notes from lecture made on tracing padPhotos below:
Using the tracing paper have another aspect to note taking, allowing them to literally overlap and intertwine.Below are the individual pages, scanned and manipulated to show contents clearly.
Jan '18
15/01/2018 - Visiting Lecturer - Stewart Geddes
Visiting lecturer Stewart Geddes 15th January
'Shippen'; 30cm x 23; oil and paper on panel
https://stewartgeddes.weebly.com/painting.html
My mixed notes from the presentation provided by Stewart Geddes:theory & research - overburden of research and academia - character & relevance for fine art, needs to be debated - visceral experience of life has had as much impact on work.wood panel - 5ft- a thing made of substance, colour, paint - formative reason to choose to be an artist. Do children have a tendency to patterning? Is that something I am drawing on?Dyslexic - didn't get acknowledged until adulthood, disproportionate number of dyslexics in art school. having an issue with that mechanism & compensated linguistic forms take over such as art.1970's-1980's 50/50 split @school on gender, mainly male teachers - feminism was debated. - acknowledge that artist & teacher influences are male.Alfred Stockham - tutor @uni, sail boat image - teasing out the personal visual vocals of the studentMichael Canny - <3 michaelcanney.co.ukPeter Lanyon - cornish artist, St IvesAlbert Irvin - hayward gallery - John Hoyland link, tutorial @uni, - 20yrs later in London, noticed a 'Bert Irvin' in a house through a window - his daughter was a neighbour. She invited Geddes to party and introduced them - friends ever since. Now organising a retrospective. - - - An effecting experience - Intimacy, meeting people etc - work is a representation of the consciousness of a person - engaging with people/culture etcPatrick Heron - article of his home, Eagles Nest, famous for light, gulf stream, warm etc. experienced first hand, austere, light filled and displayed an aesthetic attitude - their attitude to live and how they lived.Josef Albers - colour theory portfolio - taught by colour theorist, Bauhaus - German/American - Johannes Itten - Bauhaus & design & fine art practice - the staff were celebrities - few students came out of it.Black Mountain College - John Cage, Rauschenberg, Cy Twombly, Merce Cunningham - ChoreographerThe Secret Lives of Colour By Kassia St ClairColour: A Workshop For Artists and Designers 2 by David Hornung, Michael James Colour theory - how the eyes see the opposite colour on the colour wheelColour and Meaning: Art, Science and Symbolism by John Cage
Mark-making in Textile Art: Techniques for Hand and Machine Stitching by Helen Parrott
Unremitting urbanmetropolis - abruptness of the city - not sprawling - Dubai - Sharjah joined - Abu Dhabi - distance -
Richard Long - Bristol - mud pieces, with 2nd highest tides
Body, Object, Land -
Figure, Still life, landscape - Do I relate to landscape? I guess I do.
Lanyon
Alfred Wallis - discovered by Ben Nicholson, wood - Stewarts Image - landscape - Albers influence - tryout a freeing - registration - practice catching up with thought etc
creating a rhythm - coming to terms with an experience - 'Just Doing' - Is he a Stuckist?
Happenstance - valid - showing motion - alluding to with - the unstable sign;-Benno - marble dust - layers -found image captured in photosfound paintings - reconfigured and different axisfinding the work in the process - proposition that is considered but also a point of departureepiphany moments -conceptual underpinnings - critical judgement and intuitionthe painting is the essay - not the essay about the paintingwhen something surprising happens.
'Super Drug'; 75cm x 220; acrylic and collage on panels
https://stewartgeddes.weebly.com/
Stewart Geddes asked if we would think about the following questions before the session. My responses are in pink.1. Why do you make art? Do you have early perhaps even childhood experiences which have influenced you? people? ways of communicating. I have never really wanted to do anything else. I have apparently always been creative, and encouraged to be that way. Perhaps its because the quiet activities of making art as a child meant it was encouraged as an only child to keep me busy. It certainly has aspects to do with how I interpret the world around me both visually and cognitively. I interpret patterns in my sight, and utilise the structures of organisation and rhythm to remain focused and not overwhelmed. I see patterns between the words in texts and need things to be aligned and clean to take in the information. I was always the artist, always and still am the 'creative one' in the family.2. What critical points of change have taken place in your development as an artist in your ideas and your making, either intellectual or experiential? In 2016 I began working in the context of a shared studio space and undertook an artist professionalism course which allowed me to move from confessional art to art with political and social commentary. My practice then made a huge leap in intellectual development, being informed by academic texts and data rather than purely self-focused experience.3. What role does colour and its absence or presence play in your work? This is a question I have asked myself and my peers recently. Colour is absent from my work as I am conveying thoughts and asking questions regarding the quotidian, rhythms, social structures and to some extend identity politics, to add colour and the mixed/varied symbolism it holds, I feel will confuse the work and muddy the context and how it is viewed.
