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. 

The Harley Gallery

The show 'Sensing Place' has moved from the V&A Museum of Childhood and has now opened at the Harley Gallery, on the Welbeck Estate, in Nottinghamshire. 

The show runs until 7th August 2011.

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".

'Sense of Place' Show

Sketchbooks and collectionSeeking Perfection (Gilded Copper)'15%' (Paper from the Gandhi Ashram).

FilmsTapans painting documenting his travels.

Taruns atmospheric paintings and 'theatre'.

Thurles wonderful work in paper.

Lokesh's 'Frozen Charlottes'.

Painted metal foil flowers and rickshaw panels from the workshops with the school children at Redlands School.

Work for the show

'Offering'. Copper Foil.

'Seeking Perfection'. Gilded Copper Foil.

'15%'. Handmade Indian Paper (from The Gandhi Ashram Paper Mill).

Benchpeg Articles.

A series of articles, about the metalwork experienced during the fellowship, were written for 'Benchpeg' newsletter. These were added as entries to the blog.

You can read them here (pdf files):

Article 1 - Intro.

Article 2 - Village Metalwork.

Article 3 - Dhamrai.

Article 4 - Old Dhaka.

Article 5 - City Metal.

Article 6 - Divine Metal.

Article 7 - Mizapur.

Article 8 - Kutch.

Article 9 - Nirona.

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)

Copperwork

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