Taking Ideas into the Open: HowTheLightGetsIn, Hay-on-Wye

 

In May, I’ll be participating in HowTheLightGetsIn, the philosophy and ideas festival in Hay‑on‑Wye — a place where thinking happens in public, arguments unfold in the open air, and conversations often continue long after the formal events end.

I’ve written this blog as a way of reflecting on what it means to take part in a festival like this: one that deliberately brings academic, philosophical, and cultural debates out of enclosed spaces and into shared, questioning territory. HowTheLightGetsIn isn’t about tidy conclusions, but about risk, uncertainty, and the generative potential of disagreement.

The post explores why these spaces matter now, how interdisciplinary dialogue reshapes the way we articulate ideas, and what it feels like to step into a forum where thinking is not only performed, but collectively negotiated.

Hay‑on‑Wye has long been associated with books and ideas; this festival intensifies that spirit, reminding us that knowledge lives through conversation, challenge, and encounter.

So... the all of the  above was written by Ai...  Interesting times we do live in... I will be attending the festival and taking part in a debate on: 

 Friday 22nd May, 19:00  - Desire and Danger in the Age of Self Love.

I hope to bring together my work surrounding research on sexuality, identity, technology with emerging developments such as Ai  and creativity amongst other concepts. It should be a lively debate.... visit the link to book your visit!

https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/hay

BIG HEADS PORTRAIT EXHIBITION AT ARTSPACE PORTSMOUTH! Oct 6-17th

 

So - for the last several months, I have been working in my little home studio, producing around 17 or so large (4ft) pan pastel and sponge portraits. Some of the subjects are in fact big heads in their field, such as professors etc - but some are just the joy of drawing a large portrait. I also did a large self portrait triptych - called 100 days of Trump - which one of the images is used in my poster.

Some of my other sitters include My Dog Sighs and Fark who are both fabulous Urban artists - so I wanted to show my appreciation of their work.

 

It is important for me to do this work as a contrast to my digital culture involvement, as I wanted to be able to grasp at the identities of my sitters - something I think is missing from the plethora of Ai images that are now flooding the internet. I am not a luddite - indeed I have done digital artwork - but I wanted to get back to the visceral context of working with paper, pastel and mark making.

Come along and see the exhibition if you are in the Portsmouth area in October and to my talk on Saturday 11th.

A realisation...

I had a fabulous time up in London where I gave a talk on my academic cybersex research at London's Science Museum. I also managed to visit the Courtauld to see Frank Auerbach's incredible exhibition of charcoal drawings. It totally took me back into my past when I used to draw all the time - and I was so inspired by the impact of seeing this show that it re-ignited such emotive feelings for me. I then had a realisation, that working in academia for so long had sapped any emotive context to my art work. When I got home, I found one of my old sketchbooks from the early 90's and I could see, with new and older experienced eyes, that the work was very emotive, The drawing marks had an indelible emotional grit about them, as I was exploring new facets of my creativity at the time. 

Talking at the London Science Museum. There was a great crowd, and the whole event was fun and really well organised! 

I'm agog at looking at the charcoal drawings!!

Here are some of my early emotive self portrait drawings hidden in an old sketch book - these are the ones that are emotive.

Consequently, I am now doing new emotive work. The current self portrait work below is large, (over 30 years since the drawings above) and is done with acrylics, oil paints, oil pastels and charcoal. This is a new departure for me, and I am very excited about it.

 

Always Learning... Monday 12th Feb 2024

 

Work in progress 12/2/24

I really enjoy learning new processes.  Have signed up for a little online course, and it has helped me to re-think how I approach my painting and drawing. The above image, which I am currently working on, is using an old abstract painting I did several years ago with acrylic paint. On top of that I am working with charcoal, oil pastels and oil paint. It is a self portrait, drawn/painted free-hand from a selfie on my mobile phone without gridding - so the impact is a little looser. The image is quite large and it is fun to change the scale of my portrait work. I'm always available for my portrait practice - as it I'm sure my partner, (the lovely) Ed, gets bored with sitting for me so often! He is very patient though!

One of my concepts of creating art, is the possible conflict between drawing and painting - and I want to break that personal conflict. The idea that painting and drawing are part of the exact same process is freeing me from preconceptions of what is expected in 'painting' in opposition to 'drawing'. I also love the excitement of this process.. waking up and wanting to get straight back onto the canvas is something that I have missed for a long time, ever since I started working in academia at University.

I have also seen the concept of 'mindful/slow looking'. Tate Modern talks about it and holds some events around  this. I have always had an intensity of looking, all my life - and I am slightly amused as to how this activity  has been packaged for a new generation who appear to experience this as a new and novel phenomenon. I will be broaching this subject when I run my intense observation drawing class later on in March. 

In the meantime, I will continue working on the above picture.... what should I call it?

Monday 5th Feb: Art Stuff...

 I've decided that Mondays are my art stuff days... arts stuff - things I find useful, or not, ideas for new projects; any ideas for workshops etc etc...  Perhaps I should do a drawing class online... if you are reading this... what do you think?  I have the possibility of doing a brief few days residency with workshops in a Chateaux in France sometime this year.. That's really exciting!!

. I have also recently completed a commission for a drawn portrait from a photograph. Sadly the gentleman in the portrait passed away whilst I was working on the drawing. It is always ethically sensitive to draw someone who has passed, as it becomes a representation of that individual combined with nostalgia and time passing.  I worked for a while in a Hospice with people who wished to be creative during the final journey and there is something very poignant about making marks on paper.

Here's the drawing, all framed and wrapped and ready to go.

I have also been drawing in VR this last week. I saw the line drawings of Don Quixote by Salvador Dali... and I thought... oooh! They would work in VR - so I am exploring this using Open Brush. But I also have some ideas for some new paintings too. I have also been experimenting with percussion using GarageBand on my Ipad Pro... love it!!

