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!
JUNE: Another amazing day at the Rodd to construct some frames for our house structure. It was a beautiful day and we felt competely immersed in the environment of the Rodd and the task ahead. Roger helped us get to grips with splitting and making the mortice and tenon joints. It took all day to make the four walls and the two roof frames. They will be quite a weight to move around once they are finished with the branches added on, which we will do in August nearer the time. Using the wood in this way feels so natural and basic, as people would have constucted houses and barns years ago. I felt a definate connection with a tradiltion of making that follows a long line of rural craftspeople. The light streaming into the barn, the sound of the birds, and the smell of the freshly cut sweet chestnut made for a joyous working day!
A delay in blogging has occurred and I will be compiling events from the last few months into a few blogs now!
MAY: An inspiring exhibition by Frances Carlile at the Bleddfa Centre near Knighton was held in May. I attended the opening which was full of admirers, and was amazed to see such a wealth of prints and sculptures. All of these somehow informed the current project not just by the subject matter portrayed, but also by the actual practical construction of some of the sculptures. This idea of transforming an object through using natural materials was evident in the work and how we would start to think of our installation. It was great to think I was working with Frances for such a project and hoped I would be up to it!
Frances and I have finally been able to get to the Rodd to collect the wood we need for the construction of out installation. We met Roger, who taught us the basics of coppicing and a bit of the history of the estate. The woodland has been managed for hundreds of years and it is an ancient semi-natural broadleaved wood. The coppice wood is hazel, alder and sweet chestnut, and we began with some cutting of the smaller hazel, using a small saw and a billhook to take off the smaller branches. We collected those branches and carted them down the hill. We were lucky with the weather – it cleared up to be a beautiful sunny day!We then had a relaxing lunch and talked to two lithographers who were creating new work on the lithographic press in the barn. Then after lunch a long slog up the hill to the sweet chestnut wood. Roger used the chainsaw to clear some smaller trees and then cut them into the lengths we needed. We went back to the barn and were taught how to split the logs using a froe and a cleaving break! So learning lots of new terminology too! Lots of thinking to do about mortise and tenon joints and construction methods…. more to come soon when we return and start the construction!
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