Jeanette
Appleton - July
From June 27th
Naoko and I visited the Lake district and enjoyed long walks
by rivers and over hills scattered with Herdwick sheep. We
met Mary Burket at Isel Hall [president of the Felt Makers
Association] to view her collection
of ethnographic and contemporary felt.
On our return to Huddersfield university
Naoko immediately captured the experience directly into sampling
for future reference. I admire how she is coping with the
constant exposure to new ideas but not loose the main focus
in her current work..
Through helping Naoko with her development,
I have accumulated unexpected information about Japanese cloth
and site. It is interesting that it is revealed by her explanation
of the meaning in her work, rather than me asking specific
questions. Discussing balance and proportion in how much of
the cloth is destroyed and left as evidence of the original
garment in Naoko's experiments I suggested the cultural influence
of pattern and balance of natural beauty inherent in Japanese
tradition is very seductive, which could distract the strength
of the idea. Naoko explained that the wearing of the Kimono
links with the patterning on the cloth. A Kimono with cherry
blossom pattern can be worn during the period before it has
bloomed but not afterwards as this shows lack of taste. It
showed a direct infinity with her choice of patterned garments
and gave me another perspective of cloth and site.
Naoko was concerned that she could not
find the reason to use these children's clothes and felt uncomfortable
as she did not know the memory behind them. It was important
for her to feel the memory in the cloth by knowing the owner/history.
She said, "Now I feel the distance at one point of the
work in the UK. Cannot touch it. If I use garment of Japanese
child I do not feel so much distance". I considered this
uncertainty may be reflecting her own experience of displacement
and the distance of recent memories between people and places.
This otherness is the difference in the work and Naoko said,
"You now know why I feel uncomfortable so I am now not
so uncomfortable". I also suggested the place of memory
had now moved from the object to the space of her choice.
How her own memory influences the choice of second hand garments
in UK. Memory is outside the material, as Naoko is herself,
outside her culture. She answered, "The place where I
met the garment?", thus personifying the cloth. (Would
I say, " The place where I discovered the second hand
scarves", relating to the space of travel?). Translation
can create subtle changes because of the different sentence
structures, highlighting a specific emphasis to an idea.
I have begun to make my exhibition piece
by producing a 45 meter length of needle felt.
The colour sequence of merino wool and
other fibres were prepared considering the continual line
of changes in a journey. It was also influenced by the history
of cloth in Yorkshire and a photograph of tenter fields showing
five miles of blankets stretched out on the tenter hooks.
Discussing what a long length of cloth signified and how it
would engage with the exhibition space, Naoko explained their
used in Japan. The cloth is tied around a building to signify
a specific occasion, black and white stripes for a funeral
or red and white for good celebrations, like a graduation.
These ephemeral boundaries have associations to life's rites
of passage, which relate to my interest in how a journey has
changing passages of time and memory. I have just began to
read 'A Wild Sheep Chase' by Haruki Murakami, lent to me by
June Hill [Bankfield museum] which has the following appropriate
quote: 'Time really is one big continuous cloth, no? We habitually
cut out pieces of time to fit us, so we tend to fool our selves
with thinking that time is our size, but it really goes on
and on'. I would like to have a sense of a cloth which will
appear to go 'on and on', collecting constant changing images
of place. With a sense of distance, towards the horizon and
the closeness of verges, or the speed of seeing by walking
or from a vehicle. I have found these qualities by defusing
the images by using the needle punch machine to break down
the transfer prints and layers of coloured fabric into the
wool surface.
I embroidered labels on the Bernina [Artista
180] sewing machine using images from local water bottle labels.
They show a view of unspoilt land to advertise the source
of natural water, making a commodity of the site. The embroidery
technician scanned them onto a disc and it was interesting
to see the change of clarity through this process. Those which
were not successful in reproducing the lettering were used
to explore the automatic path of the needle. By intervening
with the sequence and changing the thread colour I produced
mini landscapes within the label shapes. They also suggested
markers of place when pinned along the length of the cloth.
My research includes reading material
that covers tourism and travel and a recent purchase 'Visual
Culture and Tourism' edited by D.Crouch and N Lubbren provided
definitions of the space of attraction and the tourist gaze.
