Scotland - The Burrell Collection

Jim and I had a dreadful journey to Scotland.  5 hours from Dumfries to Glasgow.  We drove about 250miles to make 60 miles progress.  Jim drove from Dumfries to New Cumnock, where the River Nith had flooded the road, back 20 miles, and went to Crawfordjohn where that river had flooded, then back almost to Dumfries and up the A74 to the M74 where the river had overflowed and blocked the motorway.  Then we skirted the motorway on back roads, and finally got to Glasgow. 


I had a lovely afternoon in the Burrell Collection.  I gathered data for Content Analysis.  Content analysis is a technique to interpret artefacts displayed in museums to produce valid and trustworthy inferences. There are 5 types of content analysis - written; oral; iconic (drawing, painting, icons etc); audio visual; hypertexts (internet).  In this case I am focussing on iconic. 


Content analysis shares the scientific re-elaboration of the object examined, and is repeatable ie gives the same results if the exercise is repeated. 


Key questions are "Who says what, to whom, why, to what extent and with what effect".  I hope to apply these questions to the data I gather.

"A research technique for the objective, systematic and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication".

Uses: Inferences about 1.antecedents, 2.characteristics, 3. effects of a communication.

Which data are analysed?
How are they defined?
What is the population from which they are drawn?
What is the context relative to the data that are analysed?
What are the boundaries for the analysis?
What is the target of the inferences?


Burrell Small Textile Gallery

28 Embroidered pieces:
2 band samplers - 1 colour, 1 whitework
10 panels - 7 religious: Solomon and Sheba; Susanna and the Elders; Judith and Holofernes; Esther and Aheserus; Ambraham and Isaac x 2; Isaac and Rebecca. All silk
- 3 tessellated rinceau (foliage) patterns. Silk and metal
4 royal costume pieces - 2 silk and metal shoes, 1 cap,1 red quilted waistcoat.
4 Coptic tunic pieces
4 Falconry set - Embroidered gauntlet, pouch, lure and hood.

Burrell Collection - Gilt and Silk exhibition 1600-1620

16 pieces.  All have flowers. 
3 nightcaps Borage/starflower, pea pods (for fertility), pansy (pensee) for thought;

Metalwork embroidery on nightcap - peapods for fertility

Metalwork embroidery - rinceau with carnation for love

6 coifs + 1 forehead cloth (used when sick or after giving birth) One has peapods - fertility symbol, and carnations (pure love)

Embroidered coif - rinceau with flowers

2 gloves - silk and metal

2 sweetbags - silk and metal.  Cornflower reliability and fidelity

1 jacket - rinceau.  Sweetbriar rose - courtly love

2 x petticoats (huge) (possibly for Anne of Denmark)
- Rinceau and thistles.  Multisymbolism - not sure what they indicate
Bird with leaf
Honeysuckle
Borage
Daffodil
Lily
Strawberry
Acorn and oakleaf
Peapod open and closed
Carnation  

1 x coif - needlelace whitework
1 x coif menagerie.  Dog -represents smell, stag hearing, monkey taste, plus bird, leopard,lion, serpent and imaginary animals.  Not sure of symbolism.  All 5 senses represented apparently.

A Trip to Shropshire

Jim and I had a great time in Shropshire.  The plan was to do some family research with Doreen and Allison about Aunt Joan.  Doreen gave me some lovely anecdotes about being Joan's little sister, and wrote these out on some pages of a handmade sketchbook.  Allison got stuck into the Wreck This Journal and created some lovely pages.  I think I might make Joan's sampler focus on her needle skills.  I knew she did dressmaking, upholstery, knitting, embroidery and flower arranging. I did not know that she was a leather worker as well.  Allison said Aunt Joan had made lots of pairs of gloves, cutting the leather, punching stitching holes and sewing up, wrong sides facing.  She also made leather skirts and jerkins, stitching seams and gluing seam allowances.




Allison let me have one of the most complicated sweaters that Aunt Joan made, her pulled thread embroidery sampler and book, and a few other bits. 




Allison tried to do some oral history recording, but the recording device was not co-operating, I think it was full.  I shall buy another device and try again later.  I can visualise an exhibition where there is an audio recording available for every sampler, and I think this will give a greater experiential depth as the hearing sense is added in to the experience.


Photos to follow

The plan until New Year

Tomorrow Jim and I go to Shropshire to stay with Aunt Doreen.  We will stay a couple of days, with the purpose of doing some oral history research about Aunt Joan with cousin Allison.  I hope to get some artwork done too.  I have a new copy of Wreck this Journal, and hope to complete this book on the subject of Aunt Joan with Allison and Dor's contributions.

Then we go to Scotland for a few days to stay with Jim's friend Grace.  I will go to The Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Gallery of Modern Art, with the intention of doing some content analysis.

The SNPG is small enough to walk round and count how many portraits on display are of men/women/ clothed/unclothed.  Last time I was there, there was a room devoted to women.  I intend to list the women depicted, and note their status, how they were valued in order to be in an image and anything else that occurs to me.

I will probably do much the same in the Gallery of Modern Art, which has an exhibition Modern Scottish Women 1885-1965.  I am mostly interested in the 20th Century.

Then if I have the time and inclination in early 2016, it would be interesting to do the same in the National Portrait Gallery in London, and again in the Elizabeth Sackler Centre, Brooklyn Musuem, in New York.  I wonder if I could get to New York around Easter?  Jim is keen for me to do whatever I need, and although he does not want to come too, wants me to go.

What is a Portrait?

I have been running around the internet to find definitions of portraits.  I think the Scottish National Portrait Gallery has some good ideas listed below:

"A portrait is an evocation of a person. It gives the sense of that person.  It doesn't necessarily need to look like the person, but it would have to give some impression." Lesley Stevenson, Senior Paintings Conservator

"A portrait is a creative collaboration between an artist and the sitter, and it's unique in that sense as an art form and that's what makes it really different from any other art forms."  Sarah Saunders, Deputy Head of Education.  So does this mean that as the majority of my samplers of women are about dead people, what I am creating is not a portrait?  The National Portrait Gallery Collections policy states they seek work about people who are alive i.e. created from a sitter.  Maybe my work is memory work, not portrait?

