TESTIMONIALS
“..it's such a unique course—there's really nothing like it elsewhere. It was extraordinary to spend 6 months thinking deeply and making art that considers the line in so many different ways. I feel that the course continues to change the way I observe, think, write, and make art.” (Ecology of Line participant, 2024)
“This course held me creatively over the course of a turbulent six months. Plugging into the course material alongside others from across the globe was stimulating, challenging and enlivening. Camilla's delivery was engaging and rich in content. Making work in response and sharing it with others, having generous and meaningful feedback from Camilla and other members of the group was priceless. Thank you so much Camilla.” (Ecology of Line participant, 2024)
“"Towards an Experimental Ecology of Line" was an extraordinary experience to think deeply and differently about ecology and the nature of the line. Camilla created an inspiring environment in the online sessions where emphasis was placed on works in progress and the deep thought involved in creating art that responds to new ways of observing the natural and built environment. During this course and thanks to Camilla and the cohort, I was able to make visual poems, paintings, collages, and artist books that would never have existed without this experience. I'm left with an entirely new way of observing the line in the world and tools with which to respond creatively to these observations and experiences.” (Ecology of Line participant, 2024)
Over the last year I have been investigating the interdimensional relationship of line, using Tim Ingold’s (LINES: A Brief History) conceptions of “thread” (3D line), mark or trace (2D line) and ghostly line (conceptual line) as a contextual base. LANDSCAPE TRANSCRIPTIONS: Towards an Experimental Ecology of Line attempts to map or transcribe an ecology of relationship between threads, marks, traces, and ideas in a small area of Mere grassland and surrounding chalk downland. It is a hyperlocal study, not just of place and the organisms (bird, fungus, insect, plant, human, animal) that compose this place, but of the linear compositional strategies employed by these organisms. This study understands presence and re-presencing, or representation, as indisseverably linked processes. I understand these pieces as a series of transcriptions, performative traces and material reflections that demonstrate the line’s significance in the presence and representation of an ecology.
If you’d like to explore this way of working with me, new course dates for the 2025 six month container course are coming soon. More info here…
BECOMING:
An Exhibition of Language Art
New work by Jennifer Baker, Susanne Eules, Mary Newell & Moira Russell,
participants of BECOMING: Interspecies Translation & Innovative Poetics (June-Aug 2023).
SINGING APPLE PRESS STANDS WITH PALESTINE
On November 25th, writers from around the world gathered for a 24 hour reading in support of Palestinian writers, Palestinian voices in diaspora, and their allies. We gathered in the spirit of fundamental respect for life and liberation. As individual poets, artists & writers, and representatives of independent arts organizations, we call for an end to all ongoing genocidal aggression globally. We condemn the collective punishment of Palestinians, we condemn actions that perpetuate cycles of violence, and we call for a global commitment to protect freedom of expression and critical dissent.
Donate to Medical Aid Palestine here
https://www.map.org.uk/donate/donate
Founded in 2014, Singing Apple Press is devoted to the material investigation of poem production, particularly in relation to plants. This small, West Country press produces hand-crafted, limited edition poem-prints, books, events, exhibitions and other language objects.
Camilla Nelson is a British language artist, small press publisher, creative programmer and freelance academic. She has a PhD in Performance Writing from Falmouth University/Dartington College of Arts (2012). Her work explores the materiality of language in page-based poetry, soundwork, installation and performance. She is founding editor of Singing Apple Press, a Visiting Research Fellow at Bath Spa University (2023-2025) and member of the PLACE Collective.
