Getting started has been difficult despite the various brainstorming sessions which threw up many ideas. My initial ideas didn’t really fire me up: The distorted reality between sleeping and waking Twilight Grand old Duke of York – neither up nor down Winnie the Pooh poem ‘Halfway Down’ Between a rock and a hard place – damned if you do, damned if you don’t Straddling – foot in both camps/ sitting on the fence Boundaries, fences, borders, fringes, edges, Cusp- mathematical or symbolic ½ -the line in the middle of the fraction Song- Half a Sixpence is better than half a farthing… Half an income – 50% tax Half chance/evens/between cetain & impossible So it all went on the back burner! I subsequently wondered about looking at the word NOW (between past & future) & how it might be played about with graphically. I was quite excited about mind maps as the place between initial ideas and outcomes in design process. This got as far as thinking about recording stages in a mini album but decided the result would look more like a sketchbook and be difficult to display in a coherent way. So it all went on the back burner again UNTIL I heard Caroline Bergvall read her ‘48 Dante Variations’.
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura Che la diritta via era smarrita Hearing these few lines from Dante’s Inferno repeated as 48 different English translations sank in to me and I realised I had a subject at last. I liked John A Carlyle’s 1844 translation: IN the middle of the journey of our life, I found myself in a dark wood; for the straight way was lost. But how to approach it? On the back burner again.
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I'm combining grids of crossword and mediaeval tiles on a 12" square canvas box-frame...
First image is the the paper mock-up, with graded foam-board tiles, then the second image is 'work in progress - the fabric grid with bonded foil letters. Now I'm attempting the block-wrapping with digi-prints . . . the tile was seen in Oxford at the Ashmolean Museum. Sheila Dunscombe My explorations are going everywhere and nowhere very fast. I began with the image of an egg suspended. This is still in my mind. The idea of halfway between life and death, mixed with birth and family.
I recently participated in a course with Alice Kettle (textiles) and Helen Felcey (ceramics). I played with all sorts of materials. I worked with porcelain for the first time and was amazed by its fineness compared to the workaday terracotta and stoneware that I had used at primary school and evening classes. I crocheted with fishing line (inspired by the dress that was in the Whatever floats your boat exhibition). I discovered photographing my work in ways other than trying to get a pure white or black background (which I am usually dissatisfied by) - in situ locations and using light and shadow. Most helpful for me was the outside perspective given to me by the tutors. They were able to see the common threads running through my work. I am working in a conceptual way and its something to do with containment - when the container becomes the contained. We'll see what emerges finally ... it may be something related to what you see here, the eggs, or something else entirely. I have had a few wonderful days emerged in my project.
My idea comes from the Nordic saga about Kraka, who was challenged to by a Viking King to return to him ‘Not dressed but not naked, not in company but not alone, and not fasting but not having eaten’. So she returned wearing a fishing net, with her dog and she had bitten into an onion. I wanted to create a piece which is halfway between fabric and net with an ephemeral feel to it and also using the images from the saga. I worked on the hanging seriously in February, and it has been more or less dormant since then. But I made a big leap forward in May when I went to North Devon for a few days, I found a piece of wood, weathered and also worn by the sea, that made the perfect hanging frame for the net/piece. This meant I could move forward with construction, sizing it to fit the branch with all its bumps, twists and turns. And then I started stitching, and I have spent the last three days creating the net-effect, which I now feel is complete. I have reached an interesting stage, I hadn’t anticipated that another layer of colour or stitch would be needed, but looking at it, it clearly does. I am also toying with the idea of adding shells and stones, which were used as weights on fishing nets. So any ideas and comments very welcome. A quick preview of Sandy's work in progress: 'Cloud Puppy'. Sandy is working on an intricate fused piece that is a development of her earlier small pieces about dragons. This is a quick post as a prelim to Sandy adding more of her own words about her piece - she has been very busy of late. (posted by Jane)
Through the Lock Gates 2013
We spend a lot of time on the canals and I have hundreds of photos of the canals, the locks, the "furniture" around the locks and other items of interest. I really like many of the images I have saved but making them into a quilt has never happened before. A while ago I painted bleach on some black fabric and it looked just like the wooden gates on many of the locks - so finally, I have made a quilt which is inspired by the canals. The rusted strip represents the gap between the gates, where the water leaks or gushes through. Black fabric, bleached fabric and rusted fabric. The fabrics have been improvisionally pieced and then quilted by machine. I have managed to dove tail the abstract way I like to work with images that I love. Looking forward to the exhibition - Chrisse I printed my altered photograph of Brighton Pavilion and sewed it onto a piece of felt and then using free machine work I stitched over some of the lines in the photo. Then I turned it over - and the other side was revealed I really liked that side – and I don’t generally like lime green! I wondered what it would look like with a bit of glitz so I repeated my experiment with red fabric and silver thread. I decided that gold thread would’ve been better and some fabric with some variation would also be better. I also decided to replace the felt with Pelmet Vilene as this is stiffer and means I can (hopefully) make the box without needing to use cardboard. Here is this experiment in progress.
