Thinking about the quilt being a square offset to the right upper corner of an asymmetric border. The purpose of this would be firstly to allow for a plainish background to embroider a Haiku on. Secondly it could be a opportunity to showcase a rich dye painted canvas that looked a bit otherworldly. There will be mention of a portal so the suggestion of another world could work. And the quilt in a quilt could also suggest portal itself.
Multiple quilts with coloured dots various sizes, patterned or not. Making the squares by hand in bulk for relaxation and then grouping as seems appropriate. This year work inspired by James Turrell’s skyspace and the sublime experience available there. Trying to recreate in a small way in a quilt or multiple quilts.
Separate idea – recreating images from my head that I will never have been able to photograph and that are pivotal but I won’t see again. For example an abstract representation of Dan arcing away from us when he saw us in Canberra – staying as far away as possible. A very long arm’s length, barge pole, prompted by another reading to think of this image when it mentioned photography at arm’s length – specifically thought of Dan as no photography and arm’s length as Dan arcing away from us.
Using text cut and hand sewn to the quilts within the body of the quilt or over the top.
Now I’m reconciled to raw edge applique I can use tiny pieces to build up a great oversewn detailed picture or abstracted picture.
On space 22 everyone did a part of a picture then put it together. I could paint an abstract picture and then put it together in quilt pieces.
Another idea from brickendon. They have stuck down hessian on to wood for walls. But hessian or open weave even my own weaving applied to a denser cotton could give an olde worlde feel.
Thinking about recreating my photoessay in fabric for images of Tasmania. Need to have some way of getting text on and writing in strict Haiku I think. Could also be done on one quilt but I don’t think I’ll do that. Just the colour experience for the guild quilt but 10 small quilts for images of Tasmania if I get in.
Documenting a moment. Maybe work from photograph then watercolour then quilt
Doing the music unit has led me to believe that linking senses can intensify an experience. Would suggesting sound or smell with text intensify a visual experience. Heston B was talking about sound and taste but I think sound, touch and smell would all help for a visual image and could perhaps be evoked by text. Heston made the point that a photo doesn’t evoke personal memory as well as something more open ended like a sound. So I’m going to try making the text I use for the guild quilt speak about the sound, the feeling and the smell of being in James Turrell’s skyspace if I can. To some extent I already used those words in my photoessay. And we were encouraged to do this for the haiku project. This diploma is so much better than the fine arts course. That’s a sad but true thing.
Eager to start something that requires learning new skills. More challenging in terms of flow.
Reflection needs to include broader effects on brain – neuroplasticity
Minimum of three scholarly sources cited, 6 for HD. Remember to study the rubric and write to that.
Can use headings but must link without them. Wonder if my honours did that.
I have lots of jars and I would like to use them to make some sort of drum with different notes
I was originally thinking string instrument but I was enthused by the thought of bashing a drum instead. I just discovered that you can make different notes by hitting the rim of a glass jar and you can alter the note with water.
I don’t want to use a wind instrument because I know I don’t enjoy playing something that relies on good breath because I’m not so good at that. I need to research how both string instruments and percussion instruments actually work. Brian was trying to make an udu which is a ceramic instrument where you hit over the hole. Needs to be more creativity involved I guess than just hitting the rim of a jar. Will look at the quality of skins etc. Probably could use the metal lids of jars but again there is not much creativity in that.
Ok so it seems drums have a bottom head, something that is also easy to vibrate so jars probably won’t work so well.
This next article explains how the skin material starts the vibration which is what produces sound waves which reflect off the body and back up to skin presumably focussing and amplifying the sound.
Maybe it’s possible to make a range of drums with different characteristics from found materials. I’m stuck of what is a very resonate skin though. I’ve tried masking tape on a little jar and it didn’t really vibrate at all. Something with stretch I guess I need. I’m not keen on using a balloon now because I didn’t think of it myself but maybe that doesn’t matter. I don’t think I’d be able to use cloth because it’s not airtight. Maybe glad wrap.
Going to have a look at string instruments too. Maybe I could vibrate a jar using a string rather than striking it. Actually need to work out why glass makes noise when you run a wet finger around the top. Maybe I can generally research sound from glass. I think I have chosen my found object – different size jars. Am I allowed to pick that first and then work with it to make sound. I think so but I’ll go check. So you are meant to find your object first. I’m not sure if a number of jars consists of an object. Bottles are mentioned as adjuncts you could use. Perhaps I’ll use that metal grid thing up in the garden and then incorporate jars and strings.
Going to get it now and see. Actually it’s great. It is vibrating when I bump it against things and has lots of fixture spots for strings and is able to stand on top points only and it it touches something resonant like the shed it amplifies the sound.
I’m excited now with the thoughts of how this vibration could be transmitted to various different sound box materials. Strings, jars, water, stand legs in a box of something that vibrates with sound.
Here is a good easy article about sound – need to start something vibrating between 20 -20000 times per sec = frequency and called hertz. and this causes the air molecules to also vibrate and this transmits sound waves – cascading vibrating molecules – to reach the ear and move the drum and cause you to sense sound. They vibrate in the same direction that the sound is travelling. Like a wifi symbol.
Didn’t really understand the result when it discussed making the resonating chamber out of paper mache to hightlight whether it was needed or not for the sound but thought of the idea of paper mache sound box was a good one. Antonio de Torres a 19 th C guitarist was the person who did this. Also a cardboard guitar. All except the sound board which he used to suggest that the soundboard was the most important part of a guitar. Could I use a vibrating material over the jars and pop a string across. or a bunch of jars as sound box rather than sound board. Would the metal object act in part as a sound board to amplify the strings. Vibration could go from string to metal to jars? This is going to be fun and use physics which I need to learn. Much more fun than I was expecting. I think I’ll make something that is planted in the garden and played outside. Will need to experiment with glues to see how I can attach jars to metal maybe and still transmit vibration. Maybe the jars will in fact be the sound board and resonator in one? wood glue must be alright to use because we used it to attach bridge to sound board in the ukes.
Imagining that I may be able to string between the struts and then attach rims of glasses behind different struts so that the rims touch the struts and transmit the vibration to the glass. I’m thinking glass must vibrate well because it’s less dense than other solids being in fact a very slow moving liquid.
This article explains why wine glasses make a noise when you run a wet finger around the rim. It’s just making the glass vibrate with a combo of sticking and slipping. You should get the same sound if you hit the glass with a metal spoon. Guess each glass has its own resonant frequency. Also the note is lower if you increase mass by adding water. So you can tune glasses. I couldn’t get it to work with my jars because I’m thinking the rim is too thick to get it vibrating like that. But it will work possibly with something more vigorous.
Just tried with a small glass jar and dropped it and smashed it. Doesn’t seem to get the jar vibrating but may be because I’m holding the jar and dampening the vibrations. Just thought I would strike with something metal instead of wood and I picked up a nearby small hand held gardening fork and I was surprised to find that the little four pronged fork acted like a tuning fork with a distinct high pitched sound generated from the fork. I tried it with normal kitchen forks and it also worked but the sound was very high pitched. Too high pitched to use. Now I need to understand tuning forks so I can use this info somehow and maybe include the fork or have the fork as my instrument.
