... this blogger gave to thee ...
... ten flight jackets ...
... nine ceramic sculptures ...
... eight film night picks ...
... seven shoes to choose from ...
... six party frocks ...
... five gold rings! ...
... four private spaces ...
... three things unfired ...
... two little birds ...
... and a corner shop made of felt.
Day ten... we're going down the path of nostalgia for me, or least with a book that for me harks back to my final year in high school, my advanced higher art project and Shakespeare.
My parents introduced my sisters and I to Shakespeare pretty early in our lives, I was still in primary school the first time we went Stratford-Upon-Avon (1996 I think!) and got taken to the Royal Shakespeare Company Theatre to see, A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was the most gloriously simple and stunning stage production, with hundreds of falling light bulbs, a giant pink umbrella and a few doors, and that was it. This production had a profound affect on me and for years running up to university, I wanted to design costumes and stages and inevitably this fed into my final year project.
Which is when I found Fairie-ality: The Ellwand Collection by Eugenie Bird (Writer), David Downton (Illustrator) and David Ellward (Photographer), which is a book full of clothes made out of leaves, flowers and feathers, exclusively for fairies. I've just pulled it from a very cold shelf and it's still lovely.
When I saw Jane Edden's work, I was instantly reminded of this book.
"No.030 Parnall Puffin"
(Birds feathers and resin)
"No. 026 Planet Satellite"
10 x 11 x 10 cm
(Bird feathers and resin)
"No. 017 Grumnam F4F Martlet"
14 x 10 x 4cm
(Birds feathers and resin)
"No.016 Noble Hardman Snowbird MK.IV"
6 x 10 x 4cm
(Bird feathers and resin)
"No.028 Gloster Gamecock"
8 x 7 x 4cm
(Bird feathers and resin)
As part of a larger exhibition in 2012, Ornithomorph, this small part is entitled Flight Jackets, in which Edden creates tiny sculptural jackets, assembling them out of hundreds of tiny feathers placed in tiny drilled holes in a resin form. Each of the jackets is pinned to the exhibition room wall, presenting them like a collection of butterfly specimens pinned under glass in a museum.
Each of the designs is only about the size of a hummingbird and explores the way humans and avians interact. As part of her inspiration, Edden looks to the existing role feathers have within our society in tribal, religious, millitary and fashion environments. This is obvious in of each of the Flight Jackets, which are named for different designs of plane.
"No. 006 CMC Leopard"
5 x 5 x 4cm
(Birds feathers an resin)
'No. 080 Handley Page Type A Blue Bird'
(Birds feathers and resin)
"No. 010 English Electric Wren"
6 x 10 x 6.5 cm
(Birds feathers and resin)
"No. 022 DR.400-108 Dauphin 80"
6 x 6 x 5cm
(Bird feathers and resin)
"No. 032 Glenny and Henderson HSF.2 Gadfly" (2012)
(Bird feathers and resin)
All of the feathers used within Edden's work are by-products of the food industry, and would ordinarily be disposed of, but instead are made into these beautifully delicate pieces of art.
If I were a fairy (or a Borrower) I'd be pretty happy to wear these.
Link | Jane Edden at the Flower Gallery
Link | Mini Feather Jackets by Jane Edden via Designboom
Link | Art Focus: Jane Edden via Arrested Motion
Link | Jane Edden: Ornithomoph, London via Aesthetica Magazine Blog
Link | Animals in Art: Jane Edden 'Ornithomoph' via Things That Quicken The Heart
Link | Fairie-ality Website
Link | Fairie-ality: The Ellwand Collection by E. Bird, D. Downton and D. Ellward via Amazon
Happy New Year and Merry Christmas. Part eleven tomorrow...
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Listening: Toocan - Kathryn Williams
