Essay Notes

December Essay Notes (Not for assessment)

The necessities of distinctions between the Fine Arts and Contemporary Craft.

What is a distinction? Why are they necessary? Why do we need to define art practices, subjectively clarifying them within a cultural hierarchy ? This essay will explore these questions by referring to Contemporary Artists such as Judy Chicago, Grayson Perry, Shelia Hicks and Cat Mazz.

The distinction of contemporary craft has historically established itself as being a discipline of skills that are regarded to be traditional, hand made and produces something functional (. ) . The social implications of these skills tie in with  feminism theories where Roziska Parker describes stitching as having “a heritage in women’s hands, and thus…more appropriate than male associated paint for making feminist statements.”  (p37 Entangled   ) . This essay will weave in theories by Jacques Lacan signifying the ‘castration’ or ‘lack’ where the identity of women are within a symbolic order, in art and everyday therefore connecting the distinctions that cause inequalities.

The theme of this essay will stitch together theories surrounding feminism associated with domesticated Craft and to what extent and in what ways has this association had in the role of contemporary crafts identity.  Nevertheless the identity of Craft, particularly textiles is a productive discipline that is successfully  able to cross boundaries and be heterogeneous. 

“Craft is a contested concept, a word with almost too many associations” (Harrod, 2018:12) 

Contemporary Art is a progressive art practice where Artists have broadened their use of mediums and collaborate skills such as Grayson Perry with his ceramic vases and tapestries. His classic Grecian styled urns are glazed with modern day dilemmas, or dark Gothic tales; ‘We’ve found the body of your child’ (2000. Earthenware ) The use of pottery to communicate and create an emotional response is an example of crossing the boundaries between Craft and Art.

This essay will evaluate the need to understand the different artistic disciplines and explain the consequences of cultural equality towards contemporary art practices. This insistence of questioning distinctions and societies inability to treat different disciplines equal, is a subject that is widely written about. Walter Benjamin wrote ‘The Work of the Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’ in 1936, he refers to technologies mass reproduction capabilities of printing and argues that the ‘aura’ of the original is lost to reproducibility, however this opens up progressive possibilities. (Harrison &Wood, 2003:521) 

The ecology of the human mind has the inclination to respect Walter Gropius definition of an Art-Craft unity (1920) and Patrick Heron’s article ‘Murder of Art Schools’ (1971) also proposes unity between Fine and Applied Arts. 

Firstly I will cast on and start by explaining that, the word distinction in this essay is to be referred to as a definition that is recognising or is a noting of differences; discrimination. (dictionary.com. cited 21.12.18) The questioning of the; relevance to note a difference, is for the reason to understand the Artistic body of work more knowledgeably. The final question this essay asks is that when acknowledging distinctions, often a conscious line is drawn and decisions are made. Discrimination can be part of the process of deciphering the differences depending upon the discerning consciousness and their ideology informed from their social construct. 

 

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/acknowledgement_panels/panel

Panel one of 3 acknowledging the contributors. 

Chicagos feminist sociopolitical perspective has corollated the status given to women art and craft work with in walls of the institution. Around the same time Robert Smithson was expanding the fields of the Gallery walls with his rejection to them. His work was best known as Land Art, Earth Art or Earthworks such as ‘Spiral Jetty’ (1970). These creations are described by Ian Chilvers (4th 2009) as being a desire to sidestep the gallery systems that are considered elitist and money-orientated. This shift during a time of Conceptual art where projects such as ‘Happenings’ and ‘performance art’ were schemes and not expected to be permanent correlated with Land Art sculptures such as; ‘Spiral Jetty’ the work has become submerged and hypocritically can only be seen from the air. The Hypocrisy with these Art works was they were meant to be autonomous with our natural environment but were opposites due to the cost and diffulcultness for people to see them, therefore being exposed to elitist spectatorship and the massive construction associated with the work was a considerably violation towards the environment.   

The ‘spectacularization’ of art (Foster. 2004:656) confirms Chilvers by explaining that Arichticture that is being developed to house post war art is able to Create a spectacular building such as the Guggenheim Museum (1991-7) in Bilbao and the Tate Modern (1995-2000) with the Blavatnik extension (2011-2016). These buildings have become tourist attractions often build in areas of previous industrial sites that have been redeveloped, once deprived areas rejuvenated. These homes for art works inflate the culture of art and Foster links this with the theories by the founder of the situationist international; Guy Debon and his essay ‘The society of the spectacle (1967). The Debordian theory of the spectacle as capital where capital accumulate to such a degree that it becomes an image, that image being the Galley and its brand identity, its a corporation fuelling a hierarchal level of spectatorship and hence speculation. These are both relevant to the understanding of divisions within the fields of Art. Judy Chicago wanted to give her work context and proclaim it as Fine Art and by placing it within the site of an institution of culture she was able to define it as a mixed media installation.

