Anita and I have arrived in New York. I find long haul travel tedious, and this journey was no exception. Nothing wrong with it, but long and tedious.
The only bit of excitement was as we approached JFK at about 9pm. Normal slow descent, then when we were about 3 miles from touchdown, and very close to landing, suddenly the engines roared into life and we climbed steeply. This made everyone look around a bit, and the captain came on the tannoy. He announced an Air France plane had taxied onto our runway, and he had had to take avoiding action! We had to fly around in a large circle, and rejoined the queue of planes stacking to land, and landed perfectly 30 minutes later. Anita and I were through customs very quickly and took our transfer to the hotel. This took us all around New York so we had a good overview of the city at night - lots of the buildings were lit up and you could see from the shapes that lots were of art deco heritage. Exhausted, we were tucked up in bed by 11.15pm.
As the UK is 5 hours ahead of New York, I have been awake from 4.30am with jet lag. Oh well, I can always be first for breakfast at 6.30am!
Saturday, 30 January 2016
Monday, 25 January 2016
My tutor Lewis Jones has thrown down the gauntlet!
This morning, I received an email from Lewis, with information from Loughborough University, requesting abstracts for papers to be presented to a seminar. This led to me going for a swim to get my thoughts in order - 2,200 m! There was a lot to think about with this Call for Papers!
" CfP: Gender in art: production, collection, display (AAH Summer Symposium) (8-9 June 2016 Loughborough) (CfP 23 March 2016)
We welcome contributions from all periods and contexts that critically engage with notions of gender relations in the production, collection and display of art. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
• Gender roles in the home and domestic art
• Transgender art, exhibitions and collections
• Gender-aware approaches to display and collections of art
• Women artists in the ‘public’ and ‘private’ sphere
• Gendered sensibilities in public/institutional settings
• Feminist approaches to collection, curation and exhibition practices"
The question is, do I have the backbone to grasp the nettle?
My work is about how I think women should be valued - that the domestic and mundane are as worthy of respect as that traditionally valued by those in power (usually, men, with educational/financial power). I am interested in how artworks in public galleries and museums represent the full breadth of society (or not) and what values are embodied within these artworks. I am interested in the status or hierarchy of media used, and its impact on whether it gets displayed by galleries. I enjoy narrative in art and want to make art that enables the viewer to understand and empathise with the values described and also identify with it from their own or familial experience. I need to read more around the hierarchy of artistic media; the portrayal of value in art; and narrative art.
While quaking in my boots about the thought of presenting a paper at a seminar, I have evaluated why Lewis might have put this opportunity forward to me. I think communication skills would need to be a key criteria - and he has seen my writing in my Literature Review, and listened to me talk in a couple of presentations. I hope this means he thinks my research is of sufficient standard to cut the mustard. I also have demonstrated that I am prepared to travel to investigate things, so going to Loughborough would not be an issue. I am acutely aware that when I get going in a presentation, my volume goes up, particularly when I am passionately interested in the subject. I am not sure how I would get on with microphones, if it is a conference where you get wired for sound!
So, I am considering taking a large brave pill and putting in a submission. Decision not made yet.
In the meantime, images of gauntlets and nettles are floating around in my head!
" CfP: Gender in art: production, collection, display (AAH Summer Symposium) (8-9 June 2016 Loughborough) (CfP 23 March 2016)
We welcome contributions from all periods and contexts that critically engage with notions of gender relations in the production, collection and display of art. Topics may include, but are not limited to:
• Gender roles in the home and domestic art
• Transgender art, exhibitions and collections
• Gender-aware approaches to display and collections of art
• Women artists in the ‘public’ and ‘private’ sphere
• Gendered sensibilities in public/institutional settings
• Feminist approaches to collection, curation and exhibition practices"
The question is, do I have the backbone to grasp the nettle?
My work is about how I think women should be valued - that the domestic and mundane are as worthy of respect as that traditionally valued by those in power (usually, men, with educational/financial power). I am interested in how artworks in public galleries and museums represent the full breadth of society (or not) and what values are embodied within these artworks. I am interested in the status or hierarchy of media used, and its impact on whether it gets displayed by galleries. I enjoy narrative in art and want to make art that enables the viewer to understand and empathise with the values described and also identify with it from their own or familial experience. I need to read more around the hierarchy of artistic media; the portrayal of value in art; and narrative art.
