A first attempt at laser cutting linen fabric and bonding it on to cotton organdie .
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
New York! New York !
Where to start! Went over to New York to the opening of Design and the Elastic Mind at MOMA as my son has some work in the exhibition and it was one of those life things that you just have to do . First impressions on arriving at the hotel in Manhattan with a room on the 22nd floor with views of distant Broadway was being a very small thin sliver slotted in amongst vast buildings which I guess was a fairly accurate description . So many people in so small a space ,but as the days went by my views expanded with my knowledge of the place. We were only four blocks from Central Park which we viewed one day from the top of the Rockerfeller building , a large rectangle of parkland surrounded by the skyscrapers of Manhattan.The trees were reflected in the building. One building even had trees planted on balconies across the frontage .I wonder what effect this had on the interior space if I had been there longer I may have investigated but there was too little time .
MOMA is an amazing building with an incredible collection of Art and Design , a bookshop to die for and lots of space so well designed . The opening was amazing but we really got to see the detail a couple of days later when we revisited . Design for debate is how Jon describes it and it certainly was fascinating and challenging some pieces more instantly accessible than others like the Honeycomb Vase made by Bees a method of "slow protoyping " by."Light weeds " by Simon Heidjens was visually amazing described as a "continually evolving wallpaper ..a living digital organism that grows on walls" as was "Sonumbra"by Rachel Wingfield and Mathias Gmachi was visually stunning ," an architectural textile with embedded solar cells ...by day it offers shelter from the sun by night it sheds light using the energy collected during the daylight hours ".
To find out more go to http//.www.moma.org/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/ .Jons work is less visually accessible but well worth investigating further for those interested in the future of Post Crash society either go to jonardern.com or to www.ark-inc.info.
What else , evnts too numerous to detail .
Highlights apart from MOMA
Visiting Takashimaya an amazing Japanese shop selling clothes and homeware which had the roots of a tree "growing" from the ceiling and such aesthetically pleasing goods .
The Guggenheim with an amazing exhibition retrospective of Cai Guo-Qiang "I want to believe " who amongst other incredible installations makes gunpowder drawings so beautiful and so fascinating to watch the video of the making , very much social commentary but stunning work .
INOPPORTUNE: STAGE ONE
Cai Guo-Qiang is internationally acclaimed as an artist whose creative transgressions and cultural provocations have literally exploded the accepted parameters of art making in our time.
This is especially true of Inopportune: Stage One, Cai’s largest installation to date, which presents nine real cars in a cinematic progression that simulates a car bombing, occupying the central atrium of the Frank Lloyd Wright rotunda.
This video documents the incredible installation process of Inopportune: Stage One, which Thomas Krens, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, says "may be the best artistic transformation of the Frank Lloyd Wright space we've
ever seen."(See photo above of cars installation)
'Extreme Embroidery"at MAD an interesting exhibition not exactly extreme but extremely interesting in concepts and actualisations ,work from some of the top names in the embroidery world .
Pricked: Extreme Embroidery
November 8, 2007 - April 27, 2008
Samplers, table cloths, tea towels, and party dresses often spring to mind when the word “embroidery” is invoked, but the forty-eight international artists highlighted in Pricked: Extreme Embroidery tell a very different story. Pricked is the Museum of Arts & Design’s latest exploration into how centuries-old handcraft traditions are rejuvenated in the mainstream of contemporary art and design. The artists are both men and women from 17 countries as diverse as Romania, Egypt, Wales, Mexico and the Netherlands, as well as the U.S. (For a complete list of artists in the exhibition, click here.)
Chosen to showcase the diversity of approaches to this standard needleworking technique, the works in Pricked: Extreme Embroidery also convey powerful and personal content that ranges from subjective dreams and diaries to controversial politics in today’s world. The works are individually arresting, provocative, satirical, and humorous.
Pricked: Extreme Embroidery follows the success and international acclaim of the Museum’s exhibition Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting, which premiered earlier this year at MAD and is now on an extensive tour to other art museums. Like Radical Lace, this new exhibition is poised to change the way the public views the contemporary evolution of an ancient art.
