May Day

May Day
a bag of French fries
and a Big Mac

Paul Conneally

Photo: Loughborough - Paul Conneally May 1 2015

Loughborough Carillon Tower and War Memorial

'Loughborough Carillon Tower & War Memorial was built after WW1 to commemorate the men of the town who gave their lives. Unique in Britain, it is the only purpose built carillon tower.

Set within the beautiful Queen's Park the tower is also home to a museum, 3 rooms packed with military memorabilia. Including one room dedicated to the Leicestershire Yeomanry.

Climb the 138 steps, past the 47 bells and you are out onto the balcony with fantastic views across Loughborough.'

Above text from Go Leicestershire

In 1999 artist Paul Conneally proposed to Charnwood Borough Council planning committee that the Carillon Tower be turned into a Peace Beacon with the addition of a helter skelter slide around the external walls of the tower. The proposal itself was the artwork as Conneally knew, correctly, that the proposal would be rejected but would have to be considered. The proposal was made in the form of a poem and resulted in newspaper coverage and media discussion of the piece.

As Britain embarks on a frenzy of state funded events between 2014 and 2018 to commemorate 100 Years passing since the carnage of World War 1 Conneally will formally once again propose the transformation in some way of the Carillon Tower War Memorial into a more upfront peace proposing landmark whilst still remembering all those from all sides that lost their lives in the conflict, the war (Conneally will not call it the 'Great War') of 1914 to 1918 and all other wars too.

Photograph: Paul Conneally May 1st 2015

Pedestrian Zone

Pedestrian Zone
Paul Conneally
Loughborough
May 1 2015

Curious Love Splash

Curious Love Splash

world summit to bring you weapons

a big fan not just of peace

these women never die grubby

once upon a future true heroes

finding joy in the gathering

curious love splash

blood and conservation make a bright ballet

seasonal monotone delights

poetic train giving tourists new voice

hand in hand a biting of words

Paul Conneally

11th april 2005

this shreadline piece was originally entitled 'a biting of words'' it was created out of cut up headlines from 'culture' a magazine funded by the uk arts council given away with tyneside newspaper 'the journal'

the artist picked his copy up in the swallow hotel newcastle-upon-tyne

the tuesday after easter 2005

Cinnamon

Cinnamon
Paul Conneally
Loughborough
April 2015

Trees Spreading Their Arms

Two women sit on one of the water drop shaped metal benches in Thurmaston made by sculptor Richard Thornton with a haiku fragment written during the Charnwood Arts project The Sound Of Water workshops that I led with massive support from Jemma Bagley. The words we decided upon are laser cut into the bench, in fact they are cut out of the bench.

The words that these young Muslim women sit on are 'trees spreading their arms'. I'd like to feel that our communities across Charnwood are like these trees, spreading their arms to welcome new members into them, wherever they are from.



Paul Conneally
April 2015

Car Wash

her hand on his knee
huge brushes spin 
against the windscreen

Paul Conneally
April 22 2015

Photo: Car Wash Shelthorpe Loughborough UK

Maurice Maguire

Maurice Maguire - artist - curator - cultural geographer

Photo: Paul Conneally

Queen's Park, Loughborough

Queen's Park, Loughborough,UK
Paul Conneally
April 22 2015

Eddie Izzard hits the Labour Party campaign trail in Loughborough

Matthew O'Callaghan and Eddie Izzard in Loughborough Market Place UK

Comedian Eddie Izzard hit the streets of Loughborough in the heart of England to show his support for local Labour Party candidate Matthew O'Callaghan in the UK's 2015 general election.

O'Callaghan could oust sitting Tory MP, Nicky Morgan, from the Loughborough seat which she holds with just a 3,700 majority at the moment. Izzard urged everyone in Loughborough to get out and vote and when they do to vote Labour, vote O'Callaghan.

Izzard is touring the whole of the UK supporting the Labour Party. He volunteered to do the tour to show his personal support for Labour.

Loughborough was bathed in sunshine for Matthew and Eddie's town centre walkabout and they both stopped to have selfies taken with locals out shopping and workers from local shops and businesses.