Quotes provide links with my making process and issues, e.g.
'memory as an infinite gallery of images' and 'activity of
seeing creates a shadow, one moment we catch a glimpse of
meaning, then the next, it is gone'. To extend my understanding
how landscapes are preserved or restored as heritage objects
and embedded with codes. Informing the relationship between
my intentions and interpretation with materials, processes
and content of my work.
From 12th July
Talk at Bankfield Museum and Naoko's birthday, which she could
not enjoy until after giving her excellent presentation! Lesley
Millar began with the background of the project and the other
participants. We took it in turns to explain the development
of our collaboration with samples to illustrate certain points.
It was encouraging to have a full house with some people travelling
long distances.
Naoko and I were interviewed by Radio
Leeds before going onto Hebden Bridge sculpture trail, situated
by a river which had previously been an active textile industrial
site. The next day we visited textile artist Sue Lawty who
generously shared ideas and working methods in her beautiful
studio. A stimulating dialogue developed between the three
of us as we drew with natural Australian ochre and positioned
stones from Sue's huge collection gathered from many parts
of the world.
From 18th July
Workshop 'Pockets of Memory' at the
Japan Foundation in London. It was a pleasure to see Naoko's
confident delivery of her slides and demonstration. The participants
brought a cloth and a photograph associated with a memory
which evoked interesting dialogue as they took it in turns
to iron on the transfer prints. I took the afternoon session
where they felted a pocket or holder for their memory cloth.
Naoko and I parted in London, but we will continue by email
until we meet again in August.
24th July :
I end this journal feeling very sad and angry with the news
that Bankfield Museum in Halifax, which will be hosting part
of our exhibition, is under serious threat of closing. This
is a unique treasure house holding a special collection of
historical and contemporary textiles with the most approachable
and enthusiastic museum staff. If you wish to express your
views, please email them directly on bankfield.museum@calderdale.gov.uk.
top
Naoko
Yoshimoto - July
July 12th,
I had an opportunity to talk over the project with Lesley
and Jeanette at the Bankfield Museum.
There were more than thirty people.
In the friendly atmosphere, we reported our progress and prospect.
That day happened to be my birthday. So they celebrated. It
was nice. I handed over my application forms to be part of
the project to Keiko Kawashima on the 11th of July last year.
It was more or less a year ago. This made me think about the
importance of the project for me.
July 18th,
Jeanette and I gave our workshop at the Japan Foundation.
I was rather nervous but enjoyed it in the end.
So many things happened in July. I went
to the Lake District with Jeanette. We prepared for our feature
events. The whole picture of our project became visible through
those busy days. When I came to England for the first time,
I had nothing in my mind. After moving around many places
during May, I settled in Huddersfield in June, I gained some
ideas though my life in England. The life with Jeanette was
like we were nomads. There were places and people I remember
in my memory. It keeps come and go all the time however, I
also felt like clinging onto one thing or place on the way.
I want to express this feeling out of the used garments from
the charity shops around England.
In the beginning I wasn't conscious but
when I was looking back, I wanted to make a monument of the
people who live here. I want to intertwine my memory into
their memory.
At one point I felt insecure about using
the garments as my main materials. It made me somehow uncomfortable.
Funnily enough, I felt a familiarity with the used garments
and linens in the beginning, but soon after, I started feel
uncertain about the objects. I thought about using the old
garments from somebody I knew well. I discussed this point
with Jeanette. She thought that this feeling could be the
result of my displacement. Actually, it is similar to the
feeling I have for living in England. I can recognise the
surface of the life in England but do not know what it is
like in depth. Japan has been westernised for a long time
therefore the things I see are familiar to me. However, Japanese
indigenous culture is nothing like the one in the west. After
the discussion with Jeanette, I regained my confidence in
using the used garments from the charity shops.
I thought I would use wool as a main
material but now, since I heard Jeanette's story of using
wool for her work, I don’t dare to – it is not
appropriate. For Jeanette, wool is something signifying herself.
Born and bread in England, wool symbolises her memory of England.
She depicts the landscape through her use of wool. Whereas
for me, wool is just wool, nothing more or less than that.
So I wanted to find something for my work which, like wool
for Jeanette, has a particular meaning for me.
top
|
