Tutorial with Jill, 28/11/18

I told Jill of my activities over the last 2 weeks – Visit to National Archive and East End Women’s Museum celebration for Women and Factories project.    My visit to National Archive reading the Scamp Report had incensed me because of the incompetence of the investigation, but had inspired me to make artwork about my findings.  We identified working within Archives could something I would take forward. 

I attended the EEWM Women and Factories celebration, and met the newly appointed Director of the EEWM (missed her name).  This was a useful contact.  The East End Women’s museum is planned to open late 2019, and she is planning funding streams first.  While swimming I had an idea about an exhibition of my work.  My samplers are all about women in the East London, so the EEWM is the optimal venue.  Additionally, I could run workshops with interested groups, to identify women who they value and make artwork about these women.  Jill said to follow up this idea.

Jill advised me to do the reading suggested last time:Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project; Steven Scrivener, Cognitive Surprise; Donald Schon, the double loop of learning; Linda Candy, the transformative spiral of research. (I’d focussed on writing and visiting last week; reading will be done next week). Expand Csikszentmihalyi. Insert reflective reading/analysis throughout text. Show evidence of understanding of reflective practice.  Jill liked my writing to date – more needed about rubber glove.  Consider what others can see/interpret in my work, as well as my point of view as artist.  Also use time to reflect on work and review them from a distance.  Use a mirror to look at work, from a different perspective (similar to flipping photos on phone).

Jill liked the image The Caring Hand of Mother.  Since starting work on Intellectual Woman, my work has changed, and in part, simplified. Advised to reflect on why The Caring Hand of Mother is effective as it is so simple.  Read Steven Scrivener – cognitive surprise.  Compare and contrast Intellectual Woman – Home Maker Woman and The Caring Hand of Mother.  Identify how it is so potent, with simplicity.  I identified that Intellectual Woman used too many words (telling), whereas The Caring Hand of Mother was simple, did not use words, and allowed the viewer to come up with their own meaning – further analysis required.

Stack images together; identify similarities/differences; identify how I have achieved the effect. 

Actions:  

Lots of reading. 

Contact EEWM with idea for exhibition at museum after opening date.

Reflect on evolution of work from Intellectual Woman, through artwork, to Migrant Worker Woman.

DONM-     12/12 with JJ and IR; 

-      9/1/19 tutorial, + presentations from Jen and Darren.

National Archive visit - the Scamp Inquiry - 15 November 2018

What an interesting day out!

The National Archive is huge, modern building with gardens and waterside areas, close to Kew Gardens station.  The building is similar in style to the Home Office and Foreign Office, and I suspect has been designed to be bomb proof.

National Archive, Kew

I'd ordered papers on the Scamp Inquiry online, and had to register for a Reader's Ticket.  Visitors access the reading room by scanning in, and have your personal possessions checked on the way in and out. Visitors are only allowed a restricted range of research tools (computer, camera, phone, pencils, notebook) and take them into the Reading Room in a clear plastic bag. Strict restrictions - no drinks, sweets, cutting implements including pencil sharpener, or water.  Only box or two files on your reading space at any one time.  But very helpful staff.

I'd ordered LAB 10/3313 and LAB 10/3312 regarding the Scamp Inquiry.

IR1155/1968.  Ministry of Labour file.  25/6/1868.  Court of Inquiry into Strike of Sewing Machinists employed at Dagenham Plant of Ford Motor Co Ltd.

There had been regrading at Ford that put staff into one of 5 bands.  The job evaluation process considered 4 criteria: (p11)

Responsibility
Working Conditions
Physical Demands
Mental Demands

and considered 28 characteristics (not specified).  These characteristics had 4 levels - low, medium, high, exceptional.

Machinists were separated into 3 grades - Machinist intermediate operations - who did the first stages to sew the seat together, and Machinist - finishing ops - who did seat covers, pads and linings.  There was also Prototype Machinist (only 2!), both men, whose job was to do experimental trim, new materials and a wide range of operations (again not specified).  (p27).  Ford stated the Prototype machinists had significantly more responsibility (again unspecified).  The report stated one of the characteristics for responsibility was the consequence of poor quality work at later stages of production, although this was not stated as the reason for differing grading.

