Wednesday 30 November 2016

The Project _ A few steps up the ladder




                                                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                                           







First and foremost, many thanks to all who took part in the writing of the Grant for the Arts Application, our sponsor Lamberts Glas and all contributors in kind for their ongoing generosity until completion of the artwork. Many thanks to the Shrewsbury Museum for their invitation to create this artwork and their contribution in hosting or promoting events.


What have I been up to?

Before I got a few steps up the ladder for the full scale cartoon pinned on the largest drawing board of my studio, I wrote the project for real, all like a story telling addressed to unknown readers!

Previous posts of this blog were giving a foretaste of the project. I started a full size drawing to layout all the main lines or structures of lead in the philosophy of the artwork before we knew if the Grant Application would be a success.


Then, I had no doubt this project got its skeleton built and all jointed. It became obvious I was wishing to 'keep realist'.

No under-realism, hyper-realism, sur-realism...

The sculptural meaning of this work is very true, it is a social sculpture and commitment for many visitors each day of years to come in the Shrewsbury Museum.

Like the sundial sitting on the wall of the painting, days and shades are telling me how I am doing with the time scale of being and becoming.


I have chosen to fuse glass cuts, all recycled in the spirit of geological movement or bonding, fossilising.
Thinking of Margaret Rope's birds, with a day to day view from my window, I gathered in a section of the first cartoon all the birds that paused on the same tree I photographed through seasons.
Two local schools and young adults will contribute to the design or the making. They will have their say in the story told in a view on some mysterious inhabited corner of a town alike the painting I selected out of the Shrewsbury Museum collections Formal Garden in Dogpole. A chance for them, in the discussions we will hold, to record how they perceived their present and future given or handed out to them.


So, hopefully, more or less fortnightly I will spend many hours writing the stories to make this project loved; people intrigued will look forward to witnessing its progress and growth of its making.
Beuysterous is one of the motivation for building this artwork with reference to trees or environment and the passion of my 20s for the artist Joseph Beuys.



The wording of the grant application was :

"The idea of this project is to draw on current Museum exhibition Heavenly Lights and develop further key themes and influences of me as artist (especially ‘social sculpture’), via the medium of stained glass, to encourage thinking of the Earth and its ethical and spiritual challenges, to capture a public synthesis of past/modern/future environmental quests (like Margaret Rope’s journey from Fine Arts, the social statements of the Arts & Crafts movement to the choice of a monastic life) and explore how these have, do, and will continue to influence our world.
By creating a memory of this process through “keep realist” visuals created by workshop participants and entered into the final permanent artwork, and making a film of the process from concept to installation, we aim to capture a shared contemplation of past, present and future and how ideas, choices and actions influence our world. We aim to promote a wider contemplation and appreciation of historical and contemporary stained glass working.
Through talks, tours and demonstrations, we will instill a deeper understanding of the history, themes and processes of stained glass & links between this contemporary piece and the work of Margaret Rope."


Like a very special offer, it includes three workshops

1_Cartoon & stained glass painting
Teens and adults x 12. Visit to museum & workshop in the artist’s studio. They will learn traditional glass painting techniques, create ‘keep realist’ visuals to be placed in the final artwork.

2_A Touch of Glass

Children aged 5 - 6 years x 20 in two groups. Visit to the exhibition, a workshop as intro to stained glass

3_ Mini Apprenticeship

Adults aged 17+ yrs x 6, drawn from harder to reach groups. Visit to the exhibition, interactive presentation of contemporary stained glass, studio visit.
1 full day per week x 3 weeks in studio: intro to glass cutting/leading, building their own small panel, and contributing to the final artwork.


and a guest artist!

KATIE ECCLESTON BOKOR

Katie has made a short 5-10 min film that runs alongside the Margaret Rope exhibition at Shrewsbury Museum. This film include previous footage of the main artist working on a commission in 2015 as well as recent filming of current projects. This provides an insightful look at the process of stained glass creation.

Katie will be creating a 1 hour long film, capturing the main artist’s story of creation through the design process, workshop activities, talks, tours and demonstrations, and the making of the stained glass artwork itself. This film will be submitted to the FIFMA International film festival.

Welcome to Couleurlive Studio from KAE Films on Vimeo.









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