I got to show the first in my series of new work. This series is embroidered and based on maps, but it still retains the ambiquity and web-like quality of my previous work.

It’s based on a map of Clapham, Brixton, and Streatham where I used to live. I’ve embroidered the lines of every street I’ve been on in the area. It was done on dissolve-able fabric wherein I embroider directly on the plastic-y fabric and when I’m done, I dissolve it and only the string is left. It allows me to do a lot more intricate work than I can with crochet.

According to their webpage (what else), Cultivate is an artist’s space as of 1 September, 2011 and according to Sean, one of the organisers, it opened to the public in a mad 22 hour rush. He seemed a lot less traumatized about it than I would have been, and seemed to rather enjoy it! And why wouldn’t he? It’s a new (ad)venture set up to be an artist’s run alternative to the London art’s scene. It’s DIY (everyone loves that) and very personable so far. Running for 6 months (or longer if possible), Cultivate is just finishing their first show, called Red, which opened with what seemed like a fun, rambunctious, birthing ceremony.

Their next show is called Little Benefits, showing small, affordable pieces to the benefit of all those involved. The entrance fee is a very reasonable 10 pounds, the artist gets their work shown (for sale) on Vyner street, and it helps to fund the gallery in their burgeoning months.

I’m of course new to the art scene and has had a very positive experience with those I’ve worked with so far and as I’ve just started, I welcome any opportunity I can get. This is also a second opportunity to see my work done for the Open Doors London: W12 exhibition that ran for the weekend of September 25th.

It’s also started turning the wheels in my curious brain about the role of the internet and information in my art and in my practice. During my library degree, we talked a lot about how the internet and the interactivity of the internet is changing information practice. I also hear all the time about how people did such and such using Twitter or how so and so built their career using Facebook. Maybe I’ll be the next success story.

At the Museum of London, a fantastic museum for tourists and Londoners alike, there’s an area where the walls are literally covered with maps and it can cause a bit of a bottle neck. You can see that where your flat is used to be a field and that the roads are still the same hundreds of years ago in places. Or the spelling as changed. Or there used to be an airport near Waterloo Station?

The old tube maps are also fascinating. The Bakerloo line was much bigger for instance, and the old line kind of explains its current, rather odd path.

In terms of maps in general (with a US focus) there is a rather good collection of articles here on Brain Pickings. In terms of maps of London, there is a huge array here at MappingLondon.co.uk

Aside from providing an outlet for those obsessed with their city, maps are seriously beautiful designs and objects. They range from visually simply functional to extravagant and gorgeous. They can also be very topical such as this map of tweets in London.

Maps are also illustrated memories and histories. Traditionally, political or trade histories, but they can also be personal histories. A scribbled-on old A-Z for instance, or the book of a Carolinian neighbourhood in Everything Sings. The originator of the carved pumpkins map.

What’s with all the maps? Well, I’m still working on my map project, which plans in store for a second for the next OpenDoors. More to come.

I am very proud of my work and it turned out exactly as I imagined. Lots of lovely people came to see it (including my boss at work).

It was odd to see my work next to ‘proper’ artist’s work. People who went to art school and who have exhibited before. I was surprised how well my stuff held up.

However good my work is and how proud I am of achieving my New Year’s Resolution, I found a pair of textile artists that put my work to shame. They’re doing basically what I’d love to do if I had the time/space/skill.

“this is elna” fiber lighting installation from elna and ( e i ). night documentation series with nude figure. model, Alese. photo by David Nebert

I have a lot of work to do. One exhibition doesn’t make an artist.

Open Doors London: W12, sourced from Open Doors

I’ve made four pieces, all in black and white, and centring on Shepards Bush Green. They all have my webs of course.

On the cutting room floor.

I’m exhibiting with some fantastic people who I’ve not met yet, but am very much looking forward to it. If you care to see my work (and the other artists), please stop by 28 Galloway Road, in London, between 11am and 6pm, the 24th of September. Nearest tube is Shepards Bush.

Sourced from Textile Arts Center blog

I’m currently working with Stephanie Cotella Tanner of Art Smacked who is curating a show at some point in the future. Stephanie is being kind enough to include me in the show with some really awesome artists. I kind of want to describe them as ‘proper’ artists as they’re both formally trained in art and are really quite good! Anyway, Stephanie wants to compare my work to the historical precedent of Louis Bourgeois.

Bourgeois  is a French American sculptor and artist who worked with many materials and with many themes over her extraordinarily long career.  My main interest in her work is the textile pieces that deal with the ‘exercise of memory.’ She was the artist behind the giant spider object at the Tate Modern a few years ago.

