Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Speaking of color......

Now I'm not really one for shoes, but sometimes I find nice colored shoes, such as these... and they are on sale!
Kurt Geiger 'Manilla' was was £55.00 now £29.00 mmmmmmm
Kurt Geiger 'Krayon' was £65.00 now £45.00
Kurt Geiger 'Krayon' was £65.00 now £25.00

Uni Studio


Ah how I miss my uni studio. I used to take many pictures of what it looked like. Must do this with Bristol studio, which is a great studio, but i haven't made much in the way of 'serious work' whilst in Bristol.

Uni Studio


Ah how I miss my uni studio. I used to take many pictures of what it looked like. Must do this with Bristol studio, which is a great studio, but i haven't made much in the way of 'serious work' whilst in Bristol.

Surface/Space/time at the Crypt


My London show is fast approaching... It's at 'The Crypt Gallery', London, August 26th - September 9th.

The Artists whom I'm exhibiting with:

Sam Clift
Eve Wheate
Richard Jack
Sue Hotchkis
Mary Louise Evans
Simone Wallace
Lucy Fergus
Mark Houghton
Joohee Hwang
Luke Stones
Rona Smith

I'm creating my glue molds, something I find very enjoyable and is of course all process-led. I used to do lots of this mould making whilst at uni. I have some old pictures, and once some of the current molds are dry, I'll take some pictures. but for now...

Thinking about color here -all these colors together, one for each mold. some quite pastel-ly, very aesthetically pleasing, and fitting into The Crypt well. It reminds me of stained glass.

More good color?


This was as far as I got whilst at uni, but I want to make a large piece, about 4ft squared. Need to think about transportation, glue consistancy, how to speed up the process.

Also need to buy about a hundred ladles. Watch this space.

Text Project update

My text project is going well... after having a stall at the Redland Girls School Fete, I received three commissions, one for someone who wanted a present for a christening - 'Zoe Grace', and two commissions for a gift: 'Love' and 'Peace'

I have discovered that selling at markets is more successful whent he customer feels like they are part of the making process - if they are supplying me with the word, and I go away and make it for them, it's a whole lot more personal and meaningful. It's bespoke.

I'm going to continue with this 'commissioning stall' as opposed to a stall where I have all my stock for sale. And in all future stalls, I will be sat creating the work infront of all market-goers. It's important that people see I have drawn the lines on myself, it's not just pretty paper !

Holly, Adrian and I had a stall at the 'Queen Elizabeth Country Park' Show, which is in Petersfield, and which was a complete disaster. It was raining so heavily, it was misty, there was a really poor turnout, no one was particullarly interested in our stall, which kept nearly falling down. Holly sold one piece, the money recieved was paid back to the train guard when she got charged on the train... and I had a rainy two and a half hour car journey back to Bristol with a car full of damp artwork.

We're seeing this as 'research', we know now to not leave Bristol, there's so many different opportunities for us here.

The Lucy Party: Desperately Seeking Lucy



We made a pinata - shame it looked like boobs/testicles though
11 Lucy's in total, 13 including Barfoot and Duggan. Next time, hundreds!

Pegs to hang completed questionnaires. Balloons hanging from the tree's
Lovely big oak tree in Brandon Hill park, Bristol
Lucy scrolls - each containing the questionnaires, a Lucy pencil and a name-tag.



The Lucy picnic was perfect. I had such a gorgeous Saturday, amongst some lovely people, all called Lucy. It was great to meet you all, and hopefully some of the Lucy's who didn't make it will come along next year.

Barfoot and Duggan are going to make this a yearly event, we're looking to create more interest and involvement with the next picnic - finding a Lucy who has/knows of a nice indoor space to use if the weather is bad, Lucy's who can help us stuffing envelopes/posting letters/putting up adverts/promoting to local magazines. It's going to be big!

We had an as in Venue magazine - we didn't even realise! And Venue have review & picture of the party - it's not in this week's, but was promised to be, so fingers crossed for next week's edition.

More Lucy pics...

The last remaining Lucy's (Minus dog, not a Lucy)


We were sad that it was all over, after our work to make it happen, It finished too quickly.

Barfoot and Duggan post-party


St Paul's Carnival

I had such a great time at St Paul's Carnival on the 4th July. Dancing in the street to Michael Jackson, dirty songs with funny lyrics, I didn't get any food! Everyone in Bristol as one, great atmosphere and connection. Can't wait till next year.





