EDAM Term 3 : Further thoughts on 'Meanwhile...', techniques and artists to explore

 During the course  of 2 terms of EDAM I've been pushed well out of my comfort zone in the variety of  drawing techniques. Now in Term 3,  when we're working on our own projects, I need to consider which of these  will be useful for  me to use to explore the theme of ' meanwhile...' ( initial thoughts here )
 Large scale drawing with Tony Hull, starting with  object, blind drawing, mark making with long stick. wrapping object ,  inserting sheets of paper to disrupt composition , making linkages across surface,  layers, responding to what's there.

 Bookmaking , copies of monoprints, change of scale,  formats, concertina
 ( also ideas  from   monoprint  sketchbook project -  backs of work different to front, interaction of pages,, juxtaposition ,

 Paper manipulation and stitch - lots to explore here, take on idea and try different methods: pleating, distortion , ripping layers , stitch on acetate

Space and Light with Anne Teahan, feeling the form

 Lessons from 'Large Scale Sketchbook' :

 Interest in layers - in cloth, excavating old  quilts, what's beneath , how to  try this in paper?

Some  first thoughts on artists  of relevance:

Michael Buthe 

 Junko Oki ( Looking forward to  going to see her exhibition in Brussels in a couple of weeks time !) 

Paul Feiler - I spent some time looking at layers and composition at the Redfern Gallery 

Julie  Mehretu 

Guillermo Kuitca

 And 'mining'  my  own blog for artists that have influenced me over the years - interesting to make connections.
 Richard Long
David Nash  Tree  Quaryy
David Nash Cork Structures
David Nash
Sue Lawty
Cornelia Parker 
Tania Kovats 

Our homework  from the first  class was to read an article from Contemporary Drawing 1960's to now by Katherine Stout and research  ' expanded notion' one of the themes 

We started  the  next session  looking  at  artists using these different methods :

 Alison Wilding 

 Jenny Saville 

 Claude Heath 

 Frank Pudney 

Kirsten Elswood

Gerhard Richter  ( overpainted photographs at Gagosian) 

Stephan Talasniek

( for his use  of frottage, monoprinting  'activating the surface' 

 Helen Scalway 

 'Psychogeography'  writer ( well worth downloading the pdf's) ,  ' Travelling Blind'   shows  fascinating interpretations of the tube.  

Cosmopolitan city  shows different scales ( above) and I like' patterns and perspective' ( below) linked with her essay on ornament and memory

 Nancy Spero  for her use of text 

 William Kendridge' s interdisciplinary  work covers so many different media , it was a privilege to see the rehearsals for the 'Head and The  Load' last year . I  have a copy of his  '6 Drawing Lessons'  somewhere, must track it down.

My own  research, linked to my interests in  mapping walks,  was in ' walking as art' ,  so I was interested to find the catalogue for exhibition ( which can be downloaded on ISSUU)  

 Walk on-WALK  celebrating 40 years of 'art walking' 

Those that caught my eye  were  Tim Knowles ( whose '7 walks from 7 Dials, Covent Garden' is featured  in the inspirational 'Drawing Projects' book 

 Also Jeremy Wood  who pioneered  drawing  with GPS ,the  3d physicality of his piece  ' White Horse Hill'  I found   exciting.

"We cannot understand where we are on the ground without first looking up at the stars. The chalk figure from the Bronze Age was made to be seen from the heavens and today we use space age technology from the heavens to tell us where we are.

The Uffington White Horse was chosen for its mysterious dialogue between the ground and the sky; a relationship it has in common with the magical properties of satellite navigation technology.

The original shapes have eroded over time along with their meaning. They are signs, not entirely visible from the ground that are projected towards the skies like symbols on a map to be seen by the gods." 

 

Seeing Circles at Margate

After a failed attempt to get to Margate to see the exhibition 'Seeing Round Corners: the Art of the circle ' at Turner Contemporary ( I got soaked through just going to the station and retreated home) ,  when I rearranged  my visit  a week later I had the bonus of Margaret's company. And what a lovely and inspiring day out we had, I'm still  seeing circles everywhere!

 Reviewing the scribbles and notes in my sketchbook, what  has struck me is how many of the pieces I liked  were as much about the process of making as the final result.  I also enjoyed  the links to science and recording observations  such as the X-ray crystallograph  ' Photo 51' by Rosalind Franklin  and the intricate  annotated drawings of light reflections in a concave mirror by Leonardo da Vinci.

 Cloud Arc by Roger Ackling  was made by burning  marks in cardboard using a magnifying glass.No sooner had I thought of the link to Meteorological  suncards when there were examples on display!  

