Telling Tales

On first walking into the space, I was surprised by the size of the room. Tiny, crowded, and even dingy. There were strips of fabric falling from above our heads, the segments between them forming dramatically lit booths enclosing a collection of curious objects.

This was the forest glade. A few items immediately caught my eye such as the boat/bath...bath/boat on my left, and the beautiful cow bench, both of which are clever and intriguing. However, what held my eye the longest was the 'fig leaf' wardrobe. It was magestical, it's height was imposing and the curved edges like a canopy from a tree in something like fantasia. At first i thought that the leaves would have been much nicer intricate, but for the purpose the bold and chunky leaves of the wardobe's served well. It reminded me of being little and flicking through old fairy tale books round my nans house and those films you occasionally caught the end of on TV, but never knew the name or had the video, so remained mysterious and much better than those you watched all the time. (For me that was water babies)

Leaving the crooked and devious glade we entered the enchanted castle. Bright and glowing, this room is regal, impressive and rich. There are odd shaped things on my right hung on mirrors bouncing golden rays throughout the room. Despite this room being slightly more roomy, though large it was not, there was plenty to look at in every direction, and you really did have to look to find it all. My favourite in this room was the cinderella table. It had a significant impact on the room, despite being in a corner. It was oddly shaped, and magnificent being made out of plywood but look so expensive, it's quirky lines being those of 11th century tables. I thought it was clever and gorgeous and i couldn't take my eyes of it.
Walking into the last room was like taking a leap of faith, there were few lights in comparison to the gloss of the castle. Plunging into darkness i can see windows and pools of light showing eerie and scary items which alot of the time require the descriptions of them to be understood fully. Its stuffy and hot in here, im squeezing past school children sitting on the floor drawing the pools of blood and getting rather claustrophobic. My favourite in this room is the star of the exhibitions leaflet, Do you hear what i hear? because of my slightly in-appropriate love of taxidermy. A happy, startled looking fox stopped in its tracks has shiney gold maggots growing out of its pricked pointy ears. Its creepy and wrong and enchanting and i love it. This whole room emphasises the 'weakness of flesh' and the 'certainty of death'.

The titles of the different rooms are very interesting and it is odd that they picked those particular names. The items in them are so varied, and sometimes you really cannot tell why they are linked to that room. The forest glade makes me think of nature obviously, and items such as the wardrobe and the honey coombe vase link to that. Forests also conjure up thoughts of old knarled trees mixed with new young sprouts! And i suppose this room also mixed the two. New, strange and innovative ideas with roots in old and complex stories and ideas. The enchanted castle was full of granduer, I always imagine castles filled with furniture and artefacts accumalated over hundreds of years. It looked into old design and re-interpretted it. What was enchanting about this room was the knowledge, it was enchanting to find bits and pieces hidden in the corner and to stare at something and wonder how it was made.

These exhibition has inspired my collection as i like how you have to look for the connection. It's fun there is such variety and everything in it is so beautiful which i really like. Also all of the items meant something on there own as well as in a group, it would be nice to have a collection of lots of beautiful pieces which all have a meaning.

Sir John Soane Museum

Well, I love to collect, I am a hoarder so this place is my idea of heaven. I unfortunately only got there half an hour before the place shut, but I enjoyed a quick dance around. It was wonderful inside, dark wood and bits and bobs everywhere. This place hasnt changed very much since 1837 when Sir John Soane died, it was his wish the place be kept as near as possible as it was left, and that it should be free to students and those who wish to come and learn. It's a wonderful idea, and a really wonderful and intriguing place. You must go!

Beautiful Brixton

For our first project, we have collaborated to create a Rough Guide of London. My area being Brixton, where I live. Brixton has been known in the past to be 'dangerous', and I've heard it called the drug capital of London. However, I do believe it has changed and really isn't scary.

This is a short description of three objects I have either found or bought in my specific location. A seed from a Jack Fruit, the star of my page for the Rough Guide. A swatch of fabric bought from one of the market stalls. And a photo of an artists work who practise's in Brixton, and whose glass fronted studio is inside the market.