"A portrait can be many, many things.  It depends on the one who takes the portrait, who makes the picture and on the sitter because the sitter chooses, most of the imps he chooses in a sitting the person who makes the portrait of him and he hopes that it represents him.  That's all"  Gerd Sander.

"I think a portrait is probably different things to different people but in general terms it's a depiction of a person which cane idealised to flatter them or it can be an impression of their personality, or it can even be an abstract depiction of some element about them". David Taylor, Senior Curator

"A portrait's a picture of an individual human being that places, what, emphasis on their uniqueness, as simple as that"  Sandy Moffat.

"I think a portrait is normally thought to be a sort of visual representation of someone.  Normally that's in oil paint or it might be a sculpture, carving but I really like the idea of a portrait being the sound of people's voices."  James Holloway.  This is interesting.  Lewis has given me notes on how to conduct oral history interviews - so could I record family members talking about my women and use these as part of the "portrait"?  Particularly if I want to play on how we experience the world through all our senses, rather than just our eyes?

"f course a portrait doesn't have to necessarily be a portrait of a person. It can also be a portrait of a thing as well.  Keith Hartley Chief Curator

"I think a portrait is a representation of an individual, usually an individual human being by another individual and it's a created object that acts as a kind of remembrance of that person"  Nicola Kalinski.  This is much more what I am looking for.  Nothing about the person being a sitter (i.e. still alive).

"It's like being in love you know, it's the same thing you know.  You never know how it happens but if it happens right a good outcome will be there you know."  Gerd Sander

Considering Kindness

I have been thinking about how to portray attributes such as kindness.  Kindnesss is an emotion perceived by others, which is assessed by evaluating behaviour.  So how do I create artwork that portrays something that is intangible.

Within our family, Aunt Joan had a reputation for being very kind.  My brother and I both have very happy memories of two holidays when Aunt Joan took us away with her family for a fortnight in Devon.  She was very kind to my cousin, Martin, who had cystic fibrosis.  Martin was at university in Oxford, and frequently stayed with Aunt Joan at the weekend, as she lived nearby.  Martin benefitted from Aunt Joan's care and was well fed and cherished when he was with her.  Aunt Joan was brilliant at thinking up gifts for small children, and I remember her giving a wooden toddler's swing as a christening present to friends of the family.  She also knitted sweaters and made quilts for nieces going to university.  I also benefitted from accommodation when I was doing weekend classes or summer school at Missenden Abbey.  At first I was worried and felt guilty that I was costing her money for my keep, but later realised she enjoyed the company.  I can talk for Britain, and she very much enjoyed conversation, as she became increasingly blind and arthritic, and was unable to knit or sew. I used to arrive, cook dinner (she could not lift a pan of veg for two), talk all evening, go to bed, make breakfast, talk until I left for class, and then she could rest during the day.  It took me a while to realise my conversational contribution was equal to her contribution of hospitality.

So, Aunt Joan shared experiences (holidays), supported those in need (time and care), identified and paid for appropriate gifts (wooden swing), made useful objects (sweaters and quilts), shared her home.  To me, giving time, sharing experiences and supporting others is what kindness is about.  It is only slightly allied to spending money.

I have also looked up "kindness in art" on the internet.  This led me to a website Random Acts of Kindness.  There were hundreds of examples of how people take Personal Social Responsibility by doing kind things.  A random list is below

1. Send someone a hand written note of thanks.
2. Make a card at home and send it to a friend for no reason.
3. Buy a lottery ticket for a stranger.
4. Put some coins in someone else’s parking meter.
5. Buy a coffee for the man on the high street selling The Big Issue magazine.
6. Cut your neighbour’s hedge.
7. Walk your friend’s dog.
8. Give a compliment about your waiter / waitress to his / her manager.
9. Send someone a small gift anonymously.
10. Stop and help someone replace their flat tyre.
11. Let someone jump the queue at the bank.
12. Support someone in their team sport. 

I think it is interesting that most of them involve doing something, rather than buying things.

Chambers Dictionary defines Kindness as the quality or fact of being kind.  However Kind is defined as n. those of kin, a race: sort of species, a particular variety: fundamental qualities (of a thing): produce, as distinguished from money. - adj. having or springing from the feelings natural for those of the same family: disposed to do good to others: benevolent.

Bloomsbury's Dictionary of Word Origins by John Ayto defines Kind as: Kind the noun and Kind the adjective are ultimately the same word but they split apart in pre-historic times.  Their common source was Germanic kunjam, the ancestor of English kin.  From it, using the collective prefix ga- and the abstract suffix -diz was derived the noun gakundiz, which passed into Old English as gecynde "birth, origin, natrue, face". The prefix go- disappeared in the early Middle English period.

The Dictionary of Word Origins says of Kin: Kin is the central English member of the Germanic branch of a vast family of words that trace their ancestry back to the prehistoric Indo-European base.  Amongst the Germanic descendants of this base was jun-, from which was derived the noun kunjam, source of English kin 'family".  Kindred was formed from kin in early Middle English by adding the suffix -red ' condition'.

So, kind and kindness, appear to have originated as how people relate to family.  I find this a bit challenging.  I can see evidence for kindness is more easily gathered within a family setting, but I think kindness can be exhibited outwith the family.  The evidence I have for Aunt Joan's kindness is certainly demonstrated in her relationships with family, although I would say she had some stereotypical attitudes of her generation towards people who were "not like her" i.e. not white and middle class.   Having said this, I remember one of my last conversations with her, when she was 93.  Aunt Joan said that at one time, it would have been her biggest horror to have neighbours who were ethnic minorities, but now she had Sabrina and Peter next door, she had found them to be good neighbours, and she adored their son Sebastian, who was born soon after they moved in.

So this leaves me with a question.  How is kindness manifested in art?

As part of my contextual review, I think I need to go to a few galleries and see whether I can find artworks that portray people who are kind. And analyse them.

Goya and Giacometti

I have been wondering how artists represent kindness in paintings.  So I took myself off to London to see two portraiture exhibitions - Goya at the National Gallery, and Giacometti at National Portrait Gallery.  I did not see anything about kindness but had a great day out.

