,27.11.20 Reflections on synthesis in my practice
Synthesis is pivotal to my practice. The dictionary definition of synthesis includes this statement 'the combining of the constituent elements of separate material or abstract entities into a single or unified entity'.
My art work makes connections between material, concepts and people. I work across sculpture, performance, and social engagement. In my Research Methodologies essay, Critical Knitting: knitting as a research method, which was part of the first module for this MA in Jan 2020, I wrote:
'My preliminary findings show that there are many ways that I can use knitting as a research method. Realising the significance of my role now as research-practitioner as well as thinker, maker, connector and performer has been critical. Knitting in private enables me to reflect deeply, knitting in public has strong relational elements. Exploring these aspects and the construction, materials and contexts of knitting more thoroughly during my MA, I look forward to ‘knitting together’ a unique, rigorous and transparent practice-led research methodology using knitting as a research method, triangulating with other, more conventional methods.' (Baker, 2020, p3)
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.'
For the last module MF7003 in Parts of me, 2020 I brought together as static sculptures 3 different elements:
I think the synthesis in these works was critical. These parts make connections between material, process and concept.
Synthesising materials:
Bringing together very different materials adds meaning to an art work as each material has it's unique set of associations so the connections and contrast can amplify or change those meanings. Here, I make connections between knitting, steel and Jesmonite and plaster. Knitting inevitably still has gendered associations as it's expected to be domestic, women's work, benign, functional and perfect. Knitting is not a material which is generally associated with sculpture and Fine Art. My knitting subverts the gendered expectations; it's gestural, emotive, functionless... but my Body cocoons are still made with wool, they're soft, still technically wearable and still have associations with comfort and the body. Metal is gendered too. It's hard, and associated with traditional sculpture. Jesmonite and plaster are also more traditional material in Fine Art, but they're much more fragile, breakable.
Combining such different materials creates connections, of course, but also a form of opposition, of contrast. Or maybe that should read 'Combining different materials (creates) contrast, a form of opposition or conflict'. This balance is important in my practice, as is the provocation. It is also an exploration of the spaces between things, both literally and metaphorically, the boundaries.
Synthesising process:
Making is critical to my practice, so, inevitably, process is key. I often choose to use processes that are repetitive, labour-intensive, and which inevitably have an aspect of the marking of time implicit in them. Over the past few months I've been researching a range of different processes in metal work and mould making, which has given me some interesting insights into this area of my practice. I think the most significant discovery has been how the making of my recent work has involved my whole body. Until now, I have been very conscious of the mark of my hand in my work, but now it seems to need the whole of my body.
In my statement for MF7002, Self and Other, I wrote:
'Process and time have been critical in both works too. Although the outcomes are very different the processes are similar. Each is labour-intensive, each records the passage of time (Bergson). Cumulative repetitive physical actions - knitting, ripping, writing, walking, tying, connecting, documenting - mark time and link the work to my body, but also to my conscious and unconscious mind, as automaticity (Czsiksentmihalyi, Wagner and Wheatley).'
In my statement for MF7003, for Parts of me, I wrote:
'The mark of my hand has long been critical, but now I see potential in the possibilities of the mark/s of my body, as the physicality of these new processes has involved the whole of me. Poses from my Body cocoon performances became the outlines of the metal sculptures; I was drawing with metal, using the form and force of my body. Casting my feet involved hours of standing, and the emotional and physical labour that entailed. I see it as the labour of performative making. '
Process is also part of my research, as a cycle of critical reflection; thinking through making.
Synthesising performance with sculpture:
I see clear links between my performative making and the performances where I wear my sculptures. My body is obviously one part of that, and I've written about embodiment elsewhere, but I see elements of my performance as process too. For me these performances are like sketches, or maquettes, or performative drawings, capturing a pose, making something visible, a moment. The videos of the performances are capturing the past, and they're seen in the present, connecting time. I have used stills from my performances to create static metal forms of the poses, so, in a way, the performance becomes part of the sculpture.
Assemblage/collage:
I used the term 'assemblage' for the first time in thinking about my latest Parts of me. I envisage them as as separate parts, brought together in a particular way for a limited time. I imagine that each time I install them they'll be different. I feel that this is also part of the apparition in my work. Last week Andrea said of collage that it's 'made up of parts' - fragmented, deconstructed, precarious - and that resonated with me too. It's as if my assemblages are three- dimensional changeable, collages.
Connecting people:
My work also often connects people, although that's been much harder during the pandemic. It has made me have to think about my audience - who and where are they? During the Wishing tree project they were passers-by, strangers, but also friends and family via social media and then a much more eclectic and wider internet audience, then it was in local and national newspapers and finally Radio 4. And also there some 'relational antagonism' (Bishop), some complainers.
I have attempted to keep the #virtualwishingtree going on Instagram now that the physical trees have been dismantled but it's much harder!
Synthesising concept:
Meaning is critical to my work so sometimes I synthesise several concepts in one piece of work. I feel that brings more depth, but I also hope that the art work communicates at least some of my intended meaning through its visual language and without too much explanation. As well as material and process, I consider form, colour, surface, scale, setting, method of installation and endeavour to find a combination that will communicate the often complex concepts that interest me.
Baker, L. (2020) Critical knitting: Knitting as a research method Available at: https://www.academia.edu/44486763/Lou_Baker_Critical_knitting_knitting_as_a_research_method_Jan_2020 (Accessed: 27 November 2020)
Synthesis is pivotal to my practice. The dictionary definition of synthesis includes this statement 'the combining of the constituent elements of separate material or abstract entities into a single or unified entity'.
