its done....

 Well here we are.  Critical evaluation done - usual thing....struggle to get enough words, then too many words and everything needs to be said.  Its done...

The rag book is assembled.  See below the layout - which had lost its registration marks in the printing process.  I'm quite pleased with the results.  I like the images, I think there are too many pages - it becomes a bit tiresome.  Some of the images should have been larger.  Its done...

Pecha Kucha took longer than I thought. Can't pretend that I'm sorry to have missed giving the presentation. 

busy busy busy

Further to my tutorial last week, I put out a call for more toys/ornaments.  I have drawn, painted and felt tipped more images - often very messily (esp because time is short) which are then tidied up with Photoshop - sometimes changing the colours completely.

More sequencing, positioning, selecting, rejecting (quotes and images).  A third mock up book.  The notes on stitching have been included this round.  I'll be seeing Sarah Angold today before I see Neil to enquire whether he might be able to digitally print the book in time for submission next Thursday.

I have to say that I have really enjoyed this unit.  I feel, at last, that I am creating something that I relate to, that I like and that I feel is meaningful.  It includes elements that I have always liked - naïve and bold images, text and a genuine reflection of how I experience life.

ruthless edit.

I have decided to omit the historical notes and some of the images from my rag book.  Meanwhile I have drawn two more images.  Sarah asked for 30 by next week - which can be narrowed down to ten - but it takes me a few hours to draw each image so I won't be able to manage more than five or six. 

I also want to use the images in a repeat pattern.

Sarah called my work 'Controversial Craft'.  I like that.

Found a 'Call for papers' on Facebook for a conference called 'The Subversive Stitch Revisited: The Politics of Cloth' at the Sackler Centre, Victoria & Albert Museum - 29th and 30th November 2013.  I definitely want to be there - not as presenter though.  'The Subversive Stitch' is the key text for this unit.

this week

Attended an acrylic painting workshop this week.  Lots of mark making exercises, painting on card and painting on canvas.

Spent a lot of time  this week trying to sequence my rag book, positioning  images on the pages, matching images and words from the questionnaire and making it look like a single collection by including the colourway within the images or around the images.

Tutorial with Sarah Angold.  My heart was sinking as I heard her telling Vanessa to experiment and not concentrate on the end result.  My work is a million miles away from Sarah's perspex jewellery.  All the old doubts crowded in - I'm an old girl, who am I kidding, what makes me think I have an iota of creativity or taste. I'm a laughing stock.  

But I know that I love creating, that I love looking at others people's work, that I don't like everything I view and that I have loved creating the images for this project.

Sarah liked them!  Not all of them.  She called it 'controversial craft' and she injected a less 'serious' note.  I have been trying to include all 40 responses, the serious research etc.  She said I should select, edit, exclude etc.  She liked the idea of seeing the responses while not knowing the question.  She made it all a bit more 'edgy'.  Relief!  And back home I started another image with renewed enthusiasm.               

planning and testing

colours used in Dean's rag book

Popped in to NUA Thursday to print a mock up of my rag book and to get some information and advice from Neil. The mock rag book revealed that I need to give more attention to the positioning of my drawings on each page - they need to contrast to give an element of surprise - and to the colours used - there needs to be some consistentency to bring it together.  I will be incorporating the four main colours used in Dean's Rag Books.

Neil is on holiday until 5th or 7th August - which is probably a good thing because it means that I will research, plan and test more thoroughly before digitally printing.

The Blue Cock

Katharina Fritsch's Hahn/Cock has been installed on the 4th plinth.  Its bold and I'm looking forward to seeing this on my next visit to London.  Described by the Guardian as 'a comment on masculinity and public pomp', this is just what I need for my collaged rag book.

For research purposes only, I popped into the Cath Kidstone shop on Norwich yesterday.  In truth, I like some of the stuff but the ubiquity of the goods, the predictability, the cosiness and the saturation branding really puts me off.  It gave me the horrors because I have previously blogged that my work usually references the past. 

Listened to Woman's Hour yesterday - all about the suffragettes.  Apparently we are in fourth wave feminism and I thought we were still in the third wave!  Back to the research.  I also emailed a feminist lecturer to ask her opinion.

Dean Rag Books

I've got this fabulous book which shows the lovely illustrations used in rag books from the early 1900s.  It gives information about the artists, the company, the advertising and the customers.  It explains the history of Deans books, the construction, materials, size and colours of the rag books and the soft dolls.              The images used are humorous.  I want to say that the images and content are 'gentle' but they are unbelievably racist - the range includes Sambo dolls (1906), Coon Dolls (1906,1908) and golliwogs.  The book range includes Ten Little Niggers (1908 and 1919) and Pickaninny A.B.C. (1905).  Cruel? naive? ignorant? affectionate?  Who knows, but certainly not nice.  

 

Unashamedly nostalgic and very appealing to me - I realise that all my work references the past - I like the naivety, the colours, the black outlines, the materiality. Very enjoyable.