Maxine
Bristow
Wednesday 2nd July 2003
I am still struggling to find time to
do any work and progress seems to be slow. I have, however,
managed to construct the wooden frame for the freestanding
handrail/barrier form, although unfortunately my carpentry
skills leave much to be desired and one of the legs is wonky
and will have to be reattached!!
Other than that I am still casting the
light-switch boxes. I have more or less settled on the texture
and tonality, using a concrete and plaster mix with carborundum
powder and a small amount of granite chippings, but there
is still a great deal of uncertainty as to whether they come
out of the moulds without any chips on the edges. Looking
at the samples so far, I think that I have decided that I
will do two separate bodies of work, one set of conduits ending
with the light-switch boxes and another set of conduits which
will end quite simply with a cable into the wall, with the
emphasis being on the stitched saddles which, at regular intervals,
gently but firmly support the plastic trunking. I still have
the constant dilemma between the work being quiet, silent
anonymous, and it having a strong sense of presence and being
able to hold the space. I somehow feel that both elements
- the light-switch boxes and the saddles, are too much, and
begin to look a little gimmicky and something of a contrivance.
I imagine these pieces performing a perceptual/conceptual
shift whereby you walk into the space and you hardly notice
them, they are just part of the fixtures and fittings of the
space, there is nothing there - blank, neutral, anonymous,
and then, through their uncanny repetition and through the
finely stitched elements, what is revealed is sense of quiet
intensity, maybe of the personal drama of their making. When
I get down to the stitching properly [other than sampling
as I am at the moment] I intend to keep a stitching record
of how long I have spent, where I was when I was doing it
etc. This is something I did for my own record for the handrail
forms for the Jerwood exhibition, primarily so I knew how
long they would take to make and that I could ensure that
I could complete them in time, but I am wondering whether
this kind of documentation could become part of the piece.
What I enjoyed about the Jerwood stitched handrails was their
apparent quiet neutrality contrasted against the intensity
and drama of their making. I like the idea of myself and the
other ten women, stitching away, fitting it in where and when
we can into our very different daily routines, and the absurd
repetitive, time consuming nature of the process, which far
from leisure, became something of a chore to complete. What
is important to the work, but also an obvious dilemma if it
is not communicated at all, is the silencing of this personal
drama. Although there was a Crafts Council website connected
with the Jerwood Prize which documented the collaborative
element of the project, I am sure that in looking at the work
not many people were aware of what went into the creation
of those pieces.
The dilemma is maintaining the cool neutrality
of the work and its apparent lack of emotional engagement
whilst communicating something of the drama of its making,
a drama which is all the more intense for being restrained
and regulated. I am thinking about first generation feminism
which, by revealing in a very overt way, the normally hidden
aspects of women’s lives [particularly their sexuality],
was concerned with challenging the silencing of women within
culture. With this work I am strategically effecting this
silencing in an attempt to address conventional definitions
of meaning, but how can I ensure that the work constitutes
a feminist critical practice without reinforcing the principles
it wishes to espouse? I am also conscious of Katy Deepwell’s
criticism [when discussing issues surrounding painting as
a critical practice] of the ‘explorations of the body
of universal woman’… through the ‘recovery
of texture/tactility and fracture as a textual strategy for
writing of the feminine body’… in that it ‘repeats
the formula invested in the existing social/psychic symbolic
order without effecting any disruption of the binary oppositions
which structure this status quo.’ [Deepwell, K. ‘Paint-stripping:
Feminist Possibilities in Painting after Modernism’
in Robinson, H. [Ed] Feminism-Art-Theory, An Anthology 1968-2000,
Blackwell, 2001. p391]. I hope that by drawing on both the
contexts of Minimalism and needlework, maintaining a fine
balance, with one continually subverting the other, that the
work ‘eschews the inadequacy of binary oppositions in
favour of an inclusive strategy: not either/ or, but both/
and.’ [Kinsey Milner, R. ‘Impure Thoughts: Gendering
Architectural Space’, in Hidden Agenda: Nina Saunders,
Bluecoat Gallery & Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art,
1997.]
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Kyoko Nitta
- June
I’ve finally completed my English
lessons on the 21st. I have no idea how
much I improved mine but hope it’s getting better.
I have been so busy as a lecturer. As
an artist, I’ve spent most of the times making works
for the exhibition focusing on textiles and firer art at Gunma
Prefectural Museum of Contemporary Art. This is the group
show of eight which includes Machiko Agano as well. Currently,
I am making some samples of work for the visitors to touch.
’Pockets’ must be the keyword
of the work and my work for the project. In fact, I will open
a workshop called, ‘The Great Operation for Pockets!’
at the museum. The participants must bring some second hand
garments. And we stitch the garments to make a big pocket
altogether. I really look forward to see the final pocket.
I will report the result of it in the next journal. If anybody
who live nearby or anywhere accessible to the museum and wants
to join this workshop, please contact; master@mmag.gsn.ed.jp
or visit the web site www.mmag.gsn.ed.jp
For the project, I spent this month for
gathering the used denims. I’ve got to make the duplicates
of the jeans in cotton organza by my departure to UK , meanwhile
I have to do the marking for my students.
Kyoko Nitta
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