3000 word essay later...I discovered that I got it in 2 days early, darn! I would have had more time to hone it a bit if I'd realised it wasn't due in till Wednesday.
So having been back through all my visual diaries and notes I thought I would put some of the inspiration and experiments on the blog.
NB The wallhangings are currently hanging at Whitireia Library in Porirua, without all the dye cups and nothing dripping. They look nice against the windows but there isn't the element of performance so its not quite the same.
Images which inspired my exhibition Watermark which I've been burbling about recently.
Blood red river
Water collected from Chinese Rivers and lakes
Multicoloured rivers
Some of the things that I used for inspiration.
Chinese papercut patterns
Antique willow pattern carving plate which we use at Christmas for the turkey.
Artists whose work I looked at:
Work by Shinique Smith
Work by Julia Morrison
Work by
Fiona Hall from the exhibition Kermadec.
Some of my experiments:
Building 3D models in a plate then trying to fill the plate with dye (looks pretty but need something stronger than cardboard)
Oops - seems to have rotated itself but you can see what it is.
Trying to wick dye up fabric from plate
I saw a really bright coat in a shop in the local mall and started imagining dye dripping off it. So I made a resin version of a drip and took it to the shops and took photos. I felt quite subversive but that type of resin makes rectangular shapes because it is for coating flat surface- not quite drip like. Next time :-)
Felt stones - I thought they looked like they have been sitting in the river and have been dyed on the bottom
Denim drinking water?
Bird made from a sponge and feathers
Bird soaked in dye
Bird dropped onto fabric - 'The impact of dye on the environment?" -
Print of bird made from sponge and feathers
Dye working its way down calico evenly
Vertically dyed calico
Eureka - the first dyed piece where the dye followed the seams.
Sometimes you have to do a lot of strange stuff to get to somewhere.
fascinating reading, thank you
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