Things that have occupied today’s thoughts:
1) My madder has arrived. i have some sachets of very fine rusty coloured powder and some rawer woody sachets too. i have no idea how to dye the fabric (or what sort of fabric i should dye), so i will speak to the Print Technicians at college on Monday and hopefully do some samples in the evening.
2) Norwich Shawls – and their size – relation to the scale of the human body.
3) Having work on opposite sides of the gallery, adjacent to the River Wensum, in the direction of trade.
4) The textile pieces by Blinky Palermo (i saw a retrospective in Dusseldorf about a year and a half ago and they have stayed in my mind ever since, existing somewhere in between conceptual/minimal art and textiles)
At lunch time, i found just the kind of book that i had been looking for; "Norwich Since 1550". I read the chapter on the Textile Industry this evening, its quite confusing, mostly because there is lots of to'ing and throwing between merchants and weavers and spinners and farmers, and there are a number of highs and lows within the trade across several centuries. There are an awful lot of numbers and dates to understand as well, these could form an element of the final piece.
After speaking to the Print Technician at College today and looking at some of his natural dye samples, i ordered some madder from the internet – i hope it comes in time for the show as i would like to grasp an understanding of the dye process and the colours that can be achieved.
I can sense that the final piece is becoming closer, but i still don't know what it could be.
MEETING no.3
The Playhouse, 6pm – 7.30pm
Seven of the 12 Artists were present at this meeting. We took it in turns to do a "show and tell" about our work, research and experiments to the rest of the group. Everyone was supportive and honest, interested to hear each others' opinions. I really enjoyed hearing the others talk about their work, its nice to be in that kind of situation again and i have missed it since finishing the MA.
My work has a close aesthetic relationship to Laura's, and for a while now i have been keen for our work to be exhibited in the same space. The difference would be that Laura seems to be material-led and i am process-led, but our outcomes are often concerned with the same ideas or themes. (surface / architecture / construction)
I was worried that i was behind on my preparation for the show, but i explained my research for the theme of "wet" and ideas for where in the space the work could be positioned. I always worry that i haven't "made" anything, when others can produce samples or sketches – despite knowing it, i have trouble accepting that i do not initially "make" anything. I must remember that i spend 95% of the time researching and then right at the end produce the final piece.
After visiting the STEW Gallery this afternoon, i have decided to make the work within an old "fire escape" area in the space, you can see that this thoroughfare had previously been taped off on the floor (STEWs previous life was as a Handbag Factory), This space is in line with the river and echo's the shape of it – it is the right space for this work. (see yellow section on image map). I will not use the entire space, rather have assemblages or drawings along it, mimicking the layout of the textile mills along the River Wensum. I am also very keen to use madder, so will further look into how this could happen.
12 Days until the opening.
NORWICH TEXTILES:
exchange / transition / transaction
textiles are portable, they can be carried, and are carriers themselves
interrogating boundaries – transformation, translation, travel, currency, exchange, communication, flows, value
threads of memory. traces. remembering the history of a building or site
trans = moving / across
river / bridge / crossover
Today i spent some time reading in order to trigger ideas for the WET exhibition. I read a chapter from "Lines" by Tim Ingold (an old favorite of mine), i think this is taking me in the wrong direction but it led to some further ideas:
STEW is next to the River Wensum in Norwich, and the exhibition is referencing the location of the STEW gallery. The river was fundamental to Norwich's success in the Textile trade, making it one of the most important cities in England. Victoria spent some time in the taught units on MA Textile Culture discussing Norwich's Textiles as she has done a huge amount of research on this herself. I need to dig out those notes and get researching again. I wanted to make my work about the river and about exchange, flow or communication, so these ideas work well, but i really need to get some solid facts before i can go any further with it.
In terms of presentation i am looking at having two physical elements to the work. The presentation of the work would mirror the flow and trade of the river so there is a point "a" and a point "b". What is being traded from where to where? And by whom? In which direction? How long does it take? I have a On Kawara aesthetic in mind, something that states facts, is not decorative and that relates to the physicality and context of the space.
Of course this could all change again tomorrow..
