds recorded during my own walks. These are triggered by GPS and relayed to your handheld computer screen and headphones.

Created using the Mobile Bristol Authoring Tool ‘here nor there’ is part calculated and programmed bu t also dependent on chance and spontaneous unknown factors. The piece reframes your experience of location and by fusing art and technology it employs a strategy from the past whilst pointing to, and suggesting possibilities for the future.

DMD July’2006

To mark the 200^th anniversary of the birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel funding was made available for various events to celebrate his life and work. Sculptor Tony Eastman and myself made a joint application to produce an artistic response to the hard engineering of Brunel’s work.

Through detailed research it became apparent that during Brunel’s lifetime equally important advances were being made though leaps in creativity in art, music and literature. With this in mind our focus shifted in the search for a medium that would allow us to express the achievements of Brunel and his peers in the fields of the arts as well as in industry and the sciences, and simultaneously create a unique series of contemporary artworks. The art works would deliver factual information in a visually exciting way and be seen as a celebration of Bristol’s industrial past and cultural present.

The solution was to combine contemporary images produced by Bristol artists with textual historical parallels or timelines, and to create four large banners covering specific date ranges and linked visually to Brunel’s work. The banners would work visually on an individual level but would be strengthened when displayed as a group. Our intention was for the banners to be viewed by the general public in a busy Harbourside location with strong links to the City’s industrial past, popular with tourists and locals alike. Unfortunately our bid was unsuccessful.

DMD August’2005

The Bristol Pack is a deck of cards with the face of each card, back and box all designed by one of 56 artists currently working in Bristol. The offer to create an image for the seven of diamonds led me to explore the concept of luck. By installing and photographing acetate sheet with printed text ‘Lucky 7’ as it blew in the wind and as shadows were cast through it. For a brief second the word ‘Luck’ appeared as a shadow on the wall behind, and the piece was made.

DMD July’2005

The Avon Cut has one of the largest tidal variations in the country. The piece documents a section of the river at high and low tide over a period of 12 months. A years worth of tides also represented four seasons worth of climate and vegetation variations. The piece originally intended to be web based ended up as two photographic montages: Rise & Fall, each showing a slice of each months changes for the 12-month period (as part of the Bristol Bridges exhibition).

DMD June’2005

The Avon Cut has one of the largest tidal variations in the country. The piece documents a section of the river at high and low tide over a period of 12 months. A years worth of tides also represented four seasons worth of climate and vegetation variations. The piece originally intended to be web based ended up as two photographic montages: Rise & Fall, each showing a slice of each months changes for the 12-month period (as part of the Bristol Bridges exhibition).

DMD June’2005

An interactive work created in Macromedia Director. The piece explores the processes of construction and deconstruction of visual imagery, and the psychology of colour and sound. It allows the user to manipulate six photographic images (split into nine segments) and their associated soundscapes in order to create a series of photographic and aural montages.

The piece is a prototype for an art-based installation. Ideally ‘Sides of Me’ would inhabit a cube shaped room where all surfaces are used for the projection of images and where speakers mounted on the back, left and right walls will help to envelop and engage the user through surround sound.

DMD June’2005

It’s been a great summer, but Autumn is here at last. I think it’s my favourite season, I love the slight chill in the air, the light and the leaves.

I must admit I’ve been a bit dismissive of camera phones since they appeared a few years ago. But since my last phone broke I find I’m the proud owner of one, and am actually finding it quite a liberating experience. The quality (1.3 m) is not fantastic, but for the type of textural/abstract work it seems pretty good.

I can’t quite believe it, but after three years I’ve finished my MA in Interactive Media at UWE. I’m really pleased with my final piece, the locative art walk ‘here nor there’; it works really well and certainly makes you think and experience the city in a new way.

The image here (a bit small to do it justice) is a collaged map representing all the walks I made during the creation of the piece. It shows all the audio visual content zones, but with the underlying roads removed.

So, time to relax and think about the future….