The next project – the importance of glass

Posted on 28 November 2014 by beckybendylegs

I’ve been feeling the pressure from college recently: ‘What are you going to do next? Quick, decide, time is marching!’

I really wanted a break from thinking for a while but sadly, such a break is impossible. So I’ve been forced to think (at the same time as applying for university top-ups to turn my foundation degree into a full degree). It has taken a couple of weeks but I think t hat I might have an idea lurking in there somewhere now.

I was approached by a friend of a friend recently who was looking for someone to make an animation for an educational project they are running about the First World War. I met this friend of a friend last Friday, by a nice cosy fire in a pub in rural Shropshire, and we discussed her project in detail. After this meeting, I came away feeling that her project might contain the seeds of my next college assessment. However, I couldn’t yet see those seeds.

The basis of her project is about the relationship between memories, oral history and objects. She is working with secondary school students who are interviewing local people about objects they own from the First World War. The result is going to be a website, a travelling exhibition and an archive resource. Of course, with my interest in material culture and objects, this project appeals to me. I am quite excited about the prospect of working on this project, in whatever capacity.

However, I still need to put my own stamp on the ‘First World War objects’ theme and look at it through my own slightly warped glasses. So today I paid a visit to the Shropshire Regimental Museum and Castle to get some inspiration. While I was there, I approached them tentatively about working with them. They seem keen. I came home, still largely idea-less, but optimistic.

Shrewsbury Regimental Museum

Shropshire Regimental Museum

The idea of looking into the relationship we have with objects, with a focus on the First World War, is starting to really grow on me.

One thing that struck me on my visit today, was that despite the fact that the museum has many fascinating objects from the First World War, I struggled to feel an emotional response to them. It took me a while to figure out why. First of all I thought it was because I couldn’t touch them. But I think it is more than that, I think now that it is because they were all in display cases. If they had been on display without glass, I am sure I would have felt a closer connection. Why should the glass make a difference? This had me thinking about the objects at Powis Castle. Not once was I able to touch the objects I studied there. However, I felt a very strong connection to them and a sense of their narratives. Is this because they weren’t behind glass? Does the glass in some way render the objects ‘virtual’ to me? I believe that we are unable to feel a strong emotional response to objects we see on the internet (we can’t feel the ‘trace’ on them). And I don’t think we can feel a strong connection to objects displayed behind glass either.

I love the chocolate bar here

Some very ordinary objects from 1914-18

This idea interests me. Why should the presence of glass make a difference? I think my idea for this next project is going to relate to the fact that we need to have some sort of sensual relationship with objects to ‘feel’ their importance and their narratives. To get the ‘trace’ left behind on them, we need to sense that trace.

The most obvious way to feel this ‘trace’ is through touch. But of course that isn’t always possible as my experience with the Roman Cat at Powis Castle proved. Can that sense be felt through other paths to the senses? In other words, sound, closeness, movement, smell?

My friend the Roman Cat

My friend the Roman Cat

I fondly remember touching and smelling the objects my Grandma had from the First World War era, holding them in my hands, feeling their texture and believing that this gave me a connection with the people who had owned them and the emotions of the times.

Looking at the objects in the museum, I didn’t get this feeling. They were amazing objects there, such as a bar of chocolate, a belt made by a prisoner of war, a periscope and a leather satchel, yet just looking at them behind glass didn’t move me enough. I wanted to be moved more.

A periscope - I wanted to touch it

A periscope – I wanted to touch it

So, the gem of my idea is: can I do something to highlight the value of these objects and recreate the feeling of picking up on the ‘trace’ on these objects? Can I use art (whether it be video or drawing / painting / digital art) to translate that ‘trace’ to people?

I don’t know yet. But I’d like to try.

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Creativity on demand

Posted on 11 November 2014 by beckybendylegs

It’s been a very busy week. I have just finished the latest college project. Yesterday, I handed everything to do with that project in to be marked and assessed. This project, the Powis Castle project, started in January and finished this week. The project, and Powis Castle, has been a huge part of my life for the last 11 months and it has been a very productive and creative time for me. I am going through a bit of a reality check: I have an art exhibition at Powis Castle at the moment. How on earth did that happen?

