Museum labyrinth - fishing for thoughts

At the V&A earlier this week I picked up a map, as well as taking some pix (with ipad, as new camera was still in transit) of floors and stairs and corners and suchlike. At home I drew out some sections of the map and imagined a person - or a ball of string - going around this labyrinth, hugging the walls. With the "unconnected" walls removed, it looks easy enough ... and boring ...

Musing on it, I started to finger-crochet a chain from the neon thread. And then another ... just to see what might be possible ...

No obvious way forward came to mind and I ended up resorting to diversionary tactics - a bit of clear-up of the worktable and areas nearby. While putting some magazines in their right place I noticed that an issue of Surface Design (Fall 2010) was about quilts, and thought this would be a good time to have a quick look at it "just in case" a breakthrough idea was lurking [is this clasping at straws?]. Several things caught my eye, first of all this (map-like) example of a fractal in Judy Bales' article about the use of fractal geometry in "African" quilts, vs Euclidean geometry in Western quilts -

The patterns on Chung-Im Kim's printed and stitched piece reminded me of flooring, and the curved lines brought to mind how time expands and compresses as you get interested or bored on a museum visit -

Carol Westfall's piece is so simple, and very much in keeping with the pared-down "thing" I'm trying to come up with. And "compressed weaver's knots" are listed in the description - how intriguing! -

In Kate Lenkowsky's article "Quilt as Metaphor" she features the work of three artists whose work embodies "the power of metaphor in old textiles". Ellen Zak Danforth uses reclaimed sweaters and blankets, and the cut red strip caught my eye ... a combination of my cut-and-folded pages and the "red thread" that could wind through the labyrinth -

While those thoughts were jiggling round in the brain, the hands went to work, adding graphite to small pieces of paper (rubbing over threads and the loopy chains)

 and threading thread through the pages, sometimes looping it over adjacent pages to try to control the form -

The idea was to put these "paths" into a series of "rooms" - a 3D version of the map. My first attempt, folded from japanese paper and sewn on the machine, didn't match my mental image... the original idea was to dip it in slip, but it would obviously be easier to roll out clay and cut slabs and butt them together. Or even do it with cardboard (I'll look for the bits-of-card box and try that next) -

Nor did the "paths in rooms" work out as planned! -

The postcard at the bottom of the photo of the day's work had turned up a few days ago and may be having a subconscious influence - white, black; squares, curves...

It's William Scott's The Harbour (1952), now in the collection of the Tate. Again, something quite simple-seeming - and (to me) entirely satisfying.

Poetry Thursday - The Very Leaves of the Acacia-Tree are London by Kathleen Raine

"Gradual and gentle the growth of London Pride" (via)

The Very Leaves of the Acacia-Tree are London

The very leaves of the acacia-tree are London;
London tap-water fills out the fuchsia buds in the back garden,
Blackbirds pull London worms out of the sour soil,
The woodlice, centipedes, eat London, the wasps even.
London air through stomata of myriad leaves
And million lungs of London breathes.
Chlorophyll and haemoglobin do what life can
To purify, to return this great explosion
To sanity of leaf and wing.
Gradual and gentle the growth of London pride,
And sparrows are free of all the time in the world:
Less than a window-pane between. 

(via; it was one of the Poems on the Underground in 2009)

Kathleen Raine (1908-2003) has been called "one of the last writers whose philosophy had been forged in the cauldron of the late 1920s and early 1930s"; she " passed much of her life in hand-wringing dismay at the febrility of the world in which she had to live. This could be a comforting position, not least as a means of explaining away personal disappointments" ... but her triumphs were many. 

Another obituary takes a different tack: "She knew as a small child that poetry was her vocation.

William Blake was her master, and she shared his belief that "one power alone makes a poet - imagination, the divine vision". As WB Yeats, her other great exemplar, put it, "poetry and religion are the same thing". To this vision she committed not only her poetry and erudition, but her whole life. She stood as a witness to spiritual values in a society that rejected them."

Interviewed on the radio at a great age and asked how it was to be her age and still writing, she said something that has stayed with me, along the lines of "well, I wake up in the morning and think, I'm still here, so I get up and get on with it." Good advice at any age.

Museum labyrinth - another long path

Planning ahead, laying out unstitched sections, so the "dead ends" become visible

If this view was the presentation, would it work?

The entire thing is stitched - and wants to spring and stretch out of control

The scene of the action (notebook open for recording bon mots from BBC radio)

Art I like - He Xiangyu

At a loose end after the drawing class, and because the sun was shining, I got off the train at London Bridge and popped round the corner to White Cube Bermondsey to see what was on. Darren Almond's long-exposure photos by moonlight ... pleasant enough;  not so, to my eye and mind, was Franz Ackermann's room full of "frenetic energy" and bright colours.

