show your working out

nan’s curtains

I’ve asked a friend’s husband who makes small scale carousels from scratch (they are amazing!), if he can come up with a mechanical device to make the curtains open and close;- I think he likes a challenge.

He’s asked for a couple of weeks to think about it which is handy as it gives me time to finish every curtain and reconcile how it will come together. Now I can explore how a narrative can shape this work.

I watched Furniture Poetry by Paul Bush recently for the first time, I’m certain it has inspired me to include movement:

http://youtu.be/1bS_DbVrWL8

nan’s curtains

18 sets of 1/12th size remade curtains, each approx 14 x 21 cms. Almost there.

Thinking about what we actually ‘do’ with curtains, led me to consider the repetitive motion of opening and closing curtains every day. Curtains become animated by us and act as a markation of time passing by; open during the day, closed at night.

This reminds me of Dawn Chorus, a film by Marcus Coates where people are speeded up to mime along to birdsong. Their movements and breathing are quicker.

http://youtu.be/PCCpnDtgxXk

What if 18 sets of minature curtains were wired up to some mechanism that could make them open and close, again and again, and fast? It would be manic, almost poltergeist-like. A day and a night would pass in a moment.

nan’s curtains

So I’m thinking whilst making – that’s a good place to be in. Thank you Elena. Better to relax into the work, meaning will begin to take hold.

Though I have to admit already I see where these curtains should be: in a lounge, they belong at home rather than a clean white space.

The book Marion recocommended has arrived – On Longing by Susan Stewert, I opened it up and it randomly/ serendipiously opened on the text about The Dolls House. It’s a god send. Scale has long fascinated me. Thank you Marion.

nan’s curtains

Yes, it is driving me mad. Each pair of curtains is taking an hour to complete. But I will get there and when I do, I think I will know why

: D

At the moment, it feels like a labour of love. I had the idea instinctively once I had the original curtains in my hands, so I set out to make the minature versions like a mission. Jo on a mission.

This is the trouble with working instinctively – no brief, no real endgame – just working through a visualised idea. And I have to wait and see how I visualise this developing.

I am comfortable with this way of working though because I feel an explanation is not always nessecary. I’m embracing randomness and joy.

I am thinking while I’m making. I’m thinking what am I doing?!

nan’s curtains

An interesting comment posted from Marion Michell has got me ruminating about minature scale. Because the curtains are tiny, it’s as if they are in the distance. And it made me think of a Father Ted sketch.

http://youtu.be/vh5kZ4uIUC0

Giacometti made his sculptures massless and weightless to enable a sense of distance. It’s interesting to think of the curtains from an altered perspective. Something to think on.