Thinking about my literature/artist review

I've decided I'm an artist, not an author.  I'm struggling with the writing, but I persevere because it is so useful to the thinking behind the artwork.

I've been writing about Grayson Perry and Object in the Foreground.  It is a brilliant piece about masculinity, what it is, and what it does.  I'm definitely interested in how women are treated as the Other to men.  A friend said a lot of what I'm looking at is related to post-colonialism - which came into thought/teaching after I left school, so all my interest base has been initiated from my own thinking and observation, and will be expanded by reading around the subject.

GP's book The Descent of Man has been very informative, and I have far more to say because of reading it, than I should put in his artist review.  But upskilling my writing ability, is leading me to conclude that what I want to write about 'men do and women appear', articulated by both GP and John Berger, may fit better in another section of the essay.  This is an essay about Valuing Women, not GP!

But I am so, so, slow with the writing.  Stitch is so much easier!

Progress on Fitzwilliam Museum Sampler

I've not been writing much on the blog recently because I've been working on Elizabeth Billingsley's 1653 sampler.  Here's progress to date:

This is what I managed in the 4.5 hour class

I forgot to take photos in the middle of the work!

There are a couple more photos but they have not migrated from my phone to my computer - not sure why. More computer skills required!

Needle Museum, Redditch

Great trip to the Needle Museum.  Astonishing range of needles.  Not only made all sorts of sewing and surgical needles, but netting, knitting, fishhooks, hypodermics, anything metal and pointed.

The old mill building was absolutely stuffed with needles.  In industrial Britain, specialist manufacturing was located in specific towns.  Not sure why Redditch ended up with needles but maybe coal and water supplies were part of the reason.  Needle making was very hazardous to health but paid good money, so high wages and low life expectancy were common.  Sharpening the needles created toxic powder.  

Fancy swivel top brass needle holder.

There were no price comparisons for needles then and now, but I cannot imagine these highly wrought needles being anything other than extremely expensive.  Plus the dyed threads, high count linen, scissors etc.  So the 1653 samplers at the Fitzwilliam must have been made by 'middling sort' girls.  These samplers cannot have been made by ordinary working class girls.  I need to find robust sources to back up my opinion that samplers were made by the affluent girls, until the marking of linen was taught in schoolrooms for the purpose of tracing household linens at the laundry.  

Barking Library - factory stories

On Monday 16 March, I went to Barking Library to meet Sarah Jackson from East End Women's Museum and team about oral history recording for the Factory Stories project.  Barking & Dagenham are starting a women's museum, with the East End Women's Museum team, and have heritage lottery funding to record stories of women and factories during this summer.

I spoke to Fani, the administrator, and someone else (whose name escapes me!) about what they are looking for when interviewing.  ... said what fascinates her is what interviewees are prepared to tell - sometimes they are quite open about things that seem shocking, or can be very articulate about very mundane things.  I told her about my Aunt Daisy, and how appalled my mother was that Daisy went on strike during the Machinists dispute at Fords.

I have put myself forward to be trained as an interviewer, for their oral history recording project.  Sounds like 6 hours of training will be arranged - 1 x 4 hour session and 1 x 2 hour session.  I will also be an interviewee too, possibly at my home or in Barking.

I'm looking forward to it.

Hanbury Hall, National Trust

Jim and I went to Hanbury Hall, National Trust to see what was included in their Women and Power exhibition, for the 100th anniversary of selective female suffrage.

In the first room there was a sign :

Women and Power.  Women make up over 50% of the population but are less than 0.5% of recorded history.  Women who are working class are a tiny proportion of that 0.5%.

I wondered whether this was an accurate statistic, and have emailed to see where it comes from.  They may answer on Monday.  Also, what inspired them to put this sign in the first room visitors entered?  Is this because NT staff often get men asking 'when are you going to do an exhibition about men?' because the dominant subject does not realise nearly everything is about them.  History is nearly always focussing on men .... up till now?

Hand stitched gloves and stretcher.

Hogarth was related by marriage to the family of Hanbury Hall, and his Harlot's Progress was on display.  I was familiar with the Rake's Progress,  but not of the Harlot's Progress.  Apparently the Harlot's progress was the first that Hogarth produced, but the Rake's Progress is more popular.  Is the Harlot's progress deemed less worthy as a story, or less appropriate because it demeans women?

I had an interesting conversation with the steward about the role of the WI.  One of the ladies of the Hall was a leading light in the WI, and participated in much of their campaigning.  I queried why their campaigning for the compulsory wearing of crash helmets by motor cyclists was not on the list.  Mind you, they have campaigned on so many worthy campaigns, it might not have fitted on their list!

Charles I, King and Collector, and Bourne Mill Needle Museum, Redditch

On Thursday 5 March, I went with Matt to Charles I, King and Collector.  We were only there an hour, and this was too rushed, but we went after he finished work at 4.30.  I'm not into Charles I but there was one interesting portrait, Agnola Bronzino's Portrait of a Woman in Green.  I've noticed before that when there is a blackwork collar, the stitched pattern on the inside is different to the stitched pattern on the outside.  Lovely details.

Courtesy of Royal Collection

Then Jim and I had a run up to Redditch to go to the Needle Museum.  Very interesting.  Needle making in Victorian times was a skilled and highly dangerous (often fatal) job.  There are about 40 stages of making a needle - drawing the length, punching the eyes, splitting, shaping, smoothing, polishing, packing.   But sharpening the needles was the most dangerous because the metal dust destroyed the lungs.

Women packing needles were tested to see whether their hands would tarnish the needles.  They used to be given a handful of needles to hold for a few seconds, then these needles would be put in a tiny airtight tin.  If they had not tarnished after a few days, the girl would be given the job.  Some people's sweat tarnishes needles.  When I used to stitch as a teenager, I tarnished needles very quickly, yet now I don't.  I have tried to find out what it is in sweat that tarnishes needles, but have no definitive answer.  I suspect some acid comes out in sweat (like it does in cystitis).  If so, I would be unsurprised to discover that my teenage diet (highly processed, not enough fluids) led to my sweat being acidic, so I was destroying needles.  A better diet now seems to have improved my impact on needles!

Needle packaging 

Sailors leather palm and needles for repairing sails

Needles used on a patent darner

Early hypodermic syringes.  Another form of needles.

Incredibly fine hand embroidery on christening chemise.
How good would their eyes have been to stitch white on white at this very fine scale?!

These hypodermic needles were originally made from sheet metal, rolled and brazed. Now they are drilled out from a carbon steel core and drawn out until sufficiently thin for modern surgery.

Bronze needle holder.  Rotate to close.

Diagram of needle dimensions

Fancy packaging for needles

Different types of needle eyes.
This calyx eye was promoted for visually impaired people but never really caught on.

Buttonholes

Arm and blade symbol of Milwards Needles

Old fashioned needle display, including fancy curved needles

Gramophone needle box

More commercial needle displays

The tempering of the metal affected the playing tone.
There were 4 grades, most commonly loud and soft.

Fancy boxes for gramophone needles.