Crafts Council Commission - jewellery, print and public participation project
Crumb Headband - Crafts Council Commission
Public research cards to create an archive of collected thoughts and drawings: The initial phase was to collect and archive public responses to the theme of jewellery and then to select one design from this archive and create a work to be used as a 'handling object' accessioned into the permanent art and craft collection at mima.
The archive cards, completed by participants during a program of public events, were printed with a design which represents the hands of mima staff and mima visitors.
The archive of completed research cards is kept in mima's art and craft collection to be used for research and future commissions. For more information on this project, visit the Crafts Council's blog.
From the archive of public thoughts and drawings, I chose to make "Crumb Headband"
If Crumb Headband was real...
The piece I produced has several elements, which together represent Crumb Headband as a familiar cultural artefact rather than an imaginary object - Crumb Headband ephemera.
A recipe for a Crumb Headband
If a Crumb Headband were a real and familiar cultural item, I imagined that there would be many recipes for it, as there are many recipes for Christmas cake, and that a person who might own the ephemera I was creating, might keep a favourite one in the box with the other related items. To make the facsimile cook book page, I did have to cook a Crumb Headband, photograph the loaf, and then mock up the cook book page.
Crafts Council Commission - jewellery, print and public participation project - recipe for fruit bread adjusted as a poem artwork
Crafts Council Commission - jewellery, print and public participation project - sandcast silver birds
Silver 'pecking bird' charms
The symbolism is for charms to be baked into the loaf, which would be a right-of-passage celebration meal for adolescence, using a fairy tale motif - finding a bird in your loaf would be a cautionary narrative, on going out into the world, you need to leave breadcrumbs to find your way home, and that even then, this may not work! A good luck charm.
Crafts Council Commission - jewellery, print and public participation project - letterpress printed linen bag
My intention was to give a sense of age - as if the ephemera might be something found in a junk shop.
The box and linen bag, were Letterpress printed. To print the box, I bought an old cardboard box, dismantled it, and then put it back together again once printed. The linen for the bag was an old piece of table linen, which had been cleaned and was worn with age and wear. My intention was to give a sense of age - as if the ephemera might be something found in a junk shop.
Crafts Council Commission - jewellery, print and public participation project - letterpress