The Context given to the work by Smithson and Chicago are reliant upon the status of the site where the work is seen.

Link in post modern principles and the essay by Walter Benjamin with reference to contemporary crisis in art.

Link in laconian theories around desire and the constant need for more.

The relationship betweenEntropy and mimicry. Mention osmoses; might need to develop this idea in dissertation.

  

 

Patrick Heron exhibition 2018-19

 

Patrick Heron (1920-99) born in Leeds but spent most his time working on the Cournish coast. He believed that all Art was Abstract and his work is communicating that all things are shapes and rhythms beneath the surface. His work reflects the light colour shape and textures of his garden and other landscapes such as his residency in Australia.

By contrast, from the time of Heron’s artist residency at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney between November 1989 and February 1990 he began to use a palette of paler, fresher tones and to leave parts of the primed white canvas bare, stating in 1991 that ‘I like to think that these Sydney paintings and gouaches have new spatial configurations, new images and constructions, and new colours (paler? sharper?), which owe their origin to my daily walks through Sydney’s great Botanic Gardens – but also to my frequent visits to the Bush at West Head.’ (Patrick Heron, ‘A Note on the Sydney Paintings’, in Patrick Heron Sydney Paintings and Gouaches 1989–1990, exhibition guide, Waddington Galleries, London, April 1991.)

What I found interesting is the way this exhibition was curated and asked the gallery assistant why older work ( a different style) was placed next to more recent bigger abstract works. He was very helpful in explaining that it wasn’t a retrospective of work in any particular order as the curator wanted to compare the different styles but still using the same principles given to shapes and rhythms. “It is arranged to reveal his consistent attitude to painting and the way that certain formal concerns- unity, scale, asymmetry- remained part of his visual language in spite  of shifts in style and approach”. (Turner contempoary.2018)

Throughout his work Heron particularly liked to bring the attention to the EDGES. He did this because this is the area where the visual perception changes from image to the 3Dimentional reality.

I resonated with Heron and his ‘Art and Education’ because he was a believer in the arts being a whole group of disciplines and didn’t what them to be divided up or separated from fine arts to applied art in the 1980s. The importance of keeping an open dialogue between disciplines was the procurement of my Eassy; Defining the distinctions between craft and art. The contemporary theme is influenced by a post modern condition, that condition being to collaborate, cross boundaries and diversify. This diversification is a form of devaluing or as Walter Benjamin said “liquidating” (Benjamin ,2013: ) . The belief is that revaluing past principles and disciplines and then reusing them in the context of contemporary arts is a process of revitalisation.

Partick herons work called Christmas Eve 1951 struck me as something that must have influenced Grayson Perry as it was very reminiscent of his narrative tapestries. I wanted to compare the two works and this transcribes with the above statement.

Grayson Perry.Vanity of small differences. 2012 .

 

Perry in this series of work was communicating his obsession with class, taste and the huge repercussions.

 

References;

Benjamin, W. (2013) The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction.(1936) This chapter was originally published in 1936, is taken from Illuminations, edited by Arendt, H. NewYork:Schocken books (1968:217-242). In: Evans,J (ed). Hall,S. (ed) (2013) Visual culture: the reader. (2nd Reprint) London: SAGE Publications Ltd. 

https://www.artfund.org/whats-on/more-to-see-and-do/features/object-of-the-month-the-vanity-of-small-differences-by-grayson-perry. Accessed 4.1.2019

https://www.culturewhisper.com/r/visual_arts/whats_on_serpentine_grayson_perry_exhibition_london/7879. Accessed 4.1.2019

 

Mug Shots. Margate train station

 

