A Week in the Headlines: 16th - 21st December

Peshawar

Mental Health Care for Pregnant People

Justice for George Stinney Jr.

Nigel Farage being Nigel Farage

Justice for Eric Garner

Winter Solstice

You can get daily updates on my Tumblr here.

Camber Sands Trip + Final Ideas

I could write for a long time about what we did but I think it'll be better if I just dump these photos here. There's also a small video collage of some sort.

The Good Ship Betty

For the final piece for this project I think I would like to make something for Miss Havisham or her home.

Miss Havisham is like one of those towers of cliff face that sometimes appear on the coast. The rest of the land has retreated backwards, but occasionally you see fragments of rock standing alone in the water, bravely, ridiculously, rejecting the inevitable. A lonely stand-off between wave and rock and the ticking clock.

I like the image of Miss Havisham in her white dress, like sea foam, the thing she adorns herself in is the very thing that erodes her sanity. Salt water has preserving qualities, but it stings. Textiles feel appropriate, if I had the skill I would use glass or ceramics, but for now embroidery will do. It's something a lady of her societal standing would have learnt, it would have been on her veil, her dress, her table cloth and napkins. I could tell her story on the fabric.

Weaving + Workers

My chosen workers for this project are cleaners and hairdressers/barbers. I feel they're both kind of secretive. Cleaners often go unnoticed, they silently take in all the rubbish in the office and safely remove it. Hairdressers are stereotyped as gossipy therapists, listening to the woes of their clients and chopping away the split ends. You rarely hear about what they're thinking.

I feel weaving connects nicely with cleaners because of the way it organises shapes and colours, the act of weaving is very much like the act of cleaning. I thought about this whilst at the William Morris gallery.

For this project I think the tools of the workers will be most important. I should also get to know two workers personally, I think this will be something I can do tomorrow. 

Round Meaningful Shapes in Britain and Europe

Mên-an-Tol Fertility Hole 

Penny Farthing

Stonehenge 3000 - 2000 BC

Coin of Odin with the Eye of Insight in mouth
c. 50 - 30 BC

From 'Black Britain'

Clay Anglo Saxon Loom Weight 

The Zodiac from the 6th c. Beth Alpa Synagogue

Coin of Emperor Probus circa 280 AD.

Dérive

The Ashford Hijab by Grayson Perry

Dérive - an unplanned journey through a landscape or urban district where the geography of the area subconsciously guides you on an authentic and meaningful journey.

Cloud in Hand by Hannah Waldron

Defluo - Latin meaning to flow away from, to be lost

Tony GIF by Dryden Goodwin

Dreflian - Middle English meaning 'to dribble or run at the nose'

Untitled by Madge Gill

Defleo - Latin meaning to weep for something or someone

Spitalfields Market

We took a trip to Spitalfields Market! This project is about the people of London, past and present. There has been a market in this area for 350 years so it was an ideal place to draw and research. 

Later, Lily and I took a walk - a flâneur, if you like - and came across this beautiful stall. The embroidered designs are so wonderful! I've long loved embroidery and tapestry as a narrative technique, as it can take so long to create a piece you have to be selective over what is included.

Here is a list of things:

1. Dogs. Dogs with market stall owners. Dogs just visiting. Guide dog puppies. Dogs. 
2. Taxidermy.
3. Emperor Claudius' bust taking a bath.
4. Pin-up fry up.
5. Melting pot. 

Why You Should Give Your Daughter a Potato: A Guide to Inter-vegetable Feminism

'Aspirational' fashion dolls are destroying your child's self esteem.

Give them a potato instead.

Source

Potatoes have no gender, race, religion (that we know of), or sexuality. They are neither able bodied nor disabled. They have no political agenda, no concept of beauty or fashion. All that a potato is and can be depends on one person - YOU!

Aspirational fashion dolls are marketed toward children aged 3 and over, however most are post-pubescent, fully grown women. Women who already have their own sense of fashion, career women with double D breasts and a husband and a horse named Dancer. They are selling a fantasy, but they are selling this singular, unattainable fantasy to millions of young individuals.

If Barbie was a real woman her neck would be too weak to support her head, her internal organs would be seriously impaired, she would have chronic diarrhoea. Dolls do not have to be realistic but they do represent an ideal, is Barbie an appropriate ideal for your children? Besides, children are more potato shaped than child shaped, therefore a potato would be more appropriate.

Potatoes are blank canvases, if you are interested in fashion you can create outfits. If you enjoy adventure take your potato out into the wild. If you like to cook, you can make mash potato. They are easily available to children from all financial backgrounds and surprisingly sturdy. 

In conclusion, ditch Barbie. Dig up a spud. 

Egotism and Fruit

Sailor Potato

For the next part of the Relay project I was given Lily's project, she was inspired by a bean shaped sculpture that she interpreted as a potato. And thus, Sailor Potato was born.







I am going to make a collection of maquettes featuring Sailor Potato and her vegetable friends. I have never watched Sailor Moon but it was a prominent feature during my childhood.

Ego

Wikipedia

To be an artist you have to be somewhat egotistic. You can claim to be above praise and criticism but even that is slightly narcissistic. 'I have so much confidence in my work your words mean nothing.'

My approach to this prompt has changed course. My first response on Friday evening whilst looking at Kathy's sketchbook was to listen to this 'Strange Fruit,' a haunting account of lynchings in the Deep South.

Later that evening I had a long conversation with my friend about egotism at a folk gig in Bankside. We spoke about Facebook, celebrity, and privacy. The two ideas convened in my head, there is a narcissism to racism after all. 

The song is about the behaviour egotism breeds, or how egotism breeds egotism. Or possibly even how egotism can produce nice things. Or terrible things. It's a lot of feeling hidden behind a jaunty folk tune.

Caravaggio's Narcissus

Weaving

Two Women Weaving Linen at a Horizontal Loom

Weaving has existed as a craft since before 7000 BCE. Traditionally it is a task undertaken by groups of women as a method of recording stories or episodes of history. It is associated with mythological figures such as Persephone, who's endeavours with the loom were recorded in Homer's Odyssey.

Persephone weaving the Funeral Shroud

Although an ancient craft, it has become popular recently. Below are some examples of modern wall hangings meant for decoration. They are very beautiful but lack the story telling element of traditional woven art. 

Weavings by SonadoraInLove

Wall hanging by PinballFairy

I would like to combine the two and create a piece that depicts the narrative of Kathy's sketchbook as well as mimics it aesthetically. I lack a loom but have discovered a simple weaving technique I believe I can have some success with.