The fork’s pitch is determined by the length of the tines. Unfortunately they are not very long so even though I could shorten them they would just go too high pitched. Could I lengthen them in some way? why does it have to be a fork? Answer seems to be because the vibration transfers back and forth and doesn’t dissipate too quickly. https://www.topperlearning.com/answer/why-does-a-tuning-fork-has-2-prongs/r45n4kxx
So could I bind together metal rods to make various sounds. A bit tricky because I don’t really have that and also I think they need to be connected metal to metal.
Could I just use the metal object as the sound board. It does vibrate well. Maybe I just attach strings to it and something like a cardboard box behind to focus the sound. Or something metal I guess might be better. It already makes a sound.
Ok so I need to stretch strings really super taut but I can get variable sound out of them when in contact with the metal frame. So I assume the metal is also vibrating and acting like a sort of sound board. Not sure if I can get noise out of the strings attached at both ends to something that doesn’t vibrate and make sound. I’ll try. Ok, Tied around my mocassin it makes a dull different sound but still a note. Very interesting. It is definitely reliant on pulling the fishing line super tight. An maybe it will work better if just wound and not going through a knot. Before it contacts. In the uke bridge it is simply threaded and knotted behind the contact with the bridge. I can manipulate this instrument so that its contact point does connect like that. I don’t want my attachment to dampen the vibration. Might need to drill small holes. Then perhaps the other attachment doesn’t need to be on the instrument itself. Although if it’s not I would need to make sure that the vibration was not dissipating in the other direction and there would need to be a way to tune it. Although it is acting as a sound board it might give a better sound if it was on something else that also easily vibrated. I could feel the vibration being transferred to the ceramic cup I held against the metal object. I’ll have to think of a name for it – metal frame – I don’t know what it actually is. But the ceramic cup didn’t contribute to the sound. I put my foot in a loop of fishing line in order to be able to pull it taut enough to get the sound. Maybe I could make that a sort of fixture of that. All five notes could be loops that I could use my body weight to tighten. Or I have read of elastic bands being used as strings. It was in the first reference I think – no it was this kids video which I can’t watch.
Ok I looked up harp and it seems that it’s to do with the mass of air moved in order to give a good sound. So if I’m using my frame as a sound board it won’t really work well because the vibrations through the metal are still only moving little bits of air. I need a big solid backing board that the strings are attached too. So I could just think of my metal frame as a sort of a bridge and attach it through it’s two legs to something that moves a lot more air around. Or could I contact it to a sound board through attaching something all along the top directly with wood glue. Then maybe that thing could be covered with a dome and have a hole or holes for the sound to be directed.
So this thing might work. I was thinking of tensioning strings by hanging them on bricks but I could just attach them through holes drilled in the frame. This would only be the bridge though and not really contributing much to the sound I guess. I can get sound using it as sound board but it’s not very loud. Possibly I could amplify it with a sound box. What I put on the top would designate the final noise. Not sure what that could be. Maybe a decent strip of very thin wood. Maybe I have something left over from when we made the ukes. And then some sort of resonating chamber above with holes to let the sound out?
Could be a bit of a combo of sound board from frame and something attached to frame. The frame resonates very well so I guess it may make a good transmitter to something else that makes a louder noise. I’m really not sure how it works. Whether the sound in a guitar is transmitted to the sound board through where the string is attached. ie bridge or if its the air. Strings on a harp attach directly into the soundboard so I guess it starts through direct contact, although the harp article mentions a “wall” that the sound board acts as. Need to find another article.
This article suggests the sound comes through the bridge. I guess that makes intuitive sense as the air vibrations wouldn’t really be able to move a wood top.
Enough I need to rest and think about it. And try some experiments with contacting some thin wood to the top of the frame. Or maybe metal
Got feedback on my first mini project and was told I didn’t give enough critical analysis. Abby referred to it as personal reflection on the process but what I did was like a statement – I wrote what I thought the work said and I tried to write it objectively but I didn’t write anything negative because you wouldn’t write that in a statement. I latched on to statement because that’s what Anne Marie said in one of the webconferences and I was saving criticisms and imperfections for the reflection. I might ask Abby about it in the zoom tomorrow but it may seem a bit petty seeing as she gave me a good mark anyway. She did say I didn’t need to give background info about Haiku which is true. Not sure why I did that but probably so I could reference because my references were about technique largely. Have to be a bit more careful with the next one which is going to be difficult. I guess techniques were part of the statement so I feel like it does actually fit but maybe it was too much. Not going to argue with Abby though because she’s new and nice and best just to leave it. I was marked generously.
Came here to write something I just thought of – I’ve been thinking of the musical instrument as just functional and meeting criteria but really I should think of what I’m trying to say with the look and the sound of the instrument. Like I would for any other art work. And find some influences – art works that are functional instruments or experimental music.
Lucas Abela plays music by blowing on glass and having electronic pick ups on the glass. Looks gross to me because he cuts his mouth at times but got me thinking about using glass in my work. Maybe a sheet of glass rather than the jars. Not sure if I could get that to work but maybe box, glass, frame. I have a piece of glass somewhere that has a hole in it. Could be useful.
Instead I just noticed that the old pellet heater has a resonant metal side with holes. I hooked some fishing thread through it and depending on the length and tension I can play various notes that have quite an interesting character. Trying to think about why make these noises though. The music for Nitram had quite a discordant quality which suited. I think I’ll look that up.
Went out and got the big glass sheet with a hole. If I lean the metal frame up against the glass which is in turn up against the wall I create a bridge sound board and box of a sorts. It does amplify and beautify the sound to use the glass as compared to the sound made by plucking a string on the frame. Now I need to find the best string material. I think that the current fishing line is not elastic enough. I’m wondering about using various synthetic threads I have. Guitars commonly use nylon or steel so I could investigate with metal wire or synthetic monofilament threads that I have.
What am I trying to express with this instrument. I still have time to decide between a string or a percussion instrument. You hug and stroke a harp and it makes peaceful music. Instruments you strike have a more energetic and angry feel – war drums. I like all my art to comfort, be beautiful and to give pleasure in their beauty. So it needs to be relaxing to play gently and the sound needs to be nice pure tones without lots of discordant harmonies. Also a little sad and possibly able to play one minor chord as that suggests sweet sadness to me. I could work out which chord does it for me the most and go with the notes of that. So the music doesn’t need to be loud but it needs to be clear and if possible sustained. I think I’ll just make up a little song to play that embodies these ideals. Gently lilting – ok so needs to have higher notes – I think plucked rather than struck is more consistent with my theme. Easiest would be old guitar strings. Lucas Abela’s music is the opposite of what I want. I can’t watch as blood from the glass smears on his face.