While quaking in my boots about the thought of presenting a paper at a seminar, I have evaluated why Lewis might have put this opportunity forward to me. I think communication skills would need to be a key criteria - and he has seen my writing in my Literature Review, and listened to me talk in a couple of presentations. I hope this means he thinks my research is of sufficient standard to cut the mustard. I also have demonstrated that I am prepared to travel to investigate things, so going to Loughborough would not be an issue. I am acutely aware that when I get going in a presentation, my volume goes up, particularly when I am passionately interested in the subject. I am not sure how I would get on with microphones, if it is a conference where you get wired for sound!
So, I am considering taking a large brave pill and putting in a submission. Decision not made yet.
In the meantime, images of gauntlets and nettles are floating around in my head!
Sunday, 24 January 2016
More details of the Modern Scottish Women Seminar.
Key points from speakers:
Amelia and Noel Paton. Amelia 1820-1904. She was always known as sister of, wife of or daughter of her relations. Noel sculpted and believed the greatest artwork status was to do work in stone and marble, and for it to be monumental. Amelia also did sculpture but was limited to busts of the notable.
Joanna Soden spoke about the Edinburgh Atelier 1882-89. This was a female only art school as females at that time were proscribed from attending life class which was deemed the essential entree to the profitable art career. Numbers of women studying increased during this time. Women students were taught by women tutors, but were assessed by visiting male lecturers, and received full written feedback as was done at the RSA. 27 attendees. It closed in 1889 (not sure why) but women were still not allowed to join the SRSA until the early 20th century. Instead the leading women of the day founded the Ladies Art Club for the education of lady artists. Kirkcudbright has a relevant exhibition at its art gallery.
This led to a debate about women as subject/women as self portraiture painters. The women artists of the day were typically genteel, affluent and with family support. However they did not have extensive funds to support their art and painted what was available - portraiture gave their best works. There were few landscapes painted as opportunity and finance limited this source. However it was noted women travelled to paint, but did not do the landscape. Circumstance led them to paint family and friends - this was not deliberate but what was available. So, it makes me wonder whether painting en plein air was deemed risqué, whereas painting indoors was not. I have a vague recollection that the French Impressionists did portraits of men and women at a picnic, which appears innocent to modern eyes, but in the Art History lecture, it was explained the women in these circumstances were probably prostitutes.
Middle class women art students needed parental support. It was 5GBP a term for fees. Grants were few. This art education had its roots in design schools, where there were very early morning and evening classes for commercial workers, and day classes for women. Not sure how less affluent students survive - probably they just were not able to attend.
Key points about patronage - women supported other women, or possibly had a male patron (Fra Newbery). Putting self forward was deemed improper. Some women used a nom de plume (another reason why women's art is hard to trace and attribute), or signed work "a lady", used just their initials, initials and surname to appear male. Being female in art was highly stigmatised. During the course of organising the exhibition more works by women appeared. Relatives of women artists, collectors and dealers came forward. Notably the painting by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, came up at auction, and Alice Strang, the curator, had very tense afternoon when that lot came up …. before discovering the Scottish National Gallery had been successful and had bought it! She noted exhibitions stimulate research!
Sian Reynolds spoke about Scottish Women Artists - The Paris Connection. The reason to go to Paris to study was because it gave the opportunity to study the body - which was very important for sculptors. In addition to everything men had to achieve to be able to study, women additionally needed income, family approval and luck. In Paris there were private art schools and academies which included women in life classes! Colorosy was more progressive than many and therefore there were a lot of women there. It had a bit of a reputation for the risqué, but one Scottish woman, writing to her parents quoted it as "The famous mixed life class is more like a Sunday School". Whether this was to assuage family concerns, or the truth, is not known!
"Who you study with" and "which school you belong to" and "who tutors your thesis" was very important. Individual artists were known to influence students in their studio. I need to think about this more. I think it is obvious that tutors influence student work, and this is what you are paying for, but how can work be original if strongly influenced? Maybe it is about the tutor challenging your thinking and directing your reading, rather than directing the artistic output. I keep hearing bits about the impact of the tutor on research - do you get pushed to present your paper to a seminar or not; do you get pushed to exhibit or run workshops or ….? Basically do you get pushed outside your comfort zone? I think a good tutor does this. Analysis of my own situation is that I have had both great, indifferent and dreadful tutors.
