Materials Workshop with Julia Flood –

Today we had a gallery visit to the New Contemporaries Gallery.  Unfortunately I needed to travel to Victoria coach station (long story), so sadly I couldn’t make it.

Outside Victoria Coach Station

However, I was able to attend the workshop by Julia Flood.  This was all about the range of materials and materials info accessible at the college.

To start the session Julia gave us each a pencil and explained how even something as mundane as a pencil has a story.  For example what about the lead in the pencil, the wood that it’s made from, what it is coated in etc. Although some of the background to the pencil could be quite easily researched other parts such as the metal binding of the eraser were not.

I found her words particularly thought provoking in relation to my own project work.  I have been working a lot with recycled card and recycled card tubes. Hopefully, these items will have a relatively easy background to discover. However, the key-rings that I have used quite extensively throughout my work, possibly less so.

In order to help with the process Julia gave us some sheets (see below) and encouraged us to find some objects to examine from the materials store upstairs.

The colours on the above sheet weren’t the same as the ones on the original sheet.  Unfortunately, my sheet was so ‘dog eared’ after being rained on all the way home.  Therefore I inverted the image so that it was clearer.  My aim is to follow this sheet and see where it leads in terms of my own project.

Useful Slides from the Session

Materials Information

I managed to take a few images of just a small selection of materials on display in the library.  Julia gave me the materials email address if I needed to explore any of them further or make enquiries (materials@csm.arts.ac.uk) – Billie Coxhead is the contact for sourcing materials information.  I am hoping to follow this up as soon as I return from London.

Amazing Array of Materials

The CSM library has an absolute amazing array of materials.  It was impossible to browse through everything.  So, I quickly shot as many images as possible, which will allow me to go through them more carefully at a later stage.

I found today’s session really informative and it’s come just at the right time for my project.  I am looking forward to exploring both the use of innovative materials and material narratives for my project work.

And Finally…

At the end of the session we all had coffee and cakes.  The cakes and biscuits were baked by Cathy (Jonathan’s wife) and they were lovely! As a bonus, I think they might have even been vegan and gluten free, but it was impossible to tell the difference.