The most successful material I have been using to encourage a sensory response is the commonly known heat pad or handwarmmer. The substance inside is called sodium acetate and is a cool liquid. When this liquid has physical change (usually a metal disc inside to react the substance change) it changes to a solid and emanates heat. People completely change and become more relaxed or usually tell you what part of their body is sore – like a hip or a knee. For me its a very comforting feeling and helps me relax.
I tried making a costume with a pocket inside for the handwarmer. The jersey material I began with is too light for the weight. I will test out using a heavier fabric.
Things just fall into place…
A friend emailed me information on a Bauhaus costume making workshop in the Lighthouse Glasgow. What perfect timing!
Preparation led me to dancer Martha Graham (who’s work was introduced to me by my aunt in New York who was her nurse) and in particular a piece titled Lamentation. This is expressing mourning which I have interests in the non-verbal language here but its the costume she wore which held my interests. A lavender jersey tube that encased her body leaving head, hands and feet exposed. Grahams dance concentrated on minimal costumes apposed to set design/backdrops.
I had been using metallic 2 way lyrca in a group project which surprisingly encouraged a lot of peer interaction that would not of happened without the fabric.
Very sculptural.
Textiles & performance
“Both Sun Ra, and Hélio Oiticica refused to separate the body from their conceptual and creative production.”
http://solarflareark.wordpress.com/category/helio-oiticica/
It has been a almost a year I have been working in a young womans house one to one. It is definetly moving towards performance using fabric and heat pads. Need to find a collaborator to make costumes for the both of us.
Ceremonial Happenings
On-going work with New Caledonian Woodlands adult group in Edinburgh. I had brought an 8 metre long interface fabric and wax pastels for the group to design rubbings of the natural environment and found objects. As the group held on to the fabric there was a natural movement which made their traces visible and highlighted the structure of trees. One thing I had not envisaged was how the group built up ownership of the fabric. It was their spontaneous idea to launch it down the river after weaving it in and out of the trees. Everyone was wearing wellington boots which gave them the freedom to ‘play’ in the river. As the fabric started to drift away one member went after it. They spoke about drying it out and keeping it as a memory of the experiential event. This was a fantastic day and I was really pleased that they wanted to keep something from the environmental art experience. What happened made me realise that my role as artist lends its self to something spiritual. Not in a naff ‘art is spiritual’ way but more in terms of human potential, fun and going back to your youth.
“that was very ceremonial”
“it takes me back”
Catching words…
I was trying to think of accessible ways for people with limited mobility to make dada poems because ripping paper was not working for some. I took a description of an abstract artwork and made a Dada poem online using Dada poetry generator:
http://www.poemofquotes.com/tools/dada.php
Tissue paper fortunes
The group put the words into individual scented tissue papers – different scent for yellow and blue. This was to allow people to choose their words by scent rather than language..however the scents had nothing to do with the words.
It was great fun putting all the scrunched up tissue papers (idea came from fortune cookies) onto large fabric and tossing up into the air for people to catch. The caught words became the Dada poem.
Colour
Toss with sheets of printed paper
Repeat
Brush with rhythm and pace
