Sensory Stories: Art Outside the Frame

This past Saturday, I spent the day in the forecourt of the York City Art Gallery, participating in a project called Sensory Stories: Art Outside the Frame. Saturday's event was the culmination of 5 months of planning, and was wholly produced by a group of volunteers, mostly graduate and postgraduate students from the University of York. I started volunteering with the group in December.

Our purpose was to engage the community in activities that would allow them to experience art in a different way, with senses other than sight alone. All of our activities were based on works of art in the York City Art Gallery, which houses a very impressive and varied collection.

    

These are some of the activities we created...

    

Matt tells the story of a duel which took place on the stretch of the River Ouse featured in the picture behind him. The actual work of art is inside the gallery. Part of our project was to encourage passing visitors to go into the gallery to see the original art for themselves.

Simon is discussing the historic evidence that can be gleaned from works of art. He is doing his doctoral thesis on city walls, and is talking about the sketches behind him, which show that once upon a time the York city walls had houses on top of them and attached behind them. The second piece shows the original Lendal Bridge over the River Ouse, which at that time housed the city council offices.

Holly Clarkson, who choreographed a dance, is holding a copy of the painting, which features soldiers at Victoria Station, waiting to board the trains that would take them back to the front during World War Two. The dancers behind performed a piece based on the emotions of the various soldiers and the theme of time stopping and starting.

This group, The Phenomenotes,  based their performance on the same art work, and sang a variety of songs from the War era. The video below is one of their performances.

You can't help swaying along to this one...

 and if you like that, here's another...

 

I really enjoyed these singers; made me think 

of my Granny and Granddad.

I never realized what a great view of the Minster you had from the Art Gallery! Too bad it was cloudy again!

The gallery has a variety of art works, including costumes. This activity featured wood block printing which is found on clothing that was brought back from India during the Colonial period. Participants were encouraged to color one of the sections on this sash, for later display. They were also able to print their own piece of fabric to color in and take home with them.

This was one that I did. I found the coloring to be very relaxing. This particular shape reminded me of the 

mandalas that Buddhist monks make.

This is The Anonymous Rose by Jason Periton. My group's activity was based on this work of art, which features painting on glass. We did not use glass, but copied some of the other techniques used here. We started with a large piece of fabric, which we blocked into sections using masking tape, and added the basic outline of the York Rose. We provided a variety of items to be used as stencils, including doilies, old jewelry, pieces of chain, leaves, kitchen utensils, and keys. These were used to create positive and negative imprints, using spray paints and ink sprays. People passing by were invited to add to our art work. Our youngest artist was 4 and our oldest artist was about 65.

A lot of people turned us down too. They said they weren't artists, not realizing that to be an artist, all you have to do is make art. There is no special license awarded, which makes one an artist. Look below to see our end product, a master piece created by the York Community with a little help from Alex, Susan, and me.

Art Outside the Frame: The York Rose

From the Beginning...

Early on...

Hour 2...

A Family Affair...the daughter painted while Mom, Dad, and sister gave directions.

Imagine, in a strong Yorkshire accent, Dad shouts  "Put some pink in t' middle!" 

Hehehe, one of the best parts of the day!

Before we removed the tape...

The End.



From a Window

     Its been a Hard Days Night and I've been working...at the York Glaziers Trust, henceforth referred to as YGT! Wow! I can't begin to express how awesome these last two weeks have been! It probably seems silly from the outside looking in, but for me this is a fulfillment of a goal set eight years ago. I wanted to work in glass professionally, and here I am working in one of the most prestigious conservation studios in the world, AND getting to work on one of the most famous windows in the world. I can't believe my luck!

     I have to say, I haven't written sooner, because I have been falling asleep in my chair after dinner. Its been several months since I worked a full week of 8 hour days. I have been walking to and from the studio as well, which is 3.2 miles round trip, and I have been exhausted. Happy to be exhausted though!

      A little background on the Great East Window of York Minster: The window was first created between 1405-1408 by John Thornton a well known glazier of his time, and what must have been a huge team of craftsmen. To put it into perspective, the conservation is estimated to take 8-10 years, while John Thornton completed the original in just 3! The window is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world, and is about the size of a tennis court.

     And I am working with it! Can you see why I feel lucky?! The window itself is amazing, especially when you see the individual panels. It tells the story of the begining and end of time. How timely considering the Rapture is supposed to be happening today, in about 9 minutes! What I find really fascinating about each panel is how J. Thornton was able to include multiple interactions within one scene.

This is the description from the Minster's webstite,
     "The window is an Apocalypse window, which follows the theme of “I am the beginning and the end”.  In its apex is God the Father holding a book stating “Ego sum alpha et omega” (“I am the alpha and omega”, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, which was the language of the New Testament). 

