Richard Keating

Tree Planting – Andy, Jackie, Helen, Nadine and me. Great conversations – tree planting as a positive commitment to the future and trees as repository of the past. Bird song.

River meeting in Bristol. Project development and sharing of sketch book work plus visit to Arnolfini exhibitions. Left hand image below from video installation, part of an exhibition by Sophy Rickett, ‘To The River’.

Revisiting the Vitae framework having reinterpreted criteria. Added to Amanda’s timetable for the later phases of the symposium and publishing.

Stitches out.

10th to 14th, time in Swansea drawing with Phoebe, including ‘Synchronised’ over water photos, meeting with Amanda Roberts and Paul Woodland, tutorial with Drs. Rob Newell and Andrea Liggins and talk by Andrew Carnie.

Writing meeting with Dr. Iain Robertson and follow-up writing. Good progress. More questions than answers? Found a way to deal with this.

Writing and circulating Folly Wood AGM draft minutes.Downloading Vitae Researcher Development Framework tool and completing it ready for tutorial next week. Overcame problems with security settings and macros.

Making images for woodland pilgrimage animation. Good to be finding time to make work amongst on going ‘relational management’ aspects of my practice. I wonder why as they are all a part of the process? A feeling of completion perhaps? Although I know that making the work is only one step of many along the way.

Attended Dr. Robert Newell’s lecture on ‘Solitude and the Sublime’ followed by a tutorial with him.’ Situatedness of self in the world’ as theoretical basis for landscape painting.

Meeting with Amanda Roberts about SMU Symposium – method and methodology. Unable to help with finances but agreed to chair event.

Interesting looking back over what was achieved today – so much is about keeping projects and relationships moving along. I am aware of a tension between project management/co-ordination and making work. Making work as a way of facilitating community engagement in landscape change. It very much reinforces the need to be a part of a team and to be clear about expectations regarding the length of any relationship – this carries its own issues as so much of the work is exploratory.

Preparation for and chairing of Folly Wood’s First AGM. A good turn-out and three additional people agree to be directors.
At the last moment I decided to convert the piece of paper that Lucy Guenot and I drew tree’s on into the agenda/presentation sheet. The idea being to bring the woods into the room.