Tutorial - 14 June - with Imogen

NOTES OF TUTORIAL - IMOGEN RACZ/CATHY MACTAGGART

Wednesday 14 June 2018 

I met  Imogen on 14 June.  I said I had been working with the East End Women’s Museum/East Side Community Heritage and was volunteering with them to do oral history interviews, as part of my MA skills development.  I had finalised the design and script for my sampler, and there was a lot of stitch to be done. Imogen queried whether I used the term embroidery, sewing or stitch and why.  I like stitch, because it makes me feel less old-fashioned than embroidery or sewing. Stitch as a verb – to join, adorn or enclose with thread by piercing with a needle. Sew – to join, attach, enclose or work upon with a needle and thread.  Embroider -  to ornament with designs in needlework; to add ornament or fictitious detail; exaggeration or invented detail.

I was making good progress with my essay ‘cooking on gas’. I should press on and get it to the Final Draft stage, now it has rested for a couple of weeks.  Imogen advised to:

-      Think about themes and compare/contrast between artists (Chicago and Shapiro). They were working with similar themes, in different ways. Decoration and meaning.

-      Where is it going

-      Make statements and elaborate; identify notions and unpack.  Sometimes I do this well, and sometimes I don’t.

-      Consider underused female crafts; abstract expressionism. 

Consider visual linguistic coding. Visual tropes – culturally understood – multi-level. Issues which are normalised yet undervalued.   Perception of textiles – female labour.  

Don’t worry too much about word count. What is in it, is what is important. I’m aiming for about 5,000 words.

Imogen said I needed to revisit my Ethics form – because of recent alterations to the Data Protection Act. Where my work has evolved, the ethics form needs to take into account my upcoming exhibition and oral history; and potential progression to PhD for destroy dates etc.  

Actions:

CMT to get essay to Final Draft by 27/6/18 (next tute after Tessa Lynch talk)

IR to provide one example of where I make the statement and elaborate, and one where I don’t

CMT to revise Ethics Form and send for approval.

I'm a bit worried about this.  I've been writing about Chicago, Shapiro and Perry because of what they have done and how it informs my practice.  I have not been considering them in relation to each other.  I'm not really interested in them in relation to each other.  But is this part of ramping up my writing skills to MA level?  I think it is going well ... but is Imogen pushing me to see just how well I can do?  I did really well in my first piece of writing before Christmas, but hit the buffers big time in January as I felt maintaining that level of achievement was unattainable!

I would like to get this work wrapped up really early, as I'd like some time off over the summer.  The first year of the Masters finished on 21 Sept, and the new year starts on 23rd!  It seems ages since Jim and I had an extended holiday together.  I think it might do him good as well - he's had a rough time of it recently with various aches and pains.

OK - first thing to do is print and read my essay so far, then see how I can compare and contrast.