I have been very conscious throughout this project that I
have been doing a lot of reading and thinking, and not much practical work. I
think I have needed this time to appreciate everything I have learnt, enabling
me to go on and respond practically. I decided it was important to start
drawing again, so a couple of course friends and I set up a Tuesday morning
drawing session, which forced us to sit down at least once a week and draw.
This has really helped me get back into the creative mind set, and remind
myself that I am on a practice lead MA, not just a research one.
I have started drawing everyday objects that can be linked
to women, things like make-up kits, hair brushes and sewing equipment. I chose
to use a small A5 sketchbook, which is much smaller than I would usually use. I
like the idea that this small book is easily carried around in my bag, I want
to make drawing a much integral part of my practice...both observational
drawings and potential design ideas. However, I do wonder whether it may be
beneficial for me to have one observational drawing sketchbook and one
designing sketchbook. I've really enjoyed being able to tailor my practice to
be the best and most effective for me. I am a very organised person and when I
am drawing design ideas I like to have easy access to visual inspiration. I
have always found that when all my drawings are in one book, I tend to get
confused flicking back a forth through the pages. I have also considered using
lots of separate pieces of paper so I can spread them all out and view them
together...but I am a sucker for a sketchbook!
Lin Cheung’s essay Wear, Wearing, Worn: The Transitions of
Jewels to Jewellery exaggerates this idea that by wearing, owning and
interacting with our jewellery, we breathe life into it. Without the wearer the
jewellery is incomplete. “Without a finger a ring is just a object with a hole,
a necklace adopts a meaningless shape without the armature of the neck”. Cheung
uses archetypal jewellery forms as a basic language. By borrowing and
referencing the familiar shapes of lockets, rings and necklaces; she sets the
pieces ready to receive an idea. The familiar forms encourage people to
understand and accept new stories to be told. I hope that taking inspiration
from everyday objects will create a relatable aspect to my jewellery, creating
a feeling of comfort and familiarity.
During one of our lectures delivered by Jane Webb, we were
introduced to ways of documenting and exploring our ideas visually, and it made
me think about drawing, photography and collage in a way I had never before.
Drawing allows you to experience an object down to the finest detail,
photography is a way to create a sense of realism and believability, collage
can be used to very successfully to tell a story and can in fact, take the
realism of photographs and manipulate them to tell a completely different
story.
I have collected a number of key words such as soft, strong,
domestic, beauty, practical, glamorous and utility, which reflect my
inspirations and interests of women. I have started to create collages to
visually represent these words using some black and white photographs found
from the online archive from the Visual Resource Centre. I like the idea of
making assemblages of paper, photographs, objects and jewellery to help
visualise my story, making the collage both 2D and 3D.
I have started to create collages to visually represent
these words using some black and white photographs found from the online
archive from the Visual Resource Centre. I like the idea of making assemblages
of paper, photographs, objects and jewellery to help visualise my story, making
the collage both 2D and 3D. In the past, colour hasn’t been an important part
of my work but I intend to change this. I am going to experiment with colours
and patterns that stereotypically can be linked to women.
To help me find appropriate objects and images for my
assemblages, I am going to create certain scenarios such as women at home, in
the kitchen, sewing or cleaning and perhaps women at work or ladies who lunch.
I would like to be playful with the titles of my pieces. The jewellery will be
simplistic, with strong geometric shapes and forms, and will have notions of
utilitarian objects, to juxtapose and to enforce the idea of women having to be
both domestically practical and aesthetically beautiful.
Words have been a massive part of this unit for me, I am
becoming more and more obsessed with books; so much so, that I wonder whether
some of my pieces should reflect this. At a recent exhibition I included a few
relevant books in the display of my jewellery, to help tell the story. I think
I can integrate books, words and quotes more deeply in my work than this. I
have found an old book handed down to my Mum called Everybody's Best Friend,
written and published in 1958, it has advice and guidance for any problem life
may hold. At the time it was published, I imagine the book was taken very
seriously, however reading it now, it is just hilarious. Sections include, Love
And Courtship Problems, Difficult Wives, Etiquette For All Occasions and How to
Develop Personality...I have a few other books like this that I would like to
take quotes and sections from to include in my collages.
I went to the Special Collections in the Library to view
some Victorian Ladies Albums, which are a colourful example of the construction
of femininity and domestic obedience. Housewives spent hours carefully crafting
these albums, as this was thought of as a suitable, controlled way for women to
spend their spare time. The images are of flowers and birds, and other
stereotypically feminine things. I want to use traditional feminine rituals and
creative techniques such as embroidery within my collages, bringing back this
idea of creating a visual language within my work.
