Mark-Making

Several weeks ago I found a book on Amazon called-
Mark-Making on Textiles

It sounded intriguing, and on arrival I found it just the type of book I like. Examples galore and small exercises to get your creative juices flowing.

This book has opened up some conscious exploration into mark-making in general for me. I say conscious, for I have been making my mark on textiles for a while without being aware of personal choices and where they come from, and without really being aware of what other artist's mark-making may say about them no matter the media. A personal story-telling tool.

As prompted by one of the exercises in the book I have started collecting and creating marks.Then a couple of weeks ago David and I took a fused glass workshop and had a great time. We are both a bit addicted to the process for the moment, and I began to see how we created our initial pieces - mark-making with the glass. (the ones below are my 1st attempts after they were fired)

While visiting Cedarhurst Art Center yesterday to get in some more 'glass time' we came across an exhibit of Jun Kaneko's work entitled 'sense of spirit: mark-making & space in the art of kaneko'.
I found his work pretty exciting in its extremes, and then while looking over several books he had about his other projects I was drawn to one which documented his work with the San Fransisco Opera House's production of the Magic Flute. Again... for me it was about how he took his mark-making to extreme from everything to background projections on the stage to the costuming he created for all the characters.

All of this makes me have a stronger understanding of how important mark-making... and how much it is an expression of energy, focus, and textural story telling.

The pieces below are ones David and I made on Saturday and are now awaiting firing. You can definitely tell how different our mark-making styles are.