The strangest day yet.....

This evenings Contemporary Art class was possibly the most surreal experience ever. From buying a 5 euro key in a dingy pub in the suburbs of Paris, to illegally climbing over a wall to walk along a disused train track, to drinking cider in the outside courtyard of a social housing estate with a wardrobe. I kid you not.

Ok so this is where it started.....




This is where it almost ended (for me anyway as a second A&E visit looked to be quite a probable outcome)......





And it was all in aid of this.......





I really don't know how to begin explaining as I myself am still trying to figure out if it was a dream or not!

From what I can gather (I think I would have got confused had the tour guide spoken English let alone in complete French) the whole experience was in the name of contemporary art. The project- REVOLUTION IS NOT A PIQUE-NIQUE provides a new, unique concept. That of co-ownership of contemporary art. The wardrobe was crafted in the Ardeche region of France. Since it's creation, the artists have offered the public a chance to buy a key to open the wardrobe for 5 euros (the cost of a duplicate key). I think that to date there are around 240 key holders and therefore co-owners of the wardrobe. Once made the wardrobe was then put out to sit amongst the Ardeche wild landscape with no shelter for 3 years. The co-owners had to attend meetings and maintain and care for the wardrobe through oiling etc. In addition, the artists allowed them to place objects within the wardrobe if they wished. So the three years ended and now the wardrobe has been moved here to Paris. It is actually located in my area, Porte de Vincenne, a stones throw away from my flat. The artist chose the location- a quiet courtyard of a 1930s red brick social housing complex. A grand party was held with singing, recitals etc at its placement. And it is here that it will sit for another 3 years until it will be moved to a location yet to be disclosed in Japan.

The guide, Ivan lives within one of the 1930s apartments and has began a new concept of a gallery. Work is shown in the caretakers room of each block as well as being discreetly placed all around the interior and exterior of the buildings. Works which I liked in particular were a cherry tree in the courtyard who's roots had been covered in gold leaf and a rather interesting sound installation- that of a cuckoo which is timed to sound in the courtyard twice daily at random times and its presence is totally unknown to the residents. As we are being asked to give much thought to the evolution of galleries, this concept seemed rather new and unusual. To be honest, I believe its accessibility (one has to arrange with Ivan an appointment to view the works) poses a problem for me. I understand that the choice of the location within a residential complex which houses people that on the whole don't have a great interest in contemporary art is a brilliant idea. It involves and provokes interest amongst a target audience who would otherwise dismiss this type of art as a waste of time and space. However the necessity of an appointment for the general public means that at the same time it is building boundaries and restrictions. I find the two ideas rather conflicting. Unusual locations, like the échos exhibition in the grand townhouse Musée Nissim de Camondo can often cause work to lose its credibility and its message. Although this type of exhibition is becoming increasingly popular at the moment, I doubt its longevity.

Cloth Analysis

Today we began our cloth analysis class. Or Cloth post-mortem as I like to call it. Basically, each lesson, the teacher cuts up a piece of old cloth and with small sharp instruments, strong microscopes and good vision we have to slowly dissect it thread by thread. Through analysis we will be able to establish the weave, numerous things about the warp, e.g. proportion, material, density, threading plan, weft etc etc. In fact we will gain so much knowledge that we are able to construct a carbon copy of the cloth. The teacher referred to it as textile espionage! Although some may find the exercise incredibly boring and tedious I actually think it will help me to gain a better knowledge of woven cloth which, for me is much needed! I often struggle to comprehend how certain elements in the preparation process will effect the final appearance of the cloth so I hope that this class will help me to visualize this better.

Loom Number 8

POIL TRAINANT SUR FOND TOILE

AMEUBLEMENT (furniture)- SIÈGE/ RIDEAUX

CHAINE- 2 EN COTON

With two warps of different density cottons, we were told to experiment once again with motifs and toiles. No matter how hard I tried to design my motif, every time it ended up looking like some awful sofa bed material from the 90s. I can't say I am really happy with any of my samples but nonetheless it was good to practice creating new weave patterns and seeing how they translated into cloth.



