Jeannie Driver

Evidence of time

2011-10-03T21:59:00.004+01:00

I took this image on the South side of the Isle of Wight - Undercliff near Blackgang Chine. Evidence of time is something I think about a lot and of course links to my 'confidential' artwork series of shredded documents.

New Blog a new approach

2011-10-03T20:48:00.004+01:00

I'm reclaiming this blog site for use in addition with my website for all those additional activities like visits to exhibitions, links to other artists work and interesting projects.

SPIKE IT 6 is on location

2008-12-10T21:45:00.004Z

This image was taken during installation of SPIKE IT 6 in a staff room at Fareham college.
I was setting up the cctv cameras when the first few documents were spiked. Great to see a tutor enjoy spiking his lesson plans!
Updates will appear in the new year on www.spikeit.org.uk

CITY AS A CANVAS

2008-10-10T22:24:00.003+01:00

A really fun project. A commission for the Big Draw at John Pounds Centre
for Portsmouth City Council, this a social engagement project, linked digital drawing,and cycling as a live participatory event.
Following pre-planned drawings teams completed three drawings following a list of
instrcutions, and logging with GPS. On completion the data was downloaded and
screened linking with google earth to get the virtual experience, and finally revealing the 'drawing' on a canvas. The 3 drawings completed were
cycle city, Turning Portsmouth on its Head and A Ferry Good Ride.
For more info and to see the routes and drawings see
www.jeanniedriver.com/cityasacanvas

WORK PLAY

2008-07-25T16:16:00.004+01:00

What does ‘work’ mean to me?
artwork, artwork, artwork, does the joining of art and work imply a seriousness, a validity, what about artplay, or workplay?
is that amatuer, or lack of validity?
umm.. ‘artwork’ ‘ new work' 'work in progress'-

I recently read, whilst browsing in a book shop that artists should ‘lighten up’ not take themselves seriously, so I’ve been exploring artplay- are my doodles, my tearings, the remants of play of any value?
May be it is, it sounds a lot simpler, to not worry about the function or meaning, the intention, to revert to the authority of the authors voice just becase, to present the artists views & opinions/ emotional states/ expressive marks..... ummm,
Not sure of anyhting... booked a holiday, limited the reading list and locked away the laptop- going for a think-
revisit in September- it may reveal!

ARC REPORT REWORKED

2008-07-25T16:11:00.004+01:00

having completed the arc evaluation commission I'm still attempting to understand the word and world of ‘work’ ,
I’ve recently turned to myself to see what evidence I have of activity, how does it manifest itself, how is it measured and quantified?
The image shown is a pile in progress.. shredding will contine.... Then measuring and deleting of emails and digital docs.

9 th June 2008

2008-06-09T11:49:00.002+01:00

Blog
week beginning June 9th

Monday morning - pleasure or pain?

The week ahead-
Wednesday CIBAS conference, as one of the Creative Champions I’m involved in the ‘ask the audience’ style session, surveying the scene…so looking forward to some interesting conversations.

Thursday – attending the
Culture and Consequence: The role of ethics in the arts today at King's College London.

AND WORK- paid

arc evaluation
Working on the ‘arc evaluation’ commission. This image is from the first stage spread sheet. This mornings work is to data input the last questionnaires received and then make the charts to be contained in the final work. Its an interesting process, really enjoying it, thanks to all the creative practitioners who have returned questionnaires.

Queen Street windows
I currently have a commission to create artworks for a retail unit windows in Queen Street Portsmouth. Designs are to be submitted this Friday for feedback.

AND MY WORK

It shouldn’t always be the bottom of the list, but with bills to pay….
Lots of food for thought this week, however I will be making time to further my own work, I have the first two weeks in July to focus, and create new works- plenty of things on the boil…. keep you posted

Open Studio weekend 10th-11th May 2008

2008-05-12T11:06:00.001+01:00

A hot but busy weekend at Artspace Portsmouth Open Studios event.

