We're into a new term at art class. This term's focus is on each of us creating a sketchbook to contribute to the Brooklyn Sketchbook Library. Vanda had a recent holiday in NY and went to the Brooklyn Sketchbook Library, and anyone can contribute a sketchbook to be held there for posterity. It is a crowd funded project, run by volunteers. You buy a sketchbook (provided by them 5" x 7"), complete it and return it to them. No acrylic, glitter or gesso (pages will stick together). Any subject you like, but themes are suggested each year. The BKL has 140,000 sketchbooks so far.
I'm thinking about the gesture of stitch, and blackwork embroidery, which I love. Today's class, drawing the gesture of stitch did not go particularly well, but I'm sufficiently experienced not to get upset about it. It will come together in due course.
Tomorrow I might try writing some poetry about it to see if this helps.
Thursday, 10 October 2019
Exhibitions at Edinburgh
I went to see Cut & Paste at Modern Two (Scottish National Galleries) and Audrey Grant (Scottish Portrait Gallery).
Cut & Paste was ok, but not as good as I had hoped. Collage exhibitions are rare, and this made me make the journey north. The history of the technique was excellent, with very diverse items on display, from etchings that were sectioned with pasted amendments, to heavily layered fabric collages. Apparently the first collage made from travel tickets, was made from the railway tickets retrieved from the victims of the Tay Bridge disaster! There were also elaborate valentine cards dating from the start of the postage stamp (c1840) made from up to 200(!) pasted collaged pieces made from printed kits. And the breadth of interpretation of collage included botanical specimens books where the adhesive qualities of seaweed meant they stuck themselves to the pages of documentation.
However the modern section was a total disappointment. Far too much stuff of large pieces of crumpled brown paper just stuck as a lump to a support paper.
Then I went on to the Scottish Portrait Gallery and looked at Audrey Grant's The Long Look. This is repeated drawings of Val McDermid and Norman McBeath. She had drawn in charcoal. I love charcoal drawings, and they are rarely shown in this type of venue. Repeated sittings (up to 36) had resulted in her drawing on the same sheet of paper, setting aside for a week, then erasing this drawing and creating another on top. Each drawing was photographed, leading to a succession of digital images, but only one remaining charcoal drawing. The drawings varied in their tonal value, and the variation was intriguing.
AND ...! I met the artist! Audrey Grant was at the gallery with a companion and they were debating the drawing process. I overheard Audrey saying the difficult part was the mouth and chin. Not the eyes. Once she had the mouth and chin right, the rest of each drawing followed.
A thoroughly enjoyable morning.
Cut & Paste was ok, but not as good as I had hoped. Collage exhibitions are rare, and this made me make the journey north. The history of the technique was excellent, with very diverse items on display, from etchings that were sectioned with pasted amendments, to heavily layered fabric collages. Apparently the first collage made from travel tickets, was made from the railway tickets retrieved from the victims of the Tay Bridge disaster! There were also elaborate valentine cards dating from the start of the postage stamp (c1840) made from up to 200(!) pasted collaged pieces made from printed kits. And the breadth of interpretation of collage included botanical specimens books where the adhesive qualities of seaweed meant they stuck themselves to the pages of documentation.
However the modern section was a total disappointment. Far too much stuff of large pieces of crumpled brown paper just stuck as a lump to a support paper.
Then I went on to the Scottish Portrait Gallery and looked at Audrey Grant's The Long Look. This is repeated drawings of Val McDermid and Norman McBeath. She had drawn in charcoal. I love charcoal drawings, and they are rarely shown in this type of venue. Repeated sittings (up to 36) had resulted in her drawing on the same sheet of paper, setting aside for a week, then erasing this drawing and creating another on top. Each drawing was photographed, leading to a succession of digital images, but only one remaining charcoal drawing. The drawings varied in their tonal value, and the variation was intriguing.
AND ...! I met the artist! Audrey Grant was at the gallery with a companion and they were debating the drawing process. I overheard Audrey saying the difficult part was the mouth and chin. Not the eyes. Once she had the mouth and chin right, the rest of each drawing followed.