Paul Conneally

April 22 2015

Spring Fixture

spring fixture

a fan hands a policeman

an ice-cream

Paul Conneally

King Power Stadium

Leicester 2014

Parade of Life: Poems Inspired by Japanese Prints

Parade of Life: Poems Inspired by Japanese Prints, came out of my work as haiku poet in residence at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery in 2002.

The book publishes poems written by a wide range of participants alongside the Japanese woodblock prints that inspired them.

It was a joy to work with the museum staff and participants over my time with the exhibition and particularly with fellow poet Alan Summers who worked with me in the selection of the poems to be published from the hundreds that were written.

Paul Conneally
April 2014

Kings 3 Cafe - Kings Norton

'Kings 3 Cafe'
Paul Conneally
The Fold, Kings Norton, UK

Carpet Talk

Carpet Talk
Paul Conneally
Beaumont Leys
Leicester
April 2015

Kerb and Tyre Mark - The Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York Group April 2015

The collating / collaging of Colin Murphy and Paul Conneally's long series of photos of the IP kerb and tyre mark by the Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York group and we are back with John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg and their 'Automobile Tire Print - 1953' where Cage made a voluntary tire print for Rauschenberg by driving a car with paint on its wheels along a strip of stuck together sheets of paper - our tyre mark was involuntarily made by some driver or another and spotted by Colin Murphy opposite New Parks Library.


'Automobile Tire Print' Robert Rauschenberg 1953

'Involuntary Painting' is a term first coined in this context by New York based artist Millree Hughes and further developed by Hughes with British artist and poet Paul Conneally.

'Imagine an alien lands on Earth with all the knowledge of modern painting but never having seen one. What might they mistake for a painting as they walk around?'

'Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York' is a project / work conceived by Hughes and Conneally for and with Soft Touch Arts,New Parks Library and local community adults and children in Leicester UK. The project received support from Arts Council England and Leicester City Council.


Members of the 'Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York' work to collage the Involuntary Painting photo series of a kerb and tyre mark by Paul Conneally and Colin Murphy

Leicester April 15 2015

The Albion Inn - Loughborough

The Albion Inn, Loughborough

The Albion Inn is a traditional English canal side pub.

It's on the canal bank in the heart of Loughborough. To get to it by car requires driving up a single track road along the canal bank itself. Not for the faint hearted at night.

It's a small pub. It doesn't come with many frills.

The pub generally has four ales on sale and food available most days at lunch and in the early evening.

Paul Conneally
April 2015

Captain America

Captain America

Paul Conneally

Loughborough

2015

Spider-Man in Loughborough

Spider-Man in Loughborough
The independent supermarket franchise, Nisa, has taken over the only pub in Shelthorpe, Loughborough, The Hunters Moon, and turned it into a shop. Today they were out touting for business with men dressed as Spider-Man standing on Park Road waving to the passing traffic.

Paul Conneally
Loughborough
April 2015

SAVAGE NUNEATON - Colin Murphy 2015

'SAVAGE NUNEATON' - Colin Murphy 2015

'SAVAGE NUNEATON' is a frottage piece by Colin Murphy made as part of Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York in New Parks, Leicester.

The piece is one of a number of pieces made by the IP1NPNY group during a session where they met through artists Millree Hughes and Paul Conneally, the work of Max Ernst, then explored and identified 'involuntary paintings' in the area around Aikman Avenue shops in New Parks, near New Parks Library where the group is based, then making frottage, rubbings, of and from them.

The works were made on the day before King Richard III was reinterred in Leicester Cathedral and are collectively called 'The King Richard III Municipal Services Memorial Collection'. Many of the memorial collection feature sewerage manhole covers and other service access plates.

It is a voluntary artwork out of a feature initially identified as an 'involuntary painting'.

The New Parks community involuntary painting group is linked with a group of artists in New York who exchange comments and encouragement with them via the internet.

Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York is a project conceived by artists Millree Hughes (New York, USA) and Paul Conneally (Loughborough, UK) with and for Soft Touch Arts and New Parks Library with support from Arts Council England.

Note: Involuntary Painting is a term invented and coined for use in this context by Millree Hughes and further developed by Hughes with Paul Conneally:

'If an alien landed on Earth programmed with all the knowledge of modern art and painting what might they as they wandered around mistake for a painting?'

