LIFE IS FUN
Beading out the life! 2019.8 - 2019.10
The project was designed to run a beading workshop to make some personal objects. Participants need to provide a picture of something important to them and create an image using beading techniques. The duration of each session is about two hours and it is flexible according to the participants' progress. The aim of the project is to use beading to encourage participants to share their life stories and help participants to find what is cherished in their memories.
When people think of public art, they usually think of sculptures in public, especially something weird. During the development of art, the forms of public art are various and the boundaries are not as clear as we thought. It represents the relationship between people and society, also a bridge between art and the citizens. Therefore, in my project, I will explore how to bring people together via doing the creative project and how people can participate in public art and what they can get after they experience the artwork.
In this project, I studied how people feel about sharing a piece of memory from their lives. During the process, the selection of a picture is a screening of memories. While the beading is a process of sharing.
The idea of running a beading workshop came from my own life experience. I came to know the beading technology at home during the holidays. In the process of self-study, I was tortured by these little beads. But after finishing a mini project, the cheerful mood stayed all day. Then I tried to make my own templates and create my own work. Whenever I show my work to others, I love to share the experience and the story behind it. So I think it is good for me to have the experience to run a social activity to develop my research project.
BOY'S WORK
The picture above is the material I was trying to use this semester. It's a small antique bead, about 2mm. There are so many fine colors to choose from and the work created by those beads is delicate. This image is a sample made from these beads.
The beading workshop started at my apartment as an experiment, I have invited my friends from different background. Some of them have studied art for nearly a decade, some of them never involved in art activities. It helps me to clarify the difficulties may happen when the workshop is running. My friends gave me a lot of help and advice and the materials have changed from antique beading to fused beading. Since my project is running at Peter MacCallum Center as well, where the participants are mostly patients and children, I should take into account the speciality of the location, the original beads are difficult and time-consuming.
Additionally, the staff at Peter MacCallum Center also suggests that I should change the material a little bit, they think the beads that I showed was too slippery and it is hard for people to manage it.
My initial thought about how to do the beading is using a phone or a digital tablet as a template for people to create the work and it is going well when I testing at my apartment. However, it is different when I undertake the workshop at Peter MacCallum Center.
Peter MacCallum Center
October 1
October 1 is the first time we run our workshop. One girl created a picture of a diamond and my classmate who also run a workshop at that time created a rabbit. I still remember how she described her naught rabbit.
In the process, both of them created the work without the template, which surprised me a lot. Since I was worried about the templet the most.
However, most people showed an interesting in asking and watching, but not involving in that day. Not just adult, but also the child, they seem too shy to join in the workshop.
October 4
October 4 which is a Friday, more people especially some kids, joined in our workshop. Probably due to the school holiday during that week.
One of the boys is disinterested in join in the workshop at first, but while he was company his brother, I tentatively asked him if he would try to do something. He said yes shyly and chose to use small beads. Then he started thinking about the pattern he wanted to make and to my surprise, he decided to make his own pattern, which made me very happy. He was very attentive throughout the whole process and of course there were sometimes he was frustrated by the little beads. When I asked him who it was for, he seemed reluctant to tell me. At the end of the project, he chose to make a necklace, which his father told me was a gift from him to his mother. At the same time, his father also made a beautiful pattern for his wife. I can feel the warmth of being a family in the process.
BOY'S WORK
BOY'S WORK
BOY'S WORK
FATHER'S WORK
A patient at Peter MacCallum Center also tried to make an object, but due to her illness and vision problem, she gave it up. It was then made and given to her by my classmate. She seems delighted when she received the gift.
The other patient is a Chinese woman. She cannot talk clearly because of her mouth surgery, but she was happy to share her life with me and told me that she was happy to watch us do the beading and panting. I think this is the goal and outcomes of my project.
It was an interesting social activity. When I was forming this workshop, I was worried that it wouldn't have a positive impact on people. Carolyn writes in her article that nostalgia is an early symptom of aging and memorizing is good for healthy aging. she also suggests that oral history is a way to restore healthy aging (Carolyn 2006). My project, searching for people's Precious Memories and trying to promote people's communication through such social activities.