samantha jayne hipkiss

finally, some new experiments

2011-12-11T19:45:00.003Z

So, I have finally begun making things again after far too long, procrastination doesn’t even cover the post-dissertation avoidance of work....

To summarise, I’ve continued exploring my fascination of objects and the handling process of fragile and valuable materials, but I’ve also become interested in ritualism and our treatment of sacred objects – particularly our use of shrines and places of worship.

In the process of researching sacred objects, I visited museums and became particularly drawn to items in ancient Egyptian collections. What struck me about the presentation of these religiously valuable things was how crassly and insensitively they were sometimes shown. It made me question how amulets, personal possessions and mummified bodies can be presented this way, as I think by showing this material in such a commercialised way we are disrespecting and de-valuing the objects and its culture.

Continuing with this idea while working on a collaborative project following the theme of anatomy, I made delicate plaster casts of bones. I liked the idea of something as strong as bone being changed into an object that could crumble if handled improperly. As if they are so sacred they are not even meant to be handled. After doing this, I almost want to create objects out of material so flimsy it would crumble at someones touch (but more of that soon, hopefully!).

Responding to my interest in the ancient Egyptians rituals surrounding death and the body I drew symbols relating to this onto the casts of bones, but I wanted to do it in a way that would make the objects feel sacred and secret. I had wanted to experiment with ultra-violet light and hidden meanings within an installation for a very long time and this seemed the perfect opportunity.

And so, the symbols on the bones can only be revealed as they glow when the handler carefully shines a small torch over them, in a darkened room filled with candles that aim to create a sacred or spiritual atmosphere, which I hope it achieved after the feedback, ‘Oh this is horrible! But in a good way...’

guilty

2011-08-13T17:04:00.002+01:00

This summer I have to admit I'm guilty of not doing much at all art-wise. I wish I had an exciting excuse, like perhaps I've been roaming around Barcelona or going on adventures in deserts... but nope, I've just been working 5-6 days a week all sorts of crazy hours (hello night shifts) and it seems like my creative side has forgotten how to function!

But next week I'm having some much needed time off and going away to a folk festival, which last year gave me so much inspiration for my practice. Just being in a completely different environment for a week helps me massively; new sights, new people, new stories and memories.

When I get back I also just have to visit this museum in scotland: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jul/26/national-museum-scotland-renovation

It looks like such an inspirational place, and I definitely need all the inspiration I can get!

I absolutely cannot wait to get back to university, get into that woodwork studio and begin making things again. In the mean time, I've found two new sketchbooks that I'm going to start filling with all the ideas I've got for my next project.

progress

2011-05-03T19:05:00.002+01:00

It's taken a bit of time but my cabinet/box is almost finished, I just need to make and add a few more things and it will be ready. There will be bright colours in the jars that are representative of certain memories, and a photograph of woodland in the photograph frame, as well as a few more additions I have in mind like pressed bluebells and an old skipping rope. I like the idea of hand-painting some small boxes with little treasures inside as I've got so many quirky little collections of things like old coins and badges but nowhere to put them as of yet. The main theme of the box is childhood and memories, which is inspired by the stories told to me by a very kind elderly gentleman who has been a pen-pal of sorts to me, but I want people to be able to decipher the meaning themselves as they explore the items of curiosity.

aren't you board of that royal couple yet?

2011-05-03T18:46:00.006+01:00

So last Friday there was a 1940's style street party in Manchester's Northern Quarter, and my good old friend Grace and I made a peep board of that royal couple for it.
It travelled all the way from my living room back in Wales to stand happily on the pavement while hundreds of people had there photo's taken. Grace & Alice modelling beautifully below...

another trip for my wishlist

2011-04-25T22:52:00.002+01:00

Since doing a one-day interdisciplinary project at the Manchester Museum last month, my interest in museum collections has sparked again. Next up on my list of where I'd like to go is the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, amongst many many others. Just how completely fascinating do these cabinets of curiosities look?

take me to the tate

2011-04-25T22:40:00.004+01:00

I actually can't believe that one of my favourite artists' work is being exhibited in London at this very moment. http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/susanhiller/default.shtm
I'm determined to go and see the current Susan Hiller exhibition before it ends on 15th May even if it means not affording to eat for a week. It would definitely be worth it.
My favourite works by Hiller have got to be her mixed media installations, such as Homage to Joseph Beuys 1969 - 2009 (below) and After the Freud Museum. I just have to see this exhibition!!

memories and images

2011-04-25T22:14:00.002+01:00

While exploring the internet in a search for inspiration I stumbled upon the website of an artist called Sally Mankus (http://www.sallymankus.com). In her mixed media works she lifts rust and other markings from the surfaces of used objects and combines these with paint, images and found objects; a technique I’m just as interested in as the works themselves. The pieces she produces are beautiful and somehow eerie, the layers of memories combining with portraits of unknown strangers in a way that makes me want to learn more about them.

a visual treat

2011-04-25T22:08:00.002+01:00

My wonderful friend Grace (http://petithandlebarmoustache.blogspot.com/) was lucky enough to visit the capital a few weeks ago and discover these beautiful works by Ximena Garrido-Lecca at the Saatchi Gallery. I can’t believe I’d never come across this artist before, I think her work is just mesmerising and I really wish I could go to London to see The Followers for myself. These shrine constructions seem like a wall of secrets and the objects found in each one are a representation of an individual – a three-dimensional portrait of a life that’s passed.

temporary workshop

2011-04-17T16:41:00.004+01:00

I'm improvising while the university workshops are closed by having my own little space back at home in the garage.

manchester art gallery

2011-04-11T16:11:00.006+01:00

I had a visit to the art gallery to see the Anish Kapoor and Grayson Perry exhibitions, which were obviously amazing, but typical me was more intrigued by this (which I'm fairly sure is meant for children, but let's ignore that fact shall we). Overcome by childlike curiosity, I just loved reading everyones wishes as to where they want to be, it's as if you're reading their secrets.

i like this

2011-04-11T15:56:00.004+01:00

I came across the artist Bart Batchelor while looking for some inspiration on the internet, and I really like this series of work where he takes objects from his home and categorises them. I find it interesting how by removing their original context, their meaning is altered and instead of being household items they become a collection. The first image here is called Everything in My House that is Wood and the second is Everything in My House that is Orange.

