'Where you'll find me now...'

So I have finally finished my final piece, and to give you all an idea just follow this link and view the short video.

https://vimeo.com/41985300

Thank you again to anyone who contributed letters.

'I dream of home...'

The deadline is upon me and the final piece is starting to take shape. 

With all the letters that were kindly contributed I am making a visual piece, projecting stills of the letters. At the same time there will be a voice over of people reading out the letters that were contributed. 

Fingers crossed it all goes to plan, but for now, here are some of the stills I took today. 

'You, you on your own...'

So I collected all the letters from Milkwood Gallery today. I put them all in an envelope, went to Barker coffee with a friend and I sat and read them all.

I loved the individuality of each response; the variety of emotions was beautiful so I have deemed this stage of my little project a success!

Thank you to everyone who took part so far, and I will keep the blog updated with my journey from here onwards! 

'My dreams are the sun...'

So yesterday was the Art Car Bootique at Chapter Gallery and I had a great day!

The sun was shining and everyone was in top spirits as they visited the 50 weird and wonderful, and definitely not stereotypical, car boot pitches. 

I was there representing Made in Roath and Milkwood Gallery, the pitch consisting of a Milkwood stall, a mini flower arranging project which took the shape of badges and a unique range of Roath scents.  

As Made in Roath's 'spritzer girl' I definitely got some interesting responses to the perfumes I was promoting, a particular favourite of the public was the top range 'CF24' and a more comical favourite being the fragrances of City Road, appropriately titled 'Special Fried Chicken'.

Gail, Helen and myself had some great laughs and I'm pretty sure some of the other pitches did too. 

One of my favourite appearances was the 'Ice Cream Van Man'. An amazing vehicle made completely out of cardboard roamed the car park serving a variety of flavoured 'ice creams'.  

For more images, visit:http://www.facebook.com/chapterarts 

'Do not fear to be eccentric...'

Here is a trailer for the Art Car Bootique 2012, being held on Sunday the 15th of April, using footage from last years successful event. 

I'll be there, arty folk'll be there, you should be there! 

'I just want our souls to be aligned...'

A sneak peak of the bureau at Milkwood Gallery, thank you to anyone who has taken part so far! 

'There is a map in my room on the wall of my room...'

I wish I had told you...

If you could tell that one person, the one thing you always wish you had, what would it be? Take back that moment. 

So I have just finished setting up my 'I wish I had told you...' interactive piece at Milkwood gallery in Roath and I am quite excited and nervous all in one. 

As of today people are invited to sit  and write a letter to whoever they like, starting with the sentence 'I wish I had told you...'.

A form of catharsis whilst at the same time aiming to rediscover the lost art of letter writing, turning the bureau into a post box full of secrets, moments and memories.

'You look broken...'

I have been a busy, busy bee recently with uni, and working two jobs, and most recently and most excitingly I have started volunteering at Milkwood gallery in Roath, Cardiff!

Milkwood is a beautiful little gallery with lots going on, a small space but a big creative output. They have the gallery, a shop, a month long residency called ‘The basement project’ as well as holding regular workshops for the community.

Milkwood is also the HQ for Made in Roath, a fantastic annual arts festival in Cardiff. This year will be the fourth year that the event has been held and it grows bigger and better every time, showing and highlighting work of all genres within the arts.

I am so glad to be a part of this community and I am meeting some lovely people and experiencing some great opportunities.

I volunteer on a Wednesday morning and am currently focusing on the social media, as well as updating online platforms on Culture Colony (If you haven’t heard of CC, look it up!) and helping to archive some of the media, images, text etc for the previous Made in Roath festivals.

Please follow the links below and have a nosy:

http://www.milkwoodgallery.com/
https://twitter.com/#!/milkwoodgallery
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Milkwood-Gallery/180958387867

http://madeinroath.com/
https://twitter.com/#!/madeinroath2012
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Made-in-Roath/109086352553047?ref=tn_tnmn

'Nothing but a storyteller...'