This is Jane Edmond's work in progress towards Halfway Between. Here's what she says:
"It is inspired by 'Halfway between the gutter and the stars', a song by Fat Boy Slim. I hope this quote doesn't contravene some copyright. I have been working on the gutter, picking up the litter I find on walks with the dog. It will not be a quilt, but applique on hessian. The figure is an outline from a life drawing class. I'm having fun doing it, even though I have got to the stage of hating it!" Thank you Jane - more photos and comments of your work in progress - please email to jane@janeglennie.co.uk ImaginariumFollowing on from my research into "The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus" I decided to make a mock up of a box with a drop down flap, like the wagon in the film - only without wheels! I made a simple box and then added an upstand. I realised that I would need some means of holding the front flap up when the box was closed. I thought of a swing catch that I'd used before on a corset, these catchs came from Vena Cava. Then I had to think of the decoration on my Imaginarium so I thought of various things that had stirred my imagination: Lord of the Rings Alice in Wonderland The Arthur legends (Avalon) Narnia books Winnie the witch Then I drew some symbols inspired by the above list. Then I started thinking about the background for the symbols. I found a picture I had taken of Brighton Pavilion, the designer of which must've had a marvellous imagination! I love the look of the Pavilion but wanted a more colourful look to my Imaginarium so I used some the effects in Photoshop to achieve this fabulous red colour. The colour was inspired by the interior of the Mad Hatters Tea Room in Margate. Here is a photo of the altered photo stuck to the front of my mock up. Now on to a bit of sewing! Of the ideas that I'd brainstormed the following struck a note with me:who wants to be average? flash of delight/wonder/excitement Halfway between the real and the unreal is the surreal. Neither one thing nor another So I did some research on eccentric people as that covers the first 3 of these ideas. Grayson Perrywhose exhibition at the British Museum I saw last year. Here is an interview with him. Vivienne Westwoodwho I've always admired for her fantastic clothes. Here is some information about her. Salvador DaliWho springs readily to my mind on mention of Surreal. Here is a biography. Neither one thing nor anotherMotorhome – halfway between a vehicle and a home; actually not so much neither one thing nor another as both things. Gypsy Caravan Travelling theatre. I did some research on Travelling Theatre and found “The Triumph of the Archduchess Isabella in the Brussels Ommeganck of Sunday 31st May, 1615” which is in the Victoria and Albert museum (my favourite museum). Annual processions similar to this took place all over Europe, and had done since at least the 14th century. In earlier processions, all the wagons were based around religious themes. In England, Bible stories were presented as short plays, numerous wagons taking a section each, until religious drama was suppressed during the Commonwealth. The Brussels procession was a series of tableaux with the performers all holding a pose. By the time this painting was made in the Renaissance period, the procession also included secular scenes of famous people from life and literature well as the religious elements. I also found some information on Spiegeltents (mirror tents). Travelling theatre, surreal/imaginative, delight/wonder, and eccentric people put me in mind of the film “The imaginarium of Dr Parnassus”I like this film because it is a fantasy opus set in London. The theatre wagon and the performers are out of time with modern London. The wagon is fantastically decorated and the costumes are rich and draw on all sorts of countries and times. I like the familiarity of London and the allusion to travel conferred by the exotic clothing and the symbols on the wagon. I like the fact that it is a vehicle, a home and also a stage. Here are some of the original drawings for the wagon. I'm really taken with the idea of an Imaginarium. “An imaginarium is a place to go for your imagination – to let it flower, let it grow, let it take you places” I'm off to let my imagination flower, grow and take me places!
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