Saturday, December 12, 2009

I've been gone so long

Sorry to have vanished for so long, I thought I better make a post before a whole month had gone by with no action on this blog of mine. I've been unwell for a couple of weeks and when i've not been unwell i've been somehow blocked and unable to focus long enough to make a post here, which I suppose is symptomatic of being unwell in the first place. Anyway here I am again and I thought I would share a few photos I took at the Installation Art workshop I took over two weekends in the very very rainy town of Glastonbury.

Not used to seeing the streets so empty here!

Due to having to use public transport I arrived very early on the first day to find the streets emptier than I'd ever seen them

The phone box I used  when I discovered i'd left my phone at home. I was very glad to see it.

I also discovered that I had left my phone at home, so I was pleased to see that such things as public phone boxes still exist in Glastonbury (also good for sheltering from the rain)

The workshop was lead by Melanie Thompson, a performance and installation artist who lectures at Dartington College of Art. IT was held at The Phoenix Project, an unfunded space that offered lots of interesting possibilities for working with. I took some photos of spaces on the first day that interested me

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In the kitchen was this reminder for us all:

On the wall in the Phoenix project kitchen

On the second day of the workshop Melanie lead us through an exercise using just a white bed sheet and a child's chair

Installation art workshop work

the way we all responded to it was fascinating- I used the chair back to weave the sheet through, I am becoming increasingly interested in weaving and basket making, something that became apparent as my work progressed over the second day.

Installation art workshop work

We had been asked to bring a chair with us for the second part of the workshop, and any objects that resonated with us. We were also given an image to look at and contemplate during the week, the idea being that we came to the second part with some materials but no solid ideas. For some reason I became obsessed with wrapping the chair with string. I think this was partly due to being exposed to the work of my friend Kirsty Hall, who uses a lot of string, and to the work of my friend Tish, who has an obsession with labels and hanging tags. It also reminded me of the handles of potato peelers, and the way in which saucepan lid handles might get wrapped up to protect your hands from the heat.

Installation art workshop work

I decided to only wrap one side of the chair legs and back, and then I went on to wrapping the seat and back rest.

Installation art workshop work

I had also taken along a box of cake forks that my grandparents had given me- they were one of the wedding gifts that they had been given and I wanted to include them in the piece some how. I started wrapping and weaving the forks and added them to the suspended chair.

Installation art workshop work

Installation art workshop work

Finished work- not bad going for one day I think.

2 comments:

Kirsty Hall said...

Thanks for the link, honey.

I think this work is fantastic, Milla. I just love the string, especially the fork. Something about the pattern of the weaving really speaks to me. Hey, you know what - we should totally do an exhibition about string! In our copious free time, hahahaha...

Drink Recipes said...

Thanks grreat post