In my last project, based upon domestic life within Welsh culture a small group of us made a connection with Oxfam Boutique in Cardiff.

They kindly donated us some clothes that we could use for material in any way we wanted, this fit nicely with the up cycling theme, and in return we were able to display our final pieces in their shop window for 2 weeks!!

Well that time has come, Oxfam Boutique are holding an event for International Women’s Day at their store and our work will be in their shop windows for the event which is quite fitting really as without realising our work began to explore the roles of women in Welsh culture.

We had great fun putting the display up tonight, and although I can’t be there tomorrow I hope the event goes well!

'And promise me this...'

I’m really feeling positive about this project now, and I feel like I may be getting somewhere with it, however I need letters!

If you would like to write a letter for my project please message me and I will forward you my address!

The letter can be as short or as long as you like, anonymous or not as long as it starts with the sentence ‘I wish I had told you…’

The letters will be used for my current project to create a final piece, so please do not send a letter if you are not happy with your letter being developed into a creative output.

'In secret kept, in silence sealed...'

So I am well into my second term now, and the current project is going well. We had to bring objects and words to the table and explore their narratives so to begin with I chose an Edwardian portable writing desk, a Victorian jewellery box, some old, used keys, and a quote from Charlotte Bronte :

'The human heart has hidden treasures, In secret kept, in silence sealed; The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures, Whose charms were broken if revealed’

I began to consider aspects of concealment and secrets being concealed within ourselves as well as within the objects. I started looking at cocoons and looking at their protective state, and linking the two ideas by exploring the idea of these cocoons protecting the secrets we hold.

However part of the project was to also source a brief that we could work to as a hypothetical commission or competition. My sourced brief was called ‘Lost Properties’ (http://www.fringeartsbath.co.uk/lost-properties/) calling for submissions where we create a piece or body of work that highlights to the public a quality that we revere as well as something that is interactive.

Because of this the cocoons weren’t really successful, and I had to reassess where I was going.

Choosing to focus solely on the portable writing desk, I began to research into the lost art of letter writing a true quality that has been lost in a digital era and is something that I would like to encourage again.

I still wanted to incorporate the initial idea of secrets though, and believe I found a way to do that.

My idea so far:

To create an interactive area, preferably a writing desk set up, where people are invited to come and write a letter. I have chosen the starting sentence: ‘I wish I had told you…’ I felt this was fitting to revealing a secret and writing the letter could act as a way of purging their emotions.

The letters will then be displayed for a short period of time before I will use them to create a final piece, be it an art book or a series of postcards.

'When you're gone, nighttime speaks...'

I already mentioned the Sketchbook Project 2012 that I took part in, and I also uploaded some of my own photographs but my book has been digitized! So if you want to look at the whole thing, have a gander!

http://www.arthousecoop.com/users/jenniferkirkham

'He was so kind, such a gentleman tied to the oceanside...'

Close ups of various sections of the three aprons.

'Into our love the tears crept...'

'Grandmother'

'Mother'

'Daughter'

'Sing me to sleep, sing me to sleep...'

My final piece, three non-functional aprons representing three generations, domestic life, Welsh culture and the passing down of recipes.

'Your love is my turning page, where only the sweetest words remain...'

The deadline has been and gone and I successfully submitted my finished project ; titled ‘Apron Strings: The Ties Between Generations’. A drawing book, a studio book, a research file, a technical file, a photo album, 25 final samples, 2 large scale paintings and a final piece were all collated to express my response to the given brief.
Below is my artist statement, presented alongside my work in exhibition.

Artist Statement

Under the heading of domestic life within Welsh culture I began my research into items of kitchenalia and traditional Welsh recipes. I visited various places conducting research but found my visit to St Fagan’s, over numerous occasions, was invaluable. On my first visit to the National History Museum I studied some of the traditional Welsh dress that was on display, intrigued by the incorporation of an apron which linked to my study into the kitchen area. I found that the protective garment (a key aspect of the Welsh dress) seemed to be the link between all aspects of the given brief. It in itself is an item of PPE, protecting clothes from stains and damage; it is also an item with a heavy association with cooking and baking which is where my research began initially.