These mistakes are what Hughes and Conneally call 'involuntary paintings'. Surfaces and objects marked by time, mould, human and natural activity as stand-ins for the pigment, ground, support etc of voluntary painting, voluntary art.

April 2014

Post-War Ceramic Tile Mural St Aidan's Church New Parks Leicester

This mural, our New Parks mural at Saint Aidan’s Church, showing the story of St Aidan, is truly a hidden treasure. Leicester has rightly been excited at the discovery of King Richard III and his reburial in Leicester Cathedral and all the time we have had this King, King Oswald, and a Saint, Saint Aidan, weaving their magic through the great ceramic tile maker and muralist William Gordon. The mural was designed in 1958 and installed in 1959 when the church, designed by architect Sir Basil Spence, who also designed the famous Coventry Cathedral, was completed.

When great culture is sited in over looked or looked down on, working class communities and housing estates it becomes sometimes invisible, it’s worth negated.

Here we see members of the 'Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York' group standing by the mural, one of the greatest surviving post-war tiled ceramic murals in the country.

http://www.c20society.org.uk/murals-campaign/17-william-gordon-ceramic-tile-mural-1959/

After visiting the mural and viewing it, mediated by a photograph of an involuntary painting sent specially to the group, along with a video message, from New York based photographer and artist, Lucien Samaha, the group returned to New Parks Library to decorate tiles of their own.

The New Parks community involuntary painting group is linked with a group of artists in New York who exchange comments and encouragement with them via the internet.

Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York is a project conceived by artists Millree Hughes (New York, USA) and Paul Conneally (Loughborough, UK) with and for Soft Touch Arts and New Parks Library with support from Arts Council England and Leicester City Learning Services PSHE and Citizenship Advisory Service (PCAS)

Note: Involuntary Painting is a term invented and coined for use in this context by Millree Hughes and further developed by Hughes with Paul Conneally:

'If an alien landed on Earth programmed with all the knowledge of modern art and painting what might they as they wandered around mistake for a painting?'

These mistakes are what Hughes and Conneally call 'involuntary paintings'. Surfaces and objects marked by time, mould, human and natural activity as stand-ins for the pigment, ground, support etc of voluntary painting, voluntary art.

April 2015

REDIFFUSION - Mandy Pegg 2015

REDIFFUSION - Mandy Pegg 2015

REDIFFUSION is a frottage piece made by Mandy Pegg as part of 'Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York' in New Parks, Leicester, March, 2015.

It forms part of The King Richard III Municipal Covers Memorial Collection produced by the New Parks contingent of IP1NPNY after first engaging with works by Max Ernst. The IP1NPNY project also includes a group of artists in New York who exchange comments, involuntary paintings found in New York and encouragement with and for the New Parks group.

'REDIFFUSION' is a frottage piece, a series of rubbings essentially of service covers for cable television services. It is not merely a straight rubbing, Mandy Pegg chooses to place two rubbings together and to use more than one colour wax, red and black. We see the 'RED' of 'REDIFUSION' highlighted in red over the black. It is a voluntary artwork out of features, metal service covers, initially identified as an 'involuntary painting'.

Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York is a project conceived by artists Millree Hughes (New York, USA) and Paul Conneally (Loughborough, UK) with and for Soft Touch Arts and New Parks Library with support from Arts Council England.

Note: Involuntary Painting is a term invented and coined for use in this context by Millree Hughes and further developed by Hughes with Paul Conneally:

'If an alien landed on Earth programmed with all the knowledge of modern art and painting what might they as they wandered around mistake for a painting?'

These mistakes are what Hughes and Conneally call 'involuntary paintings'. Surfaces and objects marked by time, mould, human and natural activity as stand-ins for the pigment, ground, support etc of voluntary painting, voluntary art.

April 2015

Half-Time Chatter

Before the match a burger and a programme are essentials.

Getting the burger and the programme mixed up would be a disaster.

