exploring rock formations

documentation

january

film workshop

I attended an introduction to using film workshop at Chelsea as I had started using film and interested in getting some new input into different approaches. We used the iMotion app which uses image capture and fast playback as a way of thinking through ideas and seeing what comes out. I enjoyed the immediacy of this approach and thought it would be useful on a field trip to try things out.

Some thoughts on the workshop for my work included:

What do I want my film to be? A record? A backdrop to something else? Does it only exist in installation or website/other also? Use slow motion to show something might’ve been missed. Consider the border where does film end and what is the space around it?

Where do you want to send the eyes/focal point for the viewer to be, but also how to direct people/themes you might use – eg use of vertical lines in someone’s film. If use as slow pace, when something does happen adds lots of drama – ref Bruce Neuman.

Consider: Perspective; Presence; Pace.

iMotion film, 'do not touch the window', 13 pictures

Enjoyed trying something different and using narrative in my film - liked creating sense of foreboding/uncertainty/worry – maybe something to consider more in my work – feelings I want to explore. Also good to meet other students from across courses – shame there isn't a dedicated sound workshop.

aquatint rock etching continued

Starting back in the studio I continued with my zinc etching plate that I wanted to develop for the Millbank show. I liked the marks and quality of print from pre-Christmas – how the rocks had left an interesting bubble shape – it didn’t really matter that its not ‘like a rock’ - the watery-ness was interesting too. I was concerned about losing the etching the marks I liked in a deep etch, but actually by starting another layer of the same hand shaken/rock aquatint I was creating a new set of marks, so it was good to push it. I really loved the plate as an object as it was progressing the colours and sculptural form.

Enjoyed the discussion with Brian and Bella (also doing deep etching) about the process – like an ‘excavation’ of the plate to see what we can find and discover the deep layers that might be there – will they print we don’t know - like archaeologists going back in time layers of rocks.

Plate showing rock aquatint etching process

I took the plate and followed Brian's suggestions to try an embossed print and then translucent relief roll first. Seeing it gradually come to life after ‘excavating’ it was a really interesting process and thinking of including this in the Millbank popup show. Thinking about a combined hang with pigment fabric hangings.

Etching with rock aquatint and deep etch, 29x44cm, relief rolled in two colours, detail pic shows emboss

Have to remember the time warp of going into etching studio – the pace, the waiting, the cutting and drying of paper, the prep and the excitement of the pull of the print. Finally. Always good to have something else to do while waiting for parts of the process!

Pleased with how its going. following session I did intaglio inking.

While I was working on this piece we went to see Susan Aldworth talk at Clifford Chance. She described herself as an

‘experimental printmaker’ – aiming to match the process with her subject. She considers conditions of the brain, an exploration of human identity through medical conditions. Drawings are beginning of her process to help think through ideas. I was very struck by how personal her subject matter is - using her own grief and case studies and personal stories and use of hair connecting to her own background as her father was a hairdresser.

This made me think again about my connections to place and what is behind my choice of location and subject matter and how these places I am choosing are personal to me and how I articulate what I am doing. I think in making the etching plate I had become disconnected to my themes and it felt like just a exploration of technique. This is fine but also I want to make work where I can see a more direct connection to ideas of place, embodied landscape and my emotional response. Maybe the etching plate feels geological and that's not enough?

In a reflective discussion with Sheila about the Susan Aldworth talk I mentioned this disconnect of feeling with my work. We discussed what rocks meant to me and how I had often used crevices and patterns in rocks in my work. There is definitely something about my relationship with rocks, different types of rocks and why I want to make work about them. I discuss this further in my context piece about Tracey Emin and in my critical reflection.

I inked up the etching plate intaglio and printed it again in prep for Millbank (below) – the earthy colours came out better and I like the one on the right below which has the darker black 'gash' in the centre - need to experiment more with inking and potentially add aquatint to this gash to get a more even tone here. For Millbank I was considering having an example of both intaglio and relief inking to curate/layer with the pigment cloth work.