Percussion !! yay!!

...and finally I managed to visit a fantastic VR museum exhibition that came to my university - showing LGBTQ plus  artists' work in an interactive virtual museum. It was amazing!! You can get more info about it here: https://lgbtqvrmuseum.com/  

 

 

Starting a one day drawing course

 I will be running a one day intensive observation drawing course, in central Southsea Portsmouth.. The first one taking place in March is already fully booked. If anyone reading this would like to be included on my mailing list for further one day courses,(which will take place on either a Friday or a Monday) please contact me on my email: trudybarberarts@gmail.com.

In other news, I am now a full member of the Portsmouth and Hampshire Art Society - this means I can exhibit a bit more work at the annual exhibition. (14th - 26th August Portsmouth Cathedral) It's always great to support local arts events!

I am also very interested in how AI art is developing. It raises so many questions about creativity and process, as well as copyright etc... I always find the give away for an AI image - is how many fingers there are if  a hand is included in the image! Also have a look at the Burger blast declassified 1995 early AI advert...  the future of imagery....

....and I'm BACK!!!

 

Self Portrait and portrait of Ed (oil on canvas 2022.)

Things have been different for me after lockdown - I have made decisions about my future - which includes making choices. So I am now in phased retirement at University - but this also means that I am moving towards developing my own personal arts practice further. I am embracing some traditional processes and exploring oil painting, and also experimenting with things like simple animation and software like Procreate. Over the last couple of years I have been putting my work up on Instagram - you can see it here: https://www.instagram.com/trudybarber6/

I will be adding more content to this blog now - due to a few years of being totally consumed by academia!

Large portrait of urban artist 'My Dog Sighs' (oil on canvas 2023)

Posting some more work.... have been doing a lot during lockdown...

Some footage of my drawing in VR filmed by some of my final year students in 2018-19.

Thinking about lockdown and spending time drawing and thinking ... it has been a really strange time... things have slowed down considerably..Thinking about the past..

have been doing a lot more drawings....

Between managing my busy university teaching and research, I love to draw as often as possible - which doesn't leave me much time to work on this blog as you an see!
I have been doing some drawings using Leap Motion in VR as well as traditional sketching (film to come later...). I have also been fascinated by the political upheaval in the UK and have taken to drawing different members of parliament whilst I watch them on the TV.. It's sort of like my drawings of musicians - when someone is in 'the zone' of what they do... I like to see if I can capture that intensity...

  

  

 

Having fun with Doggy Drawings

Well.. I like a bit of a change... and as a contrast to my VR explorations, I have been doing some little doggy portraits from photographs over the winter holidays. It has been great fun, and I really enjoy doing them. One client sent me a video of his partner receiving one of my drawings - she was so pleased that she was in tears, and it was a romantic moment for them both... and I suddenly realised how important my drawings are to people, and how much pleasure my work gives them. If you would like a doggy drawing please do get in touch!

Going Digital - Virtual Reality Drawings

Nearly 30 years ago, I envisaged artwork in Virtual Reality. I wanted to make paintings in virtual spaces, add sound to those digital marks and immerse myself in the creative process. I can happily say that it is now available as a process. I love it! Will eventually be matching sounds to images, using my percussion instruments and my my Korg Monotron... very excited!

Watch this space for further work.

End of the academic year...

... and that means I can devote a little time to my more traditional art practices in contrast to my research. I think that there is going to be a crossover point as I venture further into Virtual Reality - see earlier blog posts here and do visit my more academic research blog The Sexual Futurologist if you would like to know more... I have got Tiltbrush software for Virtual Reality and will start producing digital practice work during this summer.

But, in the meantime, I still really enjoy the visceral quality of lino cutting and printing - its something so simple and satisfying... my whole lino print studio is in a small carrier bag in the kitchen - I usually work on the lino in the living room - I just clear a  kitchen worktop and print away... rolling the ink over the finished cut, placing the paper over the inked lino, and burnishing each print by hand with the back of a metal spoon.

My most recent print, 'Hare on the hill' is a specific work I have made dedicated to the animal, as it has many sacred mythologies and traditions surrounding it. We see the hare in the foreground, having come from the surrounding hills. In the distance we can see a lightning tree. What has happened between the Hare and the tree is for you to decipher...

If you would like one of the prints please do message me for further information, or visit my Facebook page.

It has been a year...

...since my last post - to the day in fact.

So much has been going on with my academic work - BUT I have been very active when it comes to discovering something a bit new (ish)...

When I was an art student in London back in the early '90s, I was lucky enough to study for one term with print maker Norman Ackroyd. I did some formal acid etchings at the time, and had really forgotten about printmaking all together as some of the processes were a little arduous. Here in Portsmouth we do have a thriving arts community and I was inspired by the lino cuts of Chris Wood  and of my old school friend from  Warminster (who now works in Salisbury) Simon Howden. So I decided to have a go at some simple lino cut work myself. It was very liberating and brought out some graphic approaches to image making that I had long forgotten. The process is addictive and I can set up everything for printing in my kitchen! Below is a selection of work - some themed around the winter holiday, as they made nice keepsakes for family and friends. They are all in black and white  - some with a little hand panted colour on them.

I then tried to be more adventurous....

... and started making these....

Which turned into these!!

It was last weekend that I tried to create a larger work - the process was very rewarding...

This simple composition of oak tree with black bird, thrush and blue tit was fun to do and although fairly stylised, it was a great way to discover how to make a larger piece. I have been looking at other lino cut works by other artists and really want to expand on this further - so.. watch this space! 

The works are for sale if you would like one please get in touch below.