Video works:I created several video works for the project. One was a Stop-Go Animation,[vimeo 273833616 w=640 h=360]516748 K VennerWoodbridge Video Fractured Foam from Katie Venner-Woodbridge on Vimeo.I did not create a storyboard or plan for this. I cut up some foam that was supplied by a friend and set about creating a small sequence. I wanted to explore order and chaos in a very simplified format that would still maintain the air of my work. By looping the video it reflects the daily routines and repetitions that I am so fond of and displays the way they ebb and flow. In hindsight, the material was not great and moved very easily if there was a breeze etc. I would also make a storyboard next time to make sure that the piece flowed steadily and developed into a more choreographed piece.After a tutorial with Kimberley Foster, we discussed the temporaryness of the drop collage pieces and I decided I would turn them into a performance and record it.[vimeo 273836648 w=640 h=360]516748 K VennerWoodbridge Video Performance Drop Collage sml from Katie Venner-Woodbridge on Vimeo.This piece as has a timelapse but I couldn't get the file to edit properly. I watched it on the camera and it felt so rushed I was happy to keep the real-time video. The element of sweeping the pieces away and starting afresh is cleansing, like a good night sleep. If the pieces don't land favourable, sweep them away and drop them again. Having chance play a role through the act of dropping also brings another element of chaos into the work. I would like to take this to a larger audience and allow participants to create the work and ask their reactions, so if they feel the need to stop when they have a favourable layout etc.Lastly, I created a large Performance piece, this was after speaking to Les Bicknell and his suggestion of making a systematic piece. It had also come up in a previous group critique. I set about planning pieces and drew out a 4x4 (5cm each so 20cm x 20cm) square on a piece of cloth. I then set up a filming area and proceeded to set a timer for 10 minutes and an alarm to remind myself to do the task daily. I tested the fabric would work first on a scrap.
I proceeded to punch embroider everyday for 10mins inside on of the squares, a couple of the day I didn't finish, the rest I had to stitch over as I was faster than expected.
Once I had done the first 16days I began to unpick the work. This did not need a timer. I systematically unpicked each square carefully bundling up the yarn for display afterwards. This is in honour of Hassan Sharif's piece "Cotton" pictured below. Which is a video installation alongside the artefact of the lump of cotton her created.
Hassan Sharif, Cotton (still), 2013. Cotton and single-channel HD video, silent, 20 x 67 x 46 cm, 8 minutes 26 seconds. Courtesy Estate of Hassan Sharif and Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Dubai. http://sharjahart.org/press/sharjah-art-foundation-presents-landamrk-hassan-sharif-retrospective-i
The video would be displayed alongside the artefacts and played on a loop. It is 3:36 hr: mins long. I chose to leave it like this as the point of the use of the techniques was its rhythmic movement and sound. It is tedious to watch, mirroring the common thought fo the 'daily grind' but in its sum creates a textile piece. As the chaos ensues ans it comes apart a different, perhaps more aesthetically pleasing textiles arises.[vimeo 273833967 w=640 h=360]516748 K VennerWoodbridge Video Performance deConstruct from Katie Venner-Woodbridge on Vimeo.
My initial batches were coarse and grey as I was using a substandard blender and the paper had a lot of printer ink on it. It was also heavily textured due to the fabric I was using to place it on. I replaced that and fixed the other teething problem and created some almost white paper. I was trying to maintain an element of transparency but this proved to be very difficult with the paper tearing and breaking up.
Once I dry I did some ink experiments with the pieces. Because the paper doesn't go through any finishing processes it is absorbent and allows the ink to bleed through. I think this could be made a feature but where it absorbs too much ink it very quickly disintegrates.
I next used threads in the process of papermaking, laying them on and in the paper solution as I was creating the sheets. This relies on the paper fibres to hold the thread in place and is not the most secure way of doing it. After a short time, the threads began to come away from the paper. I also sandwiched the threads between sheets but this rendered the paper very thick and the threads not as visible.
I do really find something pleasing about the piece that created holes, this unperfect aspect in an art form that prides itself on perfection moves me back into the thinking of chaos and order.
I did stitch a piece but it doesn't photograph well, this is a piece of Japanese paper that was also stitched. It holds the threads well whereas my handmade paper tore quickly and I abandoned stitching it further to save the piece. Perhaps the next point would be to continue until is does destroy itself and see what happens.