Masterclass – Biddulph High School

A credit to their school, pupils from Biddulph High engaged wholeheartedly with the workshop, producing a fantastic range of work.  Particular highlights included the work based on the mobile phone whose owner cited the feelings of loss and sacrifice should he not have access to this particular item and the iPod with poignant comments about the fatality and loneliness felt should this object be lost.  There were lots of fantastic drawings, too many to include but a couple worth highlighting are the dolphin key ring and the pen, which captured the essence of the object whilst displaying great verve and vigour!

group working in clay

Bethan helping out

Dolphin key ring

Pen

iPod

Phone

Loss and sacrifice

Particular thanks to those who commented that the talk was a bit long.  You were right and I adapted this for the following day and it worked much better! Helpful feedback is always appreciated.  Hope we meet again at another workshop, or even at University should your studies bring you my way.

Sharon

Masterclass – the workshop

Bygones handling session

As part of the awareness raising and dissemination of the Mary, Mary project I ran two one day masterclasses at Manchester Art Gallery in Dec 09.  The day included a handling session of some of the Mary Greg Bygones, a talk about Mary and our project and a clay workshop that explored the value and narrative of ordinary and everyday objects, the sort that if Mary were collecting today, she might have acquired for her bygones.

Participants were asked to choose an object from their pocket or bag as a starting point.  Each person was given a luggage tag on which to write the answers to five simple questions: What is the object? How often do you use it?  What do you use it for?  If you didn’t have it what would be the consequence?  Out of a scale of 0 – 10 (10 being high), how important is this object to you? This activity focused attention on the value of familiar artefacts and the role they play in our daily lives (and perhaps gave some insight into Mary’s reasons for collecting the kind of objects she did).  It also provided information and key words for use later in the session.

Further interrogation of the objects came through working directly from them via a series of short exercises.  These included drawing with stick and ink (with eyes shut, with wrong hand etc) and making wire drawings and cloth templates.  The changes in drawing styles and media provided a range of translations.  In each, reference to the original object can be traced if not immediately apparent offering an abstract vision rather than a literal copy.

The cloth templates and wire drawings were then rolled into clay leaving a permanent record of the object.  Further mark making through letter and number stamps and direct drawing  into the clay with sticks allowed the inclusion of some of the key words identified at the outset.  The sheets of clay were then cut, formed and pressed into and over simple moulds and formers making bowls, dishes, plaques or tiles, a personal tribute from owner to object.

Mobile phone

A final display of the original objects with labels and tributes provided  a forum for discussion and the sharing of ideas.  A good (albeit tiring) day was had by all and thanks go to the Art Gallery (particularly Jas Sohel) for organising the sessions and the schools (Biddulph High and Highfields School) for being such keen participants.  The fruits of their labours can be seen in separate posts!  Sharon

Final display and group discussion

More work in progress

Pondering on folding tools

There are some lovely penknives in the Bygones collection too, they seem to be an essential piece of a chatelaine. Another way to pass the time on the train has been wondering what other types of folding tools I could make for my 21st century chatelaine. Some ideas that came to me were:- testing the gaps on custard creams, tiny brushes for small crumb piles,string gauges, crevice scrapers, loose thread snipers, button checkers… I made a test folding tool last week, it needs a lot more work and I I should make some card ones next to work out the mechanism.

Notes from a train notebook.

Hazel

Damage Indicators

Ideas for Damage Indicators

As I said in my last post, the Mary Greg project has sent me into areas of work which I had never considered before. Amongst her letters were hand printed cards. I took the opportunity at MMU to join the students in a letterpress induction as I really liked the aesthetic of the cards.

Creativity isn’t aways a simple step by step process, and the idea of the printed cards has combined with another idea I had about the chatelaines and how they are often mending kits. I thought how the rips and lost buttons needed to be pointed out to the mender and how this could be done. I have embroidered red arrows onto some of my own coats to show loose seams and lost buttons and have begun to make metal arrows. The problem being that indicators will cause more damage in themselves. I have only done my first proof copy of the Damage Indicator card so I can see what to change, David in the letterpress room has offered to help me add a border and arrows. It is a trickier process than I had first thought, David has a real skill in setting up the tiny pieces of type. I do also plan to reprint one of Mary’s cards if the Gallery give me permission. (do you think it would be a problem Liz and Alex?)

