40 Pages of Pilgrimage Film Documentation

This short film is the documentation of the dividing up of Hazel's artist journal. 

40 days walking, 40 pages of art and writings journalled in Hazel's Pilgrim Diary. 

In September and October 2015, Hazel embarked on and completed her 40 day pilgrimage journey. 40 pages were created, documented and sent out to Page Pilgrims who had bought a page upfront by choosing a number from her book. 

Hazel is currently composing and writing the book to tell the story of her pilgrimage journey, her experience, reflections, drawings, poetry and why she did it. 

www.hazelevans.co.uk

About Hazel:

As a multi-disciplinary artist, Hazel Evans uses illustration, poetry, sound, performance and installation as she blurs the boundaries between illustration and performance.

Threads that run through Hazel's work include themes of communication, scientific and self discovery as well as journeys. Hazel's art practice explores interior and exterior landscapes of the body, mind and soul; how we situate ourselves as beings in our external environments and the stories we hold in our bodies.

© Hazel Evans 2015 - 2016

Shadow Dancing in The Palace

A poem I wrote on the reflections of the awakening soul. 

Inspired by my own personal journey and the folklore stories of The Red Shoes, Rapunzel and Cinderella.

Shadow Dancing in The Palace

Ode to the seduction

Delicious in the dark

Safe so spacious comfort

In discomfort you stay apart

Separate from your shining self

The soul of who you really are

Seductive ego dancing

Those red shoes carry you far

Dancing dancing into the night

Decadent smiling faces

Emerging from the shadows

Alluring in dark places

Inner chaos

Anger, frustration, fear, pain

Step outside your pain-body to see

The ego fighting you again

Take a moment of reflection

just a moment to see

that all that is happening

belongs not to you and me

Stories from the past

condition our today

Patterns replay unconsciously

And haunt us in every way

Anger smothers sadness

Hooked from memories before

Times when we've been let down

And now we fight to score

So the battle is never over

And we choose to live in the dark

Expectations never fulfilled

Disappointment fuels the spark

We live out the story

Avoiding the poisoned cup

Afraid to let the ego die

for what it might drag up

So we learn to cover the mirror

Avoid to see inside

The truth of our hurting

And prefer to live in lies

A messy web of avoidance

everything of pain

Inside the castle walls so high

Never to be seen again

Loyal guardians on every entrance

Pretending to be so strong

For a moment you'll feel protected

thinking here's where you belong

But the truth has ways of leaking

It seeps though barricades

Wearing masks of ego

That come in many shades

Creeping through the darkness

Leaking through every wall

Distortions of your every self

Dance you till you fall

Dancing through the crowds

At your masked ball of delight

Twirling in colourful costumes

Disguised in the night.

'Take this pill of unconsciousness'

Whisper voices of your fears

'Best not show your true self

You've been so hurt through the years'

'I'll keep you safe, I am your friend

Just slip into illusion

Come dance with me into the dark

We'll enjoy this party of delusion'

Smoking the pipe of disbelief

trance into your shadow self

Proud to hide emotions

Giving you sense of wealth

And for every penny pocketed

You'll wear your medals with pride

Dancing like a peacock

Whist your soul is left to hide

'Come dancing with me' shadows sing

'I'll dance you into the void

A-void-dance thus not to see

So your mind stays employed'

Dancing still dancing

Twirling through nights and days

Faces, places, leave no traces

Life feels like it's a blaze

But in this powerful palace

Illusions leak from every wall

The face showing off gets so tired

Dancing the eternal ball

Your feet, they get so weary

Wrinkled face behind the mask

Sadness in this lonely space

How long can this facade last?