Goya (1746-1828) was the last of the great Masters, and is probably the best known of the spanish painters.  He is known for dark and melancholy works, (which would not appeal to me) but this exhibition was of his portraiture, by which he earned his living.  Like many painters, his first works of portraiture were quite busy, including a lot of symbolic references, but over time they simplified.  The exhibition started with an image of the Count of Almeira (1787), who was a tiny man.  He is portrayed in full scarlet uniform, but seated upon a bespoke low chair, with his arm resting on a normal height table, meaning his elbow is the same level as his ear.  It is a very compassionately drawn portrait, because the Count is portrayed as being completely in proportion, yet alludes to his small stature, by the use of the table.  It led to commissions of the rest of the family.

I had an audio guide which expands the narrative about the paintings and noted the music played after each description was appropriate to  the date at which the sitter posed.  Clever use of combining different senses to understand a situation.

There was a self portrait of Goya painting in front of a window.  The window alludes to the times of the Enlightenment.  Goya was a deep political man who had grave concerns about the religious and social habits of the times, and who was particularly opposed to the Spanish Inquisition.  However he trod a fine line between being patronised by Royalty and the Church and the liberal thinkers who were pushing political reform.  He wears an interesting hat in this self portrait.  It is a type of top hat, but has spikes around the edge, to hold candles, so he could work in the failing light.

There was interesting positioning of 3 portraits in the room Official Painter to the Spanish Court.  There is a pair of paintings of the King of Spain with his faithful spaniel looking up to him (symbolising the adoring populous looking up to their King) and a flattering portrait of the Queen.  Apparently after many pregnancies, she was toothless and ageing, but is portrayed as full cheeked, unwrinkled and dewy skinned, with beautiful arms (of which she was particularly proud)  enhanced by a black lace mantilla.  Facing these two images, there is the image of the Duchess of Alba, a famous if eccentric beauty with a fiery temper.  Apparently they did not get on!

There were some good observations of fashion.  I particularly like one of a count wearing very close fitting trousers - more like tights.  Apparently clothing that tight would make your skin smart - and is how we have come to the term "smart clothing".  Only the right could afford clothes so close fitting it smarted, and the poor had softly wrapped and pinned unshaped clothing.

Another pair of portraits were of the Minister of Grace and Justice, who was resting his head on hand as if deep in thought, with a detailed, considered painting style, and the Minister of Finance and War (because wars cost a lot?) who was meant to be decisive and a man of action, so was painted quickly to convey the different temperaments of the men.

General observations are that the audience had a high proportion of Spanish and French people attending; disability was well represented in the artworks (Goya was deaf from age 48, a person with reduced height, a person who had had a stroke and self-portrait of acute illness); and lots of affluent women.

Then I went on to see Giacometti at the NPG.  Not so enjoyable, but still good.  I am not sure why the Goya was 9 GBP for student rate with great explanatory booklet and 3 GBP for audio guide and 71 images, whereas Giacometti was 15 GBP student rate, no booklet or audio guide and only about 48 artworks.

His work moved from being strongly post impressionist as a youth, influenced to his father, to experimentalist at his death.  I very much liked his early works - mostly portraiture but with a highly coloured palette.  Bright and joyful.  Then his works moved to strongly linear, still portraiture, but moving through a person in a room using colour, to a person in a box motif mostly monochrome, to a head and shoulders, to a head in grey with penetrating eyes  Very distinctive scratchy linear lines and mark making.  Quite a few sculptures.  Very limited range of models - often his younger brother Diego, wife Annette, or later, model Caroline.  One or two portraits of key collectors of his work.  I wonder why he focussed on such a restricted range of subjects.

Art class with Vanda

We had a great art class at the Shedio.  One of my best ever.  We were working from our own objects, using inspirational techniques from artists who exhibited at the Jerwood Drawing Exhibition.  Not only did we have our usual people (Vanda, Jane and Karin) but Brenda dropped in before uni for an hour, and we had Lesley and Sheila as well.  

We used 4/5 different techniques - paper cuts, piercing, prints, before lunch.  Then after lunch, we reviewed what went well/badly and had to decide whether to use 5 more artist inspired techniques, or whether to explore the first ones further. I was a wuss, and wanted to be told what to do, so was instructed to explore one or two techniques further.  I ended up stitching on paper, changing one thing at a time.  Without thread, with thread, small, large, with black thread, with white thread, with both colours. I had a lovely time.

Papercuts.  Inspired by a sweater image from Aunt Joan's knitting book
They could vary in scale, be piled up, be used as stencils and templates

Papercuts piled up.  Could be pushed further .

(Unthreaded) Machine stitching knitted patterns, through paper

Drawing the shapes of the patterns - lobster claw cable, stocking stitch and rib.

Making a slipknot, and a series of chain stitches from newspaper.
Using these to print, to see what pattern results.

A single print on a page to see what happens when it is positioned to privilege it.

Unthreaded machine stitching to create line drawing of a series of chain stitches in paper

The printing implement and the stitch drawing

What happens on the back when you forget to put the presser foot down.
Every machinist will recognise it!

Line drawing by machine stitching (with thread)

Machine stitch drawing enlarged to page size

Machine stitch drawing using black thread, followed by white thread.

A Good Final Day at Uni

I had my feedback for my Literature Review from Lewis.  I was most flattered when he said my work was amongst the most resolved in the class.  I think this is because I have known for some time what interests me, and Linden gave me some excellent pointers for reading.  I was a good student, because I read what she suggested … and a bit more !

I was quite amused by Lewis describing me and Gareth as being like bookends in relation to the rest of the class.  Something in there about us holding the class together and preventing people falling over.  I have a mental picture of wooden gargoyle bookends, with Gareth and his beard one end, and me with my ginger hair the other!

So I need to get my act together over the Christmas holidays.  I need to finalise the Proposal, and the Literature Review, and write a presentation about the literature review.   Additionally I want to do some oral history research with Aunt Doreen and cousin Allison. This involves a trip to Shropshire for the interviews, and I also thought I would get them doing some artwork in a handmade sketchbook (made by me, using flour bags, old dressmaking patterns and found paper) and a Wreck This Journal.  Not a lot to do then!

Presentation on Valuing Women Project to date

Yesterday everyone in class had to give their presentations on progress to date.  Gareth took notes for me, of my feedback.