I was invited to this viewing and did not know of the newly opened art kiosk come gallery at the margate train station so was surprised to find this little site.  The gallery was opened in November 2018 by the Fort Road Art Stable. Karen Vost has recently been involved with the Extinction Rebellion activist group and wanted to encourage more people to notice that people are being killed while fighting for a right for us to live within a healthy environment. It was shocking to see the list, like a memorial but instead of these people being acknowledge for their bravery due to an act of war. These people have been killed by others because they are not following the rules that were made by Bureaucrats and capitalists that are stripping the earth of all its natural resources and therefore exterminating us. From my research of Robert Smithson’s work and in particularly the interview with Alison Sky; “Entropy made visible”(1973).  he suggested that the language surrounding the resources industry is problematic and links this to  mans determination to sabotage the natural environment for his own gains. Strip mining is shortened to stripping and today we used terms like dredging and fracking. Later in his interview he links the attitude towards nature as a Freudian theory due to the earth being regarded as Mother Nature. Freuds theories of the castration effect could be transcribed to the intentional neglect towards nature.  The moment when the male differentiates from the female because she is apparently castrated as no penis seems so ridiculous. I could argue that to have a growth that protrudes from your body and is difficult to control is a hinderance. But the male and female organs are what identifies us as different from one another in physical terms and Freud is only incorporated that within his psychoanalyse. If you are on the big side maybe over weight and take up more space than the average person, this is a physical state and will not mean that this will effect your demeanour, or make you more intelligent because you may have a bigger brain mass.

I will refer to the book; the Galápagos takes the reader back one million years, to A.D. 1986. A simple vacation cruise suddenly becomes an evolutionary journey. Thanks to an apocalypse, a small group of survivors stranded on the Galápagos Islands are about to become the progenitors of a brave, new, and totally different human race. In this inimitable novel about how big brains have only created greed.

Karens exhibition with light boxes and mug shots mixed with memorial acknowledgments did highlight a real problem with societies attitude towards our future existence. I know people are fighting for their cause from following groups on social media but seeing the souls of these people really humanised the problem to me. The lost eyes and looking somewhat defeated are all signs of resistance and we need a lot more resistance. I would like to see these mug shots used as advertising on the tube or other public transport. The gallery walls need to collaborate with other realms, so many people see these people. They need to know that they are not just fighting their own personal fight but are fighting to save us all from our very selves.

References;

https://www.robertsmithson.com/essays/entropy.htm Accessed on the 4.1.2019

vhttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9593.Gal_pagos. Accessed on the 4.1.2019

https://theisleofthanetnews.com/2018/11/26/art-gallery-opens-at-margate-train-station/ Accessed on the 4.1.2019

 

 

Gut Feelings OSE

 

Was very excited to see Sarah Karens weaving on display as had seen clips of it on instagram. This was the OPEN SCHOOL EAST end of year show and all the associates are represented throughout the building. I felt that there was a sense of calm this year among the associates, when I have participated with the workshops and the theory session early on in the year; https://melsearlymorningthoughts.wordpress.com/2018/07/10/critical-thought-course-at-osc/

the lack of tension was noticeable. When I visited last years show ; SPELUNKING, https://melsearlymorningthoughts.wordpress.com/2017/12/29/spelunking-film-by-benedict-drew-and-oce-associate-group-show/

The competition was in the atmosphere, which may have been motivated by the subject of the show; entering.

I love what Sarah Karen wrote about her work, questioning the point of weaving and then answering that with several reasons. Is it because; it’s a way to escape, construct thoughts though a physical gesture or via a medium? she calls the finished weave her personal data, a place to archive her thoughts. A method of listening before reacting, very beautiful and the structure she presented was very popular.

 

Tom Verity ; Journey to the centre of a cabbage; was interesting as I wanted to hear what a cabbage would sound like. The work was set up like one could listen to what the organic forms had to say. It was actual about bacteria and the important role it plays for our existence. “The gut is a symbolic citadel providing food and shelter for around 100 trillion bacteria”

Lizzy Rose film and sound ; Sick, blue sea, was about real life stories taken from blogs or social media posts where people living with illness can discuss how their day has been, its effect can be empathetic and educate understanding and therefore drive compassion. Whales are referred to because of the sickening pictures of whales feeding on plastic in our oceans , this plastic causes the digestive system to clog and eventually causes a condition called peritonitis. Rose has an autoimmune disease that causes obstruction and symptoms of continuous nausea.  The sound on the film has been distorted and was all the same tone, which gave it more of an artistic quality instead of an information documentary reference.

