Frances
Geesin - June
I
had been looking forward to meeting and working with Kaori.
I am an avid admirer of the Japanese aesthetic and curious
to see how Kaori will respond to my materials and processes.
Although I have given several workshops, the experience of
sharing and exchanging on a one to one basis over a sustained
period of time may well be another journey of discovery and
time will reveal. Kaori has only two months in the UK and
I am aware that we shall have to use our time efficiently.
I am concerned that we allow our thoughts and processes to
emerge organically and learn from each others way of seeing
as we proceed.
June 18
Kaori had sent a large box of materials to my house and I
drove it to Farnham with a selection of industrial nonwoven
fabric which I hoped she would find inspirational. Lesley
had kindly met Kaori from the airport the previous day and
then accompanied her to Farnham where she would be the guest
of The Surrey Institute of Art & Design University College.
This was my first meeting with Kaori and I instinctively felt
that we would enjoy working together. The work space for Kaori
would not be available until the 1st of July but it gave time
for Kaori explore and become familiar with her environment.
At this time there are numerous degree
shows with examples of a wide range of surface decoration
for both fashion and interiors. The Surrey Institute had their
private view for textiles at The Mall Galleries in Central
London. I met Kaori there but there wasn¹t the opportunity
to talk.
June 25
Our first mentor session was at the Royal Festival Hall in
London. Kaori showed me prints of her work from the last ten
years. It was interesting to note how her most recent work
had echoes of pieces I had recently produced. We discussed
and exchanged our histories and concerns. I am interested
in how inner energy can be trapped and how the external can
be ambiguous. Kaori wants to engage with new materials and
see what they suggest. We talked around ideas around layering
and how text might be incorporated into our work. We had lunch
at the Café in the Crypt in St Martins-in-the-Fields
Trafalgar Square. Kaori was fascinated by the floor which
was made with gravestones and flagstones and she took a keen
interest in the inscriptions. There is a gallery and a brass
rubbing facility in the crypt. The brass rubbing process was
new to her and we tossed thoughts around how we might explore
that technique applied to our work.
Kaori wanted to revisit the Victoria
and Albert Museum (V&A) where she had been as a student.
South Kensington in London is the area for many of the major
museums. On route to the V&A we stopped off at the Science
Museum, where my partner and I have an interactive textile
exhibit, and then to The Natural History Museum. Although
this was only day one, but by the time we left I felt this
chance visit might play a major contribution to our collaboration.
We found ourselves in the Earth galleries with superb samples
of different rocks showing how heat and pressure produce different
rock formations. Some of the examples were reminiscent of
fibres and threads and they expressed tension and energy.
The exhibit is called 'The power within' and we both felt
it was important and I immediately connected with it as it
has parallels with ideas I have been toying with. It was good
to share our responses to an exhibit which was new to us both.
Of course if you are in the Natural History Museum, you have
to visit the dinosaurs but it was the fossils of animals and
plants that Kaori responded to which informed our thinking
about time, erosion, layers and traces. We planned that our
next session should be at my studio and we would have a 'hands
on session' as Kaori was anxious to learn about the electroplating
of textiles and the manipulation of nonwoven fabric. We parted
knowing that the shared experience in the museum had given
us much on which to reflect.
June 30th
Kaori came to our home which is based in the country. I planned
our day as an introduction to my methods of working. Kaori
had many questions about techniques and was especially interested
to try electroplating. We agreed to do some experimental sampling
and keep duplicate copies to pin up in our respective work
spaces for both reference and inspiration. I have nonwoven
fabrics in different qualities and we layered them in different
combinations. The fabrics are thermoplastic and Kaori tried
working with my heat gun, fusing and drawing onto the materials
with heat. I showed her how to incorporate text into fabric
which could then be metallised. She made her own small sample
in copper in order that she would understand the process.
It was then time to travel to London for a special evening
at The Royal College of Art. It was an opportunity to see
the work of textile students and talk to several of them about
their work. I have been asked to talk about new textiles from
the UK at a conference in Italy this year. The degree shows
have provided many examples of work that I hope to discuss.
I think Kaori found the dialogues and range of work stimulating.
I felt we had achieved a lot and put
some building blocks in place to grow ideas. It is early days
and I am looking forward to see how Kaori will use or adapt
some of our samples.
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Kaori
Hosozawa - June
June 17th, 18th from the arrival to
the start
I was so busy around the time of leaving,
this was because I worked until the last minute. So I concentrated
on the most necessary things for my work in England. When
I first saw Lesley at the Heathrow airport, I felt that I
was really involved in the project. On the next day, I moved
to Farnham where the Surrey Institute is, and I met Frances
for the first time there. I have been thinking about working
with her. I love her work. Therefore, it is a very honour
and opportunity for me to work with her in reality. My first
impression of Frances was very warm and friendly. She gave
me a piece of work which contains her message: -enjoy-. It
touches me deeply in many ways.
I went to the workshop in the department
on the same day. The workshop was so organised that it reminded
me of the essence of "craft": the workshops need
to be organised at all time and the tools must be used with
respect.
June 25th, first session with Frances
We begun introducing ourselves to search
our future collaborative project. I showed her my portfolio
and explained to her. Then we spoke about personal matters
like families and so on. After we lunched at the café
called, Saint Martins in the Field which is the basement of
the church. In the café, the tombs were used as a floor
board. This made our time somehow special. We spoke about
time and history as potential concepts for our work and we
found so many clues, like the tomb stones in the café,
at many places. This must be some coincidence but I felt like
that it was meant to be this way. Or it could be the proof
for finding clues in everyday life if only I was bit more
concerned.
Next, we visited the Science Museum,
the Natural History Museum and V&A Museum. At the Science
Museum, I saw the collaborative work of her and her partner
Ron. It produced some sounds. It confirmed my impression that
Frances works in many different medium. She also has a plan
to work together with a scientist. At the Natural History
Museum, I saw some fossils and stones. I thought the shapes
and the patterns which were made naturally, were beautiful.
It was interesting to think of time contained within those
objects.
Time past so quickly since I involved
the project. It has been a good experience for me to begin
to define those areas in my work which have been less clear,
such as my interest. I want to clarify little by little in
the journals.
Kaori Hosozawa
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