Ignite Somerset

What a wonderful opening night for Lotic Waters! So many people came to visit the Engine Room exhibition during the Bridgwater Twilight event. I’m so pleased with how the landscape films, cymatics photographs and soundscape blend together to create a serene and immersive experience.

I’ve been working hard recently to make the last of the sound recordings for my project soundscape. So far, I’ve collected both ambient and underwater sound recordings along several of Exmoor’s major river systems. The sounds of trickling natural springs, burbling rocky streams and rushing, rain-swollen rivers will all feature in the final audio file created using Ableton.

I finally made it to the Tarr Steps for my project – I’ve wanted to visit this location for years! The river was pretty swollen from recent rainfall but that just made crossing the clapper bridge all the more exciting. I’ve been fairly busy over the last few weeks visiting Exmoor’s rivers and looking for interesting locations and features for the moving image component of my project.

New cymatics images! As part of my Exmoor rivers project, I’ve been developing an experimental process that combines science, digital art, sound and photography. These photographs were created by making underwater sound recordings and then playing those sounds back through a water sample to create vibrations. The geometric patterns appear when a resonant frequency is reached.

I’ve been exploring the River Barle on Exmoor for my residency. One of my favourite spots so far is Pinkery (or Pinkworthy) Pond. This artificial reservoir was formed when the headwaters of the Barle were dammed around 1830, although the exact purpose of the dam isn’t known. The peat-infused waters in the pond are such a wonderful red/orange colour.

I also found out recently that the name Barle comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “beorgwella” meaning hill stream, which seems very appropriate.  

Many thanks to the team at Somerset Film for the opportunity to talk about my new project yesterday! If you’re interested in hearing about Exmoor’s rivers and artistic/scientific experiments with sound and water, then you can watch the recording of yesterday’s Creative Network event on Somerset Film’s YouTube channel.

Recent experiments with water and sound! As part of my residency, I’ve been working with Daniel Birch (creative technologist at Somerset Film) to develop a cymatics-based process that will allow me to visualise the sounds of Exmoor’s rivers. 

More river photography on Exmoor! Over the past week I’ve been experimenting with making high frame rate movies of surface features in the water. I absolutely love the macro imagery I’ve been getting and I’m planning to use some of these in my new artwork, which will be exhibited as part of Somerset Art Weeks.

Another day testing equipment and splashing around in Exmoor’s rivers. This time I was experimenting with an underwater camera. I don’t think it’s going to create the kind of imagery I was hoping for but it was fun to play with. Personally, I rather like some of the distortions/artefacts made by water droplets on the lens – I like to think of them as happy accidents!   

First day in the field for my digital arts residency! Somerset Film has lent me some wonderful equipment, including this hydrophone. I’ll be making lots of underwater sound recordings over the next few months while also exploring some of Exmoor’s beautiful and fascinating rivers.

This residency has been possible thanks to funding from Arts Council England and is part of the Ignite Somerset programme of work delivered by Somerset Film as part of their role as a National Portfolio Organisation.