The amount of research that was on show was to a high standard particularly the agricultural work and the Fracking videos upstairs. Needed more time at this show and so many performances to come back and watch. Missed out on the car tour of Cliftonvile with the dash cam footage, really liked the idea of leaving the building only to still be taking part in the exhibition. The only criticism I have was the amount on TV monitors and sound fighting for your attention.

Projecting Pentagonism.

The aesthetic of Gerard Paris (1952-)

October 10-December 1

First Uk exhibition by Veteran Dutch Abstract artist whom was international recognised for his experimentation and innovation with pentagon structures, a philosophy he coined pentagonism. This exhibition explores the development of his practice over the past 50 years.

He studied philosophy at the university of California before completing a MA in Art in 1969 at Berkeley. His tutors included Richard Diebenkorn, David Hockney and R B Kitaj. He has exhibited his rigorous geometric compositions at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, New York and in Istanbul. He lectures at the University of Maastricht, NL.

This exhibition features his early acrylics on canvas abstract paintings from 1968 and some work completed in 2017 that are publicly displayed for the first time.

His projects make a distinctive contribution to 3 dimensional practices, object-hood and they typify the Minimalist Conceptual art debates of the intricacy and complexity of the compositions open forms suggested by his  early engineering influence (ex military position). 

The gallery suggests that his meticulous geometries are equally intimate in nature which forms a profound humanistic sensibility. Im not so sure but some more research into his philosophy surrounding his geometries would probably reinforce this message. I didn’t  have the time to read the other materials and this subject of shapes is engineered, its  reinforcing a gender maybe?, its to solid for me and I prefer something entangled and abit messy. This gallery was dedicated to exploring angles and lines, nothing organic and rather sterile for my aesthetic. I did like the photos of looking though the sculptures onto the walls behind where his massive acrylic canvas painting hung, old and new mingling.

References; gallery publication.

UCA ARTISTS TALKS

Notes form the list of artist that visited the University from October 2018-December 2018.

• Linsey Sears
• Olivia BAX
• Sharon Lifschitz
• Daniel Strurgis
• Yu-Chen- Wang
• Bea Bonafina
• Emily Speed
• Simon Bill.

Emily Speed

BEA Bonafina

Yu-Chen WANG

Daniel Strugis

Sharon Lifschitz

Olivia Bax

Lindsy Sears

References cited on 19th December 2018 from UCA student portal.

 

 

Assessment

MUMMIFIED PEBBLES newspaper, fabric, wool and tree branches

FLUID FIBRE synthetic glue and nylon

SPINDLES wool willow and synthetic glue

SCULPTURE clay and wool

WALL HANGING wool, clay and wire

Assessment Submission Form

Description and title of work; 1-3 are items on plinth. 4 and 5 are the work shown on walls.

1. Project Book. Concertina book folding out to interpret a step by step development of; two site specific installations, Black project space and White Project space.
2. A3 Workbook and folder containing a selection of written hardcopies.
3. Untitled; Assemblage of Preserving Jars x2 with organic matter and nylon fibres, 2 fish hook sinkers and 2 sculptures made from clay, wool and glue.
4. Wall to your right and the red wool above attaching both walls diagonal. fibre work; Mummified pebbles, wall hanging and wrapped tree branches. (Newspaper, tape, fabric and wool). Critical Reviews and Public spaces.   Spindles; hanging twisted willow branches with wool and nylon.Craft, Wicker and Marxism
5. Fluid Fibres; Synthetic fibre, Glue and nylon with metal rod. Crit Club December 2018

Artist Research

Artists

A list of artist’s that have been mentioned to me, or some I have researched  or are curious to me. Visual details found within the  Hyperlink due to copyright regulations.

PHYLLIDA BARLOW (1944-) CBE RA; Her installations redefine the spaces they inhabit. https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/phyllida-barlow-ra-elect

SAMARA SCOTT (1984- ) An archaeological experiment begins; rummaging for the harmonies between man-made and natural, mingling pairings of alchemous surfaces. https://www.rca.ac.uk/students/samara-scott/

GABRIEL DAWE ( 1973-) Works with the visible spectrum of light with the medium of thread. https://www.instagram.com/p/BoKVXUeFJv-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

ROBIN TARBET (1981-) RA. Lecturer, Printmaker, casting, film, 3d sculpture assemblages. http://gabrieldawe.com

 

AI WEI WEI (1957-) http://www.aiweiwei.com.  He is so prominent to me and his work is like a magnet, when ever I see his work and I don’t know that its his, I am always pulled towards it. I love his simplicity of forms but the complex narrative supporting these forms. I am also attracted to his activism and his practice influences mine because of my admiration towards his work.

