For ‘A Time and A Place’ I would like to propose an idea that I have been hoping to explore through my work at some point but not yet had the chance.
I am interested in how people engage with craft. In today’s society there is a lack of opportunity to create something with your own hands and often people I speak to feel this is missing from their lives.
People are always willing to join in craft activities when they are presented to them. More often than not I find that once engaged with an activity conversation takes a nostalgic turn and people recount memories of when craft has featured in their life: a man whose mother would ask him to hold the yarn whilst she wound the new ball of wool for knitting, a girl whose grandmother made her clothes, a woman whose father was a shoemaker. This story telling seems to create a bond, a sharing between those present in a group.
These stories have always been an aside to the projects I have been running, an unexpected happy outcome. The goals of this mini-project would be to:
· Document these stories
· Explore how I could integrate the recording of people’s personal histories of craft into my practice, as an extra strand to engagement
· Explore the impact of having the opportunity to share a memory of craft
During my micro-residency I would like to use the time and the gallery space in number of ways:
1) To interview passers-by and visitors to the galley to invite them to share a key memory in their personal history of craft
2) To hold a small number of workshops where participants are invited to join in a short craft activity and to discuss and record their histories of craft
3) To record these histories on a chalk board which is always present in the space and includes an invitation to viewers to add their own history to the board
4) To work within the gallery to create a stitched artefact recording lines from the chalk board. To photograph each word I stitch with the potential to turn this into an animation. To use this time to reflect on how sharing a memory of craft has affected people
5) To discuss with mentors and other artists ideas of how I could integrate this recorded history element into my work
6) To potentially collaborate with another artist who has experience with video or animation to explore ways I could turn photographs of stitches into video work- something I began to explore in my final year of university and have not yet had the opportunity to revisit in my practice
The results of this mini-project would be:
· To have begun a documentation of personal histories of craft
· To have created a stitched record and possibly a very simple video documenting this
· To have had time to think and talk about how this can influence my working practice
· To explore participation in a new setting
· To have had time to think and talk about how this can influence my working practice
· To explore participation in a new setting