These fabrics were deemed as totally unsuccessful by my tutor. The first is certainly too dark so that the motif has lost all definition. In addition, Clothilde pointed out that as the striped areas has become so dense with threads, they could not be beaten with the same vigour as the other areas to crete a consistently dense cloth.








To create my last cloths, I decided to eradicate the (by this point) extremely annoying dominant dark blue stripes by raising the other warp and keeping the dark blue warp out of action apart from the appearance of the odd motif or two. I was advised by a third year to to a bit of toile either side of my floating threads motifs so that when I cut the floats on the reverse the threads would not come free. However Clothilde later advised me that this was not really necessary, especially when the motifs are not very large. My most successful cloth would probably have to be my small squared motif blue cloth. I believe it has a slightly more modern, fresh feel than the other samples.

La Religieuse

What a nice surprise to return home to. My lovely flatmate Cecile is gradually educating me in my Parisian Pâtisserie knowledge. This particular dream like pastry is a favourite in Paris and a true rêve it was!

Snapshot

Paris, what a strange place....

All work and no play eh?

I think not. The textiles girls and I went out for a much deserved meal to celebrate our hard work!

Loom Number 9

PIQUÉ DOUBLE ÉTOFFE

VÊTEMENT- MANTEAU LAINAGE (Wool coat!)

CHAINES- 2 LAINE CARDÉE ET LAINE PEIGNÉE







Painting a warp??! Now that's something I didn't think I would be doing again after our crazy warp painting days during our weave block. However with all of us using the same looms I figured it would be best to personalize my work a little as well as trying to keep to my mineral/crystal colour palette which seems to have lost considerable importance since we have started weaving. However this warp painting is not like the botch watercolour job I did at Chelsea. I had to purchase special inks to paint wool. When my sample is finished I will have to iron it to fix the colours and then give it a cold wash.





This cloth was unusual in that both warps were woven separately to create two layers. The layers are then held together by the pattern which occurs when the threads from the bottom warp cross over onto the top warp and become visible.



-This was my first time working with 2 warps. With different densities, threading up took a bit of time to figure out as did the threading plan.
-I experimented further with double cloth technique and learnt a little trick of how to seal the ends of the pockets either side of the cloth.
-Whilst working on the other looms I had been told that I beat the weft too hard. However on these samples I apparently have not beaten hard enough. Clothilde said that the fabric is too fragile and washing could cause parts of the fabric to come loose and unravel. She says I must wash my samples rigorously with hot water and soap to test their quality. I am terrified of doing this in case all my hard work unravels down the sink! I suppose it would be a necessary step within the clothing manufacturing process.

Loom Number 1

LISSERÉ/ GAUFFRÉ

LINGE DE MAISON- NAPPE

CHAINE- COTON








I had so much fun with this warp and am actually quite impressed at my credible tea towel samples. Ok so I know linen tea towels with heart motifs may sound like some awful swiss log cabin nightmare but it was actually really interesting making something for a specific use. The Gauffrés created a really pleasing flecked colour when I changed my yarn each pick. I did a sneaky small sample of them on a larger scale which I knew the teacher would not approve of (not practical, threads would catch and come loose etc) but which has given me ideas for developing this weave pattern in future work when I am back at Chelsea and experimentation is applauded not scolded!

Making motifs is also really simple and full of possibility yet it was the first time for me to actually sit down and think about designing something. Definitely another idea for the future...

Loom Number 2

SERGÉ DERIVES/ DIAGONALS

VÊTEMENT

CHAINE- 40% TUSSAH (SOIE) 60% LAINE





Oh the endless possibilities of a twill!
I wasn't very happy with the initial texture of my fabric as it felt quite heavy. Therefore I changed my weft threads to schappe soie which gave my cloth a much more luxurious feel and quality. It also gained a nice quality of glistening in light.
One on the tutors, Ursula told me to concentrate on experimenting just with the direction of the twill and to imagine how it's size, width etc would look across the body. She said it was important for me to draw the pattern on paper and design it before I start weaving. This is certainly not something I have done before but is essential when designing for a specific brief. It makes me laugh to think of my last weave project at Chelsea when I just got started with no idea what my final idea would be. I just let my ideas develop as I went along. An approach which I actually really like as I am a firm believe that the best ideas can come form accidents or random trial and error experimentation.