Works by artists of the caliber of Maira Kalman and Elaine Reichek are shown alongside works by emerging artists such as Andrea Deszö of Transylvania, who records aphorisms and warnings received from her Transylvania mother in a series titled Lessons from My Mother. In addition, works by designers such as Mattia Bonetti document the use of embroidery techniques in the sphere of design.
In addition to fibrous materials like cotton and wool, artists and designers employ the unexpected ranging from stone to digital prints to human hair and cosmetic skin peels. A North Carolina artist, Nava Lubelski, explores the contradictory activities of spoiling and mending by stitching over spills, stains, and rips she finds on tablecloths, napkins, and canvas. The artist uses canvas stretchers as her embroidery loop, and the wooden strips are often visible through the mended tears.
The artists in Pricked use embroidery as a means to reflect, both internally, and on the outside world. Dutch artist Tilleke Schwarz stitches the subconscious; dreamlike scenarios, fleeting thoughts, and imaginative imagery recorded on cloth. In Fast Machine, 2006, Benji Whalen embroiders tattoos onto a wall-mounted, stuffed arm. For the exhibition, the artist has created a large installation of hanging tattooed arms, each with imagery alluding to alternative culture and art.
The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated, full-color catalogue published by MAD that includes an essay by chief curator, David McFadden; illustrations of works by each artist, along with short biographies; and an index. For more information about ordering the catalogue, please call The Store at 212-956-3535 x157.
For related Public Programs, please click here, or call 212-956-3535 x127 for more information.
Pricked: Extreme Embroidery is made possible in part by the Inner Circle and Director's Council of the Museum, with additional support from Friends of Fiber Art International.
Clubbing in downtown Manhattan , a ride in a big yellow taxi , snow in central park , a ride on the Statton Island ferry to see the statue of Liberty, a visit to the New Museum of Modern Art , various eatery experiences including "Burger Heaven " , exploring the "Village" riding on the subway!A good time was had by all !! I would love to go back but at a warmer time of year but then the hot chocolate at Borders at Madison Square Gardens would not taste so delicious !
Monday, 11 February 2008
Friday, 8 February 2008
Liminal spaces
Being unable/unwilling to get out of bed this morning(due to :February blues / being gazzumped on a rental property/tired after two days of intensive print workshops/generally wondering what its all about and why I am doing IT) I dicovered that for once and maybe once only my laptop has enough connection for me to connect to the INTERNET and remain in bed ..so started to look at my blog and reconsider where I am and where I am going .
I re-read Morgans comments on the postcards initially the comments about liminal spaces and looked at a diary project (thanks Lizzie for this )
http://diary-project.blogspot.com ) by a Bristol based artist reminiscent of my postcards.She has over the past year each day drawn on envelopes filled them with something relevant to that dayds events and then posted them back to herself with a view to exhibiting the who;e co;;ection and inviting members of the public to open them.
http://kirstyhall.co.uk/workinprogress.I find my postcards building up to provide not only a visual but also written record of my progression through the MA and my time in Cornwall and perhaps there is some milage in developing/integrating these into my windows work . Windows another liminal space .
Re-engendering the phrase liminal spaces in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I discovered the work of
Jean Houston, Ph.D. (born 10 May 1937) who has been a leading figure in the cross-cultural study of spirituality and ritual processes. A prolific author of books, she is one of the founders of the Human Potential Movement. Her PBS Special A Passion for the Possible has been widely viewed.
Houston was perhaps formerly best known for her involvement with Margaret Mead during Mead's final years but she may be most widely known for urging First Lady Hillary Clinton to carry on imaginary conversations with Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, in which Mrs. Clinton had to supply both sides of the conversation (discussed below). As this example suggests, Dr. Houston is a spiritual guide who has worked to develop ritual processes.
