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An enticement even, to lure you in.

Feb 21, 2017
2 min

An enticement even, to lure you in.

I am about to embark on a new project. It’s exciting. It’s a little scary. It’s funded by Arts Council England – yay, and I will be writing more about this soon. However, before I start the new project there are ideas for a work that have been rattling around my thoughts for some time. The ideas won’t go away and the urge to make has been getting stronger. I have to exorcise this work from my thoughts before embarking on anything new. The origins of the word ‘lace’ have been

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She never mentions tea again

Jul 20, 2016
1 min

She never mentions tea again

This week I have been concentrating on making work for the Art Language Location Festival, taking place in Cambridge in October. My work, entitled ‘Embroider the Truth’ will be located at the Museum of Cambridge, in their tea room and will be composed of a series of lace doilies designed out of words from Clarice’s diary that reference tea. The first design is completed and the paper doilies made. I have almost finished the embroidered version too but this process takes a lon

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This may seem a strange request, but I am an artist and…..

Mar 7, 2016
3 min

This may seem a strange request, but I am an artist and…..

Over the years I have come to realise that a common thread that runs through my work is contrast, contradiction and perhaps the more obvious one of conflict. Sometimes this might be just relevant to the initial catalyst that sparks a new work; words, a contrasting thought or opinion and sometimes it becomes a part of the work itself, in the thought processes and development, the materials used or the final outcome. Over the past year I have been experimenting with lead. The d

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Theatre of War: Instructions from the War Office

Jan 19, 2016
2 min

Theatre of War: Instructions from the War Office

I began thinking about this term – Theatre of War – when I first transcribed Clarice’s diary. I have always been quite sure that Clarice wrote her diary with the purpose of it being read by others and particular things that she wrote give her diary a certain sense of telling a story rather than reflecting on her innermost thoughts. The title of her diary ‘Adventures of a VAD’ and the subtitle ‘Happenings of interest whilst in France’ Her opening words ‘In time of war’ seem to

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Heads or Tails?

Oct 16, 2015
1 min

Heads or Tails?

Over the past couple of months I have been inviting people to come along to my exhibitions and play a game of Heads or Tails. The outcome of this game will be used to determine the mix of lead coins on a new shilling wreath that I am intending to make in the coming months. The outcome of the game? Heads 37 Tails 48 #wreath #dawncole #WW1 #game #kingsshilliing

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Peonies and Pelargoniums?

Sep 22, 2015
1 min

Peonies and Pelargoniums?

Following on from a conversation that began on Saturday, my friend, Jackie Russell and I have been bouncing an image back and forth via email today. The photograph is one from Clarice’s archive and we have been trying to identify the plant/s in the very foreground. We have settled on Pelargoniums, which are in flower, and Peony. The exciting thing for me is that this places the photograph during the summer months (not exactly a narrow timescale I know) and it also throws up a

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Backlogs or backfilling?

Aug 30, 2015
2 min

Backlogs or backfilling?

I seem to be working on 3 different bodies of work at the moment and although they appear to be very different, using different techniques they do in fact have a great deal linking them together. This is a new approach for me and one which has come out of necessity. The necessity to off load thoughts and ideas that have been clamouring for attention inside my head. The past year/eighteen months seem to have been one constant round of getting work ready for exhibitions, re-pac

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Frayed ends

Sep 23, 2014
3 min

Frayed ends

With less than a week to go to the third Resting Place event, a project that I began back in 2012 my thoughts have been very much preoccupied, once again, with pillowcases. When I began researching for and developing Resting Place back in 2012 I wrote 2 blog posts about pillowcases (read them here and here) and these very early thoughts became the basis for the pillowcases installation that resulted and has now become the core of the project. For each event the pillowcases ha

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The last hankie

Aug 4, 2014
2 min

The last hankie

First I must warn all who read this – it is possibly the first of two posts today. There seems to be a lot to say and one just may not be enough. This week, for me, is a series of anniversaries, each with its own significance, emotion, commemoration and recognition. 100 years since the start of WW1 a close friends birthday my late Dad’s birthday the anniversary of my Dad passing away my in-laws 60th wedding anniversary Each a moment to remember, reflect, acknowledge and some

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Clarice’s journey begins

Mar 25, 2014
3 min

Clarice’s journey begins

Sunday 23rd March saw the first Resting Place live performance event in Ellington Park, Ramsgate. This was both the beginning and the end. The beginning of Clarice’s diary, the beginning of the project as a collaboration, the beginning of a journey and the end of Resting Place being solely mine Sunday saw me entering unchartered territory and challenging myself in how I represented my work to a public audience. The pillowcases which form the focus for Resting Place will now g

