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S T A I N

One of those serendipitous events that just happen sometimes. In 3D working with Becky on the silk scarf. Noticed she had her name embroidered on her overall coat. Thought about what I could put on mine.

Loved the recent furor over the appointment of nasty little Toby Young on the Board of Higher Education Watchdog committee. He’s previously, in his time at Oxford, referred to working class students as ‘stains’ and people with disabilities as troglodytes.

What could be more working class than an overall coat?

Proud to be a ‘stain’

The choice of luminous yellow thread was also fortuitous - I’d originally chosen a dark grey but Becky was explaining the different types of recommended thread when she showed me this one (that she hates cause it’s shinny) and I thought how well it would sit on the grey. Also as there is a seem running across the coat we couldn’t place it on the usual place for a name on the breast panel. I aligned it below the breast pocket - looks pretty good to me.

Again great use of an ambiguous word - this could be construed as a stain after all it is a workshop coat:

noun

1. a discoloration produced by foreign matter having penetrated into or chemically reacted with a material; a spot not easily removed.  

2. a natural spot or patch of color different from that of the basic color, as on the body of an animal.                                                   

3. a cause of reproach; stigma; blemish: a stain on one's reputation.                                                               

4. coloration produced by a dye that penetrates a substance, as wood.                                                   

5. a dye made into a solution for coloring woods, textiles, etc.                                                   

6. a reagent or dye used in treating a specimen for microscopic examination.                                                                                                               

verb (used with object) 

7. to discolor with spots or streaks of foreign matter.

8. to bring reproach or dishonor upon; blemish.

9. to sully with guilt or infamy; corrupt.                                                  

10. to color or dye (wood, cloth, etc.) by any of various processes that change or react with the substance chemically.                                                   

11. to color with something that penetrates the substance.                                  

12. to treat (a microscopic specimen) with some reagent or dye in order to color the whole or parts and so give distinctness, contrast of tissues, etc.                                                                                                              

 verb (used without object)    

13. to produce a stain.                                                   

14. to become stained; take a stain:                                                                                         

Design - using font ‘18th Century’ gives it a sort of declamatory feel - the letters are purposefully misaligned giving it more of a hand finished look

making on the embroidery machine

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with them came....

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Badges

Just when I thought the Graze Box of badges was a non runner.....

Some prospective students visiting Fine Art Dept, invited to do so by Dan, choose themselves some badges from the box to reflect something about themselves

V E G A N

interestingly this girl is both hearing impaired and and speech impaired - she chose  O U T S I D E R

L O V E L Y

love this guy’s expression -  H O N E S T

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Artist Research Susan Collis

Impersonation seems to be the theme in much of her work. The juxtapositioning of a material of some value, be it silver, gold, mother of pearl or precious stones, crafted with great skill into things which appear to be rubbish.

A social comment on the unrealized value of the things we so readily discard.

Why after all is gold or an opal or diamond of any real value yet something that might still be of some use, like a wooden baton be not valued and discarded.

What I like and what resonates with me in the work of this artist is the highlighting of the contradictions within the ‘human condition’.

key words for me to take forward - conflicted and contradictions

Susan Collis, Gas Boys, 2012 Left to right: Cedar, mother of pearl, sterling silver, oxidized silver. Sonokeling rosewood, rosewood, white holly veneer, ebony veneer, mother of pearl. Walnut, crushed lapis lazuli in a liquid medium, oxidized silver. Beech wood, beech, pear and white holly veneer, silver, smoky quartz, black diamonds, amber, hand knitted Japanese silk. Sonokelling rosewood, white holly & padouk veneers, silver, bronze, platinum. Beechwood, beech and white holly veneer, crushed lapis lazuli, silver, bronze. Cigar box cedar, white gold, smoky topaz.

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How to Do Things with Words (1962), J L Austin

The concept of performativity is rooted in earlier observations about how language works. In the mid-1950s, the English philosopher J L Austin pointed out that language is often a way of accomplishing things in the world, not only a means of describing it. To make a promise, for example, is to do the promising, not just to say something about it. This is an example of a type of statement, which entails performing actions, as ‘performatives’. This focus on the functionality of statements, not their truth or falsity, proved to be revolutionary, and the interdisciplinary enterprise of ‘speech act theory’ was born in its wake. In a wonderful way, the neologism did exactly what it was describing – it made things happen in the world.

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Little Boxes - previously Tabla Rasa - evaluation, reflection & development

The badges empowered by the word YET

Got the baby grow thing from ebay where it looked white and wasn’t described as green. Looking at it in the space that doesn’t seem so important but it doesn’t look great in photographs - it also doesn’t look great on the hanger

One comment I’ve had is the initial effect is that the thought of pinning sharp objects to a baby is quite horrendous before you even get to read what is on the badges.

