Since this website went live in the summer, there have been very many approving remarks about the photos of me working at the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield with my flowery trousers, and home-made instruments and oh-so expressive face. They are all by Kate Fisher who is a photographer based in North Yorkshire, and she arrived on Sunday June 9^th to catch me in the act, as it were, at my “Musical Sculptures” family drop-in workshops.

She entered the gallery while I was in mid-flow and dived straight in there just capturing all the composing fun as it unfolded. I tried to ignore her while I was encouraging the eager participants to come up with musical ideas, and I must say I was surprised by the evidence she later presented of the range of expressions I submit my families to – also surprised by how little smiling I appear to do even though these workshops are such a constant stream of fun and laughter and of course, creativity!

We always work on our art-inspired compositions downstairs in the Learning Studios, studying images of our chosen art works carefully, and creating musical ideas and gestures which could be described in the same way as the art. Once we’re content with our masterpiece, we head up to the galleries, locate the work that’s been inspiring us and perform the music to anyone who is passing by. All the ideas for these compositions come from the participants themselves, and sometimes a lot of energy is expended in the gathering together of these ideas into a coherent whole – but we always manage it and are invariably applauded after our world premieres and encouraged to re-perform!

Kate has brilliantly captured the energy that I know I put into these sessions (I’m always exhausted at the end of the days!) and also the thrill of the performances – usually remembered and conducted by me – I must say that by the end of the 2^nd day I’m usually forgetting things and have to write them down!

I do not generally like posing for photos so those she took at the end of the day in the galleries and out on the lawns are a triumph of her patience and skill in getting me to not look too embarrassed. Kate takes pictures of many occasions and events, and is particularly skilled at sports action, gardens, weddings…and now of course enthusiastic composers at work in art galleries! Contact her for more information, and to have a look at some more of her shots, visit her website: http://www.katefisher-photography.co.uk/index.html