Grrrrrr

I feel like growling - as unbelievably I have another cold!  So despite making it to the studio, I found myself completely ineffective, so just wasted 3 hours stood staring at scraps of paper, bits of thread and generally being confused.   There are a few key themes that I am trying to illustrate through my work, and it is a much more conceptual way of working than I am used to.  I am trying to show time through the use of materials, depict memory found and memory lost, a way of containing or preserving time and memory.  I want to find a way to embed these ideas through the process of making.   The handmade quality of my work is important and I don't want the concept to overpower the making of it - I really dislike the sort of art that has some deep meaning, but looks badly made.  I worry that although I have narrowed my research down, there are so many avenues to explore that I am still confused about what I am doing.

Continuing with ideas around the breakdown printing method - this appeals to me as the words I have written slowly become less clear, mimicking the way our memory works - but a piece of cloth somehow doesn't seem enough - and now what to I do with it?

A disastrous attempt using chemicals to create photographic prints. The photo of the process looks more interesting than the prints, mainly because I missed the essential final part of the process which was to wash the papers, so they all slowly developed to leave me with a nice collection of blank brown pages?!   Perhaps if I filmed this accident, that could be a way of illustrating time (me? film something?  EEK)

Slowly burning pages to extract them from an old book, makes a good image.

Wrapping and binding as a way to preserve or contain.

There are ideas here, but the experimentation all seems a little haphazard, I feel I need a process or perhaps certain techniques to help pin my work down.  Questions, that's what I've got lots of!

Comments

  1. Well, from my vantage point, it sounds like the fun experimental part of art making...but I sympathize with your feeling of frustration.

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  2. Do you know what - you are right Leslie - I think am just being far too negative and critical at the early stages. So time to get on with it :)

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