April 2021 Materials and metaphors…...
Joy and Gill were able to meet face to face for the first time this month. Sitting in Gill’s garden they discussed how the different languages of textiles and ceramics were becoming evident. They both agreed that by going for a definite object ie. the cushion, they had lost momentum. Undertaking more fundamental exploration through intuitive and tacit making would perhaps be more exciting, and lead to productive individual discoveries. David Pye compares ‘workmanship of risk’ and ‘workmanship of certainty’ (Pye ,1968:4) understanding that the latter, when directed at making a product, can limit skill and creativity. Letting forms and ideas evolve through risk taking was something Gill and Joy both wanted to pursue. They agreed to see the work with cushions through to a conclusion, but also make sure experimental work was running alongside this. Gill gave Joy some simple shapes in clay with points of access such as holes or strips where textiles could interact - Joy gave Gill textile samples of embroidered leaves and textile textures
Engagement 4
In order to stimulate experimental work Gill and Joy decided to create a word list to be an inspirational guide. This is a common practice in collaborations - a way of extending exploration of materials and processes by using metaphors to link to broader concerns. The words are ‘a declaration of starting points, places where meaning could be examined and which could provide a portable tool kit carried away to geographically different locations’. (Gates, Kettle and Webb in Ravetz, Kettle and Felcey, 2013:50)
1. Pye, D.(1968). The nature and art of workmanship, Cambridge University Press, UK. 2. Ravetz, R, Kettle, A, and Felcey, H.(2013). Collaboration Through Craft, Bloomsbury, UK.
Inspirational word list:
Emerge, growth, bursting, energy, spiral
Decay, decompose, skeletal, fragile - fragility
Withdraw, hibernate, vegetate
Rooted, nurture, cultivate, expand, plant,
Cascade, gush, flow, spill, tumble,erupt, explode
Weathered, gnarled, craggy, eroded, burnished,
Worn, fracture, rupture, splinter, repair, patch, restore, wabi sabi, boro,
Joy: ‘While I was waiting for the ceramic cushion forms to be ready and uncertain how I could integrate textiles into them, I worked on repeating leaf motifs. Some of the references I was using were ferns and sporangia, so assuming one stitch to replace the spore and allowing organic growth under the needle I allowed for fractal growth of these multi stitches, which I could later use to ooze and spill out of cracks and crevices. I wanted to blend them into a natural setting so took them onto the Mendips and placed them in nooks alongside flora and fauna. What struck me was how limited my colour palette of threads was and how jarring the greens were placed in this wild location.
Stitched fronds placed in the Mendip Hills natural environment
I became aware that I was on my own journey though and as our only contact has been brief outdoor meetings and online chats, fully integrating our working practices was going to take time. My leaf motifs were too literal and I was missing out steps on this journey, jumping to semi resolved outcomes before I had fully explored different directions in my sketchbook.
The collaborative process has so much more depth than I first thought. Finding our way through words and images is taking tentative steps of responding and reacting. Where does the work become truly collaborative? Should there be an equal representation between the two materials? Does it matter if there isn’t? How can we interact with the process? Will the outcome evolve or will it be nudged along the way? Keeping momentum going is important - we need to keep pushing our expectations forward and challenging outcomes along the way with a critical eye.’
Gill: ‘My pick of the guiding words are those relating to emerging growth - this gives me a ‘way in’ to express issues about ecology and natural processes - relationships between habitats and living forms. It would be easy to model identifiable representations of actual fungi, leaves, tentacles etc bursting out of static grounds, but I am more interested in creating an essence of dynamic contrasts.
When working with simple forms of Joy’s textiles, I am responding to abstract ideas of colour, texture and structure, tapping into a kind of sensory perception that Petitmengin calls ‘pre-reflexive experience’ (Petitmengin 2009:8) With the more figurative leaf shapes that Joy has made (see image at top of blog), I find myself only being able to see design motifs - particularly thinking about repeat patterns that can be set up digitally. It is as if Joy has already made the interpretation of the natural elements into another material viewpoint; so any emotional experience is lost to me. Although these ideas could be progressed, for example, as surface design for pots, I do not feel that this is the integration of materials that we are seeking for this collaboration. ( Perhaps something to pursue at a later time?)
3. Petitmengin, C (ed.) (2009). Ten Years of Viewing From Within: The Legacy of Francisco Varela. Imprint Academic.