Cracks appearing on every wall

As truth leaks its path

Your paintings cover pealing layers

No longer holding fast

All guests have left the party

Some have woken for the muse

Some have bitten the apple

Yet you're still dancing in red shoes

And in the darkened corridor

A soft and lonesome voice

Echoes through now empty rooms

You know you have a choice

Visit the place in this lonely home

A place you have disowned

Dark, dusty, with a hidden key

Where all visits are postponed

Inside the mirrors stay covered

To defend your precious life

Because visions of the truth

Feel like a cutting knife

See the battle is never over

When we choose to ignore our pain

We project it onto others

So they are the ones to blame

We think it keeps us safe

So we don't have to show

The vulnerable little self inside

Still hurting from long ago

Pass over the responsibility

And wear the face of smile

Wear the mask of victim

So you're not guilty in the trial

But hurt people, hurt people

And deny their source of fear

Pretending to be someone else

And lock in every tear.

The ones wearing beautiful masks

In the theatrics of the ego

Are the ones who are also hurting

Who keep fighting to be the hero

Do you think it could be possible

For you to lift away the veil

On every single dusty mirror

Hanging in your self made jail?

Own up to your darkness

Choose the lantern bright

Dare to show your vulnerable self

And give up this useless fight?

Put down the knife

Allow yourself to cry

It's okay to feel emotions

And give up the living lies

Come down from your tower

And feel your beating heart

It's safe to take the masks off

And make a shining start

Stop the never ending music

Of the chorus of the mind

Sink into your body

Join the soul you left behind

Take off your dancing shoes

Peal off layers from the wall

Start taking down the bricks

Go to the voice down the hall

You know where the key is

Upon your heart inside a locket

As the inner voice calls so loud

It's no longer fair to block it

The tiny self silenced inside

Has been calling for attention

To come out and see the light

Break free from false convention

Yes, reach for the door

Unlock your way to truth

Listen to your inner wisdom

halt the battle, call a truce

Open up the curtains

Let light flood inside

Feel the warming glow

Of your heart beat so alive

It's time to lift the veil

Upon the mirror to your soul

Allow soft power, vulnerability

Let yourself feel whole

You don't need those shoes

To dance your way into the light

Surrender for truth to shine in

And let your soul shine bright.

© Hazel Evans 2016

Planting Seeds and Preparing for Spring

I'm really pleased with the developments of this week. I have been sewing creative seeds and nourishing them in the hope that my garden will flourish this year. Gardening is hard work, muddy and cold in the winter months, but I do hope the sun will keep shining for me so that I can grow some beautiful art plants ... It is today, so I am going to put his computer down now and take a nice Sunday stroll down the beach.

You can catch up on some of my creative seed sewing here on my Inspire 52, one of my crops for 2012 that has already started growing.

Click here to take you to the latest addition Week 7. The Art Of Waiting

Also here on my website www.hazelevans.co.uk/HazelEvansInspire52.html

Dorset Magazine February Feature

This month I feature in Dorset Magazine. Writer Jeremy Miles and Photographer Hattie Miles came to The Monochronium in October 2011 to interview me and find out more about my recent work and artist collaborations for my 'Andy Warhol Factory' style developmental exhibition. 

Brilliant!

I just found out today that I will be creating a new work of art for Brilliance, the new emerging light festival in Poole. I am delighted with this as it is a new local project in association with Poole Arts Development and will hopefully grow over the coming years to be a well-established festival.

Here's a little peak at my plans for the piece I will be creating in collaboration with a Florist.

The Flower Forest

by

Hazel Evans

Inspire 52 Launched!

Check out my new blog for the specific art project of Inspire 52.

This 12 month project will lead me though a creative journey in 2012 and it all starts here... 'Begin At The Beginning'.

This week I simply observe my present surroundings, where I had found myself at the beginning of the new year. Read more about it and follow my journey on my Inspire 52 blog. Enjoy!

http://hazelevans-inspire52.blogspot.com/

The Monochronium Snap Shot

The Monochronium was a great success and thank you to everyone who was involved. There was so much art generated from the developmental exhibition, it's difficult to know where to begin moving forward with it all ... it's a brilliant feeling! I am sure it will pave the way for more exciting work and collaborations to come in 2012, my mind is now full of possibilities. I am also so delighted at all the feedback and public interaction with the exhibition too.

