dear norman

At the Macrobert I asked people to respond to the day by writing a letter to Norman,describing what the arts centre meant for them. I talked about the fact there was no arts facility like this when Norman was young. Apart from his art classes at school he had no facility for artistic pursuit or workshops such as those available in the Macrobert on a weekly basis.What differences might it have made? Some of the letters which people that day wrote to Norman are great reading!! I suppose in terms of my film work I am searching for ways to bring thoughts and feelings onto paper and from there into dance ideas which will lead to my film. If I ask myself how this relates to my own practice I would answer that I have had to examine Norman in new ways and was curious to know how others might re -examine him. Many people I spoke to at the event had never heard of Norman McLaren before. Some were aware of his name and had come to see the 4D production a few years ago but had not really looked into his work in detail. A few had, and some loved his work. Most said they would go off to find out more!
On the day of the event Norman's drawing 'Stress' was exhibited along with the curated exhibition '40 years of Macrobert'. I had to write about this. What I said then was that the drawing seen below was inspired by the animation process.( the 2D animation process involves making hundreds or thousands of drawings). McLaren layered line after line , each a little different, in the way you would make a series of drawings for animation. Those lines..all piled up on top of each other ...go to make his 'Stress' drawing.

I also stated that my feelings about the Macrobert centre were that it also provided a number of layers ...of artistic process and experience ....for the people who interact with it. Each activity contained within the arts centre but each different...all making up the whole that is Macrobert Arts.