I have learnt so much over the last 11 months about video editing, animation, digital art and interviewing. I’ve also learnt about collaborating with people, publicity, advertising and setting up for an exhibition.

Eleven months' worth of hard work

Eleven months’ worth of hard work

However, now I am tired. Now, I am suffering from my first ever migraine, which is a sign of the end of a busy period. My instinct is to lie in bed and watch back-to-back episodes of the Gilmore Girls.

Comfort TV

Comfort TV

But I cannot afford to rest for very long as we will be given the brief for the next project next week. Already, my brain has been tasked with a bit of light ‘thinking’. Already, I’ve started to make some tentative notes.

In the real world, I’d be able to afford a month off to recharge my batteries. Being a student, however, is not living in the real world. After this last project I may choose to abandon art for ever, or take a year off, a month, or a few years. I could just take a day off. The point is, it will be my own choice. But as for now, I don’t have that choice.

This is what my brain needs to be like

This is what my brain needs to be like

The next project is very loose: do art, display art and find some money to help with the art doing and displaying. The end. Graduate. This project is daunting. I usually need a handle to hold. I’m not sure how I am going to cope with such an open-ended project brief. I’m also not sure I’m going to like a project that means I have to be very proactive, more proactive than I have been to date. I will also have to be confident, assertive, and all those things that I like to shy away from.

Ho hum. Time to get creative. I will do, as soon as my headache has gone and this episode of the Gilmore Girls has finished.

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More photographs of ordinary things

Posted on 6 November 2014 by beckybendylegs

I have had a hectic few weeks recently taken up with college work, preparing for an exhibition, paid work and painting my sons’ school. The Powis Art Exhibition, which is the culmination of eleven months’ work, starts in two days’ time. I’ve got more paid work on at the moment than I’ve had in the last couple of years. And over the last six months I have been painting book characters and geometric shapes on walls, turning sheds into elephants and painting fences with rainbow colours. I feel as if I am slowly making my way around the school with my paintbrush. I have had little time left over for blogging.

Some of my wall paintings

Some of my wall paintings

I also feel as if I haven’t had many opportunities to capture the world of the ordinary with my camera during these last few months. However, over half term I went to North Wales for a week’s holiday with friends. This week, being relatively devoid of work commitments and other demands, allowed me some time to take my camera out and about to snap the ordinary.

View out of the window

View out of the window

Anyone fancy a game of Penguin jenga?

Anyone fancy a game of Penguin jenga?

Rust in the Slate Museum

Rust in the Slate Museum

The sparkling sparklers

The sparkling sparklers

Chocolate apples anyone?

Chocolate apples anyone?

I wish I had time to learn more about how to take good photographs. I still mostly point and click and hope for the best. I know a little more about f-stops and the like than I did 12 months ago, but not enough. I rely on luck a lot.

I like to use my camera as a quick sketch pad. I love the fact that I can capture something that I wouldn’t otherwise have time to sketch. If it turns out to be a good photograph in its own right, then that is a bonus.

The only problem with my digital camera is that it is bulky and cumbersome. I upset an old lady in WHSmiths in Caernarfon while we were on holiday by bumping into her with my camera.

She obviously wasn’t an art lover, or an artist lover.

 

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Photographs of ordinary things

Posted on 28 September 2014 by beckybendylegs

I love my camera(s). I can’t be without either my phone or digital camera just in case I see something worth capturing. Even in New York I had to have the means to take photographs with me at all times (or especially in New York perhaps would be more accurate).

One of the photos I took of New York

One of the photos I took of New York

Today, for example, we went on a family walk to Attingham Park. I  cannot go somewhere such as Attingham Park without my camera for there are many interesting images to be captured there. I love to take photographs. I’m not a photographer, though. I’m just an artist who uses a camera (because it is quicker than using a pencil).

Here’s one of the photographs I took today.

