narrative

We always talk. Even when we don't speak. It's a funny thing.

Melanie Kay makes art. Not just any of course, but one made from a "moral narrative". She tells stories by stitching visuals on recycled beer cans. Why does she do this? "The desire for my work to be meaningful influences the things that interest and astound me which in turn influences the way in which I work."

The idea is that she makes her art, it will be visually interesting and then the story will start to be told as people will want to know what it is about. "Using beer cans as a surface for my work has meant that I have had to be innovative in the way in which I transfer imagery onto the cans. I begin my illustrations mostly in pencil and then use various textile techniques to transfer the imagery onto the cans including, printing, heat pressed textile vinyl, hand and machine embroidery." Yes her art works are very much "social objects" which I have written about before, based on artist Hugh MacLeod's lovely stories.

Photos: Melanie Kay

The process of making art is always interesting. At artschool emphasis is put on developing one's "theory" (this seems to be the same on different continents I have discovered). Reality teaches us that most artists simply discover techniques or how to make their art by simply "doing" (aka mucking around, twiddling or fidgeting) not by concocting a pretty laid out "how-to" before hand. How Melanie came up with her "beer can" story board, read more about that here.

That's the first start right there!

The second... transformation in progress...
and:

end result! Certainly not any beer can surface is it?. "You are not in Kansas anymore" as they say. Nope, Melanie Kay went off to many places, including Dublin. Well done!

And it turns out I have come a fellow animal nut. Marvellous! Blog post here.
I hope to see more news come out about Melanie's career which looks promising indeed.

identity

On Linkedin I was answering a question regarding design briefs and also I was remembering a question I had asked a few weeks back: to what extent do you identify yourself with your work? Do you still respect yourself if you have no work to go to? Would you know who you are if you didn't work a 9-5? Who are you really? Mostly we don't think about this much, it's either too hard or it would freak some of us out. What do you mean who am I? Jeez girlfriend, I'm not into that stuff. You know, get real.

To some this may seem like an outrageous stupid question: who am I? That's fine, but you'd be surprised how many people link their abilities and personality straight to their work. Even our 'talents' are put up against our work to show we did well. Work has become 'proof' and a means to measure on how well we are doing in life. Would it matter really? To a lot of us work is related to status so yes it does I guess. I know I get excited myself if a fabric design takes off.

I think it definitely helps if we have a self esteem regardless of what we do in life. If you like yourself and have a fair idea of who you are chances are you will do a heck of a lot better should you be made redundant, then someone who identifies too strongly with their work. So are we talking attitude again? Well yes that's always got a lot to do with how things go in life. Funny that.

The design brief question I was answering was about how to respond to clients who basically determine your paycheck and who like to be in control. I felt the question related was about power play, the pulling of strings and the resentment this causes the puppet. We all have people in our lives who effect us and who's opinion we could choose to be dependent on. What it boils down to is: will you let them or do you go with your gut feelings and stand your ground too if need be? Will you have the confidence to cut the cords?

It would have been very unlikely we would have heard of Nelson Mandela if he had chosen not to do anything about his imprisonment. Being remarkable is, to do something for yourself as well as others, that sets the bar higher then what is accepted at the time. Having a standard cannot only be a good thing, but necessary as well.

Here's to the comeback of ethics and moral fiber. Celebrate your uniqueness while you're at it: there's only one of you. Cool or what!