On Reflection

 

I was sent this card at the Residency from some friends.  I’ve glued it into the front of my Residency Diary.

And it has been an adventure.  Sometimes I think quite a mad one.  Utter madness at 77 years old to be gallivanting across the world to be an Artist in Residence.  But there you are.  I applied.  I was accepted.  And I’ve done it.  I dread to think what mad idea I might come up with next.

Anyway, this is supposed to be an upbeat reflection - my thoughts on the 4 weeks which was actually only 20 days since I spent the weekends with my family.

I mentioned in my last post about not writing down any expectations.  Expectations are not the same as the intentions written in the application.

One of my concerns had been that the Artists Cottage was in a park and I would be the only one in the park after dark.  However the level of security at the cottage was so high it enabled me to have a greater peace of mind than I had initially worried about.

The first week felt lonely - the days seemed very long.  I tried to keep to regular meal times and take breaks from being creative.  The rest of the weeks didn’t seem so bad.  I realised that I need contact with people more than I thought I did.  It doesn’t have to be in person but the time difference between NSW and home meant that there couldn’t always be immediate contact even with texts and emails.

The workshop I delivered twice - An A to Z of Me - was written especially for the community engagement I needed to deliver.  My workshops at home are predominantly textile based whilst this was word and paper based.  The ladies were mostly more enthusiastic during the workshops than I’m used to.  I don’t know whether that was because of the content or whether Australians are just more effusive!  I am considering offering this workshop in 2027 in the UK.

Although I had my Australian  Connections research with me, and the paint colours I had taken reminded me of Australia, I felt quite detached from the family history.  I don’t know whether that was because I was spending so much time with the Hopper Juniors or whether I am fairly unsentimental about the past unless it includes my son.

It is my intention to make more fabric books when I get home.  I want to try to make the new ones I’ve made in paper using fabric.

Some of my laser image transfers using the gel plate were good, some were mediocre and some were downright failures.  But then I suppose that is what play and experimentation is for.  Will I do more of it when I get home?  Probably not unless a particular project calls for it.  I love other people’s results but I’ve realised I’m not primarily a printmaker.  That doesn’t mean I will get rid of my gel plates.  After all you can print with them on fabric.

I don’t think this experience will get me doing more sampling before I make pieces at home.  But I do want to keep up the idea of a studio diary.  To record what I do when I do it, and how I did it so that I can describe it to people.  When I’m showing people my fabric books I often forget what techniques I used, so recording each stage will be useful.

In the months to come, as I move back into textiles I’m sure I will see the influence of the Residency and I’ll be sure to let you know in future blog posts.

In the meantime, please feel free to put any questions you have in the comments.  I will have to answer them in another blog post as I still can’t reply directly.  And please, please, please put your name.  Thank you.

Thanks for joining me today.

Bernice

Looking Back

This is going to end up as two posts.  I want to look back at my 4 weeks of the Residency and sum up my experience.  However that’s not as easy as it sounds.

So let’s start with the easy bit.  During the last 3-4 days of my time there, I set up a small exhibition.  Mostly so I could actually see what I had achieved.  I found it to be a very encouraging activity.

The poster on the left was the poster the museum used to advertise my workshops.  They gave it to me as I left after the 2nd workshop.

I had been using the wall to display things but the books and boxes had just been put to one side, so it was good to see them out altogether.

I’m still working through what I’ve learned outside of the techniques of how to make new-to-me style books and boxes.

Which is why there will be another post on Saturday where I’m hoping to give a more coherent expression of my thoughts.  Some friends have given me some questions as prompts to help my thinking.

But what do I know so far?

I think that the difficulty arises from not setting down expectations for the 4 weeks.  If you write down expectations, then at the end you have something to consider.  Have any of the expectations been met?  What expectations weren’t met and why?

What do I know didn’t happen?  Well I had told myself - but didn’t write it down - that I would take a walk round the park every day.  I went twice in the 20 days!  I did however walk to the bus stop 6 times.  Plus a couple of longish walks from the station to the venue when I visited two different exhibitions.

I had also told myself I would drink more water.  To be honest a teaspoon of water would be more than I usually drink outside of my 5 cups of instant coffee a day!  I took a water bottle with my name on it specifically for this task.  It never even got wet.

Based on my application form, the museum had written about me as follows:

A visit to the ‘Dancing in Fetters’ exhibition at Fremantle Prison, WA inspired her current textile work in Captivity, Freedom and Identity.  Integrating her own creative writing into these pieces adds a personal dimension to her exploration.  During the residency, Bernice wants to develop these themes further through writing and experimenting with different techniques.

Bernice will consider the historical context of the First Fleet’s arrival and the experiences of convicts sent from the UK, however she aims to broaden this exploration to encompass other forms of captivity, particularly depression and freedom, examining their impact on identity. 

My response to this in my Residency Diary at the end of my first week:

In my application I said I would build up a portfolio of research, photographs, creative writing and samples which will inform my work on my return home.  Whilst the Museum has said they won’t hold me to any of the things I said in the application, I do need to do something!

I have photographs at home of the various convict sites we have visited.  I was thinking of going to the Parramatta Female Factory but I think I will give it a miss.  Also at home I have done quite a bit of research using AI on captivity and also used ArtHelper for ideas for pieces of work.  I’ve also got my Australian Connections to look at.

Well, apart from the mock up of a hanging expressing the England/Australia Connection, I have done none of the above.

This post has turned out to be somewhat negative.  The next post will definitely need to be more positive.

So to cheer you up, have a look at the Museum’s latest blog post Artist in Residence Q&A. Plus a nice view from the beach at Carss Park.

Here’s hoping you still want to come back on Saturday.

Bernice

Sadly I am unable to reply to your comments here at the moment as Blogger has blocked replies.  I cannot sort it out until I get home in a couple of weeks.  But please do leave me a comment. Don’t forget to leave your name.

And it's done!

The residency is over.  I’ve packed up and left the park.

However since my last post I’ve done lots of things.  I taught a repeat of the workshop to 5 ladies - 4 of whom were total papercraft beginners.  We had a glorious time.  They were all very enthusiastic and chatty.

Back at the park I made 4 new collages and cut 2 gel prints to put on a page but haven’t decided what to collage onto them.

I tried the sea water wash again.  At home I may print out some of my photos of the park on tissue paper and glue them onto the concertina books.  Or I may not!

I didn’t like the piece I made that was about my Australian Connections.  However I saw a painting on Instagram which gave me an idea for a hanging.  I printed papers on the gel plate using cling film to make the papers look more like breakdown printing.  Then I cut them up into rectangles to represent the patchwork of fields you can see when you fly over England.  I collaged them back together with a small brown section to represent Australia.  I don’t usually do mockups.  I just think of what a hanging might look like and dye the fabrics.  Becca has suggested I make a reverse one too - so mostly brown fabrics with the green patch.

I’ve also made a triangle book, a 2 rectangular Masu boxes - one with a lid - and made a hinged box where the lid isn’t the same depth as the base.  This is because I have an idea fermenting about suitcases.  More about that in the future.  While I’ve been making all these books I’ve been trying to think how they will work in fabric.  That’s a project for the next few months at home.

I had thought this would be the last blog post about the residency but it won’t be.  Next week I’ll post my thoughts about the whole experience. 

I hope you will join me for that.

Bernice

PS. Sadly I am unable to reply to your comments here at the moment as Blogger has blocked replies.  I cannot sort it out until I get home in a couple of weeks.