This week’s Make was a extravaganza in black and white. I was lucky enough to be invited to take part in The Monochronium as one of the bookshelf artists.
The exhibition was created by Visual Artist, Hazel Evans. It was a huge event, filled with an array of artwork and involving more than 20 different types of creative practitioners, as well as a 36 hour Artathon!
As my part in the exhibition I would be doing my third ‘Bookshelf.’ Along the same lines as week 13’s Make, I would be using a pile of books to create a piece of artwork in 3 hours whilst sitting on a plinth. However this time the inspiration was to come from the themes of the Monochronium and the result to be in black and white.
This is the third time I’ve taken part in the bookshelf and seem to love them the more and more I do them. Having the restrictions of time and coming to something not quite sure what you’re going to make is a refreshing change for me. Particularly this time I didn’t fully think about what I was going to produce and just let it happen.
Since making my paper automata model in week 39, I’ve really been thinking about how you can manipulate papers in some of the same ways as aluminium, and how useful it can be to test new ideas. Recently I’ve been experimenting with redesigning my flower stalks, an old product of mine. I’ve been looking at designing more intricate stylised flowers for the home, so for this exhibition I decided to experiment with different templates and use the books to create a fallen vase of flowers and butterflies, bursting out from wires.
It was great fun working with the different papers, images and text found in the books, and particularly concentrating on just using monochrome. The Bookshelf I was part of ran during the preview for the exhibition so there was plenty going on to keep your creativity flowing including music performances and photography, it was a brilliant environment to work in and be inspired.
I was really pleased with my creation, it was enjoyable to make and once laid out on the plinth it dawned on me how much shadows were playing with the overall effect of the artwork – I hadn’t thought of that beforehand, it seemed to really work. So a productive and enjoyable Week 43, I’ll be making my flowers in metal this weekend.
Only 9 Makes to go! Next week I’ll be working with Simon Meanwell-Ralph my wonderful and talented friend and Milliner. We’ll be creating facinators inspired by fireworks on 5th November in the gallery at Walford Mill, between 10am and 5pm, I can’t wait!
Walford Mill Crafts 