Friday, 19 February 2010
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Authenticity and Privacy...an interesting dichotomy
I have been working with the many, many buttons I have collected over the years - the ones you get attached to a coat or shirt in a plastic jiffy bag 'just in case'. They are lovely things when you line them up in their little bags. And I thought about the privacy of the buttons and how they belong in their individual bags if we are to treat them as an authentic record of their function and of my relationship or history with them.
I must have been thinking about this when I was making some colour photocopies of my diary covers and the string that binds them, because I thought about how the buttons in their bags have a degree of privacy, and that I am grappling with ideas around privacy with my diary work - that I want at once to both reveal and disguise what is there - that the diaries authenticity is in part its status as 'a private thing'....
I am now thinking that it would be interesting to symbolically 'shut' the diaries before revealing them as authentic records. This might involve gluing the pages together one by one before mounting the shut diary for display...or encasing a diary in something I've made, sealing it (as if it were a spare button) inside forever but celebrating it too through the process of making its shroud. This might involve the employment of those authentic creative processes I wanted to pick up on - playful things like weaving and plaiting and adorning with buttons and ribbons.
I look forward to exploring this more - it might have potential.
I must have been thinking about this when I was making some colour photocopies of my diary covers and the string that binds them, because I thought about how the buttons in their bags have a degree of privacy, and that I am grappling with ideas around privacy with my diary work - that I want at once to both reveal and disguise what is there - that the diaries authenticity is in part its status as 'a private thing'....
I am now thinking that it would be interesting to symbolically 'shut' the diaries before revealing them as authentic records. This might involve gluing the pages together one by one before mounting the shut diary for display...or encasing a diary in something I've made, sealing it (as if it were a spare button) inside forever but celebrating it too through the process of making its shroud. This might involve the employment of those authentic creative processes I wanted to pick up on - playful things like weaving and plaiting and adorning with buttons and ribbons.
I look forward to exploring this more - it might have potential.
Monday, 8 February 2010
Trying to bring it all together...
A week to go before four intensive days spent in the London studio. The ribbon has been ordered, printed and delivered - all 41 metres of it. Its good to have something tangible to get me started and I'm particularly pleased at the quality of finish - you never know how things will look until you're holding them. The font is perfect and the size will work well whether I incorporate it into felt, weave with it or do something I haven't thought of yet....
Have revisited the work of Mike Keeley http://www.pbs.org/art21/slideshow/popup.php?slide=834 and wonder whether this will inject some new energy into my thinking.
On another note I now have to decide what to drag to London next week. I think I will have to bring my own wool for felting just in case what they have is a bit limited. Also tempted to bring some calico with me. And a memory stick full of really good pre-scanned/ photographed images.
Next practical job is to do a bit of scanning - I want some diary pages and a good record of the spines and covers (including printed cover pattern etc) just in case I decide to do something with that.
I will spend this afternoon doing some critical reading - feel I need a bit more input in terms of the developing philosophies behind my work...I must ensure that this process facilitates some new thinking and ideas in addition to highlighting or reinterpreting what is already there.
So, on to Bourdieu and a bit of reading around Cultural Capital.
Have revisited the work of Mike Keeley http://www.pbs.org/art21/slideshow/popup.php?slide=834 and wonder whether this will inject some new energy into my thinking.
On another note I now have to decide what to drag to London next week. I think I will have to bring my own wool for felting just in case what they have is a bit limited. Also tempted to bring some calico with me. And a memory stick full of really good pre-scanned/ photographed images.
Next practical job is to do a bit of scanning - I want some diary pages and a good record of the spines and covers (including printed cover pattern etc) just in case I decide to do something with that.
I will spend this afternoon doing some critical reading - feel I need a bit more input in terms of the developing philosophies behind my work...I must ensure that this process facilitates some new thinking and ideas in addition to highlighting or reinterpreting what is already there.
So, on to Bourdieu and a bit of reading around Cultural Capital.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Some selected text for MA project...
Below are some selected extracts from my diaries which I will be using as source material for my practice based research module. I have selected these few quotes from hundreds of entries because I think they present an accurate account who I was at that time. They are simple, funny, dull - and genuine. At age 14 - 16 I was both a child and an adult. I was someone whose creative energies couldn't be summed up under subject headings and for whom creative processes appear to have existed in a more authentic way outside of formal education.
