ARTISTS TALKING

# 31 [12 January 2008]

Oysters 

Things here are continuing with other stuff going on too. 

 Before Christmas I had dropped into the staffs Marquetry group to see if they had any ideas about Oysters…..Not the fishy type in shells but the Marquetry technique or effect that shares the same name. I found a definition that might clarify this a bit 

‘Veneers cut across the grain of small branches of trees such as walnut, olive and laburnum, and laid decoratively. Popular circa 1700’

 Basically these slices of branches can be assembled to form patterned sheets, which have an appearance similar to an oyster shell.  To buy, these veneers are expensive and they often feature on antique furniture rather than being used for pictures. I like the idea of using the slices of twigs in some way and wanted to produce some of my own. I was introduced to a razor saw, a very dainty tool with many fine teeth for cutting and a thin blade, essential to attempting to cut anything to veneer thickness.

 By lucky coincidence I had a couple of twigs with me and was able to produce some little oysters quite nicely. So this has given me some other things to think about. Without a lot of equipment creating sheets of veneer would be a fairly impossible task so this feels like a scaled down version, a way of working with a piece of wood from scratch.  

Christmas brought this shiny looking razor saw too and a good opportunity for making use of the tree once it had done its job. I am still in the process of stretching its creative potential. 

# 32 [21 January 2008]

wood in the news

I have been enjoying the coverage of the timber washed up on the sussex shore. There are some amazing pictures of it on the net. Waves of wood which look like tiny matchsticks.

I wonder about the attention it has provoked. Would a public art installation of a similar affect have attracted the masses? Extraordinary alterations to familiar places are more acceptable or appreciated if they are accidental or natural.

Anyway, its a pretty spectacular display of wood.

# 33 [24 January 2008]

Quilting for men

I read this definition yesterday and found it quite funny. 'Male Quilting' was a term applied to Marquetry after labour intensive woodworking had become less in demand and relegated to folk art status. Hobbyist work was seen to have a similar relationship to quilting and stitch work.

I thought a bit about this earlier in the project, that Marquetry seems a male dominated craft. The intricacy and detail does have a lot in common with needle work though so the link made in this description makes sense. Quilting seems an obsessive hobby, requiring patience as well as creativity- much as marquetry does.

I don't know much about quilting but historically it was something that required many hours of work. Huge pieces produced by women over many years and continued through subsequent generations, all by hand.

 Working delicate pieces of veneer is like working with fabric in many ways, creating joins and fusing materials together.

# 34 [31 January 2008]

Vinyl Marquetry

I've tried to incorporate other materials into my work and plastic is one that isn't entirely alien to marquetry.

'Marquetry' by Pierre Raymond is a comprehensive book that charts the history, development, tools and techniques of the craft. It covers many angles and has been really useful to me over the past few months.

 Plastic gets a mention alongside natural materials, whale bone, ivory, mother of pearl, coral as well as many metals.

Using the figure of the grain from a roll of vinyl 'veneer' (sticky back plastic with a wood effect) I have made  a picture. My avoidance of pictorial work so far has been evident so making a 'proper' picture from a synthetic material has a hint of irony. As well as the materials being off the shelf at Wilkinsons.

Giving the sheets a firm backing I have cut the veneers into one another as normal. One was an imitation Beech design and the other a Walnut burr - both had surprisingly interesting qualities to their make up.

# 35 [5 February 2008]

Where am I now? 

When I started this project I was aware that the National marquetry society exhibition was to be hosted in Staffordshire in 2008. To be looking into the craft in the run up to this seemed a logical move for me having been thinking about this for a while. Producing a piece of writing, or work or having something to say about what I have been doing by the time of the exhibition would be ideal.

 The event for the Marquetry society and members is the biggest in their calendar and a big undertaking by the hosts. It would be nice if my project contributed in some way to drawing attention to this as a form of visual art and an activity with artistic potential for different kinds of people.  

 How I go about this without encroaching on the exhibition poses another question. It isn’t really about offering an alternative but looking at what I have found and developed from mainstream ‘traditional’ contemporary marquetry. Raising awareness of others using similar techniques as a way to make work, should be something to be shared.

 I feel I have opened up a range of ways of working for myself but am also overwhelmed by what understanding a craft like this means and beginning to know where to fit it with other work.

 I also wonder at this point how long I will keep writing here as I try to think what to do next with it all.

# 36 [17 February 2008]

Working with others

Working in schools has given me reason to think how this project could be shared with young people. Sharp knives and small children not being a great combination, other ways of applying the basic principles of working with veneer are possible.

The work I have done using vinyl sheets  could be an ideal way of producing collaborative, community and education work. The direction of the project might focus on this as I look ahead and balance working alone with others. At a point where I felt I needed to change my way of working this seems like a productive and worthwhile thing to focus on. In conjunction with the National Marquetry exhibition this may work well, better in fact than simply trying to present my own work in some way.

# 37 [21 February 2008]

Hot Chip

The electo pop-ish band Hot chip have an intriguing cover to their latest single. It looks like a lumpy marquetry mass. Their album covers have been good in the past so I was pleased to see this and wonder where it came from?

# 38 [10 March 2008]

Finding things

I found a tray in a charity shop constructed from a marquetry design. It was too nice to not buy and someone had clearly spent a lot of time on it. I am finding that time is something I am short of and fitting in significant periods of making anything is hard but I am thinking about the project a lot as I do other things.

I bought some nice veneers from a craft shop and the man told me that a lot of the materials they sell are the off cuts from car manufacture. Particularly one which came from jaguar- a manmade veneer that he called snake eye.

# 39 [1 April 2008]

April

I only posted once in March, should I feel guilty? I probably wouldn't even be writing this if someone that I know hadn't have got in touch today to say the had looked at the blog.

It was a good prompt anyway.

I am going to be running a workshop in conjunction with the National marquetry exhibition in Stoke next month. This got decided quite last minute and has given me a lot of stuff to think about and organise. This is good and has given me motivation where I was struggling.

I feel like I have made an opportunity for myself which I am pleased about and returned to my original focus of working up to this particular event or at least having something to show for the past few months.   

# 40 [3 May 2008]

Activities 

Today the National Marquetry Exhibition opens in Stoke on Trent. This is the show of the membership organisation ‘The Marquetry society’ so not something I am exhibiting in. I will however be at the venue tomorrow, hosting an activity based around Marquetry but not the activity itself. By this I mean I am not using actual veneers or making ‘real’ Marquetry but facilitating something to illustrate the principles of the craft using a much quicker and child friendly process.  

 I have been preparing for this for a while ( it has crept up on me) although various other things have got in the way, but then they always do. So rushing around for materials and collecting together my ideas.  

I don’t even know whether I will get to make this entry as the site seems to be down as I write this Saturday May 3rd, which is typical having not added to the blog for a month and now needing to and not being able. (it started working again) 

 I have prepared lots of Vinyl sticky back veneer effect sheet which will be the main material for the public to work with. Despite being wholly artificial the grains on these different rolls are actually pretty interesting and surprisingly effective. I’ve tried to devise enough activities for different ages, applying different stages of the process of marquetry. Really it’s about looking and working with a grain but I will be looking forward to seeing if it works for a session like this and to get some response. I hope it will be pretty relaxed but it could be a disaster?

 Location- The Gladstone pottery museum, Stoke on Trent- 12-4 free entry. Tomorrow May 4th