Today, there was only Jane and me at class, so Vanda made the most of it, and set us exercises to work larger. Over the last few weeks my artwork has focussed on how to interpret stitch in art. Several weeks ago I was trying to use a paintbrush and ink as if I was stitching, which gave some interesting motifs. Then I reinterpreted the motif, back into stitch, using cross stitch. Today, I scaled the motif up to A1 size, working in charcoal, compressed charcoal, and white emulsion. Jane and I started with 10 minute drawings, then 8, 6, 4 minutes. As usual it took me a while to get round to only drawing part of the motif - I always try to include everything, which is not necessary.
After lunch, we were set to reinterpret our drawings by using them as raw materials to make collage versions of my motif. Having done a couple, Vanda then suggested I think a bit more about textiles and use textile techniques to interpret the motif. So I set to a couple of paper weavings in even weave - with which I was delighted. I have more collage off cuts left, so may cut the strips more narrow, or try different weave patterns.
As we were working large, I wished I had brought my camera, to photograph the A1 drawings on the wall. A1 drawings are difficult to store, and as I used them for collage, I have no record of my original large drawings now. So photographs would have meant I had a record, and would have fitted in my sketchbook!
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| Drawing stitches using brush and ink |
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| Experiments using sampling as a process, not as an outcome. I had been making a Georgian sampler and struggled to think of sampling as a process. |
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| Interpreting my stitch drawings, back into cross stitch sampler technique |
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| Collage from A1 originals, where I had drawn large versions of my stitch samples. |
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| More A1 collage |
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| Using bits of collage paper to interpret my stitch drawings into weave technique (appropriate for the skill base of Huguenot textile workers) |
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| More woven collage |
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| Collage with 1.5 inch wide strips |
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| Collage with .5cm wide strips. Deliberately unfinished, to look a bit frayed. |
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| Woven collage. Half inch strips. Stitch drawings woven with atlas index with English and French towns marked in red or black |
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| Woven collage. Atlas index and map of England, English Channel and France |
We had a very reassuring discussion about my angst about the MA class - basically I am feeling inadequate. Vanda did not work out her research question until her second year. But we also discussed how to start gathering information - guided by my interests. I like Grayson Perry and Cornelia Parker because of how they represent people and make the materials and format of the work fit the subject. Find more artists in similar fields. I am making political statements with my work - so look at propaganda and political art. Look at artists who make political statements - Ai Wei Wei is on at RA, Banksey; IRA mural art, suffragette art. Look at Caroline Broadhead and Maria Militsi, who are both at the top of their game. Look at Caren Garfen who makes political statements about women. I see a new artist research folder coming on.
Categories:
Artists using materials that aid the concept
Artists making political statements
Organisations that make political statements with their Advertising/artwork
Organisations who publish their Collections or Development policy.
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