Thomas Garland was the owner of Fairfield house in Illogan. He was a strong Wesleyan Methodist. Illogan has always had a strong Methodist background. This is where Frances Moyle (Fanny) worked prior to coming to work at the Helston Poor Union in 1887. She’s not mentioned in any census from 1881 or 1891. When I was looking up some more facts about her, which are sparse, `I noticed that the 1851 census mentions Thomas Garland was an arsenic Manufacturer. I’m not sure what that means as arsenic was really the powder left behind when the slag heaps from tin/copper were burnt off. It seems that the term manufacturer was someone who was involved in processing the crystals of arsenic down into a powder that were often packed in barrels for onward despatch.
However, I found his brilliant court case about him and his arsenic works at Perranarworthal not far from Truro.
Basically there are a lot of complaints about horses and cows dying in and around the arsenic works. He enlarged the enterprise and it seems the chimneys are larger and giving out more smoke. There are some great descriptions of white clouds lying over the valleys. I know this area pretty well as there are cycle trails there now all through the Bissoe Valley.
The Judge on page 39 sums up that basically the man should not be denied his living and others that depended on him but also there should not be harm done to the residents. Very even-handed.
The jury determined that whereby the works may be carried on without injurious effects to the neighbourhood. They would be looking more closely at the next application. Presumably he needed some sort of licence.
Again jobs coming before health of the local residents. I’ve always wondered why people put down ‘health and safety’ rules especially the workers. It’s there to protect them not the bosses!
But what do I do with this new direction. I have to make work from this. The court case provides some real insights into what the Bissoe valley was like at the time. Blackened trees with white deposits on them. Cows dying with no stomachs – eaten away with poison. Hideous stuff. I think I’ll read through this again and just pull out the words that interest me and see what happens.
This gives an account of the court case from Thomas’s son and info on Mellingey.
Looking to Paula Rego and Doris Salcedo I intend to understand what hooks they use to tell a story .
Foundation Beyeler on YouTube had Nick Serota in conversation with Doris Salcedo. 10/07/23.
Doris Salcedo tells stories about violence – Colombian disappeared. Materials are important. One series used concrete. This material implies the last word, silence, death. Concrete says Salcedo is ‘paradoxical’ she places it carefully and it is used to construct but it’s a ‘brutal material’. She adds fabric on top of it so that the concrete doesn’t have the last word.
One of her pieces of work I’m particularly drawn to, having seen it in a gallery, is Atrabiliarios (1991-6). The Disappeared in Columbia and the shadow of violence. She never portrays this directly. In one piece she has shoes belonging to one of the disappeared hidden behind a piece of animal skin sutured into an alcove to make a hidden showcase. This implies great violence and the memory of someone but you don’t know where they have gone. Disappeared.
Such an emotive piece by Salcedo.
My own work is a long way from this but I really am drawn and intrigued by this. I think I have to move towards this more. My teaspoons are a departure for me and perhaps I should create a real installation from some spoons. Maybe get 33 on line and see what happens.
I’m not able to attach to any walls. There is a racking system so I’m using bulldog clips to attach the work. The photograph I based work on has arrived from Helston museum and I have placed that as the first item viewed on a clockwise view.
The display cabinet has one of the 1887 Minute books on view. I’ve also put in a dictionary turned to the meaning of ‘patriarchy’. I have painted some tracing paper to put inside the dictionary to indicate the word.
I have a couple of ceramic memorabilia jugs to add to the exhibition case which I’ll do on Thursday before the Private view.
Random but where Fanny lived the owner was an arsenic manufacturer – link to this latest work I’m doing
KS3-4 RE, 2, Integrating Art, produced by Double Exposure/Flashback TV, in KS3-4 RE, 2 (Teachers TV/UK Department of Education, 2006), 14 mins
I watched this film about an RE teacher in the classroom discussing the Passover with 9-10 year olds. An artist had been involved in the project and they were asking the children to use art as a means of discussing the story of the Passover.
