Thursday 12th March: Day Two “On Location”

Day two began

With a great big yawn

As we made our way

Through the chilly morn.

With time to spare

We went to the park,

It was bare as bare

Looking empty and stark.

This great expanse -

While not looking its best -

Is the place they hold

Oktoberfest.

The vastness of ground

Stretching all the way

Allows one to imagine

This great holiday.

From there we moved on,

Across the street,

Up to the apartment,

About to meet

Helen Britton -

Though we would also see

Yutaka

Minegishi.

Helen began

With an introduction

To her work methods which led

To an interesting discussion

Of process, design,

Material collecting,

Pulling drawers of old work

And books of sketching.

Her compilations were

Fantastic to view

As we examined the drawings

And the pieces that grew

Out of those thoughts

From ideas in her mind,

Taking cues from her drawers

And the things she would find.

From this we moved on

To Yutaka’s desk

As he showed us rings

Made out of jet

His jewellery – carved –

With free flowing lines

That gave his work

The smoothest designs.

He works without an idea

In his head;

His rings take form

Organically instead.

Things seem to grow

As they are carved

(Though some end up

In his graveyard).

We were then allowed

To look around

At the desks, the shelves,

The lions’ feet on the ground,

The drawers, the books,

The cabinets of stuff,

Till we’d had our fill

And seen enough.

This studio visit

Had come to an end

But tomorrow we’d meet

Laura Deakin.

Jessica McDermid