The top panels in the window depict episodes from the beginnings of the world as described in the Old Testament books of Genesis through to Samuel.  The rest of the window shows the end of the world in graphic detail, as described in the Book of Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse.  The bottom nine panels illustrate historical and legendary figures, including kings and saints, as well as donor figures who gave money for the work." 

So onto some pictures of the fascinating work I have been doing for the last two weeks...   

This is a panel/scene that I was puttying. The glass was originally all hand made,

and has varying thicknesses. The putty is inserted between the lead and the glass,

to keep the glass secure, to strengthen the panel, and originally for weather proofing.

The putty is scraped away to form a 90 degree angle to the glass, so the lead does

not appear any wider than it is, and as much of the glass can be seen as possible.

The first step after documentation is to dismantle the panel, to remove the glass from

the lead net. The lead breaks down over time, and the result is a highly toxic dust.

All safetey measures are taken to minimize exposure to the dust as you'll see.

In addition to face mask and hair net, I also was covered in a full body suit and apron.

I also used a high powered air extractor and true hepa filter vacuum cleaner during the process.

This is what the glass looks like once the lead has been removed.

The glass is fumigated to loosen the old hardened putty for safe removal from the glass.

And then the manual cleaning begins.

Each and every piece of glass is hand cleaned, under a microscope with a scalpel

 and water/ethanol solution. The microscope is used to minimize any damage

 to the paint or glass, which after 600 years is quite fragile.

These small faces are only about 3 inches tall. The attention to the details is exquisite.

Imagine, these are in the 12th row up from the bottom, and are as fine and lovely as the first row,

even though hardly distinguishable to the eye from the ground.

These have not been cleaned yet.

Its surprising what you can find under the microscope. Can you see the finger print here?

The brown paint is original, so this is a 600 year old finger print!

After cleaning, any broken pieces are temporarily taped, to hold in place.

Some of these may be edge bonded, rather than run mending leads through each break.

Edge bonding can only be done on clean breaks and can not be done on new

glass to old glass. Removing the mending leads will help make the individual

window panels easier to "read".

These have been cleaned, taped, and put into place on the design diagram.

Its so very satisfying to take a dirty broken jumble of pieces and to clean and reassemble them.

Its sometimes like working on a great big jigsaw puzzle. I love it!

First Amazing Day at York Glaziers Trust

     Today I had my first amazing day at the York Glaziers Trust workshop, which is responsible for conserving the stained glass windows of York Minster and other glass in the surrounding area, as time and space permits.
     I started my day with a "Health and Safety" review. The British are very big on health and safety, surprisingly more so than anything I have experienced in America. After a Health and Safety tour, I had a notebook to review which detailed everyone in the organization's health and safety responsibilities, and subject by subject health and safety procedures.
     Once that was done, we got started on the fun stuff: Old glass!  I first observed our Senior Conservator as he helped another conservator size up a tracing for the new "cut-lines" on a head panel, like the one I will be working on. This ensures that once the glass is all leaded back together, it will fit in the masonry opening of the window. Here's what it looks like:

Next I got started on the panel that will be my project for the duration of my placement,

also known as YM1 12e.

This is a "rubbing" of the lead lines. An outline of the lead before conservation.

It requires great care, so that you do not disturbed the fragile paint or the glass.

Keep in mind this panel was created 600 years ago!

This is the end result, after I have gone back to fill in any spaces in the lines,

where the lead was uneven or too knarled up to do the rubbing.

This will be reduced, and copies made for several different kinds of documentation

before and during conservation.

Close-up of leadline rubbing.

Another close-up.

It was a really great first day! I enjoyed every second of it.

Everyone at the YGT was very welcoming and helpful.

AND they have tea breaks at 10:00 and 3:00. What more could you ask for?!

Yesterday...A day in Harrogate

Sofia and I had a day off in Harrogate, a lovely Victorian spa-town, just west of York with our American friend Elizabeth, who is also completing her Masters in Stained Glass Conservation and Heritage Management. We did a little shopping at Primark, the only store in England we can afford to shop at, and then took Sofia to the original Betty's Tea Room for a pre-birthday lunch.

Even here I can stumble across beautiful stained glass.

Silver service and the best table awaited us as we took our seats

 in the front corner of the cafe.

A great spot for people watching, lucky to be out of the rain. We couldn't

really complain though as its the first rain we've seen in weeks!

Everywhere you go, gorgeous flowers await your every turn.

Our lunch... and of course tea!

Betty's famous staff in their traditional uniforms.

A teapot collage.

The cutest petit-fours you've ever seen.

And of course the best tea.

Betty's grand facade.

Betty's first opened in 1910.

Betty's

The worst wedding souveniers I've seen...

until I saw this!

Back in York walking home from the train station,

we are greeted by more stunning flowers!

and more.

And a Cricket match on the Knavesmire.

This was in someone's front garden!?

Sofia dutifully carrying home the shopping.

Don't worry its not all clothes; some of its just groceries!