Etching with rock aquatint and deep etch, size 29x44cm, intaglio inking

february

earth pigment and fabric

I have used earth pigments in some of my previous work both using them to paint with and with very thin fabrics to leave a trace mark on paper/other surfaces. I had used Kimmeridge clay pigment in the past and knew it was a soft rock and can be broken down relatively easily - I have painted directly from the wet rocks on the beach. I had a couple of different types of rock - a mudstone that was more brown and the bitumen shale which was darker and more grey.

I began trying out colours and was drawn to painting on a muslin/cheesecloth fabric that I had. Partly because I had used this before and enjoyed the fragility and the softness of it as a contrast to the hard rocks I was painting with; also I had an old muslin net curtain of my Mum's that I wanted to use as a starting point.

As I was staining the muslin I thought about the connection to bandages and looking after/repair and whether that’s a thing for me? it made me think of artists like Louise de Bourgois, and will consider looking into artists that use fabric as a psychological repair motif?

Enjoyed the physicality of the larger scale pigment painting process. I had grids of paper behind the fabric to paint onto as I knew this would leave a trace print which I am curious about and it helps to have a firmer surface to paint on in any case. Am wondering how how these work together - do they need to be displayed layered or as its multiple sheets maybe stitched together somehow? Will try about different ways for Millbank.

I also painted onto a crumpled sheet of paper and the printed an etching plate on top to see how that came out. I also like the texture created on this paper as its a trace of the pigment and a rocky-type landscape or even a map like pattern created by the pressed crumples. Could come back to this.

Kimmeridge Clay pigment on muslin/cloth, process photos and examples of detail painted on cloth

Relief rolled etching plate on paper painted with Kimmeridge Clay pigment, size 78x52cm, detail shots

millbank show

This all felt very rushed – because it is!! In planning I wanted to see how I could combine the fabric pigment hangings I had made and prints in a layered assemblage. Have a concern about where prints are sitting in my work as for me the embodied/emotional connection is coming through more in the film and the pigment paintings, and prints seem more geological and 'of' but not sure if I want to get both or if they work together. My intention, I think (!), is to consider my experience of place in the work.

Prep (19/2)

Tried out pinning up x8 prints made by the pigment fabric together with the painted fabric and layering with etching prints in front. I thought I could hang from fishing wire tho am not keen on the look of that. Interested to see how the borderless prints work layered over the fabric - I like the feeling of the print image blending into the background pigment and the interaction between them.

Later tried painting more pigment on fabric in the form of the ‘gash’ – thinking through the idea of the muslin/bandage repair – its as much about the softness and fragility of the fabric in contrast to the rocks I am starting from, as a ‘repair’ for me – the contrast in materials is interesting.

Sound – have gone back to the sound from previous film – I think without film the other works needed something to connect to place and so I retained sections from sound I'd made on my last field trip together with a new spoken word element. I started by reciting words from the famous geologist Ian West's description of the Kimmeridge Bay location. These are partly descriptions of geological features and partly actions that take place there - ie rock fall. I added my clip of underwater/hydrophone dragged along the bottom of the rocks as a background to the words. I merged those clips to another clip that recorded the wind and the sound of a small cliff fall that can be heard near the end of the piece. I have prepped combining these elements and hiring MP3 player and headphones from CLS to have in Millbank.

Millbank 28 feb

Installation: I took more of the fabric along and sound piece with headphones and paper trace prints and etching. I was happy with the position the curators gave me and tried out a number of different arrangements of my pieces.

To position the etching print on top of the fabric I had rejected the idea of fishing wire as I felt the wire would interrupt the work and I wanted the connection of fabric and etching print to feel more like a merging of mediums. I used magnets and found some wood which was about a1.5 inches thick to set the etching on away from the wall/cloth. It was not perfect as one piece of wood was not really enough to prevent distortion of the paper in situ, but I thought it worked pretty well.

I decided not to put all the paper trace prints together and started moving them around. Comments from Chrystel about spreading them out further were helpful. It felt more like it was fragmenting the landscape and the idea of the place, by having them apart. Another comment form Najib about being aware of the context/proximity of the doorframe and how the work relates to it was also helpful.

I realised I hadn’t planned how to situate the headphones and the lead was not very long so I couldn’t have people listening to it and stepping back and looking at the work at the same time. In the end someone found a plank of wood to lay them on the floor and I think aesthetically this worked well – though I think it looked like it was part of the installation rather than something people should pick up and listen to (I had to encourage people to listen).