After a busy Friday night, doing the yearly hoover and sort out, Saturday saw
lots of visitors. Its always a great time for conversations, talking about the
work and hearing of visitors office experiences, which hopefully I’ll get to
video in July.

Anyway for those who have missed it, a small snippet of an image and some text from
my open Studio newsletter. Do contact me if you would like to be involved in the spike it project, or interviews.

Oh and my image for the auction was snapped up, so good news for Artspace and me!

Newsletter…..

Jeannie Driver

Welcome to studio 21

I have inhabited this studio for over 2 years, and I continue to divide my time between studio 21, a studio at home and various other locations to achieve the varied elements of my practice. (space is always an issue!) I work full time as an artist, making my living through arts projects, commissions, residencies and studio practice.

UPDATE
Last year I received funding from Arts Council SE to develop my practice, specifically the spike it project, which enabled me to concentrate on making work for a whole year!
spike it locates 6ft spike files in offices to act as catalyst and signifier for individual and collective explorations of notions of work, paper, flow and emotion. The process creates stratified sculptures of office activity together with filmed interviews and cctv monitoring of spike.
The process has a direct relevance to the ‘audience’ and site whilst creating a body of work as social commentary of quodation issues.
The intention for this work is to create an ‘installation’ comprising of a ‘forest of spikes’, together with, cctv footage, video of office culture, data collections, risk assessments and filmed interviews with workers from private and public companies and organisations.

EXHIBITIONS during the previous 12 months
• January 2008 Gallery 53 Beauchamp Place, Knightsbridge
• January2008 Artspace exhibition at Lakeside 1000 (business venue)
• December 2007- Millais Gallery, Southampton
• October 2007 launch of www.spikeit.org
• October 2007 Launch of online ATMOSPHERE board
• October 2007 Spike It exhibition at Apsex Gallery

NEWS
• Acquire exhibition, Aspex Gallery. May-July 2008 Baseline Spike (1-1000) will be exhibited.
• Distributed South Residency. June-July 2008 Working in collaboration with fellow Artspace member Mike Blackman to develop CHARM. This project develops the work of STEPDATA.
• ARC commission- Current. Commission to evaluate arc services and presentation of data.
• gasp 1-12h July 2008 a break from ‘work’ to ‘play’ in the Artspace’s gallery.
• CIBAS -Creative Focus Conference. 11th June 2008. One of 12 creative champions contributing to the conference being held in Portsmouth.

OPPORTUNITIES
My work involves peoples, involvement, participation and contribution. I am currently seeking:
• office workers to interview on camera their thoughts on the ideas of ‘work’
• office and home workers to use the online ATMOSPHERE board for one week
• offices to visit photograph and film
• step data participants

SUPPORT
see overleaf for spike it commissions, purchasing limited edition archival prints, ATMOSPHERE boards, commission artwork, consultancy, public speaking & presentations.

Thank you for taking the time to read this news letter.
Further info contact jeannie@jeanniedriver.com

Paper finds

2008-03-20T10:29:00.001Z

SPIKE IT
Where is is now

The spike it project is going slowly, I still have four more to place, which are now made and ready to go in to a welcoming office. Still I’ve been a little distracted…

All this talk of paper has lead to more research, Whilst hunting around on the internet, I found marketing and print companies promoting green products and services. On the Michael associates sites I found:

The UK is the worlds 5th largest consumer of paper products.
In 2005 the UK consumed 12.5 million tonnes of paper, of which 7.6m were imported

Alex the Business Development Executive at Michael associates has kindly given me a page of links to go through for paper info and stats, so I’ll keep you posted if I find anything more up to date ( without having to pay for it!)

Oh- I did manage to get a snapshot of this, best you visit www.paper.org.uk

1000 Lakeside

2008-03-04T11:04:00.000Z

I’ve spent the weekend- or some of it- hanging two works in the newly refurbished Lakeside 1000 building. Developers Highcross invited Artspace and its artists to exhibit work for the business launch of the building to enhance the space.