Loom number 6

REPS DERIVÉS/ DIAGONALS

VÊTEMENT

CHAINE (warp)- 80% LIN 20% POM








-With this warp, it was important to chose a weft yarn of a similar diameter.
-As it was intended for clothing, any pattern/print needed to be kept small.
-Although I began using linen wefts (I kind of assumed that if the warp was linen then...) but was told to try cotton instead as the linen wefts were making a fabric too hardy and stiff.

The 10 loom, 3 week mission....

I can't help but thinking it was a rather bad omen seeing a dead Parisian rat on my journey home tonight. At the end of the first of three weeks of weave I am exhausted. It is not because I'm being pushed too hard but there is something about the thinking that goes into weaving that really gets the brain cells going especially since the french way is so different to what I'm used to.

I think I have previously explained the weave challenge I am embarking on for the next few weeks. After week 1 I can definitely report that it's going to be a steep learning curve. Basically, every loom is set up with the intention to create fabric for a different purpose. And this is serious stuff, no experiments allowed. Our teacher inspects our samples afterwards and if there is a hint of an error, even one measly thread where it shouldn't be, it has to be redone. We also have to put a lot of thought into our weft yarns as this is also criticized frequently. Should the weft be the same diameter as the warp??? Yes. Should the cloth have the same amount of end per inch as the warp??? Yes. No, that float would not be practical as it would snag. No that has not been beaten tightly enough, it would become loose after several washes. That print is definitely too big for a coat etc.... Great emphasis is placed upon achieving a just cloth, fit for it's purpose. A sample should have the repeat of the pattern, otherwise when is one to know the repeat and how is one to know that the pattern is not just a cloth. I have learnt so much practical common sense knowledge about cloth that I hadn't even thought about before, like how line is a more suitable weft for tea towels and table cloths that clothing as it is far stiffer and less supple. I know these things may seen fairly obvious but in Chelsea when creating a cloth, my thought pattern is on a totally different wavelength and aesthetic qualities definitely reign over practicality!

I want to talk about each loom in turn, I will be spending a lot of time with them so they are sure to become my friends. But also so I can put all this new knowledge into some kind of order as at the moment my brain is bursting with threading plans, wefts and fluff.

Yayoi Kusama at the Pompidou

"My life is symbolized by one polka dot or one particle among millions of them" Kusama, 1975.


In a similar manner to my experience of the Edvard Munch exhibition at the Pompidou I could not help feeling a resoundingly melancholic atmosphere seeping from the works of Kusama. It was not till after seeing two thirds of the exhibition that I realized I was completely just in my thinking. At that point I felt strange. I felt as though what I was actually looking at wasn't paintings, sculptures, videos and collages by the artist but instead a deep psychological report of her inner self.

The exhibition is a retrospective dedicated to Kusama, one of the most famous contemporary Japanese artists and shows works produced between 1949 and 2011. Through tracing her life story alongside her pictures it is fascinating to observe the evolution of her subjects and medium.


Lingering Dream, 1949

Her first paintings show clearly her training at the Kyoto School of Art. However, many also bear certain motifs that would become characteristic to her future work. I believe these first works hold a great aura of mystery and intrigue. While some are quite dark and deep, others capture the simplicity of an abstract pattern. What is definitely evident to me is the effectiveness of a repetition of marks, be it graphic, organic or dreamlike. It was interesting to learn that following the annihilation of Hiroshima, exploration of Dada and surrealism became a cult for the Japanese avant-garde of the 1950s.

