In this post i have two videos which show a colour and a black and white version of the same video. The video is of a journey from the ball of wool-thread down to the knit in progress, that will be my own take on a traditional tapestry. The videos may be abit long for the blog but as a video installation would they work? I dont know. Honestly this wont become much as it was a spur of the moment idea and i dont think it relates to my dog ideas, so i dont know what to think of it. ????????
When making my dog sculpture i felt abit emotional towards it which was very unexpected. I was fine until i started covering the head (imparticular where the eyes would be situated) as i felt i was changing or removing the identity of my sculpture. I felt like i was blinding it in a way, suffocating it’s senses as if it was going through some kind of mummification. I have never felt this surge of emotion before when i have made work. The way i covered the eyes while standing infront of the sculpture just made me feel like i was mutilating it. I have changed it’s essence by covering it in masking tape and newspaper. It has changed from being just a skeleton to being more of a form of life. I felt sad and corrupt when working on the sculpture as i felt i was kind of betraying the sculpture by changing it’s form. I changed it because i wanted to and because i can. Such strange feelings, and well to be honest i dont know what i should do with them. I actually feel sad for my sculpture. The sculpture (obviously) cannot stop me from working on it, just as animals in abs cannot neccessarily help themselves. They dont have a voice. The sculpture has become helpless and a victim, somewhat, to my creativity. I definetly feel that i changed the identity of my sculpture but then maybe it will be for the best. Will have to see as it developes further.
Video’s that i put together today. Each of them silent in order to represent how beagles can not speak for themselves and how we humans are their only hope. Also it represents how their vocal cords are removed in order to silence them. A practice that makes the workers feel better as they dont have to hear howling and barking but it takes away to one thing that makes a beagle stand out. They are able to howl in 4 or 5 different ways because their vocal cords are shaped differently to some dog breeds as so removing them taked away the beagles identity as a vocally expressive hound.
In the first video i stitched crochet sqaures around my dogs legs and tail in order to show constrants that a beagles in put into in a lab i order to undergo tests. The video also clearly shows how my dogs natural instinct kicked in and he wanted nothing more than to remove the crochet from his body. Makes me wonder whether beagles fight against the system and whether if they do, do they get punished and how?
The second video is in an array of grey tones to show no character, no identity in the lack of colour present. I want it to represent how the beagles identities are stripped and so they are left as a dull shell that is liveless. It represents how beagles may give up hope and just feel that being tested on is all their life can be as it is, for some, all they have ever known. The images taken in order for me to put this video together were taken on a very bright sunny day. They were extremely colourful, from the bright green grass, to the blue sky and down to my mutli couloured knitting. This lack of colour is also to represent how how some dogs loose some of their eyesight and some go blind. I feel that colour is very important in life and is so powerful and i could not imagine life without it. Doing the dull grey shades and the hidden aspect of this video was hard as i was saying good bye to my inspiration in life, colour. It made me feel like i being robbed of my sight, the same feeling, i would imagine a beagle going through when having products put in their eyes.
………..continued
‘I kind of struggle with my curmudgeonliness here because I should be all-embracing and the art world should close ranks and we should all say yes everything we do is really brilliant. And in many ways, I am a kind of conceptual artist – I put myself among those – masquerading as a craftsman; and I employ traditional media like pottery and tapestry and etching in a kind of teasing, reactionary way because I don’t want to question in many ways, though writing these speeches has made me incredibly thoughtful about what I do myself. And my personal experience if you like of the boundaries of art, I’ve sort of bumped up not against the formal boundaries so much, but I think of a kind of snobbery because I think beneath the sophisticated tolerance – “yeah everybody can make art and everybody … everything they do can be art” – I think there is a little bit of interesting kind of class snobbery going on. Like a urinal – you know bring that into art, that’s really radical. And a shark, you bring that into the gallery – oh my god, that’s an amazing thing. But a pot, now that’s craft.’
