The Power of Making

The film of the metalsmiths in Bangladesh has been included in the Crafts Councils exhibition: The Power of Making.
The show; in the Porter Gallery, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; runs from the 05/09/11- 02/01/12. 

Building boats - making toys

The exhibition finishes at the V&A Museum of Childhood this weekend and moves on to the Harley Gallery in Nottinghamshire. To mark the end of the London show the MoC has organised an event celebrating Asian culture:  'A glimpse of Asia'.

I have been asked for ideas for a one day collaborative project / installation inspired by the exhibition and MSSP project and suitable for working with all ages of visitors to the museum.
Two thoughts a came to mind, both similar in process: -  participants could personalise a standard design on flat sheet of card using coloured pencils, cut it out,learn to fold and form it to make a 3D object, add their own creation as part of a larger shared collaborative piece. They can also make another to take home.

Looking back through the sketchbooks my first thought was to make a wall panel of folded flowers - paper versions of the metal ones in the show and inspired by the textiles, garlands and offering flowers I had seen in India and Bangladesh, the block printing, the wall paintings and the project with the children at the school. Individuals could colour in their own flowers or add messages to the petals, then pin them together with others to make a vivid panel of colour and texture.

The second; a flotilla of boats to grow and float its winding way across the museum floor. 

Inspired by the boats in Bangladesh, the visit to the Boat museum, the toy 'put-put' boats in the markets in Bangladesh and India, the boat yards at Mandvi and the tin toys in the Museum of Childhood.

The boat idea won the day, so I have been designing and making simple card models of boats from a single A4 sheet, forms that can be personalised, easily cut out, scored, folded and assembled with minimal equipment and resources (so far I have one like the putt putt boats, another based on a bangladesh boat).

The A4 template sheets can be copied onto card.

I hope it will be a fun day and we will be able to make lots of them, it will be great to see them cover part of the floor and weave its way across one of the museum spaces.

Metalsmithing in Bangladesh

An article about the metalworkers I visited in Bangladesh during the MS: SP Fellowship has been included in the Craft Revival Trust Website. The website is "a constantly expanding Encyclopedia featuring information on the makers, the techniques, processes and vocabulary of the intangible cultural heritage of South Asia".

Baasher Ghor - The Bamboo House

Images from the tribal villages in Lawachara National Park in Bangladesh, taken during the MS:SP Fellowship, have been selected for inclusion in the project 'Baasher Ghor - The Bamboo House'.

Work in Progress

Inspiration from the flower garlands in Bangladesh, the decoration on the rickshaws, the repetition and pattern in the textiles at the Calico Museum, the decorated surface of the houses in the Pols, the metal foil makers, the.....the.....

Sketching and testing ideas 

 Paper models

More Ideas (Panels)

CAD paper models and scored and folded tests in copper foil.

More Sketch Ideas (Garlands)

Paper models (Garlands)

Redlands School, Tower Hamlets

Together, over a 3 day period (24th, 25th & 26th), the artists involved in the project and Teresa Hare Duke from the V&A Museum of Childhood delivered a series of workshops at Redlands School in Tower Hamlets. These were part of a much wider community programme organised by Teresa which included work with The Central Foundation School in Mile End.

Redlands school has an amazing, large and well resourced art room, thanks to the teacher Helen Kelly.

Tarun, Tapan and Lokesh had been busy with workshops both whilst at the Harley Gallery and during their stay in London.

The workshops with the school explored rickshaw art and block printing. The children saw images of the rickshaws we had seen in Bangladesh as inspiration

samples of Tapans painting

and examples of rickshaw components.

Simple shapes like those seen on the back of rickshaws had been cut from metal foil and primed.

The children drew out their designs on paper, then transfered them to the metal foil using acrylics.

With Lokesh the children used traditional wood blocks from India to print designs onto paper (cards and wrapping paper)

and fabric (Muslin).

We showed the children images of the Block printers at New Market in Dhaka. To my amazement a large number of the 9-11 yr olds in the workshops had been to Bangladesh and recognised where it was.

Copperwork

Watch Coppersmiths in the old city in Ahmedabad making water vessels here. Coppersmiths

Finishing