This vast building can be seen from the motorway, but in its previous role as an IBM workplace it was never open to the public. The scale of it is unusual in this compact city, and it always intrigued me, so getting the chance to visit to hang work was an opportunity not to be missed.

Developers Highcross have taken over the site and having added an impressive atrium to the building. A perfect venue for a full SPIKEIT installation! Anyway no photos to show as it’s all a bit sensitive prior to the launch, (bit of a shame as my camera was in hand and the images calling!) I did photograph my work, and that of a colleague so it gives a bit of an idea of the exhibition if nothing else. (Maybe building images will appear on

http://www.lakesidenorthharbour.com/ )

The artspace exhibition has work from over 20 artists with a diverse range of practice.
I have placed the newly titled piece, merger. This photographic work, of hand printed B&W archival images on diabond, is derived from spikes 1-3. I’m also hoping that some of the SPIKE IT leaflets will communicate SPIKE IT as a relevant project to the offices, which might just inspire potential businesses to get involved.

In addition to this work I’ve placed a painting I did a few years ago, ( well it fits with the site) and which I still am in love with. The painting is another conceptual piece, concerned with process, but this time solely authored by myself. For the audience it is an abstract painting, an innocuous work of line and colour. Having the opportunity to
revisit this painting has highlighted for me my ongoing fascination for lines, and not dissimilar to the pieces I’m currently working on, thought the medium and meaning (for me) has changed.

53 Gallery- the opening and a new work.

2008-02-12T12:46:00.000Z

Blog, February 6th

After a day traipsing round the East London galleries in deluges of rain it was over to Knightsbridge to open the show at Gallery 53. It was a good evening with a varied crowd, from Artist contacts and the gallery's mailings.
After more wine than the recommended daily limit a few of us staggered across the road to the Pizza place to refuel and dissect the show. I must video these conversations….

The invite cards for the exhibition and carrying my image, WORK WORK 5, (shown in the last blog entry) can be collected from the gallery.

I created a new SPIKE for this exhibition. It's a bit of a departure from the SPIKEIT project, as its arrived at a sculptural piece. the work titled spike 1-1000,
carries 1000 pieces of A4 paper. All are number sequentially, and have been spiked
in order. One piece of paper has been spiked upside down- any guesses.
Its been a revelation to fill the spike with just 1000 sheets = two reams of paper.

Anyway it was great making this work, I also filmed it and am now working on the footage. This work has lead me to a whole range of new works, the next will be
spike 1000-2000 and a few more surprises will be revealed.

Do go and take a look, at the gallery…..

GALLERY FIFTY-THREE
53 Beauchamp Place, London, SW3 1NY
Tel +44 (0)20 7584 0717 Fax +44 (0)20 7225 2002

PS, I usually access this bog via safari- but an 'error' continues, so I'm now on Internet explorer and can't find how to add an image- why does it look so different?

Preview 6-9 pm 31st January " Works on paper" Gallery 53, Beauchamp Place, Knightsbridge.

2008-01-14T12:10:00.000Z

Exhibting at a commercial gallery is a new venture for me. The aim is to show and sell limited edition prints from the SPIKE IT
project to aid further work. Gallery 53 will also be showing a newly created spike for this show, containing pages and pages of work generated throughout the SPIKE IT project in 2007. The galleries corportate clients will be encouraged to commission a spikeit.

The start of 2008

2008-01-02T21:45:00.000Z

For the first time ever, It's LONELY on here....
So add a magnet and join me, using the ATMOSPHERE board to logg your mood during those hours spent at work.
Whether your return to work is welcome or not, the ATMOSPHERE board is for you; a toy, an outlet, a special place to express those little moments....

http://www.spikeit.org.uk/beta/atmosphere.html

Don't worry, its safe, but you do need to be able to get cookies for you to register a magnet. That way I get no personal info about you, and you can safley express your ATMOSPHERE choices in privacy

Happy new year!