A thoroughly enjoyable morning.
Monday, 7 October 2019
Poetry class
Another great day at poetry class.
We read and gave feedback on our poems. This is a really good collection of people, all highly skilled, and Sarah Westcott, our tutor said all(!) our poems were of publishable quality, and encouraged us to participate in the monthly poetry reading at City Lit, and reminded us to submit our poems to the annual City Lit poetry anthology.
My poem was about an object - Lino
Lino
I remember Lino cutting at school.
The blunt tools and crumbly Lino put me off for years.
Lino for schools has changed.
Soft, pliable, blue and easy cut.
A 5 inch by 4 inch slab.
I have my design. Anxious.
I carve my first line.
A smooth glide. I don't remember this!
My lack of skill is apparent.
My lines wobble.
I dig too deep and too shallow.
The Lino is chewed.
I remember 'cut away from you',
I remember 'cut with a careful sweep',
I remember 'don't cut too deep'.
Only after I've done it wrong.
This Lino has been cut by an amateur.
Wobbly lines. Uneven surface.
Disappointed with the proofs.
"Reduce the image
Chop out more
Line up accurately and overprint. "
Not great quality.
But I'm delighted.
It's mine and it's original.
A simple manual technique creates a thing of joy
from a slab of Lino, when executed with skill.
I want those skills.
My feedback was that I had successfully linked the present and past. I had rediscovered youth. It had narrative and was immediate. Class suggested it might look good as an artwork, if printed on Lino.
We spent time reading poems. Great poem by Gwendolyn Brooks, with her speaking on a Youtube video. Had a rap metre, and was about teenagers from her community in the US. Looking at line endings. Enjambment means the lines run on.
1959. Gwendolyn Brooks
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
We had a go at haiku (5-7-5 syllables) and Cinquain (2-4-6-8-2 syllables), working from postcards as inspiration. My postcard was of beach huts. When responding to a piece of art, it is Ekphrasis.
Seaside at Walton
Beach huts at Walton
Shelter from the elements
Blue sky of summer.
Playing on the beach
Brilliant sun, wind and sunburn
Seaside and freedom.
Walk to sea to swim
Picking my way over stones
Cold water, quick dip.
I hate gritty towels.
Stickness from salt water.
Can't dress easily!
Sand in sandwiches
Tepid tea and sun cream smell
Fast melting ice cream.
Beach huts
Beach huts
Rainbow colours
The height of the summer
Each one uniform but different.
So bright
Lime green
Cerulean blue
Colours of the seaside
Scarlet and fluorescent orange
Sun bleach.
For homework, we blind-picked a title from a bag - we have to write a letter poem. I chose "write a letter to a toy you once owned". This suits me. Tom, sitting next to me, chose "write a letter to the moon". He liked it but I was glad I did not get that one.
Sympathy Letter
Dear Dolls Cot
I look back now with regret for how I ignored you.
My Mum had put so much effort
into choosing you. My Mum
had put so much effort into making the cot sheets.
The cot sheets matched the dress I had that Christmas.
I was astonished that Father Christmas
had chosen cot sheets in the same fabric as my dress.
My Mum expected me to play the little Mother.
Through you, I disappointed her.
I'm so sorry you weren't my thing.
With regret.
Cathy
We read and gave feedback on our poems. This is a really good collection of people, all highly skilled, and Sarah Westcott, our tutor said all(!) our poems were of publishable quality, and encouraged us to participate in the monthly poetry reading at City Lit, and reminded us to submit our poems to the annual City Lit poetry anthology.
My poem was about an object - Lino
Lino
I remember Lino cutting at school.
The blunt tools and crumbly Lino put me off for years.
Lino for schools has changed.
Soft, pliable, blue and easy cut.
A 5 inch by 4 inch slab.
I have my design. Anxious.
I carve my first line.
A smooth glide. I don't remember this!
My lack of skill is apparent.
My lines wobble.
I dig too deep and too shallow.
The Lino is chewed.
I remember 'cut away from you',
I remember 'cut with a careful sweep',
I remember 'don't cut too deep'.
