Blog
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Museum Construct
What is a museum? Are artists who collect and curate/ represent things creating mini museums. Are our personal spaces identity museums?What is worthy of being in a museum?What is worthy of looking at?How do museums present things? How do we choose to catalogue objects and why?How do museums function?Being in a museum gives objects a sense of value and importance. People are stood guarding it, so it must be precious right. People pay to see this stuff and they have a little plaque telling us all about it. Maybe there’s a print of a photograph of this object on a tea towel in the gift shop.Are museums healthy? Museum culture is undeniably institutionally racist and sexist and pro criminal/ pro empire/war looting; a lot of artifacts on display belong to other cultures and were stilen during mikitary occupation. There are curators trying to challenge this toxicity but it sounds like an uphill struggle. Lived history is an important conversation in general and in the museum world at the moment. Who’s story is being told? Who is telling their story? And who do we believe?We all create our own personal museums. All our belongings are a collective museum, an autobiographical collection of artifacts that we constantly evolve and curate, informed by our life’s journey. What do we keep and what do we discard. Why? How do we catalogue this treasure, this proof of our existence?We sometimes go to museums as tourists, but this can mean we aren’t really looking. It’s often a busy, loud and purpose driven space. This looking but not being present can mean that you aren’t really engaging with the pieces there. What is the difference between looking and experiencing/ engaging?Irwin Live looks at that idea in this installation.
Art is a cultural experience. Often people who don’t make art often go to see art and this is an interesting occurrence. It is kind of singular in fact.The American artist Mike Kelley takes found objects and presents them in a classification way. Like biological specimens. Playing with classification is an interesting idea, it creates a different narrative for the objects on display. It is almost forensic.
Magdalena Jetalovak played with space in this installation that spilled over and dominates the museum. Like the sands of time spilling from a giant hour glass. The space has the sense of being reclaimed by the elements, like the sea and the desert reclaims parts of the earth. It makes us think about what is lasting? What will be left in 1000 years? What is permanent? Do things need to have permanency to have value?
Paul McCarthys video ‘The Painter’ is dealing with the construct of what it is to be a struggling artist and the life of struggling and suffering they are meant to have. Exploring the trope of is suffering good for you? Suffering and redemption. How do we expect people to behave? How do we try to meaning make and understand stuff to reconcile our existential angst.
Mark Manders explores the idea of crating and packaging. We take great care of things of value. Or do we? Valuable how? To who? Why? Does something have excessive hysterical packaging make it valuable? How do we present artefacts/ art?
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Framing my textile landscape pieces
Because I didn’t embroider these pieces on a hoop (rookie move) the felt backing has distorted and so I want to stretch them over a frame. -
Slipcasting my horn mould. Finally.
It’s finally dry enough to slip cast, woooooo hooooooooo!!!
I’m going to do a really thick first cast to make sure it’s as stable as possible so it survives after I put the curve into it.
James was helpful suggesting a technique where we could safely tip the mould out together using a large piece of stuffing to support it’s weight. As you can see, the cast is nice and thick.
I left it draining for a few hours (3ish), keeping everything crossed that it would come out well.Looks like a portal inside.
I’ve left it overnight to dry a little and will take it tomorrow and try to bend the cast into a pleasing horny shape. -
Text choice for the wimple embroidery
I have decided to embroider the serenity prayer on the wimple.
It is a prayer that would have been spoken regularly 19th century nuns.I chose it because it isn’t derisive but it does encourage reflection for me about “What is in my power and what is not”. “What am I responsible for?”It is ambiguous. It resonates with me as a kind of universal wisdom. It feels more like a mantra than a prayer. Are they the same thing?I like that as a verse, it is still alive and relevant today, even in non ecclesiastical contexts. For example it is used during Narcotics Anonymous meetings. -
Kneeler tapestry design and sewing timeline
I have been considering various ways I can put my kneeler cross stitch pattern on canvas to scale.The creative ideal would be be sublimation printing my design in the fashion studio. I have never done this before and so have asked for an induction in the technique early next week.Another option is paying a specialist company to print it for me. After some research I contacted the CS team at www.bagsoflove.co.uk who advised on using Microsoft Paint or Canva to design my pattern. They can create a printed canvas to my spec and have a quick turnaround.
I will firm up my design over the weekend and then decide what to do. I’ve got a really tight timeline already so if getting it printed externally will be the fastest and most stress free option then I will go with bags of love.They have said I could send my design to their print team for proof early next week (02089 604 567).Next I need to get my tapestry wool. If all goes to plan I should be stitching by mid end of next week. If I do so, I should have more than enough time to get the piece done over the holidays, according to advice from experienced stitchers. -
Freehand embroidery with a sewing machine
Carmella inducted me in the fashion studio and taught me how to embroider writing using a sewing machine. It’s a really effective technique and will absolutely speed up adding textile text to the wimple.It was good to jump on a sewing machine again. I had forgotten a lot of my past skill and was initially quite frustrated. And apparently the college machines can be temperamental.
But after about an hour of practising and experimenting a lot of it came back to me and I was re-threading the machine and problem solving confidently.It was this machine….
I just need to experiment more with the stitch pattern and length until I find the right scale and aesthetic. My initial preference is straight stitch (1 width) and a very short length (1.5).
Carmella said Friday’s are best for me to use the studio space and they are back on the 3rd of January.I think I will write the words in vanishing pen on the fabric and then embroider over that using the machine, so I can keep the text as intricate, small and legible as possible.I love the uncomfortable spikey quality of the writing. It’s a nice juxtaposition with the nobility text I plan to write. It almost looks like barbed wire, which has delicious religious overtones. It’s got attitude so it’s its another lush contrast and subversion; because we expect a kind of twee niceness from crafts like sewing. -
What am I displaying my wimple on?
I’d like to source (or make if necessary) a primitive mannequin head like this.
Ill ask the fashion department if they have anything I can borrow for the exhibition that can be fixed dowb to the castles satisfaction.If not I’ll ask for advice from the ceramics and 3D technicians.
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The kneeling stool
Earlier in my blog I shared that I bought this kneeling stool from an antique shop the other weekend for my portrait project. I fell in love with it immediately, with its gorgeous gothic arches and dark wood.I am chatting with technician Don in the 3D workshop about reconditioning and re-upholstering this piece; using my cross stitch, new padding and braiding to restore it to a functional stool.This includes stripping back the piece to the frame, mending and reconditioning the wood, and then reupholstering it with padding, calico and finally the cross stitch top layer edged with braiding.
Using this frankly magical tool, I removed the staples holding the old top layer of fabric in place. This took longer than expected.
Underneath I found a tired, grubby and still intact base of calico, testament to how many humans knees and hands and arses and hearts and minds and souls have connected with the object over the years. This was both gross and delicious to think on.
You can see from the visible original nails that the previous covering was a shade of burgundy.
The padding is totally disintegrated.I am having a chat with Di from Parish Kneelers this afternoon to discuss the best materials to use for the project.Once I have bought the right cross stitch fabric I will work with Don to build a stretch frame so I can get stitching.