Carillon in canberra has the sort of sound and peace I’m after. – looked it up and it’s giant bells.
can’t find the nitram music score but some of Jed Kurzel’s music on spotify is a bit similar.
Making music out of found objects is another way of creating a functional item, which is one of my goals. It means that the artist is not limited so much by funds and can go on to create with everyday objects. Of course it still does cost but not as much and can also be found at tip shop etc which promotes a circular economy rather than a disposable one.
Spent all night lying awake trying to think of how I can tension the strings on my instrument enough to make a sound. Eventually went to sleep without an answer and woke with the same question in my mind, but this time I thought of an answer straight away. On one side I can anchor the strings to a fixed object or objects, on the other I can hang glass jars filled with water. If I use compatible gauge strings I should get enough tension and be able to alter tension with the amount of water. In addition I will have five separate percussive notes if I strike the jars. Excited to try this but it’s raining outside. Plan to attach the jars through their lids – a hole in the lid with the string attached to a button and then the jar lid screwed on. Rain stopped so I did a little test. Bottles are resonant with a good note even when filled with water. 700 ml is just enough for tension on the strong fishing wire but I don’t think the contact with the metal is very good when I have it vertical. The plan is at right angles though so hopefully will work. I’ll also try thinner gauge wire or nylon thread. Then I will be able to use less water I imaging. I hope that going around a metal corner will allow for enough contact to transmit to the metal. I will also have some nice notes from the bottles struck with a metal spoon. Maybe I can also pick with a metal spoon or a knife so I could be using both string and jar at the same time. Might give nice harmony. We shall see.
Hanging bottles with water in them hit with a metal spoon are like bells. Inspired by carillon. Can actually play a made up tune without even tuning – just get a feel for the sound and which is the best sound to come next. I think that I will use a finger pick of some type for the strings and a metal spoon to strike the “bells” I’m excited to get out there and do it but also need to focus on the bloody project proposal for arts in the community. Much more boring. Think it’s exciting because there is learning and uncertainty about the outcome. Experimentation is a driver for me. Writing papers is grunt work. I would do this for fun but not writing assignments.
So excited when I looked for harp players to backwards inspire me and I found that Andreas Vollenweider was a harpist. All I remember was that I had two new age CDs bought in my intern year or the next one 1986-7 and unbelievably I was actually able to find them. This artist was recommended by Mark who I met in NZ and I haven’t played them or thought about them for decades. They are still eerily familar though when I play them. Because they are linked to Mark they also make me feel a bit guilty and I couldn’t really discuss them with Brian with full honesty. Still I think they kind of represent the sort of music I was going for.
Bloody hell a song just started which was so familiar and yet I’m sure it’s 35 years since I played it.
Had a lot of technical problems with this. The most distressing was that when I saved the powerpoint as a pdf the colour went all muted browns. I discovered that I had saved the jpeg direct from lightroom, but when I exported it instead from photoshop the choice to embed colour was given and that fixed it. I also found that powerpoint compresses things to shit and the pdf was absolutely tiny and a bit pixelated. So lessons are that if I use powerpoint I make sure that do not compress images is ticked in advanced preferences somewhere, and that I save the jpeg I’m going to use through photoshop export and embed colour. This time I just sent in the powerpoint without converting to pdf, which is another option.
I was pretty happy with this image as my first one. I took 160 photos to get this and have tried to make the words resonate with the photo. I’m choosing grey because I don’t like any pure white (including text). I have thought about having the oud as me turned away from the outside world which you can see in the reflection. Complementary colours as colour contrast is the aesthetic theme of this photoessay to fit in with the simultaneous contrast of Turrell’s Skyspace. Red is for pain, sound is meant to refer to in my head and then reference with the strings. Shallow Depth of field to highlight hole and also give blurry sense of movement in the strings. Diagonal leading lines to the hole and also rule of thirds with the hole in the bottom third. Looking down because I’m literally down. 12 X 12 inch square with the photos in the 3:2 format of my Finepix camera. 3 sentence text to tell the story of a visit to the skyspace as a break from the hopeless situation.
Colours described as being analogous colours are next to one another on a colour wheel, and many theorists believe that using these or monochromatic colour schemes (different shades of the same hue) can have the most harmonious effect especially if textural variation is also employed (O’Connor, 2014).
So if I’m going for harmony I need to group colours and then gradually transition to the others. How could I add textural variation – ? through different quilting? Think I need to buy more colours. Maybe go in and buy the whole range in one go. Or the whole range of one colour in one go so that I can keep track. Will have to start again as I already have some colours but won’t know which ones they are. Going to make lots of squares without the final design fully organised this year. Then maybe at the end of the year I can use for quilts for the guild show and smaller quilts for the IOT show if I am included. Or maybe even try and get a show of my own going.
Bought the book Conscious creativity so don’t forget to read it.
Need documentation about in a journal in order to talk about the creative process in the final reflection.
refine, convey ideas, pare back, rework, multiple versions, check with others, can’t get others to make the changes for you though. Really had to stop Nik doing that for me in Honours.
Contextual statement is one of intent, inspiration, APA references, experiments, creative artistic outcome. Scholarly writing. First person and third person. Avoid passive. ? mixing first and third person. I guess just keep the “I” to only where necessary.
Strictly follow project brief
Readings I have access to:
5 scholarly or semi scholarly articles – printed out and saved to folder.
Kindle books – How to Haiku, Bruce Ross (2002)
-The Japanese Haiku, Kenneth Yasuda,(1957 but ed 2001)
-An introduction to Haiku, Harold Henderson,(1958) this one has the Taigi loneliness Haiku in it I think. Location 2007.
The idea behind this is that you start to call out something interesting but you are alone so you don’t and I guess it highlights your aloneness. Direct Japanese translation – Flying firefly there thus although would-say alone kana –
Google translate comes up with
Flying fireflies That and Ivan are also alone
I think the original words are an old form of Japanese. Tobu hotaru are to iwan-mo hitori kana – 15 syllables if I say it phonetically. I read somewhere that the symbols in Japanese say more is a shorter space than the symbols in English but if spelt out phonetically then should be similar amount of information. So in English we have decided on 17. I wonder what it is in Japanese. Hopefully I’ll read more in the books.
Photographed book from the Haiku foundation – Haiku, RH Blyth (1952)
I think this book might also have the Taigi haiku in it but can’t find it yet. Might be a slightly different one but I will use this book for reading a bunch of traditional Haiku because the yellow old paper looks appealing to me. 🙂 Even electronically. And it has some pictures.
Physical books -Writing and enjoying Haiku, Jane Reichhold (2002, Japanese, 2013, US). I have referenced this book in my honours exegesis. Feel a bit guilty using a creative material I’m not completely unfamiliar with but I didn’t really research the generation of Haiku previously and didn’t produce any Haiku in my honours work. Just took the idea of brief words generating an idea. And I want this course to be useful so I want to learn more about Haiku in case I really do want to use strict Haiku in my work in the future. Thought about putting it in my photoessay but I won’t. But I will practice writing a haiku about Turrell’s skyspace and may incorporate that into my skyspace quilt work. Which I am now making a large work and not for Australia Wide Eight after all. Just a body of work how I want it to be with no constraints for this year and I’ll work out what I do with it later. Maybe just the old guild show as usual. Fun to be involved in something local and grass roots – more related to my idea of creative arts for well being.