p for practice

2011-04-11T15:45:00.004+01:00

I made this practice box in the wood workshop, experimenting with some of the joinery and structures I hope to use in my final piece. This one is far simpler than what I have in mind, but I'm really pleased at how easy I found it to make - fingers crossed that this means the one I want to make isn't as impossible as I thought. I placed a few objects within the box to give an idea of how the spaces will be filled, however in my final box there's going to be a lot more thought going into what goes where:

planning

2011-04-11T15:38:00.003+01:00

2011-04-11T15:19:00.003+01:00

So now that essays out of the way I can properly concentrate on my work again. Back to box making... Initially, I've been looking at games boxes as I like the simplicity of their structure and the way in which they're opened. I found an old domino box in a second hand store and then with the great help of my good old dad we made a slightly larger one. I think I may incorporate these boxes into my final cabinet/box...

childhood fears.

2011-02-25T12:33:00.003Z

As I’ve began researching artists for my essay I’ve come across some fantastic ones that really interest me. My favourites so far are the images by Joshua Hoffine, as they depict so clearly our childhood fears; and as childish these fears may be the images are still incredibly unsettling.

the dreaded essay.

2011-02-25T11:59:00.004Z

I have just few short weeks to write a 4000+ word essay, so unfortunately I may not be making a lot of headway with my practical projects until the dreaded thing is handed in. It’s not that I don’t enjoy writing, in fact it’s the opposite, but this deadline seems to have come around at the most inconvenient time when I’m really starting to get somewhere with my projects. But, never mind - after doing a lot of research and finally choosing the essay question: “How does the grotesque challenge notions of the normative body?” I’ve decided I want to begin by exploring childhood fears of the grotesque and the abnormal by looking at fairytales and folklore, and how our own fears as adults stem from those we develop as children. I’ll start by analysing the collection of fairy tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, reading articles from child psychologists, watching films that explore a child’s imagination and fears (e.g. Guillermo del Toro's 'Pan’s Labyrinth'), looking at illustrations of fairy tales that deal with the grotesque and artists who use connotations of fairy tales and children’s fears in their own work.

2011-02-20T19:39:00.002Z

This weekend I’ve come back home to Wales, and today after a drive through the never-ending countryside I came across a fantastic craft & antique centre that was full of inspiration and great finds. Inside the centre, which is an old converted mill, there were various rooms and corridors lines with cabinets, all full of objects I wanted for myself and my projects.
At first I noticed the many different wooden box constructions, all with assorted internal structures, that really gave me some insight into the kind of box or boxes I’m planning on making.

In one of the countless cabinets I found a collection of antique miniature liquor bottles and on spotting them I just had to buy a part of the collection for myself. I’ve been after some small bottles like these for such a long time, and they’re perfect for my project as I plan on using bottles containing a selection of scents in my chest constructions.

memory constructions

2011-02-16T12:27:00.005Z

Although I had first thought of making furniture-like structures for my memory project, I came across this completely fantastic book in the library ‘Treasure Chests, The Legacy of Extraordinary Boxes’ and I thought wouldn’t it be great to make my own treasure chests of sorts? To me, the nostalgic memories I’ve been reading are like little nuggets of treasure that I feel lucky to have been told, so it seems fitting I should build chests for them to be placed into.

i found a treasure

2011-02-16T12:22:00.002Z

The other day in an amazing shop that’s full to the brim of second-hand wonders I bought an old photograph album. Its a little worse for wear and many of the pictures have come unstuck from the place they were first lovingly placed, but nonetheless it’s still such a great find. I can’t figure out how it came to be in a second-hand shop, and I find it quite sad that this book full of great memories and people’s lives didn’t belong to anyone until I found it.
It’s so fascinating looking through all of the photographs and trying to work out who everyone is and what they were doing. Although there are little annotations to the images they’ve become faded and almost impossible to read over time, so I have been making up my own descriptions.
There are some mysterious in the album, like the small picture of the little old man that has been cut in half. Why was it cut in half in the first place? And who has the other half?

a fantastic book

2011-02-16T12:20:00.002Z

A book I found in the library months ago - and have been constantly renewing since - is this lovely insight into one man’s life by Kaylynn Deveney. When I first opened the book I felt as if I was holding something incredibly valuable, something so personal that you feel very lucky to have come across it. Inside the book the images are snippets of this stranger’s everyday life that seem to show you exactly who he is, as you see so many moments of his life. The photographs show everything from him tying his shoe laces, feeding birds, bringing scones from the kitchen, lying in a hospital bed, doing his washing, eating his dinner. I think its brilliant how just by using photographs and text this book makes you feel as if you personally know the man inside it. I want it to be a permanent presence on my bookshelf.

the memory project

2011-02-16T11:41:00.002Z

For some time now I have been working on a personal project that seems to be a natural progression from the work I’ve been producing so far throughout university. As I’ve been looking back at my work I’ve realised that the majority of it involves me using my art practice as a way to tell the stories of found objects, collections or individuals lives.
For my current project I’ve set up something similar to a pen-pal exchange with individuals I do not know, where they can tell me stories of their lives and memories. I’m hoping this will allow me to create work in response to their information, perhaps in a similar way to the ‘memory boxes’ I made last year. My most successful contact so far has been with an elderly gentleman, who I’ve been emailing over the last couple of months, asking initially about his memories of childhood. I’ve discovered some really lovely memories of childhood games and other moments that I will be incorporating into my work.
To begin with, I had thought of how I could create memory ‘devices’ of sorts – something that could act as a tool allowing people to be reminded of memories forgotten. Perhaps an actual object that could help people with memory loss and other memory related problems, or simply a device of nostalgia and reminiscence. My initial ideas were say a chatelaine that an individual could wear that holds important memories and moments of nostalgia. Another idea, a chair which could have secret compartments and drawers that held memories and stories that an individual would be able to discover as they sat.
I very much like the idea of creating a piece of furniture that could act as a memory device, because to me the furniture we have in our homes is so personal to us. It is something we consciously choose, as if the objects that sit in our homes are somehow an extension of our identity. It is the same for any furniture or possessions in our homes. As for chairs, we usually have a certain chair that we claim in the living room as ours. I remember in my grandparents’ house one armchair only ever sat in by my granddad, and another chair that only my grandma would sit. Nobody else would ever sit in those chairs, because they were so obviously the chair of another person. It would almost feel wrong to sit in their chair, as if you’re stealing something that isn’t yours.
I’m still developing this project, and my ideas are constantly changing and progressing as my work does. My plan for the next couple of weeks is to get into the woodwork studio and start experimenting. I really want to work with wood because to me it is such an interesting material for my memory project: a material that has already had a life and shows this through its grains and marks, but can be completely altered and transformed into something else entirely and given a new life.

what not to do with a library book.