A mouthful of the first eleven centrefold is unpalatable and no matter how strong your spectacles, making literary sense of a beef burger is nigh on impossible.

half-time chatter
a missed penalty
and a repeating gherkin

Paul Conneally
The King Power Stadium
Leicester April 2015

ROAD OSWALD ST - Carl Alex Tincknell

'ROAD OSWALD ST' - Carl Alex Tincknell 2015

'ROAD OSWALD ST' is a frottage piece by Carl Alex Tincknell made as part of Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York in New Parks, Leicester.

The piece is one of a number of pieces made by the IP1NPNY group during a session where they met the work of Max Ernst, explored and identified 'involuntary paintings' in the area around Aikman Avenue shops in New Parks, near New Parks Library where the group is based, and then made frottage, rubbings, of and from them.

The works were made on the day before King Richard III was reinterred in Leicester Cathedral and are collectively called 'The King Richard III Municipal Services Memorial Collection'. Many of the memorial collection feature sewerage manhole covers and other service access plates. This particular work 'OSWALD ROAD ST' is from the road sign for St Oswald's Road directly opposite New Parks Library. On maps, and when people speak of this road it is as St Oswald's Road but the road sign is missing an 'S' hence just 'OSWALD'. Carl decided to alter the order of the words during the rubbing, the frottage process and to move it from an horizontal to a vertical reading.

It is a voluntary artwork out of a feature initially identified as an 'involuntary painting'.

The New Parks community involuntary painting group is linked with a group of artists in New York who exchange comments and encouragement with them via the internet.

Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York is a project conceived by artists Millree Hughes (New York, USA) and Paul Conneally (Loughborough, UK) with and for Soft Touch Arts and New Parks Library with support from Arts Council England.

Note: Involuntary Painting is a term invented and coined for use in this context by Millree Hughes and further developed by Hughes with Paul Conneally:

'If an alien landed on Earth programmed with all the knowledge of modern art and painting what might they as they wandered around mistake for a painting?'

These mistakes are what Hughes and Conneally call 'involuntary paintings'. Surfaces and objects marked by time, mould, human and natural activity as stand-ins for the pigment, ground, support etc of voluntary painting, voluntary art.

April 2015

Sizzle and Spit

Come rain or shine the 'Tasty Treat To Eat' burger wagon is to be found somewhere in Loughborough Market Place.

When business is slack it's time for the chef to sit down and catch up on some reading.

sizzle and spit
the smell of fried onions
through spring drizzle

Paul Conneally
Loughborough
March 2015

The Loughborough Echo Building

The Loughborough Echo Building

For a small town in the centre of England it's good that Loughborough still has its own weekly print newspaper 'The Loughborough Echo'.

The paper is no longer written and produced from the wonderful Art Deco building that carries its name in the centre of Loughborough town. The street level shop fronts in many ways ruin the effect of the building with no attempt made to fit in with the architecture and design of building. It's only when one raises ones head and looks up above the estate agents and holiday company fronts that the beauty of the Loughborough Echo building comes into view.

It's tiled front looks a little worse for wear but stand back in the now pedestrianised high street and the whole building is worth stopping at least a few moments for reflection. Letters proudly spell out 'The Loughborough Echo' and at the apex of the building a decorative horseshoe shaped motif with 'Loughborough' spelled out in the horseshoe shape itself with 'The Echo' in the centre. 'Est.' to the left and '1891' to the right prop up the horseshoe reminding us of just how long The Loughborough Echo has been reporting the news to, of and from the people of Loughborough and the wider area of Charnwood, the Leicestershire borough in which Loughborough sits.

Paul Conneally
March 31st 2015

Paul Conneally

The Good Shepherd

The Good Shepherd
Paul Conneally
Loughborough
March 30 2015

After the Parade

after the parade
a street littered with paper
and fallen arches

Paul Conneally
Leicester, UK
March 2015

Changing Landscapes - Walk the Line - Kings Norton

Changing Landscapes

This video shows people of Kings Norton 3 Estates taking part in Changing Landscapes 'Walk the Line' a Public Artwork comissioned by Birmingham City Council.

Artist Maurice Maguire with Rob Colbourne surveyed the route of the Wast Hill canal tunnel that passes under the Kings Norton 3 Estates Birmingham UK and marked it with blue on the surface. Residents were then invited to meet and join Maurice, Rob, Paul Conneally, Rob Hewitt and others to 'walk the line'.