Below is The Monochronium Artathon schedule.

Some of the press coverage ... The exhibition was also featured in The Bournemouth Echo and Dorset Echo, Listed Magazine, Evolver, BH Beat, Hope radio, Fire Radio as well as Dorset Life and Dorset Magazine.

 The Illustration Gallery

 The Monochronium Post Office and Signing Wall

Thank you to the public for your creative contributions

Further film footage and documentation of the event will be revealed in due course with highlights of the artistic collaborations with musicians, performers and artists.

www.hazelevans.co.uk

http://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/

The Bookshelf plinths have arrived ... preparations underway for The Monochronium

Today I popped into Lighthouse for a quick meeting. I took a look in the gallery and was excited to see that The Bookshelf plinths had arrived in preparation for The Monochronium exhibition. So I thought I would just film a short piece to show you the gallery, as it is now pretty empty, before it all starts to take place for my upcoming exhibition.

Other news, I met up with one of the photographers who will be documenting the event and also met with a film maker who will also be engaging with the exhibition and producing an art film documentary of the event.

It's all happening, but still plenty of work to do. But in the mean time, here's the little clip of video blog for you.

THE MONOCHRONIUM
A live art and work in progress exhibition
 An exploration of words, music and illustration
by Hazel Evans with supporting artists and musicians
22 - 29 October at Lighthouse Poole
Featured event 'Artathon' 26th and 27th October 
 click here for more information on The Monochronium and Artathon
'LIKE' my the facebook page and see your there!


The Bookshelf is sponsored by Oxfam
The Monochronium Exhibiton and Hazel Evans artist are working in support of The Princes Trust

Sketching Fearne part 2

Well, I'm starting to get the hang of my new computer and all the gadgets that link to different places and I have just discovered a really easy way of linking many bits and bobs together, including my films ... well I say 'my films' like I am an experienced film maker, whereas in actual fact I am just enjoying snipity snipping bits of my art work in progress ...

... this snip is from 'Sketching Fearne', it really should have been attached to the other blog. http://hazelevans.blogspot.com/2011/08/sketching-fearne.html 

... but you see at the time of it's publication I was not so hot fingered on which buttons to press on thy lovely computer. Now that I am blessed with this new knowledge please enjoy this little clip and insight into my work with Fearne, more of which is to come as part of my upcoming exhibition The Monochronium. Keep updated on my facebook events page with more news of the line up to be released in a few weeks... put it in your digital diary!

http://www.facebook.com/HazelEvansArtist

My handy pen action ... good ol' pen and paper!

http://www.fearnemusic.co.uk/

The Monochronium – Contemporary visual arts this Autumn at Lighthouse

My magnificent ‘Monochronium’ will transform the gallery in Lighthouse into a world of the monochronic monochrome. A black and white infusion of words, musical scores and ink onto walls, paper and canvas. I have created a world that melds antiquity with the modern in a contemporaneous show of live art.

I feel very honored to be the inaugural visual artist at Lighthouse Poole, and am very excited about launching my new exhibition The Monochronium this October at Lighthouse, the largest arts centre outside of London, situated in Poole. The Monochronium will give the public the chance to engage with the development of my work since I began working with Lighthouse in 2010.
 The Monochronium Exhibition which lasts for one week at Lighthouse will showcase a 36hour long Art-a-thon featuring a fabulous line up of artist and music collaborations, feeding inspiration into the art tha I will be creating in the gallery.

Keep up to date with news on my facebook page
'Like' me!
www.facebook.com/HazelEvansArtist

Photography by Craig Coady

Shrine Art Installation for The Great Rinsing

In the tunnelling cellars of the Pump House, preparations for The Great Rinsing are taking place. This site specific event combines live performance with film, sound and installations, presented by Wimborne's Community Theatre.