New book I shouldn’t forget about – Resilient stitch : Wellbeing and connection in Textile art. Fits more into the arts and community unit.
Two practice Haikus then:
Rework Taigi’s one to fit the constraint of 5/7/5 and a skyspace experience one.
blue-green butterfly
look at that I start to say
but I am alone
Is start one syllable or two? will need to research the definition of a syllable. Is it to do with the number of vowel sounds? what about using I and linking words like to and but? Need to research what is best. I guess no firm rules but we are working within a convention for this task. Might rework this again in third person at another time. In the meantime I quite like it.
a. A vocal sound or set of sounds uttered with a single effort of articulation and forming a word or an element of a word; each of the elements of spoken language comprising a sound of greater sonority (vowel or vowel-equivalent) with or without one or more sounds of less sonority (consonants or consonant-equivalents); also, a character or set of characters forming a corresponding element of written language.
From the Oxford English Dictionary online available through utas library ( under databases)
So I think start is one syllable because although sta could be considered one syllable on its own, rt is not a syllable because it has no vowel or vowel equivalent. Fun.
light reflect absorb
simultaneous contrast
crimson pain bleeds teal
Is eased one or two syllables? and should I include linking words like has? or with?
According to this site eased has one syllable which is my inclination but does have two separate vowels. Great site for clarifying as long as it is considered a scholarly source. Offered me APA citation off its own bat which is a plus.
I have to say I am loving this writing. Didn’t use eased after all.
Crimson pain bleeds teal doesn’t really make sense but sounds better that teal bleeds crimson pain. There are ways it could make sense. I’m trying to say that crimson has changed to teal at least a bit. I’d like to use complements but too many syllables.
For me haiku is about incorporating words for their pleasurable sound as much as meaning. ie crimson rather than red. Sounds more vivid. Evocative words that sound beautiful. What is it that makes a sound more beautiful than another. More research needed around the sound of words and why they are attractive or not. I know which are attractive but not always why.
Want to write a haiku about world of warcraft using the word I’ve always liked – allele- and which I used as a name in the game purely because it was a beautiful word.
Brainstorm words associated with world of warcraft – child sadness allele doogle path barrens music real unreal explore connect adventure gone past fight excite
allele and doogle
on a stone path together
will never return
This was fun but sad of course. I think this works because it’s a bit ambiguous – will allele and doogle go down a path and not come back? or what I really mean which is allele and doogle will never be on a stone path playing together again (in game). Hopefully the sadness which I feel is implied rather than having to say the word sadness.
the barren’s music
sings adventure to the child
allele briefly shared
Again I think this works well because it’s ambiguous as to whether allele is sharing the child or the adventure or the music. It comes from a place of nostalgia for the time spent playing with Jess that is now gone, but also means to me that jess is also largely gone. For a while I did get a share of him but very little now. So I think that ambiguity creates mood and widens the possible audience. I am talking about a moment in time in both cases, which haiku seems to suit.
Have changed these above without noting the changes. Changes have basically been to meet syllable count and to get rid of linking words and words that don’t offer description, just functional grammar words. Action and description words add content. Trying to leave out any words that don’t add content.
Need to move on to doing the actual work.
Haiku a day would be a good idea for health, like photo a day. I tried to find an active site like that but couldn’t .
Geocoded words for home using address:
First result in centre of home: sailors.trains.dressing
In the middle of the top garden: immunity.audit.cutback
This is a haiga – imagery that goes with a haiku. I’m definitely interested in this. Wonder if I’m allowed submit haigas for this project. Definitely plan to do haiga quilts with the short text and imagery.
This is interesting but old. I find the use of disturbed a bit disturbing. No haikus in this that engage me much.
Still need three more Haiku – I’ll look in books I have.
Autumn twilight: the wreath on the door lifts in the wind —Nick Virgilio
Ross, Bruce. How to Haiku (p. 15). Tuttle Publishing. Kindle Edition.
This is an interesting one. As the book says it’s moody and it sets a scene that suggests abandonment and sadness. What is a wreath doing in autumn? It’s not a christmas wreath. I can see the door , the wind and a background of autumn trees just from these three lines.
“I try to make my life count for something. We all have these tragic experiences, and life basically is tragic, nobody lives happily ever after. So what I hope to do is to uplift it and bring it into the realm of beauty.” This is a quote from Nick Virgilio from the above file. I feel like I get this. Turning pain into beauty. This is what art can do for me.
Easter morning… the sermon is taking the shape of her neighbour’s hat
This is another interesting one of his. Mixing up metaphor of sermon taking shape with reality – the real shape of a hat. Very nice. Makes me think of boredom where she is contemplating the hat rather than listening to the sermon. Again appeals because I identify with that and brings back memories of boring sermons as a child and how I entertained myself by fixing my eyes on the minister without moving, so long that I started to lose peripheral vision and get a tunnel effect.
Stuff taken out of How to Haiku book:
Sabi = moody loneliness
Karumi = lightness, a warm homey treatment of familiar things
Wabi = the quiet beauty of ordinary things
a stick goes over the falls at sunset —Cor van den Heuvel
Ross, Bruce. How to Haiku (p. 16). Tuttle Publishing. Kindle Edition.
This is a short poem, single line that doesn’t follow the pattern we have to use, but says a lot in a very short number of words. A bit like what I was trying to do when I did my quilts for Honours.
Haiku are short, imagistic poems about the things that make people feel connected to nature. In Japanese, haiku traditionally have seventeen short sounds divided into three lines of a 5-7-5 syllable pattern with the middle line longer than the first and third lines. . . . Most though not all haiku reflect nature or one of the four seasons. The words of haiku should evoke in the reader the emotion felt by the poet, and should not describe merely the emotion. Effective power of poetic device in language comes from simplicity,
Ross, Bruce. How to Haiku (p. 21). Tuttle Publishing. Kindle Edition.
elegance and concentration in mind. You are suggested not to repeat words or ideas which convey the same meaning or feeling. That is, you should avoid redundancy.
Ross, Bruce. How to Haiku (p. 21). Tuttle Publishing. Kindle Edition.
Tanka expresses feelings and are more emotive than descriptive. They have a 5-7-5-7-7 pattern.
watching the pear tree blossom a new sorrow— this year it is my turn to leave —Cherie Hunter Day
Ross, Bruce. How to Haiku (p. 82). Tuttle Publishing. Kindle Edition.
This is a tanka rather than Haiku but I’m not sure whether I need to be too strict in my use of words for my general art work. Not this project of course. This one is only just borderline above 5/7/5 but it is emotive rather than descriptive. Haiku aren’t meant to outline the feeling, just evoke it. Both Tanka and Haiku often refer to nature but it’s more of a rule for Haiku. Still all rules can go out the window in contemporary practice.