2011-02-03T11:16:00.002Z

As part of our course we were set a short collaborative project, a ‘site specific project’, where we were given a small radius in which we could create site specific work. After toying with a few different ideas we chose the library as our site and decided we would work with books as our material. Although we would have liked to use library books, none of us would’ve been able to afford the inevitable fine that would result in us destroying them... so we each found two second hand books that we would alter in our own way. I found an old book entitled 'How to make a ship in a bottle' that I worked with, and a Shakespeare book, which I destroyed. When we had completed our altering and destroying of the books we presented them in the library.

exhibition experiments

2011-01-25T11:10:00.001Z

After experimenting with the delicate and fragile objects for the Mary Greg project, I became interested in how when handled these objects would inevitably alter and be changed forever. I’ve always been fascinated by the handling process of archive materials and objects, to me it is almost a ritualistic act: carefully opening cupboards, removing boxes, opening boxes to reveal sacred items and then returning them exactly as found. Repeat.
I wanted to use this idea, and I also wanted to show how we leave our own traces on items as we handle them – our own touch becomes a permanent presence on the object.
In order to represent this notion I chose to collect various objects and paint them white. The objects in this case were spoons, something that can be found in vast quantities amongst the Mary Greg collection and something that is such an everyday object until placed in the context of an archive collection. The act of spraying the spoons white was to remove any traces or history they already held.
In the first experiment I placed the spoons in an open box, and on the shelf below a bowl of charcoal and an instructional sign for people to leave their own marks on the objects. The results of this were far too conscious, and I didn’t like how people were aware that they were purposely leaving a mark on the objects. I also thought that presenting them this way didn’t allow for the ritualistic act of handling.
So for the second experiment the spoons were placed within graphite coated boxes, on shelves inside a glass fronted cabinet, with a sign on the shelf below stating ‘please handle objects with care’. This less instructional sign created better results, as I don’t think people realised that as they were picking up the graphite covered boxes and handling the objects they were actually leaving graphite finger prints onto the smooth untouched surface of the spoons.

Mary Greg Project: Experiments

2010-11-19T18:28:00.002Z

For the Mary Greg project I've started making very delicate and fragile objects that are my interpretation of the objects within the collection. I've just been experimenting with different materials, trying to see which ones work best. So far my favourites have been cut out paper doilies that I've sewn into spoon shapes, and the miniature perfume bottles made from very thin wire and glue. More to come..

Hidden Secrets/Shelter Experiment No.2

2010-11-11T22:40:00.004Z

Book structure/diary form, with things hidden inside, trapped with wire and wax.

Hidden Secrets/Shelter Experiment No.1

2010-11-11T22:08:00.004Z

To begin our second year of university we were set a short project entitled “shelter”, encouraging us to stretch the brief and experiment. I began by looking at the human body and how we shelter ourselves in many different ways, for example through the use of body language and clothing.
I began photographing the body - my own body - and creating drawings by sewing. I think I chose to use stitches to form drawings because it’s used to structure the clothing we wear and so could be considered as a component of shelter itself.
As I was making these images and photographs I began to feel exposed, because by creating these images of myself I felt I was revealing my insecurities and secrets to others. So I began to think how I could then shelter these secrets from the outside world. As I started to experiment with ways of “shelter” I found myself jotting down more secrets without realising, and decided that I could then hide these too within a shelter of some sort.
While thinking of different materials I could use to form shelter I started playing with wax, interested in how it envelopes everything it contacts in a layer that becomes stronger as it cools. As I worked with the wax, enjoying the process of melting, pouring and watching as it creates a shelter over images and text, I decided to include it in the structures I hoped to make.

Experiment No.1

Telling Fortunes

2010-11-11T22:00:00.003Z

While at the Platt Hall Gallery of Costume, I was lucky enough to see the exhibition by Alice Kettle entitled 'Telling Fortunes'. This series of work is a response to the collection held at Platt Hall, where she focuses on the lives and stories held within the old gloves of the collection.
In the exhibition leaflet I just love what she writes about this project, particularly the quote chosen from a Bruce Chatwin novella:

‘“In any museum an object dies of suffocation and the public gaze – whereas private ownership confers on the owner the right and need to touch.” This touch... “restores to the object the life-giving touch of its maker”
I was allowed to touch. And in the reverent handling of embroidered fabrics, lawn undergarments, silk purses and mysterious objects, I became the trespasser on others’ lives. And this touching became the potent physical sensation, of opening and unwrapped boxes filled with tissue paper covered garments and intimacy. This revelation of the contents of each box, an admission into another unremembered life, is a moment that is full of questions: who are you? And what did you do?
As an artist entering this world of curiosity, I am touching the past with eyes that are present, and seeking the extraordinary. Akin to a Wonderland, or stepping through the Looking-Glass, I am like Alice entering a world of dreams, of fortunes made, lost and imagined.’

Presenting Secrets...

