Wednesday 5 September 2018

'The Lightning Fields' - an art installation in the desert of New Mexico

I was listening to the radio a couple of day ago and heard someone talk about their visit to the  'Lightning Fields' art installation in Quemada, New Mexico and made me think again about my visit there in 2003.

Having seen an image of the installation on the front of an art book cover, I researched where it is and how to see it and it led to an amazing adventure!

You can't just locate it and drive up to it in the desert, you have to book on-line and a maximum of 6 people can view it at any one time.  You have to meet up at an agreed time and day at an unmarked building in a very small one-street town.   Then you leave your vehicle and are taken to the installation where you stay overnight.  There are rows and rows of steel poles in the desert and they have been located in a place that has frequent lightning storms.


Here is what I wrote and the etching that I created from a sketch I made at the time.



We arrive at breakneck speed in a very large vehicle – us two and 3 strangers – on a road at first and then a maze of dirt tracks.  As we pass a small mailbox by a ranch gate we see a streak of lightning zigzag down into the dry, bare earth.  It has begun.

Eventually we arrive at the isolated log cabin.  We stand on the veranda and look around across a vast plain surrounded by mountains. When the vehicle has left there is silence.  We stare at the emergency phone which must only be used if rattlesnakes come into the house. If they sunbathe on the veranda it’s not, apparently, an emergency.  We have noted the metal lined, rat-proof cupboard for food and the lack of curtains at the windows. We are on our own until 11a.m. tomorrow.

The ground is dry and cracked and studded with sage and rabbit brush. Tufts of fine grass also grow in small circles.    It’s hot, and huge inky clouds are forming in the sky.  We take wooden chairs outside and sit looking at the 400 steel poles stretching a mile left and right in front of us -  and wait.

As it grows dark, streaks of lightning fall over distant mountains and the poles fade away. Bright  flashes of pink energy burst into the sky from  the left. None hit the poles.  Humming birds dart up close, presenting long beaks to us.

I walk out across the field, examining the patches of burnt earth, following a line of poles almost to the end.  I look back at the cabin and see a streak of lightning hit the ground just behind it.  I decide to retreat, re-tracing my steps away from the metal rows.  

I sit and wait in silence. All the streaks of colour in the sky have evened out and it’s very dark.  A coyote calls across the plain and another answers. Then a few stars shine and a small, circular patch of light struggles to break through a cloud. It finally reveals itself as a pale, crescent moon – too weak to illuminate the poles.  Constellations of stars pierce the sky and show the way to another universe.  It’s time to sleep.

I awake at 5.40am. A pale light is beginning to illuminate the silence and three of the poles from the left. The pink sun slowly appears above the mountains a hundred miles away and more and more of the poles gleam silver then golden.  Long, precise rows appear for the first time and stretch across the desert scrub into the distance.  Rabbits chase each other, birds are fluttering, a horny toad and a black beetle follow secret tracks.

Without pre-arrangement we all whisper to each other, realizing that this is the time.  We separate and observe, draw and write trying to capture the moment.

When we come together again we try to define our experience. There was no spectacular lightning show involving the poles but we had made time to observe the light, the soil, the vast sky, animals and birds which we seldom have time for in the course of our normal lives.  It had been a spiritual experience for some, a re-connection with nature for others. An aesthetic experience, a calming experience – but definitely an experience.




I'm working on some seascapes - part of a collection that will be on show at my Open Studios event 13/14 October 2018

Just a few of the paintings that will be on show at my Open Studios event... I can't show you them all on line you will have to come to see!



 Work in progress

Work in progress

Sunday 2 September 2018

Exhibition of artwork currently in the newly published 'Illustrated Garden' book

If you are in or near Kent in October or November, you may have the chance to see the wonderful artwork recently published in the new book by Alan Marshall, 'The Illustrated Garden'.   It's a lovely collection of original prints (linoprints, monoprints, etchings, screenprints etc) on the theme of the garden.

These original prints are on show in the West End House Gallery, Smarden,  Kent TN27 8QB. Tel: 01233 770261  http://www.west-end-house-gallery.co.uk/  The exhibition opens on 29 September and closes on 12 November.






This is one of the pieces that will be on show in the exhibition.

The Illustrated Garden - a new book of etchings, lino, woodcuts, screen prints, monoprints of the garden

I'm delighted to have 3 pages of images and text in this new book of original prints by a wide range of artists.   It's  published by Mascot Media and available from them http://www.mascotmedia.co.uk/news/the-illustrated-garden.html   or   https://www.amazon.co.uk/Illustrated-Garden-Alan-Marshall/dp/1999845749 

A beautiful book with wonderful colour plates of the garden images.

Saturday 12 May 2018

Royal Academy Summer Show 2018

Ooh - I've just delivered two etchings to the Royal Academy in London for round 2 of judging.   Will they get through round 2?   I think about 11,500 were eliminated in Round 1.... I won't know until 26 May...

Royal Birmingham Society of Artists Prize Exhibition - on now and until 23 June 2018


The RBSA Prize exhibition is now on and I have two etchings which were selected by ZoĆ« Lippett, Exhibitions and Artists’ Projects Curator at The New Art Gallery Walsall.  They are both social comments on homelessness.


Orange umbrella


Passing by






http://www.rbsa.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/prize-2018/

Linda Nevill ARBSA- I have been elected as an associate member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists







My 6 candidature landscape etchings.


I am delighted to have been elected as an associate member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists.   

Last November my proposer and seconder signed my application form, I outlined my art qualifications and experience and the RBSA juried exhibitions that I had been selected for in the last few years.  The RBSA Council approved my application.   Then in April I submitted my 6 pieces of work and an artist's statement which were hung for a week in the gallery. During the course of the week the RBSA members and associates viewed all the new candidates' work and voted as to whether they should be accepted or not.   To be accepted it is necessary to obtain 50% of the vote plus 1.  

They voted me in!

http://www.rbsa.org.uk/members-associates/election-process/


Being an associate extends my exhibiting possibilities and it is wonderful to be part of this prestigious association.