The regrading exercise was discussed at the National Joint Negotiating Committee (NJNC) between  unions and management.  However, throughout, management concealed information regarding job grading, essential to establish the facts of the dispute.  The details of how grading was assessed was concealed on the grounds of confidentiality.

About 20% of job gradings were disputed. (p27) All were meant to go through agreed Appeals Procedure and be re-evaluated by the Profile Review Committee - who were overloaded with reviews (p17). Tinsmiths and coppersmiths were regraded without appeals procedure, but on management agreement (p28).  379 alterations to job evaluation scores were accepted.  1 was rejected - the machinists (p27)

"It seemed therefore, that when management wished, it could find reasons to justify upgradings without job evaluation evidence" Scamp Report p17 London, HMSO, 1968

The machinists claimed 5 criteria (not specified) on which they believed they should be marked up, which were all in the Physical Demands criteria.   They were the only B grade that had to pass tests to get the job, and these tests assessed competence on 3 machines:

Edge Cutting
Welting
Cording.

Prototype C machinists were covered when on leave, by B grade machinists.  C machinists had no production target. (p26) Whereas B machinists did.

Typically C grades had tests in order to get the job. In C grade, 2 roles had one test - Eastman Cutter and Production Welder.  However, some C grades had no test.

Leather cutter C grade - no test
Eastman cutter C grade - trade test.  (p28)

The Leather Cutter had appealed the original job evaluation and was regraded at C grade.  They had submitted 5 upgrade markings, all of which were accepted.

Ford concealed job weightings despite promising it to the unions.

p29. This failure led to suspicion and lack of confidence in management by unions.

p30.  Ford never gave 'categorical' promise for disclosure.  Ford reluctant to disclose weightings 'due to need for objectivity on all sides' (!)

p31 Weightings only known to Consultants (Urwick, Orr & Partners), and 2 company personnel (not specified)

p31 Consultants state it is normal practice to disclose.

p37 Cause of dispute - Machinists believed they were wrongly graded.  Machinists believe job evaluation has been fiddled.  Machinists lack of confidence in Job Evaluation and Weighting caused by information being withheld.

p45. Full acceptance can only come from full knowledge.

p45. Machinists job profile to be reviewed.

Inquiry panel is not trained in job evaluation criteria or weighting.  Inquiry panel denies 5 characteristics in dispute are relevant (!)

Outcome:  Machinists job evaluation has not been incorrectly conducted by Ford (!!!).  Strike should not have taken place as union procedures not correctly followed.  Recommendation that machinists jobs hold be reviewed by management (This never happened). Recommendation that leather cutter job be re-evaluated as it seemed over graded.  (This never happened either).

Covering memo says "The Court is satisfied there has been no 'fiddling' by the company".



I also read the preceding notes to the Scamp Report.

Unions had banned night shifts for women.  Not sure why.  But the Prototype machinists (2 men) did some night work - actual amount unspecified.  Apparently there was some Government encouragement of shift work in industry generally because it increased output.

Court accepted non-disclosure of weightings to them, on the grounds of confidentiality.  (I find this astonishing - how can they assess what has been done and whether it is fair, if they don't understand the process for all parties?). No mention of consistency or lack of it in job evaluation assessments on common criteria.

Argument about 'objectivity'.  Need for process to be objective.  But it wasn't!  1968 was probably prior to management theory arguments questioning whether any process can truly be objective.

Claims in paperwork that process will be impartial.  My reading is that it is Masculinist.  Lots of the underlying assumptions give priority to male preference.

Trades test applied to machinists in B grade are justified by Ford on the grounds that there is no alternative role to transfer them to, if they don't make the grade.  Whereas if men in a B grade don't make the grade, there were plenty of roles into which to transfer them.   I question how far management have looked for roles into which to transfer women!  Different standards for the genders - B women get tested, B men don't!

All assessors were management.  Union rep was specifically excluded.

