Making your Mark

Making marks is a human instinct, we sign, doodle and even draw. This time-lapse film is of artist Catherine Bertola installing Unfurling Splendour (V) - making her marks to form a carpet made entirely of dust - in Bilston Craft Gallery in February 2015 as part of the two-week Acts of Making festival of craft and performance.
(Acts of Making is in Bilston until 28 February before going on to Gateshead from 7-21 March and Plymouth from 14-26 September 2015.)

Catherine Bertola installing a carpet of dust Image from Crafts Council

Over the last few weeks I have been working on a number of courses which look at different approaches to making your mark and developing sketchbooks. Creating texture and finding texture in the landscape as inspiration is equally stimulating. The collaborative mark making in this piece was made from just listening to simple directions.This first evening introduction on Personal Journals, Sourcing Inspiration for Textiles, (one of my West Dean courses) gave surprising landscape mapping textures.

The need to make a mark and use colour which starts to express an idea is very individual as this group of sketchbook explorations from the course demonstrates:

 Chrissie Hart, Marks relating to Birdsong

Flora Weller Feathers

  Issy Bean Folded drawings

Mary Klaber

Olly Douglas

Sandy Davies

Sarah Fenner

Lynn Weal

Nikki Barnes

Thankyou to the students on the course who kindly gave permission to show work in progress and development.
 Textural surfaces and lines in the landscape can equally stimulate the marks you can draw upon. Inspirational sources photographs and artwork Dutch Blue.