Last day: Friday was a beautiful day, perfect for finishing off all the work. Scott helped us finish the roof of the house, while also cladding 2 more walls for the other ‘house’. He did an amazing job with everything, and we were able to concentrate on putting the tables into the space and arranging the sculpture. We put all the pieces in at first, and it looked a bit jumbled. Luckily, I went off to check on Emily and Frances had time to look and think, and rightly decided we needed to edit the work to give it more power. So we took quite a few off and stuck with the pieces that seemed to say the most because of the abstracted nature of them. They didn’t immediately seem identifiable, so were more intriguing to the viewer, hopefully. Then we put the print onto the inside table and set up the light. This was really exciting and had a beautiful effect on the space. I just hope people will know to go in there to look at it, now that it isn’t quite as near to the other house as we originally wanted. So it all looks pretty much as we imagined, and as long as it will last for a few weeks in the open air, we will be ready for the private view on the 5th of Sept. This coincides with the H-Art opening exhibition in the barn, so it should be well attended.
This week has gone by so quickly, I didn’t really want it to end. It has been amazing staying here for this time and being able to discuss the ideas and logistics at the end of each day. Everything about the Rodd has enabled us to be creative and realize our ideas. And we had the time to ramble around to the woods and the river to relax. It will be good now to have a break and go back and look at it with fresh eyes. I hope it has the impact that we wanted!
Friday. Last day. We are about on schedule to finish everything, despite the unexpected interruptions with moving soil and preparing the site. Yesterday we moved the house panels in place and started putting the roof parts on, and Scott and Alan started cladding the interior house. They have both been invaluable for constructing tables and cladding using the old tithe barn timber. The section we are working on looks completely in keeping with the old buildings of the Rodd, which is interesting since they are repairing so much of the barn with new timbers, so now that looks out of place! It won’t take long to weather I’m sure.
We were nervous about the day yesterday since we didn’t know how it would look in place, or even how easy it would be to move! It is interesting how things change so much visually when you are working outside. The scale of a piece of work alters when taken outside after working on it in a barn for so long, as well as the influence of other aspects of the landscape; trees, paths, etc.
The moving of the panels went smoothly, as Roger and Neil from the Rodd were there to help. We then tied it up temporarily so we could screw and peg it into place. The tree in the yard provides a good backdrop for the skeletal structure. The house is starting to transform into our original idea – the scale of it relates to the other buildings at the Rodd and makes a statement about structure and form. And also when the sculptures go in, a whole new set of ideas will emerge, I hope.
The interior house will blend into the setting and will depend so much on the lighting, table and print that we will put inside. That will be done at the end of the day today, and a moment that we have been looking forward to!
We are spending all this week at the Farmhouse at the Rodd Farm, the Trust uses this simple but lovely house as accommodation for its Residency Programme. We have our partners Scott and Alan here to give us major help! We also have Emily here, Amy’s daughter.
This is the week for constructing the outside house, making the tables, preparing the site, building the walls for the interior house, installing the sculpture and print; in fact everything has to come together by Friday.
Our main problem is the building work that is taking place here at the Rodd. A major refurbishment of the old Tithe Barn is going on as well as the installation of a new toilet block. Everything has taken much longer that predicted, as is often the case. Unfortunately our two houses are bisected by the construction a new access path… However everyone is being as helpful as they can.
We have spent two days pegging branches on to the four walls of the outside house. It is now assembled temporarily. Meanwhile while Scott and Alan have made a wonderful table from materials salvaged from the renovation of the old barn. We decided to give the table some weight as a contrast to the fragile nature of the house.
We have been up to the woods twice today to gather more material, having underestimated the length of the ridge pole. It is always restoring to visit the woods, and remember the very beginning of the project.
Initially the inside house table was to have a table top made from a large format print using motifs of domestic objects. However, the images them selves started to suggest a pattern, and even a repeat. This led us to the idea that it should become a table cloth, and thus an object in its own right. It is of course an interpretation of a table cloth. Some of the objects are represented in perspective, from one angle and some from another. Some are as if viewed from above. In the context of pattern this does not matter. We were influenced here by the Japanese textile tradition, where individual motifs carry meaning, but are at the same time are subsumed into the whole design. Printmaking is a flexible medium, and can use the language of other disciplines. (Post from Frances)
JULY: Frances had been making sculptural pieces for the installation in the ‘house’ throughout June and July – I had been late starting, and was wondering what materials to use. Frances had been using heavily grogged clay which she then bisquit fired, and they ended up an earthy, dark colour. We had been discussing the transformation of eveyday objects when viewed out of the normal context and what they can communicate. By placing them in an unfamiliar setting, how do they read? A phone in the forest, a bowl that grows thorns so cannot hold anything, a plate that is disintegrating into the earth.
I decided to use beeswax and was given a bag of wax and honeycomb, so it inspired me to make the items out of this – it was so malleable and suggestive, it was hard to work it into a shape that didn’t have too many other connotations. I worked on just making some kitchen utensils and plates, etc, and worried they were too different to Frances. But when Frances and I got together with the work, they complemented each other in a surprising way – I thought the heaviness of her work would make mine look a bit flimsy, but actually they work really well as a balanced collection of objects, both with the same idea, but unique as an expression of each individual artist. I think they look as if nature has taken over in some way after an absence of humanity, or is it someone trying to make forgotten tools from nature? An uncertain state of tranformation may be the theme!