Today, within the pitch black labyrinth of the Pump House, I composed my installation into the opening of a large pipe, about one foot diameter, curving down into the unknown and beyond.

This piece is called 'The Journey and The Home'. It combines illustration, poetry, wire work and three books; an old encyclopedia opened on the page of a world map, a old poetry book, and a miniature book the wire figurine is reading, titled 'The Journey and The Home by Hazel Evans'. The backdrop illustration of a quirky house is lit from behind, and the wire person is sitting reading in the silhouette of the poetry graffitied over the image of the house.



The Journey and The Home
From this place I call home I can see the sky,
A wide open space where clouds powder by,
An emptiness so full with thoughts left half thunk,
A glass of tasty travels not even half drunk.
So no matter where I go on this voyage of me,
There are still pages unwritten about this journey.
Still places to go and faces to know,
Places to plant seeds and watch them grow.
No matter where I go there will always be a home,
In the memories and words as I sit here alone.

Make of it what you will, any thoughts and interpretations welcome.

Beautiful World

Into the ocean and into the sea
I dive in the water and set myself free.

Open in the blueness of deep and beyond
I float in the silence of this beau monde.


August 2009

Contemplation ... As long as there's fine weather there'll be art

... Further to my recent open air exhibitions, this contemplation has begun to arise in my mind - As long as there is fine weather there’ll be art -

Last weekend's A-Board sign directing people towards the pier to view the artwork, read " Every Sunday - As long as the weather is fine - ART -> ".

I read this, and it seemed to resonate in my thoughts. I headed straight for my notebook and bullet pointed ...

• As long as there's fine weather there'll be art

I then paused … jotted another circle for a bullet point …paused … then wrote:

• Fine weather Art – Fart! – Fine Art

I laughed to myself and then looked up, left and right, as if I had just been naughty; I am not one for childish toilet humour you see.

… I left the note taking at that and furthered the contemplation dialogue silently inwards. ‘Does this mean that all art is dependant on the weather? If the weather is rainy, stormy or snowy, then art will exist no more! Surely this could not be true, there has to be art even when the weather is not fine… Is this why they call it Fine Art? And anyway, why fart about with fine art? Is fine art just farting with art?

I don’t know but I do know that there is no point in farting about with fine art in the rain; it would just be a complete disaster! Evidence of this is at the end of the first arts on the pier exhibition; the sky suddenly opened the floodgates and before you could say “Peter the painter on the pier”, Peter, as well as every other painter on the pier had activated into fast-forwarded motion and had disappeared into the misty distance.

… Is there any point in farting about with fine art in anyway? …Well, I am an artist so I would vote for fine art. And it would not just stop there … I would also vote for all sorts of arts in all sorts of weather. Why install meteorological boundaries?’

…‘I like fine weather and I like art … I also enjoy a good dramatically moody coloured thunderstorm, with torrential rain and strong winds; going down to the coast and watching the waves crashing violently upon each other and swallowing pebbles from the beach.

This kind of weather is just fine for me. it also seems to have been fine for many artists through generations who have used nature’s painted landscapes of ever changing expression, as inspiration for their fine art … so … I guess it is true, as long as there is fine weather there’ll be art’.

And here my contemplation ends. Not case closed however, as the rest of the page in my notebook has been left empty for the time being … and so contemplation continues …

I am....

I am a person,
Of the world today.
Living, breathing, speaking, listening,
In my own way.

I am a creator,
Of the world today.
Dreaming, thinking, conceiving, making,
In my own way.

I am friend,
Of the world today.
Sharing, loving, crying, laughing,
In my own way.

I am a traveller,
Of the world today.
Seeing, experiencing, moving, growing,
In my own way.

I am a fighter,
Of the world today.
Trying, struggling, challenging, winning,
In my own way.

I am the best of me,
In my world today.
Understanding, striving, believing, being,
In my own way.