Knots with Richard, 2017.
In March 2017 I took part in Transition at Newlyn Art Gallery in Cornwall. I spent a week in the lower gallery working on ideas for a new installation piece involving a video of a knotting lesson and a sculptural element made from string. I enlisted the help of Richard Hopkins, Secretary of the West Country Knotters. The video shows Richard teaching the technique of tying a bowline knot. The string lines hanging in a circle from the ceiling are a mix of white and ink-coloured pieces of polypropylene cord, only tied using bowlines. The viewer can walk into the knotted enclosure to watch the video and also walk around the whole piece.
I was interested in the idea of learning and teaching a skill, of the movement where a piece of knowledge passes from something you are learning to something you have learnt. The audio was an important element too, the spoken relationship between teacher and learner, which accompanies the movement of the hands.
Many thanks to Blair Todd, Richard Hopkins, Jessie Blindell and Ann Ball. (All photos by Steve Tanner).
Image credit: Steve Tanner.