It's just the ground

It’s just the ground

It’s of the ground beneath my feet. But I like it. It is ordinary. I like, as I do with drawings and paintings, to try to make the ordinary, extraordinary.

Here’s another.

Another picture of the ground

Another picture of the ground

It’s another photograph of what was below my feet.  (I also took many photographs of things above ground level.)

Last week I received an email from someone who thought I might be interested in this article. I was. I love the image, a photograph by William Eggleston from an exhibition in 1976, discussed in this article. It inspires me. I’d even say it was one of my favourites. I agree with the article; this photograph could be the most important photograph of the 20th century.

This is called Tricycle, Memphis or Untitled

This is called Tricycle, Memphis or Untitled

The article argues that this is an iconic image of that century, a picture that changed the history of photography for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it was in colour. At the time in which it was exhibited, ‘serious’ photographers only worked in black and white. Colour was seen as below high art. This is ironic if you consider how ‘uncolourful’ the photograph is. It is the lack of overall colour and the clever use of the limited pallet that make this image powerful.

Secondly, it is a photograph of a rather boring, everyday object. It is reminiscent to me of the paintings of George Shaw. He paints ordinary scenes which I think evoke a similar feeling of disquiet in the viewer. They show, through a scene devoid of obvious life, a presence of life. They tell something about the society of the time.

George Shaw

George Shaw

Thirdly, this photograph was important in terms of composition. I am very interested in composition. I believe that at least half of the quality of any given image, whether it be a painting or a photograph, comes from composition choice. The perspective and framing of this image allows the viewer to create their own narrative around the photograph and that is what I think made it so monumental, more than the use of colour or the subject matter. The real power in the image is the narrative, or potential narratives, surrounding it.

It is photographs such as this that inspire me to keep taking pictures or ordinary things, in the hope that I can one day make something extraordinary. Eggleston certainly did.

An ordinary ice lolly

An ordinary ice lolly

References

Israel, M. 24 Sept 2014 ‘Is This The Most Important Photograph of the 20th Century?’ Huffington Post. Available from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthew-israel/is-this-the-most-importan_1_b_5863002.html [last accessed 28 September 2014]

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Artists who collect

Posted on 18 September 2014 by beckybendylegs

I love collections and people that collect. I like to talk about either my own collections or other people’s. I collect funny quotes and I collect sketches of people. I have collected images of other people’s mantlepieces and bedside tables. I also collect books, clothes and boots and things found in books.

Call me weird but I carry a book around with me all the time and collect odd conversation

Call me weird but I carry a book around with me all the time and collect odd conversations – watch out, you might be in there

The Barbarian in London has decided to look at artists who collect. Artists have always made great and eccentric collectors. They collect for inspiration. Collecting is part of human nature. But some might argue that the desire to collect sits on the edge of madness. Many artists are on the edge of madness (me included).

The exhibition, which is going to run from February to May next year, is called Magnificent Obsessions. It includes collections of Andy Warhol’s biscuit jars, Sir Peter Blake’s masks, Dr Larka’s album covers, and Sir Peter Blake’s elephants.

Andy Warhol's biscuit jars

Andy Warhol’s biscuit jars

Collecting, it has been argued, is an emotional process. Through collecting we connect with our childhoods and our pasts. Just as infants longed to keep hold of the breast, as adults we long to keep hold of our things. It is a security blanket. Collecting could also be viewed as a way to control an aspect of life whereas elsewhere we lack control. We might not have much control overall but we can control our collections. Freud connected collecting with toilet issues. The collector is trying to regain control of his or her bowels, something lost in childhood. An alternative theory is that we collect because it is innate to human nature to collect (berries as cavemen, stamps as modern man).

When we are collecting porcelain elephants we are really just collecting berries

When we are collecting porcelain elephants we are really just collecting berries

Whatever the reason is, we get pleasure in looking at, arranging, admiring and showing off our collections. Artists, as well as non-artists, love to collect and for me as an artist it would be interesting to peek at the collections of those that like to create.

I might have to schedule in a trip to London in the Spring.