Much of Houston's work in spirituality centers on creating fresh ritual processes, albeit ones deeply indebted to ancient ritual processes. She styles her work in this crucial area the Mystery School, because it is still something of a mystery as to how ritual processes enable people to engender their human potentials. Many people today can be styled ritually challenged. Apart from singing the national anthem together occasionally, most of our lives are not ritually rich. As a result, much work remains to be done to develop meaningful ritual processes for world culture today, so that we can perhaps engender the deeper resources of the human psyche in our efforts to actuate our human potential and thereby grow into more fully actuated persons. Houston has devoted her adult life to this work.
My daily ritual being my 10minutes to half an hour meditation usually mindfulness of breathing having read a part of an inspiring text . Initially this was Robert MacFarlanes "The Wild Places " and more recently Pema Chodren's books "Uncomfortable with Uncertainty" and "Start where you are " which puts me in touch with my state of mind and may give me insights about where to go next with my work .
The definition of liminal
"Liminality (from the Latin word līmen, meaning "a threshold"[1]) is the quality of the second stage of a ritual in the theories of Arnold van Gennep, Victor Turner, and others. In these theories, a ritual, especially a rite of passage, involves some change to the participants, especially their social status.[2]
The liminal state is characterized by ambiguity, openness, and indeterminacy. One's sense of identity dissolves to some extent, bringing about disorientation. Liminality is a period of transition where normal limits to thought, self-understanding, and behavior are relaxed - a situation which can lead to new perspectives.
(A good description of the MA proces and the process of moving to a new place where noone knows you and where your world is filled with the unfamiliar.)
People, places, or things may not complete a transition, or a transition between two states may not be fully possible. Those who remain in a state between two other states may become permanently liminal."
Liminality in time
Twilight serves as a liminal time, between day and night. The name of the television fiction series The Twilight Zone makes reference to this, describing it as "the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition" in one variant of the original series' opening. The time of day that we experience more in winter as it falls whilst we are still active .The sillouettes of trees at this time of day are to me exquisite as are the physical/mental/spiritual benefits of walking through woodland , and so to woodland .
The Wood between the Worlds is a 'linking room' location in The Magician's Nephew, part of The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis.It is first so named by Polly Plummer, who arrives there when Digory Kirke's Uncle Andrew tricks her into putting on a magic ring, which instantaneously transports her into the wood. She falls asleep, and when Digory arrives later the children are both disoriented and at first they aren’t sure how long they have been there or even who they are. This state of lassitude that both children fall into is explained as the result of the Wood being a place where nothing ever happens, unlike the different worlds it connects (where events do occur).The wood is implied to be a place linking all worlds.
"The Tibetan word Bardo means literally "intermediate state" - also translated as "transitional state" or "in-between state" or liminal state"". In Sanskrit the concept has the name antarabhāva.
Fremantle (2001) states that there are six traditional bardo states known as the Six Bardos: the Bardo of This Life (p.55); the Bardo of Meditation (p.58); the Bardo of Dream (p.62); the Bardo of Dying (p.64); the Bardo of Dharmata (p.65); and the Bardo of Existence (p.66).
Shugchang, et. al. (2000: p.5) discuss the Zhitro (Tibetan: Zhi-khro) teachings which subsume the Bardo Thodol and mention Karma Lingpa, terma and Padmasambhava and list the Six Bardo:
In the terma discovered by Karma Lingpa, Guru Padmasambhava introduces six different bardos. The first bardo begins when we take birth and endures as long as we live. The second is the bardo of dreams. The third is the bardo of concentration or meditation. The fourth occurs at the moment of death. The fifth is known as the bardo of the luminosity of the true nature. The sixth is called the bardo of transmigration or karmic becoming"
This has also led me to looking for this film , Dalai Lama Renaissance.
Producer-Director Khashyar Darvich with the Dalai Lama in India during filming of the "Dalai Lama Renaissance" documentary.
Dalai Lama Renaissance is a 2-hour feature documentary film, narrated by actor Harrison Ford and produced and directed by Khashyar Darvich, to be released in the Summer of 2007, about the Dalai Lama's meeting with Western "renaissance" thinkers at his home in Dharamsala, India, about changing the world and resolving many of the world's problems.