YINKA SHONIBARE (1962-) MBE RA. Explores cultural identity, colonialism and post-colonialism within globalisation. He uses brightly coloured patterned fabrics and uses technology to design his works. http://www.yinkashonibarembe.com

MEREDITH WOOLNOUGH  A young contemporary artist that uses embroidery as a medium. Inspired by plants, coral and cells, Meredith Woolnough uses thread to create elegant delicate shapes and patterns. http://meredithwoolnough.blogspot.com

MARCEL MAROIS Artist statement; http://www.marcelmarois.com/index.php/en/2014-03-16-19-08-28/biography.html His work are large tapestries that are developed from landscape photographer, I was interested in his fluid technique and wondered if they were screen prints. 

 http://www.bellemarelambert.com/en/artiste/marcel-marois-en

CORNELA PARKER (1956-) OBE RA. So many interesting ideas, lots of variations of thoughts but has an unmistaken voice. The suspended band instruments showing at the turner Maragte, was perfect for that location, also loved the photo of the ‘psychobarn’ captured looking through the RA arches in 2018. Her suspended charcoal with the light being used to suggest the exploding shed as the fragments cast shadows onto the gallery walls was something that encouraged me to use light. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/parker-pornographic-drawing-t07325

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/parker-cold-dark-matter-an-exploded-view-t06949

SIR ANISH KAPOOR, (1954-) CBE RA is renowned for his “non-objective objects”, whose visceral colours and materials produce complex relationships between form, space and perception. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/ai-weiwei-8208/walk-0

 

SHEILA HICKS (1934-)  Artist website; https://www.sheilahicks.com

https://www.sheilahicks.com/films

Sheila has been a massive influence upon me, love this film above, it’s a strong voice for the ‘slow movement’ and  can sense Sarah Corbetts; Craftivism ideology has links with this amazing artist. 

She talks about threads connecting but not the same as other threads, just like our societies or communities. Fibre is an art form to her.

SHELIA HICKS by Micheal Gauthier. Exhibition publication April 2018.

TANIA KOVATS RAMA (1966-) Much of Kovats’s research has focused on geology to further understand how landscapes are formed, exclusive of humanity’s effects upon them. Interested in her water studies and research; https://www.artsy.net/artwork/tania-kovats-all-the-canals

 

TIM NOBLE AND SUE WEBSTER (LIGHT INSTALLERS) (1966-) http://timnobleandsuewebster.com/artwerks.html

JAMES TURRELL (1943-) “My work is more about your seeing than it is about my seeing, although it is a product of my seeing. I’m also interested in the sense of presence of space; that is space where you feel a presence, almost an entity — that physical feeling and power that space can give.” (mentioned in seminar 3, used natural sunlight in a space as part of an installation.) http://jamesturrell.com/about/introduction/

SARAH SZE ,(1969-) is a contemporary artist known for sculpture and installation works that employ everyday objects to create multimedia landscapes. She developed a signature visual language that challenges the static nature of sculpture. Sze draws from Modernist traditions of the found object, dismantling their authority with dynamic constellations of materials that are charged with flux, transformation and fragility. Captured in this suspension, her immersive and intricate works question the value society places on objects and how objects ascribe meaning to the places and times we inhabit. https://www.victoria-miro.com/artists/33-sarah-sze/

RACHAEL CHAMPION installation artist, sculpture. Engaged with our reliance upon nature, the transformation this creates upon landscapes and eco systems. https://www.instagram.com/rachaelchampionart/

RICHARD WENTWORTH (1947-) Since the early 1970s Wentworth has been capturing chance encounters of oddities and discrepancies in the modern landscape in the ongoing photographic series known as Making Do and Getting By. Mundane snapshots and fragments of the modern landscape are elevated to an analysis of human resourcefulness and improvisation, whereby amusing oddities that would otherwise go by unnoticed become the subject of intent contemplation https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-wentworth-2132

KALA BLACK (1972-) Usually made in response to the space where they will be shown, her works have ranged from delicate cellophane, paper and polythene hanging pieces suspended with ribbon or tape to large-scale floor-based environments made from plaster, chalk powder and soil. Her sculptures are often full of contradictions; they command an entire gallery space yet hover on the brink of collapse, and combine a fascination in raw, physical materials with an interest in psychoanalysis and language.