 

References

‘Barbican puts artists’ personal collections on show, 17 September 2014, BBC News website. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29243927 [last accessed 18 September 2014]

Psychology of collecting on wikipedia. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology_of_collecting [last accessed 18 September 2014]

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The art of objects – this time clothes

Posted on 17 September 2014 by beckybendylegs

I am interested in the way that the objects we own reflect something about ourselves. In the past, I’ve asked people to send photographs of their bedside tables and mantlepieces. I’ve been impressed by how keen friends have been to do this for me and allow me to pass judgement on their belongings. It shows a willingness to share and perhaps a pride about illustrating through things something about the self.

I find this idea of subjective objects very interesting because I think that the things that we choose to have around us or on display for others are chosen very carefully, on some level, to distinguish ourselves from others (whether it be the true self or not is a matter of interest in itself).

I believe that as well as our objects, our clothes can say something about who we are. I know that mine definitely do. So reading about this article today got me thinking once again about this topic. The article is about a project conducted by US photographer Yassine El Mansouri in which he asked people to lay out the contents of their wardrobes and pose with them. He asked people to put the clothes they wear the most closest to the centre and those they wear the least on the periphery.

Observation 001 in progress

Observation 001 in progress

Yassine says that this project, called project Observation 001, is about documenting who we are at this point in time. It’s also about showing how similarly people dress despite how much freedom of expression we have. I am sure that the amount of expression of themselves people put into their clothes varies. Perhaps some people don’t feel the need to put themselves into their choice of objects or clothes and feel comfortable enough in their own personalities not to need to.

So I decided to select some items from my wardrobe and take a photograph. Obviously I haven’t got the space or equipment to lay out everything out. I just chose a micro selection of what I wear.

My clothes (I am supposed to be in the middle but I can't take a photo of myself)

My clothes (I am supposed to be in the middle but I can’t take a photo of myself)

What does this little selection say about me? Perhaps I’m a little eccentric in my way of dressing. I like pinks and purples. I wear lots of skirts and funny hats. I wonder what an outsider would say about the person who owns these clothes? I believe that I do feel the need to express my personality in my clothes, so does that show an insecurity?

I also asked my son to make a selection of his clothes and pose in the middle.

He's a starfish who likes red and green

He’s a starfish who likes red and green

He loved doing this. I left him to choose his clothes himself and he picked a few football shirts and t-shirts (interestingly he didn’t pick any trousers or night clothes). I think this selection tells me that he likes his clothes and doesn’t only wear sporty clothes. He likes to be colourful. He’s not very outdoorsy, but he does like football.

I wonder if I can encourage some of my friends to do the same with their clothes?

References

Barr, F. ‘What the clothes in your wardrobe say about you’, 16 September 2014, BBC News website. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29185713 [last accessed 17 September 2014]

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If a tree falls in a forest…

Posted on 4 September 2014 by beckybendylegs

…and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

A tree falls, do you hear it?

A tree falls, do you hear it?

If I place a piece of art in a forest and nobody is around to see it, is it art?

In other words: does art need to be seen to be art? Or at least, does art need to be in a ‘place of display’ and seen by many as opposed to in back alley behind my house and seen by few, if any, to be art?

I’ve just stumbled across this article on the BBC website about ‘hidden’ art in the North East of England which provokes just that thought: does art need people to give it value and is the relationship upwardly proportional (i.e. the more people, the more value)?

The article is about a number of sculptures that have been placed in and around the North East of England, fairly well hidden, and asks: what is the point of ‘tucking art away’?

For example this very large spoon is quite difficult to locate. It was placed just outside Newcastle in the North East for England in 2006 as part of a lottery-funded project.

Big spoon in the countryside

Big spoon in the countryside

The article argues that perhaps part of the appreciation of art is in the lack of expectation of art  rather than the expectation

This idea adds a new dimension to the notion of ‘site specificity’. The remoteness of the placement of an artwork becomes part of the artwork. The secret nature of discovery becomes part of the experience

Another good example is Kenneth Armitage’s hand sculpture, Reach for Stars, which used to be hidden between two buildings, down a cul-de-sac in Newcastle. It became somewhat of a secret treasure for people who happened to stumble across it.

