Last Seen Blogs
smalltao-blog
Funny World For U
ihavenocule-blog
Untitled
ghostymitten
Ghosty!
drakemorin-blog
Darren
the-lover-rooted-stays-blog
The world uncertain comes and goes
Photo
Study from life
Process of repetition in physical work
Tiring
Daily
Monotone
0 notes
Photo
Sketches of Traditioanl Dress and traditional women’s work
Exploring my Heritage
0 notes
Photo
Icon on Wood painted by me
Painted with Guache
Orthodox Iconography
Sf. Constantin si Elena
Would have been used for PPD decoration
0 notes
Text
Audio Interview with Mariana Giosan - Script ( PPD)
Romanian egg decorating artist from Bucovina
Script translated to english aimed to be used as subtitles on short film.
The eggs are mostly painted with white, yellow colour and this stays on a black background
White colour signifies purity, yellow signifies rays of sun, red is the colour of blood and black is eternity.
And like I was saying, we empty the eggs with a syringe and remove the contents of the egg
We then insert half a syringe of water inside the eggs and wash them very very well
We let them dry in preparation for “incondeiere” (egg decorating)
For us this is an ancient tradition
We get our inspiration from traditional shirts
From our houses which are all painted with traditional motifs
Motifs also found on very old traditional skirts
Because eggs in our area are very expensive, I bought some two, three years in a row
In this time, I had more responsibilities and I just thought I'm going to try it because I was talented at drawing and painting
That is what provoked me to try
And I really liked it
I bought a “Chișiță ” (egg painting tool)
I bought 100 eggs
I painted them but not very well because I didn’t really know the patterns
You need to know how to part your egg exactly in half
A line is drawn, so a “Brâu” (belt) how you might say, which separates the egg in equal parts
We melt natural bees wax, add a little bit of wax base colour, red, yellow or whatever colour we need
And with the hot colour we decorate the eggs
The very first time, I paint the eggs just with black colour
And after I do about 10, 15 or even a whole carton, then I heat the colours
Exactly on the edge of the hob
Otherwise if I drop them slightly and they are hot, they burn very quickly and the colour changes
Nobody showed me absolutely nothing because
I remember one winter
I asked a woman to come and she didn’t have time
Because I had a farm household, I couldn’t leave home either so I taught myself
Why would I walk the streets during winter
I thought it was better to stay home and learn alone
How to separate the egg
For example, I would gather chicken eggs
And I would mark them with a pencil
And just like that bit by bit every day
Effectively, I was just playing with them
Then I bought some duck eggs and I started to empty them
And I started more serious business
We also have a hall for “Șezătoare ” (evening sitting of village women) where they practice weaving and embroidery, to carry on the tradition
Unfortunately, the youth doesn’t really want to anymore
Our grandparents worked more
Young people don’t really learn to carry the tradition further
Although the mayor insists
For example, last year and two years ago, I taught a few kids at secondary school how to decorate eggs
Well those children grew up and don’t anymore
This passion is probably also a curiosity for them
I went to different schools and taught children what I know
The tradition isn't really carried on anymore unfortunately
I don’t think it will be lost either because there are some women who are around 50 years old,
They have been decorating eggs for 30 years
This is their occupation, with money from egg decorating they kept their children in school
For example, at the festival, the council invites you, you receive an invitation at home
Everyone from Ciocănești an go of which we are about 16/17 egg decorators
Mostly young people are invited to encourage them to continue the tradition
A : And when you were first invited by the council, how did they know that you decorate eggs?
Well I took the eggs to our museum
The first time I was invited on the 1st of December ( Romania’s Day)
This is when I painted the deer antlers on the eggs
The mayor said to bring 10 eggs each
When they got to my egg basket a girl from the museum asked whose basket it was
I told them it was mine
Nobody ever painted deer antlers on their eggs
Usually the festival is 3 days
This depends, if it falls on a Thursday, it will be Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Depending also of what day Easter falls on, it can be three or two days also
One day it won't be
Because if anyone is coming from far away, they will spend half a day just travelling
They stay at our guest houses in Ciocănești
The awards are also won by foreigners mostly, to encourage them to keep returning
Calin Brăteanu (folk singer) is involved with the organisation
A: How is the price of the eggs decided?