Linden picked up on, "really liked", one of the questions I posed in my presentation, to which I did not have the answer:  How do I do this Valuing Women work, without being nostalgic?"  I don't think we came to a conclusion on it, but I will look up the word nostalgic, and then pose this question to my Shedio art group, and also might put it on our Facebook page.

Class members liked my sketchbook work, particularly the drawing of a cross stitch gesture, then interpreting it in cross stitch, weaving it, enlarging it etc.  The cross stitch gesture captured an energy. (Well done Vanda for creating the exercise - well done me for following through!)

Consider making samplers in different materials - modern, not natural fibres.  Think about where the fibres come from.

Interested in not alienating men.  The prison work (Fine Cell Work) - was it gender specific?  What is the gender specifically in prisons.  FCW work with women to teach knitting, and men to stitch canvas work cushions to retail in high end outlets.

"Critical Craft Network"  The real perspective on the doing aspect of the work.  Look this up.

"How you publicise" could be the source of inclusiveness of men rather than alienating men.  What about interviewing men in working men's clubs.  This would need me to take a large brave pill!

Charity shop/reworking old clothes from relatives. "Aunt Joan" materials.

Artefacts - Could be used in the exhibition.  Maybe display in Valentines Mansion, Ilford, as most women depicted lived there.

Will you include photos of the women?  Might be interesting to form our own image.  I was going to include photos of these women in a collage about each one, and maybe in a sketchbook about each one, but not in the sampler.  Yet, what is a portrait?  Is it a likeness of the person, or could it be about the artefacts and interests of the individual?  Need to research this further.

The portrait - engage in the debate.  What is the portrait in this situation?  Recognising a small part of ourselves or the person.

Clothing works like a photograph.  Does it destroy the mystery?

Punchy, gutsy, firm, forward looking.  Your underlying rule set.  and your criteria (hidden text forms the baseline).

The Beaney Museum, Canterbury

I had a few days away with Shirley, my sister-in-law, while her Mum is in respite.  We went to the Beaney Museum which was an excellent, small, local museum.  They were hot on representing the local community.

They had the Garden Room dedicated to paintings by local artist Thomas Sidney Cooper.  He painted lots of domestic animals, from all sorts of angles, varied in size - 16" x 12" up to 12' x 16'.  A popular rise was c 4' x 3' - suitable for the domestic Victorian parlour.  They also had a room where portraits depicted the kentish community - from old Van Dykes of affluent local landowners, to Dame Laura Knight's portrait of Hop Picking Granny, a gypsy.

The local school children community had an obvious presence.  They had done decorations for the Christmas tree and stairwell.  Also they had been involved in a workshop about the homeless. Excellent outreach work had been done with the homeless community (of which there are many in Canterbury) getting them to depict their situation, painting on cardboard boxes and waste paper.  Great  use of ground materials continued in a children's workshop where the pupils had drawn on paper bags to illustrate what they would take with them if all their belongings had to fit into a paper bag.  Very thought provoking.

Stuart Hall: Representation: Cultural Representation and Signifying Practices

I have been reading the chapter on Genre and Gender.  It is written in relation to soap opera, but I think there are some points that I can apply to my samplers which Value Women.

Hall notes (1997, p345) in a male dominated publishing environment, there is often a space designated for women - the women's page, Woman's Hour - while there is no corresponding section for men.  The feminist analysis of this situation is that the norm is to be masculine and only women's culture needs to be specifically gendered and therefore catered for, by a tiny time/space allocation.  The feminist implication is that mainstream values are actually masculine, when the common, unanalysed, view is that they are gender free.  This leads on to women's issues becoming a deviation from the norm.

The questions Hall poses are: "how is gender constructed in representation; how does gender impact on the cultural forms that do the constructing, and how does the space designated "woman's" differ from the masculine norm?"  He uses soap opera to analyse the questions, but I will try to apply the principles to my creation of samplers (a female specific creation) that portray women.

Hall identifies (p346) the difference of the stereotypical woman (similar to my Mother's definition - stay-at-home mother and wife), and the psychologically rounded character and notes the cultural signifiers which are applied generically to the gender, rather than reflect the gender identities specific to the individual.  He says the psychologically rounded character in the media is as much an artificial construction (albeit more complex) as the stereotype (which is usually simpler).  I think my 6 individual women described on separate samplers will try to show the diversity of why I value them, thereby indicating they are not generic but individuals with assorted skills.

Hall (p347) describes the Marxist view where the groups who own the means of production (i.e. mass media) control and publicise a society's views.  This leads to the rich and powerful classes who control the media drip feed their own ideologies which make the status quo appear natural and suppress the individual analysis of observation and social circumstance (domination). Hall goes on to say that Gramsci adapted the view of domination by introducing hegemony.  Hegemony says power in democracy is partly achieved by force, but importantly, also by persuasion and consent - therefore it is always in a state of flux.  This had led to the targeting of groups, e.g. marginalised and minority viewpoints and negotiation between social, political and ideological perspectives to gain/alter power bases.  Representation is a key site for this.  Hall notes how the "Black is Beautiful" slogan changed race relations in the US and UK.  I wonder if I could make a mark for feminism by a "Women are Valuable" slogan.  (An alliterative slogan trips off the tongue better)

Trip to the Whitworth Gallery, Manchester

Vanda and I had a trip to Manchester to see the Art Textiles exhibition at the Whitworth Gallery.  This was in an old redbrick building that was part of the Manchester University campus.  The Gallery has had a huge modern extension put on the back, and this is where the textile exhibits were.

As usual, about two thirds of the exhibits left me cold, but the others were great.  The ones I liked were Ann Wilson's beautifully mounted squares of double damask, where the damaged area had been embellished by tiny blanket stitch around the hole, then the most minuscule seeding in blue (or brown/red/orange) like a shooting star.  The three pieces were about 24 x 18" and the holes varied from 2p, 20p and cigarette burn size.  Delightful.

Ann Wilson.

Vanda was really impressed by Mary Sibande's work from South Africa which commented on the role of the maid servant, the all-encompassing nature of her role and how she worked with her mother.  Vanda liked the size of the exhibit and the appropriate use of space in the large exhibition hall. Most imposing.

