In consultation with my tutor, I decided to create a maquette as part of my final show. This was to be a scaled down structure, to give my audience an idea of how the full sized installation would look, in an ideal situation, with limitless space and budget.
First, I needed to create a cave like structure for my cave/prehistoric temple. I decided to use the paper mache technique which I used in the second year to decorate my sketch book. This involved layering crumbled tissue paper and glueing it in place with PVA to create a textured 'leather like' appearance. However, my cave needed to be strong enough to stand up by itself. I came up with the idea of using sugar paper to create a basic structure and planned to cover the structure with layers of tissue paper, to add a textured surface. I found a suitably sized plastic bowl to support the work and protect it from damage, whilst it was under construction.
I decided to make simple marks on the paper to represent positive Goddess energy. I replicated Marija Gimbutas' prehistoric symbols, choosing marks that represented different aspects of the Goddess and symbolic of her life giving energy (Gimbutas, 2001, p.xix). I also added my own simple goddess sketch to mark the work as my own. This is a magical technique used in Wicca called talismanic magic. The idea is to connect the work with the energy of a goddess or god, to embue it with their life force and empower it. My symbol represents the great goddess 'Venus of Hohle Fels', who (I believe) represents all the aspects of the goddess into one being.
I chose to use tissue paper, rather than the conventional newspaper to reference the ephemeral nature of a magical moment. These things are fleeting experiences that are so precious but out of our control, we cannot make them last - but we can remember them. The transculcence of the tissue complements the transclucence of the wax which will be incorporated into this work later. Both the tissue paper and wax have a fragility, a femininity and light can shine through them, which has religious connotations. In religious and magical art the soul or spirit are frequently depicted as a shining light or aura around a person. The layers of tissue create a visual history. They obscure the symbols beneath, becoming hidden, eventually secret - completely hidden from view. This is reminscent of the symbols, spells and talismans hidden within the structure of some houses. They have been found inside chimneys, buried in the foundations, hidden in lofts, cellars and outbuildings - only to be discovered by later generations!
I had the idea of using wooden buttons to represent the wooden circles that was to be the central focus of my installation. I thought this would scale things down nicely and that I could treat them the same way as the six inch substrates. I thought using buttons to represent the bigger wooden circles would enable me to sew them in place. This would be a good way to make sure they stayed securely in place. I also liked the way buttons have connotations of domesticity which relates historically to female labour, often unpaid, rarely valued. A recent study shows that this situation hasn't changed much over the years, in the book Invisible Women it's author points out that globally women do 'four times as much housework' as men (Perez, 2019, p.40) .
I wanted the buttons to be positioned in a circle. The idea being a stone circle (the image that was to be on the buttons), displayed on a circular structure and in a circle too. Transforming the individual wooden circles (or buttons) into an artwork made up of many pieces. The circle of stones represents a group of women, each different and individual. It also represents a group of goddesses, each different but each one an aspect of one great goddess. Mythology often tells tales of the stone circles around our country and Europe as representing 'a group of women turned to stone for dancing on the Sabbath' (Westwood, 1983, p.201).
I thought the best way to get the buttons in the right place was to draw a circle on some paper and sew the buttons in place on this flat surface before attaching the paper to the inside of the cave wall. This worked very well, and my plan was to then sew each button in place inside the cave. Once in place I could carefully remove the tissue paper with the guiding circle on, so that the guiding marks couldn't be seen.
However, when I placed the button structure inside the maquette I realized that my circle of buttons was proportionally far too big! They would not accurately represent the full sized installation. I had imagined the full sized cave to be at least twice the size of a woman so about 12 foot or more. When I measured the full sized wooden circles they were 6 inches across so when they were in position their composite width and height would be 2 feet - not 12 feet! haha
At this point I realized also that the little hands I intended to use to decorate inside the cave were also proportionally much too big. I needed to work out the correct sizing, so I had some problem solving to do, using my least favourite thing - maths!
Here is my sketchbook with my calculations in. I worked out that ideal my buttons would be one eighth of an inch in size - and roughly the same size for my handprints. I searched online for suitable buttons but had no success. Then I discovered that the circles that my hole punch produced as 'waste' are exactly the right size. I then decided to make cardboard circles instead of buttons for practical reasons.
It also occured to me at this stage that I could use the hole punch to create tiny sections from a photocopy of my stone circle. I really liked that idea! and decided to try it out. I was a little concerned about how the wax would behave on cardboard, I considered experimenting with some specially treated card that is made especially for encaustic work. If the wax wouldn't stick onto a photocopied surface I could try drawing the stone circle by hand onto the card. I know that wax will adhere to an ink drawing or graphite pencil drawing.
I also, still had the challenge of, how to create the tiny handprints or hand stencils?... I'll let you know what happened next, in a future blog!
References
Gimbutas, M (2001). The Language of the Goddess. London: Thames and Hudson.
Perez, C.C, (2019) Invisible women, exposing data in a world designed for men. London: Penguin Random House UK.
Westwood, J. (1985), Albion: A Guide to Legendary Britain. London: Mackays of Chatam Ltd.
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