Tag Archives: ACE funded

February Event: The Geranium Project (R&D) Exhibition

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Ian Latham; ianlatham1959@virginmedia.com; www.ian-latham.com/blog

Artist Builds Virtual Worlds in Empty Doncaster Shop

Ian Latham, right, with visitors to the geranium project. The installation is in the background

Release Date 06/01/2020

Ian Latham presents his Arts Council Lottery Funded Project ‘the geranium project(R&D)’ – a combination of installation and Virtual Reality used to create an immersive experience exploring the translation of reality into art through drawing. The installation includes spoken word and film alongside Augmented Reality and traditional painting and sculpture. The Virtual Reality environment takes the participant through a series of gardens made from photographs and drawings accompanied by poetry, sound and film. The project can be experienced in around thirty minutes.

Open, by appointment, from Monday 10th February to Saturday 15th February, or you can drop in between 11:00 am and 4:00 pm on Wednesday 19th February, Friday 20th February or Saturday 21st February. The Geranium Project is exhibited at 13 Scot Lane, Doncaster, DN1 1EW. This empty shop is rented through Axisweb, a national charity that provides studio spaces for artists.

This exhibition marks the culmination of the first stage of the project which began in June 2019. During the past six months over one hundred and twenty people have called into the shop to experience the installation and try out the virtual reality using a HTC Vive headset. The project has been assisted by local creatives Wayne Sables and Mike Stubbs who have been mentors and Iain Nicholls, an established virtual reality practitioner from Barnsley, all of whom have exhibited Internationally.

Ian Latham, BA Fine Art , MA Creative Technology, Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy, is a digital sculptor. After a long career in FE and HE he retired in 2018.

He has worked with organisations such as the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims

of Torture, Oxfam, Doncaster Museums and Archives, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, Responsible Fishing and the Wayne Sables Project and the Cooper Gallery, Barnsley. Ian makes paintings and sculpture based on real and remembered landscapes that are presented together to suggest non-linear narratives, he works with computer based 3d modelling to create virtual environments reflecting the superimposition of memory over place. He has exhibited throughout the North, there are paintings currently on display at Joro restaurant in Sheffield, and had previous exhibitons, solo and group, at

DARTS in Doncaster, the Contemporary Gallery in Barnsley, the Ferens open in Hull and the Keighley Open. He has also shown work in small galleries like the Brevon in Doncaster, Artscreative in Chesterfield and at Granary Wharf in Leeds.

To book a slot to see the installation and try the VR please use the form ‘Book the Geranium Project’ on the black bar at the top of the page. If you have any difficulties contact the artist, Ian Latham, by email; ianlatham1959@virginmedia.com, or telephone 07596619792. You can call into the studio at 13 Scot Lane without an appointment but bookings will be accommodated before drop in visitors.

The Geranium Project (R&D) 28

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On Monday I was back in the studio checking things over and with the intention of working on my 3d models. I forgot to take the disc with me so that went out of the window.

garden painting

One of the garden paintings displayed in the gallery

I took some pictures of the paintings I have on display downstairs and had a look at the VR model, I tried enlarging the sky domes I put on for the last run through but they were awful so I’ve taken them out and am working on some other options.

I also wrote a press release over the weekend and sent it to Doncaster Free Press, Sheffield Star, Yorkshire Post and Doncopolitan. Doncopolitan will put it out through their social media channels so I know I’ll get some traction there, the other press is a fingers crossed affair and unlikely to lead to any publicity. I posted the press release to LinkedIn, a-n (artists newsletter) and Axisweb sites under events and onto the local doncastercreates website where it is now sitting on the front page. I’ve emailed six or seven organisations regionally today and have a few more to do. I also sent the press release to bbc radio. I don’t expect a response from any of these outlets, the bbc have an automated response saying we might use it or we might not, but if you don’t ask you don’t get.

On Monday evening I got a reply from the Doncaster Free Press and they will be running a piece in the paper, as things stand they’re sending a photographer next Tuesday afternoon to take pictures for the piece. I got a lot of traction on LinkedIn, including new local connections and interest in viewing the piece.

On Thursday I had a visit at the studio from Marcus and Tim who are associated with the Doncaster TedX organisation. They suggested that I could showcase the work at the TedX Youth conference in April, and potentially have some involvement with TedX in October. We also discussed several other options for this piece and the installation as a stand alone piece. The Hexthorpe Park idea I had also got some traction with Marcus and he’s going to connect me with someone who might be interested in collaborating.

Luke came to the studio and with his help I managed to get the animated garden working, he also managed to get the AR element for the installation working, we now just need to finalise the interior and the installation will be finished.

Friday I started by painting the interior of the new installation, I got the first coat done before my meeting with Mike Stubbs.

one wall of the new installation drawing

one wall of the new installation drawing

The meeting was interesting and quite challenging. Mike commented on my blog that he wondered about my ‘philosophy’, and couldn’t pin it down, so this meeting went over some ground around this. Essentially he complimented the blog on its detail and comprehensiveness but questioned the lack of any discussion placing my work in an ‘art’ context. He believes that a clearer understanding of where you want to place yourself as an artist improves your work. He also gave me a list of artists to look at who he felt I might want to position myself against (not ‘counter to’, just relatively) and I’m pondering.

I shot a short video in the new installation, where the drawing has to be very bold and busy to aid the AR, but its incredibly dark.

The Geranium Project (R&D) 27

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Over Christmas I continued work on the VR element of the project. I’m working towards the AR animated birds for the installation and the photographic gardens using paper tied into knots.

bird knots drawing

bird knots drawing

This drawing is A1, charcoal, pencil and pastel and I’ve made a couple of 3d models and animated a short section.

bird knot models

bird knot models

I also tied a few pieces so that I can try out using them as an AR trigger.

I went into the studio for the first time on Friday 3rd January and met with wayne, details of this meeting follow.

Discussed current progress of work, what needs to happen next and what help wayne could give in achieving that.

Outlined the plan going forward.

  1. Tidy up current iteration of Geranium VR – skies, edges, tunnels, etc.,

  2. Introduce animated sections to painted garden

  3. Introduce animated birds to photo garden sections

  4. Finish spoken word sections, quotes and explicatory texts for tunnels, gnomic utterances for gardens

  5. make birdsong soundtracks for drawn and phot gardens

  6. Work with Iain Nicholls on build for VR space

  7. Work with Luke Roberts on AR birds for installation

  8. Finish rain section for installation, run PIR off tower PC if necessary

  9. Organise press release for Invitees week beginning 10th February 2020

  10. Invite appropriate people (get the invites out by end of next week 10/01/2020

  11. Get feedback from Kim & Luke for report etc.,

  12. Plan the next steps – meet with Mike Stubbs, Wayne, Luke & Kim to propose and develop next bid for funding

Wayne agreed to email me introductions to key people in Doncaster.

In discussing the next steps for the project wayne proposed several people it would be worth contacting in Doncaster Council, Doncaster Archives, Barnsley Museums etc.,

Two things particularly need establishing as part of the future display of the object, firstly the entrance to the space can be remade for each location it is placed in, and secondly that the photographic elements of the VR space provide potential for a number of future works utilising archival photgraphs and contemporaneous images. Hexthorpe Park springs to mind.

I need to put the press release information out onto my Linked In page, through Twitter, send to Doncopolitan for Facebook, onto the Doncaster Creative wotsit, onto a-n, Axisweb etc., as well as the blog and send it to Doncaster Free Press, Yorkshire Post, The Star (Sheffield?) and anywhere else I can think of.