What is history?

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Soosie

Finally! I am now an Historian – I finished my last unit and have officially passed – the graduation ceremony is in a couple of weeks should be interesting. But more importantly I have started my Honours Degree (master equivalent in most other faculties). We had our first session last week a nice small group of 5 all of whom I ahve done units with before, which makes it nice and convivial immediately – instead going through the whole group dynamic thing – we already know each other which makes for easier conversation and discussion.

Our first topic is “What is History?” with a reading from EH Carr and another by a Richard Evans (the name of one of my infamous embezelling ancestors!).  I have the book by Carr it is a series of lectures, the George Macaulay Trevelyan Lectures at Cambridge University during January to March in 1961.  Now there is much on the web about Carr; his life, work and foibles andI think there is a story of one upmanship behind these lectures.  It appears that Carr was the subject of much criticism on his views of history and the objectivity of historians.  Carr has been accused of not “walking the talk” by Evans, who poses that Carr conveniently left out “facts” that didn’t suit his history of the Russian Bolshevics.  One of Carr’s best comments is “accuarcy is not a virtue of Historians - its a duty” but he also strongly advocates that all of history is filtered.  Firstly by those who record it and secondly by those who interpret it.  We all have biases and agendas and anyone who says they are completely objective is kidding themselves!

So What is History – the current theory that history only becomes history once an Historian has written about it.  Carr extends this to “historical facts” as well.  There are “facts” about everything but they don’t become historical until referred to or so used by an Historian.

What do you think?

 

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Merry Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2011 by Soosie

Just playing with my new toy a Samsung  table and thought I’d try it out on my blog.  Hope you’re all having the day you wanted, we’re off to the shack tomorrow morning and try  it out from there.

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Bathroom art

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Soosie

I couldn’t decide on what combination I would use so preceded to gather all the necessary accoutrements that I could find. I found some scrap pieces of felt – synthetic and natural, some wadding, wool tops, embroidery thread, an assortment of beads and various pieces of synthetic organza. I finally decided to group them in threes so that each canvas would have three smaller canvases of a similar colour and design.  By using similar techniques and theme on all three sets it would bring it all together.  I decided to use the free machine embroidery sandwich technique, laying down a base piece of a solid colour to enhance the depth of the colours above.  Next you lay down any wool tops, threads, yarns, other pieces of fabric, or any think you can think of to give you colour and or texture.  Then cover all of the layers with a sheer fabric, in this case I’m going to use the synthetic organza.  After some very tricky pinning I will stitch the base design and create texture and colour blending through the layers.  Finally I will beat it to enhance and complement the underlying stitching.

The first set has a base of white wadding, and then a layer of brown and beige wools covered with white organza, stitched with tricolour metallic embroidery thread and beaded with tiny glass beads and shell pieces.  The three embroidery patterns represent sand, shelves, and the bubbles created a at surfs edge.

  

The second set has a background of black felt, a layer of fairy organza, then the blue and green of Nancy’s Monsoon wool tops, all covered with a green organza and stitched in a deep blue metallic thread.  As this set will hang in the middle of the three I chose not to bead it and to use the images of living things; fish faces, a giant clam, and a fan coral.

  

The third set has a bottom layer of blue felt, covered in a layer of blue wool tops, silk threads and throwers waste, topped off with a pale organza and embroidered with silver metallic thread.  All three of these pieces are stitched with water themes; a swirling whirlpool, raindrops, and flowing water.  Then beaded with glass beads and tiny little fish.

  

Finshed set.

Full instructions on “how to ” are available for registered users. 

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Time for a test drive

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Soosie

I sat at the table in my new sparklingly clean and organised
studio and thought “where the hell is everything?” First of all, I
couldn’t find my design book or even a pencil, then as the ideas began to flow
for my new bathroom project, I had no idea where anything was. Ideas would pop
into my head prompted by the creative side of my brain, but then the practical side
of my brain would say, “where did I put that?” This happened over and
over again. Finally I came to terms with the loss of my wonderful collection of
stuff, I had to be the new minimalist me and only use what I kept. There was no
point in racing downstairs to the garage, rummaging through the boxes marked
for the garage sale looking for that piece of frou-frou that I knew I had. Had
being the operative word. I have to let go of the things that won’t fit into my
new studio, I have to be content in the knowledge that this precious collection
of frou-frou will go to good homes and be cherished as much as they were by me.