From the description of an exhibition at Cheim and Read:

Bourgeois was born in Paris in 1911. She moved to New York in 1938 and lived in the city until her death last year at age 98. Her  works on fabric are emblematic of certain themes: marriage, motherhood, sexuality, femininity, domesticity. This focus on the familial results in work of intense psychological complexity, exposing relationships and hierarchies related to female identity and its opposite (male/female, mother/father, organic/geometric, rigid/pliable). Coinciding with an inclination, at old age, to stay closer to home, Bourgeois’s late fabric works provide a sense of introspection – her wardrobe and linen closet became representative of memory. As Bourgeois has stated, “Clothing is…an exercise of memory. It makes me explore the past…like little signposts in the search for the past.” The re-appropriation of her husband’s handkerchiefs, stained tablecloths and napkins, and worn dresses from all phases of her life infuses the work with a confessional, talismanic aura.

The description of her work, is basically what I’m trying to communicate through my art. I joke that I make art because its cheaper than therapy, but to some extent, it is a way of exploring the world, my experiences, and my memories.The idea of using something with history also appeals to me. The material, if reused from somewhere, sometime, else brings all of those memories to the new object, kind of like magic.

Sourced From ThreadforThought.net

I think also that what appeals to me about using string is the idea of taking a mess of string and organising it into an object. From personal anecdotal evidence, I’ve found that a lot of information professionals  knit or crochet and I think that there is some kind of organisational aspect to working with string. I trained in information management, work at organising a database, and generally am a bit of a clean freak, so this aspect of working with string fits into my personality.

The production method is also essential to my work. The fact that it’s awkward, hand made, and takes ages (in my case), makes it a meditation on whatever I’m trying to make sense of be it year’s worth of memory or of the entire city of London.

By combining the memory of the materials used in the awkward production method that I use, the object is transformed into an organised memory. It is transformed into something that makes sense of all that it contains.

I’m not entirely sure how this fits into my previous posts about art and feminism, but Bourgeois is incredible. I think I have a lot more to learn about Art History.

Now if someone could teach this American how to pronounce her French last name, it’d be greatly appreciated.

I think the 70′s are unfairly remembered as just the time when a bunch of communist hippies planted flowers, but the movements in the 70′s really opened art (and life) up to groups that were traditionally not directly involved or marginalised. Macramé was the beginning of a lot of embarrassing fashion for my parents generation, but in art, it opened up new materials to be looked at in the context of fine art. Essentially, where was art meant to go after minimalism? Where do you go with traditional techniques once you’ve pared it down to it’s component parts? And what do you do with it when photography is accepted as the more ‘realistic’ technique.

Obviously, some painters found their own direction and there are still some today that are moving in new directions with painting. Photographers, too, have moved beyond the basics of just capturing life as it happens. The addition of new techniques and materials, such as those textile-based crafts opened up a new area of exploration and a new arena for those groups that weren’t involved in art before. The inclusion of traditional ‘women’s work’ allows for the inclusion of more women in art.

This is not to say that there were not female artists before this. They did exist. There were women impressionists (even a ceramist, thank you BBC) and Jackson Pollock’s wife was an established artist, to name a new.

The modern art movement and it’s American post-war counterpart, American Expressionism movement, was still dominated by men, but the women in their lives were artists and played a huge role in the making of this art, if only for their infinite patience. However, there are some larger-than-life female characters in the modern art saga like Peggy Guggenheim.

Eventually women were begun to be recognised as artists in their own right, with their own voices (without any token status). Some artists that come to mind are Frida Kahlo, Barbara Hepworth, and some textile art in the upper gallery of the Tate Modern by Marisa Merz.

Marisa Merz, as part of the Arte Povera movement, explores a lot of the art and life, home, and femininity ideas that interest me as well. She includes craft and traditional ‘women’s work’ to explore these themes.

The British Museum held a twitter debate on craft and it’s role now and some major themes of it were it’s traditional role, it’s social nature, and art vs. craft. Craft has the added value of traditionally and continually being a social arena. Traditionally a women’s ‘club’ to sit around together and talk and socialise, which has continued (with both genders) today. This is a very valuable contribution in a world (and a city) that can be very antisocial.

The distinction between art and craft was also discussed especially in terms of maintaining that distinction as two different, but equal methods. So one will not devalue or change the nature of the other.

However, for my work, I think that my craft doesn’t have to be just art or just craft. It can perform multiple roles both traditional, traditional female, and avant garde in the big, masculine? art world. It can be a social, fun expression of traditional techniques for both genders and a form of artistic expression for both genders. Since craft hasn’t found it’s place yet  in it’s rediscovery, if you will, it is still malleable. It’s not defined. It can be whatever you or I want it to be, Art or craft, art or Craft, for both genders.

Unfortunately, the soluble fabric is super shiny and difficult to photograph.

I finished embroidering the actual map and tried to get a side-by-side comparison, but the world (shiny fabric, short height, area constrained by a couch) conspired against me.

I’m somewhat concerned about the eventuality of dissolving the fabric. The map is about the size of a poster and could get very easily tangled. This is also my first time trying this technique, so I do hope all my effort isn’t for nothing! I plan on trying to dissolve it over a bit of screen and then carefully transferring it to it’s final home (TBD).