So the reason for this post is the other artist on show - He Xiangyu (showing till 13 April).
http://whitecube.com/exhibitions/he_xiangyu_inside_the_white_cube_2014/

The "collapsed thing" in my photo is made of thick, luxury-grade leather - hand-sewn by an entire factory of needle workers, trained by the artist - it took two years to make and it replicates a tank, complete with gun turret. Lots of piano-hinge fastenings holding the treads together and other such details. "With this collapsed and deflated object," says the gallery notes, "He Xiangyu questions the steady advancement of Western materialism in contemporary China, and the mutual interdependencies of political and economic power."

See more of He Xiangyu's show in the link above - the tiny golden tower made from his wisdom teeth is "interesting" and his work with "cola resin" is an astonishing concept - he's boiled down 127 tons of Coca Cola over a year to get this gunk. "The resulting material residue has taken various forms, including a black ink that the artist has used to make Song Dynasty-style landscape paintings and a highly-corrosive, pungent, earth-like substance."

The golden thing in the background is an egg carton of 99.9% pure gold, and has one egg in it - it's a comment, inter alia, on China's one-child policy. The title is "220g Gold, 62g Protein".

Also, there's a pink room - pink ceiling, pink walls, pink carpet - with some strange objects in the middle - "small copper casts from a mould which the artist created by feeling the inside of his mouth with his tongue". I didn't go look at them closely - there was something off-putting about walking across that pink carpet! - the idea is enough. And the memory of pinkness ... protecting those objects.

It's one of those exhibitions that you're glad to stumble upon, but might not go out of your way to see. This is the first UK exhibition for this Beijing artist, who is well-known in China for his provocative and ambitious work; he's "part of a new generation of conceptual artists in China using a range of media to articulate cultural and social concerns."

Portraiture course, week 4

For the first half of the class, I was despondent, discouraged, and depressed at what was appearing on my paper ... to the point of doing a few doodles of the others, who were obviously enjoying the session - the third session of a long pose. About half the class was painting ... but painting would be an unnecessary complication for me

You can see at a glance that the drawing wasn't going well - the eyes are too high, how could I not see that straight away? -

Lots of drawing in and rubbing out, looking and drawing and rubbing out.... I wasn't cheered by "helpful" comments about how brave I was to work so big (A2) ... especially when the drawing was obviously looking so awful - er, let me rephrase that ... when the drawing was obviously still in its very early stages.

Plus, due to my broken camera, I was using the ipad to take photos (so you'll get some of the art-room action in the background), and it sometimes wouldn't "click", why is that??

Finally I dared to use the eraser and started to feel a bit more in control of what was appearing and even started to enjoy the drawing process -

The mouth proved a problem (too symmetrical) ... And the nose is wrong, the left side of her face is taking up too much room (trying to be symmetrical!) -

 A few changes and it's looking more "real" -

 When I took it home, before spraying with fixative, I filled in the hair a bit, but it still looks like plumes...

Given the unpromising start, the finished picture is a surprise to me. Still lots of room for improvement, but I feel I'm starting to "see" better.

Art I like - Richard Serra

Inside Out by Richard Serra (2013; weatherproof steel) is, he says, "two long walls on the outside of the piece that are probably about 81 feet long ... an open space that you walk into, and also an open volume that you can walk into. The open space is a path that goes into a centre that then opens into other spaces where you can go right or left, or there's a space in front of you and another behind you, and there's another path that leads out. but you might find it quite disorienting because once you get in there you're not quite sure where you are, or where you should go, even though there's always a path that will lead you somewhere, but you can't anticipate where that will be.

"Then there's two exterior spaces that you can walk into, which are the outside of these interior spaces, but when you walk into them, you're in the inside of the outside. And so we called the piece Inside Out."

Intrigued as I am by this piece, trying to relate the description to the photo is disorienting...those spaces at the left back and centre back would be the exterior spaces?? Quite possibly you need to have walked through the space (or designed the piece) to really link words and image. (It's a maze ... describe the path through a maze -- or, is it two labyrinths?) Never mind, it's intriguing and can have a lot of emotional resonance.

Walk through the sculpture via this video, about 2/3 of the way through. First he describes three other pieces, one of which is made of slabs of steel, 8 feet high, 8 inches thick and 40 feet long, each weighing 51 tons, set at various angles - walking into the corners "give you an experience that's different from architecture... the amount of compression and release that you get from walking into the various angles".