Viewer response/my reflections: People seemed very positive about the work – people said 'ephemeral', 'beautiful', 'interested in the textures'. When I explained to people that I had used broken up rock pigment to paint on the cloth people were very interested and they reported that it helped them to connect with the work. Something to think about - do I take account of this – do I want the viewer to understand the pigment story? I think I do, so how do I do it – in the title? have a rock displayed there? have some crushed pigment there?

Viewers said the sound was ‘transporting’ and ‘intimate’ – they especially liked the spoken word. I think the sound worked well in headphones, it felt intimate and gave the sense of place – I think this comes through much more in the sound piece than in the art works. They feel ephemeral which I like, but not location/place specific and I need to work out how much I want this to be apparent in the work.

Sound would be better with Bluetooth device. I’m not sure that the etching really related to the cloth pigment – I think aesthetically they are interesting, but doesn’t add to sense of place for me so no chance for a viewer! So should the etching be an image/element more specific/of the place – or does it just look organic and vaguely rock-ish so it works? Needs more intention.

Titles/labels would have been these and maybe they go someway to addressing some concerns!?

Cliff fall at 1 min 03 seconds (sound piece)

Jackie Smith

Words taken from Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset: Geology of the Wessex Coast by Ian West. Other sound recordings made on location at Kimmeridge Bay, Dorset by the artist

Fractures / Excavation (Installation)

Jackie Smith

Muslin with Kimmeridge Clay earth pigment and trace prints on paper, etchings with hand shaken and rock aquatint

Work laid out at Millbank; fixings used to secure etching prints to float away from wall

Trying out different arrangements of paper prints on the wall and within the composition, showing proximity of door frame

Visitors to Millbank show, photo credit for left hand photo Jirapak Astawaprecha

rock fall at 1.03 minsjackie smith

00:00 / 01:08

Rock fall at 1.03 mins, sound piece

Detail shots of etching prints and layered pigment cloths

It was good to have the opportunity to see my work alongside other students in the exhibition and consider possible connections. The work by Liz Yeh, a drawing student which was very close to mine, had similarities in the hanging - with works on loose Japanese paper and exploring place in the drawings. I liked seeing the large scale charcoal drawing that also mirrored my use of draping onto the floor. Boris' maces and the painting displayed on wood also added some interesting texture to the materiality in my own work.

Installation shots of nearby work at Millbank exhibition

march

silent crit

The silent crit was an opportunity to show a version of the Millbank work and get more specific feedback on it. I installed a more contained installation of my work including the pigment cloth background, smaller sections of cloth and my zinc etching positioned away from/in front of the large cloth background (see pic). I was happy with the look of it before the crit. At Millbank I had used headphones for the sound and liked the intimacy of this approach, but it had been hard to get people to register the headphones and listen. This time I wanted to try the sound playing loudly in the room so that all could hear it and see what the difference was.

This approach was hampered by my lack of prep with a speaker and the effect was difficult to create using just my phone. It was interesting hearing it and seeing peoples reactions but I felt that the lack of intimacy was lost – it felt like it should be more like a quiet message I was sharing with people rather than a booming immersion (which I would have tried if I’d got the speaker right).

The light in the room was great as it was a really sunny day so I positioned my work close to the window to get the benefit of the embossing standing out in the sunlight.

Installation for silent crit and detail of etching embossing

Discussion

I got a lot of words and comments that I haven’t articulated myself about the work that I really liked and were positive, these included:

Holds endurance of something in the fabric ‘its been through something’ – a memory of something held in the cloth, memory of place in the cloth? Deep wrinkles/folds almost scars in the fabric – an encounter with something. Cloth as narrator?

Together with all the fragments and the words and the etching – a relic of a performance or observations of a walk; psycho-geog/poetry

Together with the words in recording makes think of mud – colour and connection to words/outside sounds - and natural but still not sure what…

Re the hessian/natural fabric – is it a bandage/plaster what does it connect to? has the cloth been in water collected the pigment?

(etching) print is very different – geometric/photographic origin, waves/beach – what’s the connection?

