20 mins into the Null+Void mix from electronic duo Lakker you will hear sounds from my Siren Signal installation of summer 2011, darkly mixed and blended by the increasing popular Dublin based dance partnership.

From Saturday 14 January – Sunday 25 March, The Whitley Cup will be at the Reading Museum. Premiered in the living room of a Whitley resident during the Whitley Arts Festival, see the work take on new meaning in the museum.Visit www.readingmuseum.org.uk for more info

The sounds i created for Siren Signal and the International lighthouse relay will be aired on Free103.9fm in Nwe York this Jan. visit their website for more details. www.free103point9.org

Whitley Cup for the Whitley Arts Festival Trail

The Whitley Cup (Handle and Strapping)
Grave-goods (2200-1500 BC).

The handle and relating strapping from what is now known as The Whitley Cup, thought to have belonged to 'The Wessex Culture' of the Early Bronze Age.

Found in 1986 by school boy H Fury amongst a pile of stones and rubble (possible cairn and secondary burial site), near an unconfirmed yet documented Bronze Age barrow 1 km South of Reading in the Whitley area.

Present is the handle and strapping hand crafted in the design of a Sea-Wyvern (a winged and fish-tailed reptilian creature of legend), reconstructed around a plaster reproduction of a traditional ceramic handled ceremonial cup. Such drinking vessels as in the case of The Whitley Cup were objects of status amongst Bronze Age warriors and would have been used almost certainly for the drinking of alcohol, probably beer or mead.

The Whitley Cup pieces have been remarkably crafted from a little known resinous compound (Arbor Creta Putty), which when hard has a similar consistency to that of modern plastics. WASL document it as being created by mixing heated tree resins with powdered chalk and bone ash. This creates a malleable paste or putty that can be moulded over a former and worked until it cools and hardens, with further possibilities for carving detail.

WASL - © Wessex Archaeological Society Limited 2011 all rights reserved

Wessex Archaeological Society is a Registered Charity No. 6932091514

I have been invited to exhibit at Savvy Contemporary during May of next year, in the exhibition Packet-Soup. An exhibition of work questioning the consumption and problems of plastic use. Will keep you posted on any updates.

A bit late, but better than never! Article about my marine plastic collecting and documenting. Also a nod to www.marineplastic.org in issue 2 of the art and writing publication Rattle Journal. Buy from them or from various outlets listed on their site.(Click the images below to enlarge)

My work will be with Wills Art Warehouse stand, at Affordable Art Fair Hampstead London.

Surfers Against Sewage asked me to design their 2011 Christmas Cards. So I plundered my constantly growing collection of plastic objects from the UK coast to come up with the four designs below. Now available from the SAS online shop and other discerning outlets elsewhere.

SAS have put an environmental campaign message on the back of the card about marine pollution so you can spread the word this Christmas! Pack of 8 A6 sized cards with white recycled envelopes, 2 of each design. The cards are 100% post consumer waste recycled card = £3.50. Bargain!

The trail takes in five locations that meander through the streets of Whitley, South Reading, starting in Litton Road and ending up in Dawlish Road. Rather than public buildings, or artists' homes, the artwork will be on show in everyday houses - the homes of ordinary people. Residents of Whitley have volunteered for their homes to become galleries for the night, to allow friends, neighbours and art lovers in to see some highly prized works of art.

Friday 28th October 2011.
Litton Road, Whitley
5pm - 9pm. Free

See Whitley Arts Trail for more

If your around London this Thursday evening and fancy going to an event, then visit The Book Art Bookshop, for the launch of a book of artists documentation of their work (including mine),on LV21, a lightship on the Kent coast at the Figure Ground mini-residency earlier this year. The book will be available as an e-book and limited edition printed folio. Further information will be posted at: Figure Ground Projects

The Book Art Bookshop, 17 Pitfield Street, LONDON N1 6HB, London, United Kingdom

PUSHING PRINT: Blackbird presents prints by Steve McPherson.

In a change to the published programme Blackbird is now thrilled to announce that instead of ‘Greetings From Margate’ we will be showing hand coloured screen prints by Steve McPherson.

McPherson’s prints are a series of 10 hand pulled screen prints, based on taxonomies of Marine Plastic finds from around the UK.

You can see Steve McPherson’s work at Blackbird between: Fri 7th Oct & Sat 29th Oct, during the following times:

Mon – Tues 12.30pm - 5.30pm
Wed – Sat 10.30pm - 5.30pm
Sun 11.30pm - 4.30pm

My work will be with Wills Art Warehouse, at AAF London Battersea. If your going have a look.

I will be at stand 69 at the Brighton Art fair 2011, come along if your in the area and have a chat.

Create your own waterline Light Vessel 21 paper model. Just cut, score, fold, and glue, to create the 26cm lightship,(some experience of model making may be necessary, too difficult for young children), Only £10 + postage. Contact me at Info@stevemcpherson.co.uk to purchase, or visit Light Vessel 21 on the river Medway in Kent, and buy one directly from them.

Siren Signal installed onto Light Vessel 21over the weekend of the International Lighthouse Weekend. More images of the developing work can be found at lighthousemcpherson.com.

The first three images above show the 'Blanket Song' piece, the next three are of 'Ghost Song' and the last two images show the 'Vessel Song' sculptures in situ. All the sounds used for Siren Signal were created using my own voice and then digitally manipulated to form the soundscapes below.

Siren Signal by STEVE MCPHERSON