Haiga is a quick drawing that complements a haiku. Like a haiku, it doesn’t include all detail but just a suggestion.
The needlepoint haiga by Pamela Miller Ness evokes
Ross, Bruce. How to Haiku (p. 109). Tuttle Publishing. Kindle Edition.
another kind of stillness. By chance one morning a rainbow had fallen across her blank journal page. She was probably about to put down her thoughts. Perhaps she was in a contemplative mood. The brilliantly colored rainbow of the original needlepoint represents the wonderful things that the artist will put down in the journal. If you have seen sunlight colored by a stained-glass window or turned into a rainbow by a glass prism you will have an idea of the quiet delight of this haiga.
Ross, Bruce. How to Haiku (p. 109). Tuttle Publishing. Kindle Edition.
I’ve include this because I was wondering about adding text with embroidery today for my quilt work. The other thing I thought about was free hand cutting out fabric letters to applique on to a quilt. Maybe on it’s own quilt block that fits into the quilt somewhere.
Red clouds glowing at sunrise—reflected in the pigsty mud
—Bruce Leming, original and translation
Ross, Bruce. How to Haiku (p. 144). Tuttle Publishing. Kindle Edition.
This one comes from an Australian haiku site. Seems to be a bit active with journals coming out regularly. I like this because it speaks to me of the difficulty of communicating with the kids through text. Doesn’t include any nature references.
overcast sky the light from a single dandelion
https://breathhaiku.wordpress.com/tag/lyn-reeves-haiku/ viewed 18 April 2022 This is one from Lyn Reeves who is Tasmanian. I’ll pick up the book tomorrow from Hobart Book Shop. The clincher was that there is some illustrations by Meg Walch who I also know.
old photo you, me, and the children all young
Judith E.P. Johnson – https://echidnatracks.com/books/ viewed 18 April 2022. You can source all the echidna tracks ( Australian Haiku site) journals here for download.
I only have to use at least two but I’ll try and use all of them. But the suggestion is not to use too many ing words so maybe I’ll leave them out or reduce them to evolve and drain as long as I have two other words from the geocoding list.
immunity draining
stray terminal
boomer evolving
This is 15 syllables. I’ll pick another two syllable word and try and use all geocoding words. Relax. Now there will only be a certain way of arranging these because of the necessary syllable count.
This fits the pattern and uses the words but it is not great for evoking much about home.
boomer do not stray
far from the terminal
while immunity evolving.
This at least talks about staying home in covid times. And it drops one ing word and relax. Doesn’t evoke much imagery though. In fact looks like an instruction rather than a reflection or observation.
Gone back now and reduced my list to ten word sets as instructed: Not sure if the second set really needed to be around home but I have done that and I think I will try and say something about home even in this experimental haiku. Actually this was meant to be a range of addresses but I just moved around my house with both geocoding exercises. I think this is fine and in the spirit of randomness. Obviously I have cheated a bit by editing my list down to the ten based on preference. I could redo and maybe I will but do this way first.
immunity.audit.cutback
reason.explain.stray
terminal.spoken.carbon
leave.dude.expert
blossom.darting.trade
groups.emphasis.hello
gazed.garage.cobble
mission.nitrate.speeds
boomer.diner.keep
relax.blossom.sits
going to make another selection from this lot now. Take out all ing words, all past tense and include all verbs that are not in the imperative like leave, relax. Include all nature words – speeds, sits, immunity, terminal, carbon, stray, blossom, groups, mission.
terminal blossom
turns to carbon as spring leaves
immunity wanes
Ok this sort of works – comparing the death of flowers to the death of immunity. Also referencing carbon being released when flowers die and our immunity to covid not being complete, so a couple of sad situations compared – climate change and pandemic. Given the ‘winter booster’, immunity really will be waning by the end of spring. I’m going to try again and do the exercise exactly as requested and only end up with a random 30 words to choose from. Maybe I’ll get some prettier words, but if all else fails I now have this.
I have the break after leaves but it could flow on to immunity wanes. Leaves is also good because it also evokes leaf. I could try and get it another way around with the break after immunity wanes.
immunity wanes
terminal blossom turns to
carbon as spring leaves
Possibly a bit less ambiguous this way – loose the potential for as spring leaves immunity wanes. Not as good I think.
Now to do the geocoding again and following it to the letter:
sailors.trains.dressing
pothole.obstruction.fork
sharp.jump.topic
boost.harmless.deck
hardly.punk.aspect
redid.objections.specifying
defensive.spinal.width
perceiving.galloped.dishy
transitions.dentists.compounds
gerbils.lumbering.unpaid
Ok, now I have to use at least two words for my haiku from this. Ing words don’t work well so I’ll leave them out, I will include verbs in the present tense if there are any. And I will choose what I consider evocative simple words. I picked the second set from 5 points along the road from Jamieson to Matlock – the site of my most memorable childhood adventure. The first set are my home and the homes of Dan, Jesse, Mum and Dad. Think I’ll try and evoke that adventurous drive as a child so pick words that might suit that. No verbs there without ing
gerbils – a burrowing mouse-like rodent that is specially adapted to living in arid conditions, found in Africa and Asia. from google dictionary – oxford languages
I only need to use a minimum of two so I can think of my own words for that adventure to include – flood, bog, excite, adventure,
hardly objections
to flooded fork and pothole
the best adventure
I’ve used four of the words here. I tried to use more but couldn’t get the cut right. This is cutting after pothole in my mind. Doesn’t have a good juxtaposition of two disparate things but does I guess juxtapose adventure with hardship. Needs another syllable in the middle.
Ok now I’ve made the first two lines definitely link by adding to to get the extra syllable. I think this will be it but there is obviously lots of potential to keep going. Or for randomly sourcing words.
Used Brian’s room, the bedroom and the kitchen as my three spots to observe sensory experiences:
absence, gentle fan hum like rain, deodorant smell in cushions, foot cramp, guitars waiting, shine, silver birch, wind, piano singing, cold on the front of my thighs, soft underneath, fly in the atrium, sparkles in my eyes, cough.
forty year old quilt, damp pillow, smell his perfume, silence presses my ears, cobwebs cling, taste of acid, candle heat on my face, warm under the carpet, bird high soaring out window, arm encircling.
alcohol burning my throat, far off car noise, meticulous quilting, cool still air, flower silhouetted against grey metal wall, dinners impregnate the tablecloth, roughness of the ceramic cup under my thumb, cold, slippery cards, garbage smell, chopping next door, no it’s the kiln going on and off, taste of chocolate and feel of easter eggs collapsing, sound of laughter, smell of pizza.
brief is to create an image of your experience in the various places.
Need to organise research and rules of haiku that I will use before I go too much further but will do a couple to get started.
gin burn, laughter and
the smell of pizza lingers
in slippery cards
deodorant smell
guitars wait still and silent
cold thighs will not warm
emerge through cobwebs
acid scours back of my throat
outside bird soars high
I’m not unhappy with these but I will now move into more research and then try again.
