http://www.boomerwomenspeak.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=115763&page=all

Not sure if that cut and paste thingie still works on the updated site look...however, for those who wish to see where all this began, that is the link.

Well now, I am seven weeks into my first semester and it is incredibly busy. The first three always focuses on technical skill and a mini presentation which works with all first, second and third years to help us settle in.
ike last year, all the work to follow leads up to an exibition which is called 'tell a story'(in metaland other materials of my choosing)
Mine started out quite random and vague, and I was not fully engaged in what was neeeded for the project. One of my tutors stripped it all back for me and suggsted that I pick up on 'texturing'within my primary sketches(yup...sketching is no longer my nemisis)...now, that made me feel even more disengaged. I was also given the option to pick up on one single thing within my sketching...so,after brainstorming with a few of my peers...I found it!! I found what I neede to 'tell a story' out of the primary work(which was filled with autumnal scenes etc)
Trees and leaves had been maticuliously recorded on paper and various other mediums.
'Lifes Tree' is to be my exibition peice. This got me buzzing and brimming with ideas..and includes the ten textures and techniques required.
That which has falln from the tree is past and no longer has the power to hold me back.
What is entwined within the tree trunk is the 'core of my being' and all that is precious to me
What is starting to emmerge from the new branches is my future 'hopes and dreams'
The tree and all that is with it will be made mostly from base metals(copper, brass, steel wire etc, what lies under the branches will use the same materials and what is growing from..I will use both base and precious metals, silver and such. I hope to involve the observer by inviting them to write something on a peice of paper something which they want to leave behind, and sticking it anon on the tree(which will then give me fodder for a new project linked to the 'story' one.
This will all be on open exibition in early Jan.

I hope what I am blethering on about makes some sense!!

Photos to follow in a mo

Poppie

Nope...not happening with the photo's....turned meself into comp nerd!! I will try again when I get somemore spare time...sorry

Poppie

Poppie, boy is the artist in your thriving. Love the idea of using life tree. Isn't it amazing how jazzed you can get when you put your finger on what works for you? Glad you're surrounded by peopel who draw out the artist wihin you. Hoping you will post a photo of this exhibition in January. I enjoyed your jewelry exhibition last year. Is this your second year?

Poppie, this sounds so fascinating! Are you incorporating any of the cultural myths about Tree of Life? Or will this be a purely personal perspective?

Hi Mer, my fellow crafts woman, when I started the first term, my tutor advised to veer away from explorations which involve all things Irish(in it's cultural, mythical and political sense)...I can see his angle and just for this semester why he wishes that for me

As I eplained above..I need to produce either ten or one object which show off a particular range of tech skill in metal working. Nope, the thought of that had me bored, belligerent and blocked creativly speaking of course.

So yes, I will do what is requested and imbrue the cultural as well as the emotional and this is because I am able to fit the piece comfortably into a contextual home and I can 'tell a story' with me being fully engaged in the piece and all it's
exciting processes thst I am learning daily. All good I think, should tick all the boxes of mine, my assessors and most importantly..the observers.
Wow...where did that all come from...I write not far removed from those artists and crafts people who are passing their knowledge on to me...it's gotta prove that the information is going in and staying, I am talking as an artist!! Wow again...this stuff is realy fitting!!

Dotsie, due to a massive administrative mess(and a plethera of disruptions) up and me beig ill advised, I am now redoing my first year. It took ome courage I tell ys for me to walk back in to Uni with head held high..for sure. It has it's pro's and cons, but I am quickly turning the cons around! I think the Uni may try and work out that the year counted for something, foundation in arts or something similar.
I will post sme photo's when the time has passed productivly and hope to have figured out how to submit them in the forums(it's either something to do with the new look site..or I could have simply forgotten!

I love doing my wee updates as they are now demonstrating how many pennies have dropped!

Warm thoughts

Poppie

Poppie, sorry to hear last year didn't count. I hope some of the credits count for something toward your degree. They should. You certainly have pieces to prove you've learned.

Poppie, I wasn't even aware of an Irish version of the Tree of Life! I know the Jewish one, and the Buddhist one, and figured it probably showed up in variations in other cultures as well. I was just reading up on Winter Solstice, and the evergreen, being ever-green, was used to symbolize rebirth/not-dying in the return of the sun, so that may be another version. Tieing in the various Tree of Life stories to your own life shows both a continuum and a symbiosis. I love the entire concept although it sounds like a huge task.

How awful that your first year "didn't count!" I'm not sure if I'd be more pissed or just depressed. Maybe some combo of both. I hope something positive gets straightened out.

Love hearing your updates

Hello my dear fellow boomers, just a wee update on one aspct of my work which is the 'tell a story'breif.It is evolvige better than I expected and I know suffer from an affliction called dendrophilia..which fortunately does not need mmedicated for. The peice as in the tree istself is being made out of various grades of steel wier which has been textured with hammers, rollers and varoius forms of filing. So far,

Thanks for the update, Poppie. I love hearing about your projects!

Hello my dear fellow boomer sisters,

just another wee update on one of my project modules, ie 'tell a story'..mine being the 'tree of life' and being made from various grades of steel metal wire. It started of as a series of ten or so lengths cut in all four grades of wire being welded at the bottom. Textures have been added to give the treea decent organic branch/bark look with the use of hammers,rollers and variation of markmaking in the wire.

I am also going to incorperate brass, copper and guilding metal wire...again peirced, textured and spot welded in the appropriate places. I am delighted to see and say that out of ten pieces of wire, I am now acheiving a very organic, conceptual,spiritual, cultural and original object/art ornament with the techniqes employed.

I will also use brass, copper and guilding grades of wire in keepin with a bark like appearance from roots to tiny offshooting branches.

The centre of the tree will contain the appropriate size scale of a sphere and within, a small 'daisy/primrose' type flower crafted with silver to denote its' importance(the core of my being held safe in this precious circle)and in the flower, I will set a very beautiful semi-precious stone, golden and amber in its' glittering hue and in keeping with the colours previously mentioned.

Whilst having a group crit, I bemoaned to Tim(One of my main tutors), telling him that I hade a desperate case of dendrophilia..he looked perplexed and a bit peaved as if to say' here we go again..another side to Poppies emotional difficulyies'. He asked would my medication need tweaked for this new malady, to which I responded that "only if I beleived I was a tree"!!

I am having fun ladies, by not taking things so seriously and the abscence of any major drama...this term has been just awsome and I have evolved to a standard which delights me and those around me..thats why I like sharing with my boomer sisters(it reinforces my evoloutionary process).
I hope to post some pics of how far I am with my tree, which has yet to be festooned with objects(abstract peices of jewellry and more). It will probably be my exibition piece this year..very exiting time just now.

hope ya'll can join me in my expressions and delight which come hand in glove and that my explanation are understandable.

Mer, there ar no 'trees of life' from Irish culture, save to say those from the many fairies rings dotted all around Ireland. The way in which I get to embrue the cultural side is by chosing carefully what I adorn my tree with and that is in the second phase of design and plan.

I shall keep you all posted soon

Big Loves
Poppie