Re the audio:

People working out what it was a lot – eg water coming down/rocks bouncing up/physicality of a place – tho not sure. Idea it sounded like a Geiger counter – leads onto thoughts about has something very destructive happened – an explosion/destruction nuclear?

Others refuting saying it was more like observations of a walk as above. Ref to Rings of Saturn – WG Sebald - to follow up

Suggestion might be interesting to have video too – to connect to place or imprint more onto the fabric – take direct from rock?

Asking where is the body in this – feel of bandages/repair do I need to pursue that - wrap myself in mud bandages?

Shuting comment re dyeing fabric with boiling pigment rather than painting – let it seep in rather than stick to it – v interesting. And it might give different colour. Other comment about Shibore – Japanese dying method – could try sewing/rocks into it?

Comment that it doesn’t look like a cliff if I want that – I don’t!

Overall very helpful esp the words like memory, experience, ritual, performance. Maybe disappointing that the connection to one place didn’t come out, but without more visual cues that’s tricky to get – so yes if there’s a film that would work with it. Or developing more the idea of images on the fabric.

making, grief and floundering

A few days after the silent crit I had my Mum's funeral. And looking back now (end April) I feel my work kind of stalled at about this point. There are ideas that came out of Millbank and the silent crit that I am only just starting now (April). I started feeling a lost connection to the place I was working in (Dorset beach) and because I was not making so much all these ideas were in my head and not really being tested out. More recent comments in tutorials suggest I could be much more bold with ideas and tests. I agree, but have just not felt able to do the making. There was a lack of energy for making, not sleeping brilliantly and doing family things related to funeral arrangements, talking to solicitors etc but also a negativity about the work which I realise has just been blocking me from trying things out and pushing ideas. Negotiating sadness and trying to push all this work becomes at times overwhelming. I was floundering. I think I managed this by opting out of the making. So gradually am trying to find a way back in.

Feedback in tutorials/related lectures

With Katie Jones this included exploring idea of mapping, different ways of using the rocks in the work and to focus on those things that I liked most - I think these are the rock rubbings and the gashes in the collagraph. So planned to try and develop these.
Paul identified two elements to the work – record of an action (more poetic and emotional) and more scientific – formal organised/mapping/diagram - he suggested keep going with both but maybe they don’t work /need to be together?
Discussion with Paul about where print sits in work - he suggested looking at Fulton/Long on this.
With Jo that the idea of rebirth/ruin exists in the fabric pieces something to explore?
Also if want a idea of direct connection try castings - look at Rachel Causer
Series of talks with Lucie Winterson - seemed initially like a lot of overlap and her introduction to embodied connection to place was interesting citing similar texts and especially Merleau Ponty – participatory symbiotic relation with surroundings, perception as participation – ‘energy exchange’ (you touching a tree the tree touches you too); shifting consciousness/what happens when we are fully embodied in nature. But I didn't feel a connection to her work and her discussion about the 'wild' was frustrating - it seemed like she was pursuing the idyllically beautiful site without acknowledging humans mark on the land and how we shape it (even with human rubbish in her waterfall). She talked about the mutuality of working with environment but did not seem clear about where she was herself in relation to the work. This is a key concern of mine but hoped to get a more nuanced discussion with her about it.

imprint from nicotine wall

For a couple of months I had been thinking of a nicotine stain that was on my fathers walls where he had smoked over the years. We had removed shelves from the wall in preparation for sale after he died last year. In those spaces were pale areas which weren’t stained. These absences had been preying on my mind and I started to wonder if I could get an impression off the wall of the smoke stains and these gaps onto paper.

I consulted with friends and technicians about what chemicals and method I might try to release the stain onto paper without just ‘cleaning’ it off the wall or having it drip down the wall. I took a range of chemicals and papers with me and set it out like an experiment to remove the stain.

I experimented on areas of wall without the shelf-absence with white spirit, hand sanitiser, mysol and limolene. Soaking the paper in water had no effect whatsoever – neither did white spirit or limolene. Hand sanitiser had some effect but Mysol was the best. Given the need to soak the paper completely in the fluid to remove the stain, heavy paper wasn’t working due to the weight of the paper and amount of fluid needed. Instead using long sheets of thin Chinese paper worked really well and were light enough to stay in place with tape.

Once soaked in Mysol the papers were left hanging over a few days in place to dry. When I collected them I was concerned that the paper might be a ‘mess’ of Mysol and stain and not be very clear – but in fact the Mysol had evaporated leaving only a not unpleasant lemony smell.

The final results were good (scanned photos in gallery). I think the shelf absence/edges do not show as well as I hoped – I think they were blurred due to the liquid bleeding. However, overall it feels successful. Looking at images now I feel the long pieces of paper hanging in situ in my Dads house feel perhaps more/as potent as the print I am left with. It’s the evidence of the action and shows the direct connection to place that I was hoping for. In hindsight I see that the long papers echo to some extent the cigarette papers my Dad used to roll up over those many years.

In the worry about feeling a personal connection to my work it is good to make these and work with subject matter that is much more direct. I'm not sure I'm ready for this to be my key area for now, but good to have it to come back to.

Chemical preparation to begin paper experiment, Japanese paper fixed to wall to remove stain

Stains and shelf 'absences' 16 Giffard Drive

Paper soaked in Mysol left to hang; collection of dry papers a few days later (evening)

field trip kimmeridge bay

I felt that I needed to get back in touch with my site again to try and reconnect and get some new/additional information to work with. I had one day on site so I tried to plan taking on board previous suggestions I wanted to try out about mapping with drawing, casting and using film. Weather was perfect and it was quiet on a Friday morning.

However, I struggled. The whole day was a struggle. Loads of doubt about what I’m doing very noisy negative voice questioning constantly what I was doing – didn’t feel the connection with the place that I wanted to/maybe would normally have. Maybe this was the turmoil, grief, exhaustion? Anyway. Took a long time to get going. Main saving element was film as I planned to use GoPro to collect footage at various locations around the bay to get that sense of place. Really wanted to focus on ‘rock-eye view’, thinking about Merleau-Ponty and my reading of Fredriksen B. and Kuhn M. (2023) Why is it hard to listen to a rock? and the performance of self – making me think what does a rock see when it is performing itself?

I positioned the GoPro both in and out of the water around the bay at different points to take film of 'the rocks view'. I enjoyed the pictures of the GoPro underwater - like a comment on surveillance.

I kept thinking what are the interesting things to me in this place – it did come down to the cracks in the rocks, the wave platform, the constant dribble of rock fall - that I couldn’t record! I tried to do drawings of the cracks of the rocks and it seemed pointless – why am I doing this what will I use them for? Just had to stop. I just walked and looked and took film. The water was consoling. Watching it. Looking at landscapes within landscapes. I loved the patterns of the rock cracking and crumbling – maybe could research that element. Considered having picture of myself on the ground with the rocks. Wasn’t feeling it. Not sure why. I did take some castings of imprints of rocks with air drying clay. Something new and 3D felt satisfying.

I went back to the car, the coffee place had shut, went to the loo and returned for final films as the tide came in. Felt sad. Sat by the WWII look out place thinking about it gradually crawling down the beach towards the sea, falling, leaning, gradually eroding and crumbling - like humans efforts on this planet.

Back home I was fairly pleased with a quick look at film (example clips below) and need to do some work with it. Took some fallen rock with me and considering what to do: painting, staining, wrapping, felt like a day was too much pressure I need more than one day there – maybe after May deadline?

I wondered on my return whether the work is trying to re-create that connection to the place when I am back home - as a way of keeping it going/alive and deal with the loss of it all? So for example, wrapping myself in fabric stained cloth makes more sense back at home rather than there?

Imprints taken from these rocks, rocks to lie down with?

WWII lookout

Location shots of GoPro in the sea, Kimmeridge Bay

Film clips Kimmeridge Bay

working with rocks/rock pigment again....

Over Easter I wanted to develop using the pigment at home in different ways. Using rock pigment makes me feel directly connected to the place so I thought this might help with where to go next. I started soaking stones in water and painting them on crumpled paper.

I had an idea about using the shapes of the rocks themselves and in the way they fracture as a starting point. I painted using the clay pigment around the shape of a rock and then over time built up layers by leaving the rock shape in different places in the paper. This left a gradual-tonal rock shape design on the paper - alongside the creases I had already made. My feeling about these after some days of working on it that it resembled closely some of the Emma McNally had done with her installation and I didn't really like it. The making was good but the result did not seem interesting.

I continued by painting another piece of cloth with pigment. I loved how it looked outside in the sun with rocks sitting on it. This did feel like I was trying to recreate the wave-platform beach exposed when the tide goes out with rocks strewn on it. At this point I decided to start pushing the idea of getting myself into the piece by trying out different ways of painting onto it using my hand/arm as the surface. My first attempt using chinese ink dabbing was far too dark - the result using more pigment over the shape of my arm works better. Its a less detailed form but it looked better being tonally close to the fabric. I felt like it needed a different medium with it as the pigment is very fine and I could tell that breathing in the fine particles was not a good idea. I want to redo this for a larger area of me/my body using pva/acrylic medium to fix the pigment.

Kimmeridge pigment on paper, 37x53cm

I also continued to make rock rubbings as this felt like such a direct connection for me I needed to explore it more. I tried out different rocks, different papers and added colour to see what I liked.

Kimmeridge pigment on fabric, 100x90cm, examples of hand/arm rubbings on cloth

Around this time Sheila and I went to see Terra Incognita at Thameside Gallery. This was a great exhibition with some excellent work and really intrersting to consider the curation of the work together afterwards. I did a fuller review in my additional info section. I was thinking about how I felt the need after seeing 'Terra' paintings by Mathilde Lebreton and my need to feel like there is more raw emotion and/or materiality in my work. I tried out a way of doing this by crushing some small rocks (which had been softened in water) with a hammer in thin paper. The resulting crushed (soft) rocks and the torn paper created very satisfying marks and think I could explore doing this on a bigger scale with bigger thicker paper?

chinese ink rock rubbings on kozo natural paper, approx 15 x 15 cm

crushed rocks on paper, 30 x 40 cm

getting back into sketchbooks - march/april

I have shown a few pages from my sketchbook here as I tried to start drawing things I was interested in exploring and seeing how they looked. Particularly what is it about rocks I want to explore am interested in, what elements at the coastal site do I find interesting? Absence and space were repeated themes and the crevices/fissures in rocks. Using the pigment made me become more abstract and gestural and I started drawing a body - myself in the space/landscape - this is something I felt I wanted to explore further and it was good to get back to drawing.

a5 sketchbook, march-april

collagraph

I had made a collagraph plate inspired by the rocks at Kimmeridge in 2021/22 and always wanted to go back to it. I had printed it on very thin Japanese paper which gives it this ethereal fragile quality - similar to using the cloth to paint onto.

I wanted to try printing this in multiple ways and with colour and seeing how they worked together in a collage type display. I printed a number of the same plate trying different colours. I liked the results but not sure they were achieving what I wanted. I had hoped I might create a sense of unease with the colour Not sure how to do this. I planned to have them in the next group crit to discuss.

collagraph prints on Japanese paper, 40x58.5cm, detail (bottom right)

group crit - include film clips

At the group crit I wanted to show the focus of my work - even if I felt there was not much new there! I was pleased with the arrangement of mulitples of rock rubbings around the painting of the Emin sculpture - I felt there was a relationship building between the rocks and the figure. I displayed the collagraphs but wished there were about 5 or 6 more at least as I wanted some scale to see the effect. I had the cloth with tests of body imprints though this was not at all finished and not very well displayed. I showed the pieces from Dads wall with photos on site.

I had also put a selection of clips from filming together with some photos so people could actually see the site itself and also useful to consider what I am interested most in the film - I think there is definitely something about the coming in and out of water that appeals to me - the different states of immersion and reveal of the landscape that I am interested in exploring - maybe along with the 'rock-eyes view' idea.

Installation shots of group crit

Series of clips from Kimmeridge; ideas for 'rock eye's view film'

Feedback/discussion – that Dad's piece strong and photos of the wall site too – be good to work on the digital images and print out larger/well – or do I want to make photopolymer etchings with them? Something for the future.

Collagraphs – interesting but colours don’t do the unease thing just seem ‘polite’ and ‘decorative’ - hmmm not sure how that comment helps. Jo suggested to make them huge 9 x A0 side cardboard fragments and take up whole wall for show. My reflection - that actually not sure I want to do that – but I could try one piece and see what I think?

Blow up photo of crushed rock ripped paper piece and put on screen/litho?

Fabric – try out whole body on fabric – lying in with rocks? me in it

Film – what is the narrative – why? Obviously getting sense of place which is good and angles/viewpoints interesting but need to work out what I want to say – go back film at night, different time/light/dark/dusk etc

Picked up on things left behind by humans – eg WWII bunker/wood/remnants – goes back to human/man interaction, but keep thinking why here for me? There's no story about that.

Paint me under weight of a massive rock feels appropriate.

Rubbings fine keep doing them but make them big and put onto screens then onto fabric – idea I already had not got round to.

No discussion of Emin portrait I realised afterwards - interesting in itself!

Reflection of work overall that as discussed above I had not got round to much of the making and maybe that’s because I just don’t feel excited by it. Feeling very flat, but is that the grief or the work and hard to disentangle the two things. Either way not very motivated to make – even though I feel better when I do. Felt quite upset and overwhelmed after the crit – not because there weren’t good ideas or that the feedback wasn’t good / helpful, but just the enormity of it and feeling can’t galvanise myself to do it.

Talked through with Sheila then with tutors later that day. Was helpful to acknowledge where I am at and enormity of it. Advice to focus again on what I like best – explore the angles of Kimmeridge I am interested in – focus on going to place and taking film. Need to take it easy on myself - sure but still got to crack on right!!

castings

New process of making for me. I have worked with plaster before, but mainly as a material to make sculpture from and enjoyed learning about the process in the casting room. Great to use hands to make something 3D and work with & understand how silicon works and plaster jackets for moulds. My originals were very fragile and thin – created with air drying clay which is all I had. The thinness of them was a challenge but I got all 4 cast and now thinking of redoing this – maybe making more and trying different original materials like clay or plasticine.

I think they are successful pieces in giving a direct embodiment of me in the location – my touch the impression of the rocks. A print and a sculpture all at once. Tutorials suggest doing more mapping a journey in the place through touch – something to consider. Having a group together to show me and rock is enough. Maybe 9 or 12? For show?

Casting process shots

Castings in plaster: my hand LHS, 10cmx15cm, rock face RHS, 10x10cm

rubbings into screen and photopolymer - may

I feel like I had resisted making my small rock rubbings into prints as I felt they were already an imprint of the rock. But, I also wanted to push the idea and explore combining them with other work and see what happened. I also wanted to learn more about techniques for taking digital print into screen/photo litho and photopolymer which I had limited experience of. I decided to try them first as screen prints and photopolymer and worked with Lars to get a large scale print for screen and after discussion with Lars and Brian a digital image to send to Hexio for a film positive for photopolymer. Results shown below.

Rock rubbing screenprint 50x70cm, screen on fabric - without/with earth pigment 50 x 60 cm

Rock rubbing photopolymer print with black and magenta inking, plate size 28.7x25cm

I was pleased with the outcome. It was good to do the photopolymer process as I hadn't done this before and reminded me of what we learnt in the induction. I think the photopolymer print is more successful as it has the velvety tones that I wanted to achieve from the original rock rubbing. The screenprints also looked worked better than I thought they might on fabric and I liked the aesthetic on the earth pigment. I am seeing this as a test for what I might do with screenprints on cloth going forwards. I could definitely play with colours more, but also reconsider what images I might use.

I printed the screen twice on a piece of fabric which already had some pigment on and tried out different ways of displaying the piece. I also then added more pigment as I didn't like the yellowy colour. The marks, colours and textures that are visible on the cloth vary according to how I make them - whether the pigment is painted on or left to soak in pigment and squeezed out. It has made me think about doing this more and layering up amounts of pigment and then perhaps selectively washing them out so that I can explore mark making, the extent of difference that can be achieved.

Rock rubbing screenprint x2 on fabric 65x125cm

pigment cloths, me and landscape

Returning to the idea of how to get myself into the work and using the motif of the pigment cloth as a comfort/repair/connection to place I asked Sheila to photograph me covered in the cloths. Initially I just wanted to see how this looked and to try out how layering it onto photos of the rocks at Kimmeridge Bay. I then would consider what I might want to do on a field trip in terms of actions/filming in situ.

Self and pigment cloths containing screen print of rock rubbings

Digital images of Kimmeridge Bay rocks, photoshop image of self overlaying rocks

I went back to the photo I had taken of the rocks of the wave platform at Kimmeridge and played around in photoshop with ways of aligning the image of myself with the rocks. It felt important to try out how this looked and consider whether this might be something I also use as the basis for a screenprint or even large digital photo. I liked the image with the enhanced graininess on both myself and the rocks (rhs photo) to give a sense of me and the rocks merging together. I was unsure though about this as a screen image.

I thought after reflecting on it that I wanted to try other photos of me with the pigment cloths standing up (see below) but also I think I'd like to have some in situ on the beach which I might do on another fieldtrip. I loved the look of the screen printed rock rubbing covering my head and it reminded me of John Stezaker's 'Mask' series of photographs collaged with landscape postcards (see example photo below). About this series Stezaker said this series was inspired by Elias Canetti’s essay on masks and unmasking in his book Crowds and Power ...' and that 'Canetti’s idea of the mask as a covering of absence and, in its fixity, as a revelation of death,..'. I found this very interesting as I have begun to explore the idea of absence and longing in my own work. I felt like this might be interesting imagery to try out in screenprint and film. I was starting to feel a connection between these more physically inhabited images in the landscape and the research I have started on the social history of Kimmeridge, the Iron Age skull that fell out of the cliff; the red-haired women of Kimmeridge myth (see extended research/research festival proposal) and these maybe themes and ideas that I come back to in Unit 3 and for the research festival.

Self and pigment cloths with screen print of rock rubbings on head

John Stezaker, Mask xiii, 2006, Tate images,

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/stezaker-mask-xiii-t12346

The shape of the rocks on the beach that I was working with in the photos above led me to want to try out drawings and paintings with an embodied anthropomorphic feel to them and I started by making an oil painting at home. I then did this monoprint at a larger scale and can imagine doing some big prints along this theme. I enjoyed being more painterly with the monoprint though it was difficult to control the diluting of the ink using white spirit as it meant some of the colour was lost by the time I printed. I need to do this more and work more quickly to find the technique that suits me. I shall continue these into Unit 3.

Oil painting, 30x21cm

Monoprint, 76x52cm

As I couldn't go back to the coast for a while I decided to take some more photos of myself in the pigment cloths and see how this looked in in different places and using Photoshop. Sheila took some photos for me in the courtyard of the college and then I used photoshop to locate me into the Kimmeridge Bay setting. I only did a very quick Photoshop mock up so the quality is poor, but I think that the pictures of me in the courtyard might be more meaningful for me than those in the place. It feels like me connecting back to the place where I live/work. I will consider taking more photos of me around where I live to explore this. I am enjoying this experimentation and feel I need to push this line of inquiry - particularly as I can see it relating to Unit 3 work.

Self and pigment cloths, Camberwell courtyard; photocredit Sheila Woollam; self in Kimmeridge Bay

There is a definite contrast between the pigment cloths hanging on their own or being used as a background for prints or as a covering for me. I wanted to experiment with hanging the cloths to see how they might look for the exhibition in July. When I stain the cloths at home I often hang them in the garden to dry and I love seeing them outside - re-connecting to natural surroundings. I think I would enjoy having an exhibition outside with these works sometime. In the studio I tried out a number of different ways of hanging.

Pigment cloths drying on the line

Pigment cloths, sizes from top left: 125x240cm, 90x100cm, 85x120cm and 90x190cm hung together with a trace print from cloth on paper 57x76cm, 85x120cm and 90x190cm hung together

It was good to see all these pigment cloths hanging and helps me to visualise what I will do in the show with them. I think the difference in tones of grey and brown are good to show different pigments that are at the site and add contrast. It might be useful for me to get more of that pigment from the coast. I also have shown below the trace print that is made when I paint the pigment on the cloth on top of paper. This trace is left behind on the paper.

Trace print from cloth on paper 57x76cm, detail (rhs)