Only after I've done it wrong.
This Lino has been cut by an amateur.
Wobbly lines. Uneven surface.
Disappointed with the proofs.
"Reduce the image
Chop out more
Line up accurately and overprint. "
Not great quality.
But I'm delighted.
It's mine and it's original.
A simple manual technique creates a thing of joy
from a slab of Lino, when executed with skill.
I want those skills.
My feedback was that I had successfully linked the present and past. I had rediscovered youth. It had narrative and was immediate. Class suggested it might look good as an artwork, if printed on Lino.
We spent time reading poems. Great poem by Gwendolyn Brooks, with her speaking on a Youtube video. Had a rap metre, and was about teenagers from her community in the US. Looking at line endings. Enjambment means the lines run on.
1959. Gwendolyn Brooks
We real cool. We
Left school. We
Lurk late. We
Strike straight. We
Sing sin. We
Thin gin. We
Jazz June. We
Die soon.
We had a go at haiku (5-7-5 syllables) and Cinquain (2-4-6-8-2 syllables), working from postcards as inspiration. My postcard was of beach huts. When responding to a piece of art, it is Ekphrasis.
Seaside at Walton
Beach huts at Walton
Shelter from the elements
Blue sky of summer.
Playing on the beach
Brilliant sun, wind and sunburn
Seaside and freedom.
Walk to sea to swim
Picking my way over stones
Cold water, quick dip.
I hate gritty towels.
Stickness from salt water.
Can't dress easily!
Sand in sandwiches
Tepid tea and sun cream smell
Fast melting ice cream.
Beach huts
Beach huts
Rainbow colours
The height of the summer
Each one uniform but different.
So bright
Lime green
Cerulean blue
Colours of the seaside
Scarlet and fluorescent orange
Sun bleach.
For homework, we blind-picked a title from a bag - we have to write a letter poem. I chose "write a letter to a toy you once owned". This suits me. Tom, sitting next to me, chose "write a letter to the moon". He liked it but I was glad I did not get that one.
Sympathy Letter
Dear Dolls Cot
I look back now with regret for how I ignored you.
My Mum had put so much effort
into choosing you. My Mum
had put so much effort into making the cot sheets.
The cot sheets matched the dress I had that Christmas.
I was astonished that Father Christmas
had chosen cot sheets in the same fabric as my dress.
My Mum expected me to play the little Mother.
Through you, I disappointed her.
I'm so sorry you weren't my thing.
With regret.
Cathy
Saturday, 5 October 2019
Linocut class at Great Slamseys Farm
This class is very local to me - hurrah - I was so much less tired than usual when I got back home after class - because I'd only spent 7 minutes each way travelling!
5 in the class - all women, some with children who'd just started school, so were able to do something during the day, other than childcare. Class was in a large barn (listed building) set up with 3 sets of tables that would seat 8. Plenty of space. Ruth is a daughter of the farm, who lives nearby offsite, whereas the rest of the family live on site.
We started by cutting a trial plate, using blue linocut (the grade that is used in schools). Easy to cut, but not great for fine detail. But useful to try out different carving tools.
Then we carved 3 inch blocks with a positive image, and negative, plus a black line drawing and a white line drawing. I chose a beetle. And we printed using different types of ink. My linocutting was rather clumsy, and I need more practice to develop better skills.
The second day we found an image we liked (one of my drawings of flowers in a milk bottle), in order to do reduction printing. More difficult that it seems! It was good advice to draw out the image twice, and colour in the areas to be cut away. This limits how likely you are to cut out the wrong area. I was constantly referring to my colouring. Proofs were done, then small amendments to cut away areas creating print noise. I decided to do a shaded bottom layer, with light blue on the left, and darker on the right.
Then decisions were made about how much to cut back on the Lino, for the second layer of print. Once again, more skills in cutting are required. But when printed in dark blue, it was good enough to show I had mastered the principles.
Two fun days.
5 in the class - all women, some with children who'd just started school, so were able to do something during the day, other than childcare. Class was in a large barn (listed building) set up with 3 sets of tables that would seat 8. Plenty of space. Ruth is a daughter of the farm, who lives nearby offsite, whereas the rest of the family live on site.
