1. PROCESS ART EXHIBITION - A SUMMARY by Gerald Shepherd
2. LETTER by Brian J. Ford
3. ESSAY by Sue Birchmore
4. LETTER by Dinny Turner
5. LETTER by Rachel Merry
6. LETTER by Dr J. Harwood
7. LETTER by Robbie S. Robbins
8. PARTICLE PHYSICS AS A THEME OF ART - AN INTRODUCTION TO MY WORK by KevinGrimshaw
9. LETTER by Dr David Dixon
10. SHORT STATEMENTS (UNFINISHED) by Simon King
11. LETTER by Mary Ball
12. HOSPITAL ARTS

All the artwork in this exhibition used a sequential or elaborative format in their creation. Big Ed (Gerald Shepherd) coined the term 'PROCESS ART' to cover this art form.

PROCESS ART can produce a new way of both generating and looking at works of art which invites the participation of the viewer in the creative process.

SHEILA CLARKE is a painter and graphic artist. She is particularly interested in finding creative methods which allow an artwork to evolve independently of the preconceptions and prejudices of the artist. The graphic work shown in this exhibition explored ways of enhancing and elaborating figurative imagery drawn from life.

SIMON KING is a self-taught artist with a scientific background. He has developed a form of pictorial shorthand using a sequential, highly calligraphic style of painting which owes much to scientific methods and procedures. Using this technique, Simon assembles powerful paintings from a multitude of tiny observations and episodes from life.

ROBIN KINGSBURGH is a professional astronomer and artist. In her art work Robin makes a great use of scientific images, both from her own field and other disciplines such as physics and chemistry. The images are arranged in a sequential format, often using a theme, and variations.

DON ROUT is an ex-marine biologist and now a painter, graphic artist, sculptor and performance artist. Don is well known in his home town of Lowestoft for his beach performances and cabaret act. The art work exhibited utilised the photocopier to superimpose and/or juxtapose images to produce new patterns, forms and meanings.

MANFRED WING is a painter and writer. He is especially interested in mythology, religion and metaphysics. Particularly their portrayal in art and their relevance for modern scientific theories. In his colourful and complex paintings, Manfred examines the fundamental concerns of Mankind and seeks to generate new, more relevant, meanings from old myths. Manfred uses a diffusive and elaborative art style where images (or the spaces between them) suggest other images and ideas in a continuous process.

GERALD SHEPHERD (BIG ED) is a painter and graphic artist. He has evolved a sequential and elaborative art style which develops ideas/images in a variety of predetermined ways. The collage work shown at this exhibition explored the use of fragmented and rearranged scientific texts to produce a commentary on scientific endeavour.

Your magazine is surely moving the right way.

Your approach seems designed to show how art could utilise the artefact of scientific processes as a form in its own right. But it would wrong to forget the other facets of this finely— cut gemstone of endeavour. These are the parallels that exist

between scientific' and 'artistic' thought processes. Both are creative; both are designed to reinforce the egocentric expression of a world-view; both act as 'personal imperialism' in taking a view and imposing its acceptance and/or interpretation on the hapless bystander; and both (surprising as this may seem, for science) manifest themselves through the psychological pressures of peer acceptance, rivalry, insecurity and revenge. More to the point, both gravitate downwards towards a purely technological imperative. Science per se, is almost extinct (I am unusually practising it here, but most people do technology and call that science, instead). And much art has become technology too, utilising hardware to synthesise a non-art abstraction of the truth which passes as art because it is aesthetically teasing, but really leans more towards the commercial ethos.
 

Mr. Ford presented a pioneering course of science lectures for graphic design and fine art students during the middle sixties. The lectures, which were designed to demonstrate ways in which science and art overlap in everyday life, introduced the students to scientific practices, ideas and technology.

Mr. Ford has also made many appearances on television and radio. He was a regular member of the Start The Week team during the early years of the programme         BIG ED.
 

A few weeks ago I was privileged to visit a group of people working in the Seventh Region of Mali. "The Seventh Region" has a vaguely remote sound to it, and remote it certainly is. It's on the Southern borders of the Sahara, a region of arid plains, thorn bushes and sand dunes known as the Sahel (hence many bad jokes along the lines of "hotter than Sahel"). In this region live the Tuaregs, nomadic herders who survive by driving their flocks from one patch of pasture to another as the rains come and go. In 1984/5, the Tuaregs suffered a disastrous drought; the team I visited are working on a programme designed to help them restore their way of life, and "drought—proof" themselves by new systems of herd and range management, and a broader range of income-generating activities, such as gardening around well sites, and selling craftwork.

