16.4.21 'Knitting together' the different parts of my practice
I have reflected generally on synthesis in my practice here 27.11.20 Reflections on synthesis in my practice and more specifically in other reflections about Synthesis. I have recently been thinking more about why I seem to feel the need to make multiple parts, using multiple processes and what precisely I am attempting to make visible.
Here are some excerpts from my reflection in November, in red, with current notes in black:
'Then for my statement at the end of MF7002, I wrote: 'I’ve been ‘knitting together’ Self and Other using people, places, actions and concepts, even when there’s no knitting involved. I am the connector.' I still feel strongly that part of what I am attempting is a form of 'knitting together' of a number of very different materials, forms, indeed concepts, all held together within the three strands of my practice that I've identified - sculpture, performance and social engagement. I do feel that I am the connector too. It's as if I'm, rather ineffectually at times, just about holding it all together through my ideas, my making, my spinning of plates. But why do I feel the need to do this? It makes life much more complicated and also I think I risk becoming a 'Jill of all trades and mistress of none'. It's clear to me that part of my recent research into working with different materials has been, obviously, because I have the opportunity during the MA to have the support and expertise of the fabrication technicians and access to the workshops. Once I leave Bath Spa it will be much harder to work with metal, for example. Casting will still be possible, of course, but it'll be harder.
Here are some excerpts from my reflection in November, in red, with current notes in black:
'Then for my statement at the end of MF7002, I wrote: 'I’ve been ‘knitting together’ Self and Other using people, places, actions and concepts, even when there’s no knitting involved. I am the connector.' I still feel strongly that part of what I am attempting is a form of 'knitting together' of a number of very different materials, forms, indeed concepts, all held together within the three strands of my practice that I've identified - sculpture, performance and social engagement. I do feel that I am the connector too. It's as if I'm, rather ineffectually at times, just about holding it all together through my ideas, my making, my spinning of plates. But why do I feel the need to do this? It makes life much more complicated and also I think I risk becoming a 'Jill of all trades and mistress of none'. It's clear to me that part of my recent research into working with different materials has been, obviously, because I have the opportunity during the MA to have the support and expertise of the fabrication technicians and access to the workshops. Once I leave Bath Spa it will be much harder to work with metal, for example. Casting will still be possible, of course, but it'll be harder.