A WORKSHOP WITH ELLIE, INFO AND IDEAS.

 Ellie's specialism is works involving paper, not just as something to make marks on, but with qualities and expressive potential particular to its nature.
We were both interested in the embossing machines stored upstairs. These- and one supplied by Dan- had been used in shops around the town to frank bills, invoices and bags, the impressions they make on paper have lost none of their original clarity. Close examination shows the sharp edges and rounded indentations in the embossing disc; use it, and   zoom in on the stressed fibres of the strong ragpaper, and the shadows cast by its raised surface after the bite.

We opened the cottage doors at 12, and all afternoon a steady flow of people joined Ellie and her hand-made embossing session, pressing paper into lino and card reliefs, producing images in paper, defined by shadows.



As often happens, we talked about the building, and Ellie collected impressions and recollections for a further piece of work. One visitor gave us the first in what we hope will be a series of layered memories of the place in its earlier life as a shop. We added to the notes on the drawing later, the plan is to see which are the strongest and most common recollections.

As the session went on we built a  fire in the range, I had a chat with Ellie about my ideas for the Watts map, and the relevance of her interest in paper to the interest in archives that runs through a lot of our recent work, and how  the stuff is so  open to attack. I've been reading up on bookworms, or more accurately the variety of larvae that eat paper of a particular make-up and the glues used by bookbinders.

 At the same time Ellie has made a connection between a former occupant of the cottage, its current role as a storehouse for material awaiting archiving, and the protocols observed by archivists when examining fragile and unique items. So we left with some good work made by our visitors, some new information, and a suggestion of a direction of travel.

We have asked Jan about joining the Civic Society, and about helping with archiving the collection which is providing us with so much to think about.

Ellie's own account of the micro-exhibition and the workshop is here, on her blog..

https://www.eleanorchaney.com/blog/2019/10/28/evocative-objects-micro-exhibition-at-sir-john-barrow-cottage