It’s been a really fun exercise in and of itself to trace where I’ve been in London. I do have a bit of a collection of London maps going and I really enjoy seeing the names of streets, seeing the paths, the roads, the haphazard lack of planning, and all the things that make London, London. I really like that anywhere you go, someone has been there before. I really like to think all of the infinitely intimate moments there have been that have since disappeared from the physical reality of London. It puts into perspective your own memories and fondness for parts of London and makes them feel small and meaningless because they’ll disappear too. At the same time, it makes them feel like an addition to the city and, especially for sad memories, that they too will pass. London is layers and layers and layers.

I think it’s best exemplified by one band’s actions after the generator stopped working. The organisers made the announcement that the set had to be postponed and out of their own volition The Hidden Cameras did an impromptu acoustic set. It was just lovely. People made their way back to the stage and were just very quiet trying to hear and just appreciating the gesture.

Video courtesy of Matthew Long (@burythehammer).

During the gig, I was putting together the pieces we made in the Owl Knit You workshop. It was really relaxing and probably one of my favourite moments not only of the festival, but ever. It kind of sums up the loveliness of Indietracks.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and lots of attendees said they’d try it at home. I learned a lot about teaching a workshop as well. (It’s kind of scary.)

Image courtesy of Matthew Long @burythehammer

Unfortunately, due to the massive amount of amazing things happening (The Little Orchestra and local ales, for example), we only got one picture of the final piece. We hung it up in the Merchandise Tent (Thanks again everyone! Especially the kind tall people who could reach the hooks!)

Image courtesy of Matthew Long @burythehammer

Now before this becomes entirely uninteresting to at least 50% of the population, I want to explore the idea of discussing feminist-related topics at all. I mean surely, we’re all equal now. Yes, well I think for the most part we are equal in overt terms, which is pretty good considering the historical precedent. I also think there is some work to do in the covert arena of equality. Equality itself brings about all sorts of discussions about equality and fairness and the sort, which won’t be discussed here, now. My point is that despite that women have it pretty good in England (even with good old David), let alone the western world , despite this, it is hugely important to maintain that discussion. Within language is the ability to express thoughts, feelings, and ideas. To keep this up and to maintain and improve out society, a discussion is important.

So discuss I will. Art and craft and men and women. Is art the realm of men and craft that of women? And where is its place now? I’ll be discussing this through a several part blog post, published over the next three weeks or so. In regards to its academic merit, I studied Art History at university, albeit I have not yet done specific research into this topic nor am I an expert in feminism. In reality, under an academic guise, this series is essentially slightly more than my own musing.

In the western tradition, painting and painters were thought of more like carpenters. They worked with their hands, unlike the poets who were primarily employees of the specifically cerebral. So at this point there was no difference between art and craft, but women’s work, such as knitting, stitching was just that, women’s work. Occasionally it made its way into some still life painting or a portrait. Then came the big name celebrity brands of the Renaissance and enter the artists of Leonardo and Michaelangelo. However, these artists were still essentially public sector employees. They worked for a powerful family, usually also the head of state, bringing admiration on the family for being so clever as to have employed such a man. After a while, there were the romanticists (19th century I believe?) during which time it was okay for artists to be more than employees. The more eccentric the better. This was only encouraged during the modernist period. Artists are now AAArtists, with free reign to do whatever they like, preferably irresponsible, poor, and working with traditional methods.

And then, with great help from Duchamp’s readymades, Braque’s illusions in cubism, and political changes making their way into the art world, less-traditional materials became proper art as well. See the Happenings, environmental art, and installation art. A lot of new materials started to be used during the 1970′s. the 1970′s was also a great time for feminists and women artists started to make more noise and traditional ‘women’s work’ not only became the subject of art, but the materials became used to make art.  The boundaries between personal and political, personal and artistic really broke down. Knitting, Macramé, fabric became less materials in and of the home and more acceptable to express the inner feelings of artists.

The majority of art history, however, is punctuated by male artists, for whatever reason using traditional techniques (paint, sculpture, etc). And this is not to say female artists don’t exist or that they didn’t find their way into posterity, but that there are far fewer. Probably that proper women didn’t do art and improper women were too busy working. It could also be that women are muses, not artists. Women are the subject, not the do-er. Women are the noun, not the verb. (Try to find a male nude that isn’t super feminine, and bonus points if you find a male muse prior to 1960. Seriously, I’m interested in that!)

Women could also not be in the art history books because they traditionally haven’t been. If there was overt sexism when the history was being written, then women weren’t included in that and because primary sources form such a basis of modern history, this type of information just wasn’t saved.

I hope that this very fast, impatient, and musing history gives a bit of a background for the next set of rambles. The next part of the series will discuss if this has changed and by how much in the contemporary period. It will also involve craft in order to explore if this could have helped the female to male ratio of artists.