Before  the weather station at Kew Gardens was   updated to digital ecording , one of the daily duties of the weather recorder was to change the suncards (differerent  shaped formats were used at different times of year)  At one time I did this on a regular basis , climbing up a precipitous ladder to the roof of the building rewarded  with excellent views. The 'crystal  ball'  gave beautiful distorted reflections of the surroundings and sky.   The highest temperature recorded in the UK  was  held briefly by  Kew before it was confirmed as being higher at Brogdale. My colleague  who recorded it was on weekend  duty in a tropical glasshouse ! - I was at home finishing off a quilt ( a fan and lots of ice  were essential equipment). But I digress...  

Series of photographs or stills from a film  record the changes  in movement of the sun in sun tunnels in this work by Nancy Holt ( above)   and of the actions of the  tide filling  a flexiglass cylinder ( giving the illusion of a hole in the sea  ) by Barry Flanagan

 Processes of drawing can seem deceptively simple ( Nakahara Nantenbo, above) or  intricately  complex  multilayered 'sea  tracings'  by Trevor Shearer ( below)

 I loved the marks of this site-specific  circle by Richard Long  and how being outside, the shadows constantly change

 This stack of tiny  black porcelain vessels' Littoral' by Edmund de Waal made me think  a stack of  stones or shells  on a beach   so I    collected some limpets and drew them when I got home !  

  Some circles noted on our way back to the  station - my gathering continues

  

Richard Long-Heaven and Earth

In between the Chunghie Lee masterclass and my main visit to FoQ, I had a day off to recover(!) which I jam- packed with shopping, coffee with Sue and a visit to Tate Britain ( an easy trip by train from Brentford to Vauxhall). The object of my visit was the Richard Long exhibition.

It stirred me in many ways and will I think leave a lasting impression. It's first effect was to colour my view of the Festival of Quilts - many pieces seemed so fussy in comparison until I acclimatised. Like Olga, I had seen his work in galleries and exhibitions before, and liked it but its hadn't made much impact on me. This time, being surrounded by it, in a large spacious setting with detailed explanations was quite a different experience, sometimes unexpected. The photographs, drawings , sculptures and textworks were interesting and often beautiful in themselves in addition to representing in varied ways the act of walking. But as I was going round I realised I was thinking as much about my own interaction with landscape and interpretation of it, relating his work to my own experiences. In Room 3, mainly wonderfully grainy photos of walks and 'interventions' in the landscape, he talked of ' making a circle of stones, just placing a stone at every mile, or carrying a stone from one place to another' . This made me think of the World Beach Project and the fun Ian and I had last year in Greece, making us look at a familiar landscape in a different way.

Room 4 contained large 'indoor' sculptures of stones-
"I like the fact that every stone is different, one from another, in the same way all fingerprints, or snowflakes (or places) are unique, so no two circles can be alike. In the landscape works, the stones are of the place and remain there. With an indoor sculpture there is a different working rationale. The work is usually first made to fit its first venue in terms of scale, but it is not site-specific; the work is autonomous in that it can be re-made in another space and place. When this happens, there is a specific written procedure to follow. The selection of the stones is usually random; also individual stones will be in different places within the work each time. Nevertheless, it is the 'same' work whenever it is re-made."

My favouites here were the Norfolk Flint Circle which made me think of the flint pebbles at Bexhill (above) and 'Slate Line' which put in me mind of the limestone pavement at Malham (below). These had very different properties - white and knobbly versus sleek grey shards but both had interesting things going on in the negative shapes between the pieces. The idea for 'Transference' in room 5 was "first making a walk on Dartmoor recording various things. Then later on a completely different walk in Japan, I deliberately looked out for and could find certain things that were the same as on Dartmoor. It is about a symmetry of places, or events, on different sides of the world, and universal phenomena"

That it something I could relate to. I've been to many nature reserves in UK and Europe as part of my job but when I visited this 'swamp' reserve on Mt Chokai in Japan, it felt both familiar and alien. I could recognise that some plants were orchids but frustratingly couldn't name them ( the guide book had no latin names - so much for it being the universal taxonomic language) Food and meals feature in his 'transference'. I'd taken my normal walking snack of Duchy Original cheese nibbles with me to Japan , but I never anticipated eating them with chopsticks during a picnic in a carpark!

Since moving to Brentford, I've been much more aware of the tidal nature of the river Thames - from mud to high water in just a few hours. Tides were the focus of room 6 where I spent most time, mesmerised by the huge painting 'White Water Line' . "......White Water Line demonstrates different types of energy. It uses china clay from the big clay pits near St Austell in Cornwall. This work represents the force of my hand speed, and the forces of water, chance and gravity. I make the top line of the image and nature makes the rest, revealing the cosmic variety of the microscale."

I loved seeing the mark of the maker in this and the other'mud' paintings.

The 'dribbles' reminded me of Osterley Weir which was a focus of our canalside walks at Xmas and New Year

I did several journal quilts and paintings exploring this subject earlier in the year and even pieced a quilt top which I put aside to work on my FoQ entry. Time to return to working on this piece I think. Not sure I'll use mud though!