So I got down to the job of designing my new bathroom
project, three canvases with three small square canvases on each where the photographs
once sat. This gives me three sets of three, nine in total to do something
with; lots of options to choose, three of the same on each canvas, three of the
same but one of each on each canvas, nine completely different, or nine all the
same. Continuing with the water theme seemed important, some of the ideas I
came up with, fish stars coral, water patterns, sea creatures, shells, and
tropical themes. In the end I chose to do three canvases with three different
patterns and colours but all tied together with the water theme and the
techniques used. One canvas will have water patterns stitched over sand colours
and beaded with shells and glass beads, the next we’ll have water patterns
stitched over ocean colours and beaded with pearls and glass beads, the last
one would have fish silhouettes stitched over metallic colours and beaded with glass
beads.

That is of course as long as I can find my sewing machine!

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Getting my house in order

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Soosie

Apparently Larry King is credited with this quote he was
talking about getting his house in order to reduce the confusion, a direct
reference to personal organisation. It dawned on me that that is exactly what I
needed to do, after I started cleaning my studio the cleaning frenzy took over
and before I knew it, I had cleaned out, sorted, organised, and rearranged
every square inch of our house. I sorted out our wardrobes (the salvos did
really well out of that), I cleaned out the kitchen cupboards, I went through
the linen press, the music room got a going over, we read wired the house with
cat five cable, and I reorganised all of our object d’art. Then I set my sights
on the office; the tax records got a going over, I upgraded software, I started
scanning old resources, I took an inventory of everything we own (including
photos), I bought Dragon Dictate (dictation software to help with my RSI
problems), there was nothing left untouched.

Once the turmoil subsided and looked out upon my vastly
improved, and clean house and office I felt I was ready to be creative again.
First project up will be the new artwork throughout the upstairs bathroom. When
we first renovated bathroom are created three pieces which featured photographs
I had taken of various seaweed from around our vast coastline. Unfortunately
the UV has got to them and faded them badly, so I have a plan to stitch my way
out of my block. And of course share my project through my blog.

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Creative block or my life as a seesaw

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Soosie

I haven’t written anything in my blog for a couple of months
now as I’ve had a massive creative block.
My creative juices were flowing freely until after we got back from
Europe, I came down with a virus which put everything on hold. Not just my uni
studies, but house work, office work, absolutely everything. My precious
Vauxhall Gardens has even come to a stop but luckily I have created the
majority of the structures and plants needed to complete the project. On top of
this, my son’s childhood friend is returning to live with us in a couple of months’
time. Which means the boys (well not really boys they’re nearly 20) will need
more room than just Tom’s bedroom to hang out and have fun, so I am giving up
my beloved studio for them. But this means I have to move out of my studio into
a room that is only one third of the size say on top of being unwell creatively
blocked I now had the prospect of moving 10 years’ worth of collected fabrics
paint craft items and sundry stuff into a room one third of the size. No wonder
I can’t be creative.

In my writing unit of the first semester, we spoke about
creative block or writers block as they call it, and the ways in which you can
get around or remove it. We discussed many ideas like; exercising, taking a
shower, going out, or cleaning the house. I usually find that my creative
blocks are caused by unfinished business, yet I couldn’t quite put my finger on
what it was that was bothering me. So determined, I plunged into moving my studio
into the smaller room. Creating havoc and mayhem in my house, and uncovering
long lost treasures buried deep within the boxes and draws of the gathered
stuff. Luckily, my gorgeous son was a willing participant in helping his poor
old mum sort through and rationalise the mountain like piles dotted around the
house. A garage sale this weekend should sort most of that out.

It was while I was cleaning up after myself, but I realised
my creative block was at my own doing; I had things that needed completing, I
had procrastinated about many things before we went to Europe, doing the
typical Aussie thing, “she’ll be right mate”. When in reality they
obviously aren’t.

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Another epiphany

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Soosie

It dawned on me today that reading David Coke’s beautfiul coffee table style book on the history of the Vauxhall Gardens has solidifed a very abstract idea for me.  Well not an idea more of a skill – a thinking skill.  I mean the ability to read an old document or source and discover things other than what the text actually says.

Coke’s book is written using the same archives that I researched in London and as I have been reading the light globe has gone on several times.  I have recalled reading a particular passage or fact or reference that Coke uses in his book and can see how he has drawn the conclusions that he has.

This mightn’t seem like that big a deal but for an apprentice Historian this is epic!

 

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Is it all just fun?

