Drawing and etching, combining the senses

Last post I mentioned a drawing that would be shown with the haptic etchings. The drawing shown below is in fact about 9 feet long. It is a scene which has been constructed of a number of different photos stitched together to create this very long view, looking both upwards and downwards.

Drawing - 'Woodstock Walk'

The path leads up out of my village so I wanted to get a sense of looking upwards. I took photos on many occasions and sketched the shape of the ground a number of times so that back in the studio I could revisit the place in my mind and so create a strong sense of the place.

The drawing in the studio - to give a sense of scale

The visualisation, below, gives a sense of how the drawing and etchings will be shown together.

The idea is that the drawing will hang so that the disappearing point of the path will be more or less at eye height. If you were to stand quite close to the drawing your peripheral vision would only take in a reduced amount of detail, and so my drawing at the outer ends is looser and less ‘finished’.

The drawing provides sight; the visual information that we take in when looking at a scene, the scale gives a more complete experience of looking at a place.

The etchings will be hung to the side and provide the tactile experiences of being in the place. They are hung at places roughly corresponding to the height of the parts of the body. The two footsteps are towards the base of the wall, and 'the leaf falling against face etching', and the 'hair catching in a branch' is up nearer the head.

This work will be shown at UWE later in the year, I hope to have photos of it all in situ at that time, and I hope it will work as I have intended..