Engage Creative Workshop – 21st Century Chatelaine

I delivered a Mary, Mary themed creative workshop for Engage, National Association for Gallery Education, recently.  The stimulating one-day seminar was part of their Professional Development series: Craft, Makers and Making.  Ian Middleton, Ofsted HMI and Specialist Advisor for Art, Craft and Design provided a fantastic overview of current education policy and set the context for the days discussions.  His report “Drawing Together: Art, Craft and Design in Schools” contains some thought-provoking insights into the way the subject is being taught (or not) in schools today.  Essential reading for anyone involved with Craft education whatever the level of delivery.  Other presentations from Stuart Shotton of Craftspace and Katy Bevan from the Crafts Council highlighted some of the great work they are doing to engage young people in the crafts and making, ensuring the subjects’ continued relevance in an ever-changing and increasingly digital world.

My session encouraged seminar participants to engage in some creative activity around the Mary Greg project.  Liz gave an enthusiastic introduction using the display in the Object Memories Showcase, in the Craft and Design Gallery and whetted everyone’s appetite for the session.  The Mary Greg chatelaine was used as a starting point for creative response.

The Mary Greg Chatelaine

A chatelaine is a nineteenth century  item, usually worn by a housekeeper, a wearable ‘tool kit’ containing all sorts of useful objects necessary for going about her everyday business.  Hung from a loop usually attached at the waistband it allowed the wearer easy access to things like scissors, thimbles, needles, notebooks, pens etc.   Workshop participants were asked to choose an everyday object that they had on their person.  Starting with individual questioning, drawing and making, small groups then collaborated to create a ’21st Century Chatelaine’, a contemporary homage not only to the Greg chatelaine but also the objects we use and take for granted on a daily basis.  During the practical activity I tried to unravel, what to me are, the fundamental aspects of craft and making, picking out the key elements and transferable skills embedded in a hands on approach to creative thinking. Some examples follow (sorry I can’t show everything).

Ink Drawing - Pens

Ink Drawing - Vaseline

Ink Drawing - I Phone

Wire working, discussion and decision making

Collaboration and assembly

One of the completed 21st Century Chatelaines

Detail - phone

Detail - Spectacles

Not bad for an hours work I think!  …And I was ‘Ofsteded’ into the bargain (I hope I passed!).

I have added links to some key websites below for those who want to find out more.

Engage – www.engage.org

Ofsted – www.ofsted.gov.uk

Crafts Council – www.craftscouncil.org.uk

Craftspace – www.craftspace.co.uk

Thanks to all participants.  Sharon

Keeping a good record

A1 Scrap Metal Record sheet

Hazel's alternative workbench

During term time, getting into the workshop to do any metalwork is quite hard, so I decided to carry on with the side project which can be achieved in a spare hour here or there. Inspired ,of course ,by working alongside curators and seeing first hand their use of recording the collections, but also after seeing Mary Greg’s Nature Diaries in Sheffield..I can’t pretend for a minute I have the same delicate touch Mary had with her paint brush. She had painted some tiny bugs and daddy long legs with real skill. I am steadily working through my collection, trying to remember where some of these things came from and looking at them more closely. Doing this has also inspired me to try adding colour to my metal work and I ordered a kiln last week to do some enamelling. Very excited about that.

Hazel

Day One, Week One

I’m fortunate to be able to spend a bit more time in the workshop over the next few weeks thanks to some funding from the Craft Research Centre at Manchester Metropolitan University to release me from some of my teaching.  This should enable me to move my ideas on and develop my creative responses to the project.  So I thought I’d show you what I have been working on today (once I tidied up a bit and cleared the spiders out of the sink!).  Watch out for more over the coming weeks.  Sharon

Day always starts with removing a spider from the sink!

making tests for 'Witness Marks'

Trying out oval bowls for value measuring spoons

Modelling another version of 'Mary's Chatelaine'

Around and about

We’ve had a couple of links to online resources related to John Ruskin from Dr Stuart Eagles. There’s a John Ruskin Facebook page and also the Eighth Lamp, an online Ruskin-related journal.

