On Saturday night Ben Gwilliam and Helmut Lemke had a launch event for their new collaborative CD - 'Fourmill plus quarterinch' which is released through the German label NurNichtNur. The event was at the Flim Haus here at Artists Unlimited and performances were also given by Hans-Wilhelm Specht and Henning Schweichel.



( Photographs )

I have been in Germany now since Thursday and already I have done and seen a lot of exciting things.
The first big event was the opening of my partner's solo exhibition at Artists Unlimited Gallery in Bielefeld. This exhibition is part of the three month residency that Ben has undertaken, already for the past two months, and he will continue to make work in the studio here at Artists unlimited for a further month.
Ben has made four instillations with a mixture of video and object instillation. Ben's work explores musical and visual processes in sound.
Here are a series of photographs from the opening event, i have photographs of three of the instillations, the fourth video instillation is near impossible to photograph with my camera and would not do the work the work any justice if i was to upload the photographs i have of it.



( Pictures )

Here are some pictures of the completed International Fiber Collaborative project which i submitted a 3-ft Sq panel to last month, i think everyone will agree that it is an amazing and inspirational project...



you can see more of the finished project HERE>>>>

In other going's on I am preparing to go away to Germany on Wednesday, i have lots to do but i can't seems to get motivated today.

This evening I am going to an exhibition opening at Bankley Art Studios in Levenshulme Manchester as there is a show by Level 2 Visual Arts students from the University of Salford ( where i also studied).

Tomorrow there is an exhibition, which i am part of, at The Rotunda in Liverpool, I am exhibiting 3 new drawings and representing The Kitchen Gallery.
The show ties in with the Liverpool Capital of Culture celebrations and launches the re-opening of The Rotunda as an arts based venue.

My partner Ben Gwilliam is currently undertaking an artists residency at Artists Unlimited in Bielefeld, Germany.
On Wednesday evening he travelled to the city of Bremen to play an improvised music gig and here are some pictures of the event...


Ben Gwilliam







I will be in Germany for 1 month in aprox 2.5 weeks!!!!

I went to see this movie last night, it is so amazing, you should all go out and watch it NOW!

Over the past few weeks i have received a few more Instructional Drawing postcards. Even though I wrote and released this mail art brief over a year ago, I still receive them from week to week. It is an on going project and you can still take part by visiting

***HERE***

Here are a few of the postcards that I have recently received >>







Things to do by the end of this week:
- Scan in all received mail art up to now and add to archive on my website (www.rachaelelwell.co.uk)
- Scan in new drawings and add to website and create a new gallery page
- New posters and flyers for knitting club ( and update all profiles on the net associated with KC)
- Work on ( and hopefully finish) my friends tea cosy
- Work on Torsionally Looped 2 in the studio ( Thursday)
- Get 3 x drawings framed for exhibition in Liverpool on the 26th

ben found this,,, wow!

So today i have a meeting with The Kitchen Gallery over in Runcorn. They are showing some of my work, and work of other previous kitchen gallery exhibitors,  at The Rotunda in Liverpool - I have never heard of it but i'm happy  and excited becuase i have never shown any work in Liverpool before.
I'm taking a selection of works for them to choose and it will be really nice to see them again today.

This evening i have  a music session in no.92 and i'm really looking forward to that.
I'm still confused about the 303, i managed to download a manual, but i still can't seem to delete a pattern from the memory, it automatically saves it to the memory and wont go away once its recorded in. argh!

Tomorrow its Lou's birthday and I'm really looking forward to giving her the pressies i have made and bought.
Lou is a friend for ever,  so i always make birthday treats extra special.

My mum rang me yesterday and told me that we are all going Christmas shopping in November - to New York City !!!!!
I'm so excited i can hardly wait.

3 more weeks to go until i drive to Germany to be with Benj, i wont have seen him for 2 months by that time!

I do need to get hold of a 303 manual though as it has been quite a few years since i have operated it.
Its sooooo much fun and i have missed it more than i thought!

Next session is on Saturday evening and i can hardly wait !

This afternoon i am going to see the film Lars and the Real Girl at the Corner House in Manchester with Lou.

For many of the people who read my journal you may not know that since 2001 i have been in 3 electro / punk / crazy bands.
First came Bynatone, then came Robot Arm and more recently i was in the all girl electro duo - Bruno with louwoodcock 
I have always had a passion for drum machines, synths and theramins since i met dyspraxia_x  many moons ago.

Half way through studying for my Masters in Fine Arts i decided that i needed to concentrate solely on making Art, passing my MA and sadly Bruno were no more through other unfortunate events.

I haven't made any music since that time and i have kinda missed it, i have missed just sitting round with friends and recording stuff,  talking drum machines and so on.

Up until now.
Over the past few weeks i have met some lovely folk who get together and have a damn good time of an evening making music and recording their efforts to analog machinery in a flat 6 floors above where i live.
They have kindly allowed me into this hive of musical activity to make some new music.

I have one problem, my MC307 drum machine has been broke ever since Bruno ended their musical explosion, and i cannot afford to get it fixed for at least another 2 months.
I have kindly been lent a drum machine, mainly to work out how it operates as they don't know , and i have been sat with it all afternoon..
its a Roland TR-626 (1987).
The sounds from seem to be a little limited, although i can change levels and pitch to suit, and to be fair i have been listening to it through a pair for fairly crappy headphones. I can't wait to hear it through a crackly old amp selected from the many that reside at no. 92.

my mate Louise has a new blog please check it out and add if your interested in some wonderful sculpture......


louwoodcock

I have to select 3 photographs of a sculpture for an entry to an exhibition. As i am not a professional photographer, by any means, i have posted the best from about 40 photos for people to comment on and give advice, before i make the final cut.
I have named this sculpture 'Torsionally Looped (1)' , there will be a series of crocheted sculptures.