ROBIN TARBET; http://powerintheland.co.uk/artists/robin-tarbet/

SUSIE GREEN; https://www.instagram.com/susiegreen_/

SARA TRILO; working only with foraged matter and experiments with submersion she has established a new, marine palette for her materials investigation blog-https://saratrilloartist.wordpress.com

ROBERT SMITHSON (1938-1973) the Post-Minimalists sought to abandon even more aspects of traditional sculpture. Smithson’s approaches are typical of this group; he constructed sculptures from scattered materials, he found ways to confuse the viewer’s understanding of sculpture (often by using mirrors or confusing scales), and his work sometimes referred to sites and objects outside of the gallery, leading the viewer to question where the art object really resided. https://www.theartstory.org/artist-smithson-robert.htm

LYNDA BENGLIS (1941-)— Beautiful POURED LATEX PAINTINGS straight onto the floor, removing the traditional need for canvas therefore taking the painting process into the realm of sculpture. In her use of candy colours, glitter and other craft materials, she distanced herself from the serious, brooding colour and macho materials used by her contemporaries. In doing so, she sought to question traditional gendered distinctions in art, above all the opposition between art and craft. https://www.theartstory.org/artist-benglis-lynda.htm

SHINIQUE SMITH (1971-) Shinique Smith composes her sculptures and installations from found objects and second-hand clothing tied together to form large cubes, bundles, and dense assemblages. Her creations reference a wide array of cultural and art historical themes, from Color Field Painting and other formal movements via the exuberantly coloured clothing, to latent commentaries on recycling, materialism, and urban poverty. Her apparently spontaneous, cursive and looping paintings that accompany some of her installations at once point to graffiti and Eastern calligraphic traditions. https://www.artsy.net/artist/shinique-smith

KIRSTIN DEMER wheat paste and bamboo basket weaved sculptures, delicate and transparent with a wooden twist. https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/213850682280230147/

 

RUTH ASAWA (1926-2013) image above title; Untitled (S.563, Hanging Six Lobed Form with Two Interior Spheres), 1956 showcased at the David Zwiner Gallery. (cited from Wikiart on 17.12.2018) While her technique for making her sculptures resembles weaving, however, Asawa did not study weaving nor did she use fiber materials she was interested in working with materials that could be transparent, strong in form but not solid.

GUISEPPE PENONE (1974-); DISSERTATION AVAILABLE IN LIBARY; CONCRETE WRITING. Works drawn from the past five decades of Penone’s career, including many never shown in the UK, trace his evolving and thoughtful consideration of humanity’s intimate relationship with the natural world. His poetic practice addresses themes around the body, nature, time, touch and memory, played out across different materials from stone, acacia thorns and graphite, to thousands of laurel leaves.

Really want to visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park one day, his sculptures are trees with massive boulders caught in the branches, the tree almost bends under its weight. The relationship between the two are beautiful. https://ysp.org.uk/exhibitions/giuseppe-penone

LOUISE BOURGEOIS (1911-2010) Bourgeois transformed her experiences into a highly personal visual language through the use of mythological and archetypal imagery, adopting objects such as spirals, spiders, cages, medical tools, and sewn appendages to symbolize the feminine psyche, beauty, and psychological pain. Through the use of abstract form and a wide variety of media, Bourgeois dealt with notions of universal balance, playfully juxtaposing materials conventionally considered male or female. She would, for example, use rough or hard materials most strongly associated with masculinity to sculpt soft biomorphic forms suggestive of femininity. Her critical voice is often referred to with my readings about craft, she would invite artist to her apartment in Chelsea on Sundays where she coined the term; Sundays bloody Sundays. When using thread loosely , it tends to form scribbles that represent webs and Louise Bourgeois was a master of spider sculptures, so anything resembling fluid fibre tends to be associated with her work. I not sure Im influenced by her, or just cant detach myself from her acclaimed work. 

https://www.theartstory.org/artist-bourgeois-louise.htm

 

Henk Wolvers, http://www.henkwolvers.com

Dripped porcelain and interested in shadows his sculpture make against the wall the are just hovering away from, light penetrating the medium is also noticeable in his work. 

Cal Lane, http://callane.com

Uses harsh mediums like rusty iron and embellishes then so to look like lace, she burns away the medium so light can move through the sculptures.