2010-11-11T21:45:00.004Z

I've been thinking about how the items in the hidden rooms of Platt Hall are stored and presented:

hi there

2010-11-03T16:16:00.003Z

I really can’t believe I’ve neglected this blog for so long. But now that I’m well and truly settled back into university, and starting scary second year, I thought a post was more than overdue.
I’ve started creating some work, which is mostly experiments so far and I’m just beginning to get a feel for what it is I hope to do this year. A few pictures will be put up on here as soon as I can photograph it.
Earlier this year I got to work on the Mary Greg project alongside other students (see older posts), and a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be one of the twenty students to get involved with a new project in relation to the very same curious collection.
‘“The Mary Greg collection is astounding: it comprises over 2000 beautiful, yet humble objects, ranging from domestic utensils and keys, to clothing and embroidery, to toys, games and children’s books. Most of the material dates from the 19th century, with some purporting to be far earlier (for example, a Roman comb). Interestingly, Mary Greg even made some of her own items to donate, such as embroideries. Her ‘bygones’ collection was given to the gallery and enjoyed significant popularity in the 1920’s and 1930’s when Mary’s dolls houses had their own room at Heaton Hall and were exhibited to much acclaim and huge visitor figures when Platt Hall first opened to the public in 1926 (outnumbering audiences to the Thomas Greg collection).
Yet for much of its life at the art gallery, the collection has lain dormant. In storage for some 50 years, Mary Greg’s objects have been housed, almost forgotten, in dark cupboards and drawers. In fact, the place of the collection is contentious within the art gallery: some think it would be better within the context of a social history museum, or even disposed of, as it simply not deemed ‘art’. But the trust is, it remains a collection too important in the gallery’s own biography and narrative of collecting for any such transition.”
The Brief
After spending the day at Platt Hall, we require you to develop ideas that might be used for a special Exhibition. The exhibition is hoping to use all the Public areas of Platt Hall for a short special “event”. The theme of the event is Mary Greg and her Bygone Collection.’
So last Wednesday I visited the costume gallery at Platt Hall in Manchester, exploring hidden rooms along corridors and in attics, where amongst the vast collection many of Mary Greg’s contributions to the gallery lie.
Although it was very hard not to get distracted by the other intricate and curious items in the collection, I loved how Mary’s contributions were instantly recognisable: hers were the objects most evident to have had a life before the storerooms, with wear and tear that allows you to imagine whose life they were originally a part of.
I took photographs with both my SLR camera; not just of Mary’s collection but also of the other items they share the drawers and cupboards of Platt Hall with...

1. a delicate dress that would have been worn as an undergarment:

2. a small box with jewellery hidden inside, I don't think this was one of Mary's contributions but it's definitely very much like something she would contribute:

3. the attic that was home to hundreds of boxes waiting to be opened, and some of the beautiful garments in the Platt Hall collection:
4. the fragile dress, held up to the light to show how sheer and delicate it really is:

5: a small decorative box that held 6 miniature perfume bottles, again this is not one of Mary's contributions but has something about it that reminds me of her items:

My favourite storeroom had to be the one that held the 'objects of personal use and adornment', as these were mostly everyday items that had obviously been used and loved over a long period of time, similarly to many of Mary Greg's contributions to the gallery. I just love how things like the perfume bottles, along with medcine kits and makeup, conjure up an image of the person who may have once owned them. I think this idea is where I may begin...

Goodness Gracious

2010-05-30T16:05:00.005+01:00

I cannot believe how long it's been since my last post. After my exhibition a bit of bad fortune came my way, involving the disappearance of my camera among other things. But with a new camera in hand, I've started looking for inspiration in the form of gallery and library visits.

I was told about an exhibition of an artist called Angela Davies (http://www.angeladaviesartist.co.uk/) who I'd never heard of before, but her work really interests me. In my own work I've mainly been looking at how narratives or memories can be evoked through the use of found objects and imagery, and I think she focuses on a similar idea:

"My inspiration for my creative practice is fueled by a passion and a desire to explore the environment around us, looking for the fleeting ephemeral traces of our footprints in society. Influences derive from time and memory, objects silently disappearing into their surroundings, revealing the beauty of surface decay."

I love how her work tells the story of a life - whether the life of an object, person or place - and you are left to decipher the meaning of the combinations of material, stitching, text or items she has chosen to use.

When I returned to Manchester, I discovered there's one of her artists books in the Special Collections at the library:

Seeing her book art has reminded me just how much I want to do the Bookbinding induction so I can create my own narrative book structures, hopefully I'll just start experimenting for now.

End of Year Exhibition

2010-05-05T20:45:00.004+01:00

So last week I put up my work for our exhibition that's in the link gallery and studio:

After looking at memories and narratives throughout this project, I made 'shrine' type constructions about particular people in my family history, using objects, materials and images brought together to let you imagine the memories they hold. The idea is that by looking through the picture frames into the box you begin to piece together a story about the person, interpreting your own meaning from the items used. The 'shrines' and their content are very personal to me, but I like the idea that the story they communicate to me could be completely different to the meaning a stranger finds within them.

A reminder of Mary

2010-04-19T14:38:00.003+01:00

While wandering around the charity shops this little box caught my eye, the labelling of 'Antique Plate and Jewels' making me open it excitedly to see what's inside. I couldn't help but smile when I saw that it only held a few dominos, because it just reminded me of the boxes in the Mary Greg collection that promised to reveal something priceless but instead revealed something as every day as an incomplete domino set.

Little Discoveries

2010-04-19T13:45:00.010+01:00

Last Thursday I spent the morning wandering around a welsh town called Mold in search of a change of scene and some inspiration. It's so different to the English cities I'm used to - like Chester and Manchester - and I found it really interesting to explore this town because I rarely go there. I was even surprised to hear snippets of conversations in welsh as I walked past groups of people, a language I can't speak or understand despite it being part of my heritage.

To begin with I visited the library, because in February I'd asked if any of the librarians might contribute to my project Items found inside library books. I was really pleased to find the librarians had actually begun compiling a collection, and even happier when I discovered they'd also documented the book in which the item was found, and the date they found it.

Below are just a few of the items found so far:

20/3/2010

'The Old Country'

Sam North

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12/4/2010

'A Stolen season'

Steve Hamilton

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5/3/2010

'Kennedy's Brain'

Henning Mankell

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25/3/2010

'Visits From the Afterlife'

Sylvia Browne

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I just love knowing which book the items were found in because it gives you an insight into who these lost and found 'bookmarks' belong to, the connection between the book a person chooses to read and the item they just use as a bookmark is something I find really interesting. In one case, the way the items found their way out of the books is fitting to the book itself; the note attached to that last bookmark reads 'fell out of book on shelf'. Considering the book is called 'Visits From the Afterlife' you can't help but think that's strange...