Studying in Paris, meant women evaded the restrictions of the UK. Cost of living was ok. Lots of museums. Buzz of lifestyle "light, learning and research". Therefore a very international scene. Few french students were outnumbered by UK, USA, Russian and German.
The outcome of studying in France 1880-1914 was there were lots of Movements developing. Sculpture moving from Rodin naturalistic to streamlined. The main form of work for the people studying sculpture at this stage became war memorials. Very few by women. France has over 2000 villages and every one ended up with a war memorial to honour their dead.
Matthew Jarran (excellent speaker) lecturer from Dundee university spoke about Placed Under No Disqualification, which indicated that although women were accepted in the town art society, they were not exactly welcomed either. He looked at factors in their careers. Press interests in women artists (to gain female readers), art education (women as students and teachers); artists as activists (suffrage and birth control, Mary Irvin); and noted many women had careers cut short (marriage, children, marriage bar) .
Phillida Shaw had inherited the family archive of Alice Meredith Williams 1877-1934. I was tired by now and just listened and did not take notes.
The last speaker was about Emma Gillies, 1900-1936, a painter of porcelain. 200 items were found in a locked cupboard at the Edinburgh College of Art. When it merged with another university, an audit of artwork was conducted and this trove was found, believed to have been used in still life classes. Her work was clearly signed on the bottom and family research indicates she was from an artistic family, with an abusive father. She had bouts of extreme behaviour and emotions and times of extreme productivity, and it is now believed likely that she had Graves Disease (as diagnosed in her Father and it is hereditary). This led to a discussion about what is a collection - "stuff that has been left behind". To create an exhibitions (which was what was done immediately the porcelain was found) they linked family, drawings, photos, and narrative. "If you know a good thing, pass it on". This should be the mantra of every good teacher!
Amelia and Noel Paton. Amelia 1820-1904. She was always known as sister of, wife of or daughter of her relations. Noel sculpted and believed the greatest artwork status was to do work in stone and marble, and for it to be monumental. Amelia also did sculpture but was limited to busts of the notable.
Joanna Soden spoke about the Edinburgh Atelier 1882-89. This was a female only art school as females at that time were proscribed from attending life class which was deemed the essential entree to the profitable art career. Numbers of women studying increased during this time. Women students were taught by women tutors, but were assessed by visiting male lecturers, and received full written feedback as was done at the RSA. 27 attendees. It closed in 1889 (not sure why) but women were still not allowed to join the SRSA until the early 20th century. Instead the leading women of the day founded the Ladies Art Club for the education of lady artists. Kirkcudbright has a relevant exhibition at its art gallery.
This led to a debate about women as subject/women as self portraiture painters. The women artists of the day were typically genteel, affluent and with family support. However they did not have extensive funds to support their art and painted what was available - portraiture gave their best works. There were few landscapes painted as opportunity and finance limited this source. However it was noted women travelled to paint, but did not do the landscape. Circumstance led them to paint family and friends - this was not deliberate but what was available. So, it makes me wonder whether painting en plein air was deemed risqué, whereas painting indoors was not. I have a vague recollection that the French Impressionists did portraits of men and women at a picnic, which appears innocent to modern eyes, but in the Art History lecture, it was explained the women in these circumstances were probably prostitutes.
Middle class women art students needed parental support. It was 5GBP a term for fees. Grants were few. This art education had its roots in design schools, where there were very early morning and evening classes for commercial workers, and day classes for women. Not sure how less affluent students survive - probably they just were not able to attend.
Key points about patronage - women supported other women, or possibly had a male patron (Fra Newbery). Putting self forward was deemed improper. Some women used a nom de plume (another reason why women's art is hard to trace and attribute), or signed work "a lady", used just their initials, initials and surname to appear male. Being female in art was highly stigmatised. During the course of organising the exhibition more works by women appeared. Relatives of women artists, collectors and dealers came forward. Notably the painting by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, came up at auction, and Alice Strang, the curator, had very tense afternoon when that lot came up …. before discovering the Scottish National Gallery had been successful and had bought it! She noted exhibitions stimulate research!