09/01/2018 - Exhibition - 'In Residence: Christine Muller & Fay McCaul', Tashkeel
Artist In Residence programme bought designers Muller and McCaul in to the studio spaces at Tashkeel. Muller, printing specialist, aided Mobius Design studio & Swiss design collective Weltformat in production of their collaborative exhibition WeltformatDXB at Dubai Design District during design week. With the aid of studio assistants she printed all the large format posters for the Dubai section of the show. McCaul was in residence for three months and provided workshops and talks while working in the studio.Fay McCaul:Specialising in knitted and fused textiles using wood, wire and plastics.
Most of her work was transparent, luminous or structured in a way to enhance, move or shield light in internal spaces. The repeats were beautiful and called out to be caressed, thankfully something that was not frowned upon in the exhibition.Christine Muller:After the emmense and intense paper printing of Weltformat DXB Muller produced her own works, inspired by the islamic patterns she encountered here in Dubai, on silk flags whose construction was outsourced.
Most of the pieces had the format of flags local to the Gulf nations, and the use of fine silks gave a luminous subtly to the prints. The audience was encouraged to move through the flags, so that they would float and swirl in the gallery space. The colour palette really felt indicative of the region, the luscious golds, sky blues and rusty sand colours.The exhibition made me question my production or lack thereof. What am I afraid of? What am I trying to stop and why? Why am I restricting my production to small scale pieces? Is it space? of lack of vision?
08-15/01/2018 - FRAME - Process: filling the pages
The books are constructed of left over photocopies. The larger one uses Japanese papers as well, sandwiched between the printer paper. Their construction is detailed in a previous post.
I have since worked in to the books by repeating my process of tracing over and through, allowing the patterns to cover both sides of the pages. The first book detailed below is 9.7 x 11.4 cm, 15 fragmented pages and is constructed of fragments of colour photocopies of sketchbook pages.
I used a black ink pen to trace the patterns on to the blank sides of the paper. I traced all that I could see through the pages, using a light box and building the density. Text is also visible from repurposed paper. I find the messy overlap and overwhelm of the pages intriguing, it has elements of construction sites, road networks, commutes or flightpaths to it.Like the invisible threads that follow us through our daily timelines, criss-crossing as we pass each other by.
The next book is 13.2 x 13.2 cm, 14 pages and constructed of monotone photocopies that had been cut previously in to rough squares for a project that lost momentum. Some are missing corners and vary in shape as they were cut for the aesthetic value of the fragmentation of the pattern.
Some of the images had also been used to trace from, so the back side is covered in pencil graphite. I liked the contrast of the rough pencil filling spaces and building the lines thicker so I continued this is variation to complete all the pages. Only the pattern on the other side is transferred in this book form. Seeing the pages open in the photographs highlights some surprising compositions, the seem to provide movement while alluding to missing parts, like the parts of a story left to the imagination.
The large piece (23 x 30.5 cm, 17 pages including covers), is a blend of printouts and Japanese papers. The images are both digital versions of the patterns and digitally enhanced enlargements of drawn patterns.
This book is a combination of the previous two. The viewable patterns are traced on each page, using different materials/colour inks (black, grey ink, graphite, varying thicknesses) creating a density on a single page that is then enhanced by the underlying pages. There is a beauty in the unexpected symmetry that appears as the pages are turned.
I feel frustrated that I am trying to move away from constraint but seem to be moving further in to it.
08/01/2018 - Pecha Kucha - Winter break, pattern making
My Pecha Kucha Presentation:[googleapps domain="docs" dir="presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQYh_7uhKiDJTb0kQHGvYNcagyjvtWpjPvZblWTM2Z5JnHtAF3YnFl9IGePpDYdwQ7p7QtUAsC-Mtx9/embed" query="start=true&loop=true&delayms=15000" width="960" height="569" /] the pecha kucha - original images and patterns created using photographs taken during the break - an insight to my mind. the swirling and geometric thinking. Below you will find a brief explanation of the activities, the original photographs and the patterns created from them that were included in my presentation.I began with organisation: I colour-coded my bookcase. As you can see, at this point we hadn't mounted our artwork yet either.
Next on the list of winter break activities was to clean and organise my at home studio space. (it no longer looks like this, but it was nice while the tidiness lasted!
