Exhibitions

My 'Taplow Vase Reconstruction' made in response to a Roman vase in Slough Museum is having another outing - currently at Gallery @49 in Bracknell as part of 'Whatever Floats Your Boat' exhibition. Hope to get there on 17 December to sit and stitch and chat to anyone who might pop in.

On Thursday , went to a presentation to staff by David Nash about the  exhibition of his work next year at Kew Gardens.  The lecture theatre was packed and due to technical difficulties with slide projector (everyone uses Powerpoint these days) there was the opportunity to catch up with colleagues . Talk was mainly about how the strike had gone  but also found that the Hardy Orchid book I've been working on for 6 years will be published on 16 December!

He was such an engaging speaker, particularly recounting the construction of the Ash Dome and travels of the Wooden Boulder . Existing outdoor works will be situated throughout the gardens and these will be supplemented with new works created on-site at  a  'wood quarry'. There will indoor works in the temperate house, Shirley Sherwood Gallery and Nash Conservatory. It sounds fantastic!!

On a different scale , tomorrow afternoon I'm going to the gallery talk by Lesley Millar at Japan House on current textile exhibition 'Bite Size' which so many people have raved about. I'll be reporting back in my next blog post.

Communicating Intention

With Plinth?         Suspended?

When creating in a new area, beyond your comfort zone, how do you know whether a piece 'works' or not?
This is something I've been thinking a lot about this weekend  having viewed my 'Taplow Vase Reconstruction' on display at Slough Museum as part of 'Whatever Floats Your Boat' exhibition.
I'm used to looking critically at my quilts and assessing their content, composition and craftmanship , and whether they meet my intention. But in 3D it's much more difficult to assess, I don't have past experience to compare with, many of the considerations are different.  

What inspired me about the Taplow vase were the gaps as much as the solid pieces, the ragged bottom of the vase, and how your mind fills in the holes. I wanted to make something that had the opposite characteristics to  pottery- floating, light with movement , not attached to earth but of the air with the potential for multiple viewpoints.

Another discovery (which shouldn't be a surprise) - how you display 3D items makes a huge difference to how it looks and functions. It's relatively straightforward with quilts (although they can be hung upside down or in poor light- I once had a very thick batton inserted in a piece on display in a local art open exhibition that distorted it terribly. ) How much control does the maker have once work is submitted for display?  How much should they have?

Unfortunately I wasn't able to be at the 'grand reveal' whether makers talked about their inspirations and making of the piece although I did print instructions on hanging it with photos of how I wanted it to look. I obviously wasn't clear enough about my intentions for the piece. The curators ( who worked incredibly hard to put together the exhibition in  a couple of days) had attempted to make my piece look like a museum exhibit which is a perfectly valid point of view but not mine. But then if you put work into the public arena, is your view important?   It was suspended from the ceiling but had a plinth underneath it so it looked as if it was resting on it.These plinths worked very well for some of the other pieces but in my view it made my piece look solid and clumsy, that the plinth was part of the work. At least it made me realise that no , this piece doesn't work: it shouldn't need to rely on how it's displayed to reveal the intentions behind it.
I'll have to think carefully about whether I include it in my portfolio- too much like a lampshade !!I don't think I'll be in too much of a hurry to make further 3D work!I've learnt such a lot from making this piece ( much of it unexpected ) but most of all the importance of communicating intention both through the piece itself but also in providing statements and instructions.

A Private View

 An outing to Slough today for Private view for TVCQ of exhibition'Whatever Floats Your Boat' at Slough Museum. Despite long delays on the train from Ealing due to vandalism  and lack of 'natillas' (custard tarts) at the Portuguese coffee shop it was great to see the hugely varied textile intepretations inspired by items in the museum and/or environs of Slough. It certainly encouraged me to work beyond my comfort zone. Jane, Sandy and others did a tremendous job to put the display up in 2 days rather than having 2 months to plan it!!

 I always feel a bit awkward posing in front of my artworks (not helped by 'hat hair' - sunhat was very necessary today in the heat) - I always look more relaxed in work photos, my 'natural ' environment.

The Clone Ranger

Inspired by ceramics ( and travelling crowns)

All this week the mystified postie has been delivering metal rings of varying sizes (lampshade rings and wreath bases) which I put to good  use yesterday , hanging 'secret books' in cotton organza, my interpretation of the 'Taplow Vase' from Slough Museum. Still needs some work - I can see the 'rim' needs lowering and the strips of organza selvedge replaced with something more metallic( not to mention working out how I'm going to attach the 'books' ) but it's taking shape now. 

 I think I was partly inspired by the idea of nomadic crowns, made in sections and  taken apart for travelling as seen on Friday  in the Afghanistan exhibition at the British Museum. This star piece really is spectacular - it shimmers and trembles as you stand next to it  but the remainder of exhibition is equally jaw dropping.

Before the timed entry, we visited the Minoan gallery - it's become a ritual  to see what the BM has in the way of artifacts as a taster before going on holiday (in this case Crete over Easter).

I've always enjoyed  ceramics- making sketches of broken bits of crockery is nothing new - I found some notes tucked into the guide book to Knossos and Heraklion Museum from 20 years ago. I was doing pottery evening classes at the time so was interested in  shapes and incised markings that I could use in my own work. I'm as likely now to 'draw' in Photoshop ( ie Taplow Vase using 'find edges' filter) but there's nothing quite like observing with a pencil.