Job evaluation gradings were reviewed by management CRC (C? Review Committee) and Consultant, not DRC (Divisional Review Ctte).  Consultant agreed assessor markings without visiting the sites and staff, in his role to check assessments.  DRC submitted upgrading requests, and Consultant did not tell them them their recommendations were ignored.

3 machinist profiles.

Prototype machinists were in Research & Development, thus were deemed a C grade.
Finisher and Intermediate machinists worked in the Body Plant, an assembly operation, therefore B.  But they had to have an Excellent profile (not specified why).

Constantly fudging the scoring.  The Leather Cutter has very similar working environment to machinists (factory shed), yet he is scored as a medium working environment, whereas they are classified as low environment, (normally office type accommodation).

Men's roles appear to be rounded up (lower skilled Leather Cutter is associated with Eastman Cutter, so both get C grade)
Women's roles appear to be rounded down (lower skilled intermediate machinist is associated with finisher machinist, so both get B grade).

Record of Proceedings at Court of Inquiry 3/7/68.  H Friedman, AUEFW argues that skilled craftsmanship is what is important, and this is what the job should be evaluated on, not working conditions.

Tutorial 13/11/18 with Jill

 I showed Jill my latest concertina sketchbook – Ford Machinists. I’d done a sketchbook class at West Dean College and created artwork about Ford and the Scamp Inquiry conclusion ‘Women’s skill and dexterity was significantly under-valued’, which I’d overwritten and obscured with production line seat imagery.  I can see this being the basis for the border on the next sampler – the meandering line could be interpreted as a production line!

We discussed my first draft of The Thinking Skill of Making. Good starting point – now to read about: Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project; Steven Scrivener, Cognitive Surprise; Donald Schon, the double loop of learning; Linda Candy, the transformative spiral of research.  Amend what I’ve done, plus another 3,000 words by next tutorial.

We debated the identity of the artist.  I’ve recently moved from seeing myself as a student (where work of variable quality and mistakes are tolerated because one is still learning), to being an artist because my art is based in robust, deep thinking and failures are part of the cycle of making.  Jill sees me as an artist because my own voice is visible in the art; there is mature practice; and it is not borrowed from other artists.

We discussed location of my MA show.  Lanchester Gallery will be out of commission by next September, and the Lanchester Library told me they expect all their spare rooms to be accommodating clerical staff during renovations.  I could approach the Doctoral College for a room at Elm Bank, but felt the Herbert Art Gallery was a better venue.  I’ve had my samplers selected for exhibition at Dundas St Gallery, Edinburgh and Laura I Gallery, Barking, and I want to continue exhibiting to a wider audience. We discussed how selection by independent galleries validates your work in a much more significant way than putting on a group show with friends.  A public venue at a respected institution for a solo show is part of my personal development.  Scary but the next step.  Jill said Imogen had gained funding for an exhibition about Home with the Herbert Art Gallery, and was building relationships with them.  While it is my responsibility to organise the room (one week in September 2019),  Imogen has the relationship and more influence.

I said I was going to the National Archive at Kew to investigate The Scamp Inquiry report about the 1968 Ford strike by machinists.  I am looking for punchy quotes about how Ford treated their women employees, aiming to create artwork from it.

We also discussed Jill’s impending retirement/change of contract. We both anticipated hiccups with access to IT, and agreed Imogen should become my Director of Studies to ensure continuity with IT, while their roles remain largely as they are now.

Actions:

CMT to amend The Thinking Skill of Making (first 3,000 words) plus another 3,000 on next two samplers. 

IR to advise on who is best to approach the Herbert Art Gallery about space.

Date of next tutorials: 

Wednesday 1230 28/11 – JJ; 

Wednesday 1400 12/12/18 – JJ, IR cross faculty party plus tutorial (time?)

Making with Meaning - Day 4

I'm glad to say, another very successful day.

Caroline suggested drawing round the car seat parts on tracing paper, and trying out the spacing on overlays on the concertina, before actually drawing on it.  She was right.  I bought some carbon paper from the shop, and it gave the right industrial feel to the work. I decided to work in multiples of 10, half a shift's work.  I put the individual pieces stacked, more or less together.

