A very inspiring visit to the University of Bristol's Botanical Gardens with InBristol Studios, some of the contributors to 'Aviary.'  A chance to make new experimental work for over 20 artists and designers, they will be responding to the fertile climes of 3 different temperate & tropical zones. The birds will appear for the Easter Sculpture Festival 25-28th March with special bird-spotting guides to aid discovery.

A warm leafy oasis, it was a welcome break for a drizzly February day! Thank you to the staff at the gardens for all their help.

Watch the Bristol Murmuration film. (Duration: 5mins)

​Tom, Connor and Abhi at Biggerhouse Film had the massive task of making short films of all 14 Neighbourhood Arts Projects for Bristol 2015. 

During a beautifully organised final celebration last week we got to enjoy seeing them all for the first time and heard news of the Paris Climate talks firsthand from the returning Mayor, George Ferguson.

With only a few visits to each of the projects they managed to capture a real flavour of the the varied projects that had gone on across Bristol. Of a Bristol Murmuration 2 of our 21 workshops are featured; from the quiet rainy day at Canford Park to the hectic afternoon at Westbury's village show where 180 birds were made!

We're on! See us on Autumnwatch Extra - available on iplayer 05/11/15 Lunchtime edition for 28 days. We start at roughly 22mins in after a little girl's poem also inspired by starlings... Link here.

Hadn't realised the kids were being interviewed as art critics amongst other things- and some good footage of the installation on a wet day!

The 7 year old who'd made the peregrine falcon; chosen "because they eat starlings," had impressed me with his nice lateral thinking and extensive wildlife knowlege...

Meanwhile a family was making full use of the binoculars in trying to identify their birds. All 7 family members had made one at Canford Park.

Just picked up a copy of the Henleaze & Westbury Voice from the library only to find my face on the front cover- bit of a shock! It has a very nice write-up of the Bristol Murmuration opening procession graced by the Lord Mayor, and some good shots of some of the birds and a little boy who'd found his already who'd made his at Stoke Lodge.  An extra article on the situation with starlings was a lovely touch so many thanks to Don Whiting for such a thoughtful article.

It's been great to see how well received this project has gone down, and coverage on BBC and ITV regional channels as well as the Bristol Magazine, plus being nominated as one of the top 8 things to do in Time Out Bristol has really helped. I spoke to a few visitors who'd actually seen it on the news and travelled from Weston-super-mare, Hereford and even Surrey especially to view it! So pleased for all the participants for people to be enjoying their work from far and wide and it seems to have been a source of real local pride.

Just hope it inspires people to be more creative and not worry about outcomes!

Autumnwatch came to film us on a particularly misty and beautiful morning of the last day of the exhibition. Am particularly looking forward to watching this on iplayer having missed the live viewing, due to the amazing 7 year old boy who'd made the peregrine falcon being featured. It was pure luck he and the 3 generations of his family turned up to look at his work but he'd been memorably knowledgable about all things wildlife and full of ideas for my future projects. He and another little girl (all her family were looking for their birds) gave lengthy interviews and am sure will be much more interesting than what I had to say! Currently still offline but apparently it's likely to appear Monday afternoon- will keep all informed. 

UPDATE: WATCH US ON AUTUMNWATCH EXTRA HERE. We start around 22mins in with a beautiful poem first.

Having fantastic feedback from visitors and incredibly heart-warming seeing people finding their birds again. Lots of lovely photos on the Facebook page. Will update more on here shortly but just got to get the last few birds up..!

​If you need to contact me perhaps best to email [email protected].

A good morning spent with the rest of the busy weekend team at Ibstock Brick's Cattybrook factory unloading the kiln! No breakages! Colour great. The sparkly mica kindly provided by Whitchem has created some lovely effects.

Interesting time with knowledgeable manager, Ian Downie, viewing ceramic glues used in their own ingenious bird box bricks that I'm going to trial. 

Thanks again to the fantastic Cattybrook crew. Will finish unloading tomorrow...

94 vegetable boxes of birds were packed into the kiln Monday aided by the fantastic crew at Ibstock Bricks. They'd been in the drier all weekend. 'Canteens' used to fire tiles were useful in being able to stack them up! It'll be firing over the next few days and will be cool enough to open by Friday or Saturday... exciting!

​A massive thanks to the Cattybrook branch for generously supporting this project. 

Well, this blog has been a bit neglected with all the activity elsewhere, I'm afraid. If you would like more detail please check out the Facebook page... 

Information will be migrating over in the next few days!
 
1000(+12) birds have now been made in workshops across the 3 wards.
In nature reserves, parks, church gardens, care home, kids holiday club, pub gardens...even Henleaze library! 

A huge thanks to all the helpers who have supported the workshops and bird processing and the incredible array of organisations who've hosted and promoted these workshops so enthusiastically.
 
All of the birds have been individually holed and stamped and are now busy drying ready for the Brick Factory
TOMORROW.