Alba ad Astra - Run Extended!

Alba ad Astra
Originally uploaded by MadeleineS.

Mike at Transreal Fiction has agreed to extend the run of the Alba ad Astra exhibition to the end of September. All the documents, so carefully researched by Gavin Inglis and Andrew C. Ferguson of Writers' Bloc continue to be on display along side my photographs. If you thought you'd missed your chance to see this fantastic piece of research into Scotland's engineering past then don't despair - there are still a few weeks in which to visit it at Transreal Ficiton, 7 Cowgatehead, The Grassmarket, Edinburgh.

If you can't get a long to the show you can see the photographs and some of our research notes at www.madeleineshepherd.co.uk.

The collective which constructed this exhibition is currently considering how to take it forward. We hope to be able to report on the expected return of the Golden Eagle capsule on 30th November, regardless of restrictions that may be placed in our path. We also hope to be able to reconcile our findings with the ravings of one Hector McKracken, whose spam email some readers may have received. If you have any leads you think we should follow or any comments about our research so far please leave a comment after this post.

Ends and beginnings

Dissected Sweaters
Originally uploaded by MadeleineS.

It's been a while since I wrote anything for the blog. The supreme effort of mounting an exhibition and getting the studio ready for the open weekend so soon after the operation really took its toll. I more or less flopped after the 9th of August and the Edinburgh Festivals have mainly passed us by this year. Mike has been writing about the things we managed to get along to at Semaphore for Ducks if you're interested. Recovery is proceeding fairly well, with a few set backs as I get used to Edinburgh's different schools of bus driving again! I also fell out of bed this morning so I'm being a bit tentative about moving around right now. Balancing exercise and and rest is really difficult. I always think I can do more than I really can then come crashing down later. However, if I have a good week next week and get the all clear from the University GP, I'll be back at "the day job" during the following one.

Open Studios was a qualified success. Lots of interest in my work, more than the previous event but sales were well down and the medical necessity of (saloon car) taxis to and from Coburg House pretty much wiped it out what I did take. I spent three pleasant days with my fellow artists, potential customers and family and friends so it was far from a waste of time and a purposeful distraction from languishing in my orthopedic chair.

Alba ad Astra is now over as well and seems to have been well received, according to Mike's observations of visitors. There were people who just didn't "get it", though some might have if they'd given it a bit more time and thought. The majority spent time looking at the photographs, reading Andrew J Wilson's research notes, the "archive copies" of Rocketry Scotland and other documents and giggling to themselves. Some of them bought the booklet and have even told me on Facebook they really enjoyed it!

We put a lot of effort into publicising the show to the press but apart from listings it's been largely overlooked. The Scotsman mentioned Alba ad Astra at the end of The Bookworm column and it was unexpectedly listed in the UNESCO City of Literature website but there were no reviews, good or bad, anywhere. I guess the visual arts people we sent press releases to felt the project wasn't visual enough for them to take an interest. If you didn't make it along you can see all the photographs and research notes on my website, where you can also buy a copy of the booklet if you want to know more. There are also copies in stock at Transreal Fiction if you're in Edinburgh and don't need mail order.

Other bits of life have all been rattling around in various distracting ways. My father's 80th birthday fast approaches and his health continues to deteriorate. My brother's home was under threat again from the wildfires in Athens. Thankfully the danger was not as great this time as the last. My other brother and family, in Oxford, seem to be keeping out of trouble but maybe they're just keeping their heads down! My cousin has had a very successful exhibition in Glasgow and gave a talk at the West Port Book Festival on her research into learned animals on stage. Gavin Inglis, one of my Alba ad Astra colleagues organised and participated in Underword, 22 nights of spoken word events. We got along to one of them - had I been fitter we might well have managed more as other members of the Alba ad Astra team were performing their work on other nights.

As the dust settles on all of the above, my head is spinning with the next steps for Alba ad Astra and several new art projects (of which the dissected sweaters at the top of this post are part), getting back to "the day job" and wondering just how bad the timing of the next hip operation will be...

Retrospective at Open Studios

Here's a nice shot of 0ne corner of my studio, looking uncluttered in anticipation of the Open Studios weekend which starts tomorrow. I've got examples of work from the last couple of years on display as well as a small selection of Alba ad Astra things.

I'll be there from 2pm on Friday until the end of the private view and then 11am to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday. Hope to see some of you there.
Map and directions from Google.

Open Studios Event

Our next exciting open event at Coburg House Studios will be during the Edinburgh Art Festival in August 2009. The dates are 7th-9th August, and our opening hours will be 11 - 6 daily. If you would like to be added to our mailing list and receive an invitation to the private view of the exhibition please email coburg.house@yahoo.com

As well as me, there are around fifty five artists working at Coburg House. Almost all of them will open their studios to the public. We look forward to seeing you there!

Body modification and the Scots in Space!

Stelarc eat your heart out - I've had a useful physical enhancement, replacing bone with cobalt-chrome alloy! My first hip replacement (4 weeks ago) seems to have been very straightforward. The second one is due before the end of the year. I'm extremely hopeful that I'll regain a lot of energy once I'm free from the pain and the drugs - until the arthritis finds a new playground! Right now, I get tired very quickly, am walking with two sticks and not allowed on buses or in black cab-type taxis in case I dislocate the new joint sitting on low seats or getting on board. This make things very frustrating as my head is as full of ideas as ever and I'd really like to be in my studio much more. It's made even more of a mess of the house than I usually manage. I have several aids for sitting at the right height, for picking things up and getting about, we've had to use the mattress from the sofa bed to raise the height of our bed. So the sofa frame is now covered in project materials and we have only a couple comfortable chairs. According to the hospital's care pathway, it'll be another month at least before we're back to normal by which time we might have a month or two before it all starts again!

Long before I knew the date of my operation, I committed myself to two events in early August. Thanks in great part to the massive goodwill and hard work of friends and colleagues (especially Andrew and Gav and Maureen) these are going ahead more or less as planned.

The Coburg House Art Gallery and Studios Open Weekend runs from 7 to 9 August. My studio will be open and I should be there for most of the time but I'm not sure what times yet. I'm dependent on lifts, friends to look after the place in my absence, etc.

Alba ad Astra, however is the major project. It's an exhibition and publication (image above is the cover illustration) about what might have happened if the Scots had had a space exploration programme in the 1960s. Working with Writers' Bloc and my brother Fergus Currie, we've assembled text and images to tell the story of several people touched by these events. The exhibition runs from 3 to 31 August at Transreal Fiction and the 44 page illustrated book will be available there initially (eventually mail order from my website and other places I hope). If you're in town please come and see it. If not, then my static site has a gallery for it which should get filled up over the next week or two.