We started by cutting a trial plate, using blue linocut (the grade that is used in schools). Easy to cut, but not great for fine detail. But useful to try out different carving tools.
Then we carved 3 inch blocks with a positive image, and negative, plus a black line drawing and a white line drawing. I chose a beetle. And we printed using different types of ink. My linocutting was rather clumsy, and I need more practice to develop better skills.
The second day we found an image we liked (one of my drawings of flowers in a milk bottle), in order to do reduction printing. More difficult that it seems! It was good advice to draw out the image twice, and colour in the areas to be cut away. This limits how likely you are to cut out the wrong area. I was constantly referring to my colouring. Proofs were done, then small amendments to cut away areas creating print noise. I decided to do a shaded bottom layer, with light blue on the left, and darker on the right.
Then decisions were made about how much to cut back on the Lino, for the second layer of print. Once again, more skills in cutting are required. But when printed in dark blue, it was good enough to show I had mastered the principles.
Two fun days.
Ways into Poetry at City Lit
I'm booked in for a 3 Sunday class at City on poetry. Last Sunday we started - class tutor Sarah Westcott. The class is diverse - 4 men, 7 women, various ethnicities and working roles, mostly 30s-50s. We had a great time working with memory (I made the class laugh!), and simile and metaphor.
We debated words that we liked because of the sound or meaning - mine were fun, kind, crackle, sparkle, cartridge paper (for its meaning - the grade of paper used to make cartridges to hold shot for a gun!). Different people's words were categorised into visual, descriptive, beautiful, simple, memories, frequency. We were advised to take time to look - then the descriptive words come.
We looked at Joe Brainard's poem I Remember. It uses a lot of anaphora (repetition of a word or phrase), uses lists and repeats. Class had to write a poem of their own inspired by repeated phrases. I focussed the 'I remember'.
Teenage Angst
I remember the green and white tweed trousers my Mother bought me.
I remember I wanted to be like my mates.
I wanted tight blue jeans.
She’d spent my clothing allowance -
in the Sale -
on these hideous, bottle green and white, tweed, baggy trousers.
I remember the angst of wearing those hated trousers.
I wanted to be trendy.
But I wore frumpy, scratchy, baggy, hideous trousers.
I wanted to be trendy.
I remember the embarrassment.
I remember my Mother’s pride.
“They were such a bargain”.
“You’ll look ever so nice!"
I hated those trousers.
Who chose bottle green and white?
I remember her puzzlement at me not wanting to wear them.
“But you look ever so nice in them”.
We debated words that we liked because of the sound or meaning - mine were fun, kind, crackle, sparkle, cartridge paper (for its meaning - the grade of paper used to make cartridges to hold shot for a gun!). Different people's words were categorised into visual, descriptive, beautiful, simple, memories, frequency. We were advised to take time to look - then the descriptive words come.
We looked at Joe Brainard's poem I Remember. It uses a lot of anaphora (repetition of a word or phrase), uses lists and repeats. Class had to write a poem of their own inspired by repeated phrases. I focussed the 'I remember'.
Teenage Angst
I remember the green and white tweed trousers my Mother bought me.
I remember I wanted to be like my mates.
I wanted tight blue jeans.
She’d spent my clothing allowance -
in the Sale -
on these hideous, bottle green and white, tweed, baggy trousers.
I remember the angst of wearing those hated trousers.
I wanted to be trendy.
But I wore frumpy, scratchy, baggy, hideous trousers.
I wanted to be trendy.
I remember the embarrassment.
I remember my Mother’s pride.
“They were such a bargain”.
“You’ll look ever so nice!"
I hated those trousers.
Who chose bottle green and white?
I remember her puzzlement at me not wanting to wear them.
“But you look ever so nice in them”.
