Development - The Working Woman - Silhouette and Shape

The work of students at Central St Martins in 'Shirt Futures' recontextualises  the traditional shirt, proposing new forms and shapes.  I considered the evolving shape of the working woman in terms of her clothing.  I researched some current fashion magazines  and noted the often masculine shapes adopted by many designers.

Research - Reading ' Terra Infirma' - Geography' s Visual Culture - Irrit Rogof

Currently reading this on the suggestion of my tutor.

Reading the essay on 'Luggage'.  I found this so interesting.

Exhibition Visit - Images from 'The Shirt Factory Project'

This is my third visit to this exhibition.  The space is evolving over the year so there is always something changing.  There was a group of women involved in girdle making while I was in.  Part of the project is to have a living exhibit were some form of making is going on.  The fact that this is all taking place within the old City Factory gives it an authenticity.   

Thread sculpture on machine bench.

Machine bench.

Machinery parts

These are my own images.

Exhibition Visit - Central St Martin's BA Fashion Students - 'Shirt Futures'

This exhibition 'Shirt Futures' is running until the 5th October 2013.  It is housed within the year long 'Shirt Factory Project' which I have already mentioned in this blog.   I found this an interesting exhibit and although it is primarily a fashion project,  it did get me thinking!  This is a project run every year at the college were students are asked to revisit the shirt as a contemporary garment and re-imagine it in a form that challenges its current design.  

Experimentation - Drawing with thread

Dissatisfied with what I had been producing so far using traditional media, I have decided to experiment with thread as a drawing medium.  This medium connects with my area of interest.  The outcome is fresher and more spontaneous than my previous drawings.  I think what is wrong with my previous drawings is that the mark making itself is not evident - this is a much more expressive drawing, albeit with thread.

Drawing Progress - or lack of....

Pencil Study (1) - July 2013 - A2

The above study was completed in July before I had confirmed my project proposal so it bears no relevance to it.  It's from a photograph that I took recently.  He interested me because of his unusual attire and he was playing a keyboard in the street - a crowd had gathered round.  He was wearing this bizarre cloak.   I have included it because it took about 7 hours to complete.  I can see now that I should have included the background in the drawing.  The hands are also slightly out of proportion because he was moving as the photograph was taken.  I think there should be a broader range of tones and that the darkest tone should be much darker.  I know there is an issue with using photographs because detail is lost but in the absence of a model sometimes there is no alternative.  I should add that 95% of the drawings in my sketchbook are from life.

Study (2) on a toned background - Oil pastel and Charcoal - A2

I was exploring the'symbolism of the shirt' - how it was almost exclusively made by women but worn by men.  I was playing around with the notion that putting the shirt on was symbolic of a woman reclaiming some of her power.   I did some short studies from life and took some photographs to work from..  I think the idea is ok but I don't think the image itself is working on any level.  The initial drawing was working until I started in with oil pastels (which I don't like) and I lost all expression in the lines.  The pose is also wrong and isn't saying anything.

Study 3 - .Charcoal and Acrylic wash -  A3

This was an attempt at loosening up my approach and I began drawing with a wash of acrylic and fine paintbrush instead of a hard edge.  I then firmed up the shape with charcoal.

Study 4 - Charcoal - A3

Study 5 - Charcoal - A3

I think I went through these last few efforts trying to decide on which media to use.  I favour charcoal at the moment.  

I now need to focus on the four drawings required for this first assignment and they all need to relate to the final proposal.  Perhaps I'm having difficulty because I'm not referencing a particular style in my drawing. I've looked at Paula Rego, Jenny Saville, Nicola Hicks, Rita Duffy, Giacometti among numerous others but many of these styles are sketchy and informative rather than very finished pieces in themselves.  I'm just not sure if I should be referencing another artist's style for this particular assignment.

Plan for 4 pieces for Assignment

1.  Drawing - Figurative - Female figure putting on a shirt 

2.  Drawing - Still Life - Things associated with sewing/domesticity

3.  Drawing - Portrait - Sewing/making

4.  Drawing - Toned Ground - Still Life - As no2 

Exhibition Visit - The Shirt Factory Project - Evolving Exhibition over the year of UK City Of Culture 2013

"The Shirt Factory is a multifaceted art project that takes its inspiration from the shirt factories of Derry. It is a socially engaged project that aims to explore the legacy of shirt making and female labor in the city as a contemporary art experience. Working across art forms this year-long project will work with individuals stitching together a range of themes; history, gender roles, economics and globalization, presenting public art events and reinventing the former City Shirt Factory on Patrick Street as a pop up museum." http://theshirtfactoryderry.com/

I've been into this exhibition on a couple of occasions during the year and sure enough, it's a hive of activity.

