A SAMHAIN VIGIL

A Samhain Vigil-Thirtieth-First Oct(avia)ober,Under the scales of Libra:element,Aqua

The aesthetic intention of this artistic intervention was to create work both in the M.A project space and with a small collective, a halloween themed exhibition in one of our houses and two performances, one on the 30^th to welcome in the pagan festival of Samhain and one on the 31^st at the exhibition to celebrate an evening which is intrinsically archane and magical to me.

The work in the M.A project space has all been created by myself and comprises of a series of drawings, comprising of three A1 elaborate pencil drawings (of esoteric intent) and also prints of one of my fellow artists as an image of Medusa, complete with snake that have been drawn  over with Sharpies in the form of elaborate arabesques,to transform the image into something otherworldly.

In the project space is also a large colour drawing, made of four sheets of A1 paper, put together to make a large creative space. The contents of my astral mind have been colourfully emptied onto the space in such a way that when encountered, elements of my esoteric ethos can be understood.

On the 30^th a 20 minute performance was instigated and documented with a small audience in the project space. The performance comprised of chant, poetry and song and had the intention of being lighthearted and fun,had some really good feedback and was a success.

The work on the 31^st was curated and exhibited by myself and three other final year B.A students, Tess Allan, Aimee Burnett and Paul Stobbs.It was great to see three wildly diverging Fine Artists come together for the purpose of one exhibition, our practices worked really well together ranging form installation to performance and on the evening we perpetuated an unmitigated success with many guests and good feedback for all.

 My performance on the 31^st had the intention of being fitting  to the invent, ethereal and a habitation of the inbetween spaces that can be tapped into during an evening such as “All Hallow’s Eve.”the set consisted of carefully chosen songs and chant and once again I had some great feedback and above all I think we had a lot of fun. PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK (below)TO HEAR THE "ALL HALLOW'S" PERFORMANCE                               
                                                  https://soundcloud.com/paul-stobbs/james-phaily-performance-piece