Twitters come face to face!

My project – ‘Jo Roberts’ Personal Survey of the Urban Fringe in the region of the Deckle Edges’ has been a joy to do.

The 70 ‘Maps of the Day that I daily Tweeted became obsessive, and seeing them all together at the exhibition was fascinating, you could see how my mood changed, and how different things influenced the way I drew. I had many delightful conversations with people over these maps – reminiscing about my childhood home of Bungay, Suffolk; the blank pages when I was too ill to draw; the exploration of the wonderful places along the Medway estuary etc.

My ‘Urban Fringe Herbarium’ was quite a development for me. I pressed the 67 specimens of flora that I found on the Urban Fringe sites. Then using my wonderful 1866 Albion Hand Press and wooden Letterpress, I embossed their names. Wanting each and every one appreciated, I then individually framed them. Part of the Herbarium can be seen in this picture.

My final joy in this project was reserved for the meeting face to face of several of my Twitter followers, this picture shows me (in the middle) introducing two of them to each other. I have become a huge fan of Twitter. I love how you engage with people you wouldn’t normally come across, I love how it transports you to some unusual places, I love how to gives you links to such a wide range of articles etc posted by your followers. This project was commissioned by Kent Architecture Centre, and they wanted the four artists to engage with certain communities. I wanted to explore the Twitter community. Not only have I explored it, I have fallen in love with it, and look forward to keeping in touch with all my followers. @JoVicRob