Mary Sibande

I liked the work by Lyn Malcolm, The Subversive Stitch.  Rozsika Parker' s book The Subversive Stitch was originally printed in 1984, but was reprinted in 2011, with a hand stitched sampler for the front cover.  Lyn Malcolm's work at the Art Textile exhibition was the original sampler!  It was stunningly beautifully stitched - very simple cross stitch and back stitch - and framed with a 6" calico mount all around it, thus privileging the work in the frame.  Exquisite.  

I was also very taken with an antique sampler by Doris A.R. from the 18th century.  It showed different mending techniques on a hemmed square of cloth - darning, patching, reverse appliqué, pulled work, hanging loops.  I was also impressed with a Suffrage banner, stitched in 1911 by Miss Burton and Miss Gosling, of the Women's Freedom League, captioned Dare to be Free.  It had obviously been out in the rain, as the colour from the stitching had bled into the ground velvet.   

A comment about Feminist Art was:  Don't illustrate the problem; challenge it.  Is this what I am doing with my samplers?  Not railing that women's skills are not recognised, but creating artwork that recognises it?  

The Future of Textile Culture - Conference at Royal College of Arts

This was a half day conference at the RCA.  Some of the top names in the textile arena were in the audience, (Alice Kettle, and Gina Pierce from London Met) and others whose names escape me, (as well as me and Vanda!).  Oddly, given the rarity of this type of event, some universities running higher degrees in this field, were unrepresented!  The conference was to promote a new book The Handbook of Textile Culture which promises to be a major reference book for the decade.  Just a quick flick through shows a very detailed bibliography for every essay - always a good indicator for a student.

I will focus on one presentation: Lived Lives - Materialising Stories of Young Irish Suicide.  This was a moving presentation, sensitively given, about how Seamus McGuinness worked with bereaved parents to create several artworks. These artworks positively represented young Irish people who had killed themselves, over a 5 year period.  From conversations with Irish staff where I worked, I was already aware that in Ireland, suicide is hugely stigmatised and if the nature of the death can be concealed, it will be.  According to the people I have spoken to, this is because people who have ended their own life are not allowed to be buried in consecrated ground.

The artist, Seamus McGuinness, was studying for his PhD and worked with Dr Kevin Malone, clinical psychiatrist, St Vincent's University Hospital and they wanted to find out "what artworks can do in society" (p149).  Seamus said one of the areas of difficulty was gaining agreement from the Ethics Committee to create the artworks.  The main area of contention was that he wanted to use their images and first name - this categorically is precluded on grounds of confidentiality and anonymity as specified by the Ethics and Medical Research Committee, and to which Lived Lives had to adhere.  However the  factor which gained the required consent, was that one of the parents attended the Committee Hearing and asked them by what right the Committee could prevent her giving permission for her child to be named in this way.  (p152)

There were both still and moving images of this artwork in the presentation.  21g was an artwork of 110 shirt collars ripped from shirts, suspended from the ceiling.  21g is the mythical decline in body weight at the moment of death, and 110 is the number of recognised suicides in Ireland in 2003.  It was an incredibly moving image.  There was a poignant comment made by a parent when viewing it "My son Patrick is in there somewhere".  Seamus said it was at this point he realised the cloth was a conduit to the people represented in their absence, and the nature of the cloth was a critical factor by its tactility and memory as much as the presentation and form in space.

Seamus noted official lines of investigation often overlook the lay knowledge of the family members.  He believes narratives and research methods which take lay knowledge into account create a potentially deeper comprehension.  While my work is not in anything like as difficult a field as Seamus works, I think it is an interesting concept that "unique human insights or small memories …" create individuality and uniqueness.  The essay in the book refers to Barthes 1993: 28 for "an ethical mode of listening"  I need to read this.

There were some powerful quotes from parents.  "I feel the best I have felt in 5 years, since my beloved first born child handed her life back to God".  A positive outcome from an artwork, and a positive way describe the ending of a life.

A really good day at class

I was at uni yesterday and had a great tutorial with Linden, my tutor.  

Linden is very enthusiastic about my sampler project, and we were talking about methodology (she gets very excited about different methods of research). I showed various bits of artwork I have done in Vanda's art class, so she could see how I work up ideas.  Linden has listened to various stories I have told about friend's mothers and family members and has various methods of research she wants me to use.  I was also told off!  She is very keen that I should have one of Aunt Joan's knitted sweaters as part of my research. She was seriously unimpressed that I had not accepted one of the sweaters when Allison offered one!  I need to talk to my cousin Allison to see whether there is one I can have.

Linden was very excited about the knitting book that I have inherited from Aunt Joan. I had planned to get it repaired by a bookbinder and was told not to, at least until I had done the research on the book.  Now I have looked at every page of the book, I know Aunt Joan knitted the pram set, gloves, a boy's sweater and a ladies top.  She ate a biscuit one day while knitting and also knitted in the garden soon after the grass had been mown!  

I might also knit one of the patterns and wear it at either the 2015 end of year show, or the 2016 MA show.  I think this is a great idea!

I told my Contextual Studies tutor, Lewis, about my ideas.  Because of all the stories I tell about family, he wants me to do some oral history research.  He was suggesting I find out whether family members are prepare to tell the family stories, and be recorded.  At present I know nothing about how to do this, so I need to find out at my next tute with him.  He was very keen that someone in the group should use oral history technique.  I have known for some time that Narrative is important to my work, but had not realised it would be an important part of my research.

I also handed in my Literature Review.  He was quite stunned.  I thought it had to be in on Friday 27 November, and I am busy with other things today and tomorrow.  So, obviously to my mind(!), the deadline comes forward.  He seemed not to expect it until about a week later.  Other class members seem confused about what is expected - a literature review or a report.  As is my wont, I just went ahead and did as I thought fit.

So I have an idea.  At present I have not spoken to Jim about all this, as he is not home until Sunday.  Jim and I were planning to go to Scotland between Christmas and New Year, to see his friend Grace, (who is about 85, quite disabled, but feisty and happy), and we normally spend a few days with her while we visit Glasgow, then have a few days in Edinburgh, before coming home.  This is not yet arranged.  So I was wondering whether Jim and I could pop into see Allison and other family members  either on the way up or back from Scotland.  I suspect my Uncle Jimmy might be quite interested in the actual recording process, as he is a retired engineer.  All my Dad's side of the family are supportive of my studies and I think they would be very keen and very interested in what I am doing.