Then we passed round a bag containing objects, and chose one blind. I got a necklace - wooden spiral motif. We had to write a poem using simile or metaphor. (Ironing by Vicky Feaver, and You're by Sylvia Plath)
Necklace
Worn around the neck
as a sign of significance
Multiple laces like black liquorice
but inedible as electrical wiring
A coil of carved wood
as solid as a rock
Twisted, spiralled like an ammonite
Simple fastening - wooden button,
fixed with a string tangle,
as secure as a glover's knot.
Great class. Throughly enjoyed it. Roll on next Sunday.
Monday, 30 September 2019
Exhibiting at Thaxted
The Monday class from The Granary held our second art exhibition at Thaxted. Liz showed print/collage, Cherry showed textile quilts and acrylic, Lynne watercolours and Margaret prints. I showed my latest 3 samplers, key fob and payroll.
We had over 100 visitors over the weekend, but only sold one piece, plus many cards. The rest of the group felt Thaxted was the wrong venue for our work. I'm the only one not trying to sell my work. Thaxted is only accessible if people travel by car, although I'm not sure whether people travel to any small exhibition by public transport. The Guildhall also has a lot of steep stairs and no step-free access. Nearly all visitors were friends and family of exhibitors.
I worked the Friday/Saturday and spent a fair amount of time talking to people about my work. Good practice for talking at my Viva on 11 November! I had a poetry class on Sunday, but arrived at 4pm to strike the show. Show struck quickly and all of us went home.
The following day, at The Granary, Cherry and Liz told me that my work had inspired a lot of comment from visitors on the last day. It was their view that this body of work needs a bigger audience because of the response it inspires in other women. They suggested The Festival of Quilts has a new Fine Art Textiles exhibition, expressly for textile work that is not quilting (3 layers joined by stitch). I looked it up online, and for the 2019 show, the closing date was in May, long-listed by photographic images, then shortlisted by delivering the actual work to the selection panel. There was nothing online for the 2020 show yet. Hmmm. Is my work this good? But if I don't try, I won't know. And it would give me something to talk about in the Viva to the assessors.
Stitching (In)Significant Women
We had over 100 visitors over the weekend, but only sold one piece, plus many cards. The rest of the group felt Thaxted was the wrong venue for our work. I'm the only one not trying to sell my work. Thaxted is only accessible if people travel by car, although I'm not sure whether people travel to any small exhibition by public transport. The Guildhall also has a lot of steep stairs and no step-free access. Nearly all visitors were friends and family of exhibitors.
I worked the Friday/Saturday and spent a fair amount of time talking to people about my work. Good practice for talking at my Viva on 11 November! I had a poetry class on Sunday, but arrived at 4pm to strike the show. Show struck quickly and all of us went home.
The following day, at The Granary, Cherry and Liz told me that my work had inspired a lot of comment from visitors on the last day. It was their view that this body of work needs a bigger audience because of the response it inspires in other women. They suggested The Festival of Quilts has a new Fine Art Textiles exhibition, expressly for textile work that is not quilting (3 layers joined by stitch). I looked it up online, and for the 2019 show, the closing date was in May, long-listed by photographic images, then shortlisted by delivering the actual work to the selection panel. There was nothing online for the 2020 show yet. Hmmm. Is my work this good? But if I don't try, I won't know. And it would give me something to talk about in the Viva to the assessors.
Monday, 23 September 2019
Belton House, Grantham
Having handed in my thesis, Jim and I are having a couple of days away. We went to Belton House, where we saw a Women and Power exhibition - this at the end of the National Trust's theme for the year.
Jim and I started with the below stairs tour. As usual I was the one asking questions on the tour, some of which the tour guide did not know. For example, if a beer ration was part of the wages (weak ale was a sterile drink when the water supply was suspect), but staff could have a cash bonus if they did not drink their full entitlement (men 3 pints per day, women 2), what happened if any of the staff were dissenters or teetotal. The local church was Church of England, so presumably most staff would drink their entitlement. We were taken into the strong room to see the silverware. There was a huge silver punch bowl that one of the Earl's had been baptised in, coronets for the Earl and his wife and a complete silver dinner service that was loaned to No 10, when Thatcher was in power. Belton House had to ask for it back when she left power, as No 10 staff appeared to forget to return it!
