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Wednesday 25 January 2017

Seasalter in the frost in January, an estuary walk.

 Reflections on last week's walk from Espacio Gallery to Leadenhall Market: a field trip for our walk Thread and Word on March 5th.

Feedback and Reflections from our field trip on January 19th


  These are a few of the thoughts that have remained with me after last week’s walk, the observations made and the discussion that followed after the walk

 I thought these were worth sharing as the purpose of the walking is research and responses. A very big thank you to Naya, Sheelah and Jennifer for their contribution on the day and also in helping to formulate the following.

The thoughts, reflections, ideas, connections.

1.The site of sculpture in the City of London, with so many tall buildings, engages your senses. They draw the gaze up and  can make it difficult to focus on the sculptures. Whether you agree or disagree, it brought to mind  this link to the site and the history of Sculpture in the City. I think it is helpful to know more about the Sculpture in the City program and the designated site so I'm providing this link.












(This is not a great photo but it demonstrates how subtle and unobtrusive  the work by Lizi is) 

2. Cadenetas-  by Lizi Sanchez, is so subtle and evocative, resembling paper chains caught in the trees and buildings,

I thought about the association between Lizi’s work and ideas of fragmentation which link to both the poetry of Cecilia Vicuña and TS Eliot.

It made me think about the process we are engaged in, using poetry, artworks and artists from many different backgrounds to create personal interventions in the walk, with spaces or gaps in between, chains or fragments that link us together.

 I thought the the following article which I read some time ago was an interesting connection and how the spaces in between can tell us as much as what is in front of us.





3. Does reading Cecilia Vicuña's poem in Spanish give you a greater insight into the poem and it's associated imagery? I had a very interesting exchange of emails about culture with Sheelah and it led me to this. See the photo alongside.

"Palabra e Hilo/ Word & Thread is published in a numbered edition
of 300 copies, including 26 signed and lettered by the author and
translator, on the occasion of Cecilia Vicuña's exhibition "Precario"
Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh,
October 26th 1996 - January 5th 1997."


Serendipity! The Threads exhibition will be travelling to Edinburgh in July and Inverleith House is within walking distance from the gallery where we will be exhibiting. More about this nearer the time.

More links, on a closer reading of the poem there is a reference to "Mary Frame" , to be found in the text "Weaver of Worlds: from Navajo Apprenticeship to Sacred Geometry and Dreams", which speaks to me of the mythic method used in Modernist writings and the work of TS Eliot.

And finally.......
'quipucamayoc' a piece I made last November


4.The photo above "quipucamayoc" is of a piece I made in November from the knotted ropes of the walkers who took part in a walk for Armistice Day in Margate.For more about this and an explanation of the origins of the title:

http://elspethpenfold.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/quipucamayo-new-work-from-my-walking-as.html


There was some discussion after our field trip last week as to whether the knots made by walkers should by shared and their meaning explained. Is there a  logic in the knotting?

I am undecided. I think textiles tell their own stories. As explained by the anthropologist Frank Solomon, " Khipu cords are paths guiding the hands, eye and mind to the trans temporal source of things". Maybe they represent the things that you can't find the words to explain?

I am looking forward to our next walk.

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