Friday, July 22, 2011

The Beginning of the End. -Pulp Redux, Alicia's book, the 'Museum of Forgotten Things".


I have been deep in the darkest depths of the studio for some time now finalising the piece for Alicia's book, "The museum of forgotten things'. Suffice to say I think the rest of the Pulp Redux collaborator's probably think I have forgotten all about it! Not true dear ones! It has taken a long time to finalise this piece. It is quite large and required such a lot of detail. Of course if you have jumped over from the Pulp Redux blog you will know all about the before part of the story. If you haven't here's a quick wrap up for you...

The main charachter is Hester who has recently died. She found out her husband was having an affair years ago and murdered him in an arson incident. After the murder Hester finds she is pregnant to her deceased husband and gives birth to a son, Thomas who dies in infancy. After this Hester embarks on an affair with Hans, the affair peters out and Hester has a child, Charlotte whom she gives up thinking she will have a better life this way.
There you are that's the short version, LOL! Breathe!!! LOL!

Okay so now you are up to speed. The question is Kim, what are you going to do to wrap up this story?


(Good question by the way!)

It seems to me that the tragedies here are compounding throughout as each participant's pieces unfold.

Secrets by their very nature eat away at us.
We are consumed by them, both in wanting to know them, then being horrified by that knowledge at the same time.

But, in the end, the thrill of the secret is in the sharing.




Wise words indeed.

And so I have created the book of secrets.

Able to stand on it's own as a piece but also well able to join with the rest of the participants pieces here, a book structure.


(What can I say, I love books!)







Some sneaky peeks from the inside.



Ladies white lace gloves. What do they keep hidden?







A tragic tale of a family doomed by the guilt and secrets that they keep.









But what happened to everyone, I hear you ask? Hester, and the child Charlotte.



As for the tale, well as you peruse the texture images from the piece I will tell you a little about it.



You see Hester gave up the child to her younger sister Iva who raised her as her own, but renamed the child Anna. (Remember that Hester was survived by her sister and a niece Anna?)

But of course it all went horribly wrong.




Anna (Charlotte) grows up well loved and happy, never suspecting her aunt is her mother and her mother is really her aunt.

She follows the family tradition and becomes a seamstress.

Meets a wonderfully handsome young man and they marry.

They have a child, Anne, but soon after Charlotte's husband is killed in the first world war.






Life continues but Hester becomes consumed in her later life by what will later be revealed as guilt and rage, but for the present is thought to be old age memory loss.


On Hesters death, Anna, (Charlotte) and Iva are clearing out Hester's papers and Hester's secrets are revealed.









And so...

Anna, or Charlotte as she now discovers herself to be, is enraged by the secrecy. Unable to come to terms with the lies and deceit she takes her own life, drowning herself in a local river. Filled with grief, Iva confesses all to Anne who is ignorant of the whole mess. Saddened by the loss of her mother through suicide and the stunning news of Hester's secrets and her murder of Richard, Anne decides to leave and start her life anew. Somewhere where she can forget all the pain and secretive lies of the past. She constructs the book of secrets and donates all the pieces of the puzzle to the Museum of Forgotten Things, finding in the museum's title an apt place to lay to rest the pieces of the lives she is leaving behind.



And there it is folks. I should say that the piece here is part of an art quilt. Measuring 34" x 22" in size the piece detaches completely from the book base if preferred and can be hung complete on a wall as is if Alicia would like to. Now I guess you can all see why it has taken so long to complete. Constructed of three layers of cloth and a mix of both machine and hand stitching it has been a mammoth task to finish in any sort of reasonable timetable, but here it is complete at last, my needle population decimated as I have literally worn out about 8 handsewing needles in it's construction, yikes!

I would love to show you it all in detail of course but that's all you get for now. All the last pieces of the Pulp Redux collaboration will be shown together in an online exhibition in the near future. We will of course give you those details later as they become available and you will be able to view all the last pieces of each book in full at that time.
But for now that's it for the museum of forgotten things.

I hope Alicia enjoys the piece. It will be winging it's way home in the next week dear one!


I should add here that this collaboration has been an absolute joy. For me the prurpose of joining in was to both better aquaint myself with each of the participants, each and everyone of which I was already a fan of their work, and also to push myself. To tackle new mediums, ideas and make them work within the limitations of the structures provided. To boldly go where I had never been before...