Posted on October 7, 2011 by Soosie

Several of my friends just can’t believe that I get to play in Second Life for Uni and on the surface it probably looks like its all fun and games, so far I have been laughing off their incredulity but it does beg the question – what educational value does Second Life have for me?  Instinctively I know that it has increased the speed in which I have grasped a way of life from 3 centuries past but how?

Firstly, being a very visual media it suits me – I am a visual learner.  My method of study is to make a diagram out of everything; then it’s in my head for ever, so the process of mapping out the gardens has set it in stone in my brain – not just aesthetically but in a mechanical or logisitcal sense also.  There are reasons behind why buildings and structures are located where they are and these decisions where dictated by various facets of 18thC life; from the technology of the time to social mores all wrapped up in Enlightenment ideals.

The project has also made me more observant and better at scrutinising visual evidence. Looking for suitable textures or details when creating reproductions has made me notice things that I probably wouldn’t have before.  For example the types of table and benches in the supper boxes and that they used table cloths.  That much of the gardens was facade; a visual deception  made with painted canvas and board – in a similar way that I have built my gardens.  Some is just facade and some is interactive.

Making some parts interactive have also made me think about the mechanics or logistics of running the gardens.  How did they keep so many people entertained, occupied or happy?  How did they deal with the English weather?  Lots to think about.

And finally even the technology of SL itself  has helped. When you buy a parcel of land in SL you are allowed a certain amount of objects called prims.  If you want more prims you must pay more, so keeping prims down is crucial when building a large project.  Each thing you create is made of of shapes – prims- the more detailed you make it, the more prims you use.  Its just like juggling a word count in an assignment.  Making decisions about what is important to the project and allowing mulitple prims or what can be facaded – mentioned or represented but not explored in detail.

The Princes Pavillion - reproduction

 

Texture from engraving Front entrance to the gardens 1751

 

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Back to the Gardens

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Soosie

After a break from SecondLife it’s wonderful to be back in world.  I must admit that at first the idea of creating such a large piece of 18th century London was a little daunting; so I did the “Zen” thing and put it out of my mind.  Worked like a charm, always does.  It came to me suddenly as the Zen thing is supposed to do – create the big picture first then worry about the detail.

First step was to place large general shapes to layout the walks, buildings and boundaries, I call this the “Cubist” phase after the great Cubist painters of the early 20th Century.  It was easy then to just start working on a section at a time.  Which lead me to the next issue…

Nothing remains of the Gardens and there are only 2 photos in existance taken in the 19th Century when the VG was in decline and had certainly been Victorianised.  So what did everything look like?  The answer lay in the numerous engravings that were published in the 18th C.  Printing flourished in this period and the technology to mass print engravings (often reproductions of paintings) meant that multiple images remain from across the century.  So brain wave number 2:  I will use the engravings as textures where possible and combine them with reproductions where not.

So to honour this momentous occassion of breaking ground I had to buy some new outfits, here’s me in my Peacock Queen getup:

Aerial shot of the Gardens so far:

Close up of some of the Supper boxes:

 

 

 

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Car parking, an abandoned backpack and a Zombie Apocalypse – Part 3

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Soosie

After our bizarre Zombie experience I needed coffee!  There was a lovely little cafe in a tradtional Amsterdam house, so in we went; had coffee and settled down.  Until we went to pay.  They didn’t accept cash!  They expected us to pay a 3 Euro bill with our Visa card, can you image?  We get charged $4 dollars for every overseas transaction plus the a percentage!  So an approx $4 bill would have cost us $10.  We refused to use the card and handed over the Euros and he had the cheek to ask for a tip!  But this wasn’t the last strange thing that happened.

We took the ferry back to Amsterdam central station were we could catch our tram back to the hotel.  The tram system is excellent and with a 5 day ticket you can get on and off as many trams as you like for about 4 Euros a day – bargain!  Waiting at the main station for the tram to leave, I glanced down outside the tram at the shelter, to see an abandoned back pack, a very full, almost bulging backpack.  After the morning of weirdness my immediate thought was not good – bomb!  Not an unjustified thought in our modern world.  I could not wait till the tram got moving and we got away from the mystery backpack.  Obviously it didn’t explode, more than likely someone who had been to the Coffee Houses had left it there in their haze!  But I can tell you I sweated a lot for the 1 minute and 22 seconds that the tram sat there.

So that was our very weird day in Amsterdam.  Next… a Porno movie and a red umper lumper man in Berlin.

Incredible modern architecture Amsterdam Noord

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