Selkie quote by David Thomson

Seal Shadows

Selkie Stories

Selkie Stories; sketch book & samples

My next focused exhibition is 'Selkie Stories' showing in late August in M16 Artspace's black room. I am developing the themes I was looking at last year with 'Depths & Shallows' by using animation, glass & textiles to portray the transformation and narrative of Selkie folklore. The last few days have been productive, the story board is coming together along with material samples & tests.

I have found some great resource material from www.ARKive.org on grey seals. They have quite a few filmed sequences which are fantastic for getting the movement of seals in the water. Also David Thomson's 'The People of the sea' arrived in the post today. First published in 1954, the tales he has written down retain a feeling of their oral nature. Also in the post recently was a package from author Kate Forsyth which contained her beautiful book 'Two Selkie Stories from Scotland'.

Embroidered Selkie Brooch Giveaway

Packing up an exhibition is from my perspective quite a reflective experience. Comparably there are none of the worries and nerves of installing, as you remove bits of hardware from walls and ceiling or clean up plinths you can calmly mull over what you could have done better or as you carefully wrap up sold pieces feel a warm glow through some of the triumphs. 

So last month as we (myself, Emilie Patteson and Alex Frasersmith) were packing up Depths & Shallows at M16 Artspace I was indeed having some moments of contemplation (probably as I was patching holes in the ceiling). Our exhibition had been, I felt, a success. The 3 of us worked together towards a show from proposal to opening night, through ideas and planning, curating and financing. A rewarding and productive learning experience.

Like many shows, our exhibition was a year in the planning and making, an event we had been aiming at for a substantial amount of time and afterwards seemed to be a perfect time to take stock of where I had got to, along this artists path. 

In particular I felt the incredible support given from the arts community and connections made through my art works. Friendship, assistance, opportunities and more all gladly given. Thank you.

So to celebrate the journey so far and to thank all of the people who have supported me along the way I’d like to give away 3 hand embroidered ‘Selkie’ brooches.

to be in the draw to Win one of these stitched Selkies by commenting on or sharing this post via your favoured social media platform with the name of your favourite folk or fairy tale.

Thank you and good luck!

'Selkie Brooch Give-away' is open internationally and closes midnight AEST Tuesday 30th September. I will randomly draw 3 names and contact the winners in order to send them their gift. Any questions don't hesitate to ask... Spike.

Kate Forsyth 'spotlights' my art

Kate Forsyth is one of my favourite writers. Author of the Witches of Eileanan series, 'Bitter Greens', 'The Wild Girl' and most recently 'Dancing on Knives'. Kate's novels are inspired by myth, folklore and fairytale and she writes for adults and children. I loved the 'Witches of Eileanan', a full on fantasy tale on a different world. Full of faery creatures and dragons, enchantment, love, betrayal and magic.

My other favourite is 'Bitter Greens', a retelling of the Rapunzel tale. 'Bitter Greens' cleverly braids together 3 stories. I love the complexity of the storytelling. There are for me 3 levels of reality / realism / fiction:
One strand is historical romance, a real woman by the name of Charlotte Rose de la Force, we follow the events of her scandalous life in the court of Louis 14th that lead up to her writing "Persinette' the forerunner to the Grimms' Rapunzel. Another strand is the retelling of the Rapunzel tale, a fully rendered version of Charlotte Rose's literary fairy tale. Not real, but a tale already living in our popular culture consciousness. The third strand is pure imagination and tells us the story of the Sorceress who imprisons our Rapunzel. All the stories entwine naturally to create a rich, immersive read.

Kate has also recently published a book called 'Two Selkie tales from Scotland' with illustrator Fiona McDonald. How perfect!

So take a look at Kate's 'Spotlight' on my work here.

Selkie sculpting

More selkie feet.

Thinning glass

For slumping selkie bits

Selkie mask

I poured another wax seal face last night. It's far more asymmetrical that I remember. I'll make a slump mould tomorrow.

Flattening patties

An experiment on thinning out these thick furnace glass patties. Usually they are great this thick for casting but I'd like some glass for slumping... for the selkie project.

fat furnace pattie for thinning

Seal mask experiements

Here is a slump of the seal head I made last year. I sandblasted the inside and masked the eyes so they remained clear. About to try another test.