This morning in the kitchen I was thinking about haiku and I noted a couple of other things. noise of boiling kettle and scratchy trophy handles. I could make the theme more about Brian. The first one is that. I might write one with the above. I notice I am setting a time of day here -maybe in lieu of the traditional season but also to create the juxtaposition. I’m not really creating the juxtaposition using a doing word, as was suggested because it doesn’t feel right to me. I’m going to trust my own reading and instinct.
morning – place or time
roiling boil – sound
turns out I choose your scratchy trophy handles -emotion and touch
morning roiling – the ing does create problem with rhythm
Shouldn’t use personal pronouns too much but seen more in contemporary – ? reference lyn reeves book here
while morning kettle boils turns out I choose your scratchy trophy handles – 17
morning kettle boils
turns out I choose your scratchy
beige trophy handles
beige does not need to be in there but I’m one syllable short
roiling boil in the
translucent kettle turns out I choose
rough trophy handles
morning kettle boils
turns out in sun I choose your
rough trophy handles
Happy with that – it has place, season, time of day, sound, emotion and touch. Also has ambiguity around a bigger choice than cup. Bit of a theme of Brian when he’s not there.
maybe rewrite the bed one to reference brian too and get a ‘your’ into all of them to reference Brian. And interestingly I have made the cut where the action word is in the above one.
Field of light in the desert, 2016, must have been experimenting with my camera and long exposure, Dan in hospital somewhere, hadn’t seen him but less worried because he was safe, spoke to registrar when I know wilfred lopez, champagne with cheese before sunset, mum, deb, john wanted dinner but deb couldn’t afford, have to be guided by debs frugality on holidays I seem to resent Deb a lot she is happy in her frugality but I worked because I was not I guess, still struggling with that even in retirement but learning to be a bit more frugal love the sea of colour in this photo drawing with light in photos that’s a thing, feel a bit guilty about the desert could be a bit less racist didn’t always put aboriginal people first got annoyed tired frustrated didn’t like the smell scared of germs magenta’s not in the rainbow but I like it best that and teal another non rainbow colour must be secondary colours I like. have to be a strong tone a patient with cancer once said that it’s the tone you like not the colour so jewel tone colours is my thing St johns that’s a long time ago that patient is probably dead now howard is dead even though he continued to look well sarah is dead feel guilty that i didn’t see her at the end wanted to believe that she wasn’t dying and was busy tired working the kids resentful of intrusions on my time always that just want to be left alone with no committments a lot of the time but it’s almost never that, mum, dan, dad, jesse just ignores me mostly but he did spontaneously contact brian yesterday when he must have heard from christine about the ankle. Christine is the only one who follows social media but jesse still bothered to call brian @brian how does that even happen I don’t get prompted to do that in messenger.
This is a combo of stream of consciousness and memory. I haven’t used memory of other senses other than vision much that. Vision and a memory of the time around when I took the photo.
Caption from the above:
Thoughts of death, illness and regret swirl in my head. I drink champagne and eat cheese. ThenI submerse myself in the gold and magenta sea and experiment with the moment to keep from drowning.
Just a reminder to myself that this subject does not assess the journal.
Next assessment is image and caption and it is preferable that this is part of the final photoessay.
Therefore it’s crunch time. I have been mulling over themes and I’ve decided to stick with James Turrell’s Skyspace as my theme of the year. I’m making a little quilt for Australia wide eight that reflects this and this photoessay will tell the story of pain eased by art at Skyspace.
It will have to tell it through metaphor and words rather than actual pictures of the place.
Research – Photoessays using metaphoric photos, Skyspace and James Turrell, art – pleasure nexus,
Sequence of photos:
Pain – 2013, estrangement, fear, worry, guilt, shame, encompassing – pincushion filling the frame with possibly red tones background, shallow depth of field.
It was Canberra, 2013, and I had failed to help my son who was in trouble. Years later I would know it was schizophrenia, but all I knew then was a painful hole in my chest and the relentless sound of worry in my head. I wondered if James Turrell’s Skyspace could offer me any relief.
I don’t like this longer version. Actually maybe I do. The writing does set the whole scene but the challenge is getting the photo to do that. I’m hoping that it will be an artwork not a doco though. hear, smell, feel, taste, proprioception. Remember to consider these for all photos. How to I photograph the sound of worry. I guess the oud makes a sound so there is reference to sound in the photo.
And the image could be a ukulele or guitar lit red. Probably only the body of the guitar, or maybe the whole guitar chiaroscuro in the dark with red light. Maybe done in the bedroom, even perhaps on the bed.
As this is the lead image it needs to be compelling and should also give an overview of what is to come so probably should mention seeking solace and maybe a bit more detail about place. I think I need to introduce the skyspace into the image too. Maybe by simply introducing the night sky. Or the sky with clouds. Maybe I could have quite tight focus on the red hole but somehow get a sky reflection in the bulbous bottom of the oud. So that the hole is front and centre but a little bit of hopeful sky in the periphery. Like a portal for escape.
The line that says I’m visiting skyspace is so hard. Discussion on a zoom with Olivia suggested that I could put the prosaic info all in the title and leave it out of the text of the photoessay.
Need some research about metaphorical photos still.
Title –
Seeking solace in art: A visit to James Turrell’s Within Without, (2010), a permanent skyspace installation at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.
Ramp – stepping between worlds, down into darkness, cool, descending, leaving behind, anticipation,
Establishing shot – often a large shot so maybe Tasman Bridge at dusk with the ramp descending into the dark created by the sunset above. Telling the time of day and where and entering. Bridge has safety signs too. I like the mention of safety – adds a feeling of a different environment but also perhaps safety in a positive sense. Remember to include sound smell feel as well as see – hushed
The long ramp descended into cool hushed darkness At the entrance there was a sign about safety. Dusk was approaching in the world I sought to leave behind.
Thinking I might be able to take a sunset photo from the 61 st floor with colour in the sunset and the lights on in the city below. Hoping that some ramps might be visible in the photo but wouldn’t be obvious. I could make the sky the feature and just maybe I could turn the photo upside down so the it read as the world above and coloured skyspace below. Not sure how that would really read. Wonder if I could edit so that I placed the sky on the bottom but everything was up the right way at the top???? doesn’t include the ramp or the safety sign.
Photo down the bike path on the bridge. Could have shallow depth of field and go into quite strong blur. Maybe an overcast day, maybe at dusk. Could be taken into the sun a bit so that the ramp was visible but not the end of the ramp.
Bricks – organic, textural, pinkbrown colour, tactile, walls, muffle the outside, looming over a bit. Actually had no roof but I didn’t notice that. Rough
Could be our own home bricks. Could look for a wall of pinky bricks, maybe the old bricks in the wall at the Bot gardens.
clothed me – thinking about using my dress that is the right colour and hanging it against the grey concrete under the bridge.