List Capsules

List Capsules

Having the deadline for the Glasgow conference encouraged me to finally finish off these list capsules, they have been sitting half done on my workbench for weeks. It took me a while to figure out how to seal in a paper roll…and not need to do anymore soldering afterwards. I was very inspired by the chatelaine lists, the roll of paper in a metal tube that we couldn’t read and the beautifully made tape measure in the sewing box.

List capsule showing printed paper strip.

I plan to make more of these and different versions, the printed numbered strip is only 1 to 0 …I want to make a longer one next…Letterpress room willing . The one I made for Glasgow is on the right and has a list of all the things I needed to prepare for the trip..I have cut off the end and let it get trapped inside like the roll of paper in the metal tube in the bygones collection, no one will ever know now what I did..unless some is patient enough to tease it out.

Hazel

AAH conference…

No planes on the flight path at the end of my garden

Very sad that we had to cancel the AAH conference today, the ONLY day in aviation history that all of UK airspace has been closed down…and the only day Alex and I were due to fly to Glasgow….Never mind..we are both well prepared now for any conferences or talks on Mary Greg…and my bag is still packed.

Missing Objects

Whilst reading the letters I came across an interesting discourse between Mary and Batho about some objects that she sent to Manchester that went astray (17th August 1925)

“Dear Mrs Greg….There are a few objects missing, as follows:- Two ivory figures: Cat and Dog, Two wooden figures: Dog and Donkey, Two ivory Ducks, Two Valentines…..I have gone carefully through the packing and fail to find them….I will have another search made of the packing material.”

There is no further mention of them ever being found.  I feel compelled to return these objects to their rightful place in the collection and have been working on a few ideas.  I thought I might take the trays of Noah’s Ark animals as a starting point and have used these as the basis for interpretation through drawing and clay.

Noah's Ark tray. Loved the spotty dog the blue boar and the zebra with the missing head!

Spotty dog

Sketchbook pages

Early clay test - Cat and Dog

Two ducks

A cat and a dog?

Two Valentines

Not sure yet whether the idea will develop into a dish or tray to reference the box, or something else entirely.  I’m still playing!  Sharon

Volcanic ash

Who could have predicted this?  Sadly Hazel and I are no longer going to present our paper ‘Lost and Found: The Mary Greg Collection at Manchester Art Gallery’ at the AAH10 conference in Glasgow.  All internal flights have been cancelled today due to the volcanic ash from Iceland.  We are really upset as we were looking forward to sharing our project and were raring to go, having packed and got everything ready.  Apologies to the organisers, particularly Heather Birchall, who has worked so hard, and, I fear will have quite a few apologists (is that the right word?!)

If anyone at the conference was particularly interested in hearing us speak, please do get in touch via the blog.

Alex

Silhouette

Mary Greg 1850-1949

I particularly liked the silhouette of Mary in the extracts from ‘The Gregs of Westmill’ by Sheila Ormerod that Dr Stuart Eagles sent us (lovely detail on the rim of her hat).  I wonder where the original is?  If anyone out there has any idea maybe you could let us know.  There was mention I recall of some Greg artefacts from the Westmill museum being accessioned into the museum or art gallery at Stevenage, I think.  I wonder if it was amongst those things? It would be great to get hold of  it (if it still exists) for inclusion in the exhibition.  Sharon

“You know you are only allowed ONE egg, dear”

Through our links with Dr Stuart Eagles, Sharon has just forwarded some pages copied from the fantastic book by Sheila Ormerod, ‘The Gregs of Westmill’ (Buntingford, 1996).  A few more clues about Mary emerge…

She was remembered as an overly frugal housekeeper who would not allow her husband to have two eggs for breakfast and was much impressed by a lecturer who declared that margarine was better than butter for domestic staff. (p.18)

And as if by way of an afterthought, the paragraph continues…

However, she was generous to the village.

So, beneficent to the world, but alas, not to poor Thomas!

The article also points out that at 8 years older than Thomas, Mary would not have married until she was 45.  Perhaps this is a reason for their lack of children?

Alongside this reading, I have been busy pursuing links with the Guild of St George, and have contacted the former Master, Dr James Dearden who is an authority on Mary Greg, as well as Robert Wilson who is the Director of Westmill interests, so I’m eagerly anticipating further information…

Hazel and I also met this morning to plan our session at this year’s Association of Art Historians Conference in Glasgow on Friday morning.  More to follow after the event.

Alex