This is back to how to use visual art to tell a story. I was thinking about the photograph I used as the starting point of my exhibition The Spike. The grand narrative was driven by men. They were the Guardians and made all the decisions, in the workhouse and in general life and at home. Men wrote the history books and the narrative – womens’ voices were mostly unheard and certainly muted.
The photograph just shows a woman peering out of the window. And yet my story revolves around her and all the others like her. I think this is an important point to highlight. The hidden being brought forward into the limelight.
Fanny Moyle steps into the limelightWomen making their voices heard
I’ve also come across Agnes Varda photographer and film maker.
By: Perez, Gilberto. Sight & Sound, Apr2015, Vol. 25 Issue 4, p51-53, 3p Abstract: The article discusses the French film director and photographer Agnès Varda. It states that Varda while on a visit to Cuba took several photographs and spent half a year compiling them for a montage film. Topics include her visual style of storytelling, her attention to women in her photography and filmmaking, and her works “Salut Les Cubains” and “Cleo from 5 to 7”; (AN 101798962
), Database: Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson)
I am intrigued by the fact she just used photographic stills to make a film. I would like to try this approach using Procreate.
Playing with film and still shots and rubbing through layers
The film of the woman walking is over 300 frames but I’ve merged them together to create about 4. This shows in the static quality of the film. I’ve then put the wallpaper as the static background and rubbed through the film to incorporate it in the frames. It does sort of work and I will definitely play around with this technique more. I’ll try using the labyrinth film I took last year and see if I can place the children’s arms in the film
Our first meeting back from the Easter holidays and Jonathan is going through what will be expected from us regarding the research paper.
He poses the question: What is the value of writing for artists? We use the Miro board to put up some answers. For me it helps to marshall my thoughts – clarify my thinking – empty my brain to clear head. It also allows us to see any patterns emerging which we might not have realised. That’s the point of all the blogs were are posting up here. Personally I find using a pen, particularly a fountain pen, can be creative in its own right. It also implants ideas in your brain more effectively than typing.
Writing things down can become the intimate friend of the artist and allows fears to be expressed in a safe place.
Other words that came up were: augmented thinking – testing ground for ideas – organise – challenge – process to reflect.
Madeleine Kay, a fellow artist, said ‘Artists are taught to read things visually but most people aren’t.” I think this is true. I find looking in Tate Modern now a much more enjoyable experience than before I had gone through my degree journey. I’m interested in peeling back layers and understanding rather than potentially being dismissive of work I don’t grasp immediately.
Dee commented: “Joy in seeing it (art) and making your own story.” Again this is about the artist putting it out there but everyone brings their own story to it and create a new one potentially.
The purpose of getting us to enjoy the writing experience and value it is because we are expected to produce a Research Paper. Not about our own work though. We can write about the content around our work. We need to have a critical dialogue with the content as art is not created in a vacuum or by instinct alone.
We need to find a context for this to inhabit which is generated rather than found. And use theory as a stimulus to encourage our practice.
The paper will be around 3-4000 words. This is likely to be how to précis for me. It’s about the same length as a 20 minute presentation in a conference.
I asked if it had to be an argument – for and against but this isn’t necessarily the case. There is no necessary right or wrong.
I can suggest something and then just explore it. But it does need to have a specific focus.
Keep it clear and don’t let it sprawl although it can be cut later. We are expected to have this done by the 2nd term of Y2.
For example Here is my argument X and I’m using research Y to support it. Reference and quotes used in support need to be no more than 8-10 or it overwhelms the research paper.
If I want to interview an artist this can be added as an appendix to the paper and quoted from it the research paper. The appendix will not then count to the word count of the main paper.
The value of doing this is in doing all the research. A lot might get discarded but I will have read it and mused over it. It all adds to my knowledge.
So get your thinking-cap on .
Research question – or what is intriguing you?