Sian Reynolds spoke about Scottish Women Artists - The Paris Connection. The reason to go to Paris to study was because it gave the opportunity to study the body - which was very important for sculptors. In addition to everything men had to achieve to be able to study, women additionally needed income, family approval and luck. In Paris there were private art schools and academies which included women in life classes! Colorosy was more progressive than many and therefore there were a lot of women there. It had a bit of a reputation for the risqué, but one Scottish woman, writing to her parents quoted it as "The famous mixed life class is more like a Sunday School". Whether this was to assuage family concerns, or the truth, is not known!
"Who you study with" and "which school you belong to" and "who tutors your thesis" was very important. Individual artists were known to influence students in their studio. I need to think about this more. I think it is obvious that tutors influence student work, and this is what you are paying for, but how can work be original if strongly influenced? Maybe it is about the tutor challenging your thinking and directing your reading, rather than directing the artistic output. I keep hearing bits about the impact of the tutor on research - do you get pushed to present your paper to a seminar or not; do you get pushed to exhibit or run workshops or ….? Basically do you get pushed outside your comfort zone? I think a good tutor does this. Analysis of my own situation is that I have had both great, indifferent and dreadful tutors.
Studying in Paris, meant women evaded the restrictions of the UK. Cost of living was ok. Lots of museums. Buzz of lifestyle "light, learning and research". Therefore a very international scene. Few french students were outnumbered by UK, USA, Russian and German.
The outcome of studying in France 1880-1914 was there were lots of Movements developing. Sculpture moving from Rodin naturalistic to streamlined. The main form of work for the people studying sculpture at this stage became war memorials. Very few by women. France has over 2000 villages and every one ended up with a war memorial to honour their dead.
Matthew Jarran (excellent speaker) lecturer from Dundee university spoke about Placed Under No Disqualification, which indicated that although women were accepted in the town art society, they were not exactly welcomed either. He looked at factors in their careers. Press interests in women artists (to gain female readers), art education (women as students and teachers); artists as activists (suffrage and birth control, Mary Irvin); and noted many women had careers cut short (marriage, children, marriage bar) .
Phillida Shaw had inherited the family archive of Alice Meredith Williams 1877-1934. I was tired by now and just listened and did not take notes.
The last speaker was about Emma Gillies, 1900-1936, a painter of porcelain. 200 items were found in a locked cupboard at the Edinburgh College of Art. When it merged with another university, an audit of artwork was conducted and this trove was found, believed to have been used in still life classes. Her work was clearly signed on the bottom and family research indicates she was from an artistic family, with an abusive father. She had bouts of extreme behaviour and emotions and times of extreme productivity, and it is now believed likely that she had Graves Disease (as diagnosed in her Father and it is hereditary). This led to a discussion about what is a collection - "stuff that has been left behind". To create an exhibitions (which was what was done immediately the porcelain was found) they linked family, drawings, photos, and narrative. "If you know a good thing, pass it on". This should be the mantra of every good teacher!
Saturday, 23 January 2016
Modern Scottish Women Study Day at Scottish National Gallery
Great day. 23/1/16
Alice Strang, senior curator of the SNG opened the event. She was the senior curator for the Modern Scottish Women exhibition. She touched on many of the subjects on the information boards in the exhibition.
Alice Strang set up the exhibition to focus on painting and sculpture. Few Scottish women in these fields had been seriously studied, whereas serious research in the applied arts has already been conducted about women. The hierarchy she has observed is
Painting - (women allowed to be recognised for flowers)
Sculpture (male, the least feminine of the arts)
Applied Arts - more suitable for women.
So the exhibition focussed on portraiture, landscape, sculpture and photographs by women to challenge what had already been studied.
Women had short artistic careers for various reasons - the marriage bar precluded women from holding full-time teaching positions which many used to support their artistic practice. This has led to very few women producing enough work for solo shows, so this exhibition brings together the work of many women.
Focussed on 1885-1965 because of conflicting views on women in 1885 times - the misogynist Sir William Fettes Douglas, President of the Royal Scottish Academy declared the work of a woman artist was like a man's, only weaker and poorer, but Fra Newbery Director of the Glasgow School of Art drove the Institution into its heyday by supporting and recognising women. The end date is 1965, death of Anne Redpath, first woman elected to full membership of RSA. Additionally in the 1960s state support for the Arts and university grants meant more women accessing education and artistic employment.
