Post Cards From Fundy - Research

Last post I was wondering which braid to put on the post card. Margaret sent me her opinion in that post's comments and I have gone with what her suggestion.
My research told me the heavier braid was right because the period covered by the post card was the industrial revolution when all sorts of textile related machines were invented. Many different braiding machines were built to satisfy the fashion demands of the time. But this vintage, metallic braid is too heavy for the work and the wrong colour. I considered the finer blue knit, tube braid but it doesn't stand out enough. I went with a fine black braid.
Thank you Margaret for your supportive comments.

The main source of inspiration for this post card is an 1816 sailor's uniform, reproduced by Charlene Delouchery-Roberts for a museum located on the shores of the Bay of Fundy.

The long-imported Indian ginghams were now being produced by UK mills.

For this post card I used the sailor's uniform colour scheme and similar textiles: cotton gingham, wool serges and felt.

Life Bucket Item - Check

One of the items in my 'Life Bucket' is to attend a production at Shakespeare's Globe as a groundling in the pit.
We managed to get tickets and met up with Bob and Ingrid after our day of exploring the South Bank.
Henry V is a play I don't know but it didn't matter. I wanted the experience and to know if Shakespeare really did write lines specifically directed at the groundlings.

We went in early and I got a place beside the stage.
It was perfect for closeup views of the costumes. At one point I had to lean back to avoid being swiped by the bishop's heavy felt cloak.

Bob got a seat in the heavens.
He knows the play so enjoyed the good accoustics from his perch.

Ingrid got the last seat in the house - in the gentleman's section, with a padded stool and erotic paintings.
She also knows the play and had the pleasure of the actors facing her when they delivered their more bawdy lines.

Meanwhile, Ron had to endure the pit. Here he is enjoying the intermission, the only time groundlings were allowed to sit. One young man beside me fell over during the performance - a wheel chair appeared and he was whisked away. I had the stage to lean on so the 3 1/2 hours flew by.
It was a wonderful experience.
I can take it out of my Life Bucket.

Thread Painting

I had fun at Kilshaw's auction house last night.
I was interested in one lot - 2 thread paintings.

I came home very pleased to have won the lot for $17.50.

They are signed by Anne-Marie Matte-Desrosiers (born 1905) from Saint Hyacinthe, Quebec who won awards for her work and exhibited in expositions in New York and Montreal.

And hung for many years in the "Snug" at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel, Victoria.
They are very skillfully worked and fine examples of the technique.
Click the above link in the title 'Thread Painting' if you are interested in more details about this artist and more examples of her work.

Fredericton - Bay of Fundy

While exploring the streets of Fredericton, we came across a group of legal graffiti artists decorating the side wall of a skate shop. The 1st 2 are local artists while the far 3 were commissioned from Montreal.

Graffiti art is becoming mainstream.
What will be next?

Books Books Books

As with all modules of work in this BA(Hons) Embroidered Textiles programme, there is lots of reading.
I do like having to read because there is no guilt in settling down with a book and looking up to see most of the day has passed, which does tend to happen to me when I get hooked on a good one.
There have been several books this semester that have been most influential in my work.
I devoured Nalini Nadkarni's book on trees.
Even though she is a scientist and professor with a doctorate in tropical canopies, this book is very personal about her own connection with trees and her family life, which makes it easy to relate to.
It is a great example of someone with the ability to link art, science and life.

This book has lots of provocative ideas about what we need to do to survive and thrive on the planet for the next millenia.
It is a book of essays written by experts. There are lots of statistics to back up their arguments and I found it very readable.
However, there is a big problem with the case they present.
Unlike Nalini's approach where she covered all the bases in a loving dissertation on trees, this book thinks it did the same by looking at the role of governments, education, religion, media etc in bringing about a global shift from being a consumer society to sustainable one BUT it completely and totally left out the role of the artist and art as an agent of change.
Art history shows time and time again how art has led the way with what is new in ways of thinking and viewing and doing.
I checked the index, there is no mention of 'art', 'artist,' 'beauty' ... so its not a balanced view.
Makes me wonder what else they left out.

These 2 books have been great references to dip into while I am developing my ideas.
For example, when I am contemplating using a symbol in my work I check it out in one of these books to find out the history and multiple meanings it might have. I then follow these leads with web searches.

Phew, I have been wordy this post.
It is probably because all I have been doing this past week is pecking at my key board putting together 2 art proposals - Assignment C.

Orange

While I was studying the Art Deco Movement, I put all of the images I collected up on my large design wall. I would group them and regroup them according to how my thoughts were developing. One thing that struck me was no matter how I rearranged the images they always had the same feel.

Then I saw the dominance of the colour orange.

Intense orange. It was bright and cheerful. Hopeful.

It reminded me of the 60s mood. Designers write about a revival of Art Deco at that time but I now think the 60s revival, with the reappearance of bright orange, was a reflection of the optimistic feelings of the time. It was the 'dawning of the age of Aquarius'.

Now I am curious, has bright orange re-emerged every time there was a positive, uplifting, optimistic collective response to the times?

I am on the look out for bright orange.

Censoring the Body

While doing research for a term paper I read a great essay by the art critic and historian, Edward Lucie-Smith. He is someone with the ability to look over history and pull out key ideas, trends and shifts in ways of thinking.
He begins his essay with the observation, "from the earliest times, humans have found it difficult to represent their own bodies in a straightforward way" and he continues to bring his observations of censorship of the body up until the present day. He raises lots of provocative ideas.

By A Lady

A kind friend sent me a yummy book. WACK!, the exhibition on in the Vancouver Art Gallery left me wanting to find out more about what women artists were doing in Canada over that time period and then this book arrived in the post.
One of the reviewers, Robert Fulford, wrote, "Maria Tippet reveals in By a Lady that the tradition of women's art in Canada is far richer than most of us ever imagined. Her book makes an important contribution to our understanding of Canadian art."
The title comes from how people in the C19th referred to a work of art by a woman.

'Costume In Detail'

I just received this yummy book in the mail & I have already spent several hours dipping into it.

Nancy Bradfield obviously loves costume because it shows in the inspiring, detailed drawings she has made of the outside & inside of hundreds of garments & accessories. Most of them have never been seen by the public and never will because they are too delicate or are disintegrating.
Most of the earliest costumes are drawn from a cache she discovered in the basement of Westminster Abbey on wax effigies beside the owner's tomb.
The drawings are so detailed they are an 'invaluable source of information for those concerned with fashion, with period dress, with history, and with theatre, film, or TV.'
ISBN 0-89676-217-3

Julia Caprara & Symbols

Julia was interested in symbols left behind by ancient peoples. So here are some Canadian petroglyphs and pictographs for Julia.


Canadian Rockies, Alberta

Saint Victor, Saskatchewan

Nanaimo, Vancouver Island

Eroticism and the Body in Art

Today, for my Opus studies, I compared these 2 works of art in my answer to the question...

Is the body in art always eroticised, if so why? To answer the question I have done lots of reading on the history of psychoanalysis, gender issues and 'the gaze'. All very interesting stuff.