Exhibition set up and evaluation

I have made quite a lot of work for this project, I like to try lots of different process and jump straight into the making as that's how I figure things out rather that just working towards one big idea.

I think the work I've made could be split into two different halves and exhibited separately.

The first lots of work are around print and are all quite bright and illustrative of certain characters I've come across during my research., the Green Man, The Hobby Oss, The wolf. Then came the experiments with the found objects, wrapping the brightly coloured threads around found sticks and branches, this was what really led into my final work.

Originally I was working with bright colours and crude imagery. I was also following the path of using things I already have or things I had found as a way to connect to a folk tradition of being resourceful as well as connection to the natural world that is so central to folk tradition.

I began to gather lots of natural objects from places I visited during research as well as making sound recording of birds, rain, singing and general crowd noise feel they are like talisman and all interconnective materials to help me work intuitively with the things I found.

So much of this project was field research, It was full of adventure for me. I had ear marked a few events and exhibition at the start of the project and happy to say I managed to visit most of them and they really led the project even when I felt lost from all the research rabbit hole I kept falling into.

The stand out visits where Pitt Rivers; being inspired so many hand crated objects, often decorative as a way of tribute or worship. The Making mischief exhibition was the key inspiration for me , looking costume and disguise and celebration and of course Pitt Rivers; being inspired so many hand crated items, often decorative as a way of tribute or worship, and just the massive sense of history and beliefs colliding into a really strange and endless combination of objects, the idea that objects are a source of ritual

The real turning point for me was making the cyanotype egg shells, that was the key object that steered the direction of the final work and drew me more towards a more refined and muted colour palette, thinking more about using natural object and "Dressing " them in a costume. while moving away from the brighter multi coloured objects

The final works are representative of costume.

I have split my exhibition area into two sections with the use of coloured paint - Id noted from exhibitions id visited recently that the used of colour on the walls could add meaning to the work- in this case I'd originally wanted to use a dark green the colour I associate with nature, however, it didn't offer contrast against the colour of the work.

I had a really pretty pink paint and was inquisitive to see how this may look. I also chose a pale green, using pastel as a hint of colour without over powering the delicate nature of the work

These two colours could represent the masculine and the feminine as i have created two characters, and exploring story telling with objects.

The sheep's skull with the chicken feathers, is quite mask like and to me it looks like an owl.

On the pink wall is the antler like sticks with the crow feathers, I like the way the black stands out against the pink. Both sides have elements of animals, and natural objects that are mutated and disguised, the way a costume is a disguise but also representative of how animal costume are used in folk lore

The sheep's jaw has gilded teeth, a decoration, a sign of wealth and intervention , along with the twisted, wing like bark also gilded, are all accessories of a costume/ character.

The wreath of twigs that is meant to look nest like but can also be read as a halo.though this isn't gold, this is natural exploring a worship of nature and to signify the links between pagan and christian beliefs.

In the center of the wall I have used a plinth to display the cyanotype egg shells, as I want them to be the central point, I have chosen just a few shells even though I have made many, as I want to present them as precious objects not common. I've made a nest like structure from the cordage that I made from weaving together dried dandelion stalks, its an element of craft tradition as well as the symbol of a birds craft to protect is young.

Visually I think the egg shells are a success, they are curious, fragile objects, now imprinted with trace images of fora and fauna, again disguising the true nature of the object. I also displayed the outside of the eggshell as it has some lovely speckled marks on it from the chemical process and reveals it as a whole object.

Symbolically the egg features in folk lore, it represents, life and food and fragility, here it is the joining of the masculine and feminine elements.

On the floor I have layered some found twigs on one side and a bundle of bearded wheat on the other, really just to dress the floor and add some theatre.

When displaying the objects to the wall it was quite tricky to work out fixtures.

I made a fixture for the skull by attaching a small branch to a wall bracket and inserting the branch directly into the skull.

I used a block of wood behind the twisted bark to help it stand proud of the wall.

The jaw bone is balanced on two gold bracket pins that give it a museum feel of display and the wreath is hanging from a gold hook. The gold fixtures keep it uniform.

The feathered "antlers" where a little harder to figure out. I firstly screwed up two small brackets and attached them with screws but it really didn't look very professional as the brackets were silver and were just too visible and distracting.

Tom helped me to display them more discreetly by drilling holes directly into the branches and securing them with nails that were hardly visible. I added some screw in hoops to the back and used silk threads to counter lever them so they leaned out from the wall -trophy style. The silk thread is also used in the base of the antlers so it ties in visually and symbolically with the craft element. I hope the works raise the question " is it natural or made?" I aimed to achieve an ambiguous cross between craft, nature and animal that ties the pieces together.

I have also used a piece of work from the lace project as it fits in so well. Its a tapestry type work of wild flowers sewn to linen and suspended from a drift wood branch, this is hanging in the window.

I did bring in some curtains to hang behind this in the hopes of unifying my area , however They didn't look right and along with the colour painted walls it all began to look a bit too domestic, interior design rather than an exhibition space so I took them down,

The other element I wanted to add was sound. However the device I purchased didn't have a good enough sound quality.

I needed to allow more time to develop the sound scape. I have improved on the soundscape and have alternative equipment, however, its the day before the exhibition and so a little too late to bring this into the mix, the finding of the sounds was very much part of this process, as a sound track, a folk song so I'm disappointed, but Ive made a lot of work and I think it all flows into the next project.

Overall I'm please with how my exhibition looks. My biggest indecision is what to do with the large cyanotype branch .I've already left out a lot of work as I wanted it to feel refined and coherent and to just include key elements, not just a jumble of objects and for this reason I'm leaving out the cyanotype branch as it doesn't look right with the pink and green walls and I don't like how it looks on the floor as if its an after thought.

Its a shame as it took me ages to to develop the cyanotype technique on the branches, it was a lot of work but essentially I don't want to compromise the other work for the sake of it.

I've enjoyed this project immensely, I chose a subject that I'm very excited about. However its was too vast a subject and I should have singled out a specific area within folk from the beginning and stuck closer to it. I feel a lot of time was lost down dead ends, however it all feeds into the bigger picture and I have manged to create a costume like work that I feel its quite refined and unites many aspects of my research of costume, nature, ritual and celebration

I would have allowed more time for a sound track in hindsight.

Ive found a welcoming online community around folk and all its many elements. Its a tradition/ sub culture that seems to be experiencing a revival among younger people. At a time when there is a detachment from nature and an environmental crisis its a way for people to reconnect, witch nature and community, it offers inclusivity to people from all kinds of backgrounds and provides the opportunity to engage in ritual and celebration without religion.

I've enjoyed improving my knowledge in this subject while my strengthening my comic reputation as an art witch! I hope the work I have made brings a little wonder and connection to our beautiful folk heritage.