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A recent discovery

Mar 4, 2014
2 min

A recent discovery

Amongst Clarice’s archive there are many photographs, obviously taken in France during WW1 but unfortunately with no record as to exactly when and where. Researching these images has been virtually impossible and until very recently I have drawn a blank. I had initially made assumptions, and to begin with that was what my first body of work responded to, the assumptions we make based on the information presented to us. After all an archive is only as good as the information

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Resting Place: the planning continues

Dec 6, 2013
2 min

Resting Place: the planning continues

I have been fairly silent about Resting Place lately but now that Silent Cacophony and The Silence of Knitting are finished the planning for RP can continue. We are busy researching potential venues and the website will be launched very soon. Resting Place: Ellington Park will take place towards the end of March 2014 and details will be announced as soon as it is finalised I had a very busy and interesting day in London on Tues 3rd Dec looking at potential venues and making p

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Reflections on Silence of Knitting

Nov 26, 2013
3 min

Reflections on Silence of Knitting

Two weeks have now passed since The Silence of Knitting and I have been putting off writing my thoughts about the event. Putting it off because it has thrown up so many questions that I have found it difficult to focus on what I really think or want to say. So here are my initial thoughts, there will be more at some point. Initial reflections on Silence of Knitting The Silence of Knitting originated as an event for Margate but when I put the call out for people to take part i

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The Silence of Knitting: Newark

Nov 14, 2013
1 min

The Silence of Knitting: Newark

The Silence of Knitting Mon 11th Nov 11am Galerie Newark Nottinghamshire Lace placed at the site of Ransome and Marles munitions factory in Newark which was bombed killing 41 people during WW2, the date of which was thereafter named ‘Newark’s Blackest Day’. Performed by Elaine Winter and friends who have given me permission to share their thoughts about taking part in The silence of Knitting Yesterday was really moving as we learnt a lot about the town we live in and for me

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The Silence of Knitting: Ticehurst

Nov 14, 2013
2 min

The Silence of Knitting: Ticehurst

The Silence of Knitting Mon 11th Nov 11am A shelter Ticehurst East Sussex Performed by Sharon Hall Shipp Photographs and film by Richard Shipp Sharon has given me permission to share her thoughts about taking part in The Silence of Knitting Big day yesterday and also the few days working up to it. Plenty of things going through my head! Despite the recce the day before, I was quite anxious about doing it, no second takes and all that, and I hate to be photographed/videod LOL.

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The Silence of Knitting part 4

Nov 6, 2013
2 min

The Silence of Knitting part 4

On Mon 11th Nov at 11am people will be joining together in a common task, that of knitting in silence a piece of shamrock lace using white wool. In Margate, Ticehurst, Newark, Liverpool, Calais and Sydney – silent knitting The pattern for the lace comes from the archive of WW1 VAD Nurse Clarice Spratling. This pattern, handwritten in her notebook dated 1908 is one amongst several others but seemed the most appropriate to use. The symbol of a four leaf clover has been seen a

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The Silence of Knitting

Oct 30, 2013
2 min

The Silence of Knitting

A few months ago I was invited to take part in a project called Silent Cacophony. This project, conceived and organised by Platform-7 will see a series of live performance events, across London and beyond, exploring silence during war and conflict. Clarice’s archive is a constant source of inspiration and this project offered a great opportunity to use the archive in a different way. Clarice’s archive is a silent one, yet it speaks so loudly and I have often had to find the m

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It’s a YES from the Arts Council

Aug 2, 2013
1 min

It’s a YES from the Arts Council

The application to ACE was a very stressful and time-consuming process and one that would not have been made possible without the unwavering support from John McKiernan of Platform-7. The decision to take Resting Place forward as a collaboration has proved itself to be the right one. There is now a lot of work to be done in order for the first live Resting Place event to take place on Sept 29th 2013 in Ellington Park, Ramsgate and more news will be posted soon. In the meantim

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The Book of Remembrance

Jul 2, 2013
2 min

The Book of Remembrance

Resting Place, as those who follow my blog will know, was conceived from a visit to Wimereux War Graves Cemetery in 2011. It was there that I realised the connection to the men buried there and to Clarice’s diary. On this first visit I had just begun the research beyond the archive and had gone in search of a connection today, something tangible that I could say ‘she was there’. The one thing I had not considered was that I would be the one to leave that trace by writing in t

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Resting Place; working in collaboration

Mar 19, 2013
3 min

Resting Place; working in collaboration

Following on from Resting Place being launched at LPT last Nov there has been lots of activity behind the scenes to develop the project and take it forward. With Platform-7 now collaborating on the project it has made a big impact already, and although not the first time I have collaborated, it will be the first time with an organistion. Resting Place is being developed in to a series of touring events that will begin in Ramsgate later this year, then travel to London, Folkes

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