Another difficulty to be overcome was the changing of female artists names. Some had 4 or more names - maiden name, one or several marriages, and possibly a husband attaining a peerage and therefore a title. Daughters and sons of female artists supplied back-up information. Challenges of gaining information included the Academy system ignoring women; critics using restricted vocabulary about work when it was identified as by a woman "charming"; and women being referred to by their husband's name "Mrs William …" making it difficult to identify them.
Exhibition catalogues are the legacy of exhibiting careers. Valuable starting points for research. Also Yourpaintings website - has online record of all paintings held in public galleries. Also used contacts in art galleries, auction houses and dealers.
The exhibition did not seek to portray a feminine aesthetic - there were images of self portraits, portraits, religious themes, Belsen and landscape waves. The curator chose to have a chronological ordering. There had been criticism of the photos being displayed in a corridor, but this was done as the light levels were lower and were better for photo conservation.
Marketing of the exhibition was neutral/factual. But even the image by Dorothy Johnstone of Anne Finlay was controversial as it was deemed sexy by some. However it was chosen as the exhibition image as it was by a woman, of a woman. It did not come across as sexy to me - I very much like it because of the bright, cheerful colours, tonal contrast and direct case.
An excellent opening given by the curator.
More to follow
Alice Strang, senior curator of the SNG opened the event. She was the senior curator for the Modern Scottish Women exhibition. She touched on many of the subjects on the information boards in the exhibition.
Alice Strang set up the exhibition to focus on painting and sculpture. Few Scottish women in these fields had been seriously studied, whereas serious research in the applied arts has already been conducted about women. The hierarchy she has observed is
Painting - (women allowed to be recognised for flowers)
Sculpture (male, the least feminine of the arts)
Applied Arts - more suitable for women.
So the exhibition focussed on portraiture, landscape, sculpture and photographs by women to challenge what had already been studied.
Women had short artistic careers for various reasons - the marriage bar precluded women from holding full-time teaching positions which many used to support their artistic practice. This has led to very few women producing enough work for solo shows, so this exhibition brings together the work of many women.
Focussed on 1885-1965 because of conflicting views on women in 1885 times - the misogynist Sir William Fettes Douglas, President of the Royal Scottish Academy declared the work of a woman artist was like a man's, only weaker and poorer, but Fra Newbery Director of the Glasgow School of Art drove the Institution into its heyday by supporting and recognising women. The end date is 1965, death of Anne Redpath, first woman elected to full membership of RSA. Additionally in the 1960s state support for the Arts and university grants meant more women accessing education and artistic employment.
Another difficulty to be overcome was the changing of female artists names. Some had 4 or more names - maiden name, one or several marriages, and possibly a husband attaining a peerage and therefore a title. Daughters and sons of female artists supplied back-up information. Challenges of gaining information included the Academy system ignoring women; critics using restricted vocabulary about work when it was identified as by a woman "charming"; and women being referred to by their husband's name "Mrs William …" making it difficult to identify them.
Exhibition catalogues are the legacy of exhibiting careers. Valuable starting points for research. Also Yourpaintings website - has online record of all paintings held in public galleries. Also used contacts in art galleries, auction houses and dealers.
The exhibition did not seek to portray a feminine aesthetic - there were images of self portraits, portraits, religious themes, Belsen and landscape waves. The curator chose to have a chronological ordering. There had been criticism of the photos being displayed in a corridor, but this was done as the light levels were lower and were better for photo conservation.
Marketing of the exhibition was neutral/factual. But even the image by Dorothy Johnstone of Anne Finlay was controversial as it was deemed sexy by some. However it was chosen as the exhibition image as it was by a woman, of a woman. It did not come across as sexy to me - I very much like it because of the bright, cheerful colours, tonal contrast and direct case.
An excellent opening given by the curator.
