Writing my blog instead of riding my bike!

I am still full of the cold.  I have had it for 8 days and I am not impressed.  I wanted to do the Easy Rider bike ride today, but can't breathe well enough.  So I will write up my class notes instead.

I think I have worked out something significant about how I want to use the sampler as an object.  Samplers were worked by women and often portrayed something that was valued by the woman who made it.  I think I want to use samplers to portray something valued of women.

I thought about ob - ject (thrown against) and ab - ject (thrown away).  I intend to throw quite a lot of meaning against the sampler.  I want to use the sampler as a vehicle to carry the meanings I throw against it.

I have also thought about how to make my series of works about women, appealing to a diverse audience.  Often work that is about one group can exclude others.  If I want my work to appeal to men as well, how do I achieve that?  I am not a banner waving feminist.  I believe women are hugely under-valued and frequently typecast into less important roles.  But I want to use persuasion and positive representation to increase our profile.  So do I need to include other types of people - ethnic minority, disabled, gay, ….?  Actually, was this what Grayson Perry did in the National Portrait Gallery?  He included all sorts of different people, including a straight white man (Liberal politician Chris Huhne).  I think I need to get the first couple designed and done before I expand the range.

In class we discussed

Variation -v- consistency
Collection -v- series
Butterfly -v- linear

I think a collection of work has variation and the style and subject matter can butterfly about.
Whereas a series of work develops from one to next in a linear progress with consistent themes.

I could see a series of samplers about women.  But I could also see a set of work on banners, about suffragettes from different countries (we were a long way behind in worldwide female suffrage); a set of tea towels about cooks who have improved cooking skills (not necessarily women!); a set of religious traditional clothing about the faithful who have achieved inter-faith tolerance ….

We were shown a form that helped identify your rules that define what you are trying to achieve:

Aim of the piece

To draw attention to the skills and talents of women

My Strategy for Achieving this:

Make samplers that are about women and their skills, rather than by a woman and what she values.
So the woman, as well as being the subject, becomes the object against which meaning is thrown.

The extent and ways in which I achieved my aim

The extent and ways in which my strategy did not work.  

We discussed the difference between Essays, Reports, and Proposal:

Proposal - about the future, what you plan to do.
Report - A historical account of your process and outcomes.  What went well/badly
Essays - more about argument and review of a subject.

We discussed making a plan for work.  Use post-it notes to cover all key points of what you want to research.  Put important comments or quotes on the back.  Collect together and sequence them.  Something like an organogram in business.

We get feedback on our draft proposals next week, and then need to present to the group on 8 December.  We articulate the purpose of our proposals, and be clear what we want the group to contribute.  10 mins presentation, 20 mins discussion.  My first thought is that I need to get the men to say what I need to include in my Valuing Women work, to appeal to men as well.

Gareth had a helpful suggestion when he saw my Artist Research folder.  He creates an artistography - 50 words per artist stating why the work is significant to him.  I have noted key words about each artist already.  Would 50 words add to this?  Not sure.