Pool – glacial blue smooth, glassy, my favourite colour, quiet, remembered colour but not reflections.
The break sea islands photo had the right colour but not smooth.
Mum’s blue bowl somehow against a background in nice flat light.
Dome – hugging around, inlaid floor, white, curved at my back,
The white dome curled its arms around me.
? Bahai centre, something encircling, maybe the fountain area. inlaid floor – mum’s bit of taj mahal inlay. Maybe make a white funnel and photograph the inlaid thing with the lens in the hole at the top. Create a white circle around the inlay.
Sky – separated from the world, hole through to immeasurable distance, out of context, distance
Find somewhere where the sky is partially visible through something else. Or maybe mask out a hole of sky in a square. Could do the sky on the cenotaph. Photo of only sky looking straight up. Thinking about a dusk full moon. or a ball thrown in the air in colour with blue behind. (sort of reverse of hole through to sky) Or the sun through a telescope collaged on to sky. A balloon floating. Maybe a solid colour painted of watercolour or something. Maybe if I even painted the whole thing and photographed it. Or I could layer by just cropping a circle and pasting it on to another layer. Wouldn’t need to do any masking. Just two full opacity layers where they are different sizes. Like when I put multiple photos on the one canvas. I could even make the coloured circle myself on the computer but that might look too artificial. The best would be one photo. Maybe a helium filled balloon against a vivid blue sky. Might even be better to have not a circle but just the balloon from an angle that creates a rough circle. I could suspend it with ultra thin thread that you wouldn’t see.
Maybe flowers with complementary colours juxtaposed. Possibly find something at the bot gardens. Other idea is the reverse of skyspace – an orange ball thrown up into a blue sky. Or the sun photographed through the telescope and then collaged on to a blue sky. All colour in the sun pasted against blue. Would mean I need to learn those techniques in photoshop. Sky and colour seem to be coming together in the one picture
Sound – didgeridoo, droning, throbbing, also encompassing, swirling low sound
Swirling water around a rock? Train passing with slow shutter speed
Night – emerging and the world has changed, become darker and quieter, more peaceful, emotions less raw, slight hope,
Night photo with street lights, maybe in the wet. Maybe a softer photo. Just a tinge of lower clarity maybe. Peaceful night photo. Maybe of beth house or common ground. Beth house at night could be good. Relevant.
Resilience – curiosity retained, added something to my mind other than Dan, moving forward with art, inspired, see outside myself again. Strength to move forward. Keep going, doing other things, lighter
“big picture” photo like the misty islands of the south west. Sugimoto photo. Looking beyond myself and aware of the world again. maybe a photo from the plane.
Big problems trying to export my image into a pdf. It changed to faded and muted colours. Need to make sure I save the jpeg in photoshop by using export and choosing embed colour profile. Then I can use word or powerpoint to make the essay and turn it into a pdf without the colour changing. I’m confused because I thought that a jpeg would automatically embed the colour profile but maybe it was because I was doing it from lightroom rather than photoshop. Possibly all photoshop saves embed colour profile and it was a lightroom problem, although it has happened once before.
Feedback for my first photo was 74. Two things specifically mentioned was the saturation of red on the fretboard was blown out and the mention of the sound of worry was unclear.
The saturation was said to look unnatural although it actually wasn’t. It was from a red light. But in view of the feedback I do agree that it looks a bit blown out. I’ve gone back in and done a complicated edit over the area alone to not just reduce saturation because that just makes it look grey/white, but to add in green and reduce exposure. Now I have detail in that red area which looks better I think but I’m not sure if there is a hint of unnaturalness about it because it now has been created very unnaturally. I like the way shadows have appeared within the red but there is something super sharp and patchy looking about a couple of the strings. I’m going to leave it for the moment because it now doesn’t represent a large part of the assessment but I could go back in and edit that area again. Or I could accept a tiny broken look because after all that is what I’m talking about. I upped the saturation around the hole and that is subtle and works although now there is a stronger contrast with the oud face below the hole. But I am trying to draw the eye to the hole so hopefully that works.
In regard to the sound of worry – I now say worry resonates in my ears. I have used resonant to link to the resonant instrument but resonate really is a word I should save for the didgeridoo. I hope that it evokes a sort of intrusive hum although the sound of worry is really words which are not evoked by this picture. Will probably revisit this but need to move on to put some up. Today I’m going to put what I’ve got in and then I’ll look at what I need and what is wrong.
Putting together the photoessay with draft photos and words I can see more easily where the problems are and I get inspiration from surprising sources, like what powerpoint thinks the photo I am inserting is. Trying to use words that relate to the images without being a direct description. No problems with making sure I include something that is not in the photo because my whole story is not pictured. I’m trying to use other pictures to evoke a sense or atmosphere of my story without using actual photos from the event. I guess I’m trying to make my words and images a peaceful enjoyable experience that takes you out of yourself and speaks of hope, in the way that James Turrell’s skyspace helped me.
For the reflection I’m going to have to find some photoessays with a similar feel. Not sure how I do that but I will try. Also probably reflect on what was happening for me at the time of the skyspace, as well as whilst revisiting and creating this work, and also how telling this story could connect with others. Back to my old reveal thing.
Going to Mum’s today to take the inlaid floor photo. I’ve made a sort of circular light box out of stone paper and now I’m going to set that up in the sun on top of my light panel. Hoping that the inlaid white marble will be a little translucent. Tested out with a plate and seems to work to give a flat white surround. You almost get the feeling of a white dome. I’m excited.
Now I need to go on and do the patchwork blue photo. While I was still nearly asleep I thought of some writing. The still glassy surface allowed a view of the ice blue of a glacial run off stream.
I also thought that I can’t say cool walls if I’m referencing a sunset for the colour. So maybe I should drop the cool and even change it to warm. I want to reference texture here too – subtle roughness – even that doesn’t fit with a sunset picture. I think I will still try for the ramp and the dress photos so I can compare.
Trying for a sugimoto type photo for the final one but my only similar photo doesn’t have the impact of his photos. Possibly I could edit it to do so but I’m not sure. Thinking I might use a photo I took with foggy boats down at Melaleuca instead.
Changing my idea about the rock walls – thinking I’ll try and take a photo of rocks with my pink clothing. I’ve used the word half- light now so I could image rocks half in and half out of sunlight. As I think about it I wonder about Chauncy vale as a good place for photos. Especially as it has caves. It would be a while before I could get Brian to come there though. Brian has found a thing called lime kilns which are on the Derwent on the way to New Norfolk. Could get a good photo there but it’s very white. Would need good pink lighting. Another thought I had was off the back of the top of mt wellington. The rock formations there would have good light and shadow and could loom over me a bit. I could put my pink dress at the base and then have the rock face above me and the natural rocks might make a more attractive photo than under the bridge. I just think I don’t want two photos using the bridge, especially in a row.
My idea is to have variation in types of photos and techniques. Exploring lots of compositions.
If I wanted to avoid a title page I could try summing it up on the first page like the example which says blah blah blah This is our type 1 diabetes story.
eg this is the story of how a visit to james turrell’s skyspace helped turn the situation around.