I also like how these items just found their way into the librarians hands, instead of being searched out purposely by myself. This is an ongoing project that I'm definitely going to be working on for some time, hopefully until I can create a book of my own filled with these finds.

Inspiration.

2010-04-13T11:51:00.002+01:00

At the moment, my head's a little bit frazzled art-wise and I'm seriously lacking inspiration. I think it's because I'm back home for the easter hols and feel a bit cut off from art culture - basically, the view from my home is fields upon fields, which is nice enough to look at but I'm really missing Manchester, where I could just walk into the city centre and wander into art galleries! So today I've made it my mission to find some artist research on the internet, and while I was doing this I found a quote I thought was quite inspirational:

"I never for one minute questioned what I had to do. I did not think for one minute that I didn't have what I had. It just didn't dawn on me. And so if you know what you have, then you know that there's nobody on earth that can affect you." - Louise Nevelson

To me, it just makes me realise that you can create art no matter what you have, whether or not you even know what you're doing. So with this in mind, hopefully I can finish the three projects I'm working on and have pictures of what I've been doing up on here by next week. Fingers crossed.

THE MARY GREG PROJECT.

2010-03-16T17:18:00.006Z

For just over a month now I’ve been working on the Mary Greg project with the 3D Design students at university, and after visiting the art museum last month and witnessing the collection first-hand I’ve been busy experimenting and working on ideas.
To begin with I decided to focus on the idea that the objects within the collection are fragile and irreplaceable, as we had to handle them extremely delicately whilst wearing gloves and had to return them to the exact place we took them from. I liked the process of handling the objects because by being told we had to touch them carefully and treat them delicately the objects seemed even more unique and special. I think that this almost painstaking process is what inspired me to use the idea of fragility.
As I’ve been experimenting with silkscreen printing lately, I decided I wanted to use it for the Mary Greg project, as there’s something I like about easily manipulating an image to give it different textures and meanings. But even though I like screen printing I don’t like the idea that the image is easily repeated to the extent that it becomes worthless, and because of this I decided to print only two or three images of each object.
I chose some of the photographs of metal spoons and keys that I took on my SLR and screen printed them onto delicate papers. Some of the papers were so delicate they began to rip during the printing session, but I actually liked that they did this, because it transformed the hard-looking metallic images into something much more soft and fragile.From the screen prints I began to think about how I could present them, as I liked the idea that the images were together as a collection, but didn't like how they were just printed onto the same page. I began thinking about the Mary Greg collection, and how intricately some of the items were hidden inside boxes and tins, creating ideas of mystery and curiosity.

And so I made my own versions of the objects into intricate little structures, by sewing the images together, rolling into scrolls and hiding them inside boxes. Because the materials used during screen printing are so delicate, the images are flimsy and fragile and incredibly difficult to remove from the boxes and replace properly. I wanted the structures to be like this because to me they are now traces of the objects within the Mary Greg collection itself; delicate and elegant items that must be treated with care.

(The work we've created for this project is being displayed in the 3D Design Studio until we break up for Easter if anyone's interested in having a look. Oh and the official website for the Mary Greg collection and project is: http://www.marymaryquitecontrary.org.uk/ )

LIGHT.

2010-03-08T20:00:00.003Z

I'm still experimenting with silkscreen printing, and this image is still the one that I'm drawn to, although I've been using a lot of other images too. Today I've been trying out different materials/textures/techniques to see which ones suggest the narrative I'm after, and one of the materials I printed on today was a thick tracing paper. I hadn't chosen the tracing paper with this in mind, but when I held it up to the light in my room the image glowed in a really eerie way. Ghost image.

BIRTHDAYBIRTHDAY

2010-03-08T19:57:00.002Z

Unfortunately still poor so still making my own birthday cards... and presents.

ORGANISATION

2010-03-02T20:02:00.003Z

Last week I decided I wanted to do a personal project in which the content isn't defined by deadlines, stress or the length of my degree. Although I found out yesterday that one of the third years did a really similar project last year I still want to experiment with my idea, and so I've been trying to think of a way I can organise the collection of found objects and materials.

I've decided I'm going to send out these envelopes to libraries and organise when I can collect them, and invite both librarians and customers to become a part of the project.

If this project works then I want to compile an archive, in book form, of the documentations.

If anyone reads this and would like to donate things they find in books then please comment this post...

MARY NEGATIVES

2010-03-01T19:06:00.005Z

Finally got around to processing the film from the visit to the old art museum, more to come on this project.

JOSEPH CORNELL

2010-02-25T20:41:00.003Z

After doing the 'Crit' this morning I've spent the day thinking about what it is I like to do, and what I enjoy art-wise. Although I like the work I'm doing at the moment, I feel as if there's something more personal, and less university based that I'd like to do, as well as my other projects. Perhaps something that I don't feel needs to be judged by other people just yet, something for my own pleasure. And so this afternoon I found myself in the library, where I love to go for inspiration.

After having a wander I found a book about Joseph Cornell. I've always known I like his work but I've never really looked into it, but reading this book has made me want to return to collecting objects and creating archives.

The question I've chosen for the essay due next month is, "What does it mean to say that objects have social lives?"and I was thinking of how I could base a project around this idea. At first I was thinking about making personal collections of objects, but I think instead I'd rather create random collections of objects that share a common theme or story.

Again, I thought about what it is I like to do, and as I was looking through an old library book I found someones stickers inside, and I realised how much I love libraries and library books. I love how they're books that get passed from person to person, and become a part of someones life for as long as they can renew them, and I especially like it when I find old notes and random things inside library books that strangers have left inside. And so I've decided my first collection of random objects will be items found inside library books, and I'm looking forward to seeing what I find.

EXPERIMENTING

2010-02-24T20:01:00.003Z

So today I just thought I'd experiment with silkscreen printing onto canvas, exploring the ideas of memory, life and death. I'm not finished with the larger canvas yet but I think I'll leave the A3 ones as they are.

A MOMENT CAPTURED ON FILM

2010-02-21T18:34:00.002Z

I've spent today looking through old photographs and documents and attempting to make sense of them all. I found this photograph of my Grandma and Grandad, and it makes me laugh, I love it.

