The Grid

It's my privilege to be have been Writer in Residence at The Grid Artists' Studios at St Mary's Nursing Home, Montilo Lane, Harborough Magna CV23 0DF from 2007 to 2014. During that period I took part in four exhibitions. Not only did this give me a chance to be inspired by the works of the visual artists, but it allowed me to produce writing that broke the mould usually required by the printed media such as magazines.

SpaceD Exhibition 2007

'Narrative Escapes' freed scraps of thoughts and events that make up the story of our lives from the restrictions of linear form. The lives we construct for ourselves often occur beneath the surface of mundane routine. In an office, the reader/observer found these fragments as disconnected pages yet to be shaped by memory– jammed in doors, on pinboards, on discarded serviettes...

Warwickshire Arts Week Open Studios 2008

'Word Games' was an audio collection of 17 pieces of flash fiction and short stories. Copies are still available. For further details contact: dearsleyworks@yahoo.co.uk

Warwickshire Arts Week Open Studios 2009

For 'Found' I took the opportunity to 'liberate' headlines gleaned from the Saturday Telegraph of 18th July 2009. Themes began to emerge as I wielded the scissors, and the pieces suggested themselves. The process can be viewed as more editing than writing, literally 'cut and paste'. However, in rearranging the headers something new was created.

I supplied a boxful of spare headlines and invited visitors to the exhibition to have a go, which proved a big hit.  Try it!

Warwickshire Arts Week Open Studios 2010

Alexander Pope wrote that "sound must seem an echo to the sense". For 'Seen as Heard' my aim was to give the work a visual form that echoed its writing style and content. I wanted to explore the link between language and visualisation, and the different ways of seeing words and sounds: concrete poetry and prose, synaesthesia, how art inspires written work and vice versa.