I have been looking at the statement "An aim that becomes clear". As I need to write quickly, I am not going to alter any typos that arise because of the IPad keyboard. this will mean lots of wrong letters and, frustratingly, lots of missed initial caps. But less moaning.
I have been thinking about the aim that becomes clear. I think I am looking at Valuing Women. this is because I have felt many skills are overlooked in the workplace and in the portrayal of women in media. However it is not only women who have their skills and talents overlooked. I am quite happy to look at anyone whose goodness is unrecognised. I have chosen to restrict it to women at this stage
I think I want to work in stitch and textile media, so will this mean it does not appeal to men? I want this work to be viewed by all sorts of people, and specifically not only women. so does this mean the body of work needs to be displayed at a venue that has a mixed audience? if I am working with stitch portraits of women, I would not want it displayed at the Knit and Stitch. I do not want a solely female audience. but may be at the National Portrait Gallery (fits with their Collections and Devt policy -non-typical media and under-represented groups) or at the FitzWilliam Gallery (fits with their collection of samplers). What a scary thought to approach big organisations! (Wrings hands anxiously)!.
I like to use lots of different methods of finding things out. I am much happier if I can get out and about 2 or 3 days a week to go and look at things and do things. sometimes Jim comes too, sometimes not. he always likes going away for a few days, even if I am researching something that does not interest him. He happily sits in tea shops reading the paper or goes and checks out the local bike shop.One of the assets of our lifestyle is that we have the funds and the inclination to be able to investigate whatever we want, and we can usually combine our interests. I would very much like to go to see Judy Chicago's work "The Dinner Party" at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. I know Jim will happily do another bike tour in the USA and some time in 2016 I am sure we can work out a suitable time to sort out a route for both of us to ride, that ends up in NY for me to have a few days at the museum.
Is my work actually about valuing difference? I have felt significantly excluded and outside of the group when my skill base was different to the rest of the team. My skill base was valuable, but because of my difference to the group, my talents were ignored. I want to bring to public view the skills of women that are unrecognised. But I also want the unrecognised skills of men acknowledged too. I think it is easier to value people and what they do, when they are "like me". This may be on the grounds of gender, and other obvious criteria, but could be on the grounds of of something trivial like football club membership of membership of the RSPB? So if people are actively disvalued, is it because they are "not like me"? This takes me back to learning to be recruitment interviewer, when you are introduced to the 'Halo and Horns' effect where interviews who are "like me" are deemed to perform well because they are seen with a halo, so get marked highly, and interviewees "not like me" have the devil's horns and everything they say gets marked down.
When I think about all the different exploratory methods we discussed in class, I come back to how we, as artists (and people in general) need to nourish and feed our artistry via self and others. Art classes was not included on the list, but for me, group art classes are very important. I have always had a walk round the class at some point during the day, to look at other people's work. I have had different responses to this by class members. Some have got all shy about their work, others have been surprised at my interest, others still said they personally could not be bothered with the effort of looking at class members work. When it is not part of class practice, I do it (normally when my work has ground to a halt or I have just messed it up!) because I find it inspiring to see how others people are interpreting a theme. When it is a class activity, it is good to hear what other class members think of your work. But summing up, the outcome is that I find it Nourishing and Feeding.
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