Reading in creativity for life discusses how james turrell also worked with light to create a room without shadows. I could use that thought in something I write, and also to inform my photo – in fact it already does inform the photo with the marble inlaid. I will add something about shadows there. Not sure how I could work it into a cake photo. I could think about mentioning the way people looked weird and ghostly and odd coloured in the intense all encompassing flat coloured light. This kind of speaks to the surrounds and might go better with the floor photos. Unless I made the cake a centrepiece on some red lit cellophane. But it would need to have white sides to maintain the integrity of the teal icing. Red cellophane over a light box with a white sunlight light panel behind might work. Thinking I might make a small round cake and trim off it’s crusty sides to reveal the red that would then be on red cellophane to equate with the old teal bleeds crimson that I’ve written before. Perhaps I could get a better colour simply by using muffins and when you take the case off they are good. Should stop talking and go and try. Although it’s too dark and late to photograph now so maybe tomorrow morning. Maybe I could do the muffin or cake full side on and have the lit red cellophane behind as the background.
great page showing the details of the skyspace I’m talking about
Bear in mind that if I’m going to suggest a flow state I need to talk about cognitive engagement – in this case it was trying to work out what was the mechanism of the simultaneous colour contrast I was experiencing. Still need to look this up again. At that stage I went away and looked it up and discovered the term simultaneous color contrast. In the neurology of art book I’ve got it mentions simultaneous contrast as one colour bleeding into the other and creating a grey ring? I’ve seen that somewhere anyway. But is it just cone fatigue? Still not sure. Turns out the answer is not clear. Could involve all sorts of visual pathways including ones which average the colour. It seems that the rule is that surrounding colour effects the central colour but why is certainly not clear. Brightness also plays a factor and all the skyspaces use brightness contrast too. With the light really quite bright compared to the sky. Or actually undergoing variation through the show.
‘To prepare for your discussion post this week, you should watch the video above and do a little research to find out what arts engagement possibilities might be available to older people in your local area, that may provide improved health outcomes or better wellbeing.
Your post (no more than 200 words) should describe one arts engagement possibility for older people in a 5km radius of your home if you are living in a city, or up to 25km if you are living in a regional town. (If you are living in a remote region, identify the nearest opportunity). What do you think has been the effect of policy frameworks? Are there better ways of facilitating access to the arts and serving the needs of older Australians?’
Mather House – Positive ageing program – administered by Hobart city council. Goal – Overarching – support people’s ability to have control over their own quality of life and encourage continued participation in all aspects of community life. Including – Strengthen social inclusion of older people, celebrate diversity of older people, encourage old people to feel valued, listened to and empowered, Facilitate positive ageing opportunities within the community, promote events, information and programs.
Specific program within this – art from scratch – Week day Tuesday 1.30 -3.30, 6 week course, located in the city in Criterion House. Costs $60 per week. Pay upfront and limited to 15 people. – Led by an artist called Yilian Basser- good value compared to her classes for adults which cost $270 for eight classes.
Policy frameworks I can see do not directly specify improvement in health but do mention improvement in other aspects of ageing that link to health and wellbeing. So there is no framework to specifically improve health through art but rather an apparent tacit recognition that art is an event that fits with “positive ageing”. Perhaps if this art engagement was more clearly spelt out as specifically beneficial to health then it may play a bigger role in the program, by being ongoing. Having said that there are other ongoing art groups that involve music or knitting which are part of the positive ageing program. This short program is pretty accessible costing only $10 per week. Also lasts for a couple of hours per week which IF stretched out over the whole year would meet the 100 hours per year of art engagement that is shown to be the minimum for benefit (what was this reference – came out of the module info)
Discussion post for week 5
For your post (not exceeding 150 words), write a short description of the project you found, outlining its aims and outcomes. What was the nature and quality of the interaction between the project leader(s) and the participants?
Peace by Piece: The Norwalk Community Quilt Project – This is an ongoing project whereas participants are able to collaborate making quilts destined for personal use, public display or donation. It occurs in after school hours and is situated within a housing complex for the elderly. As such it accommodates all ages from the young to the aged. It was originally proposed by the organiser, Lizzie Rockwell, for social and emotional benefits to participants, as well as a pragmatic fundraiser for charities, or for the Norwalk Children’s Foundation, who were the original funders of this project. Lizzie continues to lead this project 12 years on and has seen a large number of people engage through the years. There was no formal evaluation of outcomes that I can see, other than anecdotal observations of increased social interaction between participants in a making environment. But the popularity and sustainability of the project suggests that benefits were recognised by participants. The interaction between project leader and participants appears to be as friend and fellow community member.
People are able to reinvent themselves as artists with an identity that displaces or subsumes disability. This is a quote out of week 11 learning materials but is something I thought about in Honours – using art to reframe my identity from failed mother to something else – quiltmaker. Going to use this type of idea in my project proposal for “parents of mentally ill adult children” Ran over this with Ben today and he seemed keen even though it will be very specific and come with lots of obstacles to locating and engaging people in the first place. He agreed I should use a tiered approach to research. Parents in this situation have increased stress, anxiety, depression. These can be addressed with art engagement. So really just looking towards wellbeing, time out, flow, reframe identity, connection, reduce isolation, empathic environment, unrelated bonds that can reaffirm individual worth. Can’t use it to alter the situation itself.
Connection seems to be a feature of the groups for refugees. I might be able to show that parents of mentally ill are a bit disconnected, isolated, lonely in a study and then how groups address this. Physical outcome of the art would be good to improve environment. Probably I’ll consider the benefit of making comfort items that can be used at home as well. Also incorporate learning to enhance flow but also to be translated for use at home. Like stitch meditations. Maybe in fact I’ll propose a project that is done piecemeal all by hand and slowly and then brought together into a unified work later to keep and hopefully offer comfort. I think all hand work because it can then be done at home and then participants don’t have to provide anything. I can bring fabric from my stash and needles and thread to rummage through and enjoy. Scissors to cut out squares and rulers to rule around squares. I can also bring rotary cutter to show but can be done without that. We could make cardboard or other templates to take home in the shape people wanted to do. Wouldn’t have to be square as long as it tesselated. Sewing and quilting to express how you’re feeling. Making something beautiful out of a shit topic. Can actually do anything in terms of pattern. Can use text if it helps but no pressure to reveal inner feelings unless it’s something people want to do. Primarily aimed at entering flow and increasing happiness and pleasure in life. Improved quality of life.
Mending connection comforting accepting. Something about creating something that holds together and functions but is less than perfect is my aim for the project proposal group.
TASREC run by Richmond fellowship and open to anyone with “lived experience of mental illness. Has art programs – could a group for parents be run under a banner like this, or at least be a source to find parents suffering – so Richmond Fellowship, Langford (also deals in mental health), clozapine clinic, GP practices are the ideas I have so far, Tolosa st Rehab also maybe.
Sue Lacey 