During the walk participants were encoraged to engage with their surroundings and the canal below them via short talks from Maurice Maguire that gave an insight on the history and importance of the canal tunnel below the estate on the landscape and spaces of the 3 Estaes today. Paul Conneally introduced walkers to haikai ways of seeing everyday things, writing haiku and sharing them back with others in the Kings 3 Cafe after the walk.

Changing Landscapes is an artist led project conceived by Maurice Maguire 
Changing Landscapes is curated by Maurice Maguire and Rob Hewitt.

Video and images: Paul Conneally
Music: Walk the Line - Johnny Cash

An Uphill Strugle

An Uphill Struggle
Paul Conneally
Leicester
March 24 2015

'Kerb and Automobile Tyre Mark St Oswald's Road' - InvoluntaryPainting1 New Parks : New York

'Kerb and Tyre Mark St Oswald's Road'
Millree Hughes & Paul Conneally with Colin Murphy

March 2015

This work comes out of work by artists Millree Hughes and Paul Conneally as part of their project 'Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York' with Soft Touch Arts and New Parks Library supported by ACE in New Parks, Leicester, UK.

Local resident Colin Murphy working with Paul Conneally identifies a section of kerb slabs and a tyre mark that runs it's length as an involuntary painting.

Together Colin and Paul photograph the identified involuntary painting in sections using Paul's iPhone.

The tyre mark reminded Colin of Robert Rauschenberg's 'Automobile Tire Print', a voluntary work, which he made with composer John Cage in 1953 and which Hughes (via video link from New York) and Conneally had introduced to the NEW PARKS : NEW YORK group in New Parks Library before they hit the streets around the Library to identify and photograph involuntary paintings.

A series of prints that will be 'stitched' together to form a long roll up image of the kerb and tyre mark is also being constructed by Colin, Paul and Millree with the New Parks IP1NPNY Group, echoing Rauschenberg's 'Automobile Tire Print - 1953'.

Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York
March 2015

---

Note: The term 'Involuntary Painting' was first 'invented', coined and used in this context by artist Millree Hughes. He used it to describe marks on objects, walls, buildings made by the weather, ageing, persons, animals, graffiti, abuse and other means, that he came across in his travels around New York, that seemed to him could be and were similar to modern paintings found in galleries and museums across the world.

Hughes, working with the poet artist and psychogeographer, Paul Conneally, developed the idea further, and together they came up with a simple way to describe what an involuntary painting was in the hope that by identifying and sharing such involuntary paintings they might encourage the reexamination of what painting is, has been and could be.

"Imagine that and alien lands on Earth programmed with all the knowledge of contemporary modern art but never having seen a painting. What might this alien mistake for a painting? These things, never intended as art, as paintings, are what we now propose as involuntary paintings" - Millree Hughes and Paul Conneally 2014

'the omniscience and omnipotence of the spirit'

'the omniscience and omnipotence of the spirit'

Paul Conneally

March 21 2015

Waiting For The Chips

waiting for the chips

in the Supreme Fish Bar

banter and batter

Paul Conneally
Supreme Fish Bar
Loughborough
March 2015

Only The Moon (East Meets West) by ホッチキス HOTCHKISS

Only The Moon (East Meets West)

ホッチキス HOTCHKISS
(Netsu & Conneally)

https://youtu.be/M2jfw1r0NIw

The Polarity of Matter and Spirit #5

The Polarity of Matter and Spirit #5
New Parks Involuntary Painting Bus Shelter Photo Booth
Paul Conneally
Leicester
March 19th 2015

Out of Order

Out of Order

Paul Conneally

Royal Hallamshire Hospital

Sheffield, March 2015

Big Dog - The Three Crowns, Oakham

'Big Dog'
Paul Conneally
The Three Crowns
Oakham 2015

Heat and Dust

“The Fainting” unpublished lithograph by H. de Toulouse Lautrec (c. 1920)

heat and dust
somewhere the sound
of a tambourine

Paul Conneally

Walt Shaw - Gong Man

Walt Shaw - Gong Man

Walt Shaw, Gong Man, during our Loughborough University Fruit Routes Gong Workshop preparing to honour the new trees planted in the Barefoot Orchard on February 11th 2015 with a Gong Ceremony and performance.