Okay I digress, but you get the picture.

I must say the collaboration has in everyway lived up to those original aims and expectations. I have indeed pushed myself way... way, out of my comfort zone. Had to tackle completely new ideas to integrate a piece or problem solve the how the heck am I going to get that idea over thought. I would strongly recommend the process to anyone. Go into it with your eyes open. It will be harder and challenge you more than you ever thought, but the rewards...

Unbelievable!

Would I leap in again, especially so soon after just completing this one... you betcha!

In a heartbeat.


The bonds of friendship I have gained, and the insight into my own artistic abilities, creativity and concepts have been the singularly most insightful process I have ever had the priviledge to be a part of. Yup, as I said ... in a heatbeat. Thank you girls for the bestest and most creative fun ever. Mwah!

Soon there will be more exciting things to show you as I delve into some projects which have had to take a backward step in recent months.
Stay tuned.
Also don't forget to visit Seth's blog, The Altered Page for all the latest goss from his new editions of the pulse, which I am happy to say I have again taken part in. It is such fun to find out what everyone is up to, thinking, participating in. I love interactive sites like his and he does such a colossal amount of work to collate it all and get it out there to everyone. If you haven't popped in to join in the fun, where have you been?

That's it. I'm off! See you all again soon with more fun and games!
(Well, at least the latest doings here anyway)!




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9 comments:

Svetlana said...

Great details as allways. I can't wait for all pages to be published.

Lucky Dip Lisa said...

testing

Lucky Dip Lisa said...

Oh!! It worked!! YAY!! I have been having so much trouble with blogs lately. Couldn't sign in over on the pulp redux blog :(

Anyway...I have to say WOW! Your piece is extraordinary, wonderful, delicate, emotive, awesome!

Charlotte drowned herself? How sad! I really do feel sad I kid you not! But I LOVE what you did and it's a nice twist!

I'd do this again too, in a heart beat. Such a wonderful experience, so rewarding in art/skills and friendships. Absolutely the best part of last year and I'm glad we took longer than we thought!

Thanks for being part of this Kim.xx

artymess said...

lovely work ......x

Debrina said...

A marvellous tribute to an amazing journey, Kim. It is true, every word you say,for me too. This Pulp Redux collab has pushed me creatively further than anything before and really made me stretch out. I have sewn, glued, painted, collaged, and blogged like never before. Finally, I feel like you are all the very best of friends too: a friendship that has been touched and forged by the bonds of trust, compassion, inspiration and creativity. RIP Pulp Redux, Long Live friendship!

Anonymous said...

oh my god, miss kim, i don't even know where to begin! the story is magnificent and emotional and touching, and the work is beyond words! i cannot believe how much you put into this and i am excited, giddy, thankful and touched beyond words. i cannot wait to have this in my hands, to be able to touch it and see every little detail in person. you have beyond outdone yourself and from the bottom of my heart i thank you.

all that you've said about the collaboration rings true for me too, miss kim! it was such a huge honor to work with all of you lovely ladies and it was a wonderful growing experience too, artistically speaking. you are a gem, lady, and i adore you!

guess what i'm doing today? i am shuffling some art in my studio out into my hall to bare a 32" x 22" space of wall for something i expect to receive soon. i am just in awe that you created something so big -- you weren't kidding when you said it was huge, were you!? wowz! yeps, i'm making room for it now because i'm excited beyond words, lady! (and then i'm finishing lisa's book so i can send it off to her -- i've been SLOW!) and THEN finishing your extra accompanying piece that i haven't yet completed (but started). fun times!

where is your book now? i've gotten confused. did you get it back?

loves to you, gorgeous, sweet friend!! xx

Anonymous said...

p.s. i've been having mad blogger issues too. today was the first time i was able to post on our pulp blog in several weeks due to errors and received about 9 emails about others who were unable to comment too. you all should switch to wordpress. :)

rivergardenstudio said...

This story has me totally enthralled! Your work on this amazing project is magical, and I can hardly wait to see the final project unveiled! roxanne

Lisa said...

this is fantastic!! I absolutely love all the details and handwork that you've done here..such intricacies all around and what a clever format...kudos.. your piece is exploding with creativity!
btw, i am still nowhere near finished Lisa's book so you are farther ahead than you think!