The four women focussed upon in Women & Power were Florence Woolward, Sophia Cust, Marian Alford and Nina Cust.
Florence Woolward 1854-1936 was the local rector's daughter, friendly with the Brownlow family through her father, and became a botanical illustrator. The Marquess of Lothian was a world renowned orchid fancier, and Florrie was given the opportunity to paint the orchids. This led to a major orchid catalogue in 1896, and although the first copies were attributed to the Marquess, the third publication, attributed her as assisting the Marquess! Without Florrie there would be no record of this orchid collection.
Sophia Cust 1811-1882 was the leisured daughter of the 1st Earl Brownlow, and painted watercolours of the gardens and mansion. This gives the historical restoration of Belton some factual detail of the 19th century.
Marian Alford 1817-1888, was widowed at 34 and trustee of her eldest son, John Cust's, fortune until he came of age. She was another watercolour artist and embroiderer. Brought up in Italy she made many religious paintings as well as flower, landscape and humorous ones. Founder member of Royal School of Needlework, promoting embroidery as employment for poor women.
Nina Cust 1867-1955 was the most intriguing. Her story was that she was an intellect, writer and sculptor. But she had a shotgun wedding to the philandering Harry Cust (info from the Belton tour). Research online indicates Harry fathered children (with bright blue eyes) with many women, but none with her! One of his alleged children was with a maid at Belton, and this child is alleged to be Margaret Thatcher's mother. The alleged pregnancy of Nina Cust did not produce a child. And Harry and Nina remained childless. One of the interesting things here, is that NT literature talks freely about the shotgun wedding, where Harry was leant on by his cousin to marry Nina, but none of it refers to their childlessness.
Great day out.
Jim and I started with the below stairs tour. As usual I was the one asking questions on the tour, some of which the tour guide did not know. For example, if a beer ration was part of the wages (weak ale was a sterile drink when the water supply was suspect), but staff could have a cash bonus if they did not drink their full entitlement (men 3 pints per day, women 2), what happened if any of the staff were dissenters or teetotal. The local church was Church of England, so presumably most staff would drink their entitlement. We were taken into the strong room to see the silverware. There was a huge silver punch bowl that one of the Earl's had been baptised in, coronets for the Earl and his wife and a complete silver dinner service that was loaned to No 10, when Thatcher was in power. Belton House had to ask for it back when she left power, as No 10 staff appeared to forget to return it!
The four women focussed upon in Women & Power were Florence Woolward, Sophia Cust, Marian Alford and Nina Cust.
Florence Woolward 1854-1936 was the local rector's daughter, friendly with the Brownlow family through her father, and became a botanical illustrator. The Marquess of Lothian was a world renowned orchid fancier, and Florrie was given the opportunity to paint the orchids. This led to a major orchid catalogue in 1896, and although the first copies were attributed to the Marquess, the third publication, attributed her as assisting the Marquess! Without Florrie there would be no record of this orchid collection.
Sophia Cust 1811-1882 was the leisured daughter of the 1st Earl Brownlow, and painted watercolours of the gardens and mansion. This gives the historical restoration of Belton some factual detail of the 19th century.
Marian Alford 1817-1888, was widowed at 34 and trustee of her eldest son, John Cust's, fortune until he came of age. She was another watercolour artist and embroiderer. Brought up in Italy she made many religious paintings as well as flower, landscape and humorous ones. Founder member of Royal School of Needlework, promoting embroidery as employment for poor women.
Nina Cust 1867-1955 was the most intriguing. Her story was that she was an intellect, writer and sculptor. But she had a shotgun wedding to the philandering Harry Cust (info from the Belton tour). Research online indicates Harry fathered children (with bright blue eyes) with many women, but none with her! One of his alleged children was with a maid at Belton, and this child is alleged to be Margaret Thatcher's mother. The alleged pregnancy of Nina Cust did not produce a child. And Harry and Nina remained childless. One of the interesting things here, is that NT literature talks freely about the shotgun wedding, where Harry was leant on by his cousin to marry Nina, but none of it refers to their childlessness.
Great day out.
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