A behind-the-scenes look at the creation of 'Lockdown II' . I also share the lockdown music video, which includes the music that a producer has created in response to this work.

Behind-the-scenes look at 'Lockdown'

I started my Lockdown series when the 'Stay at Home' message was everywhere and I began by repeatedly writing these words in different ways as I explored ideas on paper and also digitally. As time went on, I felt the work should include some sort of physical structure, somewhere we were meant to stay.  I tried including images of my own home but this didn't quite hit the mark. I then got quite excited about using the papers I'd been writing on to make a paper sculpture as a metaphor for a home. The shape of the sculpture was inspired by the book ' Folding Techniques for Designers' by Paul Jackson.  I was really happy with this shape, with the edges coming down on one side to keep you there but also quite freely open on the other side, so you could leave.   

I experimented with different proportions of the folds and I set the structures up in my studio and photographed them from different angles and in different lights. 

Above are just 3 of my favourite images, largely due to the shape of the shadows and the gold reflection in the one on the right.  I had some fun with the middle one and added a digital image of myself staying at home. It wasn't until I was reviewing the photographs that I noticed that the shadow in the left hand image had created a body-like shape under the structure. This was the image that I wanted to develop.

Look at more work in the Lockdown series

Developing the idea further and creating 'Lockdown'

Due to the nature of the sculptures and fleetingness of the shadows, I wanted to create something that had a longer life. I made a print plate from cardboard and wallpaper, reflecting the shape in the photograph and after printing, initially on paper, I printed onto fabric. The printed  fabric shape was bonded onto hand dyed fabric and shading added, largely with stitch.  The finished piece is at the start of this post.

The music that 'Lockdown' has inspired

I really can't remember how this came up but I do remember feeling excited and intrigued when a friend, Mark Turnham, offered to create some music in response to my 'Lockdown' series. I couldn't even imagine how he would go about this and really looked forward to getting a behind-the-scenes look at his process. 

I think I've listened to this piece of music more intently than I have any other piece of music and really tried to make the connection between my work and the music before getting any explanation from Mark.  Click to see the lockdown music video where you can hear the music, see images of the work and Mark’s notes. I would love to hear what association you can make between the music and the art work. Mark Turnham can be contacted at m.turnham@ntlworld.com.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about ‘Lockdown’ and hearing the music it inspired, feel free to leave any comments. If you would like to keep in touch and hear more news from my studio you could sign-up to my newsletter here.