Nathaniel Mann and Pigeon Pete

Inspired by a display of chinese and indonesian Pigeon whistles in the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford. Nathaniel Mann sought to discover the possibilities of composing sound using pigeons fitted with handmade pigeon whistles.

Pigeon Whistles: Nathaniel Mann from Nathaniel Robin Mann on Vimeo.

Working with homing pigeon breeder Pigeon Pete and his band of pigeons, the Birmingham Rollers. Nathaniel Mann developed a sound project called 'Pigeon Whistles'. 'Pigeon Whistles' is an expansive body of work which encompasses ethnomusicological research, musical performance, instrument design and construction, sound curation, storytelling and a series of encounters and personal relationships.

The project 'Pigeon Whistles' was developed under the Embedded Residency Programme 2013.

Bark!

Using these found bark shapes, fitted perfectly with the first challenge in Carla Sonheim's free kid's art week which I joined to occupy Freya and myself.
So if you are entertaining small people this week I highly recommend joining Carla's workshop and fitting a little art into your daily activities.

Found . . . teeth

I have no idea what plant these berries are from as I found them on the ground in the park, but they made great teeth.

London Planes

The trees of London are hot and are taking off their clothes, shedding bark on the pavements. The bark of London Planes has wonderful shapes and is encrusted with jewels of lichen.
Perfect to gather up and use as the starting point for illustrations.

Sana Habibirad IV

Bold bright foxes by Iranian illustrator Sana Rad.

Reza Dalvand

Iranian illustrator Reza Dalvand's bright torch light illustration has wonderful patterns on the clothing and is a beautiful bold composition.

Toraneko Bonbon II

Magical doodle sketches from Japanese creative collaborative Toraneko Bonbon.

Holiday

At last a chance to draw breath, and we are off on adventures for a few weeks.
Posts will continue, indeed it may be seamless here, but also there may be a day or two for you to catch up on the past, almost 9 years of art room plant.
Happy Holidays
The illustration here is by the wonderful Spanish illustrator Raul Nieto Guridi, whose wonderful, eloquent line say's so much with very little.

Toraneko Bonbon I

This is love, Toraneko Bonbon is a collaborative of four friends; Yoko Shiraishi, Asako Katahira, Hare奈Tomisawa, Kyoko Negishi who graduated from Musashino Art University of Art in 2004. Often they use packaging or mail as the starting point of their joyful mixed media illustrations.

Rob Hodgson IV

I have chosen this happy, benevolent image of a stone stack today by the inspiring Rob Hodgson.
It is my beautiful son's birthday and he is a 'rock stacker' a patient creator of transient beauty.
Happy Birthday, Fin.

Wrestlers on Saturdays

In the memory box I also found some little rotund wrestlers to paint and they are really fun.
Looking back through ancient footage from the 1980's these programmes were a crazy circus and fantastic for me to explore as a subject.
I can't remember being that into them as a child, but I do remember my grandfather sitting beneath his own dark cloud of cigarette smoke roaring at the TV as Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks rattled around the arena like jelly beans in fancy dress.

Gorleston Man and Jackdaw

I moved to rural Norfolk with my family from the West Midlands when I was eleven and started secondary school in the nearby town of Gorleston-on-sea. In one of the lanes down to the harbour was a talking Jackdaw, it would hop along the crumbling brick walls, looking at you with pin sharp eyes, saying 'hello'.
Working with this memory I have been sketching in my favorite medium of 'terrible quality' watercolour, gritty ones that leave a residue. I am loving pulling memories out, to play with, like a forgotten toy box.

Kei Mogaほぼ日手帳

Works by Kei Mogaほぼ日手帳 a Japanese illustrator based in Tokyo.

GoolyGooly Hyun Kim

Joyful work by South Korean GoolyGooly (Hyun Kim) in 2012.