A collation of further research into the process and making and application of Tadelakt. From research this is the most useful information I’ve come across for a complete beginner, I feel I just need the basics and can experiment with the quantities and ratios after my first attempts.
The products I’ve found online that seem most promising for making Tadelakt in England
As the hydrated lime I did get a little confused by what lime products and such are needed for the process and was close to buying two different products of the same thing but then realised that one is a kind of sticky ‘putty’ and the other a flour like dusty material the Hydrated Lime powder that is available from B&Q and mixed together they make the right stuff for the job!Apparently any type of natural soap can be used for the burnishing process – preferably ‘black olive oil’ soap so I am going to take a risk and give the Dr Organic olive oil soap a go.
And as for the precious stone, I will go into a local Precious Gem Stone shop in Falmouth and see if they have a smooth palm sized piece either Topaz or Quartz as these are the cheapest of the stone types hard enough to be used in the process.
Interesting performance organised by artist Serena Korda called Missing Time. She explains about the performance in the video and you get a gist of what it must have been like for the participants and listeners.
I really like her comment just before the end about how she used to make political work and strived to make works that were strong political statements but then realised that something more valuable and needed that political statements is making work that shows and creates an environment of magic and kindness which is more important.
live binaural recordings 3 dimensional performance under magnolia trees performers amongst the viewers sound vibrations, frequencies having healing qualities for humans listening to frequencies of stars, alien activities, space and the ether
” “Missing Time” considers the history and mythology of the High Lines as a “thin place”- a portal to other worlds – while exploring its transformation and invisible histories.”
I like the idea about the thin place, i have never heard this expression before but it makes me think of the thin space above mountains between the earth and the atmosphere, a space of in between and where two worlds meet. The comprehendible and the unliveable places that lye so close to each other at every moment of existence and now due to climate change and the thinning of the ozone layer, theses two environments begin to merge and combine!
Collaboration with a sculpture of nature, the tree – like land art the way we collaborate with earth. Like the involvement of skilled peoples who may not normally be involved with art therefore also changing perspectives and creates questions.
National Trust related – combining sculpture with history and current ideas, pushing perception and understanding, changing the experience of an environment. Similar to the way people have tied rags to ancient trees as a form of worship in Pagan traditions down in secret hidden places in Cornwall – often surrounding ancient wishing wells believed to have magical healing powers. Maybe there is a cross cultural tradition to believe that tying things and materials to trees can bring good and channel magic. It does feel appropriate and right to tie things in and decorate trees when thinking about ecology and nature, wish making and putting value in ecology and ancient knowledge. The trees are smarter than we think. The ceramic blue bells hung in the tree must have chimed without human involvement – something interesting about abstract instruments like this where humans don’t have to be present and there will be music playing no matter what, whether there are human spectators or not. A collaboration between human, tree and wind. Unpredictable, organic sounds made at own accord, sounds to be heard by nature from humans – gifts back to nature from humans. Can sound help growth of plants and animals and even humans?
I really like her vast array of projects spanning different sights and mediums and people and different group involvements. Also like how some are temporary and some are long lasting and potentially permanently connected to an environment that is always changing and moving out of her control such as the forest – hints of entropy here – the work will inevitably decompose and return to nature as it grows moss, becomes insect homes and are blow off and broken or buried in the ground where the clay originated from. A circle of life, the life of the ceramics make sounds suspended in the AIR, in the SPACE between branches and leaves and their initial purpose dies when the ceramic bells are removed or hit the floor where they do not chime anymore.
interacting with sculpture to further create and extend the stimulation of the senses. I like to create work that crosses boundaries and connects senses like this as well. Getting people together to create together and explore intuition.
The wild mans face on it carry beer making music and sounds with domestic objects from the past people experimenting and jamming with objects not originally designed for the new activity
listening to trees with super sensitive microphones
playing vessels – percussion and completely dependent on the movement and sensitivity of the player. Could animals play instruments or make music some how?
Paul Chaney website: http://www.paulchaney.co.uk/ Interesting snippet form page about his current work at Goonhilly Earth Centre, Cornwall…
I’ve never considered that of course the land that is left and therefor available for communities and people in need is the waste land and ruined land that has been destroyed for some other reason and cast out of value, ie the dregs of land.
Kestle Barton (http://www.kestlebarton.co.uk/) the small art space near Helford Passage in Cornwall does a good job at covering interesting and needed subjects through art and bringing people together for discussion and learning! Which is the direction I hope contemporary art goes; not just down here in the Celtic country but up country and in Urban areas also. This series of talks and events led by experts in the field of low impact development have been happening throughout July but I’ve only just heard about them, so I’ll go to the last one on Sunday.
Really positive that these talks will inform people about the legal side of development and the realistic side of how we can push this movement for the better of the natural world and wellbeing of society – this sort of thing needs to be repeated throughout art centres and in schools and businesses everywhere – good idea to set something like this up – pushing adult forest school kind of stuff – the direction art is heading towards community development and engagement and so on.
What is the Steward Wood phenomena then?
By the look of things they are going through some issues with land ownership similar to the issues Native American and Canadian groups constant face and are battling with. The authorities and government have and continue to totally screw over Natives and demolish their rights to acres and acres of forests that have been their homes and place of worship for thousands of years long before colonialism.
Obviously there are huge differences and it is highly problematic to liken Native Americans and Canadians with this story of Steward Wood but what is similar is the forever discarded kindness and possible symbiosis of humans living very closely to nature. It seems this argument and belief is never heard, valued or seen as a worthy cause.
People who have found a way of living beside and with nature, found their groove and want to maintain and improve that relationship that is more sustainable and hopefully not harmful for the environment. An example and one of the first of this kind of movement – setting an example for the rest of us.
“misunderstood intentions and ideologies”
“sociopolitical conditions leading to the formation of precarious intensional communities under the conditions of late capitalism”
– Movements from the ground up, starting at the ‘bottom of society’ hence the roots idea.
I think it would be good for us all to attend such talks with such dense reasoning and honesty for the benefit of simply understanding. Knowledge gives way to change.
environment to explore through the senses of choice revealing forgotten memories and lost feelings, the space awaits the arrival of gathered warmth through interactions and shared emotions stimulates and awakens the essence of a place long gone but rebounds into a dimension stitched to the potent potential future
where instruments are made from seed pods and car tires and energy is harnessed from potatoes; dreams can be woven in straw, ceramic talismans can spin on a record deck to cast a beat, spaghetti is thrown at flatscreen TVs, compost bins are emotive and spices can be ground and mixed by visitors then a landscape like this can call all beings and reach each sense carrying you with movement, smell, sight and sound and waters tested for future civilisation
the symbiotic realm of the vibrant materials and technology frozen in this sculptural landscape craw with fungi and magic disparate realms align through the collaged sculptures and objects representing the collation and layering of stories in todays multicultural connected world
play and time sinks to the speed of feet smell and countries collide think and the future arrives
L A M O I N E 