Thoughts from the Swimming Pool: Literature Review

Today was my first swim in 5 weeks, due to illness and busy-ness occupying my time instead.  I managed 1500m instead of my usual 1750, but I was pleased with my swim because it enabled my thinking.

I thought through my introduction for my literature review.

This literature review will cover contributory factors for my MA By Project: Valuing Women.  The literature review will consider how culture demonstrates how social groups set value upon each other (Raymond Williams); the importance of metaphor in understanding underlying messages (Lakhoff and Johnson); the implications of Residual, Dominant and Emergent forms of culture (Raymond Williams); embodied cognition (Lambrous Malafouris); the significance of the object within western culture (Hudek); the gendering of the gaze (Laura Mulvey); and the use of stitch as a feminine medium (Rozika Parker).  Additionally I will also consider examples of visual artworks,by Tracey Emin (Tent), by Grayson Perry (Who Are You?) and one by Cornelia Parker (Magna Carta).

This breaks down to about 300 words per item.

I started reading Lambrous Malafouris but then developed a migraine.  So I took myself off the to chiropractor and he diagnosed "student's neck" and dealt with it.  I had not met this chiropractor before, and it turns out he sees himself as a feminist as he was brought up in a single parent household and his mother was a strong woman!  He was brought up to think a school community of 50% lesbians and the rest as strong independent women was normal, and was quite stunned to discover at age 18 that the rest of the world did not think likewise!

I found my reading fascinating but hard work.  It gave the detail that supported a conversation that Linden and I had had a couple of weeks ago.  A lot of the stuff I have been looking at recently comes from 1930s, retheorised in 1980s, so I was very glad that Malafouris is writing in 2014 and it is cutting edge thinking.  Having read, paraphrased and slept on it, I hope today to be able to write some of the detail in easy words, to be half way between the complexity of the author and the simplicity of my conversation with Linden.

Raymond Williams - Culture 1981, Fontana Press

P12. Culture: a developed state of mind; means  of processes like the arts; informing spirit of a way; whole social order.

P13. Cultural practices become constitutive as it forms a signifying system through which a social order is apparent.  Usually analysed and identified by all social, artistic and intellectual activities.

P26.  Ideology - the formal and conscious beliefs of a class or social group and the characteristic world view or perspective of a class or social group, and their broader beliefs, attitudes, habits and feelings.  Sociological analysis of culture operates via the senses to evaluate social class, politics, economics and occupation.  The wider unseen feelings, attitudes and assumptions can only be measured by observed behaviour, but clearly mark the culture of a specific class.  This is identified by lived experience of social practice and the cultural production of these groups demonstrates their beliefs via macro control systems (politics and faith), but also via drama, art, literature.

P27 Williams says there is a strong correlation between formal and conscious beliefs of class and group, the cultural production associated with it, via the perspectives and values that the group beliefs make normal and acceptable.  What the group focusses on (both by attention and omission) leads to identifiable links between belief systems and artistic forms, and position and positioning.

P80 He used the Bloomsbury Group as an example of early 20thC culture.
They came from aristocracy and landed gentry.  Their group featured:

- university educational achievement
- serve dominant social order and are a division of it
- values of higher education
- possession of general broad (not national or class) sculpture
- practice of intellectual and professional skills (plus dissidence via insistence on wholly open intellectual enquiry and opposed to stupidity and incompetence of political and economic leaders (!) )
NB Girls were largely excluded from education then.

P126  Social processes of art.  Williams says art in its most sustained and popular forms attempts to position itself above society; whereas an analysis shows a disguised social (class) process.  Historically the position of art practices with hierarchy has always taken place:  court/peasant; aristocratic/folk; high/popular.

P130 The arts as social forms - signals of art.  Consider Occasion and Place.  When do we look at art?  In a gallery - high art.  On a street wall - low art.  In a concert hall or theatre - high art.  A busker - low art.  A trip out or private view makes it an occasion.  So when is it not occasion?  In the domestic?
Does this mean Post Modernism has upset all this with the power of the individual?

P207 Culture as a signifying system.  Distinguishable as a language that shows the thoughts and ideals via a body of signifying work.   The artistic output moves from the individual to the institution via state of mind - individual practice - systems - the institutions and works exhibited.

P208 Culture is most easily shown and identified where it is most clearly displayed.  Art in the public domain has to fit with other signifying systems - political; economic; social; technological; legal.  Post modernism has made it much more individual.

Quite interesting but I am not sure where it takes me or what my conclusions are  … yet.

Chris Smith (former course leader for MA by Project)

Chris Smith led a seminar where we discussed 2 chapters of a PhD student, Andrew Gray, about Reflection In and Reflection On Practice.

He described how research practice had evolved from 1992 when Art PhDs were first being delivered. They started with:

Problem solving model                             ---------->      How to improve professional practice
derived from Science/Medical programmes
1992 driven by requirement for Arts funding

            Person                                                                Unfortunately cyclical model did not work
                                                                                       very well for Art.
Recipient       External observations                               Schon and reflective practice fits here instead

- Understand your practice.  Reflection and Reflexivity.

- Understand what constructs your world (I think I covered this in the intro to my Proposal.  I think it can be summed up that I did not  like being under-valued by my peer group at work, so I don't like other people being under-valued either, particularly when I represent that group - i.e. women)
- Understand what constructs the mirror.  (Not sure what this is for me)
- What model is in your head when you draw conclusions. (not sure)

Consider Reflection In, and Reflection On.  I don't think I reflection on my practice when I am creating.  I am more likely to be reflecting on the people I am representing.  Reflection on my practice comes after  I have done it.

When writing the report of practice, consider to whom are you describing.  Think about the difference to the audience Mother/child/mates when the question is asked "What did you do at school today?"  Different language and content would be used.

Make description useful.  Practice is messy.  Make neat and tidy.  Fit to audience.  Prove/Improve.

Get a descipline.  A self imposed method or set of rules - Dewey.

