‘Straight’ my mind has not achieved this mode of thinking since appraising the word for task 1 of our collaboration project.
Starting point as always head for a definition, as my mind latched on to images of Halloween 2009 in LA and a closed freeway choc a block with exotic transvestites all parading to multiple live bands, I don’t know my collaborators so squash the exotic and figurative (Now know it may have been a good move!)
Having started an MA in drawing at Wimbledon Center for Drawing, UAL in October I would like a cross fertilization of my ideas and exploration of methodology between both ventures. I didn’t appreciate my initial intense drawings for ‘straight’ would have to remain in my MA portfolio as it dawned that they would move through the group to be adapted, altered and even erased as part of the collaborative project. One collaborator asked if it was OK to burn work!
‘Straighten’ while everyone comments on my tidy home I know I am a hoarder and the cupboards bulge.
I had been reading Tim Ingold ‘Lines A Brief history’ and his discussion about if a line could ever be straight even when using a ruler had lodged in my memory. My starting point was to extend the lines in a magazine, using a ruler on the left and freehand on the right and yes the ruled lines dipped and wobbled as they left the ruler on the curve of the page. They also blotted and smeared due to my selection of a gel pen, leaving an edge of ruler print.
Klee taking his line for a walk was also in my thoughts and I wanted to see how long a straight line I could draw free hand. Initially this was going to be on a 9-meter roll of paper but the curve of the page made me think a three-dimensional object may be more challenging and I selected a kitchen roll tube. My initial aim was that it should be a continuous line but I failed in the manual dexterity challenge.
I next selected a rectangular box. The process was long and required breaks to prevent cramping and held a surprising number of issues, decisions and intense concentration.
I was also reading ‘The thinking Hand’ Juhani Pallasmaa and was playing with the idea of drawing life sized hands placed on the wall with a straight line joining them across as wide an expanse of wall as possible. Considering what the hands would be holding, it’s tensile strength; elasticity, thickness etc led me to scan my own hands on an A3 scanner. I hoped that the initial impression is that they appear to be holding a taught ultra fine line of minuscule proportion, like a hair. In reality on closer inspection the straight line is an illusion.
Rosalind Barker