As the research stage of this project was group based, we made the decision to contact Elen Phillips, the curator of the costume and textiles department at St Fagan’s. Elen was extremely helpful, and provided me with the opportunity to look at traditional Welsh dress in the archives handling collection. Through studying these aprons I was inspired from the form, function and various other qualities. The folds and creases, and deterioration of the aprons gave me great inspiration and from this all my ideas began to come together.

All the research conducted, the sampling produced through the workshops and through drawing studies I began to develop and form my ideas for my final outcome.

My concept began to prove fruitful, I wanted my final piece to convey the passing down of recipes through generations and how traditions such as these can eventually disappear and fade.

With this in mind I made the decision to create three non-functional aprons to represent the three typical generations of a family; grandmother, mother and daughter.

To incorporate all aspects of my concept, as well as all areas that heavily inspired me I created the three aprons (each one representing one of the generations) using an old bed sheet, an old scarf and a Tyvek suit.

Each apron was distressed using various techniques such as staining, burning, unpicking stitches as well as using the embellisher. The idea behind this was derived from the idea of ageing, the most distressed apron represented the grandmother and the least distressed represented the youngest generation (the daughter).

The use of staining was key not just to the ageing process but also to heighten the sense of nostalgia, a feeling I wanted to encapsulate.

In each pocket of the aprons was a recipe for Cawl, a traditional Welsh winter dish, written in Welsh. The recipes themselves were handwritten to make them more personal, and were also distressed through burning to represent the recipes/ traditions fading out.

Finally I took it upon myself to consider how I wanted my final piece to be presented. As they were more fine art pieces than functional I felt that hanging them would be more visually interesting for the viewer, I also made the decision to tie the apron strings between each apron a decision with strong connotations of the ties between the family members.

Overall I was extremely pleased with my outcome and would have loved to develop this brief further.

'Though lovers be lost, love shall not...'

So it has been a month since I last posted anything about my work, and I feel like I have got nowhere in all this time.
My work has developed slightly, I am now focusing more on the apron -its story, characters, and connotations - as this was a large element within domestic life as well as being an item found as part of the assemblage that creates the traditional Welsh dress.

I had the great opportunity to visit the Textile and Costume archives at St Fagan’s Museum in Cardiff, where Elen Phillips (the curator) was able to show me a selection of Welsh Dress as well as some traditional Welsh quilts.

This is where my inspiration really came from. When I was taking photographs of the items I noticed myself being intrigued by the folds in the fabric. These folds were caused by the packaging and storage but I found them beautiful.

So this is where I am currently at with my work, looking at folds within fabrics, aprons, and touching still upon traditional welsh recipes.

'Those were our times...'

So I am back at uni now, and slowly getting back into the swing of things.

We have been given our new brief which is quite extensive; it is a live brief where we are working with a company called ICE to produce something linked with their ethics, civil engineering as well as domestic life within Welsh culture.

I've been a bit confused and a bit dubious but I'm starting to get my head round it and get a bit more excited about the possibilities of where I could take this. Particularly when looking at the Welsh culture, I was considering researching traditional Welsh recipes.

A large part of the brief also includes having to incorporate recycled fabrics, which isn’t something I have ever put great focus on in the past but I am looking forward to experimenting with and sourcing the fabrics.

'Your beauty is beyond compare...'

Two more pages from my sketchbook, like I said in my previous post I have been keeping my pages simple and here focused on exploring with different materials and composition.

'I remember every word you said...'

So here are some pages from my sketchbook for 'The Sketchbook Project'. My chosen theme was 'Travel with me' and I explored my wanderlust and dreams of going back to Paris again.

I like doing quite simple, quick drawings using fine liner and that's what I did in the above pages. I kept the sketchbook pages very simple, not over crowding them with information.