My art work makes connections between material, concepts and people. I work across sculpture, performance, and social engagement. In my Research Methodologies essay, Critical Knitting: knitting as a research method, which was part of the first module for this MA in Jan 2020, I wrote:
'My preliminary findings show that there are many ways that I can use knitting as a research method. Realising the significance of my role now as research-practitioner as well as thinker, maker, connector and performer has been critical. Knitting in private enables me to reflect deeply, knitting in public has strong relational elements. Exploring these aspects and the construction, materials and contexts of knitting more thoroughly during my MA, I look forward to ‘knitting together’ a unique, rigorous and transparent practice-led research methodology using knitting as a research method, triangulating with other, more conventional methods.' (Baker, 2020, p3)
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.'
For the last module MF7003 in Parts of me, 2020 I brought together as static sculptures 3 different elements:
I think the synthesis in these works was critical. These parts make connections between material, process and concept.
Synthesising materials:
Bringing together very different materials adds meaning to an art work as each material has it's unique set of associations so the connections and contrast can amplify or change those meanings. Here, I make connections between knitting, steel and Jesmonite and plaster. Knitting inevitably still has gendered associations as it's expected to be domestic, women's work, benign, functional and perfect. Knitting is not a material which is generally associated with sculpture and Fine Art. My knitting subverts the gendered expectations; it's gestural, emotive, functionless... but my Body cocoons are still made with wool, they're soft, still technically wearable and still have associations with comfort and the body. Metal is gendered too. It's hard, and associated with traditional sculpture. Jesmonite and plaster are also more traditional material in Fine Art, but they're much more fragile, breakable.
Combining such different materials creates connections, of course, but also a form of opposition, of contrast. Or maybe that should read 'Combining different materials (creates) contrast, a form of opposition or conflict'. This balance is important in my practice, as is the provocation. It is also an exploration of the spaces between things, both literally and metaphorically, the boundaries.
Synthesising process:
Making is critical to my practice, so, inevitably, process is key. I often choose to use processes that are repetitive, labour-intensive, and which inevitably have an aspect of the marking of time implicit in them. Over the past few months I've been researching a range of different processes in metal work and mould making, which has given me some interesting insights into this area of my practice. I think the most significant discovery has been how the making of my recent work has involved my whole body. Until now, I have been very conscious of the mark of my hand in my work, but now it seems to need the whole of my body.
In my statement for MF7002, Self and Other, I wrote:
'Process and time have been critical in both works too. Although the outcomes are very different the processes are similar. Each is labour-intensive, each records the passage of time (Bergson). Cumulative repetitive physical actions - knitting, ripping, writing, walking, tying, connecting, documenting - mark time and link the work to my body, but also to my conscious and unconscious mind, as automaticity (Czsiksentmihalyi, Wagner and Wheatley).'
In my statement for MF7003, for Parts of me, I wrote:
'The mark of my hand has long been critical, but now I see potential in the possibilities of the mark/s of my body, as the physicality of these new processes has involved the whole of me. Poses from my Body cocoon performances became the outlines of the metal sculptures; I was drawing with metal, using the form and force of my body. Casting my feet involved hours of standing, and the emotional and physical labour that entailed. I see it as the labour of performative making. '
Process is also part of my research, as a cycle of critical reflection; thinking through making.
Synthesising performance with sculpture:
I see clear links between my performative making and the performances where I wear my sculptures. My body is obviously one part of that, and I've written about embodiment elsewhere, but I see elements of my performance as process too. For me these performances are like sketches, or maquettes, or performative drawings, capturing a pose, making something visible, a moment. The videos of the performances are capturing the past, and they're seen in the present, connecting time. I have used stills from my performances to create static metal forms of the poses, so, in a way, the performance becomes part of the sculpture.
Assemblage/collage:
I used the term 'assemblage' for the first time in thinking about my latest Parts of me. I envisage them as as separate parts, brought together in a particular way for a limited time. I imagine that each time I install them they'll be different. I feel that this is also part of the apparition in my work. Last week Andrea said of collage that it's 'made up of parts' - fragmented, deconstructed, precarious - and that resonated with me too. It's as if my assemblages are three- dimensional changeable, collages.
Connecting people:
My work also often connects people, although that's been much harder during the pandemic. It has made me have to think about my audience - who and where are they? During the Wishing tree project they were passers-by, strangers, but also friends and family via social media and then a much more eclectic and wider internet audience, then it was in local and national newspapers and finally Radio 4. And also there some 'relational antagonism' (Bishop), some complainers.
I have attempted to keep the #virtualwishingtree going on Instagram now that the physical trees have been dismantled but it's much harder!
Synthesising concept:
Meaning is critical to my work so sometimes I synthesise several concepts in one piece of work. I feel that brings more depth, but I also hope that the art work communicates at least some of my intended meaning through its visual language and without too much explanation. As well as material and process, I consider form, colour, surface, scale, setting, method of installation and endeavour to find a combination that will communicate the often complex concepts that interest me.
Baker, L. (2020) Critical knitting: Knitting as a research method Available at: https://www.academia.edu/44486763/Lou_Baker_Critical_knitting_knitting_as_a_research_method_Jan_2020 (Accessed: 27 November 2020)