They are also organising Tuareg writers' workshops.

Writers' workshops? Indeed — and they also hope to run a small-scale press, producing pamphlets of poetry, proverbs and stories in Tamacheq, the Tuaregs' language.
 

I realise this sounds bizarre, especially when you consider that this is a people who were facing starvation only five years ago. But it has a very serious purpose — just as serious as building rain-collecting dykes and digging wells. The point is that literacy is a fundamental skill for empowering people to take control of their own destiny. You need to be able to read if you want to use a manual on methods of selective breeding, to register your local Pastoralists' Association, or to make sure the tax— collector isn't ripping you off. So the team has been running an adult literacy programme. But like any skill, literacy needs to be practised, or it will be lost — and their isn't a lot of literature available in Tainacheq yet.

One of the first efforts organised with the newly-literate trainees was an essay contest — very popular it was, especially as there was a cash prize going. Now work's going ahead on manuals for agriculture, masonry and livestock husbandry.

But there's a less obvious reason for literacy which is just as important for development. Let me quote a (translated) passage written by one of the livestock project trainees:

"We can now let loose with the truth; nothing holds us back.
All our years we have laboured in the spirit of ignorance;
this ignorance which is detested like some disease in our hearts.
The people yearn to be free of this ignorance, to find knowledge.
We thank God that now we know what we must do, because we can read our language and inscribe our thoughts.
We have discovered a new power within us as we search out this knowledge
that frees us from our ignorance.
World Vision has brought us this gift."

"World Vision", incidentally, is the name of the organisation I work for. It was kind of the writer to credit us with having "brought this gift", but he was nearer the mark when he wrote of the "new power within us". Self-expression — Art — is a channel for discovering the "power within us And if people don't discover that, development workers might as well pack up and go home, because development only works when people develop themselves. No one can do it for then.

So, you artists out there, if anyone accuses you of being impractical dreamers in a world in crisis, take heart. There's nothing more practical than a powerful dream.

There has always been a definite art emphasis, with a concentration on practical techniques and processes, to combine colour, shapes and symbols, and effects of a tactile nature to bring together an atmosphere within a given space. The structural composition of a picture is of great importance in order to maintain an equilibrium within that area (Mondrian is one artist who springs to mind). This equilibrium or balance is something that can be worked out mathematically — 'the golden mean' — to divide a space to give an internal structure and a central point of interest. This also includes triangles and cyclical lines of movement within the given space so that the eye flows around that space, circling and back again. This mathematical structuring, equilibrium, flow lines and cycles must be familiar to the scientist, whether he is a biologist or an astronomer. Colour theories are very scientific, with practical experimentation to prove their tonalities and hues, and effects they create, be they psychological or mathematical.

Picture construction is a practical scientific experiment. Making colours and the grinding and mixing of pigments to form paints, so that the colour therein can be amnipulated, is chemistry. It is important for the artist to know why and how different chemicals and compounds have various properties and effects, depending on their own elementary makeup. This not only applies to the colour, it must also apply to tactile and textural matter as well. As with all 3 Dimensional creations, the elementary qualities of the matter is of the utmost importance. The characteristics of the material being used affects the following actions; the inherent properties determine the end result.

Man is only capable of experimentation, be it the complete innocence of a child being creative, or the atom splitting of the (experienced) scientist. We are all basically trying to comprehend the world around us, and then be able to convey it to others. Our fascination with the world that surrounds us, invisible and visible, is the same. Crystals are one of the most perfect natural structures that we know. They are pieces of pure earth, designed and created by nature. This natural science or sculpture intriques us all, and can be reproduced by the scientist as man—made diamonds, or by the artist as sculpture. It is all one of the same that we are searching for; for the same knowledge and comprehension of the same wonders of the same world.