Walt gave two inspirational workshops and it's only now after the event that I find we have a mutual connection in that we both had the privilege of working in the past with the late great Lol Coxhill.

Here's Walt with Mahood and Lol performing at the Lamp Tavern in Birmingham in 2006:

https://vimeo.com/94787452

I've got a feeling that fate has brought Walt and I together through Fruit Routes and that we will soon work together on future projects.

Paul Conneally
Loughborough University
February 2015

A Spade in the Barefoot Orchard

A Spade in the Barefoot Orchard

A spade used during the February planting of an additional 32 trees in the Fruit Routes Barefoot Orchard at Loughborough University. The planting was followed by a gong ceremony and performance, new type of wassail, to celebrate and bless the trees, the ground.

The planting and gong ceremony form part of artist and environmental activist Anne-Marie Culhane's ongoing work Fruit Routes supported by Loughborough University Sustainability Team through Jo Hasbury-Shields

Paul Conneally
Loughborough University Barefoot Orchard
February 2015

Exploring the Longitudinal Relationship Between Arts Engagement and Health

You can read this fascinating and important report on how arts engagement both as active participant or as audience member can have a positive impact on the health of individuals and communities here:

http://www.artsforhealth.org/research/artsengagementandhealth/ArtsEngagementandHealth.pdf

It comes via the wonderful organisation Arts for Health and is by Rebecca Gordon-Nesbitt.

Paul Conneally
February 2015

The Banana Links

excerpts from
the banana links
paul conneally

(i)

in some ways the haiku today resembles the potato

before blight brought famine to ireland

(ii)

edible haiku are sterile mutants

new varieties cannot easily be produced by natural methods

(iii)

a haiku a day prevents a deficiency

which might increase the risk of stroke

(iv)

haiku a substitute for sweets and satisfy sugar cravings

(v)

your hands can benefit from haiku as well

(vi)

each haiku wrapped in foil and sold for a dime

'the banana links' are a dadaesque experiment

to see how truths about haiku might reveal themselves

through the manipulation of texts on or about bananas

Paul Conneally

Programme Seller King Power Stadium

Programme Seller - King Power Stadium

When I was a boy a football programme was, except for special matches, just a few sheets of paper, now it's a 'Matchday Magazine'.

To give the publishers and writers of Leicester City's Matchday Magazine it is just that, really well put together and a good value read at just £3.

This said the fans never call it a magazine, it's always the 'programme' and maybe that's what it should be officially called too.

Paul Conneally
February 2015

Fast Food And Gossip

Hot Food Stand

It stands at the entrance to Market Yard, just off Loughborough's busy Market Place.

A steady stream of customers, a mixture of shoppers and market traders, come to warm up with a hot drink and maybe a burger, hotdog or egg and bacon cob.

fast food and gossip
a single cabbage leaf
on the winter wind

Paul Conneally
January 31 2015

'Quality!' - Brian's Fruit and Veg Stall

Brian's Fruit and Veg Stall
Paul Conneally
Loughborough Market
January 31st 2015

Brian sells all manner of fruit and vegetables from his stall on Loughborough Market but he is most famous for his cry of 'Fresh bananas!' followed quickly by 'Quality!' Over and over again.

The market just wouldn't be the same without Brian's voice ringing out across the market and through the crowds of shoppers that throng Loughborough's vibrant market each Thursday and Saturday.

Yes, quality indeed!

cold cold fingers
the stall holder sips
his parsnip soup

Paul Conneally

The Set Up - Jeffrey Kaufman and Tony Nelson

'The Set Up' - Jeffrey Kaufman and Tony Nelson
New Walk Museum and Art Gallery
Leicester, January, 2015

Jeffrey Kaufman and Tony Nelson unpacking and setting up the banners that form part of Leicester's Holocaust Memorial Day 2015 Exhibition. The banners explain about the Holocaust and other genocides. They accompany an exhibition of excellent artworks from pupils at Rushey Mead Secondary School that runs from the 22nd January to the 3rd of February 2015.