Definitional rules - difficult to apply
Preferential rules - judgmental.  Easier.  Is it a chair or a sculpture.

Naturalised   )  Reflection in Actions
Constructed  )

Use of Agency (I) gives a unique position/observational position, as opposed to social conditioning.

Grounded theory - data speaks to you.

Good to use rules to journey to an unknown destination.  I might need help to identify and comprehend my rules.

Implicit models of reflection - messy/inconsistent/what we do.
Explicit models of reflection - consistent.

There is a need for supervisors and students to be able to pick up and run with suggestions for lines of enquiry.

Keeping a diary - description - themes come up.  I need to work out how to use tags/keywords on my blog to be able to search themes later.

Be suspicious of authority.  How does it fit in with your practice? Don't claim association of your practice with theory, especially via secondary texts.  Always go to the original.  Theory and practice need to dovetail well.  Good integration required.

Methods are tools.  No more than that.  Are they useful?  Appropriate?  Will it give a useable output?

Studying for an MA is about understanding your own practice.  You are expected to be working at the boundary of knowledge.  Whereas a PhD contributes new knowledge to the field.

I am not sure whether I am practice based or practice led.

Get your stuff out, put it on a table and look at it.  Seeing it as a collection will enable reflection and analysis.  What work does the artwork do?

Colleneck (?)  Art is a random collective practice - and we show who we are and what we know we are by our art output.  Art is about rhetoric and speech.  Identify your rules and move to difference.  The rule is to break the rules.

Work out the format of your artwork.  In my case the sampler contributes to the message.   Banners could do the same.

Coherence will be measured.  This is the perception and experience of materials used, and outlines an attribute of us.  There is a reverberation between dialogue and materials.  Part of the motor that brings things together.  They are not seeking problem solving.  Not knowing in action but discovering in action.


This was followed by a session with Lewis for Contextual Studies.  I was somewhat alarmed to realise we are expected to produce a 3,000 word draft Literature Review by 27 November - about 10 days time!  Time to get cracking.

Linden's lecture - Contemporary Art - 200 onwards.

I need to get this written up fast, as I have another day of lectures tomorrow.

Con - with
temporarius - time, pertaining to
Art - whatever you want it to be.

She described the crisis between Modernism and Post Modernism

Modernism                                        Post Modernism

Trust absolute truth                           Reject truth - point out assumptions

Fact through logic and observation   Facts created by assumptions

Desire for Absolute Doctrine            Diverse doctrines

Emphasised logic proportions            Emphasises story, journey, perspective

                                                          Role of images

Culture is now a discourse of ideas via postmodern techniques
Foucault - all participants are in operation of power.  Not top down any more.  The obsession with spectacle.  (Does this account for society expecting to be entertained by others, rather than doing things themselves - in my view we have become a passive society).

Contemporary art operates with many themes from both modernism and post modernism.  We recognise that these are no longer seen as clearly defined periods.  Modernism made the assumption (Greenberg) Purity = logic, which PM challenges.  Yet we pick and mix post 2000 which bits of each style we want to use.

Raymond Williams identified patterns with culture via Dominant, Residual and Emergent.  In post 2000 Linden's analysis is:

Dominant - marketisation
Residual - bits from past (Mod/PM)
Emergent - Not yet recognised but present and significant

Art history used to indicate one style follows another, but this is now hugely challenged.  Many names for post 2000.  Post conceptual art; pseudo modernism; alter modernism.

Marketisation of art - 1990 on.  Saatchi.  M Thatcher spitting image.  1984-5 Miners strike.  Everything building up to be less respectful and polite.

Telegraph merits of investing in art -v- property 1997-2015

FTSE                           up   45%
Picasso                              462%
Central London property  407%
Wider London property   334%
UK property                    205%         Where would you put your money?

Mind you, stats are for averages for everything except Picasso where they have picked the highest yielding artist, not an average.

International Art Index - lists top 50 artists - buyers don't even look at the art.  Just buy.  This worries many artists.  Glut causes price fall.  Markets can be rigged by buying or preventing sales.

PR theory has recognised Art is good for PR.  Cities and Governmnets use art as propaganda.  Art represents towns.  Turner prize is televised - bringing art and spectacle together.  All big cities have art galleries - Whitworth in Manchester; Helsinki.

Artists catch the news - by being spectacult.  Sensation 1997.  RA.  however sensation is diminishing - audience is jaded.  People fed up of spectacle of Chapman bros destroying art.

Guy Debord identified Society of the Spectacle in 1967.  Image obsessed and impact on us.  We are image obsessed - and this is a very contemporary issue.

Most countries have a Biennale - good for global image and economic dynamism.  Location becomes HQ for tourism and investment.  But the other side is Joburg Biennale 1995 - excluded black community - and was thus seen as the sycophantic courting of the international art world - and not necessarily a good thing.

2001 Michael Landy Breakdown.  Examination of consumerism.  Mince all his possessions in derelict C&A store over 2 weeks. A reverse assembly belt.  100m of conveyor belts - 7,000 bags of stuff and sold it.

2008 D Hirst Sothebys Bypassed the Gallery and sold direct to auction.  Demonstrated the insanity of the market. This took place on the day of Lehmans collapse.  The sale was the work of art.

Market fundamentalism (Thatcherism? 1980s) says the market will solve all economic and social problems.  Foucault - Discouse (a bit of knowledge) is a set of ideas shared between many.  Market fundamentalism discourse says single point will trigger the rest e.g. the market will deliver.

Museums etc represent ideologies to shape our understanding of history, knowledge, natural world, objective scientific methods and subject influences.  Modern field of research.

Trappings of investigation - post medium and spectacle.  The vast uncoordinated.  An effective research programme potential.  Defines what we are and what we know and where we might go.

Post medium condition - Grayson Perry.  "You are Here" Gave reasons for people going to art galleries.

Fundamentally Art sets up camp wherever it wants.  Points out storytelling is important and reflects what we are.  John Dewer - Art enables the experience of experience.

Preparation for Pecha Kucha presentation

The subject we have been given is Soho Square - Front and Back.

I was looking at different people represented in Soho Square.
The Catholic Church serves Spanish and Chinese communities as well as English speaking

I chose to interpret Front and Back as Front and Other
Inside the church, it became apparent the unscrupulous prey on the faithful.
So Front gives one message of welcome, and Other gives a different message - of hazard.

