The studio this week

"Studio work" this week has been a moveable feast.

On the train, stitching something simple, for no particular reason other than the need to stitch -

Quick visit to the ceramics studio, just to say hello really, but if the need to stitch doesn't dissipate, I'll be back stitching pots in no time -

The rest of the week was centred around printmaking. Around north London, research on the moon in various locations, through glass (thinking about inadvertent reflections) -

 ... and mistiness (condensation), and difraction -

While travelling by tube, hatching a plan for displaying some prints -

 Back home, sorting them out -

 Interlude: more moonlight -

 Getting down to it - 

 Other prints conveniently fit behind sample mounts -

This "moon" project isn't finished....

And then there are odd things, like this sequence of pages waxed and sewn together -

Out of the closet - or rather, the wardrobe

Since my art school days, round about 2010, I've been wearing jeans, black jeans, on a rotational basis - one pair on the body, the other in the wash. It's been a liberation to be freed of "the tyranny of the closet", never being able to find the "right" thing to wear. So much easier to put on the jeans, add a teeshirt and other layer, and it's all done, you're set for the day.

And, in theory, it reduces the number of garments in one's wardrobe.

But recently I bought a dress, and then another, "just for a change". In the past few years, dresses have been flooding onto the market. Goodness, I even made one last winter.

Also recently, I became aware that the dresses, and much else, are simply languishing in the closet, probably picking up that unwelcome whiff of oldness that starts to inhabit clothes that rarely see the light of day.

As a result of these actions and thoughts, I came up with a personal project: 

Jeans-Free July

Can a jeans addict wear other garments for an entire month? Are YOU a jeans addict - would you like to try??

Excited by the idea, I had a little rummage in the closet and put a few outfits together in readiness. (Only 10 days to go!)

Dresses -

Latest acquisition - I felt the need of some COLOUR

"Just a long loose teeshirt" - but the golden colour
is so wonderful!

The smocky dress is bit short, needs leggings...

Without the teeshirt, this is perfect in the heat

Oldies but goodies - in fabulous fabrics. I whipped up
the jacket back in the 80s from a remnant, as one did
in those good old days

 Skirts -

That's probably enough* to be starting with, whatever the weather -

Just in case the weather turns chilly, as it can and has done, a number of LBJs (little black jackets) are ready for action. I do love an LBJ...

Leggings, if I dare, "at my age" - and why not! -

With other teeshirts, other shoes....

Love those long loose linen shirts!

Various non-jean trousers emerged, along with some other beloved linen shirts -

Candidates for studio-wear

... and a drawerful of teeshirts -

Too many stripes? No! You can never have too many stripes!!

*A while back I purged my wardrobe, with the help of a friend, in a couple of days of "japanese tidying". This involves gathering everything and going through it piece by piece. In our so-rich western culture, when we gather everything together, it becomes plain that we (I use "we" loosely, there are exceptions...) have SO much and often too much in our fortunate lives ... but that's another story.

At the risk of becoming a little old lady who is still wearing the clothes she bought during her working life - clothes that are now looking a little tired, emitting a gentle whiff and hanging loosely on her gaunt frame - I probably need buy nothing more for the next two decades, just rotate what's already there.

But goodness, isn't it nice to have something new to wear!! 

Putting them away

As the delicate ceramics come out of the kiln and need taking home - as well as needing storing at home - there comes the question: how to keep them intact and safe?

Already I have many items made during previous ceramics courses -

... and those are just the ones left out on display - we're running out of space...

The obvious first step is triage -- sorting out what definitely needs to be kept and urgently needs to be kept safe, versus what is a waste of space and should be got rid of. And in between, what to keep on hand or leave out, gathering dust until ... when? For now, I still need to keep some of them - if only to review before the next time I have a chance to develop this project and can focus it more -

Broken bits - to be kept for "a while"

Next is recording, with photographs and dimensions and descriptions. Big job, needs a system, maybe a database? Or maybe just a folder on the computer for the photos, with captions containing dimensions, date, etc -

None of the works have titles (somehow I never even considered titles, these are works in progress not finished Art!) so my plan is to put a small photo for identification on the outside of the wrapping.

Ah the wrapping... Research finds this guidance for shipping delicate items. For the less hazardous task of storage, I'll mostly use bubble wrap - for the flat items at least - augmented with shredded paper for the more 3D and delicate-edged pieces. (Is there a better way?)

Broken bits are layered with crumpled newsprint in the bag;
dimensions have been recorded, for captioning of photos

Finally, gathering the pieces together in one spot - a big box in a cupboard?

All along, I have someone's wise words ringing in my ears - "before you start making it, think about how it will be displayed, and about how you'll transport and store it."

Mannequins, Arles

They appear in the Saturday market

 some sad

each scarier than the last

Some can be seen in hotel windows

This one doesn't really qualify as a mannequin

Much more pleasant!

A book and its background

One of my ongoing personal research projects concerns the different ways that artist's books are presented on the internet, and indeed in print sources. In a book, you might see the book stood up with pages spread to give an intriguing glimpse of what's on the edges of the pages, or laid down and opened up to one spread, or perhaps unfolded to show the structure. The internet, of course, offers many more possibilities - a clickable sequence of pages, a video of the book being "read" - and web pages that let the reader delve into the history and components of the work, as here - you can watch an animated video clip, see the studio sketch and the finished page, as well as click to read the text and the colophon -

Not quite as good as handling the actual book, but "it's all there". Completed in 2009, "Fabulous Fictions / Peculiar Practices" is the result of a collaboration between artist Tony Calzetta, writer Leon Rooke, and master printer Dieter Grund of Presswerk Editions.

Nine texts and drawings are housed in folios inside a slip case. One of the drawings and its text was re-imagined as a paper sculpture and attached to the front of the slip case. Ten texts and drawings are published  as a separate project--a series of black and white broadsides presented in a red clam box.