There are women sewing and ironing, storytelling and reminiscing.  The sewing machine orchestra was quite something - about 20 old singer sewing machines hooked up so that they 'play' as a group 

http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article/5791/artist-rita-duffy-launches-the-shirt-factory-project#.UcjOgXAR-tw.tumblr

Ideas and Development

Main themes arising from research and analysis

Symbolism of the Shirt - Made by women, worn by men

Creativity versus mechanisation/industrialisation

Sewing and stiching as metaphors - joining/holding/binding together

Constant repetitive action in the making of the garment

Past and present  - historical and contemporary - what does the past bring to the present

 Below:  Notes from Log

Exhibition Visit - Andrei Molodkin at the Void Gallery

I saw Andrei Molodkin's "Catholic Blood" exhibition recently in the Void Gallery, Derry.  The Void has a reputation for bringing international artists to its space.  Matt Collishaw, Polly Morgan and Ackroyd and Harvey are among the artists who have exhibited in the last few years.

http://www.derryvoid.com/programme/andreimolodkin.php

 Molodkin is a Russian artist who is not afraid of a bit of controversy.  He has used blood before but on this occasion, wanted only donations of blood from Catholics.  Certainly, there were a few raised eyebrows around here.  Ultimately, though, the idea was more shocking than the actual exhibition itself.  Molodkin designed a glass structure that was a replica of the Rose window in the Houses of Parliament.  Working from the premise that one must be a Protestant to become a British Prime Minister, the insertion of  Catholic blood into this Protestant symbol  was to draw attention to this fact.  The blood was pumped into the 'window' at regular intervals and then projected as a live feed onto the gallery wall.  There was palpable tension in the space as the viewers anticipated each firing of the pump that flooded the 'window' with blood.

An interesting concept - blood is a controversial material to work with on many levels.  The viewer only knows this blood to be Catholic because the artist tells us that it is.  

Above; Molodkin's original drawings for this work.   Source:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-22570447

Exhibition Visit - UK City of Culture 2013 - "Picturing Derry "

I'm updating the blog with all my recent exhibition visits - beginning with this photographic exhibition.  

t's main focus is the outbreak of violence in 1969 when the world's press descended on the City of Derry. Also, twice Turner prize nominated Willie Doherty is represented with some of his early work and also the interesting response to 'The Troubles' by Victor Sloan.  I'm also noting with interest that there weren't any female photographers around at the time....

Above: Photograph by Gilles Caron,  (French) 12th August 1969

Gilles Caron, the reknowned French photographer, took many of the now iconic images of the troubles in Derry.  Above is a work taken in the immediate aftermath of rioting.  The girl seems unsure and very possibly afraid.  I heard one visitor to the exhibition remark,  'I can't believe we lived through that'.  It's hard to believe that now the city is the Inaugural UK City of Culture in 2013.

 Above: Works by Victor Sloan - His visual language involves mark making on the surface of his photographs with bleach, toners, gouache and scratching into the negatives before printing.  These two works in the exhibition are of Orange Order marches  making their way through the arches in Derry's walls.
The walls themselves are a hugely significant and often contentious part of the physical environment of the city.  Built by the London Merchant Companies in 1613, as part of the Plantation of Ulster, these walls still encircle the inner city today. The city is known as Derry or Londonderry, depending on one's political viewpoint.

http://www.victorsloan.com/2010/05/return-to-works-walls-m-arket-street.html

Above: Early works by Willie Doherty.  Photographer and video installation artist.

"Doherty's work in the late 1980s often combined black-and-white topographical images overlaid with words and phrases or juxtaposed with texts. These first demonstrated his interest in the ambiguous and contradictory meanings that images can suggest; this has been fed by his sustained engagement with the political conflicts in Northern Ireland and focused by a specific interest in his home town of Derry"

From:  http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/willie-doherty-2732

There was so much in the exhibition that one visit wasn't really adequate.  There was also a sense of 'this is the past and we're done with that now'.

Researching the past.....

With reference to the Shirt industry in Derry since the 1850's, I decided to look at the evidence for the vast numbers of women who were purportedly employed within these factories.  I chose to look at the 1911 Census of Ireland which is available online.  http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/

I found that there were literally thousands of women from the age of 14 employed as , for instance a 'Seamstress', 'Collar Maker', 'Collar Stamper', 'Collar Turner', 'Linen Factory Machinist' 'Shirt Maker' etc and sometimes whole streets had 30 or 40 women all working within this industry.

I obtained a map of the City from 1905 to determine the extent of the factories around the time of the Census.

