I am in Spain, in sweltering heat and light with my family, trying to do a bit of work in between… Willow has sent me photos of the model she made based on sketches , to see how the frame will look around the structure. I will use this to try out ideas on the dressing of the space and the colour palette. She also sent me some of the thoughts she has written over the years, one which resonates in particular –
'SIMPLICITY does not mean without detail. Simplicity means even more attention is paid to how things feel, how they really are, so that a simple gesture can summon up a whole experience'.
I wanted to put here an updated description of the project that I wrote the other day:
'Crafting Space invites visitors to Origin to engage in the hands-on weaving of a 3.6 m high x 2.8 m wide circular structure.
Visitors may choose from questions posted within the space which will ask them to consider the meaning and value of making, buying and collecting in a new and intriguing context . They will then write their response on a length of translucent ribbon and weave this into the structure.
The intention is to transform visitors perception of what it means to be engaged in craft.
Based on the dimensions of the perfect circle, the project offers a point of reflection and connection, weaving together diverse members of the public and capturing a moment in time in a unique and delicate way.
The weaving of one of the 3,000 ribbons required to cover the structure will give individual visitors the opportunity to transform the bare bones of an existing piece of craft into a stunning object of collective creativity.
Crafting Space makes use of textiles , architecture and written text –'architexture’ – to offer a social, poetic experience to visitors that is intended to unify and inspire.'
i like this term 'architexture', it captures the hybrid medium I am working with more and more. It comes from an essay called 'Drawing Threads from Sight to Site' by Victoria Mitchell, published in 'Textile – the Journal of Cloth and Culture' edited by Janis Jefferies and Diana Wood Conroy (published by Berg). Janis is my mentor on my R+D this year and I am slowly discovering her writings with relish.
Hattie came over to Willows and we had a great session working on the stand design but then when she costed it up realised it is way over what I can afford. So now new idea is to use lighting truss and hang fabric panels from it, which I think wll actually be more in keeping with the piece.
Katy Bevan from the Crafts Council came to look at the model on friday. She had some constructive input, we were trying out different types of ribbon and binding through the mesh. Contrary to what i expected the sheer (fake organza) and single satin seem to work the best and are the msit readable – i think it will give it an ethereal look, shot through with strong colour.
Was relieved to work with soft materials again, got rather exhausted with all the steel and worrying about the budget, but its part of the journey and all feels like its moved on a lot this week.
THE SLOW BUILD OF STEEL..
Been working at willows studio in South Bermondsey this week. They know Willow well but I think the roofers in the unit opposite are quite amused at Raphaella (my production manager ) and I , small women, toiling with steel mesh – measuring, cutting, bending… Well, as Willow says, I am a 'soft machine', she a hard one. She is at home with this material and can work for days at it, I struggle , but it's good to feel my hands and sweat have touched the basic structure of the final work (we have been making the wall sections). I think this collaboration between hard and soft- steel and textile, is a powerful one and has its own momentum. Ideas flow, as does the miso soup to give us strength. I spent the night here a couple of times, only the third time I have done that since Moses was born. Have had to do a lot of expressing milk, it reminds me of my other current purpose in life , and the combination of adrenalin and oxytocin is an intoxicating if exhausting one.
MAKING, BUILDING, SHAPING (1)
Willow has been working away at the structural design of the central piece, making steel mesh models and trying out the roof. It looks certain to work and am doing a ribbon weave with a piece of mesh to see how a section works. It's a bit tricky to get the ribbon on but it fits perfectly along the mesh, as if made to order which is satisfying. Also, its very easy to read the texts. We calculated we can get just over 4000 ribbons woven into the walls, then the remaining ones (if there are any) can be hung from inside, also very easy to read. Willow has sent over photos and we have been talking on email and phone – my late night treats arriving at night, when the children are asleep.. It looks like she got the only remaining roll of that paricular steel mesh left in the country..just enough for the build this week…I am looking forward to being in her studio and working on the structure…been very much on pre-production from my laptop, with bursts of sketchbook activity. Also, it brings home how much I need to return to making again, on a small, daily scale. I have a lot of objects lined up to make, but this project and my R+D have been v concerned with larger scale, one off live works. Still, it all feeds into each other..Today is the first day of my two months of work focused time,as my partner Leo is taking main carer role with the children. I can't quite believe how perfect the timing is.
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AUDIENCE, COLLABORATION AND DEVELOPMENT
When I did a performance lab with Janine Antoni in 2006, (Lore and Other Convergences) she got us to write a letter to our audience for the piece we were making together. I really like this practice and have used it a few times to get in tune with my work and those I am making it for. As a precursor to this am thinking about my general intentions for the work and how it lands with the public;
My intentions are for this installation to be a social space – a space which is easy to access but which facilitates a degree of reflection on the visitors wider experience of Origin. A space which holds an artwork which intrigues and invites people to participate and return over the two week period, to want to see how it progresses and feel a certain sense of attachment to it. Am going to write that letter over the coming weeks to help clarify the questions I wish to ask of the public in the making of the work.
I had forgotten how many elements there are to consider and decide apon with this kind of piece and also the joy of working with other people who really know their stuff.
I am working with Hattie Spice (runs Spicelumb, an event production company in London and I know her from growing up in Tunbridge Wells) on the design, build and install of the stand for the piece. This feels good as she is very creative and experienced in this kind of project and with that comes dealing with a lot of technical issues (ground plans, risk assessments, electrics etc) which lifts a load from my shoulders. I have in the past been very bogged down with the production and admin of my own work. There is stuff to work on for this part of the project, but I am planning to have most of my part of the really techie stuff handed over by the 21st July so I can concentrate on the content and aesthetics of the work.
I am also working with Willow Winston, an old friend and extraordinary artist who mentored me and helped me design the chamber space for The Loom Project in 2005. We have collaborated before that ( her- book art, me- film). We had a synchronous moment when I called her to outline this project and ask her to work on it ; I mentioned the structure being circular / dome–like and she had the exact image in her head. As if whispered by angels. And already, as with the loom chamber, magical esoteric numbers are coming from her experiments on the structure (she is a master mathematician / geometrist as well as deeply esoteric in her approach to work), which will be made of steel mesh, painted, bound with wire and woven through with ribbons.
