Film
This section gives you links to watching my films. My work is known as artists' moving image. This medium is akin to painting with film, creating work which is ratter like watching a living painting. I use durational film to provide gentle and meditative work allowing you to access a few moments of peace and contemplation in a busy world.. I have created pieces that are both abstract and detailed, offering the opportunity to look more closely into what we so often take for granted. The films concerned with the more-than-human world offer images so precious and special that preserving them must surely be our foremost thought.
SUSPENDED BELIEF
Suspended belief is a study of time. It invites the viewer to suspend their own time and enter the gentle process of kinetic movement. At times the sculptures play with our perception of believing what we see, questioning our expectations and perhaps delighting in their visual trickery.
After lockdown, when Eucharistic practice in my church was radically altered, I rescued a bagful of plastic miniature communion cups that had been in single use and thrown away. I constructed kinetic pieces from them, filmed them and created this film. You can click here to watch it.
FRACTURED COLOURS
This film is a departure from my usual durational work. It did begin as a durational film and still is in that it is shown in the real time of filming and some editing. It is a homage to the kaleidoscope. This fabulous 'toy' still delights me to this day, never losing the magic of altering my perception of the 'real' world without actually changing it.
Thank you to Bandcamp and a recording by the Grand Valley State University New Music ensemble entitled RETURN, from which I have chosen tracks to match the visuals.
Watch Fractured Colours here
LET NATURE GUIDE MY EYES
This documentary film is a homage to craftsmanship. Michael Lloyd is a Gallovidian silversmith. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, he has spent his working life producing exquisite pieces, not least of which is the Scottish Parliament Mace, presented by Her Majesty the Queen to Parliament at the opening in 1999. I was commissioned to make a short film about his practice, encompassing his beautiful drawings, his work in the studio and on to a finished piece. Nature has always been a guiding principle for his work and this film honours that relationship.
Still from 'let nature guide my eyes'
You can watch the film by clicking here
NOTHING IS BLACK AND WHITE
In times of stress and uncertainty we long for something secure, known and dependable. But nothing is black and white. Life is a chaotic process and constantly changes. However there are ways to step away from such times and move into a state of greater peace. This film offers one such moment, allowing a move from the outwith to the inner, a place that asks nothing but awareness of the moment. It is an offering of quiet and relaxation moving only at the pace of this kinetic sculpture.
Length 00:19:51
view 'nothing is black and white' here
THE HISTORY OF MY EYES
This film is an exploration of memory and reality. A personal reflection through image and music of a long life viewed through the lenses of every pair of glasses I have ever worn and, of course, the one in my camera. There was a degree of surprise for me as I looked at long-ago pictures of myself which didn’t always match my memories of that time. I believe this experience is similar for many of us and perhaps watching this film will prompt you to remember your own history and ponder on how your memories sit alongside their realities.
Length 00:16:38
View 'the history of my eyes' here
MIST
This film reflects on how our visual and auditory responses are altered by the weather, and in particular by mist. It can roll in and out at speed and reconfigure the known landscape into something altogether different.
Length 00:06:40
View Mist here
THE NORTH CHANNEL
This film is about the sea and the land, place and time, boundaries and landfall. I once heard that if I could label every molecule in a glass of water, pour it into the sea and at some time in the future take out another glassful from anywhere on earth, some of those molecules would be inside that water. It celebrates the notion that all water is free to travel, knows no boundaries, laws or restrictions. How much could we learn from and about the more-than-human world if we took time to observe instead of abuse it.
Length 00:07:37
You can view The North Channel here...
DISPERSAL
Seeds occupy a very special place in our environmental hierarchy. They hold the key to adaptation in this rapidly changing world. And in the life of any plant they are the only truly moving part, transferring a new genetic code from one place to another. Without plants our world will soon cease to exist in it's present form, and without seeds there will be no plants. This film celebrates seeds in all their wonderful forms. It moves at a pace which is gentle and slow, offering you the opportunity to fully enter that world, to marvel at it and, hopefully, see something so special that making changes to protect our planet will seem worth doing. After all, seeds do it so why shouldn't we?
Length 00:10:56
View Dispersal here
PYTHAGORAE SOMNIUM (Pythagoras' Dream)
In 600 BC Pythagoras believed that the movements of the planets produced celestial music. He named this the Music of the Spheres. Furthermore he was sure he was the only person who could hear it! His theory sustained right through to the 15th Century Renaissance when it was further developed by astronomers and philosophers of the time. It was only finally dismissed by scientists in the 20th century. Pythagoras somnium imagines Pythagoras' dream of such a beautiful concept.
My thanks to Carollyn Eden for permission to use and edit the original score from her 'Music of the Spheres' broadcast on Radio 3, 1 - 5 October 2018
Length 00:08:02
View Pythagorae Somnium here
COLTSFOOT IN SEED
The coltsfoot is a plant that disperses its seeds by wind. After flowering the seeds are set and ripen in readiness for the perfect puff of wind to send them on their way. This film shows a seed head in just such a state and you are invited to consider the seed dispersal through the use of film and kinetic sculpture. Durational film, a study of the space-time continuum, reflects the gentle process of seed dissemination whilst allowing a close examination of the beauty of this natural process, which is not usually available to the naked eye.
