Apologies for the lack of blog until now, we
have one more day in our first week of devising and my head is feeling
swamped with ideas and questions.
We’ve been churning out material every day, making huge lists of
stimuli – all really exciting stuff – so many possibilities, images,
avenues to pursue, that my head is at saturation level.
We decided to start with the jewellery as a focus at the beginning on
Monday, and see what came out. Taking it in turns to sit in the room,
alone, with one piece at a time draped over the mannequin. We noted
down how being there with it felt, what images it sparked, what it
smelt like, how it was to touch. Then we fed back to each other. This
may sound a bit pretentious (sitting in a room with a piece of
jewellery), but each piece is so powerful your response to it is
immediate and strong. Comparing notes was fascinating, similar themes
cropped up again and again.
John’s (worn on the head): dominant, powerful and arrogant, some of us felt it could posses you or hold strange powers.
Mikaela’s (worn around the neck): comfortable, lived-in historic feel, feminine and delicate, links to travel and the sea.
Louise’s (worn on the arms): Suductive, beautiful but dangerous, strong links with nature and burial.
And this is only the tip of the iceberg! Throughout the week we have
been returing to our initial lists made from this exercise to use as a
starting or focusing point for other exercises. Lists are great, they
trigger your memory when it is feeling sluggish and take you down
avenues you never expected…