For over 20 years the Australian Society of Miniature Art has held its National Awards Exhibition around this time every year. Last year it was cancelled because of COVID-19, and this year to everyone’s relief went ahead – but is now closed a week early because of a new lockdown in Sydney. However, the opening night was held which is the highlight of the exhibition, albeit with limited numbers of visitors.
Each artist can put in four works, so I try to spread my works across several categories, this time Printmaking, Drawing, Abstract and 3D and Handmade Books. Here I will show the development of my 3D piece.
It is made from monotype prints that I did over the last couple of years. I build up a collection of prints, mostly printed on both sides, then over time make them up into three dimensional forms. (See my previous post here for more detail.) I had been using small tags as masks in the monotypes, flipping them over and reprinting them, so they gained imagery on both sides, some of them are tiny, 20 x 25 mm, and others were a bit larger, 42 x 35 mm. I then drew into them with coloured pencils, enhancing the marks that were there. I really liked the tags and had several times tried to make them up into a book form, but nothing quite worked, the detail of them was lost once they were put together as you see below.
So, they waited. Eventually I decided the best way to see them would be in a pocket, and make that pocket into a concertina. As this was for a miniature exhibition everything needed to be small and as delicate as possible. Once I had made the pocket, I realised it needed some height, as I wanted to make use of the dangling strings which had taken on colours during the printing process, so used bamboo skewers to make legs.
At first I decided to just use the smallest tags, but once they were in place they looked a bit lonely.
So, I decided to go all out and really fill every pocket to its greatest capacity using the larger tags as well. The final thing I did – which isn’t visible unfortunately – was to add handwritten names to the larger tags. The idea of calling this Forget Me Not was a reference to the tags being used as reminders. The names I added were of close family members who have died. The names would not really mean anything to anyone else, but I liked the idea of a little memory of each of them being tucked away inside the pocket.
The final size is 90 mm high (including the legs) and each fold is 80 mm wide.
anna warren portfolio 
Love this!
On Tue, 29 Jun 2021, 18:14 anna warren portfolio, wrote:
> anna warren portfolio posted: ” For over 20 years the Australian Society > of Miniature Art has held its National Awards Exhibition around this time > every year. Last year it was cancelled because of COVID-19, and this year > to everyone’s relief went ahead – but is now closed a week ea” >
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Thanks Cindy! I’m going to make some more variants now!
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Terrific!
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Thank you so much!
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Love the work and thanks for the process info and photos. I really like to find out about the behind-the-scenes.
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Thanks Leonie – I agree, I love to hear about how a piece was created, it can enhance understanding of the final outcome, but also give ideas for one’s own work!
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Its so interesting to see how your art transforms! Wonderfully creative!
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Thanks Cathe – there is so much fun in making these transformations! I never quite know how they will turn out …
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Hi Anna, whoops, better late than never. I looked up Anna Warren Portfolio just now and there was this new post from over two weeks ago!! The tags are obviously tags – but – when they are in their 3D envelope/pocket they look a lot like headstones. So putting family names of those who have passed on is perfect. Did you decide to write the names on because they reminded you of headstones too? It is a jewel of a sculpture. Four of the five exhibition categories are in this one piece: printmaking, drawing, abstract and 3D art.
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I hadn’t thought of headstones at all, but of course, the tags are exactly like that. Maybe it was a subconscious realisation. This was one piece where the title came to me very firmly before the work was finished, and I couldn’t really tell you why, so maybe that is it. Even the decision to add the names came later, so the memorial aspect of this piece crept in during its development. I do enjoy your insights – you can always see a new aspect!
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That is so fascinating that you didn’t see the headstone metaphor consciously – but clearly you did subconsciously. Whereas it was the other way round for the viewer (me). That is, once I had read that you’d added family names then it came in a flash that these tags looked like headstones. And the title came to you early. I like the idea that our art is bigger than us…as if…we are somehow picking up signals.
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Oh I do agree about the art being bigger than us! The work I am doing at the moment – large abstract drawings – very much has that feel to it. I work into a base image (that I have created) and one mark leads to another, constantly surprising me with the results. I have heard about authors whose characters take on a life of their own, surprising them, their creators, and I think this happens with artists too!
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You’re on an intuitive journey with these big drawings. Destination unknown.
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Indeed!
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