This depends how much each person gives them for, but you are not allowed to negotiate the price
We have a museum just for eggs (Muzeul Ouălor încondeiate Ciocănești )
There are displays just full of eggs
And people choose from there what they want, painted black, with wax, whatever they like
How did you know exactly what patterns to do?
I get an inspiration as soon as I start the egg
All kinds of patterns come to me and I never look at a picture or at anyone else
For example, we are about 14 or 15 egg decorators
Each of us has their own style
The inspiration comes from the self
That’s when I relax
It really is very beautiful. It gives you a feeling of wellbeing
For example, I decorated 200 something eggs before but never did two the same
0 notes
Photo
Inspiration for PPD Project
Mariana Giosan
Romanian egg decorating artist from Bucovina
0 notes
Photo
Inspiration for PPD Project
“Muzeul Satului” - The Village Museum ( Romania )
Museum of authentic village homes from different regions of Romania shows interior traditional decorations.
0 notes
Photo
Inspiration from PPD Project
Painted houses of Bucovina
I aimed to decorate the walls in similar designs given the circumstances had been different. I wanted to create authenticity as well as be informative for the decorated eggs display. I find this a beautiful tradition and would have loved to recreate it.
0 notes
Link
A reading I engaged in when learning to work away from “the photograph”
0 notes
Text
Alice Neel
Alice Neel
Alice Neel was an American artist born near Philadelphia in 1900 and trained at the Philadelphia School of Design for Women. She became a painter with a strong social conscience and equally strong left-wing beliefs. In the 1930s she lived in Greenwich Village, New York and enrolled as a member of the Works Progress Administration for which she painted urban scenes. Her portraits of the 1930s embraced left wing writers, artists and trade unionists.
Neel left Greenwich Village for Spanish Harlem in 1938 to get away from the rarefied atmosphere of an art colony. There she painted the Puerto Rican community, casual acquaintances, neighbours and people she encountered on the street.
Through her paintings of women, particularly mother and child, she reveals the anxieties of their times as she exaggerates expression and emotion of her sitters. Conversation and monologues related to sitting for painting is a subject explored by Alice Neel in her paintings from life. Her discussions with her sitter would often cover controversial subjects, emphasising the characteristics of her painting style and highlighting emotive expression and body language.
Her painting named “Linda Nochlin and Daisy” presents prominent art historian and feminist sitting with her daughter. By painting Linda in a caricature like manner she emphasises the difference of age between mother and daughter and the physical manifestation of this. However, the two subjects are also painted sitting in the same position, which further highlights the similarities between them. Nochlin was purposely painted by Alice as a mother rather than a critic, demonstrating intimacy and the double life of a working female.
Alice Neel approached Linda Nochlin regarding the sitting of a portrait when she became aware of her role. Nochlin introduced the feminist movement to the art world and also the author of well-known article “Why have there been no great women artists?”.
0 notes
Text
Sylvia Pankhurst
Sylvia Pankhurst
Working Women
Sylvia Pankhurst (1882-1960) is the daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst, the leader of the Women’s Social and Political Union in Britain, The Suffragettes.
As well as being artist she was also an anti-fascist campaigner. After training at Manchester School of art and winning the prize of best female student, she won a scholarship at the Royal College of Art, London.
Pankhurst’s lifelong interest was in the rights of working women. She created studies of working women as she travelled around England and Scotland to industrial working environments like pottery, shoe making, fishing and spinning. This work was recorded from life in a fast manner as she aimed to voice the truth of her observation through it. Her travels involved visiting and living with people in poor working-class communities, recording her surroundings through art and writing.
Four of her water colour works are now displayed at Tate. They show women working in the cotton mills of Glasgow and potteries of Staffordshire. She described the cotton mills of Glasgow as “the almost deafening noise of the machinery and oppressive heat” addressing that within an hour in the mill she fainted, emphasising the struggle which the working women endured for much prolonged periods of time. While in Staffordshire she learned that women were earning less than seven shillings a week despite being exposed to hazardous substances.
Her combination of artworks with written accounts provided a vivid picture of the lives of women workers and made a powerful argument for improvement in working conditions and pay equality with men.
She designed badges, banners and flyers for the WSPU. Her symbolic ‘angel of freedom’ was essential to the campaign, as well as the WSPU colours of white, green and purple.
0 notes