Monday, July 13, 2009

Lucy Barfoot Interview

Here's an Edited Barfoot and Duggan interview. And if you click here there is a HunkyDory interview you can view online

What is your greatest fear?
Spiders crawling over my face
Earliest memory?
Vaguely, something involving a paddling pool?
Trait you most deplore in yourself
I find it so hard to speak my mind if something has upset me
Favourite smell
Lovehearts, sweet factories, perfume squirted on paper and kept in pockets, and garlic
What keeps you awake at night?
Tea.
Who are your friends
My family, and the people I am close to and laugh with. I also think that Bristol is becoming a good friend of mine.
Best thing you’ve ever won
A years supply of condoms.
Favourite word?
Egg. Words with three letters are always quite nice, and egg is such a silly word!
How old do you feel?
I imagine that I will eternally feel youthful, about 20. But I am terribly grown up in most respects, especially with organisation.
What is your greatest extravagance
I don’t think there is anything I’m extravagant about .
On what occasion do you lie?
To my boyfriend, about how much garlic I have eaten.
What is your current state of mind?
Focussed and fun.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would change my procrastination capacity. I’d so love to get everything done as soon as it occurs, instead of adding it to a list, only to complete It a week later.
If you were to die and come back as a person/thing, what would it b?
Definitely a cat. A big bruiser of a tom-cat with lion-paws and a ridiculously furry body.
Where would you like to live?
In a different place every two years: A vineyard in France, by the beach in Greece, In New Zealand with my sister, in Bournemouth with my family, in Bristol.
What is your most marked characteristic?
My ability to see the good in everything, everyone. I have lots of love for people.
The quality you most love in people?
Authentic people, who aren’t trying to please anyone, they are just being themselves.
What is it that you most dislike?
I am sometimes guilty of this myself, but shyness is such a restrictive personality trait.
How do you want to die?
I always liked the idea of my next-door neighbour dying at 70 whilst having a tennis game with his new 20-something year old squeeze. But for me now, it would be something quick, with no blood, with no one watching, I would be old and it would be no ones fault.
What’s your motto?
This is it.
What three things would you bring to a desert island with you?
A pen, a lighter, the biggest and thickest note/sketch book you’ve ever seen.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Barfoot and Duggan Biography

Lucy Barfoot and Lucy Duggan met on Remembrance Day 2008 at 4pm. Barfoot got there first, and asked a lady in Café Kino, the designated meeting place, ‘Are you Lucy?’ To which she replied, ‘Yes.’ But she looked confused. So Barfoot asked her, ‘Are you the Lucy that’s meeting Lucy?’ And she said no. Duggan came in moments later.

The meeting had been arranged through Gumtree, the local ad website. Barfoot had replied to a posting of Duggan’s, which requested people’s to do lists. As Barfoot was a list collector herself (shopping lists), lived up the road and was also called Lucy they decided to meet up and swap lists in person to save on postage.

That day in Café Kino, Barfoot and Duggan decided they would make a joint installation of their lists. This can be seen at Centrespace Gallery off Corn Street in Bristol from October the 8th and is called ‘There’s more to Life than Lists’ They became friends and more creative plans soon followed.

Less than a month after meeting, Barfoot and Duggan did a three day stall at Carboot Circus, an alternative Christmas fair. Here they sold Thread Bears, the last ever Woolworth’s Pic’n’Mix sweets, monster umbrellas, blind drawing portraits and big face Polaroids. It seemed to make people really happy. And here the idea for Light Box was born.

Light Box is Barfoot and Duggan’s creative inclusion scheme. Here we provide workshops to increase wellbeing. These combine visually creative activities with techniques from the field of positive psychology.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Redland Girls Summer Fete + Lucy Survey

ARE YOU CALLED LUCY? The online survey is up online, please take part if you are called luck, and please don't if you are not called Lucy! Here's the link: How lucky are people called Lucy

This Saturday I had a stall at the Redland Girls School Summer fete. What a gorgeous school! Claire and I set up the most delightful table, the 'Love' and 'Laugh' are the first two text pieces I ever made, It was nice to have them be part of this. I was commissioned for three artworks (amazing!!!) and had a lovely day out in the sun with my friend

Here's the stall:

And a caretaker let me photograph his amazing key bunch:

Monday, June 22, 2009

Free Range Eggs Logs


Thank you to my friend Will Ablett who took a photo of the 'Free Range Eggs Logs' sign for me!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Trazzer Fazzer

I found this in the toilets at a De La Soul gig in the O2 Academy, Bristol. It's a discarded envelope reading "Trazzer Fazzer." I love finding things like this.

Beautiful Graphs


Lucy Duggan found this article in The Times Magazine, written by Jonathan Richards. You can view the full article by clicking here, it's about the popularity of different baby names, but I was just amazes by the beauty of these graphs. I wrote to Mr. Richards and he told me about the graphs:

"The Baby Name graphs were of a type known as a Stacked Area graph.

