Drawing Tuesday

(Last week's work at the Brunei Gallery is on Sue's blog, here. )

A few days have passed since the Drawing Room summer school and Tuesday seems a good place for thinking about it.

Starting point, and outcome; it seems the "drawing" happened elsewhere!

Not sure what I expected - to be tackling "something" unexpected along with other people doing the same thing, and enjoying it, even though it might be a bit scary? To be exposed to other people's approaches, not just the tutors but the other participants. To be pushed out of my comfort zone. To "see" differently as a result. To improve my skills, with any luck.

Maybe that's a retrospective list, because all those things happened. What I didn't expect was to feel so tired & emotional so much of the time - blame it on the excitement of the day, and onthe daily commute!. Nor did I expect to feel so resistant - phew did I feel resistant to some of the things that were going on, but where did that come from? The briefs, or prompts, such as they were, were so open-ended, so elastic, there should have been no resistance: I could have done anything. And did; and that might have been the problem, for me ... a bit more direction, some on-the-mark feedback, a hint or two about being on the wrong track? Or maybe, being tired&emotional, I just didn't take it in.

I felt I was on the wrong track, chaotic and unfocussed. Yet this situation is about messing about and finding something (new?) that interests you, something to take forward later. What did I do? I went back to my cosy comfort zone, books. Perhaps (almost certainly!) I'd set this up by bring along a book-like map as my significant object.

After a day of "collecting" figurative images from other artists' work I was so unimpressed with my results that I needed to collect the originals, and out of my graphite chaos make a nice tidy book. Just a leporello ... floppy paper but nice hard covers. This object caused some astonishment - artists know about paper, but maybe not about its sculptural - and humdrum - possibilities?

On the last day we carried on with our "personal project". I'd figured out how the map's folding system worked, so that was one objective achieved. Also, something that I haven't been able to do for a while, I found myself just thinking about "crazy" possibilities and drilling down to something essential: a map of a city needs some sort of representation of streets. And I had just such a grid on hand, easily used via frottage. Which led to a bad habit surfacing: working in a frenzy at the last minute, rubbing as much paper as possible before leaving for class, and having to rush to get there.

Late Friday afternoon, as we set up for the "show&tell", that same bad habit had me determined to "finish off" all that paper and in using it up, some rather rudimentary work emerged.

At the last minute, there was no time to make the final fold!

That rush to finish, and hurrying to set up "a nice display", is one of the sources of my dissatisfaction, along with knowing that the work could have been more pared-down, less chaotic, more thoughtful, had I not squandered my time and energy through negativity about this&that throughout the day. I find myself focussed on the product rather than the process, but it's the process that's the valuable part.

I think the book format interested the others - there were some good questions about it - and I fantasise that some will use it a vehicle for their own work or, even better, look at artists books more closely.

I also fantasise about making "flat art" - on paper or canvas, is that "proper" art? - and can't quite accept that I'm more of a 3D person. 3D takes up space! ah but books, with their 2D/3D fluctuations, transcend this. 

So to sum up, although at this point I'm still bristling a bit with residual resistance, the gains are getting the upper hand over the pains. One of the books especially is ripe for development, and I'm eager to get on with that. Small learning points from the process are starting to emerge - for instance, I'm seeing tone everywhere, after a day of trying to achieve it. 

The first little book got a title: "Kolnische Kirchen". The basis is a map/diagram showing the proximity of the 12 romanesque churches in Cologne, and the medieval city walls. Photos were found on the internet, and on the other side are architectural footprints of some of them -

The other "finished" book (well, I'm not going to tamper with it, though it could be improved in many ways) juxtaposes plans and appearances and includes the Gothic-style Dom, famous symbol of the city, which appears on the cover of the original Falk map. If you've ever arrived in Cologne by train, you'll know how close the Dom is to the station, and how it overshadows this modern intrusion. Whereas the older churches have to be sought out.

Searching out the churches is one idea behind this, unfinished, map. Another is the red line, which would be better as "the red thread" - a peregrination, a pilgrimage, or just wayfaring or tourism - connection, connection, connection.... What will go in the blank areas - images, words, or ...?

On Friday afternoon I ended my explanation of my "objects" with the phrase "the mapness of maps" and this simplification is something to keep in mind when working further with this format.

postscript: "I know what I think when I hear myself talk." Writing this has uncovered so much for me! It's good to "talk" to yourself about what you've done, or are doing.