Left hand side of car seat surround

Top of car seat surround

Right hand side of car seat surround

Centre panel of seat

Then I decided to draw the seat pieces in the order they would have been joined.

Top and right hand side

Left, right and top sections joined

Top, left, right, centre panels joined, with top stitching 

Whole car seat, with quilting on centre panel.

I am pleased with this.  A good starting point for my artwork.

I think the words I wrote in Caroline's 4 categories are useful.  I will come back to them.

Process

Overwritten
Fast
Repetition
Skilled
Machine Operators
Manual Work
Stitch
Overlock
Pushing
Forward movement

Ingredients

1968\1984
Repetition
Banging them out
Piecework
Day-Night
Dagenham
Production
Deceit
Hidden
Concealment
Grading
Equal Pay

Quality

Robust
Tough
Energetic
Accurate
Hard for Workers
Soft for Customer

Display

Ordered?
Not sure about this one.
Display always leaves me confused and feeling incompetent

Other ideas from the class:

- Try mark making from different grades - unskilled B and skilled C
- Trade Union banners.  How would I make one for this subject?
- Look at Tate Modern - Margaret Harrison, Mary Kelly and ... Women's timesheets
- Sometimes the text becomes the title of the work.
- Concertina sketchbook.  Two sides of the same story -
    Management -v- union
     Women -v- men
     Women -v- union.

Making with Meaning - Day 3

Today I started by drawing an image of a car seat from a 1969 Ford, onto Lino.  I cut the shape of the car seat from the Lino and was a bit worried about the stark simplicity of the shape.  I need not have worried.  I printed 20 car seats across the bottom of the sketchbook, then a gap, then more car seats.  The machinists used to make 20 seats an hour (and the men machinists, working nights, did about 20 per shift! and got paid more!).

With Caroline Bartlett, tutor

Set out to dry overnight

As it's too long 

To lie flat 

along the whole length

of the print table.

Then I had a conversation with Caroline about what to do next.  She suggested exploding the component parts - and here I realised I'd taken the car seat and worked backwards to identify the 'collection' that I wanted to work from - it's the individual pieces of the car seat.  So I cut another Lino, using a slightly bigger image (to allow for seam allowances) then cut it apart into the different pattern pieces.  I carved the Lino so the pieces would print as an outline.  Not greatly successful - lines were too chunky to give the effect of a blueprint drawing.  Then I tried drawing round the pattern pieces.  Better but not quite right.  Not sharp enough.  Not industrial enough.  I tried multiples.   Random scattered outlines were nice and arty, but not symptomatic of a machine shop.  Overlapping and close spaced looked quite good.  Then Caroline suggested getting some carbon paper (from the shop, tomorrow) which might just have the right feel.  

Feeling a bit worried about wrecking my work so far, so tomorrow morning I will do quite a bit of sampling before going onto the sketchbook.  We only have half a day, so I hope I get stage 3 completed.  Roll on tomorrow!

Making with Meaning - a better day today.

All that fretting in the night paid off.  I arrived in class with a plan - to stencil/print a quotation from The Scamp Inquiry about the 1968 dispute across my concertina sketchbook, and print a Lino cut drawing over it.

The largest letters I could find were a 2" stencil set.  Somewhat smaller than the 6" letter stamps I'd hoped for, but good enough.  I started by using the Ford logo template (cut out of yesterday's stencil) to create a block of colour with a white negative logo (because Ford were negative towards the machinists), then cut stencils for the quotation.  I had enough binder in the blue I mixed yesterday, to do the whole quotation.

 Lovely quote from The Scamp Enquiry.  Words writ large, now to be 'overwritten' by how Ford treated the staff.  So overprinting with lots of car seat linocut prints, making the point that the machinists were banging them out.  Not sure how much to work into it.  How complicated to make it?

Making with Meaning - Awake in the middle of the night

I had a very busy, but not particularly successful day in the studio.  Went to bed exhausted, and have now woken in the middle of the night, with an overactive mind!

We started by unseen drawings on a large sheet of paper, both sides.

