The hardest thing about Art Allotments 2 was knowing what was in the envelope as I had made it up. I had to try & disassociate myself from the choices of contents made. It was also a challenge to find 10 identical, or near identical, pieces of rejected work. Finding a few is usually not a problem as I take lots of proofs while making plates. This time I needed ten and luckily I had a near miss print of a long line of collograph figures of women. All were slightly different but alike enough to fit the bill. The etching proofs were mainly textural & big enough to cut up into similar sections. Angela’s page of drawings was photocopied so that they were identical in each envelope
I posted the envelopes and put the one I had randomly selected for myself from the pile to one side. When the first collage arrived back I didn’t open it until I had finished my own effort.
The figure and the crow were the starting points. I have always admired crows and been amused by their comical stance. My admiration grew after reading Corvus, A Life with Birds by Esther Woolfson brilliantly reviewed by Olivia Laing in an Observer article.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/aug/24/scienc…
I am aware that there is a deeper unconscious rational for my choices allied to loss & loneliness but for the moment that can wait for exploration.
Mellie’s and Angela’s collages, the first to arrive, also placed the woman’s figure in a central position with each collage and all three were telling different stories.