Music: Dream 1 Max Richter 2015
Length 00:11:54
View Coltsfoot in Seed here
SUSPENDED BELIEF
Suspended belief is a study of time. It invites the viewer to suspend their own time and enter the gentle process of kinetic movement. At times the sculptures play with our perception of believing what we see, questioning our expectations and perhaps delighting in their visual trickery.
After lockdown, when Eucharistic practice in my church was radically altered, I rescued a bagful of plastic miniature communion cups that had been in single use and thrown away. I constructed kinetic pieces from them, filmed them and created this film. You can click here to watch it.
FRACTURED COLOURS
This film is a departure from my usual durational work. It did begin as a durational film and still is in that it is shown in the real time of filming and some editing. It is a homage to the kaleidoscope. This fabulous 'toy' still delights me to this day, never losing the magic of altering my perception of the 'real' world without actually changing it.
Thank you to Bandcamp and a recording by the Grand Valley State University New Music ensemble entitled RETURN, from which I have chosen tracks to match the visuals.
Watch Fractured Colours here
LET NATURE GUIDE MY EYES
This documentary film is a homage to craftsmanship. Michael Lloyd is a Gallovidian silversmith. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, he has spent his working life producing exquisite pieces, not least of which is the Scottish Parliament Mace, presented by Her Majesty the Queen to Parliament at the opening in 1999. I was commissioned to make a short film about his practice, encompassing his beautiful drawings, his work in the studio and on to a finished piece. Nature has always been a guiding principle for his work and this film honours that relationship.
Still from 'let nature guide my eyes'
You can watch the film by clicking here
NOTHING IS BLACK AND WHITE
In times of stress and uncertainty we long for something secure, known and dependable. But nothing is black and white. Life is a chaotic process and constantly changes. However there are ways to step away from such times and move into a state of greater peace. This film offers one such moment, allowing a move from the outwith to the inner, a place that asks nothing but awareness of the moment. It is an offering of quiet and relaxation moving only at the pace of this kinetic sculpture.
Length 00:19:51
view 'nothing is black and white' here
THE HISTORY OF MY EYES
This film is an exploration of memory and reality. A personal reflection through image and music of a long life viewed through the lenses of every pair of glasses I have ever worn and, of course, the one in my camera. There was a degree of surprise for me as I looked at long-ago pictures of myself which didn’t always match my memories of that time. I believe this experience is similar for many of us and perhaps watching this film will prompt you to remember your own history and ponder on how your memories sit alongside their realities.
Length 00:16:38
View 'the history of my eyes' here
MIST
This film reflects on how our visual and auditory responses are altered by the weather, and in particular by mist. It can roll in and out at speed and reconfigure the known landscape into something altogether different.
Length 00:06:40
Still image from film 'mist' (2020)
View Mist here
THE NORTH CHANNEL
This film is about the sea and the land, place and time, boundaries and landfall. I once heard that if I could label every molecule in a glass of water, pour it into the sea and at some time in the future take out another glassful from anywhere on earth, some of those molecules would be inside that water. It celebrates the notion that all water is free to travel, knows no boundaries, laws or restrictions. How much could we learn from and about the more-than-human world if we took time to observe instead of abuse it.
Length 00:07:37
Still image from film 'The North Channel' (2022)
You can view The North Channel here...
DISPERSAL
Seeds occupy a very special place in our environmental hierarchy. They hold the key to adaptation in this rapidly changing world. And in the life of any plant they are the only truly moving part, transferring a new genetic code from one place to another. Without plants our world will soon cease to exist in it's present form, and without seeds there will be no plants. This film celebrates seeds in all their wonderful forms. It moves at a pace which is gentle and slow, offering you the opportunity to fully enter that world, to marvel at it and, hopefully, see something so special that making changes to protect our planet will seem worth doing. After all, seeds do it so why shouldn't we?
Length 00:10:56
View Dispersal here
PYTHAGORAE SOMNIUM (Pythagoras' Dream)
In 600 BC Pythagoras believed that the movements of the planets produced celestial music. He named this the Music of the Spheres. Furthermore he was sure he was the only person who could hear it! His theory sustained right through to the 15th Century Renaissance when it was further developed by astronomers and philosophers of the time. It was only finally dismissed by scientists in the 20th century. Pythagoras somnium imagines Pythagoras' dream of such a beautiful concept.
My thanks to Carollyn Eden for permission to use and edit the original score from her 'Music of the Spheres' broadcast on Radio 3, 1 - 5 October 2018
Length 00:08:02
View Pythagorae Somnium here
COLTSFOOT IN SEED
The coltsfoot is a plant that disperses its seeds by wind. After flowering the seeds are set and ripen in readiness for the perfect puff of wind to send them on their way. This film shows a seed head in just such a state and you are invited to consider the seed dispersal through the use of film and kinetic sculpture. Durational film, a study of the space-time continuum, reflects the gentle process of seed dissemination whilst allowing a close examination of the beauty of this natural process, which is not usually available to the naked eye.
Music: Dream 1 Max Richter 2015
Length 00:11:54
Still image from film 'Coltsfoot in Seed'
View Coltsfoot in Seed here