Sarah Corbett; https://craftivist-collective.com

I love her book, such a great read on the train to University, it helps to slow you down and become more productive. There really is no point getting angry about how terrible everything is and her book and her method of dealing with life is beautiful. 

Cat Mazza; “Craftivist” Cat Mazza is based in New York. She is the founder of microRevolt, a collective that combines traditional craft techniques such as knitting with digital media and social networks to initiate discussion about the politics and economics of sweatshop labor.

http://www.post-craft.net/catmazza.htm

 

Tomas Saraceno. (1973-) Researches way of engaging; speculatively, sensitively with the forms of life that exist all around us. In an era of ecological upheaval, where anthropocentric values are imperial, the need to be MORE-THAN-HUMAN is where the artistic and scientific communities can collaborate to create a renewed relationship with life forms and space. An ethical collaboration with the atmosphere and the environment. Known for his collection of spider webs and knowledge of the subject of the metaphors surrounding web structures being sensory communicators. https://studiotomassaraceno.org/projects/

 

 

Craft, Wicker and Marxism

 

Firstly I wanted to revisit my readings of Marxism from the previous course work; understanding visual culture from the open college of arts.

Past blog post

For assessment I am leaving the red string with the wicker hoops that are being used as spindles because I want to reference Marxism theories within my practice. It seems impossible not to refer to them when philosophising about why we make work and ways of working. The reason why these are strung up high is because they remind me of the samples we use to show staff to inform them of the next seasons pattern ranges and what buttons and embellishments we had ordered. These samples that hung from runner rails or attached to mood boards at head office were not final pieces but they were considered highly valued. Companies often have samples stollen so others can capitalise on the market.

One of the seminar options was about ‘Work’ with Dominic and It was on my list out of three, I was able to get on the ‘Art, nature and the ecology of the mind’ seminars and they have been crucial in refreshing my theoretical studies. But Craft and Marxism have connections and I feel more comfortable, confident or just more relatable with this work.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) uniquely relates problems such as human nature, knowledge and matter with historical, social, political and economic realities; historical materialism.

His philosophy has been recently revived due to the developing tech sector and this area of understanding the relationship we have towards work, labour and our human needs. People seek to satisfy certain primary needs. “the first historic fact is the production of the means to satisfy these needs” Marx Quote cited on the 09.12.2018.

Once these have been achieved then the ambition towards more, excess is activated. This human ideology is detrimental to nature. People humanise themselves though the relationship between being productive with their labour. By opposing nature they become fully human. But as work becomes alienated (EMPLOYMENT) the more work done, the less IS achieved. When working for yourself the responsibility of productivity fulls on your self, if you work fo an organisation, then the labour is valued differently. Your labour covers the cost of doing big business and pays the wages of CEO’s (surplus value). Capitalism caps the individual productivity and the labour produced is estranged. When an Artist signs their name to a canvas or print they are identify themselves with the work produced and identifying themselves in the work. When someone crafts, they used to brand the work with wax or mark it with an emblem. It was a process of identifying the craftsmanship. The women that have embroiled tablecloths, laced, weaved or worked on large tapestries like the ones at the Globe theatre are never named. When Judy Chicago asked for help with her ‘Dinner party’ Installation she requested everyone to sew their names to the back of the runner and made sure to document all the collaborators with this project. Karl Marx wasn’t a feminist, he only writes about men in his text but his theories are relatable to feminist issues. He writes about mans rightful existence through labour and capitalism losses that right to an existence or freedom from Bourgerious/elitism class structure. You can buy into class but you cant buy class is a regular story line such as the movies; ‘The Greatest Showman’ , ‘Trading places‘ or ‘Pride and Prejudice‘ .  The ideology surrounding the importance of owning your own home or updating you mobile device regularly are yet again ways of alienating ourselves. Primary needs = work/labour (the tech industry isn’t considered labour like when your labouring, or an artist work is a practice until sold, so the term labour has been updated to work) =materialistic things= status =realising we are intrinsically evolving our culture of expectations, which is reinstated by forms of entertainment media. The ideology of coexisting with nature are poorly labelled;  being destitute (definition- lacking the means to provide for ones self, not having).

“…it is not consciousness which determines existence, it is existence which determines consciousness.”

Capital buys the labour/work power and pays the wages for it. Labour makes work a certain value, but doesn’t belong to him, but to capitalism. Add in the industrial revolution and the tech market, this surplus value becomes very fragile and unstable.