These Western thinkers who meet the Dalai Lama include: quantum physicists Fred Alan Wolf and Amit Goswami (from the documentaries What the Bleep Do We Know and The Secret), social scientist Jean Houston, and founder of Agape International Spiritual Center church in Los Angeles, Dr. Michael Beckwith.
The film includes original music by Tibetan musicians, as well as master sitarist Roop Verma, who studied under Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan.
This is the first feature film about the Dalai Lama released for many years.
I re-read Morgans comments on the postcards initially the comments about liminal spaces and looked at a diary project (thanks Lizzie for this )
http://diary-project.blogspot.com ) by a Bristol based artist reminiscent of my postcards.She has over the past year each day drawn on envelopes filled them with something relevant to that dayds events and then posted them back to herself with a view to exhibiting the who;e co;;ection and inviting members of the public to open them.
http://kirstyhall.co.uk/workinprogress.I find my postcards building up to provide not only a visual but also written record of my progression through the MA and my time in Cornwall and perhaps there is some milage in developing/integrating these into my windows work . Windows another liminal space .
Re-engendering the phrase liminal spaces in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I discovered the work of
Jean Houston, Ph.D. (born 10 May 1937) who has been a leading figure in the cross-cultural study of spirituality and ritual processes. A prolific author of books, she is one of the founders of the Human Potential Movement. Her PBS Special A Passion for the Possible has been widely viewed.
Houston was perhaps formerly best known for her involvement with Margaret Mead during Mead's final years but she may be most widely known for urging First Lady Hillary Clinton to carry on imaginary conversations with Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, in which Mrs. Clinton had to supply both sides of the conversation (discussed below). As this example suggests, Dr. Houston is a spiritual guide who has worked to develop ritual processes.
Much of Houston's work in spirituality centers on creating fresh ritual processes, albeit ones deeply indebted to ancient ritual processes. She styles her work in this crucial area the Mystery School, because it is still something of a mystery as to how ritual processes enable people to engender their human potentials. Many people today can be styled ritually challenged. Apart from singing the national anthem together occasionally, most of our lives are not ritually rich. As a result, much work remains to be done to develop meaningful ritual processes for world culture today, so that we can perhaps engender the deeper resources of the human psyche in our efforts to actuate our human potential and thereby grow into more fully actuated persons. Houston has devoted her adult life to this work.
My daily ritual being my 10minutes to half an hour meditation usually mindfulness of breathing having read a part of an inspiring text . Initially this was Robert MacFarlanes "The Wild Places " and more recently Pema Chodren's books "Uncomfortable with Uncertainty" and "Start where you are " which puts me in touch with my state of mind and may give me insights about where to go next with my work .
The definition of liminal
"Liminality (from the Latin word līmen, meaning "a threshold"[1]) is the quality of the second stage of a ritual in the theories of Arnold van Gennep, Victor Turner, and others. In these theories, a ritual, especially a rite of passage, involves some change to the participants, especially their social status.[2]
The liminal state is characterized by ambiguity, openness, and indeterminacy. One's sense of identity dissolves to some extent, bringing about disorientation. Liminality is a period of transition where normal limits to thought, self-understanding, and behavior are relaxed - a situation which can lead to new perspectives.
(A good description of the MA proces and the process of moving to a new place where noone knows you and where your world is filled with the unfamiliar.)
People, places, or things may not complete a transition, or a transition between two states may not be fully possible. Those who remain in a state between two other states may become permanently liminal."
Liminality in time
Twilight serves as a liminal time, between day and night. The name of the television fiction series The Twilight Zone makes reference to this, describing it as "the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition" in one variant of the original series' opening. The time of day that we experience more in winter as it falls whilst we are still active .The sillouettes of trees at this time of day are to me exquisite as are the physical/mental/spiritual benefits of walking through woodland , and so to woodland .