Research - Paula Rego - Approaches to Painting

'The best painter of womens' experience alive.' - Robert Hughes

I'm very interested in the work of Paula Rego - both in terms of style and subject matter.  Her visual language employs the female as the key element in her paintings.  Her work is about the lives of women, birth and death, violence, anger, abortion and mutilation.For 'The Dance', completed in 1988, Rego made a large number of preparatory figurative and compositional sketches from memory. Only then were models introduced for the painting of the final piece. Although a contemporary work, the stylizing of the figures draws from her home country of Portugal and much of the story telling within Rego's work came from her Grandmother in Portugal.

Paula Rego - Study for 'The Dance', 1988

Paula Rego - Study for 'The Dance', 1988

Paula Rego - 'The Dance', 1988.

The painting reminds me of Munch's, 'The Dance of Life'.    The circular compostion echoes the circle of life.  The work alludes to courtship, marriage and birth.  The scale of the figures is unusual - a device I have noticed in other works by Rego were she plays around with our perception of what the scale of a figure should be.  This can be disconcerting and adds to the degree of menace within some of her works.


http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/paula-regos-private-world-8465878.html

Above is a link to an interesting article on Rego where she talks about fear being one of the main themes within her work.

Proposal for final outcome of this module

 Proposal for Final Outcome - Six Paintings

In contemplating what interests me enough to sustain a prolonged period of study, I have concluded that the lives of women interests me most of all - this does not exclude my interest in magic and folklore but rather connects in many ways to that.

I'm a history graduate and as such, enjoy reading about and researching the lives of women - both famous and unknown. As the past informs the present, both historical and contemporary issues attract me.  One prominent aspect of the lives of the women of my own town of Derry was their involvement in the shirt making industry.  From the mid-Victorian period, Derry grew to become the shirt making capital of the world and employed thousands of women.  The women worked but many men did not - particularly in the 1950's and 1960's.

The inevitable decline of the industry took place in the twentieth century but the mark of this era can still be seen in the industrial architecture of the city and heard in the legacy of stories from women, including my own aunts and grandmothers, who were all involved to some extent in this process of 'making'.   I also worked in the office of one of these factories for a couple of years after I left college. 

The 'shirt' itself is a very symbolic garment - made almost exclusively by women and worn almost exclusively by men.

I do not want to illustrate a history of this city but I would like to draw upon what I know of  these women to produce works that evoke their stories without being literal in any way.

Through current research, one of the many artists I have looked at is Paula Rego.  I love her storytelling ability and her approach to the drawing and painting of the female figure.  Her work will be a reference throughout this module.  Rita Duffy's "Arctic Circus" and the work of textile artists Alice Kettle and Elizabeth Tarr (62 Group) also attracts me - although their medium is textiles, their work is distinctly painterly.

In conclusion, I do not want to pre-empt what format or even medium I might ultimately use  for this final assignment but my intention is to focus on the lives of women.  For this 'homage' to women, I will take inspiration from the lives of historical figures and the unknown and unsung heroines of today.

Figure drawing practice

Figure drawing practice - I absolutely love drawing the figure - these quick studies are from photographs though and although this is fine for short studies, I would prefer to have the model present. It makes the drawing easier anyway.

Directions

I have now 'nailed down' some ideas about how I want my work to develop and what the final outcome for this module might be.  A series of paintings are planned based on the lives of women but particularly the lives of women in my home town of Derry.

My proposal describes  how the shirt making industry made a huge impact on the social and economic history of this town from the mid-Victorian era until the 1990's. There were up to 20,000 women employed around the 1940's.  The legacy of this industry is woven into the very fabric and oral history of Derry.

 I'm also looking at the symbolism of 'the shirt'  and how it was made primarily by women and worn almost exclusively by men.  I'm playing around with the shirt itself and the idea of the women 'claiming' the shirt as their own and putting it on.

I'm also exploring issues around creativity, the home and how this industry, by its repetitive piecemeal nature denys creativity.

  Interior of a shirt factory

Source:  http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/fox.htm

Back to basics

Assignment 1 - Drawing

I started with OCA around the end of June 2013.  I have to say it has taken a while to get organised - deciding to blog or not to blog and getting back into the habit of drawing and sketching every day.

Most of July 2013 was spent drawing while on holiday - mostly 5 or 10 minute sketches and also planning ideas for what I proposed to do as my final paintings for this module.  I have two sketch books on the go - a small A5 for quick sketches and an A3 hardback.  The A3 is already starting to feel too small and I'll probably move up to A2.

I've uploaded a few studies from my sketchbook - all half hour studies.

 July 2013, Drawn from Life, Charcoal

July 2013, Drawn from Life, Oil Pastel

July 2013, Drawn from Life. Oil Pastel

July 2013, Drawn from Life, Graphite.

July 2013, 2B and 4B Pencils.

I've always much preferred painting to drawing.  My drawing is quite rigid and I need to find ways to loosen this up and broaden the range of media I use.  To date, in my sketchbook I have used graphite, charcoal, ink on collage, oil pastel, inktense and watercolour pencils.