At this point I should explain, or try to, the founding element of her artistic practice- the Dot pattern as this first appeared, as a subsitute for her Self-Portrait in 1950. Basically, in a nutshell, Kusama and her Dot legacy was born from an early childhood memory of a hallutionation she experienced at 10 years of age. Whilst sitting at her kitchen table, the red flower pattern of the tablecloth multiplied itself covering ceiling, walls, the floor and even Yayoi herself. She describes the event as the beginning of her Self-Obliteration and feeling like a soul without a body. From this, her work developed with the idea of reinhabiting her body.

In 1958, the artist moved to New York feeling that she had no future as a female artist in post-Hiroshima Japan. Here her work changed dramatically.



Kusama in front of her 33 foot white Infinity Nets painting in New York, 1961



From a simple brushstroke technique a texture has grown to give the canvas a tactile, wrinkled effect. Her obsession with the repetition of a simple mark on a large scale is highly impacting and spectacular.




Infinity Nets Yellow, 1960

I was particularly struck by her yellow and brown version as it reminded me of the beautiful hues of the sunflowers I bought in the market yesterday. A flower that is so symbolic of the French summertime.

After this period of experimenting with simple techniques during the 1960s Kusama's work took on a very different direction as she turned to the creation of collages using found and accumulated objects. She became particularly intrigued by the discards of consumer society and worked closely with the artist Donald Judd. Her work became a bit conceptual for my liking as she gradually descended into a bizzare world of obliterating dots. At this point, amongst the bizzare video performances of Kusama, horses, trees and lakes all covered in dots I read something which confirmed my suspicions.

Her return to Japan in 1973 was an extremely challenging and painful experience. Her feelings of displacement combined with the death of a friend, her father and her own suicide attempt led her to decide to live in a psychiatric institution where she continues to rest today.

Despite this tragic turn in her life, she continued to work and in 1993 she even represented Japan at the Venice Biennial. It was now that she decided to focus her energies on designing new environments which give the spectator the experience of sensory immersion. They cause you to become completely absorbed and lose all point of reference as a cause of the reflections and light. She wants us to "question the place of man in the cosmos". Two 'environment' rooms are in this exhibition. Although I'm pretty sure they didn't cause the majority of people to do some profound reflecting, it was true that they caused one to get totally lost and immersed in an unknown location which could in fact be interpreted as quite unsettling.




Looking at Kusama's most recent paintings which sit near the beginning of the exhibition and her earliest works continue to surprise with yet another style. I personally think that her choice of colour and the simplicity of her repetition of abstracted shapes give her most recent images a Mexican vibe.



What a varied exhibition which is bound to get people talking. The interactive rooms are definitely going to appeal to many, however the melancholic thread that runs throughout the evolution of her work is, in my opinion something that has come to define her as an artist.

Svenskt Tenn exhibition at the Swedish Institute

The Swedish Institute of Paris is housed in a beautiful old building with a courtyard and walled garden tucked up a side street in the heart of the Marais. They currently have an exhibition of work by the classic swedish interior design company Svenskt Tenn. Founded in 1924 by Estrid Ericson, the austrian architect Josef Frank was recruited 10 years later and left a profound mark on the brand that still defines its iconic look today. In his own (all be it rather self-confident) words Frank claimed-


" Je travaille à partir d'une tradition riche et cultivée, j'ai sauvé la décoration Suédoise et creé le style Scandinave. Avant moi, la seule source d'inspiration était le Bauhaus"

When the pair began what was to become one of the most successful collaborations in Swedish design in the 1930s they decided to adopt a style contrary to the aesthetics of the century. The style they created is characterized by its rich colours and motifs. Frank designed more than 160 textile motifs for Svenskt Tenn. Most of which are botanical creations full of fantasy and imagination. I suppose he can loosely be called Sweden's answer to William Morris. In a similar way I also believe Franks' designs are timeless. Though their busyness and eccentricity may not be to everyone's taste, their vivacity and memorable presence are sure to make them stick around. They have a style which can transcend all ages and genders and bring a smile to your face even on the most dreary of days!





"Il n'y a rien de plus beau que des murs blancs, c'est aux différents textiles qu'ils revient de donner de la couleur à un pièce"

Estrid Ericson.