(Perry, G, 2013, Reith Lecture, p. 9)
The co-relationship between traditional craft makers and contemporary artists is evident in parallel making processes despite different starting points. One applies the craft process to a consumerist end, the other uses the craft process to communicate concept. The Fine Artist uses visual language and visual codes within the materiality of the object to symbolise a current issue. The applied artist combines current trends with traditional craft making processes. The applied artist uses advanced skill and time within a production process of a piece of work. The Fine Artists employs these applied craft makers to produce key pieces within an artwork. The debate is when the craft element within the work becomes Fine Art. The work leaves the craft creator when the Fine Artist changes the context of the object.
Class and taste run deep within the character of every person and this is what draws Perry into the subject further; the emotional affects that aesthetics have on different classes within our British culture. Perry’s work ridicules the contemporary art world’s claim to be the ultimate arbiters of good taste. He does this by challenging society and Britain in how we look at class and taste, and how we look at art and society within each class. ‘Art is a privilege, a blessing, a relief.’ (Bourgeois, L. 1911. P1089). In order to get these messages/ stories across he makes the art works so that they can be read and understood by a wider audience of all different class, races and ages. Anyone can enjoy art and/or be a part of it.
With regards to work by Grayson Perry i would like to in some ways bring class into my work. I want to bring theidea of privileged classed Fine or higher Art and mix it with working class applied arts. I want my art to be available to everyone no matter their class or taste. Everyone should enjoy art in all it’s forms and in all different concepts. Hopefully my work will have this effect, we will have to wait and see.
Why Craft?
Importantly i choose to work with craft because i enjoy the personal, thoughtful touches you can create using your hands. I like how i can zone out and go into my own world where it is just me and the project at hand. I like how time and effort needs to be put into a project as well as the concentration and motivation. With regards to craft i love watching the work grow; it gets more and more exciting the closer i get to the end of each hand-made piece. The work is never far from my thoughts. I puzzle over and imagine different shapes, colours, textures and stitches as i work and deliberate over each piece. I am always proud of what i do because i made it; my hands physically makes the pieces. Even if i am not necessarily happy with the final piece, i am still proud of my accomplishments.
When i work with any media in a creatice way i find a psychological growth and release within myself. Being creative allows me to relax, to think and to release emotions of all natures. It is fantastic therapy! Psychologically, through conjoining craft and fine art practises in my work, i have been able to think more about my work. I have always been an impulsive maker, creating lots and lots of work just becuase i could. This project has allowed me to slow down, stop at times, step back and think more about the pieces i make and whether they work or not. At the same time i am learing about myself as a creator of arts. I have realised that i can critic myself and i dont have to like everything i do. It is ok to dislike a work and disguard it. I have learnt not to be afraid of questioning what i do and to think of it in ways that someone would who does not know what my work is about. I am my first and most important critic.
I want to join fine and decorative arts together in a kind of ‘collaboration’ of thoughts and skills. Much like William Morris and May Morris I feel that art has an inherently beneficial and elevating effect on all who come into contact with it. I amy be contradicting myself here but i feel that even though craft plays a big part in my life, that well, art is just art. Craft is as important as the Fine Arts, as they both have a humanising effect of aesthetic culture. I feel strongly that Craft can say just as much to the maker and the audience as Fine Art. The subcatergorisation of arts i feel can and is somewhat pointless in some ways. All art and creativity shows skills and thought process and it all represents life in a visual format. A format that all people from all walks of life and cultures can read into and understand or relate to in some way.
When it comes to my work i am sure there is a boundary between my Craft pieces and my Fine Art concpets. However i only see these boundaries myself when i am creating at home or for my craft group. When i am in the university grounds i am able to focus on connecting the two and seeing where they fit together or whether they do not. I can think more about how the materials and the aesthetic nature of each piece is important. I think (maybe naively) that i have the best of both applied art and decorative art worlds in one place. Craft is invariably employed to evoke the home and so i want my work to bring the feeling of home to Fine Art so it feels inviting and safe but also allows for thr concept to still shine through. To discuss this further i want to bring in Grayson Perry as his work and critical thinking has had a large impact on my work. I am using a section from my dissertation (a quote form GP himself) to discuss this further as it all thinks to my current project. This will be continued in next post………………………
