Artists statement

I've decided to go 'conceptual' with my artists statement, translating any numbers in my wall drawing diary. This reduces the piece to pure mathematics and implies inhuman process.
I asked a couple of friends to re-type a list I compiled, as this is further removing myself again.
I intend to present a list style artists statement, but print 100 copies as a 'set of instructions' to recreate my wall drawing, akin to Sol Lewitt. 

Original list

Retyped by Helen

Retyped by Leigh

Retyped by me

Retyped by me

Wall drawing update

At the end of day three.

Helpers, day four.

New marks emerging

Detail

Selection of weights and styles

Radial theme emerging

Asking for help to finish the wall has been very rewarding, the huge variety of mark making styles has improved the overall look hugely. I wondered if I needed to complete the first wall alone to then be able to provide a set of instructions for others to follow, however inviting help has taken the piece to the next level.

Asking for help

I have requested that an email be forwarded to the entire university to see if I can get some help to finish the wall drawing as time is running out!

Mark Making

The projector set-up

Here I am using knitting mentioned previously in Large scale shima, projecting light through the small holes and tracing every mark onto a piece of A0 paper.

I have now taken this one step further by tracing directly onto the wall, using scale to emphasise the feeling of ambition, insignificance and drive.

Sol Lewitt makes wall drawings with specific sets of rules. He draws one, then the rules are there for gallery technicians and other artists to attempt the drawings.

Sol LeWitt, Scribbles, 2005
Pencil on paper, 22-1⁄4 x 30 inches

My own wall drawing 10 hours in:

Drawing space. 7' 3" x 9'

Detail

Detail

Pin and Thread Drawing

Projecting through knitting. Pins secured using a pin pusher.

Working light to dark in threads, starting at cream.

Some pins bent, I feel this adds to the overall look and adds movement.

Working with a doubled over length of thread was more striking visually.

Five colours in total. Detail. 

Working on and off the paper.

Another view.

Detail.

Working with the thread was difficult as I wanted a good tension on the thread but found this pulled the pins out of the wall. I found a doubled over length of thread easier to work with as I could hook it on one pin to start without tying knots.

An artist who works and draws with thread is Chiharu Shiota. The thread is dense and must have taken hours, days or even weeks to build up. I like how the thread is obscuring something, and have considered layering thread over my large wall drawing.

Available at: <http://www.chiharu-shiota.com/work08c.html> [Accessed 21 November 2011]

I took part in a similar activity in Birmingham Art gallery, during the lost in lace exhibition.

Visualisation

A visualisation of projecting an A0 drawing onto the Creative Arts building at university.
I feel as though it might lose the tactile quality of the marks projected like this as opposed to seeing the piece in person.

Large-scale Shima

1. Front. Single pattern, repeated with no rotation or mirror imaging.

1. Back. Single pattern, repeated with no rotation or mirror imaging.

2. Back. Single pattern mirrored horizontally and vertically.

3. Before felting. Single pattern mirrored horizontally and vertically

4. Single pattern, repeated with no rotation or mirror imaging.

4. Detail.

These samples are all 300 stitches wide and 360 stitches tall. 300 stitches wide is the limitation of the Shima equipment. All samples are made with settings mentioned in the previous Shima blog.

Sample 1: Monofilament and white lycra.
Sample 2: Monofilament and white lycra.
Sample 3: Monofilament and fine felting yarn.
Sample 4: !00% Wool and cream lycra.

An artist who uses monofilament and creates striking textures in her work is Cathy De Monchaux.

ADD IMAGE

Colour palette

I tried a paper colour palette, liquid and yarn.

The liquid colour palette was problematic, I couldnt seem to make the correct colours and when I did find colours I liked, they seperated in the bottles after a few days (as above).

Shima Seiki

I scanned one of my drawings and converted it to index colour in photoshop, having reduced the size to 80x90 pixels. 80x90 pixels is the standard sampling size.

Some areas are slightly 'untidy', this is normally fixed; however I like this style as it gives interesting texture when working with two different yarns.
For example, Lycra will pull in, leaving the other yarn to ruche and contort.

Sample one: mohair and lycra. (disconnected digital stitch roller)
Sample two: mohair and felting yarn.
Sample three: mohair and stronger lycra (disconnected digital stitch roller)
Sample four: mohair and elastic

S1 (file name) Stitch 50 (tension)
Structure: Two colour ladder-back

I used one 'control' yarn and four different yarns with different properties. By using one yarn the same every time I was able to assess how the lycras, elastic and felting yarn affected the fabric.

See sample section 012

Sketchbook

Scan of every page of my sketchbook before I threw it in the sea.

An interesting article about throwing away art at the Off Modern website, concerning Michael Landy's Art Bin. Artists were invited to have their work considered by Landy himself and then if deemed enough of a failure the indivudual could throw away their work.

In 2002 Landy destroyed all 7226 of his possessions, as detailed by this article on the Guardian. He said he felt 'free'.