LOOK WHAT I FOUND

2010-02-14T21:03:00.003Z

Ever since I bought a collection of postage stamps and envelopes from a charity shop last year I've started to take an interest in finding handwritten letters and postcards, I just love how personal and thoughtful they are. These days, it's far more likely to be sent an email or a text from someone if you haven't seen them in a while, but for me it's much more appealing to send a postcard. I think I might start doing this, letters are much more exciting. And compared to the hundreds of emails people are sent, they're much more rare. I think that's the reason I get so excited when I receive post. Even if they are usually bank statements.

BOX OF TREASURES

2010-02-14T19:54:00.004Z

I went home this weekend, and discovered boxes full of family treasures. I've brought as much as I could carry back with me, and cannot wait to have a good look through them all; letters, books, photographs with love-notes on the back, birth certificates, christmas and sympathy cards, and even a bookmark I think my grandmother made. I feel like I've unearthed a pirates chest full of gold.

HIP-HIP-HOORAY

2010-02-11T19:55:00.005Z

This afternoon I made a birthday card and I just thought I may as well put it up here since it's art related. It's the boyfriends mums birthday on Saturday and since my money is virtually non-existant I thought I'd get resourceful. The card I bought was a bit too bright for my liking, but I guess since it's a birthday card that's alright.

They have a really cute springer spaniel dog, hence the drawing of the dog in a party hat. As obviously dogs wear party hats. All the time.

MARY MARY...

2010-02-11T18:58:00.007Z

Inside the art museum there's a huge room that contains all of Mary Greg's finds and we spent two hours exploring all the different drawers and cabinets. I began by looking at the spoons because I liked how something so familiar and everyday is now so unique and interesting. While looking at the collection of spoons I began to wonder where, when Mary put together this collection she was aware that one day, we would all be gathered around inspecting the objects in wonder.

As well as the metal spoons, I became interested in the different keys that were arranged in the drawers. I love how every key is completely unique, each with its own story, and the curiosity the keys create: what did they unlock? The keys below are for wind-up mechanisms, and I like to imagine they're all for intricate jewellery boxes.

I took many more photographs but I'm not going to put them on here just yet, I want to think of how I can use the images first.

EXPERIMENT..

2010-02-09T22:47:00.005Z

Today I just really wanted to try something different. I had a canvas lying around that I bought years ago and decided I'd finally use it for something. I've been wanting to try drawing/painting for a while now so thought I'd do both and just have a little experiment. There's something about the photograph of my grandmother as a child that I just love - I posted it on here a while ago - so I chose to paint that. I definitely want to try painting again as I've never painted a person before, and painting a past relative was really personal and lovely to do. I don't think the canvas as a whole is finished yet, I might add some of her old possessions, or use printmaking, but I'm not sure yet.

PERSONAL MUSEUM?

2010-02-09T22:40:00.002Z

I'm really looking forward to visting the museum on Thursday morning, and I was just thinking about how things are preserved and stored in museum archives. I wanted to make a structure that would preserve my own memories about past relatives and so I chose some of the random pieces of jewellery and such things that have been passed down to me from my grandmother and great-grandmother and now they're safe inside this box. I think I'm going to add small labels detailing what memory each item holds to me, so that the memory is always concealed with the object. I want to completely seal the box though because the memories are personal to me, as everyones memories are.

THINGS I'VE BEEN DOING

2010-02-09T22:04:00.004Z

I've began thinking of different ways to create narratives from objects, images and materials that tell a story about an individual. Although I originally intended on using this idea to focus on stories of past relatives, after talking to Hazel I thought it would be useful to think about what story I would tell about myself.

I've been getting frustrated because the only items that have been passed down from my grandmother, great-grandmother etc. are items of jewellery or other things of monetary value, whereas to me a scrap of material that used to be part of their favourite dress is much more appealing than something valued only for its price. And so I wanted to tell a story about myself with this in mind.

I'm a hoarder and collector of odd buttons, broken jewellery, old books, materials, coins and the like. So I 'recycled' these objects into a book that invites the viewer to interpret the meaning and importance of the chosen items, and in doing so they'll hopefully learn about me, or at least the story I'm telling.

After doing this I wanted to make something similar that would link to my 'family history' project. I chose a photograph of a woman I have no information about at the moment, as I thought it might be better to create a narrative about her based solely on her photograph, and using my own imagination. I pictured the woman as a mother, and a wife, and perhaps house-proud, but also with a quiet social life and hobbies. I chose things like knitting needles, cotton, wool, buttons, material, postage stamps and pencils to suggest this story about her. But, because her personality is a mystery to me I wanted the book structure to reflect this idea and so the pages are all curled, hiding objects and materials inside them so the viewer is unsure of what's concealed inside.

Constructions of Narrative: Robert Rauschenberg

2010-01-31T12:41:00.003Z

I've been thinking about different ways of producing narratives based on images, and this 'Combine' of Rauschenberg's made me realise a story can be created in any form whatsoever. I'd never even though about making three-dimensional constructions - and I still may not - but I no longer feel like I'm restricted in what I'm doing. I don't feel like I've reached a dead end anymore.

TRACES OF MOMENTS

2010-01-05T17:58:00.003Z

Today, I’ve been thinking about how photographs are traces of one particular moment; a single thought or feeling that’s immortalised once it’s captured by the camera. I want to bring these moments back to life. I've actually started a sketchbook for this project now, although it's more of a scrapbook I guess. I began by studying the photographs and creating little narratives interpreted from the images themselves, it's more interesting to begin this way I think as sometimes an image can tell more of a story than words. That's an interesting thought in itself really, narratives can be produced solely through imagery and deciphered by the viewer.

p.s. I really want to get back into photography, I miss it. I want to make photographs that have the same tone & colours of the ones here, but have no idea how whatsoever..

ETIQUETTE FOR EVERYBODY

2010-01-05T11:46:00.003Z

I found this little book hiding with all the family history finds, it belonged to my Great-Grandmother (Miss B. Croft, who then married and became Mrs B. Probert) and its purpose is to teach both men and women how to act properly and appropriately in all situations. It's a really interesting read and I think everyone should be given one nowadays really.

