Training in silversmithing, and subsequently jibbing it off, means I’ve spent a lot of time looking at other processes from various other disciplines. So sometimes I feel like jack of all trades and master of none, and the commissions I’ve down have given me the budget to work with fabricators to create work. However, without a commission budget I can’t work in the same way and the materials and processes I use here are not translating to my studio practice. Conversely, I am not informing my commission work with an intuitive use of materiality that access to materials and equipment provides. My jump from small scale to large scale means I have an uneasy relationship with this and I’ve been wanting to take a bit of time out to develop my knowledge of larger scale processes for about 3 years now.
Last week I went to do an introductory welding course in Huddersfield with Julian Wadsworth. Fellow PW-er Precious Innes came along too, and was much better at welding than I was. The way that I expect metal to work kept tripping me up but I felt like I was beginning to crack it, and I liked the aggressiveness of the process. Me and Precious shared a similar experience of doing a short induction/making one component for a piece of work at university and then never getting further opportunity to develop that basic knowledge.
Across a 9 hour workshop Julian introduced us to the basic joints and approaches to working steel at different angles and heights. Obviously now I want a MIG welder so I can continue to work at it and really crack the process, but mostly to play and respond to the process itself. The workshop also confirmed to me that this is not about ‘making all the work myself’, a concept, that as a former craft practitioner, is a problematic (and not to mention boring) notion but having the means to understand it so it can inform the development of work.
My residency at Quarry Bank Mill this summer saw me work with James Alderson/JPA Art Services who translated the subtle chaos of my approach to making into 3 works based on my ramblings, a small sample and an A4 drawing. I feel that being able to sample at a larger scale using the right processes will help develop work which involves making throughout and bridges the theoretical gap between the small scale drawing, sample of idea of what something will look like and the reality of the material and how it responds to process at full scale.
In terms of Paradise Works, we are working to create a sustainable space for ourselves in the city and there is a lot of potential in our building which we’re interested to explore with our landlord. In the immediate future I’m interested in creating a small shared workshop on our first floor and to coordinate a programme of skill-sharing and research visits. We are working on a proposal for our long term vision for the space in the new year which will help us build the network of partners that can help secure our future. I’m currently working out how this idea of production can be part of this.