Then folded into a Japanese book to isolate and create sections.

Then cut some stencils and worked on textured paper.

None of which really came together.

Then I recut more stencils and screenprinted on pre-washed calico, using Ford's ultramarine blue.  Also did textured mono print on glass and overprinted a couple of the stencils.  Not greatly successful.

I've spent time crumpling brown paper, to make it like a soft leather.  Not sure what to do with it.

Now I'm awake in the middle of the night, fretting about it.   I keep thinking about the shapes of the seats.  Working on fabric does not seem to be working for me.  Maybe I need to get back to working on paper.  I'm thinking about all the words I've found about Ford's behaviour with the job evaluation exercise.  They were not transparent.  They kept the job evaluation data concealed.  The Scamp Inquiry found Ford's behaviour with the machinists to be "symptomatic of the company's more general discrimination against women".

Maybe:
Use lines of writing to draw the machining on seat covers.
Use quotes.  Rosie Boland
"We are skilled workers ... Ready for another fight, but only for C grade - not for equal pay"
"Women's speed and dexterity was unequalled in the company and had been significantly undervalued"
B Grade unskilled; C grade, skilled.
Job evaluations not published
Full disclosure gets full acceptance
Non disclosure gets non acceptance


Transparency/opaqueness
Repetition
Stick with Ford blue colour

How to get the Machinists anger into the work?

I've now been awake 3 hours ... but I think I know what I want to do in the morning.  I'm not interested in their hand tools.  I'm interested in the car seats.  And the quotes

A concertina sketchbook, with one of the quotes, right the way along the book.  Then overprinted with a linocut car seat pattern.

Making with Meaning - exploring objects through drawing, print and stitch

I'm at West Dean for a few days.  Caroline Bartlett is running the course, with 6 students.  One recent textile graduate - Flo, and the rest middle-aged women like me.

Overview session last night was inspiring.  I will probably focus on monoprinting and paper stencil silkscreening. Key questions will be what do collections mean to ourselves and others; how do we interpret them and what conditions our responses; what stories get told, to whom and how?

For me, one of Caroline's key terms was 'overwriting one history with another' so erasing, conceal/reveal, overlaying, and empty space might be useful.

I could learn useful stuff about presentation - ordering systems and conventions of display.

We laid out our work.  Some people are stunning at presentation!  I'm not, but Caroline did note that my collection of work tools had been deliberately laid on a work table, not on a sheet of paper or cloth.

Consider that our relationship with objects is socially, emotionally and historically determined.  Emotional responses are more complex (keys - freedom, safety or security, or oppression; bees - stung, yummy honey; essential pollinator).

Memory - subjective.  Objects as containers of memory (1950s swimsuits provoke memories of people with Alzheimers).  Shared memories for group identity yet individual to person.  Memory is vulnerable to repeated process of telling and retelling; overwriting one experience with another.

Textile Society Conference - Inspired by ... 3/11/18

I booked this conference because it had some wonderful speakers - but ticket prices were extraordinarily high - until I realised if I joined, the subscription as a student was minimal and made the conference mega-cheap!

Lesley Millar. Spoke about her career.  Inspired by People & Places; Textiles and Text.  Remnant shops to archives.

Key point - be inspired by everything tactile and experiential.  Digital inspiration restricts!

Inspiration - look to your cultural background and modernity.
Exploration and experimentation.  Research processes and subsequent questions raised.
Craft & Communication.  Mould material gathered into end product.  Place is important.  Right word for right purpose.

Inspiration to work with textiles (even though a Spanish language/history graduate)
Shopping, making and visiting with Mother: handling remnants to feel quality - lead to home dressmaking; nativity plays; museums.
Visit places to understand the context eg Hugh Millar workplace

Exploration and Experimentation
Study with inspiring people
Start speaking
Study in inspiring places

Inspired by making - silk - protectionism in France
Inspired by designing - most designers are anonymous.
Find out what did they design?; what did they use? did they use their own textile designs in their homes (No!).
Inspired by selling
Inspired by diversion (worked with Balenciaga, not her country/time but loved him and what he did).
Inspired by old and new friends - V&A, Palace Reale, Spain

Most of this was about the benefits of 'go out and do'.  Visit, travel, look, handle, question, query, talk, learn, reflect.  Just what I like to do, but good to hear it reinforced.