Jack Fruit Seed.

The seed is rather large, and almond shaped, though bigger than an almond. It is a sandy colour, with tinges of green and a burnt sienna colour near the top end. At the top end, the skin has broken and a sprout has errupted from the gap. At first this sprout was a fresh green colour, like the smooth bean inside the skin, but now it is a very dark brown and rather shrivelled. The seed has been carted around with me so much, that it has been flattened by my sketchbook and is now a very funny shape and resembles a squished bug. It also has tissue paper marks, from where I wrapped it up whilst it was still covered in juice.

When I look at the seed I think of the lovely man who gave it to me. We were walking around the market, and we spotted a very odd looking fruit. It was larger than a water melon, and bumpy all over. Geraldine shouts out to the man, 'What type of fruit is this?'. To which he replies, 'It's a Jack Fruit! Do you want to try some'. So we go inside, and he asks us what country we are from... And seems a little shocked any of us are English. First, he had to wipe his knife with vegetable oil because the Jack Fruit stains metal, which I feel is a bit weird. He cuts it right down the middle, and exposes the inside of the fruit which looks a bit like a pineapple through a kailedoscope. He cuts it again into a little wedge (little in comparison to the rest of the fruit, but still pretty big) then pushes the skin forward so that the chunk splits itself into segments. Each of the segment reminds me of flower petals, and I think it has the same sort of texture, kind of rubbery. It tastes like a mixture of bannana and pineapple. To finish off, we then have to wash our hands in oil to make sure the sticky and sweet juices don't stain our fingers.

It also makes me imagine the tree. He told us it takes a hundred years to grow, and that one would never grow in England because it's far too cold. The trunk of the tree is huge, telling us it would fill his shop. I am intrigued to see this tree, and as himself and a customer (a lovely lady who told us we could also eat the seeds of the Jack Fruit by boiling them) were convincing us to go to Jamaica because its beautiful, I'm considering saving up.

Swatch of Material from a market stall.

The material is really light, and slips quite easily through your fingers. It always feels cold. The background colour is a striped grey, and on top, the patten is black and made up from lines forming diamonds. The pattern repeats on the fabric, and makes your eyes hurt if you look for too long.

Despite the material being only grey and black, it makes me think of vibrant colours. Another shop that sold fabric, more variety than the stall i bought this from, was full of frightfully bright, contrasting and clashing colours. It was just rows and rows and piles and piles of fabric folded. The images on the leaflets were of voluptuous dresses made from fabrics swamped by these already busy patterns.

It also makes me think of tradition. These are very traditional fabrics, being worn, I would expect in a very traditional way. I'm always a fan of tradition, so I really like the idea that these fabrics are still being worn and appreciated. They also make me think rich. These fabrics are lavish and expensive, and reserved for special occasions. And there is a sense of occasion in the shop, it seems to be a family day out when people go to buy the fabrics.

An artists shop, with paper dresses in the window.

The dresses were made of old yellowing maps, folded into little triangles and squares and pieced together to make one delicious and long dress trailing along the ground. Another odd shape hangs in the window beside it, which looks a bit like a cage or a claw. This time the shape is made out of old newspapers, twisted and folded to become stiff.

These remind me of little origami animals stitched together to make a confusing and intricate web, emphasised by the scribbles on the map and the minute writing on the old newspapers. They are really crispy looking.

They also remind me of the open day I went to at lcf. Foundation students first project is to make a dress out of paper, and in my old A level class our first project was to make paper hats.

I love the way the shop/studio looks (I never saw it open but Geraldine informs me the woman was in there sewing away). It's pretty much empty, and I saw it quite late in the day, it looked greyish and dusty, like the dresses. Despite being glass fronted, the roofed market doesn't permit much light through the windows, and it looks a bit like an old attic. It's a little creepy, in a very good way, I like it.

(photos to follow)