Bidding Open - Art Anon

May I draw your attention to a fine piece of student fundraising at MMU. The Embroiderers have organised a wonderful auction of artwork to raise funds for their summer exhibition. Although the work is all anonymous, those with a keen eye may spot some high profile 'hands'. There is a great mixture of work on there, and you could catch yourself a real gem.

While I am banging the drum for student fundraisers, my own students from Bradford School of Arts & Media will be having a stand at the Knitting & Stitching show in Harrogate next week; you will find them down near the learning curve. So if you are visiting the show please drop by, tell them I sent you and browse their wares. I'll be about the show as well, so perhaps I'll see you there.

Happy shopping!

Nourishment for the mind

A day trip to Manchester for the Professional Practice Symposium 'Craft in Practice, Craft in Process' at MMU. The three wonderful guest speakers were Helen Carnac, Lauren Bowker and Deirdre Nelson, who were all enthusiastic and utterly inspiring. I particularly enjoyed the fact that in spite of the diversity of the speakers, they shared common ground on many issues.

I had previously heard Helen speak at Stroud International Textiles at the Slow Textiles conference. So had really expected to hear her speak on the slow movement, but I was fascinated to hear more about her own practice and the importance of dialogue and walking. Her work involves drawing and vitreous enamel on steel and perhaps the most important dialogue is between thinking and making. There were so many things that struck a chord with me, that I think I will mull them over and refer to them in a separate post.

Lauren Bowker is a young designer I was previously unaware of, but has been doing some wonderful things, crossing the boundaries between design, engineering, chemistry and fashion. In fact her practice is built on collaborating and innovating, to create designs which seem to evoke a sense of wonderment. There is a stunning video here to whet the appetite. This is someone who is really going places.

Deirdre Nelson is an artist I admire for her excellent work ethic and fabulously deep enquiry in her subject matter. Each of her residency or commission projects seems to be so diverse and yet she brings her own creative 'handwriting' to the work, literally in some cases. I really enjoy the way in which she manages to combine the factual, research underpinning with a beautiful eye for detail and such wit. There is a down to earth quality to her practice, which makes me think her work would speak to a very broad audience, very effectively.

Thank you to all the MA Textiles students and Melanie Miller for putting together such an inspiring event. My head is now buzzing with ideas.

Perfection and Eloquence

Having the privilege to be a lecturer I benefit from learning not only from my students but also learning about myself, reflected back to me through my own teaching. Recently I have found myself repeatedly apologising to students for being a perfectionist, but perhaps I should worry less about nagging them to trim the edges of the pages to the same size or remove dangling threads. It isn't that I have an objection to scruffiness, but rather it is more about getting things right. By this I mean if something is intended to have beautifully distressed surfaces or messy edges as an important part of the idea you want to convey, then do it with conviction.

Fortunately I came across the words of Audrey Walker, who is so wise and much better with words than I can ever hope to be:

"Craftsmanship is essential for eloquence in any medium and many tediously worn out arguments about 'fine art' or 'craft' might be set aside if it could be agreed that we are engaged in a common endeavour to make things with as much conviction -eloquence- as we can manage." Audrey Walker

For me getting the finishing quality of something right is so important, it completely transforms how that artwork or object is understood by people. I suppose it is about fulfilling the artistic vision; realising your goal.

Is it good or bad to be a perfectionist artist?

Do I set myself up for failure by having high expectations that can never be realised?

Is craftsmanship still relevant in the digital age?

It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on this; please leave a comment.

Typesetting workshop

Today I had an induction to use the typesetting workshop at MMU. The workshop is full of beautiful things, the old trays of type, the equipment and the typefaces themselves. I chose to start with Baskerville  pt 30.

We all started with a short phrase to set in type. I chose the first line of a verse I found a long while ago. Later I decided to set the whole verse but this proved to be a bigger task than I expected. It took quite a long time but was well worth doing for the satisfaction of completing a block of text.

The technician taught me how to create a beautiful reverse embossed effect. I'll take a photo of it when the light is better.

I also experimented with printing onto silk and cotton fabrics. There are definitely possibilities for creating small elements of text in my work. Something to explore further...

Distractions in art & paper cutting

I decided to try and get over my assessment blues (Blair Witch Project references firmly behind me - next person to mention it gets a slap!), so I have been distracting myself with art...

Distraction number 1 - 'Can Art Save Us?' at Millenium Galleries, Sheffield (ended on Sunday)

An excellent exhibition looking at the ideas of Ruskin and how his ideas resonate with our current concerns about climate change, struggles between man & nature, etc. I really interesting and varied group of works was on show, by current artists and makers alongside works contemporary with Ruskin.

I particularly enjoyed the work of Kazuhito Takadoi, who stitches with grass onto paper to create exquisite 3D drawings. They cast beautiful shadows in the right light.

Distraction number 2 - Paper cutting workshop with Lu Shengzhong at MIRIAD

Visiting professor Lu Shengzhong is an amazing Chinese paper cutting artist. His work was exhibited in 'Out of the Ordinary: Spectacular Craft' at the V&A.

I had always assumed I was fairly good at paper cutting, having produced a fair few snowflakes in my time, but working with the Chinese scissors on these paper cuts was like learning a new language.

Below are some paper cuts we did with Lu; his is on the left, mine is in the middle and Melanie's is on the right. He was working so quickly it was really difficult to keep up, really hard work, which I hadn't expected.

Below is mine close up.

This one was my first little figure. I thought I was doing okay until we had to tackle the one above!

Despite the language difficulties and the new tools I found this workshop absolutely absorbing. In his afternoon lecture on Chinese Craft, Lu refered to a Chinese lady who had many troubles and sorrows in her life - but she was never miserable. Lu suggested the paper cuts acted as a form of medicine for the soul. Sounds daft but I understand what he means, not just a form of distraction but a way of focusing and controlling yourself...

Hmm, something to think about?

Great grandmother's sewing machine

I recently brought back home my Great-grandmother's sewing machine, that was given me a few years ago. Despite it being about 100 years old the machine still works extremely smoothly. I spent a few hours oiling the parts and working out how to use it. It took a while of tinkering to get a good stitch quality, but I got there in the end.

I like the hands-on quality of stitching with a machine that is hand-powered. I was surprised at how easy it was to manoeuvre the fabric and draw with the machine. I wonder if I could somehow use the machine in my work...

Handmade Tools

While thinking about primitive making I happened upon the chunky crochet hook I whittled last year. So I started looking around for other handmade tools I had made or acquired over the years. Here are some of them:

Above are items I have made myself feather paintbrushes, matchbox pinhole camera, felt needle book, whittled crochet hook. Below are some other handmade tools and implements made from a variety of different materials. I would like to try making some other tools as part of my work.