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The last time I was in Birmingham I paid a visit to The Spotted Dog, an Irish pub in Digbeth. I had read about it on Nicky Getgood’s blog Digbeth is Good and decided to drop in for Friday night Pimm’s o’clock. I took some of my artmoney and a couple of my accordion books, just to show people what sort of art I make. The landlord, John Tighe, promptly decided to have his business become the first in Digbeth to accept payment in artmoney and I bought a round of drinks with my XXX, Soho piece. Here’s a link to an article from the Birmingham Mail.
Yay! I got an email today confirming that my artmoney is now offered for sale via the Bank of International Artmoney website. You can check out my profile here.
Artmoney from BIAM (Bank of International Art Money) is an international art project established by the Danish artists Lars Kræmmer and Flemming Vincent in 1998. Artmoney items are original works of art the size of big bank notes (12×18 cm). They are attractive for art collectors, and can also be used as an alternative currency at shops and to pay for accommodation on a host network in Denmark and worldwide. The project has got a great deal of attention because of its comments on art and social cultural policy. More than 1000 artists from 40 countries participate. More than $80,000,000 of art money has been issued. Artmoney has been featured at several national and international galleries and events.
My first pieces of artmoney are from my London series of photos. I took some to Birmingham with me and bartered for a meal and a place to stay one of the nights I was up there.
Bicycle couriers, London
XXX, Soho
Big Ben
Jubilee Bridge
I’ve been planning to take an artmoney trip to Denmark for ages and may just do it quite soon. I have a few more pieces left from my London series and plan to make some more from my recent Digbeth photos.
On Saturday, I read an interview with James Lovelock, climate science maverick and formulator of the Gaia hypothesis. It would seem that he has a gloomy prognosis for our planet. As in “Enjoy life while you can! Because if you’re lucky it’s going to be 20 years before it (the poo) hits the fan.”
When asked if he attributes the conflicting predictions to the current environmental crisis, eg apocalyptic or optimistic, to differences in scientific understanding or personality, he says “Personality”.
It got me to thinking about how my thoughts and actions not only influence my life choices and the way that I feel, but that they can also affect the people and the world around me in postive (hey, I’m an optimist!) ways. It’s important for me to be mindful about what goes on inside of me.
I’m on an e-mailing list for People for a Soulcentric/Ecocentric World and got this through later on that evening:
“We were made for these times, and everything depends upon each of us discovering our soul path … and living it wildly and courageously”. ~ Bill Plotkin is the founder of Animas Valley Institute
“Stop thinking this is all there is. Realize that for every ongoing war and religious outrage and environmental devastation and bogus Iraqi attack plan, there are a thousand counter-balancing acts of staggering generosity and humanity and art and beauty happening all over the world, right now, on a breathtaking scale, from flower box to cathedral.
Resist the temptation to drown in fatalism, to shake your head and sigh and just throw in the karmic towel. Realize that this is the perfect moment to change the energy of the world, to step right up and crank your personal volume; right when it all seems dark and bitter and offensive and acrimonious and conflicted and bilious… there’s your opening.
Remember magic! And, finally, believe you are part of a groundswell, a resistance, a seemingly small but actually very, very large impending karmic overhaul, a great shift, the beginning of something important and potent and unstoppable.”
Mark Morford writes for the San Francisco Chronicle.
It’s all food for thought . . . . . . . . . . . . . and don’t forget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . that your thoughts create your world.
Thoughts of you, artmoney, 2008
Now that I am back in my studio, I can not only get to work on some fibre art, but will actually write an instructive post for a change
As part of Devon Art Works 2007, my studio will be open to the public from 8th – 23rd September. As well as having some of my art quilts on display, I will have artmoney, fibre art books and Angelina vessels for sale.
I started off my creative day with elevenses, a snack that is similar to afternoon tea, but eaten in the morning. The name refers to the time of day that it is taken: around 11 am. I had a cup of English Breakfast tea with milk and one sugar, brewed in my favourite mug, and a bacon and marmalade sandwich on toast.
When I was at Laura Cater-Woods’ workshop in Asheville this summer, I joined in on a Lutrador order and got 2 yards of it. Lutrador is a non-woven polyester fibre which has it’s origins in the automotive industry.
I’ve printed photographs onto Lutrador before. It gives an ethereal feeling to the photograph because the fibres pick up the inks and slightly diffuse the image.
Today, I printed some photos to make artmoney with. Artmoney is 12cm x 18cm, or 4.75″ x 7.12″. I have an Epson DX6000 Inkjet Printer/Scanner. I chose an Epson because it uses waterproof, archival quality inks. It also has seperate cartridges for the cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks. I find this an advantage over the three-in-one color cartridges of other printers because if I run out of a certain color, I only have to replace that cartridge.
I chose my photographs, ones that I have taken in London. I printed them 5″ x 8″ which is a perfect size for the artmoney blank. (I had previously cut the blanks from medium weight watercolor paper) A tip that I had picked up from Laura was to iron freezer paper onto the Lutrador. This is not necessary for stabilization. In fact, Lutrador can go straight into the printer. The freezer paper keeps the ink from going through the Lutrador, which is very porous and getting all over the rollers. So for my first print, I used a freezer paper backing. You can see the printed Lutrador on the left and the freezer paper on the right, including how much of the ink goes through.
Then I realized that I will have to iron fusible web onto the back of the printed Lutrador to affix it to the artmoney blank. I am always looking for shortcuts, so I thought ‘Hey, why not iron fusible web to the Lutrador instead of freezer paper’. So I did. The freezer paper stabilized image is on the left and the fusible web stabilized image is on the right. I find it darker and more detailed, because although the ink did go through the Lutrador as before, the glue on the fusible web captured it.
Here you can see the two backing papers. Freezer paper on the left and the fusible web paper on the right.
Because my fusible web is on a roll, the prepared Lutrador is slightly curly. I can iron it on both sides (using parchment paper) to flatten it, but the curl always seems to come back. So I have to take care when it goes through the printer and guide it through. Otherwise this can happen!
Images ready to be made into artmoney
I’ve started to make money from my art! These pieces combine my photography, stitch and painting.
Cow 73
One day last summer I walked home and at the bottom of my driveway there was a black cow with ‘73′ tattooed on it’s flank. I called Jenny, the farmer who pastures her cattle in the fields around my house and her left a message. I never knew what happened to that cow.
Birch Trees, London
Some have words and poems written on the back.
Southbank Shadows
Big Ben
Artmoney was conceived and developed in 1997 by Lars Kraemmer, a Danish artist. Each piece of art money is worth 27 euros (34USD/18GBP). The constraints are that is must be 12cm x 18cm (4.75″ x 7″) and able to stand handling without breaking or staining. To find out more, including how and where to spend it (or to register as an artmoney artist and make your own!) visit www.artmoney.org.
