Surrender to your obsessions. There is nothing better. Obsessions are the relics of childhood. And the most precious treasures come from the depths of childhood. You need to always keep the gate to your childhood open. It’s not about specific memories. It’s about feelings. It’s not about consciousness, it’s about unconsciousness. Let the inner river flow freely though you…Jan Svankmajer

I like those thoughts.

During the last couple of years of art my own obsessions have reminded me more and more of my dad who died about 18 months ago. More or less right up until he died he had an obsessive drive to do things that interested him.. After he retired from work brought on by crippling arthritis – he worked very hard physically all his life – he took up all kinds of practical and artistic endeavours. Wood carving, welding sculptures, stained glass work, computers, he even took part in a local mystery play.

When he had an idea he just couldn’t be stopped. For example he did some kind of metallic representation of Our Lady of Czestochowa (he was Polish)  which appeared hanging in the hallway one day after hours in the shed. He wasn’t particularly religious, due to growing up in a Polish orphanage based in a monastery.  My mum took the picture down – she wasn’t religious at all – and couldn’t bear that kind of thing.

We’ve recently been emptying our family home, finding bags of glass, carving tools, drawing pencils. So I’m reminded of him in my current obsessions.

Animation week 2
We looked at what we’d done last week and were asked to make a prequel of another group’s animation. Our one was based on a screen.
I don’t think this piece worked out so well – the screen caused a few problems – it reflected the light a lot. I don’t think we really thought our idea through right to the end – it’s hard to do this in the time. We worked really hard but I didn’t feel as pleases with it as last week’s – mainly because the ending was scrappy.

Week 1 Openings – click below

Week 2 The screen, prequel