Serra's The Matter of Time (2005) is at the Guggenheim Bilbao - seven curvy sculptures in that rusty steel. The museum's website sums up Serra's sculptural innovation:
"Richard Serra has long been acclaimed for his challenging and innovative work. As an emerging artist in the early 1960s, Serra helped change the nature of artistic production. Along with the Minimalist artists of his generation, he turned to unconventional, industrial materials and accentuated the physical properties of his work. Freed from the traditional pedestal or base and introduced into the real space of the viewer, sculpture took on a new relationship to the spectator, whose experience of an object became crucial to its meaning. Viewers were encouraged to move around—and sometimes on, in, and through—the work and encounter it from multiple perspectives. "

"Shifting in unexpected ways as viewers walk in and around them, these sculptures
create a dizzying, unforgettable sensation of space in motion."

Trip Hammer and a few others, and some drawings, are in the collection of the Tate, and the huge Fulcrum stands near Liverpool Street Station (not everyone likes it!).

Textiles into ceramics - day 3

This is what's come out of the kiln so far, along with some dubious "plaques" with lots of holes round the edge, for filling with lots of loops of wire -

 The "two-page books" will be bound together with wire loops too.

New last week: two books of thin clay pages... the slab-sheets are joined at the "spine" - the clay was kept apart by layers of newspaper, which have been turned to white, crumbly ash and will be removed -

 Lined up in a row -

 And the day's task - to see what happens when the paper is dipped in slip -

It unfolds itself, that's what happens! The weight of the clay and fluidity of the water deform the careful placement of folds. So for the second attempt, a string is used to help structure the piece -

It still flops, but is easier to put back into the desired shape -

 They've been put in a tray of sand and await firing.

And this is where, halfway through the day, the memory card was full. Although my camera still takes pictures, it has a blank screen, so I didn't know that had happened. Screenprinting with slip was one thing I did, and then painted the folded shapes with porcelain slip (will the darker colour show through?). Some of the chunky books have been glazed and there are two more "floppy books" going in the kiln. Fingers crossed.

(This post is linked to Off the Wall Fridays.)

"Museum labyrinth" - map folding

Using 0.5cm squared paper to cut pages of various sizes, for maquettes - a 2x2 grid is rather small, giving a 1cm page; 3x3 turns out to be quite good for stitching in terms of the thickness of the thread in relation to the dimensions of the page.

Drawing the lines is quicker, for getting an idea of configurations, but the stitched lines have a quality I like.

Perhaps you can get some idea of that quality in this photo -

The thread makes the paper fold (or rather, unfold) in a different way. (But -- will it be appropriate to the concept of the piece? I'm still researching so I'm not sure yet exactly what that concept will be. Experimentation, pushing the envelope, must continue....)

Before filling in the stitching with another thread "going the opposite way" I spread the "map" out -

This is made up of 4 pages of 4x3 squares - not huge in terms of its flattened extent - but when folded up it goes quite some distance - depending, of course, on how much it's stretched out.

Monday miscellany

London's ghost stations - find a larger version here

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"According to parliamentarians, sightings of mouse colonies are common in Westminster and MPs have reported droppings and nibbled corners on official documents." So Battersea Dog & Cats home has drawn up a list of top mousers and is offering them to be rehomed ... in the Houses of Parliament.

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A couple of small points of interest in Blackheath -

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A question of blog etiquette: how much editing to do? I recently received (forwarded via automatic email) this comment on a post I wrote on the Ragged Cloth Cafe blog -

"New comment on your post "When art is temporary, does it last? (by Margaret Cooter)"
Author : hottest soccer news (IP: 80.71.254.247 , 80.71.254.247)
E-mail  [deleted by me]

URL    : [deleted by me]

Whois  : http://whois.arin.net/rest/ip/80.71.254.247
Comment:
I tend not to write a great deal of responses, but after reading a few
of the responses on this page When art is temporary, does it
last? (by Margaret Cooter) | Ragged Cloth Cafe, serving Art and Textiles.
I do have a few questions for you if you do
not mind. Could it be only me or does it look like like some of these responses come across like
they are written by brain dead folks? :-P And, if you are writing on other social sites, I'd like to keep up with anything new you have to post.
Would you make a list of every one of your social networking pages like your Facebook page, twitter feed, or linkedin profile?

It plainly has nothing to do with my post and is sent out automatically in some way. What I'm wondering is ... what's in it for him? Does he think people will respond? My inclination is to delete it immediately ... but as it's not defamatory or suchlike, that seems to be an over-reaction - yet it contributes nothing to the discussion. And the author (or his autopilot avatar) won't know it's gone.

Trash it or spam it?

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Degrees have been conferred (at the Barbican) and photographers are out in full force -

 

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There's been a coffee explosion in London, with lots of independent coffee shops springing up - now they've been classified into eight types - who knew? 

Next steps with "museum labyrinth"

To make the folded-paper version I've been using 4x3 sheets, cut in various ways. Drawing, rather than cutting and stitching, is a way of exploring - quickly - the various possible configurations of cuts and "pathways" -

The two possible exits/entrances (straight on and "hooked") will have repercussions for the 3D configuration, as will the dead-ends. Perhaps having more dead ends will make it more interesting - or maybe more confusing and chaotic (which I don't want).