More to follow
Some of the girls from class
Friday, 22 January 2016
Progress with Mrs Konieczny's crossword
Across
1. River with endless building block makes fine fabric. (7)
5. The orient in one who entertains leads to Walthamstow thoroughfare. (3, 2)
8. An affectionate peck twist forms a ringlet. (1, 4, 4)
9. French one does not begin a song. (3)
10. Good day within a bushel load. (5)
12. Burial place in charge of the cross word! (7)
13. Scots in Verona form discussions. (13)
15. Teach a foreign coin inside two points. (7)
17. Follow evenly tennis cure. (5)
19. Sharply pull stomach back. (3)
20. Non starting assent with queen in Christmas entertainment creates artificial language. (9)
15. Teach a foreign coin inside two points. (7)
17. Follow evenly tennis cure. (5)
19. Sharply pull stomach back. (3)
20. Non starting assent with queen in Christmas entertainment creates artificial language. (9)
22. Flowers of war? (5)
23. Lee term forms a large garden plant. (3, 4)
Down
1. Teach bus. (5)
2. Embroil evenly a scan (1,1,1)
3. Meatball function contains one ship. (7)
4. Somehow crutches help Elizabeth to the highest point in the village. (6, 7)
5. Sacred grasps a learner evergreen. (5)
6. Quoin eats in order to calculate formulae. (9)
7. 3-card flushes with Church of England in layers. (7)
11. Sung algae creates tongues. (9)
13. Organic compound reacting with water follows church at Roman town. (7)
14. Odd after godly hypothesis. (7)
16. Declares status revamp in reverse. (5)
18. Bring forth the endlessly annulled. (5)
So far, so good. I still need to work out the words that fit the gaps in the grid. It could also be tweaked with better words to describe Mrs Konieczny, as in some places the words chosen just fit the grid, rather than associate with her. But quite a good start.
Down
1. Teach bus. (5)
2. Embroil evenly a scan (1,1,1)
3. Meatball function contains one ship. (7)
4. Somehow crutches help Elizabeth to the highest point in the village. (6, 7)
5. Sacred grasps a learner evergreen. (5)
6. Quoin eats in order to calculate formulae. (9)
7. 3-card flushes with Church of England in layers. (7)
11. Sung algae creates tongues. (9)
13. Organic compound reacting with water follows church at Roman town. (7)
14. Odd after godly hypothesis. (7)
16. Declares status revamp in reverse. (5)
18. Bring forth the endlessly annulled. (5)
So far, so good. I still need to work out the words that fit the gaps in the grid. It could also be tweaked with better words to describe Mrs Konieczny, as in some places the words chosen just fit the grid, rather than associate with her. But quite a good start.
Building relationships with museums
More thoughts from the swimming pool (1750m this morning)
I was thinking about my trip to Edinburgh today, to attend the Modern Scottish Women seminar tomorrow, and the trip to New York next week, to go to the Brooklyn Museum. I have discovered museums are the places to find people who really know their stuff about the objects therein. So I want to take my theme to a higher level of study, it might be worth building relationships with the staff. I always talk to staff in museums, and have been given contact details for a specialist textile curator at the Burrell in Glasgow. If I want to do detailed object analysis, it would help to have the contacts. A key purpose of textile art, according to Peter Dormer in The Culture of Craft, is to convey political messages, because of the context of the material. It would be interesting to contrast how museums use textile, in the UK, the USA and other countries that have a positive view of women, e.g. Sweden, Finland etc. So this seminar tomorrow at the Scottish National Gallery might be worthwhile for networking purposes. I wonder who else I might meet there?
Hmm, I wonder how far I could travel if I take my studies in this field to Phd level!
I was thinking about my trip to Edinburgh today, to attend the Modern Scottish Women seminar tomorrow, and the trip to New York next week, to go to the Brooklyn Museum. I have discovered museums are the places to find people who really know their stuff about the objects therein. So I want to take my theme to a higher level of study, it might be worth building relationships with the staff. I always talk to staff in museums, and have been given contact details for a specialist textile curator at the Burrell in Glasgow. If I want to do detailed object analysis, it would help to have the contacts. A key purpose of textile art, according to Peter Dormer in The Culture of Craft, is to convey political messages, because of the context of the material. It would be interesting to contrast how museums use textile, in the UK, the USA and other countries that have a positive view of women, e.g. Sweden, Finland etc. So this seminar tomorrow at the Scottish National Gallery might be worthwhile for networking purposes. I wonder who else I might meet there?
Hmm, I wonder how far I could travel if I take my studies in this field to Phd level!
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