Artist Talk: Thursday 6th December. Millais Gallery Southampton

2007-12-04T15:34:00.000Z

This Thursday I'll be holding a public talk in the Millais Gallery, Southampton from 7pm.

The SPIKE IT project and working approach will be discussed in conversation
with curator Les Buckingham.

All welcome. Please contact Millais Gallery for more information.

ATMOSPHERE IN THE OFFICE

2007-11-27T10:42:00.000Z

A reminder to let you know that the online ATMOSPHERE board is ready for your use
visit http://www.spikeit.org.uk/beta/atmosphere.html to register a magnet and move around
at your will for one week. Don't worry no information is kept about you (only you know which magnet
is yours) so its for fun and for those monments of frustration or celebration!

Spike It 5 at Millais

2007-11-13T11:40:00.000Z

CCTV cameras are trained on SPIKE IT 5 and can be viewed in the Millais Gallery. This real time view explores how workers interact with spike it 5 and with the cameras themselves. Each visit to the gallery will be unique dependant on office activity and flow at the time.
So saturdays will be very quiet!

report

2007-11-13T11:36:00.001Z

Head down this week for report writing! work I'd rather not be doing, urhhh.

Portsmouth & Southampton-One week only

2007-11-07T11:47:00.001Z

For this week only , I have a show in two adjacent cities, Southampton in the Millais Gallery & Portsmouth in Aspex.
Both shows are related to the SPIKE IT project.
The Project Room at Millais Gallery is “an exhibition space for site-specific installations and experimentation, a laboratory, a hothouse”.
I've used this opportunity to explore the interactions with SPIKE IT 5, now located in Southampton Solent University’s Marketing and Communications department and relayed to the Millais Gallery Project Room where real time interactions with spikeit 5 can be viewed on a monitor.
Other works are SPIKE 1 – cathartic act video loop and the online ATMOPSHERE board is exhibtited http://www.spikeit.org.uk/beta/atmosphere.html for audiences to participate and become part of the exhitbion. (thats anyone who can logg on. Well not quite as there are only 30 magnets available!

last day Sunday...SPIKE IT at ASPEX Gallery, intro space. An exhitbion mapping the project. A new photograph has been added to the exhitbion. SPIKE IT 4, a result of the prize draw, was placed in the Gunwharf management offices. An image from this placement has been added to the exhitbion. More on SPIKE IT 4 later..

SPIKE IT Guidance for Offices

2007-10-30T12:40:00.001Z

SPIKE IT 5

2007-10-30T12:32:00.001Z

SPIKE IT 5

will be on exhibtion at Millais Gallery, Southampton.
Opening Saturday 3rd November. Preview 2nd November 7pm- all welcome.

SPIKE IT 5 will be located in the Solent University offices. A live steam will
be visible on a monitor in the project room. The montior will be placed on a plynth to accentuate the PROCESS of the work.

See www.spikeit.org.uk for more information on the SPIKE IT project
and how to host a SPIKE IT in your office.

SPIKE IT WEB LAUNCH & EXHIBTION

2007-10-30T12:21:00.000Z

The SPIKE IT website www.spikeit.org.uk was launched at ASPEX GALLERY, Gunwharf, Portsmouth
on the 10th October 2007

The Launch included speaches from Lynda Fisher, Strategic Director, Portsmouth City Council
Helen Sloan, Director of SCAN and Artist Jeannie Driver.

Gunwharf Management office won the FREE SPIKE IT Prize draw.

about time

2007-06-20T22:05:00.000+01:00

Ok, so its a few months, but then does it matter?
the project is going well, my development is
all absorbing,- editingfootage is a time eater
but it has to be just right!

Anyway, just in case there is someone out there
and wants a proejct up date. Logg into my
website www.jeanniedriver.com
or email me at jeannie@jeanniedriver.com

Keep a look out for my new site- www.spikeit.org.uk-
its currently under construction and hopefully will
be online early July.

Office Investigations

2007-02-22T11:08:00.000Z

The first office investigation will be taking placed 26th - 28th February

This site will be updated weekly