Cardboard Inlay
Inlaying veneer has led me to creating some pieces using other materials. I have been producing some work in cardboard, mainly cereal packaging using their visuals to make little pictures. Using the window method similar to that with ‘normal’ marquetry I am finding this quite enjoyable.
The images I am lifting are in various forms representations of the nature and farming and seem relevant my way of working and interests. I’m not entirely sure where these are going but are allowing me to think in some different directions whilst making connections and references to other areas of my own work. I am finding that making a link between other materials and the experience of working with these using a specific technique helps with things.
Some thoughts and ideas
I am continuing with some of smaller works, some outdoor experiments (weather permitting, rained off today) and applying some techniques to cardboard.
Feels like I have fingers in lots of pies which is good but keeps me distracted from completing things. Having given myself such an open brief I maybe need to hone in on certain areas rather than trying to maintain every possible angle? The difficulty with this is that I don’t feel I know enough about anything to start making those kinds of decisions. Playing about seems more appropriate when I seem so easily distracted.
Research is also hard, just in the sense that I feel it hasn’t got started even though it has, there is such a lot to think about, views to consider and traditions, what exactly am I researching? I guess research never becomes more than snippets of information when writing in this way because there isn’t enough room to write at great length. Also I wonder whether anyone reads this? And sometimes even if I want anyone to?
A few notes on drawing
As the title of the project implicates drawing into this I feel I should make a few connections here. Like craft, drawing is an expansive subject, especially now as digital work has opened up a whole new set of possibilities. It also seems to ask some of the same questions that have occurred whilst thinking about craft in considering it’s relevance to today’s visual art.
How useful is it and how is it defined?
Marquetry is definitely a lot to do with marks, not just mark making but found marks, exploiting lines and tones that occur naturally in the grain. Part of the skill and invention in marquetry is being able to use these marks, to make similar choices about line, tone and texture that are fundamental to any traditional drawing practice.
The mimicry of a surface, form or volume is a key link in Marquetry as a method of drawing. There are certain veneers that resemble surfaces so accurately that they become a sort of standard key to many images. So things like water, hair, silk can be found in likeness to certain veneers and used within representational picture making. The consistency of marks to be found within certain types of veneer can influence the idea and perhaps this is why traditional subject matter can sometimes be repetitive?
The linking of a real surface or material to a veneer as a starting point to a piece of work is very important to understanding of the attraction of marquetry.
Woody Miller
One of the main pictures I have been working on is taking me ages. Partly because the veneer is very fragile and sliqhtly warped. As well as this I am using a lot of fragmentation in the picture which means lots of tiny shards need to be cut which although a speedy process compared to some aspects of marquetry- I seem to be taking a long time.
A member of the staffordshire group uses a pepper mill to grind his bits of veneer for similar purposes. I thought I would give this a go too so have bought a pepper mill that I will load up with veneer shards and have a try. I like this improvisation of a tool like this, so simple and logical.
Urban Field
A symposium dedicated to contemporary craft practice is to be held this week in Surrey. Discussing rural and Urban crafts the content looks very good with some interesting speakers contributing. I am interested to note that Dr Ian Hunter of the Littoral Arts trust will be contributing as he has been very involved with an art that engages with agriculture. His talk promises to cover an argument from a more unusual perspective
'I want to argue that we need radically to rethink current crafts practice and policy in this country, and bypass its current preoccupation with gaining credibility in the art world and also to wean it of its fixation with the unsustainable high-end designer/consumer market ethos; and seek new ways of realigning the critical energies, core traditions and inventiveness of contemporary craft practice with some of the strategic programmes now being proposed by governments, NGOs and communities world-wide to tackle the impact of climate change, depletion of fossil fuel stocks, rural development and agricultural change and environmental sustainability'
As I only found out about this today I won't be going but will try to follow the outcomes. I think it is important to note the 'Pre-occupation' mentioned above, of craft gaining credibility in the art world. I think it is very true that this is unsustainable but perhaps the only way some makers feel they gain critical and artistic recognition. The relationship this has to the Art world being almost exclusively urban does inform this mindset so I wonder what alternatives will be proposed? not just for craft but in general this is an important issue.
where Marquetry fits with all of this I am not sure? but In talking about urban and rural think it falls between a definition of the two.
Not rustic enough to be a truely rural craft yet engaged enough with a natrual material that it can't be entirely seperated from the countryside. At the same time there is a certain finesse to Marquetry that does feel more urban and in touch with some sort of fine art world.
www.urbanfield.org.uk/thesymposium.html