Hazel

Train Project

Bugs from Mary Gregs Nature Diaries embroidered onto material.

One aspect of this project that I hadn’t foreseen was how it has encouraged me into other areas of work. After going to see Mary Greg’s nature diaries in the Graves Museum, Sheffield, I have started a “train” project (I have a 50 minute train journey to Manchester and back). Mary had painted a series of insects and animals (awaiting permission to add photos from her actual book). I thought it would be a tribute to her to try and sew her drawings…not being a great embroiderer it is proving harder than I thought. It will be an ongoing project , not sure what I will do with them yet either.

When I looked at Mary’s Nature Diary I was very taken by her interest in animals and plants, she had included a rubbing from a fence post of the tracks in the wood left by a wood beetle, she had a fascination with the small and everyday things and a real pleasure in recording them.

Hazel

JONES

Jones

Sharon found the chatelaine in the Platt Hall collection and insisted I went back to see it. She was so right, I usually make work that sits on a mantle piece or in a box on the wall. I have been considering for a while making objects to carry and wear (but not jewellery) and chatelaines are the perfect example of how I had already been thinking.

It was good to find a well made piece of silver stamped with the name Jones. I usually stamp all my work with the A1 Scrap Metal name..but from now on Jones will be stamped somewhere upon the objects I make.

Hazel Jones.

Chatelaine

Chatelaine

I thought it was about time I started recording the projects I am doing based on the bygones collection. The first, and most important to me, is based around the chatelaine. practical objects, attached by a short chain to a womans belt. Pins,thimbles,pencil and notebook. I especially like this one in the collection as it is so simple, one that looks like is was used. I have already made pencil holders (before seeing this one), string holders and am now making a list roll (based on the roll of paper in a tube we found recently), also folding tools, quick repair kits and damage indicators.

Hazel

Hazel’s Sketchbook

Keys and other found things

I thought I should add a few recent pages from my sketchbook, I am still working on some ideas based on the roll of paper that was trapped in a metal tube which we found in Mary’s collection. This is my working sketchbook, it sits next to my workbench and everything gets put into it:- Quotes from radio 4, paper templates,collaged and found bits,as well as thoughts and ideas. It isn’t really meant to be looked at by anyone apart from myself. Although it is an important link in the ideas chain(Part answer to the the question..”where do all your ideas come from?”).

Spoons

Poured spoon, layered inks, charcoal pencil

I keep coming back to Mary’s spoons.  I have been drawing them in different ways, observing forms, details, characteristics and noticing things as a consequence.  The fig-shaped bowls of the Apostle spoons, different shaped finials and spoon ends, stamped initials, twisted stems, worn edges, shadows left in boxes.  Difficult to capture the essence of these through drawing!

Observation drawings of trefid spoons

Apostle spoons and first ink pourings

Sketchbook drawings exploring spoon and spoon box

The worn spoon edges were particularly tricky.  Pencil just wasn’t quite right so I began to explore other media.  The edge looked like the edge that is made by a liquid – full of tension yet fragile and vulnerable (have a good look at a puddle or a drip of tea!).  How to represent that in a drawing?  I liked the notion of drawing with a liquid.  I have always enjoyed the marks created as a liquid dries.  I began to make puddles of ink, tipping these away to form the shaft of the spoon, discovering that the density and movement of the colour could be controlled through careful angling and supporting when drying.  Layering thin stains of colour created further subtleties and nuances and working over the pourings when dry provided additional detail.  I am beginning to see ways in which these qualities might be translated into clay through slips and glaze, pouring and layering, marking and stamping.  Making the drawings, drives the testing, the testing feeds the making….   Sharon

Spoon pourings, layered ink, resist, charcoal pencil

Work in Progress

Creativity is a messy business, and a quick snapshot of my work bench illustrates that quite well.

Lots of half started pieces…most of the pieces have been cut out and filed and I can assemble them now whenever I get a spare few hours.

I am more influenced by the chatelaine than I thought, as I do seem to be making a making a set of objects to carry.

Pencil holder

String Winder

String Collector

List capsule

I think I need to work on the names, if only I could think of something like Quizzing Glasses.

ALSO note ..I have started stamping JONES on the objects I am now making for the Project.