At this time my 'authentic creative practice' appears to include things like finger knitting and weaving friendship bracelets, customising clothes and bags, making drawings directly on to bedroom walls, writing letters, lyrics and poetry and keeping the diaries themselves.
It's interesting to see that the only place where I voice doubts about the credibility of my creative practice is when I'm talking about my school art work. I was shocked to see how often I simply decided not to go to school in favour of sleep. I have no recollection of this.
I wonder whether I can reconnect with myself as an authentic practitioner after so many years spent learning - and then teaching - in formal art education contexts. This raises issues around confidence, doubt, taste, credibility, fashion. I'm not short of material here.
Ok, so here are the selected diary extracts - exactly as they appeared.
Sunday 26th May '91: Did up old jacket with buttons and ribbon.
Monday 17th February '92: Our gerbil has gone suicidal
Wednesday 19th February '92: I'm quite excited because I'm going to do this picture and I've got it all worked out in my mind. I've just had another idea. I'll draw it here.
Wednesday 4th March '92: Art. Got some paper stretched at last. This painting will be good (I hope...)
Wednesday 11th March '92: I am doing that picture I was going on about a few weeks ago... should be good (should... I will probably cock it up)
Thursday 19th March '92: Didn't go to school today. Got a bit stressed and stayed in bed.
Tuesday 24th March '92: Got up, went to school, came home.
Thursday 27th March '92: My hair has got silver bits in it.
Wednesday 21st May '92: Didn't go to school. Slept instead.
Friday 17th July '92: Made smart laces for my DMs today.
France (holiday)
Wednesday 5th August '92: Went to Donegal and bought thread.
Monday 14th September '92: School is already becoming dull.
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it isn't good. (only dated '93)
I reason with myself after years of fixed ideas (only dated '93)
At this time my 'authentic creative practice' appears to include things like finger knitting and weaving friendship bracelets, customising clothes and bags, making drawings directly on to bedroom walls, writing letters, lyrics and poetry and keeping the diaries themselves.
It's interesting to see that the only place where I voice doubts about the credibility of my creative practice is when I'm talking about my school art work. I was shocked to see how often I simply decided not to go to school in favour of sleep. I have no recollection of this.
I wonder whether I can reconnect with myself as an authentic practitioner after so many years spent learning - and then teaching - in formal art education contexts. This raises issues around confidence, doubt, taste, credibility, fashion. I'm not short of material here.
Ok, so here are the selected diary extracts - exactly as they appeared.
Sunday 26th May '91: Did up old jacket with buttons and ribbon.
Monday 17th February '92: Our gerbil has gone suicidal
Wednesday 19th February '92: I'm quite excited because I'm going to do this picture and I've got it all worked out in my mind. I've just had another idea. I'll draw it here.
Wednesday 4th March '92: Art. Got some paper stretched at last. This painting will be good (I hope...)
Wednesday 11th March '92: I am doing that picture I was going on about a few weeks ago... should be good (should... I will probably cock it up)
Thursday 19th March '92: Didn't go to school today. Got a bit stressed and stayed in bed.
Tuesday 24th March '92: Got up, went to school, came home.
Thursday 27th March '92: My hair has got silver bits in it.
Wednesday 21st May '92: Didn't go to school. Slept instead.
Friday 17th July '92: Made smart laces for my DMs today.
France (holiday)
- Tuesday 21st July '92: A day free to do what we want so I drew a bit.
- Wednesday 29th July '29: We drove around Paris and I made loads of mental notes so I can sketch when I get back. It's beautiful. Amazingly beautiful.
- Thursday 30th July '92: Alcohol poisoning.
Wednesday 5th August '92: Went to Donegal and bought thread.
Monday 14th September '92: School is already becoming dull.
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it isn't good. (only dated '93)
I reason with myself after years of fixed ideas (only dated '93)
Monday, 25 January 2010
http://www.showstudio.com/projects/multiclothing/start.html
Stephen Willats.
There's something interesting about the notion of wearing your words - wonder where I could take this with my own work...
Stephen Willats.
There's something interesting about the notion of wearing your words - wonder where I could take this with my own work...
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About Me
- Han
- Lecturing in art and design is a lovely job and I dont take it for granted. I am really interested in the quality of what we do here and firmly believe that people who study art at university level have a distinct advantage over those who dont. So I suppose my job is to prove it.