Energy is something that fascinates us all. I know I don't fully comprehend it and I wonder how many of us really understand what it is, where it comes from and what it is capable of doing. All the different types of forces, the ones that circulate the Earth, the ones that keep the planets invisibly bonded, and the ones within ourselves. I have led myself to these concerns through the philosophy of my own creations, of a comprehension of what we really are and how external forces and outside influences can effect us. How we feel is something that can be channelled in a multitude of ways. I find that for me this feeling is creatively expressed through the channel that lies between physical consciousness and mental subconsciousness. This equilibrium within my own self can then be transported into an external balance within given materials and space.

Surely the alchemist is an example of a scientist and artist combined. At one time Man did did not separate art and science. Symbolism, for example, is a universal language, used extensively by us all; as are numbers. Art and science have only been separated by previous generations in their need for diversification and insistance on categorisation. In relatively recent times art (fine art) has been put on a pedestal and has been declared to be of more value than other forms of practical craftmanship. This, in my view, is something which has lost its perspective. Fine art has been, and still continues to be, just another form of creation, just another form of practical craftmanship.

It is important for the artist to have a good understanding of who he may be and how he fits into the world, in order for him to be able to represent what he sees and feels. Both the scientist and the artist are putting the world around them on record. It is also important for the scientist to realise that although his approach may appear to be more factual and clinical, many of the basic interests are the same. The practical experimentation and the use of our bodily senses are the same, regardless of our separate titles. We are all part of the same planet, and I believe that which ever way we may be trying to comprehend it, we are all basically trying to find the same thing.

The artist is naturally interested in the construction of things, and finds natural phenomena of interest, as does the scientist. But the artist appears to be able to grasp the basics and functioning of art more easily than the scientist can grasp the function of art. Yet, 'art could be considered a stage towards science' (Manfred Wing's Miscellaneous Notes in the Gamma issue of Ion Exchange). Take Leonardo; scientist, artist, creator, inventor and discover. Due to his artistic inclinations he recorded his findings; does the scientist appreciate this?, or is it only of value to the historian. Early art forms; cave paintings or Greek/Roman aretefacts are much more real and more comprehensible than the philosophies and theories of early scientists and astronomers. The Babylonians, for instance, believed that the Earth was surrounded by water!
 

AREAS OF POSSIBLE FUTURE INTERESTS: Organic sculptures (Andy Goldworthy's stuff is certainly more 4 Dimensional — time and space are interrelated), pyrotechnics and multi—sensory work for everyone.
 

I am nearing the end of an 'A' level course in physics, chemistry and art. I thought I could maybe share some ideas of art and science fusion from a different view point — 'A' level standard!

I started off doing the infamous double maths, physics and chemistry. But that didn't last too long and I had a year off to decide what to do. Why choose between science and art — do them both!

Well, are they different? I don't believe they can ever be separated. It's not just, 'you can use a camera in art' or 'you can illustrate biology books'. They are so much the same. Science — a human expression of joy and delight in discovering the secrets and unimaginable intricacy and beauty of our world. And Art? For, me, art too is just such a joy in discovery.

I love science, I love finding out about the way everything works so cleverly. It's incredible! How can anyone not appreciate it? How can no one love the satisfaction of finding how everything fits together so perfectly? Is science an expression of our inner cry for perfection?

I love art, I love looking so intently and seeing colours merging. I love creating and offering; bringing to the fore what I feel about something, how I relate to something and sharing it with everyone.

This life must be about oneness, both art and science are pathways to oneness. Both are an opportunity to share what we have discovered about ourselves, about the world.

Sometimes artists and scientists seem to be considered as two different species! Each one is analysed down to the finest detail. 'The scientist is a mind orientated creature which uses mostly the left side of the brain; the artist is a sensitive creature who uses mostly the right side of the brains. I guess everyone has 'the artist' and 'the scientist' within them but for someone whose qualities lead them to science — fantastic, if you are drawn to art — great — and if you kind of like them both well, so be it. It's not really fair to peep into a different life and smugly think 'mine is best!'

I know at college the people I know are human (unless I'm being deceived by a Martian form!). My friends in science are so happy-go-lucky and fun-loving — hardly a physics lesson passes without riot breaking out! Maybe it's just the crowd I'm in, but they're such a good laugh! Everyone is so caring, sometimes I wonder, why should anyone care about me, or anyone else, but people do, artists and scientists alike. I suppose we all have the same doubts and worries too. Why should artists and scientists be treated separately or differently? We're all human, we can all laugh and cry, we can all be adults and all be children.