We had a winter concert at school, it's my daughters first year at nursery so lots of milestones, I know we have lots more winter concerts to come. We both felt the need to dress in the appropriate colours.
The day after this Maraya Art Centre in Sharjah had a private view of the Timo Nasseri show, curated by Laura Metzler. Hi work is meticulous and beautiful, a display of patience and time.
The work above is the artists, as is the square crop below, the 'flower' pattern is my patterning of the cropped image.
The exhibition included a room sized installation of mirror pieces laid out in a repeating geometric pattern. I was reflected in the work, the theme that reoccured in the other exhibitions I viewed, it felt poignant to actually see myself in the work I could relate to, finding comfort in the methodological and repeating works.
On the same day, after a coffee with artist friends and w wander around the souq, I broke off from them and viewed part of the Hassan Sharif Retrospective by the Sharjah Art Foundation in their Bait Al Serkal location. Time was running out to complete the school pick up so it was a short visit. I loved that most of these pieces had sketches accompanying them, showing how they were to be installed in to the spaces... these exact spaces as the artist had planned a show before his death.
I managed another trip to Sharjah the following week, which is unheard of for me, Sharjah has notorious traffic. The day was gloriously gloomy and moody, it rained while I was there and I absolutely loved it. On average we get around 3 days of rain a year, although that seems to be growing with the cloud seeding taking place, but thats another story. Hassan Sharifs Retrospective is monumental, taking on 6 gallery spaces in Sharjah Art Foundation as well as the Bait Al Serkal space. The pattern I created from the crop of one of Sharif's pieces is incredible, I plan to make this. My husband is an expert in knots and my fibre/weaving background should make this accomplishable.
From the Hassan Sharif Retrospective I moved on to Sharjah Art Museum to view the Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival, a lot of the artists were on site so it was nice to meet them and have a chat.
I spoke at length to the lovely Natalie Fisher (Artweave Originals) about her half cross stitch pieces, the labour intensive nature of textile art, and the hours that were displayed on the walls.
While catching up with a friend for lunch it rained, for a moment it felt like a european climate. I actually had an excuse to wear my boots and a hat!
We went back to sunshine the next day. The new neighbour we now live in has a totally different colour to the built up marina, it much warmer and less grey. There seems to be more tonal contrasts with the sky, but a lot more harmony between the dwellings. This is my neighbours house taken from the steps to my front door.
The chilly nights mean that we have an excuse to use the fire pit, my husband knows my love of pattern and found one with these hole punched sides.
On christmas eve we made an exciting trip to the snow... indoor as Ski Dubai. Father Christmas/Santa (depending on your preference) was in residence. This year they had made a gorgeous winter wonderland with so many lights and christmas trees. It was a little overwhelming... and slippery which is how this image came to be!
We had a quiet christmas of just the 3 of us at home. This was the first year that our 3yr old really understood the concept of christmas, the stories, the presents etc. It was lovely to see her excitement when she realised Santa had been.
As soon as Christmas was over I set to work in the back yard and painted our boundary wall. We live on a 4 villa compound and have an L-shaped property that neatly slots on to the back of the bigger houses. The space is great (compared to the tiny balconies we are used to) but it was very 'beige' due to the looming houses we look on to.
After finishing the wall on New Year's Eve, we celebrated with the neighbours, watching the light show from Burj Khalifa out the front and then making a made dash to our roof to watch the fireworks of Burj Al Arab.
School runs began almost immediately as my daughter wanted to be a part of the winter camp they provided. Winter mornings here have beautiful cloud formations to collect.
Later on in the break I chose unleash my inner Flâneuse (for a great article about that here), I took to my neighbourhood on foot to room the sandy thoroughfares between the villas and streets.
Unfortunately the winter break came to an end with some slightly uncomfortable changes to our home life, I'm sure ti will end up being a mere 'blip' in the grand scheme of things. I chose to deal with it how I always to, making patterns and binding books. My sketchbook has been getting overburdened by scraps of paper and photocopies so I began to collate and bind to find some calm in the storm.
06/01/2018 - Making: Bookbinding - Encasing the chaos
biographical art or a metaphor for the bigger picture? confessional - there is stress in my household and I find binding comforting, containing the chaos and creating organisation.Links to the containment of people, gathering or restricting movement, stopping the 'chaos' of globalisation, immigration, movement.
unplanned binding - not measuring, guided by eye, scrappy, unmeasured.
04/01/2018 - Inspiration - Sketchbook: Exploratory walk - Flanuese in Al Manara
Taking in a new, low rise environment, without the shine of the towers I'm used to.
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Finding new geometries, patterns, or creating from the lack thereof.