A few weeks ago we wrapped up the Instructor-Led version of the A Sense of Place eCourse. To encourage the participants to follow through and complete a final project, I offered up guest post slots on my blog. The content was wide open, whatever they were inspired by from the eCourse. I’m excited to share the posts from class participants this week. Please leave lots of comment love for the guest authors!
Influenced by A Sense of Place
I have always said that photography was not only a hobby, but was inspirational for my textile, felt and mixed media work; however until recently I would have been hard put to provide concrete examples. It wasn’t that this wasn’t true, just that whilst I knew the connection was there, it was rather nebulous. It has also been clear for a long time that my favourite subjects for photography are nature and architecture, and I have slowly dawned to the realisation that I am drawn to taking photographs that are about odd little details; close up or different angle shots; vignettes; or whole subject; rather than landscape or postcard images. I felt that Kat’s ‘A Sense of Place’ course would not only encourage me to develop my own style and interests in place, but would challenge me to look deeper and see how I could use that to approach those things, like the aforementioned landscape, that I find much harder. I also hoped that I would start to see a stronger and less tenuous link to my other creative work.
A Sense of Place got me thinking much more about the images I take and why I take that particular image as opposed to a different one. It encouraged me to try different ways of looking at a subject, but to follow my heart and instinct. It also made me think much more about themes and similarities between photographs taken in different places or at different times. This has inspired me to go and take more thoughtful photographs and ones that have meaning for me. Kat is excellent at making us think, at bringing creativity rather than a technicality to photography and this is what inspires me. I think that often there has to be meaning to an image, layers of possibility, the hint of a back story, the element of mystery or a sense of a pause in time for an image to become something more and to ‘grab’ me and I feel this is where creativity comes in.
For our final project Kat asked us to take on a ‘pulling it all together’ project, taking a series of photographs and thinking about the whole series and how it was to be put together. She mentioned photo books, videos, slideshows, blogs, and exhibitions amongst other ideas. This came at a crucial time for me as the day before I read the final lesson I had been taking part in an art fair. During this I spoke to lots of people about my textile and mixed media work. Later that day I then spoke to some friends about where I wanted to go next and was pushed to widen my vision! When I read Kat’s email and pdf the two suddenly jumped together and made a much bigger whole, and I saw a project that is much bigger than anything I have ever attempted and both exciting and frightening at the same time.
I have been taking a series of photographs that look at derelict and decaying buildings, both in rural and urban settings. There are still a few places I want to visit and photograph, although my ‘decay inspiration’ file of edited photographs currently has 65 images in it. These are all currently feeding into some planned textile and felting work which is at sketchbook and test piece stage. I want to end up with a selection of 24 printed and mounted images each named with a haiku. These will fit alongside a series of 2D and 3D mixed media and felt pieces, such as this test piece…
The art work for the project is all inspired by the colours, textures and themes I am seeing in the photographs. Themes of rejection and abandonment, revelation and reclamation and much more. This is not going to be a project that can be finished in a month. I suspect that it won’t be finished in 3 months. It is very much still in the planning stage, although the photographs are the first step and some of them are the ones I have included here.
Carolyn blogs at Mess, Muddle and Fun the title of which sums up her attitude to creativity. She is an everyday creative, a felter, an artist who still feels odd using that term, and believes that everyone has a creative seed somewhere inside and the best thing to do with it is enjoy it – covered in paint if possible.
Would you like to share an A Sense of Place guest post? You can too! The only requirement is that you’ve taken the eCourse, either the Instructor Led version or the new On Demand version that is now available. Contact Kat for the rest of the details.
What a lovely post, Carolyn!
Beautifully written blog post. I went to Carolyn’s blog and am now following her there and on GoodReads. Kat, thank you for this!
Carolyn, this was a wonderful explanation of your creative heart and vision, and how A Sense of Place helped you make those connections. I can clearly see the correlation between your photography and your felting. I too am fascinated by decay. I love all these images of peeling layers, as these manmade objects and structures return to their natural elements.
What a great connection you have made between your photographs and textiles. Your photos are wonderful and I can see and feel the textures in them. A great example for all of us. Thank you.
Thank you very much everyone. I found the course so helpful and am now so excited about what I am doing. Thanks Kat as well for the opportunity to post here.
When I saw the first photo of the door and hardware, I knew you were a textile artist. Even though the image speaks of splinters, I wanted to run my hand over it, like feeling a soft, heathered piece of wool. Thank you for sharing, and for daring to try something big.