Reach for the stars

Reach for the stars

Such hidden artworks give something to the otherwise mundane and easily over-looked surroundings in which they are placed. They somehow animate what was inanimate. They make the ordinary extra ordinary.

The giant hand has in fact recently disappeared and will reappear in front of Gloucester Cathedral. How will its change of location change its impact? It will go from being enclosed to being exposed. It will go from being secret to known.

It reminds me of when I am out and about with my camera, looking for beauty in unexpected places and in the ordinary and over-looked.

These artists are exploiting that sense of curiosity I have and that sense of achievement I get when I find such beauty.

References

Williams, F. 24 August 2014 ‘Hidden Art: North Eastern sculpture you have to hunt out’. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-27802724 [last accessed 4 September 2014]

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Books as art

Posted on 17 August 2014 by beckybendylegs

Recently I’ve become interested in the use of words in art. Yesterday I came across an article on the Publishing Perspectives website about books used in art.

The article is about The Center for Book Arts in New York which promotes the use of the book as art object. It talks about how even though we hear so much about the ‘death of the book’ in this digital age, books are far from disappearing from art. I work in publishing and most of my work is in publishing academic texts online. However, I don’t think books will die out just yet (if at all). I love books. I still read books. What I read in books influences my art.

Books can be used as sculpture material. Artist, Su Blackwell, uses the book as her  material to create fairy-tale-like sculptures.

Su Blackwell is a book artist

Su Blackwell is a book artist

Mike Stilkey uses piles of abandoned old library books as his canvas, painting on their spines and using their textures to help create an image.

Books as canvas

Books as canvas

Paul Octavious has used books to write words and numbers with. The result is simple and very effective I think. The sculpture has a sense of instability about it, yet it is very calming too.

They should topple over

They should topple over

There are a few organisations that aim to promote and develop book art, such as Liverpool Book Art, which recently held an exhibition of artworks using the book as inspiration and material.

This below is my favourite example of book art. Artist Stefana McClure cut the text of Haruki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle in strips, stuck them together and wound them into a ball. This is so simple. This is one of my favourite books of all time so I love it. She uses the text from books and films as much of her material in her practice. She states in an interview with qu.ee/r Magazine: ‘I choose texts and films that I am drawn to and want to spend time with. Favorite writers include George Perec whose work was dominated by the use of “constraints” and Gertrude Stein who reveled in repetition.’ She describes Murakami’s book as a complete world onto itself, so that is why she wound it up into a globe-like shape.

The book about ears, cats, jazz and spaghetti

The book about ears, cats, jazz and spaghetti

I think this is an area I’d like to explore further. I wonder if there are any books about this subject.

References

‘The Book as Art, Art as The Book’, 14 August 2014, Publishing Perspectives. Available from http://publishingperspectives.com/2014/08/the-book-as-art-art-as-the-book/ [last accessed 17 August 2014]

Bauch, C., 14 December 2010, ’10 Visual Artists Who Use Books as Their Medium’ Flavourwire. Available from http://flavorwire.com/136196/books-as-visual-art [last accessed 17 August 2014]

Interview with Stefana McClure in qu.ee/r Magazine. Available from http://www.qu.ee/an-interview-with-stefana-mcclure/ [last accessed 17 August 2014]

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How Alzheimer’s affects art

Posted on 9 August 2014 by beckybendylegs

I’ve come across this artist, William Utermohlen, who a few years’ ago bravely decided to experiment with the effect that his Alzheimer’s disease had on his ability to paint his own self portrait over a number of years. The effects are quite startling.

A portrait from a few years before his illness (1967)

A portrait from a few years before his illness (1967)

He was diagnosed with the disease in 1995 and after that point he painted regular self-portraits as a way to chart the way his disease was affecting his self-image and his ability to portray it. It is hard to tell whether what changed was his technical skills or his choices of method (most likely it was a combination of the two).