The House of Charity does not make its purpose clear from the front.

From the side, The House of St Barnabas tells  passers-by that it works with the homeless

As a House of Charity it accepts alms from passers-by

From the side,
you can see the penny chute drops the coins into a secure area in the adjoining building

From the front, or road side, the street art coloured pigeons appear puzzling

From the back, or pavement side, the artwork is explained.
It is about homelessness, ownership, acceptance or marginalisation
for those seeking a natural home or acceptance in society

The front shows an imposing facade
stating it is a hospital which serves Women, and is supported by Voluntary Contributions

The side shows today it is the Soho NHS Walk-in Centre,
and serves a large Chinese community.

 Pecha Kucha presentations give you 20 seconds to talk about each slide, so you are limited to key points about each one.  It makes presentations modern - a bullet point, or soundbite, about image.  I think I have enough information, showing how I have taken a given subject, but given it a slant to focus on specific groups of people - which is what I am interested in.

I think it is a useful technique, which has forced me to use images in my presentations. Previously I have used script bullet points, as I am quite literate.  It is a presentation technique which is very useful for people with dyslexia, and has given me a more visual style to add to my repertoire.

Raymond Williams - Keywords. An idea.

I have had a quick skim of Raymond Williams Keywords.  He came up with the theory that at any one time, social culture had elements of Dominant, Residual and Emergent.  There are many different beliefs and practices going on concurrently, but some are historically more long lived (and may be out-of-date), some take precedence, and others are comparatively new and still evolving.

If I think of my 6 samplers that I want to make, I wonder whether I can fit my six women to this theory. I would like to have two women in each category.  I see my Aunt Joan (stay at home housewife and mother) as fitting with the Residual theory.  Miss Evans as a Geography student at Girton 1942-45 and subsequent headmistress might fit with Dominant from a culture that valued education, but could also be Residual because during her educational years, women were not awarded a Bachelors degree!  Women at Girton (and other universities) were only awarded degrees from 1948.  In order for her to have letters after her name (on the School sign at the entrance to Beal Grammar for Girls), she had to get her MA, and was never allowed to put BA, MA.

Mrs Evans, Sharon's Mum who took me swimming, worked full time when it was unusual for women with a family, to work.  I am not sure where she would fit. Emergent? Or Dominant, because she carried out the usual motherly, caring skills?  Mrs Konieczny, Anita's Mum, I think would fit with Residual, because of the way in which her family treated her.  She was a qualified nurse but was instructed to give up her job, and work unpaid, as carer to elderly family members.  There was an expectation that her role was to serve them, with no thought to the impact on her personal life. When she met and married her husband, this couple wrote her out of their will!

The fifth person I would like to include in one of my samplers is one of my former tutors.  I have a lot of time for this tutor, because of the commitment and energy she puts into sharing her skills with students.  This tutor also represents a couple of minority groups, who previously have been under-represented (and under-valued in my opinion) and I would very much like her to consent to being one of my subjects for portrayal.  I can see her in no other category than Emergent.

Who else would I like to portray, who might be deemed Dominant?

Metaphors We Live By - Lakoff and Johnson

I have been reading.  A Metaphor is a figure of speech by which a thing is spoken of, as being that which it only resembles, e.g. when a ferocious man is said to be a tiger.

Lakoff & Johnson have observed that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life - we think, act and speak in metaphor.  However it is fairly difficult to evidence thinking and acting in metaphor so it is easier to start the analysis with language. If you can understand one kind of thing in terms of another, you have grasped the essence of metaphor.

They demonstrated this by the statement "argument is war".

"Your claims are indefensible
He attacked every weak point in my argument
His criticisms were right on target
I demolished  his argument" etc.

The language used above is not poetic, fanciful or rhetorical.  It is literal.  If we talk about arguments because that is how we think about them, and act accordingly, analysing the language leads us to a conclusion that metaphor could control our lives.  Lakoff and Johnson state the human conceptual system is metaphorically structured and defined.

They then categorise the groups into which metaphors fall: orientational, ontological, structural etc

A structural metaphor is Time is Money, where one concept is metaphorically structured as another. Lakoff and Johnson focus on how in Western culture time is perceived as a valuable commodity, and a limited resource to achieve goals.  Doesn't this show we are part of a consumer society!  However there many cultures and societies where this is not true - only industrialised societies do this.  Western society consider time as something that can be spent, wasted, budgeted, invested or squandered, and the metaphor can be observed in people's actions.

An orientational metaphor gives a concept of spatial orientation e.g. Happy is Up, as demonstrated by the expression "I'm feeling up today". So Happy is Up; Sad is Down. "You are in high spirits, I'm feeling down".  

Conscious is Up; Unconscious is Down:  "Wake up; He fell asleep"
Health and Life are Up; Sickness and Death are Down": "He's at the peak of health; He's sinking fast."
Having Control of Force is Up; Being Subject to Control of Force is Down:  "I am on top of the situation; He ranks above me in strength."
More is Up; Less is Down: "My income rose last year;  When too hot, turn the heat down".  
Rational is Up; Emotional is Down.  "The discussion fell to the emotional level but I raised it back up to the rational  plane".

Ontological metaphors enable us to understand our experiences as objects or substances e.g. Inflation is an Entity - inflation is taking its toll at the checkout, or the Mind is a Machine "My imagination is firing on all cylinders".

However, my field of interest lies in metaphors that relate to women.  I have noted the phrases "he fathered  a child" and "she fell pregnant".  I think there is a difference in the use of positive and negative orientational metaphor.  The association with the man is paternalistic by the use of the word "fathered", fits with the Morality is Strength metaphor described by Zoltan Kovecses, where there upright (male) person remains good.  But the association with the woman is negative by the downward direction of the word "fell".

Additionally there is the phrase "he was the breadwinner and she was the homemaker".  Could this indicate Competitive Success is Up and Maker is Down?  Not sure.  I think winner  is definitely Up but I am not sure about the maker being down, although I feel it is lesser.  Perhaps it would be clearer if the whole words breadwinner and homemaker are considered.

Maybe I should collect more examples!  There must be lots.