Every twenty years or so it seems I get a major creative itch. It’s not planned, and I didn’t think it would happen after the first time but it has. I know we all have creative evolutions going on throughout our making careers, adding and subtracting practices within our practice, but the big itches are more to do with a complete change of medium. In this case it’s more of a change of medium that still encompasses past practices. Let’s not keep it simple, then.
The first twenty year itch happened in about 2004, when after 20 years of making, selling and teaching ceramics I switched to textiles. I’d loved textiles for a good few years, but only fiddled away at them, in free moments, usually in front of the tv during the evening, since ceramics are generally not compatible with that sort of behaviour..
The seed was sown though, and almost seamlessly [yes!] I started to make work and really enjoy exploring textile processes. I still taught ceramics for many years, making the odd ceramic piece but at nowhere near my previous full on production level. The textiles worked out ok. I was lucky and ended up making lots, exhibiting and teaching classes too. I’m still making the textile work, and teaching textiles.
I’d never intended to teach but count myself as blessed to have been able to do so. I’ve met some great people.
My latest creative iteration is stop motion animation. I’ve loved animation all my life, and do wish I hadn’t left it so long to explore it, but there we are. I’m making a film at the moment, using a lot of paper, collage, and, rather wonderfully for me, stitched textile pieces and ceramics.
I went to an animation for beginners class for two terms at the Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham, and will go back when I can. We are lucky to have that centre here, the courses on offer are amazing.
At the moment though I’ve decided to continue to work on my ideas at home, and have set up a little studio. This is actually in my usual little studio, re purposed, so there’s no room at all for the textiles now. I’m relocating them downstairs in the conservatory, to give that space a fairly undeserved name. It’s not a bad room, but it has its challenges. Still, no complaining, it’s a space.
The little animation studio is the tiny box room, good for film making since I can black out the small window. I’m used to no natural light in there now. It was weird at first, especially as I could see what was happening in the street. Not much happens but the crows’ antics were fun and one could spot all the varieties of the local dogs being walked. A lot of dachshunds and French bulldogs these days, with a mix of other small dogs and the occasional bruiser. We are rich in dogs around here, and indeed cats.
So, a few general shots of the stage. Yes, the space you make the animation in is called, sensibly, a stage. I’m just playing with my new second hand tripod here. They are interesting objects to wrestle with, tripods. They don’t give in easily, but I have the measure of it now. It’s only fallen on me once.
Here are some of the assets for an animation called Chameleon. Assets, I’ve learned, are all the props you use in the film.
And then lights appeared! Two reasonably priced chappies from Amazon.You can see there has been much cutting out of paper assets with this animation.
More assets, and the subject of the piece, although he appears mostly in his smaller iteration. This is a large chameleon I made for one or two sequences.
The characters are made from printed papers from my own designs and images, and drawings. The chameleons and one or two other assets are articulated using brads.
More assets, I love my flying frog, and using real materials like the twigs adds another dimension.
I’m a very printer based person. I’ve made up and collaged, and printed out various backdrops for the stage. I say backdrops but the whole thing is flat lay, well, at the moment anyway.
There will hopefully be a 3 dimensional plasticine, [moving!] and a ceramic sculpture chameleon [not moving] at some point. These backdrops have some porcelain pieces I’ve made on top. At this stage I was just playing with various ideas.
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During the course I made some very short films, just practising techniques and playing around with the assets I’d made. They are a valuable resource in terms of what you want to put into the finished piece.
Moving along with a set up for some real filming. I call it filming but you basically take individual images that join together to make a movie. I use Stop Motion Studio, a good and cheap app. Afterwards I will put it altogether in iMovie.
You can use your smart phone with this app either as the actual vehicle to make the movie on, which is cool, or as a remote camera. You can also use a dslr linked to your computer as a remote camera, which is what I do. Having the bigger screen to see what is going on is a bonus. I didn’t have a dslr so bought one second hand.
And yes, it does take ages, moving things little by little, especially when you have a lot of assets on the stage, which is my wont. But I’ve never been short of patience with my work. The rest of life drives me crazy, I am so very impatient. But I like labour intensive art work, always have.
Similar to my textile work, I find I start with a bunch of ideas and then develop them, and have new additional ideas as I go along. This seems to work ok for me even with stop motion. I do sketch out storyboards but I rarely stick to them. Above, I made this cocoon from felt, beads and pill packets. It’s about 30 cm, 12 inches in length and is well stuffed. It adds more dimension to the film, in both relief and texture, and becomes unstuffed just before the creature emerges.
The assets, basically the materials, start to dictate ideas of their own, especially when they really get moving. It’s such fun when you run through what you’ve done and there it is, all moving. Possibly a little too much moving with me, I am tending to make rather complicated manic pieces, which I attribute to my age. I am adding in some slow bits now though.
Collaged Moons, above and below, printed in A3 paper size, 11.7 x 16.5 inches, to use as part of a backdrop.
I am very much a beginner but as this is for fun and not my job, that is a bonus. It’s so good to try and to learn something new. I love making the assets, which is why my making past has been such an, er, asset.
More assets. I painted the more detailed butterflies many years ago, and have printed them out in various sizes and on different papers and acetate. The flowers are from images I have taken in various gardens, once again printed out onto different papers. I have some cheap photo paper that works well. I like the occasional shine on the pieces that happens during the taking of the images, it adds even more life.
These butterflies are actually for another piece, which is tickling away in the back of my mind. I do have the problem of wanting to make assets for more than one film idea at a time. These are made from a mix of thin papers, printed, with some thicker collaged papers, lutradur, and various textile netting. Then there are added bits of mixed media, from twigs, driftwood and paper roses, to folded and painted paracetamol packets and ceramic pieces.
The more realistically detailed wings at the bottom are from a painting I did some years ago. They are around 14 cm/ 5 inches wide. Fun and fiddly to make. Bit addictive actually, which is why there are so many.
And below, a detail.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post, that’s if you managed it to the end! Thank you. There will be more animation related posts, which will naturally include collage, textiles and mixed media construction. Coming next, the frighteningly green, felt chameleon paw….and some actual animation, possibly.
Stephanie Redfern 