The exhibition was curated and hung by artist Claire Jackson.

I enjoyed very much working with Claire, Jeffrey, Tony and everyone else involved in putting up the show.

It really is well worth a visit!

Paul Conneally
January 22 2015

Shuntaro Netsu of ホッチキス HOTCHKISS

Shuntaro Netsu of ホッチキス HOTCHKISS
Paul Conneally
Kings Cross, London
January 2015

Only The Moon by ホッチキス HOTCHKISS

Early Memories of Asian Residents of Loughborough

The Loughborough Reminiscence Group has published a new DVD 'Early Memories of Asian Residents’ as part of its continuing work to capture elements of Loughborough's rich history through people's stories.

The 2 disc DVD features nine interviews with members of some the Asian communities of Loughborough. All the people interviewed arrived in Loughborough between 1963 and 1975. The contributors are from the Gujarati Hindu, Punjabi Hindu, Punjabi Sikh and Bangladeshi communities.

The DVD provides fascinating insight on Loughborough's rich multicultural heritage and also features over a 100 photographs of family life and community events that the participants took part in during their time in Loughborough.

The DVD package contains excellent source material that local schools could incorporate into many areas of their curriculum but that any other person, from Loughborough or not, will find interesting.

Copies of the DVD cost £10, and are available from Loughborough Reminiscence Group by calling Mike Jones on 01509 843433.

Paul Conneally

Cultural Forager
15 January 2015

Know Your Onions - The Kitchen Orchard

Know Your Onions
Paul Conneally
Rushey Mead School
2014

The guys from G4S arrive back at work at Rushey Mead Secondary School in Leicester to find all their onion tops eaten. They are perplexed. Is it mice? Rabbits? Maybe the pigeons? It's a mystery. Not downhearted they resolve to hoe the ground and try again. Maybe netting the crop would help? A pigeon pie might just do it!

The land is on the developing Rushey Mead Kitchen Orchard site which at the moment is just a twinkling in the eyes of cultural forager Paul Conneally and the management of the school. An orchard in the footprint of the old kitchen and dining rooms. An orchard of heritage apple varieties associated with Leicestershire. This forms part of the wider vision for the school grounds as an edible landscape.

Watch this space!

The Polarity Of Matter And Spirit No.2

The Polarity of Matter and Spirit No.2
Hughes and Conneally
New Parks, Leicester
November 2014

"No dead shark or calf ... a person waiting perhaps for the number 14 ... only willing to be photographed when shown how the surface of the shelter would actually make her hard to recognise"

The Polarity Of Matter And Spirit is a series of portraits taken in The New Parks Involuntary Painting Bus Shelter Photo Booth. It comes out of work through the ongoing Involuntary Painting Movement initiated by artists, Millree Hughes (New York, US) and Paul Conneally (Loughborough, UK).

'Involuntary Painting' is a term coined by Hughes in 2014 to identify and explore what an alien that landed on Earth, programmed with all the knowledge of art but never having seen any, might possibly mistake for a painting. This notion is used by Hughes and Conneally, along with a growing group of artists, to explore the nature, history and future of painting, space, place, time and more widely, art in in the twenty first century.

The Polarity Of Matter And Spirit portraits are photographed by Conneally through the scratched and marked perspex side of a bus shelter on Charnor Road, New Parks, Leicester. It is this surface that is the involuntary painting, not the portrait photograph itself. The subject is photographed through the involuntary painting which acts as a lens come filter in in the physical space between the digital camera, in this case an iPhone, and the subject in the bus shelter.

The Polarity Of Matter And Spirit identifies the bus shelter on Charnor Road, New Parks, Leicester, UK, the bus shelter towards the New Parks Social Club end of the road and on the same side of the road as Forest Lodge Primary School, as the first Involuntary Painting Photo Booth. Hughes and Conneally are in the process of identifying, with others, similar Involuntary Painting Booths around the world.

A further series of portraits taken in the New Parks Involuntary Painting Bus Shelter Painting Booth will be undertaken in 2015 by Hughes and Conneally as part of Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York with and for Soft Touch Arts, New Parks Library and members of the New Parks community.