For me storytelling has to be in the mix. Making it easy for people to access art. What are the theories around this?
Giving the unvoiced, a voice. My voice or theirs?
I need to spend time reading my blogs from beginning to end to review the patterns that have emerged. Or at least recognise them.
I feel I should revisit Robert Rauschenberg – he was influenced by Cy Twombly, Robert Motherwell and Jasper Johns and John Cage. (Yoko Ono also hung out with this group in New York).
In his collages he uses transfer techniques (which I’m interested in and have done on my postcard series).
Rauschenberg was engaged in questioning the definition of a work of art and the role of the artist. He mixed ‘combined’ found objects inserting appropriate
Photographs and urban deitrus. He preferred to leave the interpretation of the work to the viewer. ‘He had no predetermined arrangements.’.
Monogram using paining and objects Outi Pieski. This is similar to some work in Tate St Ives now. The artist uses duodji (traditional Sami handicraft) attached to the work. I like the idea of adding objects to work.
I’ve also written down the words Doris Salcedo because her shoes work almost haunts me. It was so intriguing and stories hung off the walls in that exhibition.
The first port of call for the research paper is to find a first port of call. A way into the subject.
The book Hero with a thousands faces by Joseph Campbell.
In Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation, a book drawn from Campbell’s late lectures and workshops, he says about artists and the monomyth:
Artists are magical helpers. Evoking symbols and motifs that connect us to our deeper selves, they can help us along the heroic journey of our own lives. […]
The artist is meant to put the objects of this world together in such a way that through them you will experience that light, that radiance which is the light of our consciousness and which all things both hide and, when properly looked upon, reveal. The hero’s journey is one of the universal patterns through which that radiance shows brightly. What I think is that a good life is one hero journey after another. Over and over again, you are called to the realm of adventure, you are called to new horizons. Each time, there is the same problem: do I dare? And then if you do dare, the dangers are there, and the help also, and the fulfillment or the fiasco. There’s always the possibility of a fiasco.
Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation, Edited by David Kudler. Novato, California: New World Library, 2004, pp. 132, 133
This book has been suggested by one of the group. I like the quotation. Life being made up of a series of adventures. It is.
Maybe the best way forward for my research is to contrast and compare with two artists. Contrasting their work, their views. Even same views but different approaches.
The paper might start with – this paper addresses ……
Or this analysis will take place within ……
Structure
Title – question or statement that I’m looking at.
Abstract (summary)
Keywords – these are not included in the word count)
Introduction 400 words
Main body of the paper with subheadings (diagram images etc) 2-3000 words
Conclusion 400 words
Bibliography (references Harvard) 8-10 things quoted from.
Zotero for referencing. Also reference images
Marking will be roughly 75% blogs and art practice and 25% for the research paper. The research should be impacting my work.
Using hands reaching up with William Morris wallpaper in background. Digital print
I’ve started using some more William Morris wallpapers and decided to use children reaching up to overlay on the image. It seems to work reasonably well although my cutting round the image could be done more accurately. Weirdly it sort of works where it’s wonky and it reminds me that the childrens’ hands would have been infected, scabby and probably injured from the work they were doing in the mine. I’ve decided to leave them looking like that.
William Morris Rose from 1883 together with the effects of arsenic on hands
These images would be printed onto Hahnemuhle 300 +gsm paper. I’m able to successfully get this printed in Truro in a small independent store. I get the edges deckled after they’re printed to give a rough edge rather than a cut one.
Last Friday I went down to Helston to Clay Trap to see how my partridges had come out of the kiln. Two of them have been fired with a white glaze. Interestingly the porcelain one is much whiter than the one made of clay. This works OK for what I want to do with them but there is a colour difference (for future reference). The other partridge has now been bisque-fired and I glazed this while I was there and put back on the rack for a further firing. The other two partridges are now ready for this first firing. While I was there I thought I would make one more partridge which would take the total up to six. This will cover me in case there are any problems with the firing or I actually break one in the future.
