#half-rutter

That hyphen takes this into new semiotic worlds?

That cardigan is AMAZING.

Danke!

scavengedluxury

It's like the Sanquhar pattern inside a kaleidoscope.

Spider plants are so good tho!

1) Have you ever been moved to tears by a painting / sculpture / work of art? What was it? Not memorably, certainly have been captivated and sometimes saddened but I think only music, films and books have provoked tears, to date. Perhaps I have cried after coming home from an art gallery, but I often do that at the end of a busy day of being out anyway.

2) When was the last time you were so engrossed in a book you disregarded something IRL, such as missing a stop on your train? (Bonus, do you remember what was the scene in the book?) Specific memories are murky - although I know it has happened. I think I missed one stop on the tube when I was working near Piccadilly and reading a collection of Anna Kavan stories. As a kid I would stay awake too late reading with a torch under the bedclothes. 

3) What film would you most love to live inside? (This refers to costumes, set, locations, time period, characters - but you do not have to be constrained by the film’s exact plot.) I like the concept - and the distinction. Thinking about this, the films I’ve been most impressed by and found enjoyable are definitely not ones I’d want to exist inside of. I suppose ‘La Belle Vert’ since the colonised planet was kind of Utopian, if a little bit creepy.

4) Architecture - you are allowed to live for one year in any building designed by any architect (it will be made habitable for you, and bills and furnishings will be taken care of.) What building (existing or existed) and/or what architect to design a ~dream building~? Oh, this is a good one! I’ve always said that the Canterbury city cemetery should let Roger & me live in the chapel (John Green Hall was the architect) because we spend so much time lurking there at night as students. 

5) What’s your favourite museum in the world? I guess this would have to be Sciworks in Winston Salem since the wonder of the small child is so potent that this was the place I first experienced lots of things for the first time - particularly the planetarium where I’m told I amused the whole room by saying “ooh, stars!” as a very young one. Other than that there was an animatronic dinosaur, a giant plastic mouth, harmonograph, zoetrope and geode that I remember well. Again, not the grandest but fond memories.

6) An eccentric billionaire has made a bequest: upon your death, a small plaque and a moderate grant will be given to the individual museum, gallery or performing arts venue that has made the most positive impact on your creative life. Where will your plaque go? I don’t know what place has most influenced my own creativity - probably my school, various pubs, friends’ houses and libraries since it’s daily experience that prompts such things for me, rather than other peoples’ work and so on. Going to National Trust & English Heritage places with my family growing up made me appreciate quality in crafts. Living history and re-enactment prompted an interest in authenticity and making things from scratch in traditional ways. I’d be happy if a donation was made to The Union Chapel since I have only ever had moving and memorable experiences there and that definitely contributes to creativity holistically. 

7) Were you taught to play any instruments while you were growing up? (It doesn’t matter if you can play them now.) If you could go back and arrange lessons for your child self, what instrument would you have played? I pestered my parents to let me learn the trumpet during primary school and was supposed to take the grade 2 exams but the teacher kept saying he’d forgotten to arrange it. My parents told me I wouldn’t have time to keep learning when I started secondary school and that was that. They have since apologised and I’ve accepted that I don’t have aptitudes for understanding how to play music so would probably focus my attention elsewhere instead.

8) Do you do any crafts? Knitting, sewing, whittling, metalwork, beading, photography, printmaking, anything you can make yourself? I’m no good at knitting but do cross-stitch & blackwork embroidery. Have dabbled with spinning and intend to do more when my course finishes. A bit of whittling, a bit of weaving. I love print making but don’t do it enough - I have lino blocks and a silkscreen but not really the space. Some scribbly sketches and comic cartoons, some collage, marbling, embossing, making soap & candles. The best things I’ve done have mainly been textile-based. I’ve made dresses and jackets, though with the guidance of teachers at the time. I’d like to get a decent sewing machine and get back into that. Taking pictures is also a creative thing, I suppose, but the process feels very different - more like writing a letter than making a print or something. Perhaps it’s the process more than the end result with some things. 

9) Dance lessons (ballet, tap, contemporary, salsa, it’s all good!) Yes / No / Was Forced But Hated It / Always Wanted To But Wasn’t Allowed? We had to do dance at (all girls) secondary school. We wore leotards and had a formidable German teacher who would stand at the front of the hall and screech “doubletime girls, faster! faster!” during the aerobics warm-up. I shudder at the memories. Went to a couple of salsa classes with some friends when we were 18ish but the men were so creepy I couldn’t face continuing. My co-ordination and bodily awareness is fairly lacking so I wouldn’t attempt dancing, other than ceilidhs which I enjoy with a kind of invigorating fear.