OK, here's my summing up. Artists and scientists have every right to choose to take whatever path they like, but that doesn't mean that artists and scientists feel differently about everything, and doesn't mean that they have to hate whatever path they have not chosen.
 

Your Ionist Art Group is a most interesting idea. I am a synthetic organic chemist by nature and the main thrust of my research is in the field of liquid crystals. Photographs of liquid crystal mesophases taken, in colour, down a polarising microscope are breathtakingly beautiful. My father is an artist but I, unfortunately, have inherited none of his talent for drawing and painting so liquid crystals are one of my 'creative outlets'. Perhaps I have something to contribute here.

If the term 'artist also includes musicians then as a song writer, guitarist, singer, performer and band-member I would be most interested in exchanging ideas.

Perhaps I am a scientist with an artist trying to get out. More likely, as we all are, a human being who doesn't try to live to a label! After all, we're all made in God's image and that strongly suggests creativity in it's broadest sense.
 

I also believe it is important to bridge the gap (if such exists) between Art, Science and Technology.

I teach Art and Design and Classical Studies in Conway and have had my drawings and sculpture exhibited on several occasions in the West Midlands.

As a student I gained an N.D.D. in Silversmithing and learned to enjoy working in metal using hand and machine techniques with a special interest in casting.

I became interested in Hot Air Engines many years ago and for the last eleven years have exhibited regularly in the Hot Air Engine Competition at the Model Engineer Exhibition. I have had several articles published on this subject in the Model Engineer and have been lucky enough to have had my work on the cover on two occasions.

Over the years I have observed a widening gulf between Art and Technology (whatever this means) in Education and a reticence on the part of those set in authority to accept the fact that an artist can also be a creative engineer.
 

When you breathe in, you inhale oxygen atoms that have already been breathed by every person that ever lived. At some time or other, your body has contained atoms that were once part of Copernicus, or Julius Caesar. It is highly likely that some of the carbon atoms in this sheet of paper once belonged to a dinosaur. Their atomic nuclei were fused from hydrogen and helium, under tremendous pressure and at incredible temperatures, in distant, long-extinct stars. The very basic constituents of these atoms, electrons and quarks  have existed since the primordial Big Bang, at the start of the Universe.

For almost a hundred years, physicists have sought to uncover the ultimate structure of matter, and to formulate laws which bind these constituents together, building up the atoms, molecules, stars, and galaxies — the Universe itself, in fact. There are now known to be four basic forces in nature, which combine to act on all matter to; build up the bulk material of the Universe. These are the Weak force, the Strong force, the Electromagnetic force, and Gravity. In trying to devise laws which draw these forces together, the term "Grand Unified Theory" was coined. When these four forces are finally proved to work together scientists believe they will be able to explain the nature of matter itself, and thus the history and make-up of the entire Universe since the Big Bang.

The basic notion behind the theories these scientists are putting forward had an unlikely forerunner, almost three thousand years earlier, in Taoism. Lao flu, Chuang Tzu, and the other major philosophers of Taoism produced two great literary works, the "I Ching", and the "Tao Te Ching", in which time and space have no meaning, and no distinction is made between the beginning and end of the Universe, and the forces which cause and sustain the existence of everything.
 

There is something formless and perfect,
Ever-existing, even before birth of Heaven and Earth.
How still it is! How quiet!
It pervades everything without fail.
Well may it be the mother of the world.
I do not know its name,
But label it 'Tao'.

(Stanza 25, The Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu)

The Taoist notion of a harmonic relationship between everything in the Universe is very close to the Grand Unified Theory of modern physicists and cosmologists. The idea of the Universe as Tao, or God, or merely a set of
accidental" incidents of behaviour, of matter which came into existence purely by chance, is worthy of consideration not only be physicists and cosmologists, or philosophers and religious theorists, but also by writers and artists, whose viewpoints may reveal light from a different angle. Never before have science and philosophy been closer together in their attempts to explain our existence, and artists and writers have always taken part in the debate. Science fiction writers for example, have foreseen and reflected many scientific developments —  H.G. Wells set man on the moon decades before Neil Armstrong stood there; Jules Verne's Nautilus forecast the modern submarine; Isaac Asimov predicted the development of robots. We need only look back to Leonardo da Vinci to see how early the involvement of artists has been in scientific invention and investigation.