The partridge which is a grey colour is the clay one – the others are made of porcelainWhen exhibiting I plan to sit them together and perhaps put a digital backdrop of partridges Short video of the partridges on the floor to give me an idea of how I might display them in an exhibition space.
The glazed porcelain partridge has had too much glaze put on and there are some pools attached to the bottom of the piece. They obviously had some issues removing it from the kiln because of this and there are damaged areas on the bottom. I did put wax on the bottom as asked but maybe the glaze just dripped down too much. Anyway it’s a learning curve and my first attempt at making especially using porcelain. There is a small crack in one of the others but I think it will survive the kiln. We’ll see when I go down there this week!
At present my plan, when I put all the Arsenic work together is for the partridges to sit in the corner of an exhibition. They are based on the story of a hunter in Scotland coming across a pile of partridges, unmoving, but with eyes open and him discovering they were all dead. Subsequently they found out they had eaten arsenic dusted wheat. I decided to glaze them white and not green as it gives an eerie feel and I also thought I may be able to put a light inside them to make them glow. I haven’t attempted this yet.
Sue Rogers sent the link for this talk as she knows I’m considering going to Venice Biennale later this year. We were both there in 2020 with Falmouth University.
Complexity as memory and water as memory. How important sound is in its own right.
The podcast is Talk Art live at the Venice Biennale presented by Burberry.
The exhibition is called Listening All Night To The Rain by John Akomgrah at the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia 2024.
It explores post-colonialism, environmental devastation and the politics of aesthetics. The name comes from 11th century Chinese writer and artist Su Dongpo’s poetry which explores the transitory nature of life during a period of political exile. Interesting as it is the result of decades of extensive research using historical records to contextualise our experience of the present day. He uses multimedia and sound installations into a single immersive environment. He weaves newly filmed materials, archive footage and still images with text and audio. Sounds right up my street. He uses this to represent migrant communities in Britain and their experiences.
The artist talks about the amount of collaboration needed and involved in this project. I can see that collaboration can help keep the artist on track and motivated. This could be a problem for me once I graduate from this course. Although I am quite good at keeping myself motivated the danger is of thinking ‘what is the point?’ (Maybe that’s something to really think about and get under control now).
If I get to Venice I’ll definitely visit this exhibition piece.
Although I’m not a fashionista I thought the Sargent exhibition – Sargent and Fashion at Tate Britain was well curated. I enjoyed the use of costumes within the exhibition of paintings especially where the costumes were actually painted by Sargent.
His handling of paint is masterly as you’d expect from a Society painter of his calibre.
The way he applies oil paint is masterly
Today I visited the Yoko Ono exhibition at Tate Modern to see her conceptual art. This work appeals to me because of the way she puts ideas together and isn’t worried about seeing them through. A real trailblazer for a woman of her generation I was surprised to see that she is currently 91 years old – didn’t realise she was that much older than me!
She often wrote asking viewers to undertake various tasks – this was the art nothing more than written instructions. I also like the broken milk bottles which she had labelled and sold to people.
I need to think about this work more as I find it really inspiring.
I hammered a nail into a participatory piece of work (the same one that John Lennon had interacted with when they first met apparently).
There was also another piece where a strong light left your shadow on the wall and you could use graphite to draw around your shadow. Be great to do this with kids at some point. Real interaction for the viewer.
Her classic Cut Piece was shown on film – the man who cuts her bra straps is obviously some sort of moron and her facial expression as he does this says it all.
Give peace a chance – I hadn’t realised that John and Yoko had written to so many world leaders asking them to plant 2 acorns for world peace. There were several replies to them on display. Interesting way to make a point and I wonder if it’s something that’s possible in a more humble way. The packaging of the item could be really elaborate with the item inside. On the other hand what can be more elaborate and complex than a couple of acorns and with so much future potential? Food for thought.