DEVELOPMENT - SEMIOTICS

I think maybe I need to get some sort of tailor’s dummy or shop mannequin to display this on and maybe some baby cloths in denim to actually reference Blake’s self portrait more accurately. There are also possible connotations that can be introduced by the choice of baby clothing - denim dungarees teamed with a red t-shirt for instance - more a reflection of Blake’s piece but also adds a working-class connotation

The piece definitely has that contradiction and confliction element

this would be an ace display but unfortunately these cost £700 !!!!!

Lovely little designer label for kids clothes I’ve just launched. All garments hand crafted using the finest sustainable and ethically sourced organic materials and dyes. Very expensive, but just think what this label says about your beautiful new born accessory.

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other articles of the human landscape that might be utilized

·         ties and bow ties

·         socks

·         underpants and knickers

·         jewellery - brooches, bracelets and necklaces

·         vest

·         tattoos and transfers

·         hairgrips, slides and hair bands

·         hats and bandanas

·         gloves

·         woolly jumpers

·         American football and high school wear

·         uniforms

what about a pair of subversive shoes that leave written footprints

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Sophie Calle & Ian Hamilton Finlay

Somewhere there is some art that sits between the conceptual idea of SC and the slightly more obvious IHF

There is an frisson of excitement contained within the exercise: a sort of clandestine voyeurism 

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Scarf

This piece is like a ‘beautiful’ landscape containing something incongruous like a pylon or phone mast. Except it’s not just the scarf that needs to appear feminine - the text needs to be feminine and soft to create a feminine aesthetic that interacts with the word itself.

these fonts are quite ‘matter of fact’ and therefore a bit masculine maybe? Good for imparting information.

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Scarf

univers else  shows a bit of promise - good font in an informal but assertive sort of way

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Scarf

league script thin has potential as embroidery

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Scarf

dymo might be good for something else - maybe dymo tape on magnetic strips in some sort of guerilla art piece.

felt pen is informal but a bit blunt

grenoble light is good  - has a bit of a designer perfume ‘feel’ going on

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Tabula Rasa - Que Sera Sera - Landscape Five

A baby grow romper suit covered in badges

Ties in brilliantly with Y E T  This is an adult in waiting. The badges on this baby cannot have been picked by the baby but the baby has potential to grow into them. Some will seem deliberately controversial but that's not the intention. Each badge seems to have much, much more power on the baby's romper suit than when worn by an adult who has chosen the badges

stain

simple

cunt

MILF

doormat

lame

equal

thief

thick

unfit

thin

adulterer

fairy

sad

wild

victim

queer

vegan

christian

rich

poor

lazy

refugee

snob

nice

impotent

hard

ordinary

liar

fake

honest

vain

easy

winner

loser

qualified

awkward

curious

quirky

boring

bent

erudite

mean

deep

gentle

inclusive

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Badges - R E P E A T - Revisit

Badges  Repeated Revisited

Although somehow or other the collection of badges held some appeal whilst collected together in the box, individually their appeal was limited. Some were taken up, but on the whole most people who saw them were never going to wear one even if there were appropriate badges that might appeal. My kid's verdict was 'uncool'.

Two lines of development possible for a revisit:

·         make 'cooler' badges - more like jewellery or brooches

·         do something else with the badges I've already made

 Will make some prototypes in tin and roughly stamped with words

What are the badges anyway? - they're labels. Presented with the range of badges people choose their own - in fact I actually had requests for badges that weren't there - why? They only choose badges they feel reflect aspects of their personalities. No one is going to choose a badge that in any way is derogatory about themselves - the badges that others might actually pin on them.

This is probably more accurately what the project is about. It is about your labels but not necessarily the one s you always choose for yourself. It's also about the ones that you choose for others which again aren't necessarily what they might like to label themselves.  

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note to self - foreign

Richie has some letter stamps over in 3D - save some baked bean tins and make some tin badges 

A tin sheriff type star with foreign stamped on it might be effective. Could cut out the star overly large and fold of hammer back the edges to sort of delineate the outline and roughly stamp the lettering not too aligned

definitely gives an impression of ‘not wanted’ stigmatising

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landscape three - evaluation

visual poetry - “with them came disease and Christianity” - who are they? where were they inadvertently taking disease and purposefully taking Christianity. Although ‘disease’ comes before ‘Christianity’ in the sentence there is a definite inference that disease is a result of Christianity or that Christianity is a disease. The two words become associated because of their use. Despite no contextual references from which to make sense of the statement our historical knowledge alludes to a loss of innocence - we think of ‘native’ peoples, missionaries and despoilment.

I’ve chosen amber, the colour of warning, for the clear acrylic - haven’t yet decided upon a font or font colour. Could play with the idea of different greys

that’s in calibri - really like the way the cross on the ‘t’ joins to the top of the ‘i’. Also like the way the shading works not sure if it’s going to work so well coming through the acrylic - might not be so obvious but will be there if you look hard enough 

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Ian Hamilton Finlay