Collections from a charity shop rag bag

Having drawn collections of everyday objects in Helston Folk Museum I wanted to explore different types of collections. I went to a charity shop and was given three rag bags of things they couldn't sell in the shop. I documented what I found in these bags. I see the clothes shoes and bags found in the three rag bags as a kind of collection. They all individually made their way to the charity shop from different peoples collections of things. Somehow they became things that no one wanted anymore, things with no value, neither in a practical sense or as mementos. When they arrived at the charity shop they weren't wanted there either - a tale of rejection and abandonment? - A group of objects that that became a collection by accident; by the accident or chance of being discarded and then 'collected' and found by me? Do they share any other similarities or characteristics other than this chance factor of having been thrown away and then thrown together? Some are old and worn out telling stories of the people who used them in the past, whilst others are new and seem unworn bearing no trace of any previous life. Some are for men, some for women. Some seem as though they were made quite recently, whilst others were perhaps made a long time ago. All of them are textiles in some way.
I began to draw and photograph some of these items, seeing them as a kind of portrait, I also began to write fragments of narratives in my sketchbook, imagining their past.

Photos and notes from Barcelona

I recently spent a few days in Barcelona, I photographed a wall in a tiny back street, the road was narrow, surrounded by high walls, flaking and old. In some areas there were scratches and writing on the walls - places where people had left their traces on the street. The peeling layers of paint, and cracked plaster revealing bricks beneath, seem like layers of time and memory. The way the patterns on the wall have faded, peeled and are dissapearing over time seems like the way memory works. Looking closely at the patterns, the colours seem subdued and muted - were they once bright, crisp and colourful before they were covered over the years by layers of grime and pollution? These layers are like stains, worn and faded patches on fabric or clothes, becoming thin and worn over time.
There are so many layers in these images. The exposed concrete on the top photo seems to float over the pattern, slowly engulfing it over time. Over the top of this someone has scratched words onto the wall - yet another trace; these separate layers all merge together to form the story of this wall. Perhaps a story of splendour and ornate pattern, then abandonment, neglect , forgetting and being reclaimed in new ways..

Notes about Van Gogh's painting of a pair of boots

This painting seems to speak about the way objects can become more than just an object, to embody an essence or trace. This painting seems more like a portrait, speaking of the person who wore the boots. The boots carry a narrative, yet the narrative is incomplete, we are left wondering who wore these boots, where they came from, what did they do, where did the boots walk? At first I thought perhaps they're like shadows, a memory of their wearer. But the way they're painted doesn't seem like a shadow, the paint has a physicality like wrinkled skin, this make them seem alive, telling a story of years of wear and tear. Yet they also tell a story of care and repair, the boots seem to glean and shine, as though they've been polished many times. It's interesting to look at the way they sit, in one way they seem to sit poised and expectant perhaps waiting for the return of their owner, yet also they seem to lean to one side as though tired and heavy. I am interested in the way an object, a pair of old boots, can embody very human characteristics, to speak about time, memory and narrative.

Thoughts about the scale of my drawings

Scale seems important to consider within my work. I have started a series of images that are of a smaller size than I would usually work on. I began making the drawings smaller (top) to find a way of creating a greater sense of intimacy with these images; linking to my earlier ideas that drawing the everyday is a way of getting a greater sense of intimacy with the things and spaces around us. I have linked this to textile based illustrations (right) created by Laura Mccafferty because she also draws the ordinary and everyday to create small scale images. In the fashion illustration book Imagemakers Martin Dawber notes that '... Laura elaborates on everyday events such as going to the hairdresser or doing the grocery shopping... Routine is vividly captured in floral patterns using applique, hand stitching and paint. She usually works small, which gives the viewer the feeling that they are peeking in on a captured moment' (Dawber, 2004, Imagemakers, p46).
I have been thinking about the way I draw these images, there's a process of editing, in which I focus on some areas with concentrated detail, and then simplify or leave other areas blank. I link this to memory and story telling and the way we remember some things in great detail, yet forget others or even imagine the missing parts. I've begun thinking about how people might relate to these images, seeing the simplified areas as a space where the viewer can add their own narrative by imagining these missing areas.

inspirations

I want to start developing my drawings into prints and designs for textiles, so I have started to look at Textile designers who inspire me. These are some of the designers I have been looking at: Luciene Day, Nadia Sparham, Pat Albeck, Orla Kiely, Tricia Guild and Neisha Crosland. These are some of the website I have looked at (I can't get my computer to add links at the moment so I've just typed their adresses rather than adding a link). patternprint.bogspot.com, decor8.blogspot.com, neishacrosland.com, orlakeily.com.

trace, time and the everyday

In my sketchbook I have begun to explore the idea of trace and time. Over a period of four days I have drawn the same corner in a room, documenting the way the space has slightly changed each day, tracing a human presence and absence. I have been thinking about mark making when I'm drawing, I have been using a continuous line - thinking about the way this can suggest a trace or residue of a moment in time.
'...to see the familiar with quite new eyes, to think about our marks and imprints, which like our memories, can remain indelible or fade from sight.'
quote from: Whiting, D., Exhibition Reviews, Caroline Broadhead. In: Crafts, Sept/Oct 2001. p59.

Doing a series of drawings of an 'everyday' space has made me question - what is the 'everyday'? It seems to be subjective - is an image only read as being 'everyday' depending on your cultural or social context or background?

objects

I have been going back over my sketchbook and thinking about the signifance of the drawings I did in Helston Folk Museum, thinking about the way we percieve objects in collections. 'In galleries (or museums), objects are frozen in time and are abstracted from their stories...'. It seems that how we read them depends on what we're told (e.g. labels) and where we see or find them, for example in a museum or in a charity shop, in a cupboard or on a mantle piece. 'for all their materiality, objects are slippery; their meanings change according to the circumstances we encounter them in...'
quotes from: Sharrad, P., 2004. Following the Map: A Postcolonial Unpacking of a Kashmir Shawl. In: Textile vol.2, p 64-79.