I am very concerned that our earths resources are depleting and that the job markets are getting smaller while population grows. The solution is very complex, therefore isn’t a solution as such but a means of encouraging society to stop craving for capitalism, watch a Noam Chomsky video, sign up to rebellion extinction and vote for a party that puts the environment at the top of its agenda.

References

Britannica.com; cited on the 9th of December .

Art in Theory 1900-2000, An anthology of changing ideas. edited by Charles Harrison and Paul Wood. Backwell publishing 3rd edition 2003.

Older blog post cited on 9th of December 2018.

Brooklyn Museum; The dinner party by Judy Chicago. Cited on 09.12.2018.

IMBD for movie references, cited on the 9th of December 2018

Online Dictionary cited on the 9th of December 2018

Crit Club December 2018

model for project

frame for fabric, trying different options.

setting up for light test.

setting up lights

trail run on pillar

fabric in black project space

fabric in black project space

checking suspension weight and lighting options

camera exposure experiment

camera exposure experimentation.

FLUID FIBRE

I took along my maquette/model of the white project space or black project space depending on what coloured card I used, so to establish some points to consider before going ahead with this project. I am always trying to use the resources I have to hand when considering the logistics and outcomes of an installation piece, they are projects that have to follow certain project management protocols which I have plenty of experience due to my role as area development manager for the south east region.

The feed back that I got was very useful such as; have a trial run and experiment with lights first. So glad I did  this as the universities equipment hire has limited supply. The first light that I tested was a sheet of fabric stitched with light bulbs that Valero’s onto an expandable frame that then attaches to a tripod if you wish…but this light source was more of a glow. The good thing about this light system was that it was light in weight, had a long lead but not battery powered and was able to be adjusted for warmth or cool tones and brightness or dimmed. This light was not viable for this project, I needed a bright LED spot light and I need a few set up in different directions…But these lights get hot and so will melt the synthetic material I am lighting up. Will need a fan to cool the heat radiating from the light source and to add movement to the work, this is the only viable option. REMEMBER to check the distance from; light source to materials.

The other critical feedback I received was that I needed more information about why I choose to use synthetics and why create this piece in the first place. I really should have gone to the crib club with an artist statement or annotation and this comes with experience of taking part in something and then realising what you could have done better;  the learning outcome was to be more prepared when attending a critical club.

Reasoning or justifying your practice/work can be difficult if you are not able to integrate your theoretical learning. From participating within the seminars , (doing the reading) engaging with my tutor and writing an artist statement or annotating my work, are ways of responding to the course work.

The seminar; Landscape or weather-work; Being Alive, is what I am responding to with this installation piece. The text on page 128 refers to’ the light of being’. Here we are referred to the work written by the French phenomenological philosopher MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY essay called ‘Eye and Mind’ 1964. His writings are not easy to understand but someone other than yourself explaining the experience of perception is going to be confusing as experience is Existentialism and only essential to ones self; ontology. But the essay makes the point about the different perceptions we can give to light.

• Merleua-ponty; describes the sky on a sunny day as ‘I am the sky itself as it is drawn  together and unified, and as it begins to exist for itself; my consciousness is saturated with this limitless blue’ 1962:214 9(P.128) The luminous sky is what we open ourselves up to…. ‘To see the sky is to be the sky, since the sky is luminosity and the visual perception of the sky is an experience of light”. (p129)
• I rather like the passage about how we should stop thinking of ourselves being observers but participants… seeing is seeing, hearing is hearing and touching is feeling, They are senses but interconnect to become particular experiences. I think this is interesting because of the disenfranchised perception of nature that society observes . If we became less observant (got away from mobile phones) but more engaged with nature such as participating with a beach clean or town clean up, we would be more connected. Participation is not an opposition to observation but it helps the perception such as light is a condition needed for seeing and sounds for hearing or feeling for touch.
• This work in the above photograph, is going to be installed in the white project space ,is about the phenomenology of light. The light will be used to pro-ject shadows onto the wall behind, these shadows will be moving with the help of a fan. I hope the audience gives some time to see the light as shadows, see them as an object or a drawing of light; drawing attention to the light, so to suggest that we are neglecting our acknowledgement of the sources needed for our existence.
• In the next fifty years the earth will have no fresh water of clean air. https://rebellion.earth