It's actually a relatively rudimentary graph type. You use it when
you're trying to how the share of a given set of fields changes over
time. You'll find it as one of the charting options in Excel, among
other programs."

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Studio rooftop




Views from the roof of my studio in Stokes Croft. You can see over all the rooftops, it's one of the highest rooftops, apart from the tower-blocks. I like the roof a lot, apart from the pigeon bones and poo.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Walcot Street Market in Bath


Yesterday, my friend Holly and I set up a stall at the Walcot Street Market in Bath. It was a beautiful day, and our first time selling on a stall together. It worked really well, we think our illustration and artwork is not too similar to drown each other, and not too different either. The work contrasts and compliments each other.

We aquired stand-things from a lovely lady called Rachel. She had 2 great tables, tablecloths, card stands, boxes to lean prints on and a trestle to hold more prints. As this was my first market stall, it was great to be lent everything we'd need, otherwise the cost of all that would have outweighed the profit. I may have to look into getting some of this equipment if I choose to persue selling at stalls. We also put up some beautiful bunting which my nan made for me, and pegged some greeting-cards to the front of the table.

The location was pretty good, not excellent though. the hussle and bussle of Bath was at the end of the road, and all the passers by were just doing that - passing by. Our stall did catch some peoples eye, but we were not pitched in the main market area, which could have made it more successful, but who knows. We're planning on trying out another market in Bath soon, we're trying to find the one which suits our work best, has the right people attending it, and is the most successful.

Holly's website is HERE and she keeps a lovely blog on blogspot HERE. The 'Walcot Street market' is also called the 'Bath flea market' and HERE is a link to more info about it for sellers

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Interviews and Questionnaires

Blimey, I'm on fire with my blogging today! I received an email asking me to complete an artist's questionnaire online, which is funny because I am collaborating with my lovely friend Samuel Rogers in an interview. Coming soon!

So this website is: Whohub and I have started answering questions, you can see my own little page here: Lucy Barfoot at Whohub. How I love free publicity! It's interesting reading other peoples answers too

Also, I came across Authentic Happiness which has lots of tests to "Develop insights into yourself and the world around you through these scientifically tested questionnaires, surveys, and scales." There are so many to do. You have to create an account to take part, but this allows you to keep a lot of the results, to easily look back on.

Tests which measure: Overall Happiness, Depression Symptoms, Current Happiness, 24 Character Strengths, Appreciation about the Past, Character Strength of Perseverence, Optimism About the Future, Forgiveness. It's so interesting to know these things, from a scientific point of view. Here are my results for the character strengths. I'm flattered!

Top Strength: Perspective (wisdom): Although you may not think of yourself as wise, your friends hold this view of you. They value your perspective on matters and turn to you for advice. You have a way of looking at the world that makes sense to others and to yourself.

Appreciation of beauty and excellence: You notice and appreciate beauty, excellence, and/or skilled performance in all domains of life, from nature to art to mathematics to science to everyday experience.

Capacity to love and be loved: You value close relations with others, in particular those in which sharing and caring are reciprocated. The people to whom you feel most close are the same people who feel most close to you.

Humor and playfulness: You like to laugh and tease. Bringing smiles to other people is important to you. You try to see the light side of all situations.

Kindness and generosity: You are kind and generous to others, and you are never too busy to do a favor. You enjoy doing good deeds for others, even if you do not know them well.

Eggs Logs

I love this sign, It's the best farm sign I've ever seen. This is in Bournemouth, and in this direction it's 'Eggs. Logs' and in the other direction it's 'Logs. Eggs' I love the lettering, positioning, the direct message. This is about five years ago, and I hear that now it's 'free range EGGS LOGS'

Please appreciate these farm signs!

My Birthday Polaroids



I miss my birthday, I had such a lovely time, the best ever birthday! And today it's Trevor's birthday. Happy Birthday boyfriend! I bought him a fake turd.

Polaroid websites:
Fifty Rooms: Mostly naked polaroids (Adults only)
Polanoid: We are building the biggest Polaroid-picture-collection of the planet to celebrate the magic of instant photography
Polapremium: the best place to buy Polaroid and other film

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain


I love the film Amélie, It's so heart-warming and romantic. It's about time I watched it again I think. When I was about fourteen I made a zine, and this was a page in it - all the notes I made whilst watching Amélie; everyone's likes and dislikes and other little lists. Click on it to see it bigger.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Pinhole Photography workshop

Yesterday I attended a Pinhole photography workshop, lead by Justin Quinnell (who has a great pinhole website) we made three camera's and took some pics with the beer can cam, and took away a camera made from a film canister, which is a 6-month pinhole camera, which I am going to set up somewhere in Bristol. Where?? I have to set it up on June 20th, on the Summer Solstice, pointing south. the sun burns into the photo, here's an example of one of Justin's: Clifton Suspension Bridge.