The Wood between the Worlds is a 'linking room' location in The Magician's Nephew, part of The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis.It is first so named by Polly Plummer, who arrives there when Digory Kirke's Uncle Andrew tricks her into putting on a magic ring, which instantaneously transports her into the wood. She falls asleep, and when Digory arrives later the children are both disoriented and at first they aren’t sure how long they have been there or even who they are. This state of lassitude that both children fall into is explained as the result of the Wood being a place where nothing ever happens, unlike the different worlds it connects (where events do occur).The wood is implied to be a place linking all worlds.
"The Tibetan word Bardo means literally "intermediate state" - also translated as "transitional state" or "in-between state" or liminal state"". In Sanskrit the concept has the name antarabhāva.
Fremantle (2001) states that there are six traditional bardo states known as the Six Bardos: the Bardo of This Life (p.55); the Bardo of Meditation (p.58); the Bardo of Dream (p.62); the Bardo of Dying (p.64); the Bardo of Dharmata (p.65); and the Bardo of Existence (p.66).
Shugchang, et. al. (2000: p.5) discuss the Zhitro (Tibetan: Zhi-khro) teachings which subsume the Bardo Thodol and mention Karma Lingpa, terma and Padmasambhava and list the Six Bardo:
In the terma discovered by Karma Lingpa, Guru Padmasambhava introduces six different bardos. The first bardo begins when we take birth and endures as long as we live. The second is the bardo of dreams. The third is the bardo of concentration or meditation. The fourth occurs at the moment of death. The fifth is known as the bardo of the luminosity of the true nature. The sixth is called the bardo of transmigration or karmic becoming"
This has also led me to looking for this film , Dalai Lama Renaissance.
Producer-Director Khashyar Darvich with the Dalai Lama in India during filming of the "Dalai Lama Renaissance" documentary.
Dalai Lama Renaissance is a 2-hour feature documentary film, narrated by actor Harrison Ford and produced and directed by Khashyar Darvich, to be released in the Summer of 2007, about the Dalai Lama's meeting with Western "renaissance" thinkers at his home in Dharamsala, India, about changing the world and resolving many of the world's problems.
These Western thinkers who meet the Dalai Lama include: quantum physicists Fred Alan Wolf and Amit Goswami (from the documentaries What the Bleep Do We Know and The Secret), social scientist Jean Houston, and founder of Agape International Spiritual Center church in Los Angeles, Dr. Michael Beckwith.
The film includes original music by Tibetan musicians, as well as master sitarist Roop Verma, who studied under Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan.
This is the first feature film about the Dalai Lama released for many years.
Thursday, 7 February 2008
Repeat print workshop
Pepeat print is one of the skills I have not yet had experience of tso this was a great opprtunity to get to know the basics . To create the design we collaged a variety of images from our sketch books to put on to acetate to create a screen . I combined the recent branch drawings ith some dirds an floweers from my India Sketch book from earlier in 2007 . We than had to find a mid line to "cut through " to then reassemble the image so we could see how it would repeat horizontally . The first image shows the single image the second shows it in repeat . We only printed in one colour black but were shown how to set up the table to do the repeat . A great on to follow up .
Wednesday, 6 February 2008
Discharge print workshop
This week we have done two days which ran into three of print workshops . Great but exhausting .
The first using discharge paste on predyed wool delaine to discover which colours are a)dischargeable B0 the colours that the overprinted illuminating pastes create . We ended up with an amazing array of samples as we all shared our results . Having said that dischrge printing is something I wanted to get away from as it is as far as I know not environmentally friendly I absolutely love the colours that it produces and the excitement of not quite knowing waht the result is going to be until the print is processed .
Monday, 4 February 2008
Ties
My ties and scarves at the Craft and Design Centre in Manchester are running low so here is the opportunity to use the fern screen I have made for my devore samples.. I keep meaning to have my own backing cloth so that I have a history of the prints I have made.
Sunday, 3 February 2008
Postcard 12
The image here is a composite of photographs of wild flowers growing at the side of the drive at the Tremough campus Flowers that I would normally associate with spring . I wonder how well they will survive the continuing changeable weather . The arrival of such vibrance and colour is a sign to complete the winter window pieces as soon as possible in order to move onto spring pieces .
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