A HAPPY HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS, AND A NEW YEAR FOR NEW BEGINNINGS

2010-01-03T14:33:00.006Z

It has to be said that my love of all things mulled wine and mince pie related left me a little bit lazy during these festive times, and so it's been far too long since my last post. But now the mulled wine's been drank and the new years started I thought I'd make a sort-of-resolution to post on here at least once a week - here's hoping I actually have something of interest to write...

The weeks leading up to Christmas left me all panicky as I actually had no money to buy presents. So I thought I'd attempt to be creative and make presents for my nearest and dearest, as us art students are supposedly meant to be good at all that creative malarky.

For the parents, I found a photograph of them on their wedding day and did a little line drawing, then printed this onto fabric. The bouquet my mum's holding in the photograph really caught my eye and so I tried out some embroidery to create the effect of the bouquet on the print.

I've now got an embroidery hoop and definitely want to experiment with printing onto fabric and using embroidery, hopefully I'll be able to use this in the 'family history' project.

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Oh, and for the music obsessed boyfriend I did a line drawing of Dimebag Darrel. I wanted to make something a bit more functional than a picture, so I screenprinted it onto a cushion which now sits happily on his bed.

"THE STORY OF THINGS"

2009-12-08T16:45:00.008Z

I forgot to mention the exhibition that's on in the gallery near 'Special Collections' within the university library. I think it began in September, but I keep revisiting it because it's so relevant to the work I'm doing now. The artists that curated this exhibition actually have their own blog and it's definitely worth a read: http://carsonandmiller.blogspot.com/

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS...

2009-12-08T14:26:00.009Z

I spent the morning looking through artists books in the ‘Special Collections’ floor of the library, a place I can easily spend a few hours. I prefer using these books as a starting point for research instead of other books as I just love how personal they seem; many of them are one of just a hundred or so copies.

In the essay I've just written I focused on the stories of found images and objects, so I wanted to find artist books relating to this as it's something I'm really interested in. It also seems a good beginning for my family history project as I am using found photographs and objects to learn about people I do not know.

Susan Hiller's book caught my eye because of the title, 'After the Freud Museum'. The idea of a museum containing a documented collection of many different objects is something that fascinates. While looking through her work I began thinking about the technique she uses to present these articles, it's as if they really are in a museum. This is something I would like to experiment with for my project.

In Sol leWitt's 'Autobiography' he photographed every possession within his home and this created a narrative of his life as these objects are each a respresentation of himself. I really like the way he has photographed and arranged the images as each item seems to relate to the others that surround it. It's like a map of his life arranged into photographs.

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Susan Hiller - After the Freud Museum

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Sol leWitt - Autobiography

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THE STORIES OF IMAGES

2009-12-04T19:43:00.003Z

I began looking at old family photographs today. It’s so interesting to study the images and wonder what was happening at the time the photograph was taken; what were they thinking, what had they done that day, why are they smiling? This image is of my Grandma and it's one of my favourites because it triggers so many questions as I look at it. I begin to wonder what she may be looking at to the side of the camera, maybe a parent or a relative? As well as the story behind the images I just love the appearance of the photographs themselves because they seem so fragile now, as if they are delicate memories of the people themselves.
I feel as if these photographs are like traces of the people they portray, like a memory left behind after they pass away.
I'm going to explore this idea but I'm also planning to find more 'evidence' of my relatives lives such as letters, wills, birth certificates and death certificates , so I can learn more about them.

COLLECTING & ARCHIVING

2009-12-02T15:09:00.004Z

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Susan Hiller - Genuine Essence: Homage to Joseph Beuys 1969 - 2009

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I've been searching for artists who also use the method of collecting objects and storing them in the form of a museum setting or archive, and Hazel told me about Susan Hiller. Her website is really inspiring: www.susanhiller.org. This image of her "60 bottles of various sizes filled with water... collected from sacred sources around the world" is definitely going into my essay.

MONUMENTS OF MEMORY

2009-12-01T19:23:00.002Z

“I’m fundamentally convinced that the observer completes the work of art. I provide the stimulus, and the observer reacts in accordance with all of his past, his deepest experiences, turning it into something else.” - Christian Boltanski

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I've always felt that one single item - whether someone's possession, a nondescript photograph, or a discarded letter found years later - can suggest so much about a person’s life and story. It is for this reason I am captivated by artists like Christian Boltanski. I find it really interesting that an entire story can be created with the use of found objects and photographs; a story the spectator invents as opposed to the artist.

While I've been looking at Boltanski's work I've been thinking back to the experiments I made during the 'food' project, where I created my own interpretation of archives. I've realised this is something I want to continue with because I really enjoy the process of preserving information in this way, but instead of using the subject of food I will choose a subject that really interests and motivates me: family history.

I've always had a fascination with old photographs that were taken long before I was born. I think it's the curiosity I feel as I wasn't there to experience that moment that really compels me.

But I'm motivated more than the feeling of curiosity about these relatives I never knew, it's the story I begin to conjure up as I root through old photographs and letters that really gets me interested. It's the fact I stare at the faces of strangers that lived before me, and know that they are my family.

EXPERIMENTS

2009-12-01T11:34:00.010Z

I've been experimenting with the idea of collecting information about the food I eat, and the different forms and structures in which I can preserve this information. In a sense I have been creating my own 'food archives'...

Feeling Blue

Above are images of my experiment using the structure of a book to contain information about the food I ate, but also the emotional state that influenced this. I like how the food is contained within the solid structure of a jar and then wrapped in wire because it reminds me of how I would view this food: forbidden.

An accurate documentation of the food I ate throughout one week

Here I wanted to simplify the information about the food I ate so I just documented everything I ate and drank within 5 days, detailing the time it was eaten. As before I contained this within the structure of a book. I just feel that books are supposed to hold information and so by using a book form it can be recognised that this too is a bearer of information.

The stories of food choices

After thinking about emotional links with food in the book I first experimented with, I wanted to approach this idea in a different way. I began to think about what I eat and why I eat it and tried to be more conscious of my food choices. As a result I found myself inwardly narrating why I was choosing to eat certain things. I wanted to express this so I made little collections of the food I ate inside jars, and wrote my inward narrations on the glass.