The workshop has given me loads of ideas.... putting a pinhole in a helium balloon in the sky, on my car whilst driving, posting one, putting one in a clock, photographing a yoga class, tying one to Trevor's bike, putting one in my mouth, playing tennis with one.



Friday, June 5, 2009

Glue Quilts

I have been prolific today. I was in the studio till 8pm, inspired, I kept finding more things to do and I'm only home now because I'm hungry for fish and chips mmm. A Friday night treat from Bishopston Fish Bar!

Today, I have: caught up on last night's Big Brother with my neighbour Mia, taken home all the crockery from my studio and put it all in my dishwasher, recycled, taken rubbish to the dump (I'm the 'head housekeeper' of the studio you see), done a layer of papier mache on the balloons ready for the Big Lebowski festival tonight at The Lanes, Bristol, put up a wall in the studio, painted that wall, watched 4 episodes of the L word whilst doing most of the above, made a friend a birthday present collage, bound my birthday blind-drawing papers, wrote this blog, started my glue molds,

So these 'glue molds', they are for my my exhibition:
'Surface/Space/Time' at The Crypt Gallery, London (26th Aug - 9th Sept) which is curated by and also showing the work of Sam Clift who is a nice chap that I went to uni with.

I have been meaning to get on with starting the glue molds for months. I created some whilst at uni, and made this small quilt with them:


The idea I have for the exhibition is very similar, but with edited colors and on a much larger scale. The patchwork is made by filling big spoons with a mix of PVA, water and ink. They take AGES to dry, and the final stage sewing the patches together (but i'm thinking about spray-mount??)



Today I started working out the quantities of glue to water I need to make the perfect mixture for the molds. I have five plastic cups, 1-5, 1 has 30 parts water to 70 parts glue, 2= 40:60, 3= 50:50, 4= 60:40, 5= 70:30 I need the mold to be the perfectly supple, and not brittle. I have poured the liquids into 5 different ladels, and I'll wait (about a week?) to see which mixture makes the perfect consistency of mold. Process! It's been a long time since I focussed on process. It's where my heart lies with my art, and it felt really good to get into this again today.


Thursday, June 4, 2009

Win Green Play-tents




I once did a little bit of work for Win Green who create play-houses for children. Here's the barn tent which was what I mainly worked on. It's great to see drawings and hours on photoshop turned into a real object. Nice chicks!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Do you know anyone called Lucy or Lucie?

Dear Lucy,

You are invited to a picnic for Lucys/Lucies. We are holding this picnic because we are both called Lucy and we have an interest in social connectedness, human behavior and fun.

PLACE: Brandon Hill Park (off Park Street), Bristol – follow the balloons…
TIME: 14:00 – 17:00
DATE: 4th July 2009
BRING: There will be food and drinks available, but do feel free to contribute in any way you can.

There will be games and quizzes plus the unique opportunity to meet dozens of other Lucys who share your wonderful name.

Please ring/write/text/email to RSVP so that we have an idea of numbers, but feel free to invite any other Lucys that you know, We want this to be as big as possible. NB Don’t bring anyone who is not called Lucy! (With the exception of carers and guardians)

We hope to see you there

Lucy Barfoot & Lucy Duggan

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Barfoot and Duggan mega-meeting

Yesterday's monthly Barfoot and Duggan meeting was incredibly productive. We spent ages thinking of the name for our empire - what is referred to as the 'Central Arts Project' It's so hard to think of a good business/charity name, without sounding too children presenter/life course/ironic/apprentice. We read through the dictionary, thought about alliteration, rhyming, syllables, looked at lyrics, the best film titles, band names - all as inspiration. And still we did not come up with the final name!

However, We did design our Logo, which looks great. And now it's time to look for more funding options, and to design the website.

We also made a little trip to Harvey Nichols where we took some photographs of us in very expensive designer clothes. Here we are wearing £1300. This picture is on our new business cards.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Bank Holiday

Thinking about joining here: https://www.bouf.com

And some monster fingers:



Weird skyline in Bournemouth this weekend. What a straight line!


I am trying to get into rollerskating. Planning to join in with Skate Bristol. I have bought some knee pads on Ebay, And my friends Nicole and Lyndsay now own a pair, so I'm going to get skating! Here are a couple of very short vids Trevor took on his phone of me skating: