Play

After much discussion, it was time to start playing. 

Playing is a key part of my process.  The first time I was told I could just play and not think about the outcome, I had a life changing experience and found myself liberated from all I had been taught about art, process and making.  Allowing myself to be in the moment and not think about where the work, materials or ideas were going.  It was a defining moment in my practice. It was 1999 and I was on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River at Oura Beach just outside of Wagga Wagga, NSW.  It was my first (of many many more to come) workshop with artist and mentor, Ruth Hadlow.

I am grateful that I can share this knowledge and experience with others in my teaching. I love seeing students' faces when they also have that moment of realisation that they can play as part of their process.  

The best part about playing is that there are no rules, there is no outcome and certainly no right or wrong way to do things. 

We had a series of starting points;

Patterns from traditional embroidery and henna/mehndi 
Collage as a way of constructing - piecing together
Found materials as our medium

 

Why are patterns important? (group discussion)

 
they look nice; they add interest and beauty to a work; they can be different colours; they can express feelings and emotions
 
patterns tell stories - traditional stories - stories of different geographical areas 
 
patterns are used in culture and religion to 'impress'.  they are an expression of creativity and artistic ability
 
patterns are historical
 
repeat patterns can fill a whole space
 
patterns add meaning, they can express something, a message

 

And so we spent time playing, drawing from our examples of patterns and our memories...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Generating Starting Points

One of the strategies I often use in the initial stages of a project is to create a clear set of starting points to work from. This is one of the many gifts I have been given from years of working with Australian artist, educator and mentor Ruth Hadlow. It has also become a very important teaching tool in my own practice as an art educator.

For this project, I was looking for starting points that were relevant to all participants, as well as elements that could reflect the exhibition rationale and fit within the (broad) parameters of drawing and diaspora.

We had three points for today's discussion;

1. A piece of cloth from home
2. A tool that is used to make/engage in their 'skills and interests'
3. A story relevant to themselves

All of the women had such wonderful stories and connections with textiles, stitching and cloth.

Ayesha talked to us about her dress-making skills and how they began when she was 6 or 7 years old making doll's clothes with her friend. I share similar origins with my interest in cloth and textiles as I played with dolls as a child, but that involved making clothes, furniture and other elaborate items of luxury for them. I have also noticed over the last six weeks that many of the women have brought their alterations and ideas for new garments to Ayesha at the start of some sessions.

Supreet also talked about cutting up one of her mother's scarves as a 4 or 5 year old to make a dress for her doll. Sunita taught herself to knit when her first child was born, she shared the exquisitely crafted dress, hat, booties and cardigan with us. She talked about following an Australian book where the knitting standards were very different to Indian standards.


It reminded me of a piece Paula Abood wrote for an exhibition I had in 2010 called Let the Beauty We Love Be What We Do

"My grandmother created a lexicon of imagery and utilitarian objects: rugs, spreads, throws, cardigans and dresses. A thousand and one doilies represent the idiom of her work. Her creative legacy adorns the homes of those who came into her cultural milieu. Her capacity to produce is the stuff of the female urban migrant legend that family members often like to tell, relating her extraordinary ability to look at a visual image and turn it into the architecture of crochet. She was never taught to read or write is how storytellers preface their conversation. But she could so easily turn the mathematics of abstraction into hyperbolic space."

From The Poetics of Crochet Let the Beauty We Love Be What We Do exhibition catalogue 2010

Kausar shared a wonderful collage she made from waste paper during a teachers' assistant course in Western Australia when she first arrived in Australia. The collaged image was of Busselton Jetty on the Margaret River. The collage was reminiscent of a patchwork quilt, such beautiful detail and texture built with paper that was cut, torn and pieced together very carefully.
 
Simi told us that she made a quick decision to bring in her mother-in-law's shirt she had left behind the last time she visited.  She explained that this had sentimental value as she missed her mother-in-law. This sparked laughter among the women, I couldn't tell at first if Simi was serious or being sarcastic.  After getting to know her, I realise that she was indeed sincere.  Simi has a very beautiful, happy nature and I don't think she was trying to make us laugh!

Simi also brought in a small collection of objects - some found, others broken.  She keeps things like an odd earring, a broken brooch head, small toys for embroidery and attaching them to cloth.  She expressed her interest in making artwork from waste.  She selects and keeps interesting images from magazines for collage artworks with her son.

Simi, like many of the women were introduced to textiles at a young age through their schooling.  I wish it was put into our curriculum in all primary schools! As an eight year old, Simi learnt how to cross-stitch from her four sisters.  She didn't like it.  As a teenager, she had to make garments as part of home science.  She made 3 garments and worked on fixing them until 3am the night before they were due.  This turned her off sewing and textiles. Until this workshop. She was reluctant to stitch a piece, but did and it is indeed the happiest piece in the collection!

 Simi's embroidered piece for the exhibition. This piece really manages to capture Simi!

Kamel brought in a bag of scraps of cloth that came from clothes and pants that she altered. She keeps these off-cuts to make other things.  Her sewing mainly involves the 'necessary things' - like mending and alterations for the family.  Kamel's interest is in drawing. She told us that she's very good at it too.  Kamel's drawing extends to mehndi as well.

The women discussed their common experience with textiles, embroidery and sewing in general.  One participant commented that they were taught to sew as a practical life skill,  "if your husband looses a button."

I wanted to move sewing out of the framework of a chore and a lesson. I wanted them to have a positive and enjoyable experience around stitching, some freedom to create, to draw with thread.

Following the discussions, we pulled out a few common themes that emerged;

collage

embroidery

henna/mehndi 

working with found materials

These were going to be our starting points for the project.

The task for week three;

Bring examples of patterns (from either embroidery or henna/mehndi) in the form of photos, drawings or actual examples.

Beginnings

I entered this community engaged project with a very open plan - actually, there was no plan or at least no fixed vision or outcome. This is how I usually work in my own practice. I begin with 'beginnings', rather than 'endings'.

Our initial starting points were simple:

1. Drawing - existing and new understandings and perceptions of what drawing can be.
2. Diaspora - we are all women who live away from our ancestral homes.

In our first meeting, I introduced myself to the group by giving them a glimpse into my own art practice, with a focus on my approach drawing. Prior to showing them images of my work, I asked, What is drawing? They responded with;

architecture
nature
abstract not realistic
design
mind maps
drawing with kids
cartoons
animation
graphics
engineering
3-D
embroidery
anatomy

Gallery shot from my recent exhibition/live work installation Hajara Waraka Miqass Plump Gallery November 2011. Photo by Viv McGregor

Following the overview of my work, I re-framed the question. What can drawing be? We managed to add a number of other approaches to our definition and understanding of drawing.

colouring
sketching
beading
knitting
crochet
crafting
stitching
painting

We then discussed the existing skills and interests of each participant - which I listed on a large sheet of paper.

embroidery
henna/mehndi
painting
architecture
working with found materials
crochet
knitting
dress making and designing
flower arrangements
collage
gardening
cake decorating
stitching
glass painting
interior design

I explained my process for working and generating ideas. From these discussions, I was trying to create a number of starting points to begin working from.

I asked them to bring three things to next week's session;

1. A piece of cloth from home

2. A tool that they use for making/engaging in one of their existing 'skills and interests'.

3. A story that relates to them in some way.

"It's like travelling in two boats..."

I will start this document today, week six of a project I have been working on with a group of Australian women from the Indian subcontinent in the Western Sydney suburb of Blacktown.

We're working together to produce a collaborative artwork for a forthcoming drawing exhibition at Blacktown Arts Centre (opening 19 July 2012) called Remarking/Remaking: Australian Drawing Connections.


Today, we began drawing on cloth with a needle and thread (this act is often called embroidery).

We have come to this place after 5 weeks of discussions, sharing ideas, references, drawing with pens, pencils and textas on paper. Drawing with scissors, paper and glue (also called 'collage') and large wall installations. I will be discussing these aspects of our process in more detail in other posts.

Today, I believe I may have also found the title of our collaborative work. During our discussion about diaspora, home and what it is like to live 'between cultures' one of the participants, Priya, said "It's like travelling in two boats." This really resonated with me, I loved the poetics of it. I named this blog 'Travelling in Two Boats', whether or not we use it as the title of our work, I am unsure - I like to keep that process open...

I did find this interesting article about language and 'journeying between worlds' from Outlook India after searching the phrase.