Wax maquettes chillin' out in the fridge

It's warm in Canberra this week, top temps range between 35-38. My sculpting wax gets rather soft...
A quick spell in the fridge works rather well

Selkie's in the fridge

Selkie's in blogland

The following is part of a post from Katherine Langrish's Seven Miles of Steel Thistles on Perilous seas in faerie lands forlorn. Katherine talks a little about Selkies and I think to myself that her explanation is very much part of my fascination with the stories. I also downloaded a copy of Troll Mill immediately...to be updated on my Selkie bibliography.

"And what about the original legends, such as the Cornish Mermaid of Zennor or the Scottish selkie and kelpie stories?  The legends are tremendously inspiring - but you have to think about them, find out what they are saying to you.  I wrote about the selkies, the shape-shifting seal people, in ‘Troll Mill’, the second part of my trilogy ‘West of the Moon’.  The legend is of a fisherman who sees the selkies dancing on the moonlit beach in the form of lovely women, and he snatches up one of their discarded sealskins so that the selkie girl can’t escape into the sea.  She has to marry him and bear his children, but one day she finds where he’s hidden the sealskin.  At once she throws it on, returns to the sea and abandons him and her human (half-human?) children forever.

For me, this legend seemed to be about the difficulty of understanding one another, even in a bond as close as marriage – in a sense, one’s partner is always the Other.  It speaks of the power struggle between couples – and the grief of a failed partnership – and, very strongly I thought, about the new mother’s plunge into post-natal depression.  And that was how I used it in my book, though keeping the magic and lyricism." Katherine Langrish.


A few days later Katherine had a guest post by Laurie Majorie Miller who give us A Selkie story for a new millenium

Underwater

I have been looking at a lot of underwater photography, specifically people floating, diving and swimming underwater. I want to capture the delight of being underwater, that weightlessness in the poses. I'm planning a series of etchings that mentally i'm calling the Mirror series. I want a selection of underwater poses that are "mirrored" slightly by the seals (see the lower image), suggesting the dual nature of the selkie.

Now to work on the seals.

Basic poses, now need detailing

Stitching selkies

Here is a first experiment turning my Selkie sketches into textiles with calico, back-stitch, satin-stitch and one french knot. What would be a suitable stitch for hair?

Seal needs one more splotch

Selkie sketches

Here is an idea i'm working up for a non-glass (maybe) idea for our Depths & Shallows exhibition.
Intended as a series of etchings, seal and woman mirror poses.

Selkie Bibliography

"I am a man upon the land, I am a silkie in the sea"

 

Spike's ongoing Selkie bibliography... is of course biased... There is plenty of content not included here, as the purpose of the list is to inspire my visual arts practice.


Folklore and fairytales

• The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry (Shetlands)
• The Goodman O'Wastness
• The Selkie Bride 

Folklore and fairytales: collections & studies

• People of the Sea by David Thomson (1965)
• Tales of the Seal People: Scottish Folk Tales by Duncan Williamson (1998)

Fiction: Short Stories

• The Selkie that deud no' forget by Walter Triall Dennison (1880)
• One spared to the sea by W Towrie Cutt (c.1970's)

Fiction: Novels

• Secrets of the Sea House (2013)*
• Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan (2012)*
• The Selkie Spell by Tara Moss (2011)*
• Sea Change by Aimee Friedman (2009)*
• Selkie Girl by Laurie Brooks (2008)*
• Troll Mill by Katherine Langrish (2006)*
• Seven Tears into the Sea by Terri Farley (2005)*
• Selkie by Anne Cameron (1996)
• Seaward by Susan Cooper (1987)
• The Selkie Girl by Susan Cooper (1986)
• Selkie by Kenneth Liggington (1985)
• The Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry by Rosalie K. Fry
• The Selkie by E. A. Van Vogt (not entirely convinced with this one)

Fiction: story thread

• Fox mask by Juliett Marillier (2003)*

Film

• The Selkie's Lover (2013)
• Ondine (2009)*
• The Selkie (2000)
• The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)

Web resources

• Orkneyjar: the Heritage of the Orkney Islands, Selkie folk

Australian Museum (Sydney)

Excuse me, but do you have any seals in your collection?....Reply....Um not sure.
As far as I could find, there was an Australian Fur seal in the skeleton room and a Leopard seal head in the Surviving Australia (or something like that) exhibit.

South Australian Museum

Lots of seals and sea lions

Paper 53 (the app)

Love the sketchy ness of it and the notebooks, I may even keep all my notes and sketches per project in one space...hmmm maybe. Here's a Selkie, given my usual sketching ability I'm pretty happy with the app.