In the realm of modern particle physics, we enter an era of discovery which involves particles that last for as little as three trillionths of a second, such as the "charmed lambda", or have absolutely no mass, such as the photon! The electron weighs in at around 9.1 x lO-13 kilograms — imagine the ratio between a 1kg bag of sugar and 15,000,000 planets the size of the Earth — the same ratio exists between the electron and the bag of sugar!

All these particles and their behaviour patterns are impossible to see. Only very recently have microscopes been invented to photograph individual atoms (which are about 10-8cm across). Even still, at a magnification of x 90 million, a single atom is just a blur. An electron is 1836 times smaller than the atom in which it orbits, like a planet round the sun, and many particles are much smaller still. Most sub-atomic particles have been proved to exist only in mathematical formulae, or in the detection of minute discharges of electro-magnetic radiation that they give off as they collide or break up.

It is against this background that my paintings are created. I hope they go some way to representing the relationship between the microcosmic world of sub-atomic particles, and the way in which they operate to form every single thing in the Universe.

I think that the scientific and artistic cultures need not be so antipathetic these days and it's heartening to read some of the comments in Ion Exchange. Perhaps the rise of a (recent?) Third culture — the market forces/yuppie force — has shown us how much we have in common, especially when compared with a fairly influential group Whose aims seem so very tangible.

PAINTING

Although not having a unified artistic philosophy. And consequently, not possessing its corollary; a homogenous art. Several fundamental elements do recur in most of my works. Perpetuated either by accident or design. I.e. by the delimitations imposed by personality or the exigencies of a conceptualised artistic purpose. Most prominent of these is the utilisation of an auto-generative and quasi-mechanical creative technique. An automatic art process which forms part of an artist/media distallatory apparatus which can essentialise the imagery while enhancing the inter-referential aspects of the Art -"Special Subject"-life relationship. This condensational method rids the imagery of superfluous detail, reduces aesthetic distractions while focussing attention on the 'idea made manifest' which is the basis of all art.

PHILOSOPHY

Art being by necessity, one step farther on in complexity than the artist. Its possession of a substantive and unequivocal purpose is even less readily quantifiable. However a large percentage of my present work is not produced principally as an attempt to resolve purely artistic problems; but is conceived as an integral part of an organised philosophical and psychological exploration of the Mind/Perception—Reality interface.

PAST

The beginnings of a particular painter's style obviously predates the beginning of an actual interest in painting. Having its roots in early formative events and experiences. My actual interest in painting began in the seventies. Almost immediately I was producing unconventional explorative works; mixed-media experiments imbued with the spirit of scientific investigation.

Beginning with colour Investigating Seurat I was very interested by the circle of scientists around him — particularly Charles Henry; and the psychological edges of Chevreul and Goethe — though I am defeated by the physics of colour.

'Chaos' I have long been fascinated by through my experience of creativity — reinforced by Koestler and a lot of background reading I can't instantly recall! Does anyone know 'Sensitive Chaos' by Schwenk — mentioned in the paperback on Chaos Theory? I've had this for some years.

I see 'Chaos' as a very important part of creating. The most successful performance I've taken part in was called 'Red' and charted the creating of an art object through the objective and subjective exploring of possibilities into a danced (abstract puppets and human operators) sculptural group and into after-images and shadows. It comprised actors, musicians, puppets/objects, soft sculpture, film, song, words, music

I am involved mainly in exploring overlaps — in my own work, painting/ textiles/sculpture — which latterly have possibilities of movement and collaboration. The groups I worked with have been mainly friends and colleagues and have been a mixture of artists, musicians, theatre people and poets — some interested amateurs, some professionals. Has anyone come across Semiotics of Art'? Here the theatre workshop is recommended as a laboratory for experiment.
 

INTRODUCTION

Hospital Arts is a charity within the health service. We are based in the Central Manchester Health Authority and have achieved a national reputation for our Work in Manchester hospitals. We now market our services through out the north west.

Hospital Arts has been described as "the most comprehensive example of an arts team based in the health service" (Attenborough Report on Arts and Disabled People 1985). In June 1989 we won the visual art award in the EEC TV national competition 'It's My City.'