The first self-portrait of 1996

The first self-portrait of 1996

I suspect that his ability to paint largely remains, at least in the early years, but his interpretation of his self-image and his method changes quite dramatically.

The second 1996 self-portrait

The second 1996 self-portrait

His style becomes gradually more expressionist and abstract, perhaps as his struggle to understand his mind gets harder.

The first 1997 self-portrait

The first 1997 self-portrait

The details gradually recede and the use of colour to add expression increases.

The second 1997 self-portrait

The second 1997 self-portrait

His facial expression seems to move to anger then sadness and deep melancholy or even confusion.

The 1998 self-portrait

The 1998 self-portrait

After some time the colours disappear to be replaced by dark, heavy strokes and grey and black shades.

The 1999 self-portrait

The 1999 self-portrait

Finally, the facial features themselves merge and soften and the final effect is of an very confused mind and self-identity.

The last self-portrait

The last self-portrait

As his wife Patricia states: ‘In these pictures we see with heart-breaking intensity William’s efforts to explain his altered self, his fears and his sadness’.

 References

‘Man With Alzheimer’s Drew Self-Portraits for 5 Years Until He Could Barely Remember His Own Face’ in The Metapicture. Available from: http://themetapicture.com/man-with-alzheimers-drew-self-portraits-for-5-years-until-he-could-barely-remember-his-own-face/ [last accessed 9 August 2014]

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Should children go to art galleries?

Posted on 5 August 2014 by beckybendylegs

Yesterday, I came across this article on the BBC News website about one of the Chapman brother’s thoughts about children visiting art galleries. He doesn’t think they should.

At first I thought his objection was based on the ‘adult’ nature of his artwork (and some other artworks) but in fact, that is not the issue he is concerned with. Instead, his argument is based on the fact that a child can relate to the apparent ‘simplicity’ of a Matisse or a Picasso, works of art which he rightly states are far from simple. I think he is missing the point here.

Ban those children from that art gallery! Mr Chapman with his children.

Ban those children from that art gallery! Mr Chapman with his children in an art gallery.

I take my children to art galleries. Chapman states that he thinks that parents are ‘arrogant’ for thinking their children can fully understand abstract art. He is assuming that parents are equating such works to child art. I doubt that is the case. I don’t show my children Cubist paintings or Rothko pieces because I feel they can ‘relate’ to the style which they could perhaps, given their age and skill level, emulate in their own artwork. I show them Cubist paintings because I hope that they can get something, even something small, out of the experience. I also show them Renaissance paintings, Impressionist paintings, installations, video art, animation art and sculpture. In fact I don’t censor what I show them, except perhaps anything I fear might shock them.

'In honour of red things' at the Just Do It exhibition

‘In honour of red things’ at the Just Do It exhibition

My children might only last for half an hour in an art gallery and might only be able to look at one or two rooms before they become desensitised and bored. I take them because I know that they get something out of seeing art, especially my middle son who is quite creative. I don’t think he gets the same out of looking at art as I do, as an adult. I don’t presume that he has the emotional intelligence to process as much as I can. Even if he only gets something small out of his visit, it is above zero so that must be a positive. I think that seeing art encourages his creative urges and fosters in him, and other children, a curiosity about the world in general and art in particular. Children are the artists of the future after all.

Could my four year old do this?

Could my four year old do this?

Mr Chapman, you are wrong! Some have speculated that he has been expounding these opinions (during the school holidays) as a publicity stunt, to provoke and to paradoxically cause a rise in visits to art galleries by parents and children. Perhaps this is so. If so, that would be a great result.

I’ll let Anthony Gormley have the last word: ‘I don’t think art is to be understood – it’s to be experienced.’

References

Measure, S., 5 August 2014, ‘A gallery visit? Leave those children at home says top artist’, The Independent. Available from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/a-gallery-visit-leave-the-children-at-home-says-top-artist-9644678.html [last accessed 5 August 2014]

BBC News, 4 August 2014,  ‘Jack Chapman: taking children to galleries is a ‘waste of time’. Available from www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28639242 [last accessed 5 August 2014]

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