Representative Sample of my Personal Archive Sketchbook-To illustrate research
Extensive research process including online websites and museum visits to create a personal archive
Own small scale personal research including survey to query how others see me, to relate my own personal characteristics to previous generations, to identify similarities... to know where I come from
What I know about myself and what went before was noted, what was surprising was just how much I did not know...the blanks and gaps in knowing spoke for themselves….I only really knew about the recent past. I started to reflect more about why this should be
I started to research my paternal side of the family as more was known...years of salmon fishermen on the River Tay, of which many were resident within the East Neuk of Fife.
Census documents were uncovered on scotlandspeople.gov.uk with old postcards from local museums and online websites including Amazon and Ebay which started to unravel the past.
Marriage and Death Certificates located a number of relatives with further imagery and some documents heat transferred onto muslin to create an aged effect, to create that sense of a time lived
Each page represented a mini personal archive in itself, a collection of documents, imagery and evidence to say where I come from and who I belong to...of the significance of Newburgh and fishing
The old postcards illustrated more than I imagined as the Paternal family home could be sighted in the high street then and now...more or less unchanged from hundreds of years ago.
Further links with other Fife villages and towns were located especially Anstruther for extended fishing rights and as stone masons...The fishing fleet was extensive in the 1800's as harbours were busy places and fishing meant a good living within a beautiful location
My mother grew up in Dunfermline and Cairneyhill with her grandfather...a coalminer turned shop keeper and her grandmother...a matron of a psychiatric hospital. My father grew up in Alloa as his father moved to Alloa from Fife for the fishing on the River Forth. My maternal grandmother worked in the local mills and was a seamstress.
Alloa was once the centre of thriving industries based upon the textile mills, breweries and a busy port- harbour. The old postcards display Alloa as the industrial hub of the local community.
From the range of documents sourced from ancestry.co.uk and scotlandspeople.gov.uk I selected those that meant the most to me, which were most significant in telling me who I am.
I used black mount card to highlight the documents displayed as if in a museum collection. The focus had been on the arrangement and placement of the documents so each could be seen and responded to as a whole collection.
Start of a series of museum and site visits as part of the research process-local history and its effects on the immediate culture and beyond. The Romans influenced and changed Scotland-Britain through their invasion.
The Huntarian Museum was particularly relevant given the Roman finds were often located close to where I stay and was brought up. The Antonine Wall with its forts and bath houses were very clearly evidenced through such a collection of Roman artefacts....including the scale of cultural interaction between Roam and indigenous peoples.
Old maps of the Antonine wall and related forts and bath houses was used as the backdrop to this sketchbook given their relevance, aesthetic and narrative. A Roman archive was created through maps, photographs, sketches and notes through research.
The maps illustrated so much with their symbols and markings, they told the story of the Roman invasion and their significance to my story... through their cultural impact.
Sculpture was very common throughout the Roman Empire. Sculpture was used to acknowledge the living and the dead with allegiance to specific gods. The stone alter pieces represented private and public sacrifice and provided a record of duties and vows made. Their significance cannot be underestimated to everyday Roman life and the local culture.
The Roman shoes captivated me...the skill and scale of craftsmanship which influenced the making of shoes from then on. They were personal items beautifully made and practical items... to be worn relentlessly.
Like the stone alter pieces more attention was paid to specific finds like the shoes...for their significance, personal impact and cultural evidence.
Kinneil Estate had preserved sections of the turf and stone Antonine Wall and fortlet to see including a museum of local Roman finds.
Just like in a museum viewing a collection it was interesting to see how the Antonine Wall and fortlet had been placed and arranged...to examine the context...the immediate landscape.
Since Kinneil Estate was one of the local museums and sites visited it was particularly relevant to cultural impact and how the Romans lived and influenced the indigenous people
Callendar House Museum and site of the Antonine Wall was another relevant local visit. Everyday items highlighted how Romans lived including how well made and crafted everyday items were.
The Antonine Wall and World Heritage Site was visited in several sites...the most significant sites were prioritised including Rough Castle, Bar hill and Bearsden Bathhouse. With its local vicinity Rough Castle Fort was focused upon with its ridges and undulations evidencing such significant earthworks underneath and its defensive pits...all of which were incorporated within the textile archives as significant to my story and narrative...
The most visible sections of the Antonine Wall were in New Kilpatrick Cemetery, Bearsden...the old map...the road map of Romans in the local area.
The sections highlighted the stone base...which was used in my textile work as the clearest example of such stone work, the base of the Roman invasion.
Site visit to Bearsden Fort and Bath-House...Extensive site to ensure the comfort of the Roman soldiers which helped to educate and inform others how to build, to heat and protect.
Visits to the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh to see the largest selection of Roman artefacts from British especially Scotland including local sites
Increased understanding about how Romans lived, use of everyday objects compared to status objects as status symbols. Objects were used to influence, inform, trade, rule and maintain peace
One of my favourite objects...leather and iron-studded chamfrons or helmets for horses to protect in battle and for ceremonial display...beautifully made with advanced crafting skills. Such images were included within my textile work as earmarked as significant, relevant, practical and symbolic.
A range of cavalry displays to express wealth, power, control and ceremony...for others to see, be influenced by.
The Roman army with a range of soldiers from different parts of the empire brought a range of foreign traditions and beliefs which informed and defined for generations.
The Roman soldiers worshipped a family of gods and goddesses which through time heralded the advent of Christianity.
Alters to the Gods highlighted the wide range of Roman worship including Mercury and Neptune. Stone slabs were used to commemorate including the Antonine Wall.
Evidence of Roman occupation of Scotland including the coinage, which was never complete and absolute, and always partial but non the less the Romans influence proved to be long lasting.
The start of developing my own series of textile archives or collections of imagery which are all significant and relevant to my own story and narrative
Each wall hanging a collection in itself whereupon the arrangement and placement of imagery is focused upon as in any museum collection or site visit. The selection of imagery from my personal archive and local history research was based upon personal resonance and cultural significance to self and others.
Extensive screen printing sampling process using dyed fabric. The focus was to explore colour, shape and line, to layer and experiment with background and foreground colours with shape using scanned photographs, maps, drawings, sketches, documents and text. The mix of imagery offered many options but the sampling process helped to narrow this down to preferred colourways and layering-placement and arrangement. See above and below...
Final Wall Hanging Series- Four Textile Archives-Use of Screen Printing (4 Months-Completion Time). Roman Artefacts layered with my own Personal Story-Journey (See Learning Log)
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