I've been locked into the idea of using a 4x3 grid - so as not to get too big on one sheet of paper, not to have too many different paths - but what about going smaller, 2x2 or 3x3? Maybe the simpler elements will give enough 2D variety; the surprise is in what can happen with 3D,  when the book has many pages or the map folds up.

The square where the thread/path exits is also the square that will overlap with the next "page". I can't imagine how this will work out - out comes paper and scalpel, needle and thread, for a reality check.

"Museum labyrinth" again

Starting with the thought that the folded, cut, stitched papers looked like a map - and wondering how to integrate the abstract idea with the real V&A - I used some stamps cut from erasers to develop a map/path on a largeish bit of stiffish paper, then decided it needed stitching (can't remember why this seemed a good idea - to be able to punch it out of the paper and leave a nice edge? or maybe to cut it out and leave the stitching round the edge?). Here it is from the back - revealing a closed-off section, a sort of unreachable atrium -

Held up to the light - you can see the outlining along with overlapping stamps and the stubby mazey additions, and there are two distinct places where the stamping didn't follow the plan ... leading to fresh thoughts about layout of the "map", indeed about how it could be constructed along this plan of overlapping things, and how it might fold up if this were done ...

This isn't strictly on-grid and will be awkward to fold neatly. Perhaps the folding should happen first and the printing afterward.

Blind-stitching (without thread) and display on a light box might be components...

Always so much more to investigate - hoping for the moment of "click" when it feels right.

Visual research = looking for ideas

Pedestrian mapping seemed like it might be a relevant avenue of research for the museum-labyrinth ... but why? As I looked at the images available on this topic it quickly became clear that my hunch was way off base - this is a field that is far more technical (or outraged!) than anything I need in this project. However a few images seen in the quick scroll-through did raise a few thoughts.

First this map-glove, made for the 1851 Great Exhibition and never commercially produced -

Detours and crossings - characteristics of certain categories of mazes - and potentially dangerous in real life -

Obstruction, re-routing

Public footpath across the Huddersfield-Manchester main line

A quieter crossing

Marked street crossings - these bring to mind the almost-subliminal way that people are directed around shops by the use of different kinds of flooring -

aha, that could be relevant ... either for taking the idea further, or for validating my thinking so far. The maze on the ground, the walking-maze ... which also directs the walker's path. Thoughts about "commercial pilgrimmage" in department stores, malls, etc.

Somewhere I have photos of the green line that leads from Old St station to Moorfields Eye Hospital ... I love the way it's so definitive and goes over different surfaces and all sorts of disruptions in the pavement. This is not part of it! -

Photo by Gordon Joly

Don't forget signposts -

Photographing black or white quilts without losing texture

Maker unknown (via)

Some of my quilts are black-on-black and I've not had a lot of success with photographing them. The texture created by quilting gets lost, and the blackness looks very ... dark ... especially when there's very little of any other colour!

White-on-white quilts too can lose texture in photographs. Here are some tips from various places on the internet, which should help with photographing any sort of quilt, to bring out the texture - and to represent the work at its best. 

1. Start with a plain background that contrasts with the quilt's colour: dark grey or black background for white quilts, and a light, neutral background for dark quilts. 

2. Clips, fingers, etc must not be visible, and the quilt must not blow about (if you're shooting outside).

3. Use a tripod, and have the camera straight-on to the quilt. Zoom in a bit, to avoid "barrelling". If you are using manual settings on your camera, use a high aperture number (slow shutter speed), or f/11 and the lowest ISO possible. This avoids camera shake. A cable shutter release, or using the self timer, can be useful too - for any textile photography you want a sharp focus, without wobble.

4. Set up a raking light - the light should come almost straight from the side of the quilt, so that it skims across the surface. If you don't have a nice big patch of sunlight, or studio lighting, use a strong lamp, preferably with a daylight bulb.

5. Move the light source, or the quilt, so that shadows fall towards the camera, not away from it.

6. Use an ambient light source as well, eg an uplighter, if you're shooting inside and there's not enough background light.

7. Don't use flash! - it will flatten the shadows/texture.

8. If you're metering the exposure, you may need exposure compensation: decrease it for white fabrics and increase it for dark fabrics. Exposure can be adjusted on some automatic cameras too; try taking several photos at various exposures.

9. Check the white balance on the camera before taking your photos, or fix it afterwards in a photo editing program. You want to represent the actual colours.

10. If unwanted threads or lint found their way unnoticed onto the quilt, use the spot removal tool in the editing program to remove them.

Further suggestions are very welcome - what has worked for you?