vanda campbell

19 February 2016

New Blog, New Website

As you may have noticed, this blog (written while researching for my MA) has been dormant for a while. But all is not lost ... I now have a shiny, new blog to go with my shiny, new website. Hope to see you there x

www.vandacampbell.com

30 August 2013

Skinny Dipping

The deed is done ... studio walls have been filled, sanded and painted; floors cleaned; work hung; symposium presentation delivered ... and breathe!

Thick Skinned (detail) - found crucifix, plastic, felt, aluminium, thread
© Vanda Campbell 2013

Thick Skinned (detail)
© Vanda Campbell 2013

Left Behind (detail) - found earring (broken), plastic, felt, thread
© Vanda Campbell 2013

23 August 2013

On the Cuff

With a week to go, I am taking the "brave / foolish / right / wrong" (delete as appropriate) decision not to show "Off the Cuff" as part of my final MA project. Samples have been made, patterns cut and recut, stitches sewn and unpicked, but nothing is close to being presentable.

The potential for reworking clothing elements to take on the role of more traditional jewellery mounts, is something that realistically needs more time than is available before an arbitrary submission deadline. “On the Cuff” is an expression, not so familiar as “Off the Cuff”, but at this point in time is a more appropriate description of what this work has become ... a promise of delivery in the future.

Samples so far have used pattern-cutting techniques to manipulate the fabric into forms that hint at traditional jewellery mounts. Decreasing circles of cloth are carefully measured and stitched. Laid flat, the form acts as a frame for the hole, the negative space, in the cloth. Lifted, the form becomes a telescopic structure that if worn, alters the familiar shape of the body, or can be used to hide a secret, in a way not dissimilar to concealing a photograph or keepsake in a locket.

When positioned over the body (for example on the chest, or on an arm), this allows me to effectively re-present the exposed flesh. Unadorned skin could take on the role of a gemstone, and assume the values and significance of what, in monetary terms, is often the most valuable element in traditional jewellery. By using the textile piece to frame the body in this way, the negative space would become the positive object. The body would be reassigned as a gemstone; the fabric would be reassigned as a frame, or mount.

I know that potentially this research could produce some really exciting work, with fabric structures being displayed in a way that are almost familiar - folded on a shelf or hung on a clothes hanger - giving an indication that they might be clothing. But there the familiarity would stop. The forms might not be instantly obvious. How they are to be worn is not evident.

Exciting, isn't it?!

PS Don't worry, Thick Skinned, Left Behind and Not so Thick Skinned are all ready and presentable, so there won't be an void where Vanda should be!

2 August 2013

Off The Cuff

I have made a number of pieces (Jilted, Thick Skinned) exploring the relationship between skin and wearable object. To balance this, it's time to investigate the fabric layer, the clothing, which usually lies between the object, specifically jewellery, and the skin (body) on which it's worn.

As an integral part of who we are and what we do clothing has assumed many roles, including the ability to contain and carry through the addition of pockets, openings and fixings. The interplay of function and form, and the constant movement of, and interaction with, the fabric is at the centre of all of this is. Often unknowingly, people 'play' with their clothing, and in the process, momentarily redefine its form: shirtsleeves are rolled up; warm knitted sleeves are pulled down to cover fingers on a cold day' scarves are twisted and knotted; hemlines are hitched.

At this point of play, I suspect that clothing takes on a new role. If a jumper is worn casually slung across our shoulders, perhaps with the cuffs carefully knotted on our chests, is it, at this point, a jumper, or has it become a necklace?

Found photograph
"Actress Deborah Kerr Wearing A Straw Hat,
a Sweater Tied Around Her Shoulders"

Off The Cuff Studio work - found vintage dress, stitch, paper
© Vanda Campbell 2013

Off The Cuff Studio - found objects, paper, stitch
© Vanda Campbell 2013

30 July 2013

Jilted

What happens to earrings when one of the pair is broken? Is one, or both, left behind, assigned to a dusty corner of a jewellery box or drawer? If the broken earring no longer functions as jewellery, can it become something else?

Left Behind is a collection of earrings, one of which has been damaged or broken. The imperfect one is dipped and coated in tinted plastic, and hung in a grid opposite it's perfect other half. The dipped earring no longer functions as jewellery but becomes something more - a body, a form. The 'perfect' earring loses it's partner, and so is, in turn, left behind.

Studio Work in Progress Jilted © Vanda Campbell 2013

26 July 2013

Thick Skinned

In situations where a relationship, sequence, or pattern is taken for granted it is only when change occurs that we are reminded that a pattern exists and what it is supposed to be. The relationships between the objects we carry or wear, and our body, are examples of just such a relationship. By breaking the received pattern, I draw attention to it. I present objects that are almost familiar – familiar materials in unfamiliar forms - and by reordering the received pattern, I aim to question and re-present these relationships.

Traditional jewellery is often made of metals and gemstones; hard, cold materials that need violent intervention in the form of heating, hammering, and drilling to construct the desirable shapes and forms. Our bodies, and the skin and clothing that cover them, have very different qualities: flexible, not static; elastic rather than rigid. To place an item of jewellery, that is a hard, inflexible form on a body or clothing that is in a constant state of movement is surely a mismatch?

Thick Skinned is an investigation of this mismatch, and comprises a collection of once-wearable found objects. Broken necklaces, half paired earrings and abandoned trinkets have been dipped and coated in a tinted, liquid plastic. Although the plastic dries with some flexibility, the articulated jewellery forms are trapped in a new format and become fixed. A dangly earring no longer dangles, as it is swaddled in its new plastic skin, reminiscent of a pupa. The colour of this new coating directly acknowledges the relationship between the object and the skin, and begins to visually blur the distinction between them. Cold, hard materials such as metal and acrylic feel warm to the touch with this new coating, while forms such as necklaces or chains, are reformed into pendants or drops.

The works in Thick Skinned are presented in a way that hints at wearability, but closer inspection reveals that there is no obvious way of wearing these reworked forms. There are no evident fixings, or specific ways to hang or connect these works to the body. They can however be held, stroked, pocketed. They no longer function as jewellery in the traditional sense, but instead have become forms, or bodies.

23 July 2013

Mirror Mirror

Pockets stuffed with useful bits of this and that ... reading glasses, earphones, mirrors ... They all have specific uses, but for only fleeting moments in the day. What do they become when they are at rest, I wonder? If they are worn, rather than carried, can they function as jewellery during their 'down' times? Stretching this thought further, what about when they are broken and no longer fit for their original, intended purpose?