Trish Belford, Inspired by ... Linen
William Liddell Archive.  The Irish Linen Centre exhibition (with newly published book) extended to January.  Liddell damask designs - 1600 glass photo plates.  Plan to digitise the collection.  Textile images are very difficult to digitise.  Colour v difficult.  Digitised archives are the entree, not the final point.

Oral history recordings.  Invited local family members, former employees of the linen weaving industry in to talk about workplace.  They brought in scrapbooks, family stories etc.  Led to lots of experimentation in dischargeable and non-dischargeable weave.  (Bleaching is part of linen process)

Use the past to inform the future.

Caren Garden. Inspired by ... Words and the power of textiles.
Makes entertaining artworks about challenging issues.

Gained professional development award of Textile Society to explore Eating Disorders.  Conducted site visit to derelict hospital in process of being demolished, used to treat ED.  Found old key safe - took photos.  Idea while walking home.  Ordered same model from Ebay.  Studied ED conference leaflets.  Noted key tags form frame around work.  Keys indicated locked in physically and mentally. Colours of plastic key tags emulated BMI colour tagged keys.  http://www.carengarfen.com/patients-is-key/.

Used single strands of hair to embroider tiniest writing. Anorexia sufferers writing gets smaller and smaller.  Hair indicates fragility, but also repulsion and attraction.

Work evolved from her studies on diet that were shown at Knitting & Stitching Show 2014, when she was emphatic - nothing more about body, shape, diet.  Then received email from A level student, studying art and textiles - anorexia sufferer - saying Thank You for enabling her to see herself and her problem.    Created further flow of work from Caren.  People with anorexia sometimes call themselves 'Anna'/Ana.  So Caren made a size zero dress, using black and red stitch.  'Anna' made a pocket to go on the dress - coincidentally stitched in black and red.  Caren received it just before Anna killed herself.  Still in touch with Anna's mother, made much work about Anna, and exhibited it at 2018 K&S.  Anna's mother visited, cried with relief when she saw it - it explained and validated her daughter's suffering.

Lubaina Himid. Never Sleep Inside the Invisible.  Reclaiming individual identities hidden by colonisation and politics.  http://lubainahimid.uk/portfolio/cotton-global-threads/

Showed Kangas (East African, thin cotton cloth used as a garment by women).  Her grandmother always had new kangas, with clever mottos, for weddings and celebrations.  Does not wear them herself - she's a jeans and t-shirt person.  Believes the kanga is a conversation between women.

Whitworth Textile curators very open and innovative.  Maria Balshaw, director, pushed for this.

Kangas in response to Lost Sample Book.  Loves sample books, due to her heritage in Manchester. Links between text and pattern - focuses on political, social, economic links.

Interested in theatre design.  Likes how you can pull on ropes to move scenery/kangas thereby moving the words in relation to each other.
Interested in audiences.  They have their own energy, stories and lives, which varies the interpretation of the story.

Health & Safety notice.  Kangas painted on metal.  History of African diaspora is totally embedded (and hidden) in the USA.  Metal kangas to be mounted, flush with the wall, so you can run your hand over 'the fabric of the building'.

Her motto "always have a plan".

Robert Knifton.  Museum Studies, University of Leeds.  Using archives differently, to inspire in an inter-generational way.

Helen Storey 1981 to date.  Her work had collaboration as a key theme.  Textiles as a Trojan horse - that which we welcome into our homes, but may have a hidden message.  Much of her stuff was under the bed/in an old henhouse.  Archiving creates something new.  Digital materiality - something is lost with no physical presence.

Differences between the dusty physical archive, and the digital curation.
Unmediate -v- curating the collection
Archive -v- museum.

Advent of digital access - easier to make links.  But physical objects lead to dialogue between people.   Experience of making - you need things to go wrong and the experience of handling and materiality is where learning and originality appear.