FACT OR IMAGINATION?

2009-11-17T16:20:00.004Z

"Special people don't deal with facts; they deal with the unknown and the unknowable. Special people like to make things up.
Shakespeare made up over 3,000 words. Einstein's theories started out as ideas. Freud thought our dreams were of vital importance."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/mar/05/joseph-beuys-homogeneous-infiltration

I just thought it was an interestng take on conceptual art.

HOMEMADE HALLOWEEN

2009-11-12T17:16:00.012Z

I thought that since it's kind of art related I'd put up a couple of images of the costume I made for Halloween.

I've always thought that making your own costume is more fun (or maybe just disastrous..), so less than a week before Hallowen I decided I wanted to make my own wig and dress for Sally (The Nightmare Before Christmas). Considering the time I gave myself to put it all together, it came out pretty well. The boyfriend is, of course, Jack Skellington.

LITTLE BIT OF INVENTION

2009-11-03T21:41:00.008Z

"The Food Preserver & Disguiser"

PRESERVATION:

-to keep alive or in existence; make lasting: to preserve our liberties as free citizens.

-to keep safe from harm or injury; protect or spare.

-to keep possession of; retain: to preserve one’s composure.

-to prepare (food or any perishable substance) so as to resist decomposition or fermentation.

For the brief of inventing something Leonardo da Vinci did not, I wanted to link it somehow to my current project about food. I've been thinking about preservation, and all of its different definitions, and thought of how my invention could preserve food in more than one way.

In the end, I decided to create something that would disguise the food, as well as preventing it from rotting. I thought, usually, if we see a fridge we know that it contains food and if somebody had the intention to steal a persons food the fridge would instantly appeal to them. But if food was put in an unattractive, old box it would not attract any special attention.

In order to preserve the foods freshness the box has hidden, battery powered refrigerating pipes built into it. And although I have no idea if this is even possible, the key has a suction tube inside it that plugs into an electric socket, and when the key is turned in the lock it sucks all air out of the box and creates a vacuum.

ARCHIVES//COLLECTIONS

2009-11-03T13:17:00.000Z

“Collections are essentially a narrative of experience; as objects are a kind of material language, so the narratives into which they can be selected and organised are a kind of fiction.” - Susan Pearce (1995) 'On Collecting'.

LONG TIME NO SEE

2009-11-02T17:52:00.001Z

It's been almost a month since my last post which is a bit ridiculous, I have no idea where time disappears to!
I'm currently working on the first 'official' project of the course that all started with the word FOOD. To begin with I had lots and lots of ideas for this, then I got a bit stuck. I've started thinking about different peoples lifestyles and how what they eat suggests various things about who they are as an individual. I also began noticing the eating habits of the people I know (and live with) and realised that everyone has very particular ways of eating food. Not naming names but some people have really odd eating habits.
I started keeping a food diary and it's really interesting to see peoples responses to it when they have a sneaky read of it. I even found it a little bit interesting to see what I eat in a day and how this affects how I feel and act. And while having a search on the internet I even found a website that takes food diaries to the extreme, it's called 'Tweet What You Eat' and follows the idea of Twitter and all that malarky. People actually post what they have eaten that day - including calorie content - for the entire world to read and comment on. I thought it was just a little bit too bizarre so I didn't set one up for myself. But it made me realise the world is obsessed with food.
And so I began thinking of the different eating habits that people have, and the situations in which people eat. I noticed that if I'm alone I actually can't eat without the television on because I hate eating alone, and I suppose in some weird way the tv actually keeps me company. The thought of eating in complete silence, alone, makes me feel sick. Really strange.
I thought about setting up installations that represent different 'eating situations', and inviting others to experience these. I just really like the idea of a maze of different rooms that contain different eating experiences. A little bit ambitious for now maybe?
I also really like the idea of collecting peoples food receipts, food packaging and photographing their food shopping to see how their food choices represent who they are, if at all? Maybe photographing individuals and then separately documenting their food choices, and leaving it up to the viewer to see if they can match the person up to the food lifestyle? Or maybe I should just concentrate on my own food choices? All I know is that the clock is ticking towards the deadline for this project, and my head is still just full of questions...

MARK DION

2009-10-05T16:54:00.000+01:00

Last week we were put into groups and were given the task of creating a 'party' of some sort using an artists name as a starting point. The name we were given was 'Mark Dion' and none of us actually knew who he was to begin with, but after a little search on the internet we discovered his work is actually really interesting. Have a little nose here so you know what I'm going on about: http://ww w.tate.org.uk/le arning/thamesdig/flash.htm.

His work instantly appealed to me because I love the idea of collecting objects or materials and changing their context. Although a lot of his work is quite scientific I prefer his work like the project, The Curiosity Shop. I've become quite interested in this because he uses objects that alone would have no meaning or importance but when arranged in the setting of a shop they seem to make a statement about our own desire to possess seeemingly unimportant objects. There's an article about this work at http://artcritical.com/gelber/EGDion.htm if you want to know more about it.

Anyway, after having a look at his work we all decided we wanted to create our own 'Mark Dion' and having only a budget of £3 we got to work at collecting our own objects and materials from the streets of Manchester. You'd be surprised what you can find if you're willing to look. After a few hours of scavenging we had enough items to begin creating our 'party'.

As Dion sometimes categorizes objects and arranges them in scientific/museum/shop settings we decided we would attempt to organise our bits and bobs into groups and label each one detailing where/when/how it was found. I really liked this idea because I'm a big fan of artists like Candy Jernigan who collect 'rubbish' and find the story behind it, as in her book 'Evidence'.

So we got labelling, decorating and making and ended up with a museum style setting that displayed our Manchester 'finds'; everything from a trainer we found in a sidestreet, an entire set of t-shirts found by a skip and insects we collected in small glass containers. As our objects were labelled I think people could understand the story of where they came from etc. as you would find with artefacts in a museum. In order to fit the 'party' brief we held a 'museum' opening party in our little room with (vodka) jelly and music.

ATTEMPTING THE BLOG

2009-10-05T16:29:00.000+01:00

Okay, so I've got to post a blog at least once a week about my goings on and everything art related as part of my Interactive Arts course at MMU. Here goes...