HISTORY

Hospital Arts began in 1973 when Peter Senior, an artist and lecturer began to explore the potential for bringing the arts into the health service in order to improve both the visual and the social environment. It soon became apparent that a wide programme of arts activities would be enthusiastically received by the staff, patients and public and would be of great benefit in relieving stress, combating boredom and raising morale.

Peter Senior established links first of all by exhibiting some of his work in Withington Hospital, Manchester, and then working as a volunteer in his spare time at St Mary's Hospital, Manchester. In the academic year 1973/76 he was given a secondment from his teaching post to work full—time as a hospital artist, and in 1976 he received one of the first six Gulbenkian Artist in the Community awards.

The nucleus of the current team was formed in 1976 when four artists were employed by the Manpower Services Commission's Job Creation Programme, replaced by a team of five the following year. In 1978 no further MSC money was available and there followed a difficult period whilst what had become a successful project sought to establish itself on a firmer footing.

In 1980 Hospital Arts received the first year of what was to be seven years' funding from the Manchester/Salford Urban Aid Programme. This, together with the financial support of the Regional Arts Association and the health authorities meant that for the first time there was sufficient financial stability and the team were given health authority contracts. An Advisory Committee was also established at this time.

The period 1980—87 saw national awareness of the issues of arts and disability considerably raised. The Director of Hospital Arts served on the Committee of Enquiry into Arts and Disabled People, which published its report (The Attenborough Report) in 1985. The work going on in Manchester became known and admired nationally. Hospital Arts has always received a large number of visitors, including a number from overseas, and the work has received considerable acclaim.

Peter Senior left Hospital Arts in 1987 in order to set up a National Resource Centre 'Art for Health.' Hospital Arts is now managed by the Artistic Co—ordinator and the Manager. Since 1987 the organisation has focused considerable attention on issues essential to its growth arid development as a major, innovative charity.

AIMS

Hospital Arts practises the arts within health care settings to enrich the environment and to improve the quality of life for patients, staff and the public.
 

PHILOSOPHY

The arts are relevant to us all. They are particularly important in the hospital environment because the hospital is one of the crisis places in people's lives where they face the question of their identity as they tackle the major topics of life, death, illness and health.

The hospitalisation of major events in life strips them of significance and represents a trivialisation of human experience.

The creative imagination embodied in the arts has a profound effect on the atmosphere, powerfully but subtly affecting perceptions and experience.

Hospital Arts, in the belief that the arts are an integral part of life, seeks to increase access to the arts and to creative activity for those in hospital.

Rooted as they are in common sensibility, the arts have the power to restore perspective and play an important part in the healing process.

ARTISTIC POLICY

To create a positive and vital atmosphere in hospitals conducive to the well-being of staff, patients and visitors.

To increase access to the arts in situations involving ill health, old age, institutionalisation, disability and disadvantage.

To produce artistic work of the highest possible quality within health care settings.

To encourage participation in creative activity by patients and staff wherever appropriate.

To encourage health authorities to integrate the arts and the services of artists into patient care.

SERVICES

Hospital Arts practises a wide range of arts within the National Health Service. Is is an essential part of our policy that the work is done in close collaboration with people — staff at all levels, patients and public, and with regard to the needs and constraints of the particular place we are working in. Each piece of work in whatever form is original and custom— made.

Fifteen years experience and clear, well-developed philosophy inform our work and make our service unique.

We provide consultancy, make feasibility studies and draw up proposals for arts input to health authorities, including schemes specially designed for new buildings.

We create art for health care buildings in media ranging from painting and photography, glass and mosaic, to batik and embroidery. We make pieces ourselves and encourage participation by patients and staff where appropriate.

Live performance includes drama, puppetry, comedy and spans a wide mix of musical styles from ethnic, jazz and folk to popular songs and classics. This work aimed primarily at older people in continuing care and people recovering from mental illness, includes regular shows by selected artistes, specially devised in-house performances and workshops with patients and staff.
 

FINANCES

Hospital Arts receives an annual revenue grant from North West Arts and from Manchester City Council. Financial support is also provided by the three Manchester District Health Authorities and we seek additional funding from charitable trusts, foundations, companies and individuals. We work on a fee earning basis for all other health authorities.