Trading Places/CR.E.A.T.E. Programme

The Residencies

Periodic updates from the journals of the artists involved in this project. Back to residencies

holy pictures

Written by artist Julie on 24 November 2003

Today we did some more work with punch cards, we made some rubbings, we looked at a braille book and saw that the patterns on the punch cards and the page of braille had something in common, dot matrix codes. We looked at the braille alphabet and saw that each letter is made by using a combination of dots based on a six pattern as you would find on a domino. We tried to decipher the braille by looking, it was very difficult, we couldn’t read it by touching either. We tried to write our names using braille this took a lot of patience.
The braille book is very beautiful and has the white on white look of damask patterns, also, it seems to me, that this white on white could be a metaphor for looking into the past, we try to touch it, to see it, but we can only read it in terms of what is present around us, the ghosts slip in between our understanding, and our imagining, white on white.
We took some photos of each other peering through the holes on a punch card sometimes we were perfectly framed in the holes other times parts were missing.

Voice threads and punch card

Written by artist Julie on 11 November 2003

We have been recording sounds and voices. here are the images of the voice threads we made, it would be good to see them spinning.
Last week I visited a musician to see if she could help me to create a sound system for making music from the jaquard punch cards…and we have a new trail, the trail of the “Ballet Mecanique”. George Antheil was a composer who wished to create music that was played so fast he had to produce the sound mechanically, on the pianola. or the ‘pneumatic piano’ He created a symphony which was originally to be played on sewing machines, xylophones, pianolas, propellas, and ….automatic looms..but it seemed the pianola was able to create all of these effects that were a poem to ‘the death of machines’ and he conspired with fellow surrealists to make mechanical sound which was produced live in accompaniement to projections of moving images … the early silent films.
What fun, we are going to have a go.

sewing rubusfruticosus flax paper

Written by artist Julie on 11 November 2003

This paper is almost like a skin , it is very flexible and purple with not only the rubus fruticosus but also elderberries and it smells of lavander, the pulp pot has been fermenting nicely over halloween and has an additional winey smell.
We have been ruminating on what to make with our fine stuff and there is a popular vote for a wedding dress…in princely purple….meanwhile we have been looking at how to join flat shapes to make three dimensional ones and saw that if you have six squares and arrange them in a cross formation they can fold into a cube. So this was our first 3d piece, a box made of purple flax paper, we sewed it with the flax we had dyed and some we had spun in our fingers, we changed the thicknesses of strands so our box had an animal hairyness, we left the lid flap open invitingly, or menacingly depending on temperament.
I would be most pleased to make a folding machine like the punch cards on the jaquard loom but gone out of control…this will require much patient sewing….we shall see….
We have been looking at a miniature music box and watching the barrel go round, the raised blips twang the tines producing perfect notes…this box reminds me of the jaquard punching machine and I have seen pictures of the piano rolls for barrel organs which look just like the punch cards with holes in the paper where the notes sound..wouldn’t it be great to create music from a punch card which would be the music of a willow pattern napkin as they have on view at the linen museum……or to make music which could be woven into damask, white on white!

sewing rubusfruticosus flaxpaper

Written by artist Julie on 11 November 2003

we looked at our paper from last week it was dry and easily peeled away from the cloth, you can see elder berries and smell the lavander we added. We talked about what we could make with it, there is a lot of interest in making a wedding dress! For now we looked at how you can make a cube from six flat squares, we began to sew, using the flax we had dyed and spun in our fingers, we liked the different thicknesses we could get, we made a box with an opening lid. I would be very happy if we can make a lot of paper and make a kind of out of control jacquard loom type machine with folding squares, this will take a lot of patient sewing…
…meanwhile I have been investigating mechanical pianos and found that the scroll cards for pianolas look very like the jaquard punch cards, we have been listening to music on a mini music box and watching the barrell turn, while raised blips on the barrel spring up the tines to sound the notes, the entertainer has been playing continuously since then..wouldn’t it be fun to play the music for a willow napkin woven on a jaquard loom! We shall investigate more….!

flax paper on line!

Written by artist Julie on 20 October 2003

We had a very messy day today making paper….you can see the strands of flax and the black spots are elderberries, this paper was made with the flax we dyed in blackberries (less popularly known as the rubus fruticosus) and a lot of recycled paperbags..you can imagine how the classroom was awash..and we got it all on tape for posterity.
Later on Julie had a visit from Patrick Cassidy and next Thursday there promises to be an afternoon of fascinating local history in the telling and perhaps a bit of spinning on Patricks own authentic antique wheel once owned perhaps by ‘Abigail’, I look forward to hearing all about it.

Bows blackberries and purple paper

Written by artist Julie on 14 October 2003

Here are some bows made from scutched plumber’s linen which we dyed with blackberries and then spun in our fingers.
Today Orla came to visit so we have been showing her our projects and getting tangled up in cables, for fun we have been making paper which we added a dye bath to and it is very purple and cosmic, we are experimenting with a technique of adding linen fibres to the paper pulp and next week we hope to go into production in a big and messy way….. our project is based on a premise of ‘chatic attractors!’
We have been videoing all stages as a diary so we can see how our threads have evolved….
login out now,
Julie and the seniors of the Holy Family School

spinning a yarn

Written by artist Julie on 14 October 2003

This is a drawing from our visit to the Linen museum

Julie and Sinead

Written by artist Julie on 18 September 2003

Sinead and Julie online from the Holy Family School. Cootehill, Cavan.
The Holy Family School had a very interesting and informative day at the Lisburn Linen museum. We had great fun with Julie, drawing pictures and exploring alternative uses for flax!
October 7th
Yesterday we got out the frozen blackberries we put them in a big jam making pan and boiled them for forty five minutes, we videoed the process, we wet the flax and put it in the dye, it turned purple, we boiled it for another 45 minutes we left it to soak overnight.
Meanwhile we spent some time looking at the flax and pulling out strands, we twisted it in our fingers like spinning, we smelled it and talked about retting and rotting. Mary who lives nearby told us she had a flax hole at the bottom of her garden, she also showed us how to make bows in a special way so the loops are even like Mickey Mouse ears, she said this type of bow has a special name but can't remember what it is, it is a good way to tie shoelaces!