#exercise 4

Tuesday 5th May 

Worked with artist Celia Pym on Exercise 5: Damage Detection

On her work: 

SENSATIONAL: Touching fabric as that which sits immediately close to the skin for a period of time. The charged nature of clothes: textiles and fabrics has having body memory: the elbows sag in certain places because of the wearers body and use. Garments as moving, responding and changing according to changes by the wearer and the environment. It lives in its condition and wear and the things that happen to and around it. Fabrics smell and textiles have sense of a person which become reminders, transitionary, holding memory, why they are treasures. 

TEXTILES AS TRANSITIONAL OBJECTS: as capable of transcending from one place to another. She’s often drawn to negative space, where holes are and things are lost, is filled and repurposed: the orange jumper darned with yellow. 

INTIMACY + TRUST: Caring and trusting nature of mending, repairing and maintaining. The level of vulnerability in handing someone an item to repair, anxiety, guilt and feeling indebted. 

RESIDENCY: Paired healthcare professional + craftsperson/artist,  medical students working as students who dissect, with artist who repairs and creates. Modelling the care relationship in the dissection room: caring for their stuff, replicating the feeling for having someone care for your, show evidence of it through action, giving and receiving. Using the object as an opportunity to open up and inspire conversation: the opening object. Engaging through personal items. 

Costume archive project considered status of objects, and decisions about their future and respect for that which is broken. Acknowledging when to continue or intervene with damage: the archive who permitted using the disintegrating ballet costumes for extended performances despite ‘SORTIR’ tag. Repair as visibility. Repair as never the same or directly replicated, as intuitive.

TOUCH: Often objects become emotionally charged, especially garments. Touch as a method to moving through dissociation. e.g. student who fainted because of the weight of arm of body felt like the arm of their grandmother. 

Ideas:

Part 3, project 2, exercise 4 – conveying character

In the absence of available sitters, I turned to some sketches I made for my own interest during the Drawing module and chose a very characterful image I had found on the internet. I had drawn this person once in charcoal and this time I was going to use paint. I had in mind the rather austere look of the German Expressionists which I had been researching but instead of making the image in black…

Part 2, project 3, exercise 4 – still life complementary colours

The task is to make a still life using two complementary colours and white. I chose sap green and cadmium red.

First some sketches using a charcoal pencil.

        Then drawing out with a watercolour pencil on hot pressed watercolour paper, which I find to be quite robust.

These are the first layers, finding the shapes, highlights, and tonal differences.

The items are on a shelf in front of…

Part 2, project 2, exercise 4, still life man-made objects

I have three metal birds – sparrows possibly – unreflective and almost an absorbent black. They’re textured but it’s hard to see. In contrast there’s that totally flamboyant beetle – shiny, bright, iridescent amd as big as the birds. I like the juxtaposition of dull, dark, quiet bit in this case quite conversational birds in the same frame as a beetle that normally would be prey but is being loud…

Part 2, project 2, exercise 4, still life man-made objects

I have three metal birds – sparrows possibly – unreflective and almost an absorbent black. They’re textured but it’s hard to see. In contrast there’s that totally flamboyant beetle – shiny, bright, iridescent amd as big as the birds. I like the juxtaposition of dull, dark, quiet bit in this case quite conversational birds in the same frame as a beetle that normally would be prey but is being loud…

The 3 Verbs that were my favorite.

TO STORE

TO FLOW

TO MATCH

TO STORE 

TO SHORTEN

TO SEVER

TO REMOVE

TO SIMPLIFY

TO FLOW

TO SUSPEND

OF NATURE

TO TIGHTEN

TO REPAIR

TO PAIR

TO SURROUND

TO MATCH

TO MARK

TO DILUTE

TO LIGHT

TO DISTILL 

OF REFRACTION

TO FORCE