Category: Part four-Personal research methodology

Antony Caro deliberately constructed some of his sculptures to flow off the plinth. I understood this more when placing my work in the gallery and hanging it on the wall and placing it on the shelf. It is a nice piece to handle, however doesn’t have an obvious way to sit.

I reconfigured by weaving in another element of rusted iron. I experimented with various positionings.

I preferred an off cente composition with the woven spring curving upwards, this seemed more dynamic the down.

Off center forms more of a question, with the spring centrally placed it seemed very calm and zen, the off center placement introduces a tension, gravity adds gravity to the form, I feel it makes a viewer wonder more about what the context may be.

For me this says more about the balance of nature and humans.

It does not now encourage handling like the simple woven spring – I do like an invitation to learn about an object by interacting with it

The piece now has 2possible obvious ways to place it. Standing on the Base – with an upward curve showing hope or downward showing decline. or possibly wall hanging.

The next stage in the iterative cycle could be to expand the range of found artefacts and consider final placement as part of the development.

Considering the selection of a piece of work from part Three to experiment with placement in varied locations.

While making work I have not considered where the ideal location is for it to be placed. In MMT after I had made pieces I did find it clear to myself that they should be photographed on the sea shore or on a rocky crag as I felt the added context was important. I’m wondering now about how a piece of work should perhaps have a strong enough narrative to stand alone .

Considering exhibitions, choice of colour, lighting, relative placement to other works is clearly made; for example when Grayson Perry hung the Summer Exhibition there was an excellent documentary interview of the choices of gallery wall colour etc. I watched a video of Tracey Emin talking about the effects of a gallery space on how her work is chosen and indeed made , for commissioned exhibitions.

Stage one – ideas/concept

Selection of a piece of my work is slightly stymied by my focus on exploring materials – it is really difficult to ‘ state what I initially wanted the (original) sample to do or say‘ . I was considering the idea of place in my choice of colour and materials and made some visual reference to drawings of texture and shapes and marks. Was I necessarily saying anything?

Further unorthodox placing

The piece sits really well in the landscape, the curve of the hills and rock forms and iron in the rocks, reflect the form of the weaving.

The industrial revolution starts here and is woven into the story of the place.

Sttage 2 – practical response/action

Stage 3 – critical reflection

Stage 4 – syntheses/refinement

Reading about Table Piece xxv111 by Caro parts of the description that particularly struck me are;

a quote ‘all sculpture takes its bearings from the fact that we live inside our bodies and that our size and stretch and strength is what it is’ (quoted in Moorhouse, p.25).  I haven’t previously considered the physical realationship of the work I make to myself, my size my strength, apart from references to the resilience of the material or physical difficulty of a process so this is another point of context to consider when making. Part of Identity.

I admire the inventiveness of creating the little foot – almost invisible that alongside the overhanging structure dictates how the piece stands to be observed – very ingenious. I recognise that this is a trait I take into consideration alongside narrative and visual qualities of work.

Using colour to create visual unity – I have felt visual unity when looking at his sculptures elsewhere but hadn’t realised this ‘technique ‘of using colour to unify – seems obvious now it is explained!

Contexts for textiles- I have mind mapped some ideas of textiles use, both obvious and perhaps slightly overlooked with broad categories including clothing, protection, communication, barriers, interiors, storage, sports, medical, construction, leisure. I will illustrate with photos as I observe particularly interesting applications.

Yarn bombing

Is perhaps a way of creating visual unity by enclosing an object in colour. Its certainly a way of drawing attention when used on specific statues for example. Statues often just become part of the scenery and yarn bombing is sometimes used to draw attention back to an heroic or political cause.

Yarn bombing is part of a wider Guirilla art movement people taking upon themselves to add visual improvements to their neighbourhoods.

Gardening, planting wild flowers, trees, vegetables for the benefit of locals and the environment.

Graffiti – not mindless tags but beautiful artworks often with a political or social message.

Yarn bombing – lots of images on Pinterest of imaginative and amusing installations. Site specific, sometimes event specific. Individual or community installations

Ann Eunson for example has knitted a lace pattern fence around her garden using a traditional Shetland design. This I love for its delicacy and tenacity. Art in unusual places always sparks a though stream, maybe because it takes you unawares during a time of contemplation.

Outsider art as opposed to incredible installations by Sheila Hicks or Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam http://www.knitjapan.co.uk/features/c_zone/horiuchi/profile.htm?utm_medium=website&utm_source=archdaily.com Thttps://www.archdaily.com/297941/meet-the-artist-behind-those-amazing-hand-knitted-

An interesting article in the Guardian titled A stitch in time: how craftivists found their radical voice with examples of collectives of people using textiles as campaign tool – to convince M&S to pay a living wage and protect migrating birds from dredging nets.

Historically textiles have been used as communication, the Bayeaux tapestry, union banners etc Perhaps this craftivism is enabled through the resurgence of craft hobbies, people turning to making as a meditative response to dissatisfaction with happenings in the wider world , naturally using comfortable techniques to have a voice. Subtle and subversive.

Tied in as well to collective happenings like Migration blanket in Birmingham or Alice Kettles Stitch a tree project. the fine art world

I think that the political edge has strongly embedded craft in today’s zeitgeist, the air of cool has completely blown away associations with the fusty or old fashioned notions and granted permission to create with soft materials. Edgier magazines to mainstream newspapers like an interesting inch of column space to break up the tedium of daily news. Craftivism fits the bill nicely.

Really interesting read . Strange Materials, by Leanne Prain. Chapter 4 Textiles of Protest, politics and power.