MEANINGS ....v1

Here is the first draft of some notes I'm preparing for the SDAF meeting June 26th, when they want us to talk about what we did on National Drawing Day. I will possibly add other thoughts as they occur to me.

I have more or less finished the video, but haven't yet been able to reduce it to a size for posting to YouTube.

DARK MARK – Some Meanings and Sources I’ve come up with.

SOURCES

·         Part of original idea is left-hand/right-hand struggle

·         Already fascinated with blind-folded work since Montessori days

·         Used blind-fold in BALANCE performance

·         Ideas (not realized yet) for TOUCH VISION see http://touchyvision.blogspot.ie/2010/08/preparatory-ideas_30.html

·         I continue to like the idea that all marks made by humans are unique – that judgements about one mark being ‘better’ – ‘nicer’ – ‘more meaningful’ than another are somehow less important than the sheer delight that I and everyone can make unique, never to be repeated marks, marks that are open to speaking to us differently every day, if we let them.

·         DARK MARK combines much of this thinking.

DURING-AND-AFTER-THOUGHTS

·         During the performance, I was like as if in a silent bubble – despite the considerable background buzz of conversation and music.

·         In this bubble, I was totally concentrated on making marks, and because I couldn’t see the effects/combinations of the marks, the doing became the focus.

·         The in between rest periods gave me a chance to see where there might be blank spaces I could add marks too, but very quickly, it was marks on top of marks.

·         In the end, the effect was very similar to what might be produced by a very young child, only beginning to explore the way they could make marks.

·         Afterwards, looking at the ‘piece’, I thought of how the six ten-minute sessions, each in a different colour marker, are layered. The result is that it is very difficult to differentiate one layer from another. To me this seemed like the way periods of time are layered, and how little I can separate one minute or period from another.

·         The audience participation was delightful for me – other people involved, yet not taking over – their minds and muscles working with my gloved hand – the glove reducing yet more the control I had over the marks I was making.

What I didn't like ...

All in all, I think it went fairly well. But there are one or two details I would change if I were invited to do the performance elsewhere. (Like all performance, doing it again, actually means doing a new version - an art performance can only be done once - which it distinguishes it from a theatrical performance which can be repeated.)

I would not use the architect's plan-paper. Although it was possible to see the act of drawing on the reverse side (visible as intended to the passing external audience), the material itself was too rigid, and the ink only remained on one side.  I need to find a source of very large newsprint so that the ink could 'bleed' and literally be present on both sides of the paper.

I felt the plan-paper I used didn't show the markers to their full potential. This is particularly evident in the video where some colours can hardly be seen at all.
Another issue with the markers was that if I held them at a certain angle, the line was so thin as to be invisible at any distance. Yes, I could have practised some more before the event, but for me, the essence of my performance is that it is unrehearsed, so that neither the audience nor myself know exactly what is going to happen. So I need to accept that this quality of the line is one of those unexpected incidents that are part of the event.

The video is reasonably OK, particularly for an unattended camera. However, I really need to identify a reliable camera-person, or even more than one, whom I could call on to video when I perform. Money is the problem of course - would there really be someone who would volunteer to do this, and do it reasonably well.

AFTERMATH -

Nearly a month has past since I did DARK MARK so what I write today will be reminicences rather than pure memories. Though having said that, I do have the video to remind me of what it looked like from the camera point of view.

Image thanks to ElizabethA

1. I felt a bit apprehensive to begin with, not knowing would anyone turn up, would they take part, or would it all be a damp squib.
But once I donned the blindfold and began the work, I entered my own zone, a place of inner silence and peace and focus. From there, I moved back and forth across the paper, and sometimes up and down, making marks.

2. When I was 'interrupted' by someone taking my hand to make their mark, at first I felt they were giving me a gift. After a while, I almost resented them interrupting my concentration, but in the end, I had a real feeling of them making the piece with me, and that was a great feeling.

3. Watching the unedited video afterwards, I was surprised at the level of background there was - not just the conversations of people nearby, but customers at the RuaRed cafe, and music from not far away - perhaps a group at rehearsal.

I didn't have a guest-book, so I can only guess who took part in the work - Which means I can't give them credit except here where I would like to say thanks very much for their help in adding life to what could have been a bit boring process. Special thanks to my husband Tony who was an efficient 'Artist's Helper'.